December Skiing with Daddy

I thought this was a cute video of Skogen and Daddy skiing back in December. 

We're having happy thoughts of Daddy and Skogen skiing again someday soon!

Valentines Day 2012 Recap

We had a very nice Valentine's Day!  It didn't go exactly as planned, but it was a special day for our little family and it felt good to enjoy the day, despite the circumstances.

Very Sick Klaasen

We woke up early yesterday morning to Klaasen throwing up all over his bedroom.  I had known that he didn't feel good the day before, but I really wasn't prepared for this!  He continued to vomit all morning, about every half hour.  Erik was at conference, so I texted him and he agreed that I should take him in since we had been suspicious of an ear infection.  I called our pediatrician and he could get us right in. I quick got in the shower, gave Klaasen a bath, got the kids dressed, and we were out the door.

Even though Erik couldn't come to help us at the doctor (it's always interesting when I have to bring all three of them!), I was so appreciative of Erik's communication with me during the morning and his willingness to help out.  Luckily, our pediatrician has a volunteer who hangs out in the waiting room and helps families pass the time while they wait.  She saw that I had my hands full and was able to give Skogen and Maida pages to color and stickers to play with.  Then she sat down and read Klaasen a book.  It was very nice to have her help.  We saw our pediatrician fairly quickly and it was established that Klaasen's right ear was inflamed and full of puss.  He prescribed amoxicilin and said that if he didn't stop puking within a few hours, to call him on his cell phone and he'd prescribe us some Zofran to help him stop puking so that he could keep his medicine down.  He also gave us some Pedialyte popsicles, told me to break one up in a cup and let it slowly melt.  As it melts, let Klaasen drink the liquid and that's about the right amount for him to be drinking while he's puking, so that he doesn't just throw it right back up.  I'm not really explaining it very well, but I thought that was an awesome idea and hope I remember to use it again!

McFlurry Face Skogen

Erik was able to fill the prescription for me and I was off to bring Maida to her preschool Valentine's party, but not before we grabbed lunch in the McDonald's drive through.  On the way to Maida's school, Klaasen fell asleep.  So, after dropping Maida off, Skogen and I decided to drive back to McDonald's and get a McFlurry for a Valentine's treat (and also to keep Klaasen sleeping as long as we could).  We got our ice cream in the drive through and ate in the car.  Skogen and I smiled and giggled and had a nice time together until Klaasen woke up and puked all over the car!  Yet another bath for that poor little boy!

Yummy Waffle!

Erik helped out by picking Maida up from preschool on his way home so that I didn't have to haul a puking baby with me to get her, and then I started on making some dinner. Skogen and Erik ran to the store to look at some glasses (Erik's have been broken for years) and for some last minute things for dinner.  I found a new recipe for waffles a few days ago, so I decided to give them a try.  They were so yummy! (I'll put the recipe below.)  We cut up some blueberries and strawberries to put on top and completed the meal with some whip cream and a drizzle of syrup.  It was the perfect Valentine's dinner!  :)  Skogen and Daddy bought me a flower at the store, which was our table centerpiece (Maida's idea).  I enjoyed my dinner dates and all the laughs and smiles we had.

Our Valentine's Dinner (Daddy had other plans that were canceled because of the sick boy)

After dinner we did some clean up and then put the boys in the bath since they were full of syrup.  We also called Erik's grandma, who shares a birthday with Valentine's Day, and we sang her Happy Birthday.  Then we got in our pajamas and played a few games.  First Skogen made up a "Valentine Frog Hopping Game."  We all had to hop around the room like frogs.  We did this until we accidentally started jumping on each other.  Then we played Maida's made up game called, "Duck Duck Valentine Goose."  It was a very crazy game of Duck Duck Goose that didn't last long since there were only four of us.  Last, we played the game that I made up.  We sat around in a circle on the floor and took turns telling each other what we love about each other.  It was such a precious, fun time and it will for sure be a Valentine tradition in our family from now on.  I recorded down everything that we said and thought it would be fun to write it all on the blog so that we always have it...

Daddy Love...

-  "I really love his old Daddy.  I really want him to be my kids' Bumpa when I grow up."  (She refers to the way Erik used to be before he got hurt as "old Daddy".) ~ Maida

-  "I love the monster truck from Daddy.  I love that Daddy sleeps in Mommy's room and when Daddy takes me skiing."  ~ Skogen

-  "I love that he loves me more and different than anyone else ever has.  I love how he's always willing to sacrifice for his family."  ~ Mommy

Maida Love...

 -  "I love her beautiful smile, gorgeous hair, incredible intelligence, and spunky determination.  I also love how she tries to protect Skogen and Klaasen when they get in trouble."  ~ Daddy

-  "I love that you are the little girl and the princess I always dreamed of having."  ~ Mommy

-  "Her bedroom." ~ Skogen

Mommy Love...

-  "That you read a lot of books to me, help me sound out words, and you are the best mom in the whole wide world I ever had.  I love your hair and your white skin all around you."  ~ Maida

-  "The baby growing in your tummy."  ~ Skogen

-  "I love her servant heart, her beautiful body, and that she's the best mother and wife that God ever made!"  ~ Daddy

Skogen Love...

"He's the best  brother in the whole world.  He takes care of me when I'm sad, when I cry, and when I'm scared.  I thought he would never be a good brother, but when he grew up, he was a great brother."  ~ Maida

-  "I love his curly hair and his fearless attitude.  I like his abundance of energy and I like his lack of self preservation and how he's always a good helper."  ~ Daddy

 -  "I love that you're always trying to take care of me and that you are my big helper and how you're so full of love."  ~ Mommy

Klaasen Love...

-  "That Klaasie sleeps in my room."  ~ Skogen

-  "His curly hair and I love him and I like it that he says, "Skogo cray," when Skogen cries or I cry.  I always wanted a baby brother like him and I love that I take care of him and that he grows up to be the best baby brother in the whole wide world."  ~ Maida

-  "I love that he likes to snuggle and I love that his love language is touch.  I love his rotund stature and that he really tries to be like his big brother and sister."  ~ Daddy

- "I love how he shows us love in his own way.  I love how he was the biggest baby in the entire world.  I love what a great addition he's been to our family."  ~ Mommy

Good night hugs and kisses ended the day so perfectly.  I never knew I'd love anyone as much as I love these three kids and I had no idea that a marriage was ever as great as what Erik and I have.  We've been blessed.

Our Valentines

***

Waffle Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
•  
• 2 egg whites
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups milk
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together in a mixing bowl; set aside. Beat egg whites until foamy in a separate large glass or metal mixing bowl. Whisk the egg yolks, lemon zest, and vanilla extract together in a third bowl; whisk in the milk. Stir in the flour mixture until smooth. Fold in the melted butter and then the beaten egg whites until just incorporated.
3. Cook the waffles according to manufacturer's instructions until golden brown.

A Down Week

It's been three weeks since Erik's injury and I think this last week was the hardest for everyone.

Erik got a slight obstruction (probably caused by the pain meds) and spent three days with severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, constipation (yes, at the same time!), and throwing up.  Of course during this time, he couldn't keep anything down, so therefore wasn't taking anything for the pain.  Just based on the sounds of his moans and groans and the uncomfortableness I could see in his face, his pain level was pretty severe.  Luckily he is feeling much better now and is slowly introducing foods and drinks back into his diet.  His xrays on Wednesday showed that the break is pretty stable and so he won't have to see the ortho again for another month.

I hit a point this week of exhaustion and depression.  When the injury first happened, it was nice to have Erik home from work for more than a few hours at a time!  It was so nice to have adult conversations during the day and to have someone here to look after the kids if I needed to run an errand.  However, as this week approached,  I realized just how hard it is to have the hubster home all the time!  Not only are my routines of cooking and cleaning and taking care of the kids out of control (which is super stressful for me), but having another person in the house needing my attention and care has been hard.  Erik is in a ton of pain and it's hard to keep things positive and fun when I know he's suffering and always needing the kids to be quiet or to stop jumping around near him.  He does a lot of sleeping during the day and then is awake half the night.  It's hard to keep everyone calm and quiet during the day and it's hard for me to sleep with him up at night.

Maida and Skogen told me this week that they don't like how they can't play and jump on Daddy anymore and that they are sad and worried that they will never have their old Daddy back.  It was heartbreaking to hear how they are comprehending everything going on.  I hope that I was able to appropriately explain to them what is going on and I'm really hoping this next week will be a time of finding other fun things they can do with Daddy to make this time special, too.

I found these pictures on my camera this morning of the ski race before the night of the race when Erik was injured.  Maida, Skogen, and Klaasen are their Daddy's biggest fans and love to watch him race.  They can't wait until they can race with him, too!

Eating snow at the bottom of the race course

Daddy and another ski racer racing Hanna pulling Skogen, Maida, and Klaasen on their sled

Daddy playing with the kids between his first and second runs

Daddy and the other racers off to do their second run

With their favorite racer in the lodge after the race, waiting on the race results

Skogen in Daddy's goggles and helmet

Hanging out in the lodge

Maida in Daddy's goggles and helmet

Daddy and Nat, another racer, reviewing the results of the race

Another update on Erik - still waiting for good news!

First blog post ever. Might be my last, too - we'll see how it goes...

Before anything else, I have to say THANK YOU so much for all the prayers and support - emotionally, spiritually, and physically - that you all have given us over these past 2 weeks! We really do have some pretty amazing friends!

So, for an update on my injuries, we'll start with diagnoses.

1. Complete fracture of the acromion, which is part of the scapula (or shoulder blade).

2. Avulsion fracture of the clavicle (or collar bone), which means a ligament that attaches the coracoid part of the scapula to the clavicle was disrupted and yanked off a chunk of bone on the underside of the clavicle.

3. Separated shoulder (coracoclavicular).

4. Neuropraxia, which is definitely the worst part since the bone issues will heal up and aren't really that big of a deal, relatively speaking. Neuropraxia is an injury to the nerves, in this case likely a stretching injury, that should heal but can take many months. There is a complex weaving together of nerves between your neck and shoulder called the brachial plexus and part of it called the posterior cord is what is likely injured, specifically the axillary and radial nerves and possibly a couple others (e.g. suprascapular nerve).

At this point, I still have absolutely no firing of my deltoid or triceps muscles and there are some other smaller muscles, but these are the main players. This means I cannot abduct, flex, extend, or externally rotate my left shoulder, nor can I extend my elbow. In other words, I basically still have no movement at my shoulder at all (can't hold my arm out away from my body, forward, or backward) and can't straighten my arm without the help of gravity. As you can imagine, this is quite worrisome.

This neuropraxia can also happen to infants when they are being delivered through the pelvis when something called shoulder dystocia occurs and the anterior shoulder gets stuck behind the mother's pubic bone.  This stretching of the shoulder and neck is the same mechanism of injury and typically gets better with time.  It is also commonly seen in football players when they come down on their head and neck or with a hard collision.

On top of this, it still hurts! Really, that should be expected.

I think the main reason Kara wanted me to update the blog, other than to just update the blog, was to post some pictures of a few of the x-rays. I am amazed at how many x-rays I've had! I think we've met our deductible this year just with the radiology department alone! I've been seen by multiple specialists and the orthopedic surgeon who has focused on the bones (vs. the other ortho guys focused on the nerves and hands) has been fantastic. He has recommended surgically fixing the scapular fracture with internal fixation (i.e. plate and screws), but I'm hesitant and after obtaining a few more pictures, including a CT scan with 3D reconstruction, he agreed to let my body try fixing it by itself. He still thought surgery was the best bet, and only gave it 50:50 chance of healing without eventually needing surgery, but since I'm going to be in a sling for at least the next month anyway, I'm going to give it a try.

I'm getting a repeat x-ray on Wednesday this week followed by another ortho appointment to ensure that there hasn't been interval displacement of the distal fracture fragment and the EMG that's scheduled for March 7th and the follow up appointment with the brachial plexus clinic that same day.

Again, we are so incredibly thankful for all the support we have from our friends and family and for now, we've been prescribed a generous portion of time and copious amounts of prayer.

You can click on these pics to make them bigger.  Look closely and you'll see the fracture line through the acromion.

There is a horizontal lucency below the head of the humerus.  That's the acromion fracture.

3D reconstruction of scapula, looking from the front.  There is a small fragment of bone under the clavicle, as well.

3D reconstruction of scapula, looking from the back at an angle.

3D reconstruction of scapula, looking from the top downward at a slight angle from the front.

3D reconstruction of scapula, looking from the top downward at a slight angle from the back.

The scene of the crime.  Slid under the ribbon and missed the 4" x 4" posts - thought I was lucky, until SMACK!  There was no padding when I crashed - this was one week later.  This week they actually had a fence up instead of the ribbon.

The culprit!  The winner...

God-Following Adults

Within the first two minutes of being awake, Skogen punched his brother in the face and gave him a bloody nose.  The events of the day followed suit.  Yesterday was not Skogen's best day.  We ended it with a fight to get to bed and a protest which included him sleeping upside down in his bed, which, after the day we had, I chose not to battle.  After he finally gave up and fell asleep, I couldn't stop talking about the day we had.  He is the most stubborn, independent, persistent, daring, but loving and sweet little boy I have ever known. :)  He loves to challenge us and test us, always keeping us on our toes.  I was very inspired when I read this article again this morning and thought I'd share it below...

(from Christmas)

This was taken from Lesa TerKeurst's blog.  She has lots of great postings.  You should check it out!

I don’t want to raise a good child

My daughter, Hope, is a senior this year.  And she decided her senior year should be adventurous and a little out of the “normal” box.  A lot out of the box actually.

She withdrew from traditional school.  Applied with the state to homeschool. Enrolled in on-line college courses that would allow her to get both high school and college credit simultaneously. And planned to spend the month of January serving in Nicaragua doing missions.

This didn’t surprise me really.  Because Hope has always liked charting her own course.

When she was really little I was scared to death I was the world’s worst mom, because Hope was never one to be contained.  And I honestly thought all her extra tenacity was a sign of my poor mothering.

One day I took her to the mall to meet several of my friends with toddlers to grab lunch.  All of their kids sat quietly eating cheerios in their strollers.  They shined their halos and quoted Bible verses and used tissues to wipe their snot.

Not Hope.

She was infuriated by my insistence she stay in her stroller.  So, when I turned away for a split second to place our lunch order, she wiggled free.  She stripped off all her clothes.  She ran across the food court.  And jumped in the fountain in the center of the mall.

Really nothing makes the mother of a toddler feel more incapable than seeing her naked child splashing in the mall fountain.  Except maybe that toddler refusing to get out and said mother having to also get into the fountain.

I cried all the way home.

Not because of what she’d done that day.  But rather because of how she was everyday.   So determined.  So independent.  So insistent.

I would beg God to show me how to raise a good child. One that stayed in her stroller.  One that other people would comment about how wonderfully behaved she was.  One that made me look good.

But God seemed so slow to answer those prayers.  So, over the years, I changed my prayer.  ”God help me to raise Hope to be who you want her to be.”  Emphasis on, “God HELP ME!”

I think I changed my prayers for her because God started to change my heart.  I started sensing He had a different plan in mind for my mothering of Hope.

Maybe God’s goal wasn’t for me to raise a good rule following child.  God’s goal was for me to raise a God-following adult.  An adult just determined and independent and insistent enough to fulfill a purpose He had in mind all along.

I don’t know what mama needs to hear this today.  But let me encourage you from the bottom of my heart with 3 simple mothering perspectives you must hang on to:

1.  Don’t take too much credit for their good.

2.  Don’t take too much credit for their bad.

3.  Don’t try to raise a good child.  Raise a God-following adult.

And all the mamas of fountain dancing children said, “Amen!”