Backyardians Birthday-Sawyer-Plus

Sunday night we celebrated Sawyer's 3rd birthday. We love Sawyer and all the excitement and entertainment that he brings to our family.

Melissa is here right now and enjoying her son and nephews. I'm also enjoying having her be here with Grandma Barbara and having a better understanding of the interesting things she says and does.

Yesterday while at work I got a text from Melissa saying that she asked Grandma if she gets to watch Backyardigans a lot. She said, "I don't think so. I'm not very walkable."

Today while Melissa and I were watching TV, she also found out how interesting it can be when you watch something with Mom. Wil normally needs to hear everything, so that means a lot of rewinding.

Sometimes you just need to laugh

Do you ever really laugh about something, then wonder just how appropriate it was to laugh? It seems like the subject of death and dying is talked about much more in our home in the last few months than it ever was before.

Tonight at the dinner table Wil's Mom was asking why she just seemingly can't get any better. It seems to be a daily topic. I told her that one needs to want to live if they want to get better, and then I asked her if she wants to live. She said that she wasn't sure that she really wanted to. She then promptly looked at Wil and said, "did you know that Henry isn't doing very good?" She went on to say, "you know, he could even die before me." Wil looked at her and said, "well, if you can do anything about it, we'd really appreciate if you wouldn't both die at the same time." I simply split out laughing until the tears came! The Mom says, "well maybe we should try and arrange that." Of course then I laughed again. Maybe you just had to be there, I don't know.

Happenings in Beachyville

In August, Wil started trying to walk more faithfully for exercise and Isaiah decided to join him in those walks when possible.  We soon discovered that although Isaiah’s walking shoes were at school, his Papaw had plenty of size 11 shoes around that Isaiah could wear.  They walk a couple miles together, then shoot some baskets.  The other night they started to bounce the ball and pass it back and forth as they walk/jog.  They come back drenched.  Last night they went earlier so Brennan could join them.  It warms my heart to watch them…Hopefully that burns some calories for me as well!  No, really..my exercise is the Treadmill when Mom takes her morning nap. I also burn a few calories when I shoot baskets with Isaiah. 

  Remember when I told you how much Mother adores her son?  She will walk down the ramp, much happier with Wil than with anyone else. On Wed. morning while I had Sawyer and Jeremiah, they were having fun on the top bunk.  We had to sing, rock a bye baby to each doll and tuck them under their blanket.

Isaiah-having fun at the church camp out.

 

The other day, I was out enjoying my flowers and taking pictures of them, when I heard Brennan’s bus come.  I quickly went through the path and captured a few pictures of Monica walking back with Brennan.  Jeremiah joined them, since he woke up early from his nap.

Oops

When I posted my title, I had to wonder how many posts that I previously titled "oops".

Yesterday I took Mother to Dr. Neer to see if there is something else we could try for her tremors. He took her off several meds and decided to try a different med. She is to take a 1/2 pill every night for 7 days, then 1 for 7, then 1 1/2 for 7, then 2. Last night she had her 1st dose.

This morning at 5:30 when Mother woke up, Wil took her to the bathroom since he was already up. I heard her asking about me, so I got up and went down and got what I thought was her Thyroid. The routine, when she gets up at that time is, I take my Thyroid and give hers as well and then she goes back to bed. This morning I kind of wanted her up and dressed by 7:00, since it was my day to also keep Sawyer and Jeremiah. I turned up the music louder and louder, but she just kept right on sleeping with her mouth hanging open. I finally went in and woke her up and she talked like she was drunk. I sat up her, half dressed her and put her back to bed.

After Wil left for work and I went back to the kitchen, I discovered that Wil had set her new drug next to her Thyroid and right away, I knew I had given her the new med instead of her Thyroid!! I was able to wake her up enough to feed her breakfast and then she slept again on the chair. She would somewhat wake up when the children would come over to show her something. She kept saying that she didn't know what was wrong and so I confessed that it was my fault, that I had given her the wrong pill. She was given more coffee this morning than she normally gets. At noon, she asked for soda crackers and then she wanted me to make eggs. She probably could have asked me for anything today and got it!

I had noticed this morning whenever Jeremiah would take Mother her water, she was able to hold it without shaking. When I had her food ready, I set it in front of her and told her to go ahead and start eating. She bowed her head to pray and then started to eat!!!! She had no trouble at all feeding herself and even drank her coffee without a staw. The only problem, she still had enough drugs in her that she would forget that she could feed herself.

I called the Doctor to confess what I had done and ask if we should give her dose tonight or skip it. I also wanted to share my excitement about her hands not shaking all over the place and being able to feed herself. The Nurse was happy with me and told me to skip tonights dose.

She did go back to bed after lunch and we will see how her night goes. If I'm up a lot tonight, I have no one but myself to blame. I am however happy to know there is a chance that she can live without her hands shaking so much all the time.

Play Church

Jeremiah has an obsession with Papaw and gets rather unhappy when Papaw isn't at home when he comes over. Here he is pretending to be calling Papaw.

They decided to play with some of Papaw's sunglasses and 3D glasses

Sawyer-wearing them like Papaw does

Jeremiah feeling pretty good about himself

Sawyer-happy to have Isaiah home from school.

This morning Sawyer decided we should play church. I asked who would lead worship and he offered to do that plus preach. He did however insist that we take turns on the worship times. I had a very bad video of both boys singing and raising their hands but it was too bad to download on here. Normally our worship leaders don't carry a purse up front with them.

Georgia Dream

These pictures were to come at the end of my story, but they didn't cooperate.

Sawyer is starting to want to do whatever Isaiah does. They all decided to follow suit.

( a scene great grandma Barbara doesn't get tired of watching-great exercise as well)

I'm sorry but I just can't help but tell on Grandma Barbara this morning.

This morning when I got up Mom at 8:10, she said she was dreaming about Georgia and she didn't get to finish her dream. It sounded like she really enjoyed that dream. She talked about going to Jimmy Carter's Sunday School class and about other people that I didn't know. Whatever the dream, I knew she was in a good mood.

As I set her down at the table for breakfast, the sun was shining through the window and as usual, she informed me that the window was dirty and needed cleaning. I went through my routine answer, that the window is old like her and the dirty look is inside the window and that I can't get to. She said that she has NEVER liked dirty windows and it's something she notices every place she goes and we need to do something about that.

In my prayer before our breakfast, I thanked God for the sunshine, even if it shines through our dirty old window. I thought she was going to loose it. She burst out into a laughter that I haven't heard from her in a long time! Through out breakfast she was telling stories about the Nursing Home, her Georgia dream, and her home life from years ago. The funny thing was, the stories were all mixed into each other.

Yesterday while sitting on the porch, she wondered if we couldn't do something about making things a bit greener and could we cut the bushes lower and when is Wil going to put that post in for horses, that would make it look nicer. In the next breath, it's just so nice out here, I wish I could come out here every day. We do go out there every day but I'm learning not to make a deal about remarks like that.

She simply loves to have the great grandchildren come. She likes to watch them run on the ramp and doesn't even mind their fussy times. Almost every morning at breakfast she talks about them and hopes they come over again.

We are all on a journey

People keep asking how I am doing and how it’s going. It’s so hard to answer because it just depends on when you ask me. I find that I’m probably not much different than a mother with little ones these days. It depends a lot on if I just had to get up twice or 4 & 5 times during the night. I had forgotten how helpful a full nights sleep is. Even 4-5 hours at a time! I’m not getting as much done as I thought I would, which is why I should be working now(while she is napping) rather than blogging. In spite of all the frustrations, there are rewards and so far it feels like we made the right choice.

I have my moments when I ask the Lord, “Are you serious, all in one year? First you choose to take Olive home, then Isaiah’s Great Grandpop Yoder, then my Father-in-law, then my Father goes to the hospital, we bring home my mother-in-law, my daughter looses her job, a church that is struggling and now it appears there is a good chance that I may loose my father yet this year”! If I stay there, I can get depressed, but I choose not to. There is still so much to be grateful for. I have my health, a wonderful husband, great kids and all 4 of my grandchildren in my backyard. Beside all that, we have wonderful extended family and friends. We are all on a journey and we all have a story.

Here are some pictures of our recent additions that we all real happy about.

This is a view of the new addition from our upstairs bedroom window.

Dave Miller and Jon Swartz did a great job building a long wheelchair ramp and a step down deck for us. They worked in some crazy hot temperatures.

The 1st evening the boards were in place, the grandkids discovered a new playground. David, Sue and their son Angelo and wife Anna were with us part of the week. The boys got Anna to race with them.

And now it was time for a test drive. I’m no longer a slave to my house.

The great grandsons can cheer Mom up pretty quickly. Brennan loves to help give great-grandma her pills.

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Mom-adjustments

This blanket was from our church, the picture from Melissa and the wreath from Mt. Joy. Mother often says that Daudy is laughing at her.

We often have her chair pulled forward so she can look out the window. Every morning and evening, she talks about how tall our tree's are.

Her bedroom

I'm trying to find words to describe my new daily schedule and I can't really. I've had some good days and some not so good days. It's a very different schedule from what I was used to and it's also different for mother. I'm understanding why the Nurses tended to give Mom a quick fix pill when she got all emotional at the Nursing Home. There are times in the afternoon when I feel like I should be a social worker or a counselor. Lunch time bites of food are often in between tears. That is the time of day that Daudy would come visit Mom. So if you are someone that wants to visit Mom sometime, she really needs distractions in the afternoon.

I have a monitor in my room and when she needs to go the restroom at night or in the morning, she just says my name. AT 3:30 in the morning, I'm not quite as happy to hear my name as some other times. Monday morning I had to chuckle at 4:30 in the morning. I heard that she was moving around and soon I heard, "ah, ah, Sue! Sue! ah, Mary! Mary! ah, ah." I'm here mom, did you forget my name? "Oh ya! What is wrong with me?!

Another funny that I hear a lot. She tells me what to do, then says, "you can do whatever you want, I'm not going to tell you what to do." On Saturday she was sitting on the porch while I was pulling weeds. After I was pulling for about 5 minutes, she thought that was probably about long enough. She suggested that Mary could pull the rest when she came out. I informed her that those were my weeds, not Mary's.

Update-on everything

Friday July 23rd, Dad got his brace and was released from the hospital. After our siblings dinner(beginning of our reunion) we went back to Mom and Dad’s place and sang. Dad was rather emotional while we sang. We were standing around since the guy from Park Medical was setting up the hospital bed.

Our reunion was at Clinton Christian. Even though we didn’t have electricity for several hours, we managed to have lots of fun.

Jeremiah and Ella

There is always time for getting updates from each other

JR and Fern did our planning this year. Thanks guys!

Wed. I took Isaiah with me to check up on Dad. Ann and Mom had taken Dad to the Specialist in South Bend in the morning. The Dr. wants to take the gamble that dad has a 50/50 chance of his hip staying in place. Too many risks involved with the kind of surgery it would require. If it goes out the third time they won't have another option. He is allowed to start walking with the cane, and was told he may shower and take the brace off at night. They also stopped and purchased a lift chair, and that should make things easier. As of today, he hadn’t taken off the brace yet. It’s a pretty scary thing to do.

Anna and Frank live next to Mom and Dad and have been a huge support to them.

Tomorrow, July 30th, my daily routine will change rather drastically. Early afternoon, we plan to bring Wil’s Mom home to live with us. I’m excited about the adventure, but I’m also very aware of the changes. Today, my adrenals were working overtime. It’s amazing how all week we would say, “we better do this while we still can.” Instead of going out together tonight, Wil went with Matt to grill for the Bible Memory Youth Camp, something they have done together for several years now. Then, we will go to a viewing. Maybe we will just have to pretend we are young tonight!

Wednesday morning around 1 am my father got up to use the restroom and popped out his hip again. My sister Anna and her husband Frank came to his rescue and lifted him back to the bedroom, but soon knew they needed to call 911. This happened 4 weeks earlier and the ER was able to pop it back in. Dad was given strict orders what to do and not to do. He did real good the 1st few weeks, but it's was hard to behave when he felt good.

This time the ER couldn't get it popped back in. At 3:00 in the afternoon, they took him in to surgery and put him on anesthesia and put it back in. The only problem, this time it didn't want to stay in without a wedge between his legs, wrapped to his legs. He had lots of pain before the hip was popped back in.

Now come the decision as to whether they do the dreaded repair surgery or not. The Goshen Doctors are feeling like they need to refer him out. With Dad'd heart issues, he is a very high risk. Dad told the Doctor that he was ready to die and it is ok if he doesn't survive the surgery, but if he lives, he wants it fixed. For now we are waiting on a special splint they ordered that he will need to wear at all times until they decide what the next step is.

This morning Dad started with a fever. Wil was in and out of his room this morning , waiting on the Doctor to make his rounds. Oops, that never happened! Wil came into the room when Dad was getting a bath, and Dad had just started with chest pain and very quickly it started down his arm and Mom said his color was bad. Wil rushed out to get the Nurse and they got him a Nitroglycerin and soon he had relief. Most of this afternoon his temp was around 102. Not being able to move around isn't too good for anyone that was under anesthesia.

This afernoon, he was getting a bit bored so Mom and I played Florida Golf with him. In spite of being in the hospital bed, he could still tell Mom when it was her turn:)