Logan's 7th Birthday

My Sweet Logan turned 7 years old last Friday. If you don't know Logan, you are truly missing out. He is such a character, so unique and special. He has a kind heart and such a funny sense of humor. He is constantly making us laugh and we are so blessed to have him in our family.

For his birthday this year we went to Maxie's and had pizza and salad for dinner with our family and Grandma, Lisa and his cousins. My mom made the cutest cupcakes for him!! (if I ever find my card reader I'll get pictures uploaded.This was before I got my new camera so I only had my cell phone to take pictures with). They were crazy little monsters with yummy ganache eyes and tongues that stuck out. They were so adorable and delicious! Logan got a Nintendo DS for his birthday this year. He has been wanting one for soooo long. I may only see the top of his head now for a long time. We have to limit his time on it or he'd play till he went blind. We had to go to Boise on Monday for doctor appointments so we took them to Pojo's as part of his birthday present and they all got to play the games. They had a blast.

A Couple Conversations With Logan

Me: Logan, what do you want for your birthday?

Logan: Some of those Playmobile dudes. Like 2 or 4 of them. How much do they cost?

Me: They are all different prices, just depends on what you want.

Logan: Well, if they are like $1 each, then I want 2 of them. And if they are like 1 cent each, then I want 4. If they are like $14.99, then I only want one.


************************************************************************************
Me: Where did my old Logan go? The one that was happy and being a big helper?

Logan: He went to the market.

Me: When will he be back cuz I like him better than this whiny Logan.

Logan: At about 2:30.

Me: Let me know when he gets here.

Logan: He went to Boise...................................and he took your car.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Last week I met with Alexis and Logan's teachers. Alexis has straight A's. She is excelling in every subject. She is an excellent student. We received a letter from the school not too long ago saying they were going to test her for the Talented and Gifted program. She said she did the testing but we haven't heard any results yet. She enjoys school and she really likes her teacher. They are a really good match.

Next was Logan's conference. Logan is doing very well in school too. He is reading 57 words a minute which equates to an end of 2nd grade level (he's in 1st grade). He loves to read and has really picked it up so fast. We are so pleased! He is doing pretty well in math but needs a little improvement so we continue to work on it at home.

The teacher then asked me a question about a "sensitive matter". "Does Logan wear underwear?" she asked. Oh boy! No. The answer is no. That child just doesn't like underwear and never wears it. Apparently there have been some "incidents" on the tire swing at recess and she expressed that she didn't want Logan to get teased. Holy cow. OK...point taken...he now wears underwear everyday. :)

She also mentioned his vision and expressed concern about him seeing the board. I took him in for an eye exam and found out that Logan has amblyopia, an astigmatism in both eyes and is far-sighted. Holy cow!!! Poor kid. Turns out that because his vision is slightly better in his left eye, his brain chooses to use that eye more so his right eye kinda turns in at times. I'm surprised that considering his far-sightedness, that he reads so well! The doctor referred us to the pediatric opthamologist in Boise for follow-up.

I have also scheduled appointments with her for Brooklyn and Mady as well. When Brooklyn saw her for her tear duct surgery when she was 10 months old, the doctor said she was near-sighted and should be re-checked at age 2. OOPS! How about age 4?

As for Mady, since birth she has had this weird thing where her eyes, both of them, will sort of drift over to the side and then back again. I have noticed that it doesn't happen as much now as it did when she was a baby but they seem to do it more when she is tired. I mentioned this to the doctor and he said that sometimes it can be congenital and can often affect their vision. So, needless to say, on May 10th we are having one big family appointment with the pediatric opthamologist and we'll keep our fingers crossed for good news!

Grandma Bagley

A few weeks ago my grandma Bagley got sick again. She has been so healthy lately. Mom and Debbie took her to the Emergency Room one evening and they admitted her. For some reason her heart was in A-fib and her heart rate was way too high. She had a fever and they suspected possibly pneumonia and a kidney infection. They put her on IV antibiotics but still for days her heart rate remained in the 13o's. Way too high. After about 3 days of antibiotics her heart rate slowed down to a normal rate. She began to feel better and had talked the doctor into letting her go to my mom's house rather than the nursing home for a few days of rehab until she was ready to go back home. I stopped in to her room the morning she was to be discharged as I was leaving work. She was laughing and joking with me and the nurse and seemed close to her normal self. I kissed her goodbye and went to Smiths with my mom and dad. While we were shopping my aunt Jean called from the hospital and said that grandma had had a stroke while she was showering. Mom and dad rushed to the hospital but I stayed home with my kids. I was exhausted from working all night and very worried about my grandma. She was just fine! I had seen her just a couple hours before and she was fine! I sat home and cried all day.

Finally, when Bryan got home I went to the hospital. Oh my goodness, it was so hard to see her that way. She had slept most of the day but awoke just before I got there as the neurologist was examining her. According to him and the MRI, she had 3 small clots that came from her heart. He said they really hadn't done much damage but they affected her optic nerve. He was confident that she would recover quite well physically, but she may be blind in her right eye and that she would have difficulty moving her eyes.

That evening she just lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. She didn't try to talk or move and her eyes weren't lined up. Oh my gosh. I thought I had cried all I could cry but it was soooo difficult to see her like this. It just broke my heart. We would talk to her and she would either blink or sort of half smile in response but that was it.


The next day my parents and I went to the hospital to visit her. As we walked down the hall to her room, I saw her sitting in the chair next to the bed and she saw me and smiled!!! I was so excited! She had walked down the hall and was sitting and starting to talk a little, although her speech was a little slurred. Her eyes were lined up and she said she didn't see double and could move them all around. What a relief!! She had no recollection of the previous day's event but today was a huge improvement!!

Unfortunately the doctor insisted that she go to the nursing home for rehab before she returned home. Even though she hates that place, he said she would only have to stay for 2-3 weeks just until she was strong enough to go home.

She has been at the nursing home for a week now. She works very hard in physical therapy because she wants to make sure she gets to leave that place! Every day she seems a little more like herself. It is so nice to see her making a recovery from all of this. I was so worried about her. My grandma has lived 86 wonderful years and although she is anxious to be with my grandpa again, it is obvious that Heavenly Father is not ready for her to return just quite yet. I feel so blessed to have her here, and I am thankful for each day that we have to spend with her.

Spring Break 2010

Pretend that the child in the picture belongs to me....or that I even know this kid. Humor me. I have once again lost the charger to my camera battery and so I haven't taken any pictures for about a month and it's killing me. Time to break down and buy another charger!! So until then, bear with me and the lack of personal photos!

This year for Spring Break, Bryan had to work :( he couldn't get any time off so we drove up to Boise on his day off. We tried to make the most of it since it was only going to be one day. We rented a nice, brand new Suburban. I know, it's only a 2 hour drive, but let me tell you it was so nice! We had lots of room, Mady LOVED the DVD player, and it was clean!!! Bryan fell in love with it but I tried to not let myself get attached because as much as I loved it, I surely didn't want to pay for one!

We promised the kids we could go to Chuck E Cheese. They had never been there before and they were very excited. I hadn't been there in ages! They all had a blast. Logan was in heaven surrounded by video games and Alexis was only playing the games that gave her tickets because she wanted to make sure that she got more tickets than Logan. Brooklyn and Mady also had a great time. Mady walked around to all the tables and stole the hot pepper shaker and when we took them from her she collapsed to the floor and pouted (it's pretty cute). The pizza is not very good but the games were fun. Logan wants to go back for his birthday next month.

After Chuck E Cheese, we went to the mall and did some shopping (my favorite part!) and then we went to Build a Bear. The kids all got new BAB animals from Santa so we let them go pick out an outfit for their bear. They had a blast. Who knew accessorizing your animal would be such a difficult decision?? After an exhausting day of shopping we ate at Red Robin and came home. Not the most exciting Spring Break, but a good time was had by all none the less!

Insomnia

It's 4 am and I can't sleep. This has pretty much become my reality. I worked last night, came home and slept almost 5 (interrupted) hours....and yet I can't sleep tonight. I sorted coupons for hours....played facebook games....watched a movie....read the newspaper....read some blogs....and now here I sit, listening to the gentle sounds of my husband soundly sleeping next to me and the music from the DVD's main menu (I'm too lazy to get up and turn it off).

Working two night shifts a week has really sent my body into a weird pattern that even IT doesn't understand. I want to be awake all night long and sleep all day. Unfortunately, my children tend to disagree. It does however give me time to think and realize, I have completely neglected my family blog!!! Man how life just flies by! Perhaps I'll use this early, early morning and my inability to sleep in a positive way and update my blog!!! :0)

Words To Live By

It has been a rough couple of weeks for me. There is not really any explanation for it, I just haven't been my usual,happy self. It's starting to wear on me. I hate feeling this way but I don't know how to fix it. I was happy to read my friend Sarah's blog and see this post on "words to live by." I liked it so much, I copied it. I hope you don't mind Sarah, but I need to remind myself of some of these things more often and I thought this would be a great place to look back on it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Words to live by
HANDBOOK 2010


Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants. 4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others... You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do.. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously.. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.