Gramps

This is just a quick post to let you know what is happening with Gramps. Things have not gone well the last few days. His kidneys are shutting down, and the tear in the aorta is getting worse. There is nothing that can be done for him medically but keep him comfortable. He is going home with hospice this afternoon. We are very blessed that he will be able to go home before he goes home.

It may be some time before I am able to post again, depending on how the next few days go. Please be praying for my Gramps and all of our family. I will update when I can.

God Bless each and every one of you! Go hug the ones you love.

THANK YOU JESUS!!!

God really does answer prayers!

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

AMEN!!!!

The latest news on Gramps is that he has a tear in his aorta. That sounds bad, but here’s the good news: there are three layers in your aorta, and the tear is in his middle layer. This will contain the bloodflow, and this is the layer that is able to heal itself. They are admitting him into the hospital and will be monitoring him closely. This has caused some damage to one of his kidneys, but it looks like the damage is minimal and will require no intervention. They will look into that more tomorrow. The tear went in the downward direction, which is what caused kidney damage. If it begins to go upward, that is what causes big trouble, so they will be watching closely for that. It looks now like he will be in the hospital for about a week.

Praise Jesus!!!

Now let us continue to pray for his recovery and for the doctors and nurses who will be caring for this ornery old man who is used to smoking like a train and having his way, and can now do neither! LOL

Thank you to everyone for your prayers! Big hugs!!!

Please pray!

This is my wonderful Gramps. He and Grams will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in May. He and I have been very special buddies since I was tiny. He calls me his “pork chop.” He used to put a rope around the handles of my tricycle and pull me around the circle driveway. I used to love doing chores with him. We would go around the farm together and feed and water all the animals. When we were done, he’d let me drink water from the garden hose and that was a huge treat! He taught me how to drive his tractor. My Gramps is the bestest Grandpa ever!

I just got a phone call from my Mom saying that my sweet Gramps is in the emergency room right now with an “enlarged aorta.” They are doing more tests to find out just how enlarged it is and what they want to do about it. The cardiologist will be seeing him soon. I am asking for your fervent and heartfelt prayer in this situation. Please pray for my Gramps’ health, and for his soul. Please pray for my Grams and for all the family to be strong and keep their faith and see him through this. My heart is breaking. I know he must be scaed. My Gramps hates doctors, and hospitals even more. Thanks in advance.

HOORAY!!!!

Well, I mentioned before that my babe was starting to pull himself up. Well, guess what? That's right! He made it all the way to his feet! Woo Hoo! Look out world, here he comes! I am so excited and just want to cry for joy! I got an email from my mom telling me all about it. Here's her description:

Guess what your little man just did???? THAT'S RIGHT!!!! I heard him jabbering, so I just sat down here in the computer chair, and watched him. He worked at it for about 5 minutes, but when that tiny head popped up over the railing, he just looked right at me and SMILED!!!!! You could tell the whole world looked different to him from that perspective. The wheels were turning 100 miles an hour!!!

Baby Laser Tag

So, the audio didn't come out real well on this, but if you could hear it, you'd hear four adults and a teenager laughing thier heads off! This was one of the funniest things we've ever seen! J chased this little red laser light all over the living room till I thought his Daddy was going to hyperventalte from laughter. He thought it was fascinating. And for the icing on the cake, our little daschound in the backyard could see it through the window and was going crazy scratching at the window trying to get the light too! Good times....good times......

Picture Post

Here you see Big Bird has been at it again! We received another big box on Saturday. It was filled with all the things you see here: 5 summer outfits, one birthday outfit, toys, shoes, 3 baby einstein videos, toys, 2 pairs of summer weight footie pajamas, and a bunny suit! I cannot wait to get some props together and do some pictures in the bunny suit! Thank you, Big Bird! We love you so much!

Here is the only good 10 month picture I was able to get. J would have no part of sitting still for his picture this month. This was the first time he's made it difficult. He just wanted to climb out of the chair.
Here is J with our good friend G. We used to see each other every week, but have lapsed and not been together since late November. BIG MISTAKE! Not only have we missed them, but J didn't remember G. For quite a long time he would literally scream and cry and cling to me every time they made eye contact. They finaly became friends again after a good nap and a game of cards. (J ate several cards out of his own personal deck while we played) This photo was taken as we said goodbye.
Look what my little man is doing! He just started this Sunday. So far he only gets up to his knees, but he is learning fast. I can't wait to see his first tottering little steps! But at the same time I am sad that I cannot capture this time and relive every sweet little kiss and the excitement of every new discovery.

One Day at a Time...Part One

So, I’ve been gone for a while, and there is a LOT we have to catch up on! I think I will try to post about one day at a time.

Thursday was a rough day for me. That’s putting it VERY mildly! I woke up just before 5:30am feeling…….yucky. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom, and…..there’s just no nice way to put this…..was suddenly violently and explosively sick! Yuck! When I was finally able to, I stepped out of my clothes and got straight into the shower. I didn’t even make it through washing off my body before I felt round two approaching. I also heard J begin to babble on his baby monitor. Rick was out at work that night. I got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around me, stepped over my mess and ran to the other bathroom. Thankfully, I did think to grab my cell phone on the way. I was stuck there for a while. I had to call my mom and ask her to come over and get the baby out of bed. (Let me pause here a moment to say that I have the very best mom in the entire world!) So my mom came and took J home with her. For the next 10 hours, I was up about every 40 minutes to run to the bathroom. In between all I could manage to do was crawl to the couch and sleep. I was alternating between sweating and freezing. I couldn’t even sit up to pump. I cannot remember the last time I was ever that sick. I was finally able to manage myself like a human by about 3:30 in the afternoon. My mom came over in the evening and stayed with me for a while. She had brought me sprite and checked in on me through the day while Grams was at her house with J. She really IS the best momma in the world! I never had a bite to eat that entire day. Being that sick dehydrated me in a hurry! So, lets see, what happens when you combine lack of pumping, lack of calorie intake, and lack of fluid intake? Yep, lack of milk! My supply took a drastic dive! I managed to sleep all night that night and was feeling some better the next morning. We’ll talk about Friday in the next post!