Weekly Update 6-13-2012

Loading the truck for the storage unit

 On our way to see the Solar Eclipse in Cedar City

 This was the first time we saw the moon covering the son that day. hehe

 Looking through our protective glasses

 The Birthday Boy!

 Nate's Biography Report

 Michael's Birthday party

 Look at all the extra cake!

 Connor, the life of the party!

 The after party party. Before going to dinner at Red Robin

 Pack meeting and Arrow of Light

 Jake found his nose!

 Work, work, work...

 Last day of Miss Wendy's Preschool

Tradition: Eating caramel apples after the last day of school

 Nate couldn't just have a plain old tissue box, so he made it a statement piece!

 Jake took the F in FAMILY!

 Daniel and Company

 Backyard dinner

 I'm a big boy now!

I think I have about a month to catch up on. I hope I do it justice!

Connor – We had a party for Michael’s Birthday in the Russell’s backyard. I had rented a bounce house and planned the party for 2 hours. About 45 minutes in, the kids started to get bored. We did presents and cake and then, I had nothing else planned. I figured a bounce house would be enough! Luckily Connor came and saved the day. He was great with the kids and let them chase him around and climb all over him. He really saved the day! Connor has been going through some “Growing pains”. He has been learning a lot of valuable lessons that have involved more people than we would like. He was not happy at all when he found out that his dad would be his new scout leader. He has been sneaking food from the storage room and eating it in his room, several times. He was even sneaking into his brothers’ room to get on the itouch that he made his brother give him $120 for. He had been pretty pleasant with John and I over all, but the things he was putting in his journal were so negative and then he was sending them to his grandparent on their mission, worrying them! Connor hadn’t realize what he was doing and felt really bad for causing so much trouble. He apologized and told me that I really wasn’t that bad. Haha   The last day of school came and went. Connor got a job mowing lawns to earn money for High Adventure Camp. Last Friday he attended a Youth temple day and helped a friend with his Eagle project on Saturday. Sunday he was asked to be Abednego in a little primary program and bare his testimony about the word of Wisdom. Connor is an amazing kid and this teenager stuff is new for all of us.

Nathan – Nathan did such a wonderful job on his Biography report on Jim Henson. On his own he did his poster, asked the library if he could borrow puppets, and gathered up all the things he needed for the presentation. Nathan even kept to the schedule and only had one late night of dad yelling at him. Haha This month Nathan received his Arrow of Light award and the religious knot. He moved on from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and was able to be welcomed into the pack by his older brother. It was really cool. Those two have really formed a great relationship and I love to see them enjoy each other’s company. Connor and Nathan had a rough week a few weeks ago. We had put a new password on the ipod so that Connor couldn’t sneak in and use it without asking. We told Nate not to let Connor know what it was, but with Connor’s persuasion and Nathan’s desire to please, that only lasted a day. It ended with John taking the Ipod away indefinitely and Connor returning half the money to Nate and half to us. It was an expensive lesson to learn and I feel bad for both of them.

Matthew – Matt had his final soccer game and had been doing really well since John bribed him with a quarter every time he would kick the ball. Well, Matt was in the right place at the right time and saved the ball from going into the goal. Unfortunately, it was his face that stopped the ball! It hit so hard and I felt really bad, but couldn’t help but laugh too. He was a great sport and got back into the game. Not surprisingly, this will be his first and last year playing soccer. Matthew had his Year in review program at school where they sang songs about all the things they learned in 2^nd grade. It was a cute program and I am glad I was able to see it.

Michael – Michael celebrated his 4^th Birthday and had his first Birthday party May 21st. We spent the morning running errands and Michael wore a shirt that said “Birthday boy”. He loved when someone would notice and would announce to those that didn’t that it was his Birthday. It was pretty funny. Michael’s party was crazy! I sent Karen a text asking her how good of friends we were. She replied, “Pretty good, but now I am nervous!” I asked if I could “borrow” her yard for Michaels’ party and she graciously agreed. We invited several little boys and a few girls from church and preschool. I rented a bounce house and had watermelon and carrots to snack on and did cake and ice cream. Michael got to pick out everything from the “cars” invitation, the monster truck bounce house and dinosaur cake. It was crazy and fun and I will never do that again! I couldn’t have done it without the help of John and Wendy (my friend and Michael’s preschool teacher). The next day I brought treats to Michael’s school and he was spotlighted in front of his friends. One of his friends that he keeps talking about at school is laughing kid. His name is Jaden, but Michael has been calling him laughing kid for the whole year. I guess Jaden tried to take one of his transformers that Michael brought for show and tell and Jaden laughed about it. Jaden came to his party and even after being told over and over that “his name is Jaden”, Michael was calling him laughing kid at school the next day.

Jacob – Well, Jakey found his nose. One day I looked over at him and he was twisting his finger back and forth in his nose. He thought he was SO funny! We have a long running joke in our family and it involves the letters “F A M I L Y” that I have as a decoration in the house. The first time was when Connor knocked over one of the letters and said, “I just knocked over the “F” in FAMILY! This month Jake took one of the letters and wouldn’t you know, Jacob took the “f” in family!  Jacob had his 18 month checkup last week.  Here are his stats; Height: 32in 41%, weight: 26.6lbs. 60%, head circ: 49cm 81% (love those big heads) Jakey is getting so big, he is eating better and trying to communicate his needs. The other day John scolded Jake for spilling his milk, so Jake went over to the oven, got the towel and brought it over to the spill and cleaned it up. He loves family pray and will fold his arms and play musical chairs on every ones lap as the prayer is said. 

Jamie – We had a Yard sale a few Saturdays ago and got rid of quite a few things. We had decided to move Michael back upstairs and finally caved in and got a storage unit. I always said that if we ever had to get a storage unit, then we had too much stuff. Problem is, we just have a few keepsakes that we are not willing to part with but have no room for at in this house.  I am also not willing to buy a new house right now, so, we have a storage unit. I have done a little bit of work for John Chapman this last month to make some money for the fun clothes shopping I’ve done and for Father’s day. I started taking Zumba classes at church and have been working on the quilt for my niece Lindsey’s baby. I had the Bone Marrow Biopsy, and have started to finish my Saturday Sampler quilt that has been so much fun to work on this past year.

John – When John found out that the Solar Eclipse would be in Cedar City, he planned a trip down to see it. He found a great park; we packed food and our baseball mitts and Frisbee and made memories that will last a lifetime. We had the Benich family night at Neptune Park in Saratoga Springs. John was given a new calling as the Varsity Scout leader (age 14) and is excited to work with Connor and the other boys his age. They get to go off to a really fun “campout” next week and I am just grateful they will have this opportunity to spend this time together. For Sunday dinner we did a Backyard campfire and the kids roasted hotdogs and we all made s’mores. It was a lot of fun.

I think that about wraps it up.

BTW, If you read this WHOLE thing and are not a grandparent, you ROCK! xoxo

Results

I did get a call back from the doctors office today. The bone marrow looks great, the only thing they found was that the blood was a little iron deficient. The tech said he had never seen that before and didn't know what that means. So more answer and more questions. I asked if there was anything that I could do between now and the next time I come back in and I will hopefully get a call back tomorrow. He said my levels are not low enough to require another transfusion (although they are lower than they were when I got it) so I will just wait and see.

Bone Marrow Biopsy

Well, today went pretty good. Not quite as well as I had hoped. John and I sat in the prep room watching TV for an hour and I finally asked John to see if they forgot about me. Shortly after that the OR nurse came in to walk me through the procedure. When he said that I would be given a sedative that would keep me awake, I about burst into tears. That is NOT what I had signed up for! I wanted to be put completely out and now I was feeling scared. Well, there was nothing I could do about it so he wheeled me back and into the CAT scan/OR room. I was told to lie face down on the table and hold still as I went back and forth through the scanner. They were looking for a good spot to go in for the bone. I was saying a little prayer the whole time that I would be able to get through this and not freak out.  I was then hooked up to the IV and they started the sedation. I felt the small prick of the first needle that was to numb the site and then the needle to retrieve the bone. I started to feel pain and they gave me more of the sedative and I really don't remember much after that.
After being wheeled into recovery, where I would be for the next 2 hours, I was so tired I just slept off and on. I had some food, was given aftercare orders, and vitals were taken. When it was time to go, I was able to walk out to the car and go home. I have been home for about 4 hours and have had ice on my back, and slept most of the evening. It has been a crazy day, and the pain is tolerable. Right now I am doing well with just Tylenol and an ice pack. It is a little painful if I get up and walk around, so I am keeping pretty still. I look forward to hearing from the doctor in the next few days and getting the results for today's procedure.

So much has happened in the last month,I don't even know where to start! I think I will just give a quick update of my "health issues". After the transfusion I felt great for about 3 weeks. I felt myself going back down in the last few weeks and was just hoping it was because I was so busy with the last week of school and trying to catch up from 5 months of laying around. I went back to the oncologist for a follow up and he confirmed what I suspected. My levels had dropped and I was back to where we began. I just got off the phone with Timpanogas hospital to set up my bone marrow biopsy for this Wednesday. I have not been looking forward to this so I have requested to be sedated. Luckily my mom will be able to come out and be with the kids and John is working on getting work off to be there with me. I hear that there will be a little bit of a recovery, but nothing major. I think this means that I will finally know what is wrong and if there is a cure.

Weekly Update 5-15-2012

Sad to say I let a week get past me without doing an update. It was a very busy and very productive week too, so this will be a long one.

Connor – Connor was the first one to see The Avengers. He went with his friends on Monday and couldn’t wait for us to all see it so we could talk about it. This week he has been able to spend time hanging with friends. Connor sold itouch to Nathan this week after months of talking Nathan into saving his money and making him pay him $120. Connor is still using it to journal. He has also been saving us money by pulling his own teeth. He has pulled 2 out this week and only has 2 left. Connor is anxious to get his braces on before high school.

 Nathan – Nathan turned 11 in the 10^th and we had a great day celebrating him. He got to eat his favorite cereal for breakfast (Cinnamon toast Crunch), I brought treats to his class and we sang to him at 2:08 (the exact minute he was born). Then went he got home he opened one gift and it was his very own Ripstick. When John got home we went to Red Robin where we had dinner and opened the rest of his gifts. His big present was the whole Harry Potter series in hardback. When we got home we were all too full to make the mint Oreo shakes that I had promised, so we made them the next evening for dessert. Then Saturday Nate had his friend party. John and I took eight 11 year old boys to see the Avengers after filling them with pizza and soda. It was so fun and such an easy party. Nathan has been working on a school project for the last month and has done almost all of it without out much help from John and I. He is doing a Biography report on Jim Henson.

Matthew – I got a text from my neighbor across the street. She wanted to say how impressed she was that Matthew would wear his helmet to ride his bike across the street to see if Josh could play. I think that is great! Funny thing is, her kid did the same thing a few days later! I am pretty proud of my kids for always wearing their helmets, even when the other kids on the street don’t. For Mother’s day, Matthew made me a fun little card. My favorite page was the one that says what your mom does all day. He had drawn a picture of me on the couch, with a blanket, sleeping. I had to laugh, because frankly, that is pretty accurate!  

 

Michael – Michael is so cute went he hears something that he learned at church. There is a big crack in the cement on our porch and he asked me if Jesus did it. When I questioned him on that, he reminded me that “Jesus made the whole world” and wondered why he would put that crack there.  I also love when he mixes up what he is trying to say. The other day he was talking about the Tower of Terror and called it “The tower of scarys”. As hard as Michael is at times, he sure makes me laugh.

Jacob – Some fun things about Jake… he is 28 pounds. He says very few words but has picked up on “mine”. When he sees a dog or cat he gets very excited and makes this sound by inhaling and will pat for the sign. He also signs all done, more and eat.  

I have been feeling so good since the blood transfusion! We have been able to get so much done around the house. This week we were able to hang the cabinet above the coat hooks and I have been rearranging things that have been let go for so many months!

I had a great Mother’s day. The kids made some pretty cute things at school. I got some of my favorite treats and a new crockpot that is big enough to feed my big family. Friday I went to the Eyre Family home for a Mom retreat with my friends Mindy. It was nice to get some new ideas and inspiration into Motherhood from some pretty amazing parents! Saturday I had my last quilt class before we get to see what our quilt will look like, Matt had a soccer game and the Nate’s party. Sunday we had my parents down for dinner and John made a delicious flank steak. I also remade our suckers and I think this time they are going to work! We have another busy week coming up with a garage sale, double soccer games and driving down to see the Eclipse.

Nate's poem for his Faith in God

Poor Joseph Smith, he was confused,

He didn’t know what church to choose!

He read the scriptures by his bed.

He looked real closely and it said,

If you need knowledge, ask Heavenly Father.

Just go and do it! He won’t be bothered.

So he went to the forest and he prayed,

And saw two Men and one of them said,

“Here is my son, he’ll know what to do.”

He said, “None of the churches are right for you.

Go to the mountain, pick up the stone,

Pull out the plates and then bring them home.

Read them, then write them,

And then next step, type them.

Put them in books and bring them around,

Sell it to all of the people in town.”

So Joseph did as he was told,

And wrote the book and on the front, in gold,

It said the title of the book,

The Book of Mormon, go and look!

So now we have the book today.

Let’s celebrate! Hooray! Hooray!

Weekly Update 4-30-2012

Beautiful flowers from a beautiful friend

 Crazy kid!

 Getting ready for the race the night before

 My fun runners

 The 5k runners

Michael couldn't wait to race with the cow! 

 On your mark...

Boys with their "Piston Cups". 

 After we found Nate, he was just too quick!

 My 3rd place runner!

 Silly Head!

 John loves to work in his yard!

 Caught in the act. I hate when he "trims" the trees, and he knows it!

 Trying to add more storage. The kids are testing it out

 Making rock crystal candy

 Yep, you are being naughty!

 Baby-zilla stricks again!

Eating Mom's salsa and loving it!

We did it! We ran the Thanksgiving Point 5k and Kid Fun Run on Saturday. I was able to run just over a mile before having to walk and then ran off and on. I loved feeling the burn, but my knees were totally killing me by the end. John did great with a time of 31:18 and beat his time from last year, which was his goal for this race. He wants to be able to do a 5k in under 30 min and I am sure he will if he continues to train. We went out to dinner that night and then out for yogurt with our friends, the Ryan’s. Thursday was my Oncology appointment and all went well with that (See previous post). I implemented a “no media week” this last week and it was wonderful for me! The kids didn’t ask once if they could play and I didn’t have to hear fighting about whose turn it was, etc. For Family Night we did our treat on Sunday and made rock crystal candy that will be ready next week (if it works), then Monday Nate read us a poem that he wrote about the first vision to pass off his faith in God award. The boys then went to the Garden again to run around and get tired before coming back home to bed. We did our “Cheer you on” before the lesson and again Jakey loved it!

Connor – Connor did amazing in the 5K. His time was 27:40, pretty impressive if you ask me. We lost him right at the beginning and didn’t even get to start with him. He was pretty tired after and very sore. Connor was nice enough to start the Kids Fun Run race with Michael until John could catch up with Jake in the stroller. Connor just came up with his tooth in his hand. Connor has lost 17 teeth now and has only pulled out 2 on his own. Yep, I have pulled 7 and the dentist has pulled 8. Connor was not happy about the no media week, but I do think he enjoyed jumping on the tramp and hanging out with his brothers a little more than he would have, had he had media.

Nathan – Totally impressed with Nate at the Race. He chose to do the Fun Run (because it was cheaper, he is my little financially thoughtful boy, sometimes to a fault) and got 3^rd place in his age group! Nate got a trophy and a metal! Nathan has a biography report to do at school. It is the wax museum project one and he has chosen Jim Hensen. He has spent the last few weeks reading about him, making puppets and getting things ready for his report that is due later next month.

Matthew – Matt did great at the race and ran right along with Michael, John and Jake. They came in just over 15min, about 5 minutes after Nathan. Matt has been going to his friend Owen’s to play this week and has been practicing soccer with him. He spends a lot of time outside and is really starting to get a nice little tan.

Michael – My little racer! He ran the whole time and if there would have been an award for the 3 year olds, he would have gotten 1^st place! Unfortunately, he was in the 6 and under bracket and came in 42. Michael was so happy to get a metal, and he called it his Piston Cup! Later that night Michael told me that he needed medicine because his body hurt all over. I knew exactly how he was feeling! Michael has been asking all week about when he gets to play with the girls again (Hallee and Addie). Michael played with Keaton as much as he could this week and we even got to eat dinner with their family twice this week, once at their house and again at ours on Sunday.

Jacob – This crazy kid is so busy all the time. He loves to go down the stairs, sneak the remote or phone and push the buttons and empty the recycle bin. He still likes to sit on stuff and is now climbing onto things to sit on, like toys and boxes. He likes to watch “Signing time” and has picked up baby, all done, and of course eat! That is his favorite and will run over to the cabinet where we keep his food and sign “eat”. We found out on Sunday that Jacob loves mom’s salsa. I will have to make a double batch from now on so we can all get what we want of it! Jacob is getting very smart and will fold his arms when we say it’s time for a prayer and if I say it’s time to say nigh night everybody, he will go to the shelf that we keep the pacifiers and reach for one. He will then walk to his room, get his blanket if he can and wave. Love that kid. This is one of my favorite ages and I look forward to feeling better soon so that I can enjoy it more.

I am going in for a blood transfusion this Wednesday. I am hopeful that I can get feeling better very soon. This illness has really put a strain on my family and marriage lately and I really need to get back on my feet before everyone gives up on me completely.