Positivity

I learn so much from my children. I wanted to share some things that Evan has said that teach me to think more positively about things in my life.

Remember when we went to SMA camp in August? Well when we came back and went to church on Sunday Evan was talking to our Bishop. I was coaxing Evan along in the conversation. This is what happened next.

Me: "Evan tell Bishop Blaszczyk what everyone at camp had." (I am thinking that he will say they all had SMA, or they all had wheelchairs)

Evan: "FLASHLIGHTS!!"

Then last week the Muscular Dystrophy camp came up in conversation. I decided to try it again and again coaxed him into the conversation. I said

Me: "Evan, do you remember when we went to the Muscular Dystrophy Camp in Edmonton? "

Evan: "OH YA!!! Everyone had marmayos (marshmallows) and we all did the obstacle course!!!!"

This little boy of mine is so positive about his life. He has so many obstacles that he has to deal with both physically and emotionally. It isn't that Evan is unaware of his condition. He fully comprehends what his limitations are. Evan just doesn't dwell on his disadvantages, he chooses to see the light in his life.

Next time I am feeling down about things in my life I am just going to remember.......

"FLASHLIGHTS!!"

JUSTIN

What can I say about my husband .......

He is literally and undoubtedly one of the BEST people I have EVER met ... period!

I love you honey

Happy Birthday

popularity

"Popularity is the quality of being well-liked or common, or having a high social status."

How is it that people become popular? This is something that I have pondered many times in my life. The reason is that I have two siblings that were extremely popular in high school. I was never popular in high school, and have lived most of my life in my own level of anonymity (not popular, not unpopular). There was one month, while I was on tour, in my undergraduate degree that I was extremely popular. It was FUN! Now I have a very healthy self esteem. I can honestly say that popularity really doesn't mean anything to me, but it really was fun and I will never forget that month of popularity in my life.

The reason I am thinking about this right now is because of my sister, Alycia. She is a vibrant person, she is beautiful, she is enchanting, she is smart, and she feels very intensely. She is one of the popular ones. She started a blog when she got married and now every time she posts she gets a gazillion comments (I have seen 45 comments before). I thought it was probably people that she knew and then I found out that many of them are people who just happen upon her blog.

I would be lying if I didn't admit that I envy her comment numbers, but that is not the reason that I write my blog. I would write it if I never had any readers other that my husband.

Anyways, I am just curious about how come some people are naturally popular.

Any comments ......... (hint hint ;-)

Our week at Childrens

Our week at the Children's Hospital

(it is late so I hope all of this makes sense, and I don't know why everything is centered)

Last week Landon had surgery. Since about a month old Landon has had something called a "buried penis". Now essentially what this means is that the fat pad above his penis was too large and "sucks" in the penis so it appears inverted. The shaft of his penis was twisted and his testicles hadn't dropped yet. We fixed all of those things at the same time.

I did take before and after pictures, but I will NOT be posting them :-)

I was so impressed with Landon. He was a gem before surgery. He didn't complain about not having food or drink. Landon made several friends (nurses AND patients) while walking the halls. I think he just looked unbelievably adorable in his hospital PJ's

I got to take him into the operating room and that is when he totally freaked out!! It took three of us to hold him down and get the mask on his face. Yes I cried when they put him under.

His surgery lasted just over an hour and I was so impressed with his surgeon. He gave me so much information about what he did and how it went. While I was waiting for Landon to wake up I was walking the halls and ran into my friends daughter. It was so random and unexpected to run into my friend and I am grateful because we talked until I got the page that Landon was awake. I went back to my baby's room and they rolled him in 5 minutes later.

It was rather shocking to open his diaper and actually see the parts that are supposed to be there. I may have even exclaimed "It's a Boy!" to our nurse. (she didn't laugh) My favorite part is that he was wearing an adult diaper. He had glue on his penis and they needed it to be tented. This thing was HUGE and I am so glad that I got pictures of it.

While Landon was in surgery I got him a special stuffy and luckily HE LOVES IT!!!!

YEAH!

He is healing very well.

beforehand

at one of the play stations

right before we went into the operating room

just after waking up

playtime after wards, he still couldn't feel his legs at this point (he had an epidural)

THE DIAPER

at home with his new stuffy

The day Landon was getting his surgery Evan was at home with his Auntie and he had complained a little about his ear. That night he didn't sleep very well (neither did Landon for obvious reasons) so the next day I took him into the doctors office and sure enough he did have an ear infection.

The next day he didn't eat very much and was constantly coughing. It didn't matter what we did he just couldn't shake it. Finally I called the Children's hospital and I took him to the ER that night. They were wonderful and even our Respirologist came to check on him. He warned me that they would probably want to admit him if he wasn't significantly improved.

(Justin said that I wasn't allowed to write an angry blog so here is the short version of what happened next)

They admitted him and this is where all of our problems started.

1) The doctors on the unit wouldn't listen to me. I was fighting with the doctors about everything! They didn't even know what SMA is (didn't know it existed) and were treating him as a "typical" child, which he is not!

2) I kept fighting with them on other issues (like food) that I knew he needed and they weren't giving him because it was "protocol". They refused to call our doctors that understand SMA and get a second opinion from them. Finally 2 hours later they called them and guess who was right about the food??? ME!!!

3)Our Respirologist was an hour and a half late coming to see us.

4) Evan was good enough to go home (where he would heal faster and I have handled him at this stage so many times) by 10-12noon on Saturday. They kept him until 9PM because of the way THEY had treated him. It was because they didn't listen to me. Everything they did in the 13 extra hours we were there I could have easily done at home (and already knew to do). I would have just taken him home and walked out of the hospital (he really needed to go home) except that we are going to have this Respirologist for the next 15 years and I need him to know that we respect him. This was not the time to be burning bridges. He suggested we stay (to cover the doctors butts) but he KNOWS that I was livid about it.

When we have our next appointment with our Respirologist I will be having a very important conversation with him about how our experience was and will be insisting that Evan have standing orders at the hospital so that this does not happen again. It will NOT happen again.

I am all for Evan being in the hospital when he needs to be, but DO NOT keep us there if he doesn't.

(picture of Evan about 2AM in the ER ... he was WIRED!)

I guess it did come out sounding angry ... sorry Justin!

Evan got 3 hours of interrupted sleep in 24 hours and I got 0 sleep in 24 hours. It is times like these that I am grateful for a husband who let me sleep in on daylight savings and take a nap the same day to try and catch up!!! What a wonderful man!

Halloween Fun

I LOVE Halloween!!! I really do! It is on par with Christmas for me. So here are the pictures of our Halloween adventures!

Ward Trunk or Treat a week before Halloween

-on the way to the party Evan says, "Mama, I love my pirate ship so much. My friends is going to be sooo jealous!"
-Landon was enthralled with the sugar free for all
-Justin's costume didn't come in on time so he had to recycle an older one, but in a way it worked. I was a troubled teenager and Justin was a Pimp. Probably not the most appropriate scenario for a church party, but what can you do?
-We invited some of our friends (remember my double??). Evan and Nevan had a great time together.

this was probably my favorite costume of the night. Cruella and her dalmatian!

Do you see my boots????? I found them at a thrift store and HAD to form an outfit around it. Evan told me that my eye make up was really cool, but scary.

Office Halloween party on Oct. 30

-another costume hiccup!! The party was a superhero themed party. I was trying to not spend money and planned to use pieces we had in our costume box. I was going to go as Cat woman. Justin gave the parts I needed for my costume to his dad (even though we had talked about it). So an and a half before the party starts I am running around frantic and I ask him if he has seen it, this is when he realizes his mistake.

Long story short ... I am pretty incredible!!! I ran to wally world and within an hour had found pieces to put together with items I already owned and made a costume to match Justin. I hate to admit it, but I think I like it better than the original plan. Yes I had to spend a little bit of money, but it wasn't much and it turned out really well. (and there were about 7 other Cat Women there so that made it even better) I like this combination that it just might have to be resurrected in the coming years.

sisters

my in-laws

October 31, 2010

With Halloween being on a Sunday I couldn't let the day go by unnoticed.
-Yes I did wear my pumpkin shirt to church and yes I did direct the choir while wearing it.
-Yes I did put orange hair spray in my boys hair to commemorate the day
-Yes I had so much fun putting my boys in orange church clothes.

Lanny and Mark came into town and helped take the boys out to our immediate neighbors and family members. I stayed home and enjoyed passing out the candy. What a great day.

Goodnight!

Oh Man!

I am very nervous about the information we may find out today. We were running along doing the errands for today, after a very rough morning that consisted of 2 children breaking down, Evan outright refusing to eat or drink anything and a full blown Mommy melt down. You know the kinds where you feel like you are not good enough and your children are suffering because of you. (I should explain that my Mommy melt down stems from the 6 month check up on the phone with Evan's new dietitian this week, basically telling me that he is still not growing the way they would like him to and that he isn't getting enough Calcium, food, etc.)

We knew that the tire was low and that was on our list of errands to run today. We grabbed a quick lunch to feed the kids and made our way to the air pump to fill the tire so we could make it to the tire place. Several things happened at this point.

1) the car started shaking
2) there was a horrible grinding sound coming from that side
3) we continue to the pump because we have no other option
4) there is a GIANT hole in the side of our VERY flat tire
5) we jack the car up to put the donut on
6) the car falls off of the donut and lands directly on the brake disc (NOT GOOD)
7) we finally get the donut on and have to fill it with air
8) THE RAMP WON"T WORK!!!!!!!!!

Accessible vans are expensive and I am terrified that the alignment got knocked out of whack, which is why the ramp won't come out. I have a feeling this is going to be a VERY expensive fix!
Oh and I ripped my nail down below the skin line. I sure hope that this day improves some! We are going to a halloween party tonight so that should be fun.

some things that I am definitely thankful for today......

1) Justin was with me when the tire fiasco occured

2) the car didn't land on my husband

those are two very big things!!!

The real things in life

So I know that between illness, weather, and schedule my blog has been really dull lately. I promise I will actually post pictures in the next update but for now I am going to record the things in life that I really don't want to forget. My kiddos!!!

Evan:
This little kid cracks me up all the time! He seriously is a comedian in a tiny body. It surprises me sometimes the sense of humor he has at 3 years old. (I can't believe he is three!!!)

Both of the boys have had fevers last night and today. I was checking Evan and he says: "I'm hot, like there is a fire in my arm." (good analogy Bud)

I give Evan decisions all the time. (example: eat your lunch OR take a nap immediately) Apparently Evan has started to pick up on this because when he doesn't like what I am doing he will get this really stern look on his face and give me a choice. It is usually pretty comical, like the decision to take him into the sketchy 7-11 with Justin at 10PM OR drive home (3.5 hours away). Yesterday's was especially hysterical. Sometimes Evan just doesn't want to work as hard as he needs to for simple tasks. He would rather I spoon feed him every meal because it is easier to not tire out his muscles doing it. I had told him several times that he is a big boy and he needed to feed himself. He puts on the most serious face I have seen yet and says to me. " Mama, are you listening to me? You need to look in my eyes and listen to me right now. You have two choices, help me eat OR take me upstairs to watch a movie. It is your decision, you choose. (pause with his hand on his hip while I am unsuccessfully trying not to giggle) Which is it Mama, help me eat or movie." How could I not help him eat that meal ... it was too cute for me to stand.

We went to the Zoo on the weekend and Evan pulled Justin aside to show him the "cockle doodle doo chicken"

Tonight I was talking to Evan about how to pray. I suggested he think of 2 things that he can thank God for and 2 things he can ask God for. This was his prayer tonight:

"thank thee for my fish tank
thank thee for my night night
please bless me to get more fish tanks and more fish"

We just had to switch out the boys closets because it got to that point that I realized both of them were preparing for a flood and wearing 3/4 length sleeves in this freezing cold weather we are having. Evan ended up with 3 pairs of pants and two of them are church pants. We got him a whole new ward robe and I do have to say that he looks so dapper in clothes that fit and I can't remember when he actually turned into a little boy instead of my baby.

Landon:
While Landon has also crossed into a new size and is close to catching up to Evan the moose is still my baby. I love his rolls, I love his smile, and his personality is something else! I am NOT worried about Landon succumbing to peer pressure! Nobody will be able to make that child do anything that he doesn't want to. I AM positive that Landon will be the leader. Whether he leads others for good or evil is yet to be determined :-) (I do say this with all the love a mother can have for a son).

Landon is talking up a storm lately. Here are the first Landon-isms of my blog!

"Mummumumumumum": Landon sounds like a broken record when he is calling us or trying to get our attention. He uses the term universally for both Justin and I. What is really funny is when we continually try and to teach Landon to say Daddy. We point to Justin and say "Daddy this is Daddy". Landon then looks at us (with a face that could rival "puss in boots") and points to Justin and says: "Mum" "Mum" someday he will get it.

Water - "waller waller waller" (the broken record thing is common with him)
Fish- "dish"
Horse- "hos"

When he sees a picture of a dog he starts "woofing"

Landon is still such a brute! He is constantly bruised!! He ran into the corner of the table today (a common occurrence) and just shook it off. He doesn't ever walk, he constantly runs. No wonder I'm tired!