O.K., so I just figured out how to transfer all of my old blog posts onto this new blog here! I thought that because I started over, I basically started over and all the other posts were on the other blog - NOPE!!
So, so excited right now!!!!!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
2 more weeks
I spoke with the head of ENT at University of Chicago yesterday {she is the doctor taking care of the fracture on Chloe's forehead}. She thinks we should wait about 2 more weeks before Chloe can head back to school. I've got mixed feelings about this.
I'm happy, because more than anything in the world, I want to shelter her and protect her and keep her by me ALL.THE.TIME. Realistically, I know that can't happen, but it does mean that I've got two more weeks to have her all to myself. I'm also happy, because I really think that the more time she has for that to heal, the likelihood of it fracturing again if she were to fall or something is less and less, so 2 more weeks at home is a GOOD thing. Not to say that being at school is an "uncontrolled environment," but there are so many other students in the class - it would be hard for the teacher to keep constant control of her, ya know?
I'm a bit unhappy with the decision, because she really misses being at school. She misses her friends and teachers - she even misses the schoolwork! She was so upset when she found out they were starting to create their "Young Authors" books.
So - we've set up a little school house right under our own roof! ;) O.K., not really a school house, but we've been getting homework sent home - I've even printed some worksheets online and we've been working on it here at home. She loves it! We've even started doing her Young Authors book {I hope we're doing it right!:/} This morning when we were doing her work, she said "See! You can homeschool!" Yes baby, I can, but it's not something I would be able to consistently do with all three kids. I'm definitely not smarter than a 5th grader!;)
Either case - we're home for two more weeks, and we're gonna make the best of it!
Chloe was supposed to be in a concert at school this Thursday and Friday, but instead we are just going to go and watch her brother sing his little heart out! It'll be fun for her to at least see her friends!
I'm happy, because more than anything in the world, I want to shelter her and protect her and keep her by me ALL.THE.TIME. Realistically, I know that can't happen, but it does mean that I've got two more weeks to have her all to myself. I'm also happy, because I really think that the more time she has for that to heal, the likelihood of it fracturing again if she were to fall or something is less and less, so 2 more weeks at home is a GOOD thing. Not to say that being at school is an "uncontrolled environment," but there are so many other students in the class - it would be hard for the teacher to keep constant control of her, ya know?
I'm a bit unhappy with the decision, because she really misses being at school. She misses her friends and teachers - she even misses the schoolwork! She was so upset when she found out they were starting to create their "Young Authors" books.
So - we've set up a little school house right under our own roof! ;) O.K., not really a school house, but we've been getting homework sent home - I've even printed some worksheets online and we've been working on it here at home. She loves it! We've even started doing her Young Authors book {I hope we're doing it right!:/} This morning when we were doing her work, she said "See! You can homeschool!" Yes baby, I can, but it's not something I would be able to consistently do with all three kids. I'm definitely not smarter than a 5th grader!;)
Either case - we're home for two more weeks, and we're gonna make the best of it!
Chloe was supposed to be in a concert at school this Thursday and Friday, but instead we are just going to go and watch her brother sing his little heart out! It'll be fun for her to at least see her friends!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Before and After
I feel like we now live our life with the titles, "before Chloe's accident" and "after Chloe's accident". I know it probably won't be that way forever, but that's just how it feels right now.
My life has been changed. To have a glimpse of how bad something could be and to have it turn around for good makes you evaluate everything in your life.
The biggest thing that I have evaluated was how I am a mother.
"Before Chloe's accident," I would say that I was a good mother. I loved my kids more than any other. I will say though that if laundry needed to get done, I probably would have chosen to do that over playing a game of Candy Land with the kids, cause I NEEDED to get the laundry done, or if dinner needed to get made and the kids wanted me to push them on the swing, I chose dinner, cause it HAD to get done. You get the idea...
When I first got the call from Ryan about Chloe's accident, I immediately started to blame myself. You see, the night of the accident, she was begging me SOOOO bad to come with me to cards {man, do I wish I took her with me!}. I told her I was going to go upstairs and get ready, and she said she was going to come up with me so she could spend more time with me. While we were upstairs, she started whining about wanting to come with me. I told her in a stern voice that it was for mommy only, and although I wanted her to stay in the bathroom with me, I didn't want her to whine at me about going. She stayed with me, but still pouted about not being able to go. Before leaving she couldn't kiss me enough. I'm so thankful I had that memory of not rushing her and just letting her kiss me and then come back and kiss me again!;)
While she was laying in her bed in the hospital, on a ventilator, in a drug-induced coma, I had the awful memory of a conversation we had earlier that morning. I can't remember the whole thing in detail, but I do remember telling Chloe that the way she was talking to me was very ugly, and I didn't like it. She started to cry, and said, "I'm not ugly!!" Of course, I explained to her that I wasn't calling her ugly, but the way she was speaking was ugly. Now, when I really sit and think about that conversation, I was just being a mother and correcting the way her attitude was. But during the time that she was completely incoherent, all I could do was call her pretty. I had mentioned this to my friends, and they said they totally noticed I kept calling her pretty in the hospital, but had no idea why I was doing that. I just was feeling so bad about that conversation.
Now that Chloe is feeling much better and up and about, I am letting the dust bunnies form in the corners of my woodwork, and enjoying my kids. If they want to paint - I'll paint...if they want to play Battleship - I'll play Battleship. I realized this past Saturday while I was dusting my living room that the last time I dusted was the morning of the accident, and you know what? Who cares!?!?! I'm gonna live each day to the fullest!
I say all of this, to tell you that this accident has opened my eyes about how I mother my children. You never know what can happen on any given day, hour, minute for that matter. Life is precious...enjoy every minute of it - even the tough times.
My life has been changed. To have a glimpse of how bad something could be and to have it turn around for good makes you evaluate everything in your life.
The biggest thing that I have evaluated was how I am a mother.
"Before Chloe's accident," I would say that I was a good mother. I loved my kids more than any other. I will say though that if laundry needed to get done, I probably would have chosen to do that over playing a game of Candy Land with the kids, cause I NEEDED to get the laundry done, or if dinner needed to get made and the kids wanted me to push them on the swing, I chose dinner, cause it HAD to get done. You get the idea...
When I first got the call from Ryan about Chloe's accident, I immediately started to blame myself. You see, the night of the accident, she was begging me SOOOO bad to come with me to cards {man, do I wish I took her with me!}. I told her I was going to go upstairs and get ready, and she said she was going to come up with me so she could spend more time with me. While we were upstairs, she started whining about wanting to come with me. I told her in a stern voice that it was for mommy only, and although I wanted her to stay in the bathroom with me, I didn't want her to whine at me about going. She stayed with me, but still pouted about not being able to go. Before leaving she couldn't kiss me enough. I'm so thankful I had that memory of not rushing her and just letting her kiss me and then come back and kiss me again!;)
While she was laying in her bed in the hospital, on a ventilator, in a drug-induced coma, I had the awful memory of a conversation we had earlier that morning. I can't remember the whole thing in detail, but I do remember telling Chloe that the way she was talking to me was very ugly, and I didn't like it. She started to cry, and said, "I'm not ugly!!" Of course, I explained to her that I wasn't calling her ugly, but the way she was speaking was ugly. Now, when I really sit and think about that conversation, I was just being a mother and correcting the way her attitude was. But during the time that she was completely incoherent, all I could do was call her pretty. I had mentioned this to my friends, and they said they totally noticed I kept calling her pretty in the hospital, but had no idea why I was doing that. I just was feeling so bad about that conversation.
Now that Chloe is feeling much better and up and about, I am letting the dust bunnies form in the corners of my woodwork, and enjoying my kids. If they want to paint - I'll paint...if they want to play Battleship - I'll play Battleship. I realized this past Saturday while I was dusting my living room that the last time I dusted was the morning of the accident, and you know what? Who cares!?!?! I'm gonna live each day to the fullest!
I say all of this, to tell you that this accident has opened my eyes about how I mother my children. You never know what can happen on any given day, hour, minute for that matter. Life is precious...enjoy every minute of it - even the tough times.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Processing
I'm trying to process the events of last Saturday and the days after. It's kind of hard, but I'm feeling like I want to journal a bit, so here goes:
{If you are unsure of what I'm talking about, Chloe, my daughter, was in a snowmobile accident last Saturday night. You can read more about it here on her blog.}
From the beginning, we have had an overwhelming amount of support from family, friends and people that we don't even know. I'm getting cards in my mailbox from people I've never met. Someone came to visit us at the hospital, because they new Ryan's uncle - we had never met this man. I've actually sat and wondered why? Why did this man care? He'd never met Chloe or us, and he took the time to come to the hospital and pray with Ryan.
I've heard some pretty amazing stories about people praying for Chloe. I know of many people who didn't sleep that Saturday night because they were praying for Chloe.
I was truly amazed by the outpouring of love for my daughter. The amount of people who came to visit her was just crazy - the security guard at the hospital said she "was one popular girl!" :) Thankfully, I knew one of the nurses in the PICU, and she helped sneak a couple people into our room when Chloe was waking up. Everyone wanted to see her awake, so we all just stood quietly by her bedside waiting to see those beautiful eyes. When they finally opened, it was as if we were looking at a newborn baby opening their eyes for the first time - it was so precious.
The amounts of snacks and food that people brought us while we were in the hospital was crazy! I feel bad saying this, but there were a few bags that had no cards or names on them, so I don't even know who brought them, but we were so very thankful for them!
The amounts of gifts that this little girl received/still receiving is unbelievable. We've got crafts and nail polishes and games and it is just so fun to see her playing with all of these new things. I'm just so happy when I see her sitting on the floor playing Candy Land or Battleship with her brothers. She's come so far - so quickly! It's amazing.
My MOPS group came on Friday with a "care basket." That's what they told me they had. Well, it took three trips to get everything in the house! Flowers, gifts for the boys, gifts for Chloe, food, snacks, paper plates, napkins, craft supplies - crazy!!! {my sister asked me take a picture!:)} These women were so thoughtful! They made so many different types of snacks for the boys and for us it was really just amazing. I know I keep going to that word, but seriously this whole situation has been amazing.
I can't possibly name everyone on here who has stopped by or given gifts, but please know that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for caring for Chloe and us!
Before something like this happens, you know that you have family and friends that you can call if you need them. And then when something like this happens, you don't realize how big your support system actually is - and we didn't even have to call anyone - people just jumped right into action! It was just amazing.
Thank you - Thank you so very much for being there for us and taking care of us! We will remember it forever!!!
{If you are unsure of what I'm talking about, Chloe, my daughter, was in a snowmobile accident last Saturday night. You can read more about it here on her blog.}
From the beginning, we have had an overwhelming amount of support from family, friends and people that we don't even know. I'm getting cards in my mailbox from people I've never met. Someone came to visit us at the hospital, because they new Ryan's uncle - we had never met this man. I've actually sat and wondered why? Why did this man care? He'd never met Chloe or us, and he took the time to come to the hospital and pray with Ryan.
I've heard some pretty amazing stories about people praying for Chloe. I know of many people who didn't sleep that Saturday night because they were praying for Chloe.
I was truly amazed by the outpouring of love for my daughter. The amount of people who came to visit her was just crazy - the security guard at the hospital said she "was one popular girl!" :) Thankfully, I knew one of the nurses in the PICU, and she helped sneak a couple people into our room when Chloe was waking up. Everyone wanted to see her awake, so we all just stood quietly by her bedside waiting to see those beautiful eyes. When they finally opened, it was as if we were looking at a newborn baby opening their eyes for the first time - it was so precious.
The amounts of snacks and food that people brought us while we were in the hospital was crazy! I feel bad saying this, but there were a few bags that had no cards or names on them, so I don't even know who brought them, but we were so very thankful for them!
The amounts of gifts that this little girl received/still receiving is unbelievable. We've got crafts and nail polishes and games and it is just so fun to see her playing with all of these new things. I'm just so happy when I see her sitting on the floor playing Candy Land or Battleship with her brothers. She's come so far - so quickly! It's amazing.
My MOPS group came on Friday with a "care basket." That's what they told me they had. Well, it took three trips to get everything in the house! Flowers, gifts for the boys, gifts for Chloe, food, snacks, paper plates, napkins, craft supplies - crazy!!! {my sister asked me take a picture!:)} These women were so thoughtful! They made so many different types of snacks for the boys and for us it was really just amazing. I know I keep going to that word, but seriously this whole situation has been amazing.
I can't possibly name everyone on here who has stopped by or given gifts, but please know that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for caring for Chloe and us!
Before something like this happens, you know that you have family and friends that you can call if you need them. And then when something like this happens, you don't realize how big your support system actually is - and we didn't even have to call anyone - people just jumped right into action! It was just amazing.
Thank you - Thank you so very much for being there for us and taking care of us! We will remember it forever!!!
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