Maple Syrup Time

The Saturday before Easter we headed up to my parents' place for a quick visit.  Our family typically has gone up there to experience maple sap harvesting and maple syrup making; it's a great learning experience for the kids.  Plus, since my parents supply us with a year's worth of syrup, we also like to help out whenever we can :)

We were up there by lunchtime on Saturday and enjoyed some game time/play time in the afternoon.

After Grandpa had a chance to rest after his morning of cooking down the sap, we all had fun helping collect more sap in the afternoon.

Of course, our first family project when we got outside was to make a large snowman.  Hopefully, it's the last one of the season!

The kids all took turns riding on the new Gator and both Ethan and Kate helped empty the bags of sap.  The younger kids also had the opportunity to snitch some sap from one of the taps ... yum!

Anna and Ethan were ready to head inside earlier than our tough, nature-loving daughter.  We found her playing in the mud.  Then she and Matt tromped through the woods checking out the different kinds of moss.

After a  tasty dinner, we all retired for the night.  Easter morning came early and we traveled into Eau Claire to my parents' church for one of the many Easter services.  This was Anna's first visit since her diagnosis and a few members of the congregation recognized her, since many have prayed for her during the past two years.

When we came back from worship, more games and playing ensued before a delicious brunch.  Ethan had at least three of my dad's blueberry pancakes; we lost count somewhere in there.  Kate had at least 5 sausage links, and then some ...  Have I ever mentioned how well my parents feed us?

Although the weather was crummy, Kate, Matt, and Ethan enjoyed a little more time outside helping Grandpa take the taps out of the trees before we decided it was time to head home.

Another 36 hour trip done.  Another set of memories made.  We're always thankful for these kinds of opportunities.

Spring Break - Part 3

When we got home from Chicago, the kids were surprised by their "spring baskets" - a few new lego sets, some glitter glue, and a new family game.  (Several years back I ditched the tradition of Easter baskets because I couldn't find a good way to connect it with our faith.  Spring baskets work well for us.)

The new activities provided some good fun for the rest of our spring break.

The kids made glitter glue creations.

And played with Legos a LOT.

One of Kate's highlights for the week was not having to get dressed until lunchtime :)

Wednesday was Ethan's class at the Little Gym and Thursday was a dual therapy appointment for Anna.  We all enjoyed ourselves on each of these days, and it was certainly nice to have a reason to get out of the house on the cold, rainy/snowy days.

As part of our inside activities, we had some fun with Ethan's new loft.

Kate, of course, taught him how to climb onto the shelves.

 

Friday was Anna's MRI; we reported to the hospital at 6 a.m. - ugh.  The scan itself and wake-up from anesthesia went very well, but we had a bit of frustration earlier in the day.  Prior to each MRI, Anna needs to have a check-up with her primary care physician within 30 days to give her the okay for anesthesia.  Basically, she needs a qualified professional to listen to her heart and lungs.  We had this appointment in February.  However, since Anna's MRI needed to be rescheduled due to her fever a few weeks back, the 30 day window had passed; we learned that on Wednesday morning.

No big deal.  We called our physician and he wrote an addendum to the physical and had it faxed by Wednesday afternoon.

Friday morning the nurse couldn't find the electronic file.  After lots of looking and many phone calls, she finally found it, only to learn that an addendum doesn't cut it for the anesthesiologists.  Luckily, our nurse got a hold of a resident who was willing and able to come and do a quick physical exam of Anna at 7 a.m. and fill out the necessary paperwork before the anesthesiologists came in at 7:15.

Now we know ... 30 days means 30 days, and an addendum doesn't count.

On to the results.  We actually didn't get them until Monday at Anna's neuro-oncology appointment.  Although no one is overly concerned, there are a few changes in this last set of scans.  The powers that be (primary oncologist, radiation oncologist, neurosurgeon) don't think it's anything to worry about and are just going to wait and see what the next set of scans show.  Apparently, kids like Anna experience "post-treatment changes" to their central nervous system all the time.  In fact, sometimes the changes come and go from one scan to the next.

So, we can either worry and stress and feel anxious for the next four months, or just keep plugging along and enjoy each day for what it is.  I'll take the latter.

In addition to going over the results, we also checked in with the half-dozen or so doctors who are part of this clinic ... neurology, rehab, neurosurgery, oncology, neuropsychology, vocational, etc.  Overall, everyone is very pleased and impressed with Anna's continued progress.  To be honest, though, I kind of felt like a broken record player answering the same questions over and over and over again.  Oh, well.

In between Anna's MRI day and the neuro-oncology appointment, we headed up to my parents' place for Easter.  That will be summarized in Spring Break - Part 4 ... coming soon!

Spring Break - Part 2

Monday morning Matt went into work for a meeting, but was home by about 9:30, just in time for us to take a short trip to Chicago with the kids.

We (I) have been hoping to take our crew to Chicago for a few years now.  In fact, we had reservations for the February that Anna was diagnosed, but life hasn't been stable enough until now to be able to actually do the trip.

We made the drive down easily and started out at the Field Museum.  Kate's teacher talked about it with her class last fall and Kate has been itching to visit the T-Rex named Sue ever since.

Kate and I could have lasted longer exploring the different exhibits, but Ethan and Anna lost interest within an hour or two.  We decided to visit the kids' area as our final activity; it fit our family well.  Anna completed an art project and investigated the hands-on section; Kate explored many topics; Ethan was free to roam and pretend.

We left the museum before rush hour so we could get settled in our hotel before dinner.  Our room's window looked out over a city street; the view was a highlight for all the kids.

We headed out for dinner and found a great BBQ place.  Our crew was surprised that we could just walk down the street to find a place to eat; we are certainly country mice :)

Originally, we had planned to visit Lincoln Park Zoo on Tuesday, but the weather turned out cooler and windier than we expected, so we spent the morning at the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier.  The change of plans worked out very well.

The girls enjoyed the "pet place",

while Ethan and Matt had fun fighting some fires.

Ethan and Anna explored a skid steer together,

and we all had fun with the puff ball catapults.

Kids' Town was also a highlight of the museum,

followed shortly after by the Treehouse.

Kate's final activity was digging for dinosaur bones in the mock dig.

After a quick lunch at Navy Pier, we left for home.  Although the drive home took a big longer, our kids were entertained by all the planes, trains, and automobiles we saw while still in the Chicago area.  It's fun taking them new places and allowing them to experience a different part of life.  These quick 24-36 hour trips seem to work right now for us, too.  If we plan it well, we can pack a lot of experiences into the short time, but not wear anyone out too much.

Spring Break - Part 1

No one else got the fever.  Hip, hip, hooray!

Last week both girls attended school all five days.  In fact, it was a pretty "normal" week for us here.  Hooray!  School for the girls, therapy for Anna, work for Matt, the rest of life for Ethan and me.  In addition to our regular routines and the errands that had been put off for the preceding two weeks, Ethan and I were able to squeeze in a trip to the Madison Children's Museum on Wednesday afternoon (he's been asking for months) and a playdate at the trampoline park on Friday morning.  This boy was pretty wiped out by the end of the week.

Matt and I also attended Anna's spring parent-teacher conference at the beginning of the week.  This hard-working kid has done a lot of "catching-up" this school year in terms of the academics.  She has been working very hard on her reading and writing this year and her progress shows.  Both are still taxing on her, but she can do so much more than she was able to do at the beginning of the school year.  And, she enjoys them now, too.  Great work, Anna!

We are officially in the midst of Spring Break, even if we are supposed to get snow overnight.  We started the vacation by cleaning on Saturday morning and preparing to have some church friends over for the evening.  Our family plus five adults and eight kids.  Fun times.  The basement set-up was a highlight for kids and adults :)  It's been a long, long time since we have been able to host get-togethers like this one; I'm glad that it works once again.

Part of cleaning on Saturday included rearranging the girls' room slightly to make a reading nook for Kate.  She was disappearing into her bed to read often enough that we thought it would be better to provide her with another space for reading.  It's nothing fancy, but works well for Kate (and Ethan, when he wants to listen).

Sunday afternoon my parents came by to drop off my dad's newest project - a loft bed for Ethan.  We figured he's probably ready to be out of the crib by now.  For the time being, the loft is for playing and Ethan just sleeps on an inflatable mattress on the floor.  Once he seems to be comfortable enough with the ladder, even when he's tired, (and we get a mattress) we'll transition him to the loft.  Then he'll get to have the floor back for playing.

Speaking of milestones for Ethan, I think we can finally consider him potty-trained.  It's taken a few long months, but now both the #1s and the #2s are consistently landing in the toilet.  Way to go, Ethan!

On Monday and Tuesday, we did a quick family trip to Chicago.  Pictures and details are to come.  For now, we will continue to enjoy our Spring Break, even if it is cold and snowy!

Healthy for now

Friday around noon, Anna got better.

I know that sounds weird, but it's true.  Anna was still on fever reducers almost 24 hours a day on Wednesday.  Thursday afternoon her fever spiked.  Thursday night it spiked again as soon as the Tylenol wore off.

But Friday she never had a fever.  And ... we were able to stop her hydrocortisone cold turkey, instead of having to taper things off this time.  That's a pretty awesome milestone in our family.

Looking back, Kate probably had worse symptoms than Anna.  Kate's fever was combined with some major congestion and then a bit of a cough towards the end of the week.  Anna didn't have any of that.  She complained a little about a sore throat and once or twice about her ear hurting, but that's it.  We'll take it.

After a year and a half or so of learning how to deal with Anna's illnesses, I think we finally reached a plateau in our learning curve.  We have figured out how to deal with stress dosing appropriately and how to adjust her fluids, formula, and purees to help her through viruses.  This kid's immune system has been back to normal for a long time, it just took us awhile to learn how to best help the rest of her body through sicknesses.

Before I get cocky, though, I'm sure that there is plenty more we could learn.  However, for this particular virus, I think we all did a pretty decent job.

It also helped that since Kate was sick first, we pretty much knew what to expect.  Many times we don't know the whole course of an illness when the first symptoms arise.

For Ethan and I, the week was much easier for a few reasons.  First, the weather was beautiful.  Being able to go outside made a huge difference in our outlook of being "trapped" at home.
 

(This year I convinced Ethan that he could swing in Anna's swing if he wanted a supported one.  This way we don't have to constantly rearrange the swings on the swingset anymore.  Although Ethan can swing in "big kid" swings, but he still likes to go high in supported ones :)

Second, Anna and I have plenty of practice doing days like this.  Anna's teachers were great about passing along work, assignments, ideas and concepts covered, etc.  Anna knows how hard it is to catch up on school work when she's been out, so she's willing to put forth the effort to do the work and learn the concepts before getting back into the school routine.

Plus, Anna and I had the chance to play games like we haven't done in ages.  SkipBo, Phase Ten, Snap.  All of these (and more) came out.


Besides those activities, Anna chose to do a handful of crafts.  She doesn't often have the time for this these days.

And on Friday afternoon when she was a bundle of energy, she joined us outside.

Ethan and Anna now have to take turns in the blue swing, but they were both pretty good about it on Friday and Saturday.  This weekend was the first time Anna was able to swing this year and she still loves it.

It's bittersweet to remember Anna's first summer in this swing; she didn't like moving much at all in it.  Even when she got more comfortable with a slight swinging motion, she couldn't even raise her feet up to kick my hand, let alone pump.  Now she just needs a boost to get started, and she will swing as high as she wants under her own power.

Time for Prayers

Thanksgiving
Please give thanks that Kate and Anna are both over this nasty fever.
Please thank God that only one person at a time has been sick in our house with this virus.
Please give thanks that, so far, Matt, Ethan, and I have not gotten sick.
Please thank God for the wonderfully flexible teaching staff both girls have working with them this year.
Please thank God for fever reducing medicines.
Please give thanks for spring, or at least spring-like weather.

Requests
Please ask God to grant Matt, Ethan, and I continued health.
Please pray for our continued ability to find joy each day.
Please ask God to continue to grant us wisdom as we live our lives each day.
Please continue to pray for all of those working with Anna, that they help Anna continue to make progress with all of her skills.

Thanks, as always.

Round 2

I got a call during the late morning on Monday from Anna's aide.  She said Anna was feeling pretty tired and just wanted to rest instead of going to lunch and recess.  Then she checked Anna's temperature ... 99 degrees and rising.  Bummer.

First, Ethan and I finished our lunch before heading into the bank to meet Matt so we could sign all of the closing papers for refinancing our mortgage.  Then, we went in to get Anna.  By the time we got home, her temperature was 100.5 and still rising.  Tylenol, hydrocortisone, and rest ensued.

By Monday night Anna was positively cheerful, even after the Tylenol had worn off.  We thought that maybe, just maybe, this was all it would be for Anna.

It wasn't.  She woke up feeling a bit crummy on Tuesday morning.  We decided to just take it slow and see how the morning went.  Her fever spiked again around lunchtime.  By that point we had already made the call to cancel Wednesday's MRI and get it rescheduled.  This decision in and of itself required multiple phone calls and emails to rearrange all of the childcare, blood tests, procedures, etc.

Wednesday has been Anna's low point thus far.  She had a fever right as she woke up and it took at least an hour for the Tylenol to kick in completely.

The Tylenol seems to keep the fever and overall yucky feelings at bay, but it's still not a fun virus.  Anna's fever hasn't been as high as Kate's was, but since Anna has a hard time self-regulating her food intake, a virus like this can make her nauseous.  We had anticipated this unfortunate side effect and stocked up on Pedialyte.  Pedialyte and purees seem to be okay for Anna's tummy.  Formula not so much.

We're looking at a second week of having a kid out of school the entire week.  Bummer.

Here's the good things.

Anna's school is awesome.  Not only was it okay for her to stay resting there while Matt and I finished up our paperwork, but everyone was more than willing to get work home for her as soon as they could.  When Anna is feeling okay, we have a good routine of a bit of work first, then a game or other choice activity.

The weather this week is awesome.  Instead of being stuck inside our house all week like we were last week, Ethan and I are just stuck inside our yard.  We have already made use of bubbles, his bike, the plasma car, the sandbox, the tower, the swings, a soccer ball, etc.

Kate is back to normal.  Having gone through this exact same virus with Kate last week, we know pretty much what to expect.  I'm not worried about Anna's health at this point.  Rest and fluids, we can do that.

Anna no longer has a port in place!  The first time her temperature crept above 100.4, I rejoiced that we wouldn't have to head into the ER for antibiotics.  There were so many times in 2014 and 2015 when we just wanted to give her Tylenol and put her to bed; now we can do just that.

I am getting quite a bit of quality one-on-one time with each of our children this March.

This is certainly not easy on any of us right now, but we've been through a lot worse (many different times), so we can get through this, too.

Sick Kate :(

Kate was out of school all week with her fever illness.  Poor kid.  This was definitely the worst fever she has ever had, although not necessarily the worst sickness.

We kind of knew this might be coming.  A nasty virus has been making its way around the area this winter.  Several of Kate's classmates were out with it a few weeks back; other McFarland friends have caught it; church friends have also struggled with a similar virus.  4-6 days of high fever, aches, chills, low appetite ... classic flu-like symptoms.  In some cases, the fever hovered around 104 or 105 for a few days.  In other cases, kids went to Urgent Care because of dehydration.  Scary stuff.

I took Kate into the doctor on Tuesday morning just to make sure it wasn't strep or something else treatable.  When those tests came back negative, I sent her to bed for a few days.  Kate's fever never got over 102 (although we kept her medicated with fever reducers almost 24 hours a day), and she had some moments of low energy (as opposed to the rest of the day when she was NO energy).  Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday were probably her worst days.

On Thursday, she stayed out of her bed for longer stretches of time, even if it was to just listen to stories on the ipad.  By Friday she was willing to do activities with me for short periods of time.  By Saturday she was bouncing around for some of the day, but not quite all of the day just yet.

All in all, Kate dealt with this virus relatively well.

Not Ethan and I.  Although neither one of us have caught it (yet), we were stuck inside our home for the entire week.

That's a l-o-n-g time for a 3 year old boy and a task-oriented mom.

We played in the sand table.  We played cars and trucks.  We played with legos.  We created jumping games using the kitchen floor pattern.  Ethan created a running course in the basement whenever we would start a fire in the fireplace.  We painted.  We watched some Thomas.  And some Dinosaur Train.  We read books.  We took Anna to school.  We picked Anna up.

I cleaned most of the house.  I organized a bunch of Ethan's clothes that we have stored in the basement.  We sorted through old toys to sell and/or give away.  I mopped the kitchen floor on my hands and knees instead of using a mop.  On Thursday night when our refrigerator was comically empty (I had planned to do a big grocery shopping trip on Tuesday), Matt suggested that I clean it since I wouldn't have to move much food.  I did.

I will be the first to admit that we were going a little nuts.

When it looked like Kate would be out of school again on Thursday, I asked a friend to come and sit with her for the afternoon so that Ethan and I could at least take Anna to her therapy appointments.  We had already rescheduled Tuesday's appointment and, honestly, by Thursday we needed to get out of the house.

Friday Kate was feeling well enough to run some errands in McFarland, or at least stay in the van and listen to music while Ethan and I went in.

Towards the end of the week, we needed to start keeping Kate out of bed some of the day; her sleep patterns were really messed up.  Here's a sampling of the indoor activities that Kate did on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Lots of legos.

An unfinished bee craft.  Now that Kate is feeling better, I doubt this one will get finished.  She doesn't normally have much interest in sitting and crafting for long periods of time.

Candy creation.  She was slowing down at this point, so we don't get a good representation of Kate's incredible imagination.

Gears, gears, gears ... which Matt got out when I was finally able to go to the grocery store on Saturday morning.

And finally, our masterpiece, a spherical globe puzzle ... all 530 pieces of it, which we put together on Friday while Anna was at school.

.The pieces are numbered, which makes it easier, of course.  And we worked together, while Ethan found all of the E's in the box of Scrabble letters.  I don't think Kate has ever sat still for that long before.  And she was fully engaged until the last 100 or so pieces.

Anna participated in whatever activities were happening while she was home.

Candy creation.  (It's raining fruit in a banana tree forest.)

Flower craft, although Anna finished hers on Saturday afternoon.

And gears, of course.  (Do you think our kids like patterns?)

Both Ethan and Anna missed their playmate this week.  Anna was pretty excited on Saturday when Kate said she was up for playing with stuffed animals with her.


Even with all of my nuttiness towards the end of the week, Matt and I realize that we can roll with these kinds of illnesses in a different way than others can (or even than how we did a few years back).

Neither one of us needed to take time off of work because Kate was sick.

Kate was able to stay home all week, instead of being rushed back to the classroom before she was healthy, simply because she had to.

We were never seriously worried about Kate's health.

Once I knew it was "the fever", I knew it was just a matter of time.

Kate's body historically heals very easily.

But it sounds like this particular bug is relatively contagious.  So far the rest of us are in the clear, but it would be an absolute miracle if no one else gets sick.  And this coming week would not be a good one for people to be sick.  Matt has a big week at work; we have a couple of extra adult appointments throughout the week; and Anna's next MRI is on Wednesday, which also includes close to 10 blood tests.

Only two prayers this time:

Please thank God that Kate is on the mend!

Please pray that God grants us one more miracle and keeps us all healthy this week!