Circumstance and Family

I had a fabulous weekend at my scrapbooking retreat. I got 35 layouts done, which was awesome. I got completely done with all the pictures I had printed for Mari (through June 0f 2008) and did my 38 week pregnancy pictures for Emmy's album. I stopped working at that point because I was getting so emotional looking at her newborn pictures that I decided to just work on those pages at home. So since my monthly dinner with my Special Kids Special Needs group was cancelled, I'm going to get started on those pages.

Here is one of the pictures in Emmy's 38 week pregnancy layout. This was the morning the girls were born....exactly 38 weeks.

Looking at those pictures of Emmy brought back memories of when Peder was born. He had pretty bad jaundice and we had to have a special light blanket here at home to help him break up the bilirubin. A nurse came and explained to me how to use it and after she left I burst into tears because I was so worried about Peder. It amazes me how much circumstance can change your perspective.

Peder at 3 days old. Wrapped in his biliblanket to get rid of the jaundice.

Emmy at 3 days, post-operatively and still on the ventilator. Look how far she's come!

My newest thing that I have been into lately is my ancestry and genealogy. I got started when I came across the name Godfrey Diekmann in my book group chapter this week. I had to figure out if I was related to him in some way (through my mom and grandpa's side of the family). I got sucked in to ancestry.com. I entered a ton of information from Jake's side of the family and did a bit of searching about different people from his past. Then last night I took the kids to visit my parents. I went meaning to ask my dad about one book that I knew he had, and I came home with three books about my ancestry and genealogy. Jake and I were up until 12:30a perusing the books and learning a bit about where my family comes from. It's really very cool and I'll probably be talking more about it in the future.

Our Day

Today I woke up crabby. VERY CRABBY. No clue why, it was just how my day was destined to start out. And until about lunch time I was really struggling to remain calm and not get frustrated with the kiddos. For some reason at lunch, it got easier. The kids were happily eating and we just enjoyed that time together.

Then nap time came and both girls woke up at 1p (after being down for less then an hour) with poopy diapers. I laid the girls back down and left them to go back to sleep. They didn't, they played and chatted and threw stuff out of their cribs. At 3p I went in and in my stern Mommy voice said, "Naughty. It is time for nigh-nigh. Lay down and go to sleep." Both girls hung their heads in shame (which is hilarious in itself, Peder NEVER did this) and seemed to be saying, "We're sorry Mommy. We will lay down and go to sleep as soon as you leave the room." That is, until I realized although they were hanging their heads in "shame," they also had little grins on their faces behind their pacifiers. So in reality they were saying, "We're sorry Mommy. We'll try to be quieter. Will you please leave now so we can get back to playing?" Amazing how a sneaky grin can change what they are saying, isn't it?

Then after they did fall asleep for a bit I went in and got Emmy. She was in a FABULOUS mood. Giggling and chatting, dancing and just in general a happy girl. This made my mood soar and I left for the errands I had to run in a great mood, smiling about my giggly girl.

For those of you who drive Robert Street often, you know as I do that the driving on this road is HORRIBLE. I see idiotic drivers elsewhere and say, "Wow that is some Robert Street driving." Granted, the street is horribly set up and with the amount of traffic on it on any given day it can be a nightmare to turn on to, but even with those things, the driving is just DUMB most of the time. I encountered 3 really dumb drivers on drive and one dad swearing at his 8-10 year old son. Back to being grumpy.

I walked in the door and got greeted by three little kids yelling, "HI MOMMY! HI MOMMY! HI MOMMY!" Now how can I resist that? I got a ton of love and hugs and kisses and it makes it great to come home!

I'm preparing for my weekend away. I'll be leaving when Jake gets home from work tomorrow and won't be back till Sunday afternoon. A weekend filled with scrapbooking, food and other scrapbookers. WA-HOO!

A couple of funny things the kids are doing lately:

- Mari runs around the house being silly and saying, "I SO SILLY!" It's hilarious.

- Emmy had a dirty diaper tonight and I didn't realize the minute it happened. She climbed off the couch and started pushing down her pants and diaper saying, "Uh OH! UH OH!"

- I told Peder to go into time out for hitting the computer. Mari walked into Peder's room and beat Peder to the "time out chair." I looked in there and they were both half sitting on the chair in time out.

I hope you all are doing well and I will write again when I get home from my weekend of fun!

The End of the Weekend

Today was a good weekend. We had a ton of fun yesterday and today was a very relaxing day. We went to church, grabbed lunch on the way home (a new tradition) and Jake was the only one who didn't take a nap this afternoon (well, Peder technically didn't, but he had quiet time). We played the evening away and just enjoyed some family time at home. So besides the fact that yesterday was horrible on my hips, back and pelvis, we had an excellent day.

Some fun little tidbits from our day:
1. We saw about 10 wild turkeys on the side of the road on our way home from church. One of them was pushing 40 pounds....he was the BIGGEST wild turkey Jake or I had ever seen.

2. Mari went upstairs with Jake and after coming back downstairs she "put the gate back up." At least in the way a 19 month old can. Pretty cute.

3. Emmy giggled and flirted in church today. Everyone was SO happy to see her and to see that she is doing well. She is definitely getting back to her old personality and sweet smiles.

4. Peder told me that I am his best and favorite Mommy in the whole world. He also kissed my owie when Mari stepped on my foot. He melts my heart every day.

5. I took another nap on the chaise lounge today. Ahhhh, I L-O-V-E naps.

A great way to sum up the weekend. Now I need to start getting ready for my scrapbook retreat next weekend. WA-HOO! We have another busy week before I leave and have a lot to do, but I'm really excited.

What A Zoo!

This morning we took the kids to the Minnesota Zoo. What a blast! The kids had a great time looking at and pointing at all the animals. We learned a quick lesson....the stroller will no longer be brought on outings like this. None of the kids wanted to be in it and it just became a cumbersome thing to push around. In the future it will be a compactly packed diaper bag and four free hands rather then three.

After we got home from the zoo Jake's brother, his wife and their kids came over and played. Peder and his cousin had a blast playing, even though there were some naughty spots along the way.

It's been a great, relaxing day. Here are some pictures from our zoo trip. FUN!

Me with the kiddos on a big bronze turtle. Yes, Emmy has the tag to her blanket in her mouth.

The kids looking at the Sunshine Bear. Very cute and EXCITING!

Peder looking at a gigantic fish. It scared the living daylights out of the little girl on the left of the picture when it popped out in front of her.

Emmy and Daddy looking at the animals. How cute!

For a large part of the walk through the Tropics Trail, the girls would switch between Jake and me. Of course, they had to both be with the same parent. We were switching A LOT because boy does that make your arms tired.

The kids looking at the otters with Daddy.

Emmy and I checking out the Babboons.

At the shark and fish tank. This was very exciting to them!

Peder looking at the big shark swimming by. Exciting and scary all at the same time.

Mari was the first to cash out after we left the zoo. She lost her pacifier within 3 minutes.

The Great Debate

I had my first Parent Advisory Board (PAB) meeting tonight. It was a "test" meeting to see if it would be something I would like to participate on. I was excited and a bit nervous about going and was REALLY hopeful that I would love it. I didn't....but I don't know how I feel about it. I see the potential for great things to happen with that group, but I also felt like there were some very overpowering personalities and that some people did not get heard because of that. It was just odd to me....one woman went on for at least 10 minutes about parents advocating for themselves and how she came with a "warning sign" that if a nurse ever did anything to hurt her child they better watch out. I was like, "um, huh?" It seemed so odd to me to be talking about that while we were brainstorming for goals or plans for the PAB. It didn't apply.

I think there were a lot of very strong personalities there and I felt like some of the parents were used to being the only ones who talked. That bothered me, because there were things I wanted to say and that others wanted to say that couldn't happen because we had a limited amount of time and those people were talking so much.

My main issue is I want to be an advocate for Emmy and other families that have to go through hospitalizations, but I don't know if I would have the opportunity to do that there.

I'm very conflicted right now.

Healing

I've had a lot of thoughts going through my mind since the last time I wrote. Life was very scary there for awhile and every moment seems to be filled with random thoughts about it. It's odd, my life will never be the same. I will never think of things in the same way and I think my appreciation for the little things has been magnified significantly.

So once again, this will be a post of random thoughts. It's how my mind is working these days.

1. Blood donation has become a very important thing to me. I learned that after I posted about it on Emmy's Caring Bridge page that people who have never donated before were going to. The biggest thing I have heard is the result of my Grandpa sharing Emmy's story at work. Thanks to those planning to donate in Emmy's honor!

2. Peder and I had a slumber party last night. It was SO much fun. We watched Kung Fu Panda and Horton Hears a Who. I woke up several times throughout the night with either him sleeping with his head on my belly or his arm thrown over me. I love having such a snuggly little boy.

3. All three of my kiddos at home, sitting in their chairs and snuggling a stuffed animal. Emmy still looks very sickly, but boy is she happy to be home! The dog that Peder is snuggling was my Grandpa Pederson's when he was younger. It comes down off the bookshelf on special occasions.

4. Hilarity ensues at the Early household. When the kids are all crabby I have a habit of putting crazy things on my head. Twice in my life I have pulled out the big guns and put a diaper on my head (clean, of course!). Both times a child has ended up with said diaper on their head. This time it was Mari's turn. Notice that she's not crabby? Mission Accomplished.

5. This afternoon I made 6 birthday cards and 12 thank you cards. It was nice to be back in my scrap area, but what I really wanted to be doing was working on was some scrapbook pages of the kiddos.

6. I am horribly behind on responding to notes and e-mails. HORRIBLY BEHIND! If you have sent me one in the last 3 weeks, I'm hoping to get to responding in the next day or two, hopefully once my exhaustion has been conquered.

7. I'm having trouble falling asleep. My mind won't stop reliving the last couple of weeks. To think a week ago Emmy was intubated and we were praying that there were no more bleeds. I can't stop thinking about how close we came to losing her and I'm terrified of it happening again.

8. Emmy is dealing with severe anxiety. She has a hard time falling asleep and will cry for long periods before dropping off. We're quite certain this is because of the latest hospitalization and are hoping that we can ease her fears the longer we're at home.

9. I really miss my book group. Those ladies are so great and it's been awhile since I've been with them for more then one week in a row. I'm hoping that starting next week I can be there more regularly.

10. I miss my Special Kids Special Needs moms from my Mothers of Multiples group. I haven't seen them since October. TOO LONG! I get to see them on Thursday at the large group meeting. WA-HOO!

11. I will be attending my first meeting of the Parent Advisory Board on Wednesday to see if it is a good fit for me. I'm pretty excited. We'll be looking at furniture options for the new Children's hospital they are building.

12. I'm searching for peace in our life again. Getting back into our routine. I've been craving this for almost 2 months now. I'm hoping now is the time for that to happen.

Off to relax in front of the TV while Jake is at poker. A nice quiet night at home, wishing I was snuggling with my hubby. :)

Mr. Fix-It

Peder wanted to fix Emmy and sat over her bed moving his hands around and saying, "Fix, fix, fix. I'm fixing you Emmy!" Jake talked to Peder this morning and told him that all of his fixing had helped Emmy feel better today. Peder got very excited about that. He'll be arriving soon for another visit.

Peder in his gown and mask so he could visit Emmy.

Looking over Emmy between "fixes."

Talking to Emmy and saying hi.