Evan is sick

Evan is sick.

Poor kid got it from the baby.   I always feel nervous every time that Evan gets sick.  He struggles to breathe and I am on constant high alert because he can turn south so quickly.  It is a funny thing though because some of his breathing medications make him a little loopy.  One of the meds makes his heart race just a tad and he starts spouting some of the funniest things through his wheezing.  Even now he just woke up in the middle of a deep sleep yelling and by the time I got up the stairs he was repeating the story line from the movie we just watched and telling me how interesting it was.  Dead sleep to screaming to interesting story line and back to sleeping.  Cracks me up.

Anyway I pray that he gets better soon and doesn't take a turn for the worse, because that can happen so easily.

On a positive note I feel like I am surrounded by angels!!  Justin left for a dental conference with his Dad while Evan was getting worse.  I was starting to plan out in my head my plan of attack for getting the kids everything they need while I am a single parent when Landon ended up on his first ever sleep over (with his best friend) so that I can focus on sicko and the baby at home.  I didn't ask my friend to do this, she just offered and it feels heaven sent for today.

If that wasn't enough when I put Evan to bed his humidifier wouldn't work.  This is a VERY critical thing when Evan is sick.  He doesn't have the muscle to be able to effectively cough up the phlegm that is hanging out in his lungs (hence the breathing problems).  We do a lot of manual coughing, breathing medication, upright sleeping etc.  but the thing that helps the most through the night is the humidifier to break up some of that phlegm making it a little bit easier on him (and me) while he sleeps.  Currently I have a friend at Walmart at almost 11:00 pm buying me a new humidifier so my child can heal.

How lucky am I that I have such great friends.  I totally won the jackpot!

Ragnar 2013

For 2 years I haven't been able to run.  When we lived in Florida I had this overwhelming need to become healthy.  I had always joked that I would start running when I had a track in my backyard and when we bought our home we literally had a track in our backyard.  We backed onto a school and didn't have a fence.  We had a track and a tennis court in our backyard and when I graduated with my Masters I decided that the time had come to make use of this gift and start running.

I began slowly and then all of the friends decided to do something crazy and sign up for a race.  Most of us signed up for a half marathon and 2 of them decided to run a full marathon. In one year the majority of us went from never having run before to completing long distance races.  It was amazing and I became addicted.  I LOVE running!

I've always struggled with back issues, but when we moved to Canada 4.5 years ago something happened.  Maybe it's because Justin and I did all of the unloading of our van by ourselves, who knows, but I threw my back out worse than I had ever done before that.  I couldn't move.  I had a hard time recovering from it all and never really did.  I got it good enough to run another half marathon and shortly after that it went out again. I tried therapy after therapy after therapy and I know how to maintain my back now, but I have to be VERY careful.  If my back goes I cannot take care of my kids.  If my back goes I cannot even take Evan to the bathroom or get him out of bed.

I didn't think that I would ever be able to run again and yet lately (after years of TLC) i was starting to feel more strength in my back.  I felt like just maybe I could try running again.

Long story short .... I can run successfully again.  Maybe not quite like I used to but time will tell!

I got to take a "momcation" last month and had a whirlwind experience in good ol' California with my family.  I don't feel like I need to write out the experience since my Daddy did an excellent job of that already and he has WAY more pictures than I have so please pop over to his blog and discover .......

THE RAGNAR EXPERIENCE

2013

this was my backyard in Florida.  Do you see the track?? 

Told you I wasn't exaggerating!

I married superman

As parents Justin and I do everything in our power to make sure that Evan is included in "normal" activities.  Some people are very good at considering his special needs and meeting them, some are totally clueless.  Some think they include him but don't really.

The trickiest thing to deal with are those situations that need to be the way they are for whatever reason and to see Evan struggle with the fact that he can't do something.  Its hard to even put it into words.

Last weekend we attended the Beavers family camp for Evan's Beaver troop.  It was awesome and most of the things Evan could do.  And then ... there was the ropes course.

I am a parent of a typical child as well and so I understand the need for a physical activity like a ropes course.  While we were waiting in line Evan kept saying that he wanted to do the course by himself and it breaks my heart to tell him that this was something he couldn't do.  I am strong, but the bigger Evan gets the harder these things are on my back and I need to start bowing out of some of these activities.  It makes me sad to tell him that I am not able to do some of these things for him.  I want to always give him what he needs and when I can't it breaks my heart.

Thankfully Evan has a rockstar Daddy.  Justin is strong and fun.  My children could NOT have a better Daddy.  I don't have enough words to praise Justin properly for his skills as a father.  Like all Daddy's he forgets to do things.  The kids may or may not have matching socks (if they have socks at all), the wheelchair charger may not make it in the van, and so on, but his energy never stops.  My children are so lucky to have him. Thank you for literally being THE BEST babe!