Graham Crackerz

Sarah had a great trip to Colorado with Marcus. She was able to spend time with her cousin Madison and had her Grandma Graham all to herself. Marcus was really and insignificant person. Really just the taxi. Here are some pictures from the Denver Zoo with her Aunt Katie, Grandma Graham, and cousins Madison and Baby Sean.

Lisa, Mom and I went to Salt Lake this weekend for a Mother's Day Getaway. It was a lot of fun sharing the weekend with them. We left on Friday and came back on Saturday so it was very quick, but fun still the same. Hopefully, more of our sisters can join us next year. This is a picture from Gardener's Village in West Jordan.

Well, so many of you asked and I didn't offer a description so here it is. Last Wednesday we were at Jay's Little League game. (No, he wasn't playing, we were just there supporting the team.) Somehow Sarah fell and hurt her lip and nose. I don't know exactly how it happened. Marcus was working and so he got another frantic phone call about someone bleeding and the ER. He met us there and took care of things. He is a really great Dad. Here are some pics of Sarah after the ordeal. No broken bones, just a VERY bloody nose and lip, thankfully.

Let me tell you about lightning. I am sure that all of you have heard the saying, "Lightning never strikes twice in the same place." Well I have no faith in that saying after today. First of all, I don't have any pictures for this post yet. I will explain that later and I will post pictures tomorrow, but in the mean time I will just share the experience with you.

I need to go back to the beginning of this week for full appreciation of today's events. Marcus recently took a training course that allows him to be a trainer at work. Since most of this course fell on his days off last week, he ended up having seven days of in a row this week. He spent the first three days with me and the kids, helping around the house and running errands. But as much as I love my husband seven days at home is a lot. So, when he brought up that he wanted to take Sarah and go visit his parents in Colorado, I said, probably a little too enthusiastically, "Sure, go ahead, sounds great!" Tuesday morning he and Sarah left for Colorado. Sarah was soooo excited, I hope that she was able to get some pictures to share when she gets back. But I wanted you to know where Marcus was for the next train of events.

Tuesday and Wednesday passed uneventfully. I actually had several appointments, errands and enough house work that I didn't even miss them. On, Wednesday I did wake up with a chest cold. My chest was hurting and I had developed a sore throat and cough, but nothing to worry about. I still went about my day as normal, I even trimmed some trees in the backyard. Wednesday night Jay had a baseball game. So I loaded up the kids and off we went. (He actually had pictures that night as well and I coach a volleyball team, so the events were a little more complicated... drop Jay at 445. Find coach and give money packet to him. Dash off to Vball practice at 5:00 stay until 600. Get Kaitlyn something to eat and race back to Jays game at 615.) Jay's second time up to bat, the pitcher hit Jay's hand with the ball. Jay is a lefty, but he bats as a righty so the hand closest to the ball is his left hand. And that is what was hit. Jay took his base and really didn't cry all that much. He even finished the run and came home. I took a look at his hand kissed it appropriately, then told him to shake it off and go play. He informed me that it was hurting and I told him to tell his coach that and do what he says. His coach told him to play. They put him in the field. However, that inning two balls were hit right to him in the field and he threw them both with his left hand.

After the game we went home and got ready for bed, I helped him dress because he was really hurting by then. I was sure he would feel better in the morning and so we iced his hand, (mostly for his comfort, I didn't really think he needed it) and off he went to bed.

That brings us to today. During the night I fell off a cliff. Approximately two years ago I was diagnosed with asthma. It has been very hard adjusting to this disease. Before I had it, I did not realize how difficult it can be. But it's even worse when I get a chest cold. Around two in the morning I woke up in a bad state. I couldn't breathe at all. My body was tense and panicking, I grabbed my inhaler and used it. That's how I made it to 700 am. I never went back to sleep. At 700 I got Jay ready for school and sent him off. He told me his hand hurt, but I think my exact words were, "Jay, you were hit by a ball. It happens all the time, you need to shake it off and go to school." I am such a bad mom. In my defense I had been awake for hours at this point and was quickly moving to the point of not breathing AT ALL.

Once Jay was off to school, I dressed Kaitlyn and I and then we went directly to Urgent Care. When I got there, my O2 sats were still in the ok range. I think 93-94. Anything above 92 is okay. But they could tell I was very tight and sick. They gave me a breathing treatment, some oral steroids, an antibiotic and a pain killer, because my chest felt like it had been ripped in half. The diagnosis was Asthmatic Bronchitis. Kaitlyn and I dropped off my perscriptions and came home.

By mid morning I was a lot worse. I couldn't even get off my couch. I called my mom and she picked up my perscriptions for me. I immediately took the ones I was suppose to, but within the hour, I was throwing up with diarrhea. Yes, at the same time. Plus, my chest had completely tightened up again and I still had two hours before I could give myself another breathing treatment. I believe I was laying on my bathroom floor crying with my one year old stroking my hair when I had to admit I couldn't take care of her anymore in this state. I made a few phone calls and Marcus's friend Shawn Humpherys was there in about 20 minutes. He even arranged for Jay to ride the bus to their house after school so I could rest. What a lifesaver!!!

I called Urgent care back and asked them what I could do to breathe again. They brought me back in and gave me a steroid shot in the butt. It was horrible but it worked. My lungs opened in about two hours. Plus, I had another breathing treatment. The second time back they diagnosed me with the flu. NOT the swine flu, just the flu in addition to my bronchitis. Finally I came home and slept. It was about 300 at this point and when I woke up at 500 I felt better. Shawn brought the kids back to me at 700. I figured one hour till bedtime, I can do this no problem. Jay walked in the house and I asked him how his day was and if his hand was feeling better. I was feeling much more motherly since the nap and steroid shot. I took one look at his hand and knew something wasn't right.

Back to Urgent Care. Yes, three times in one day! They did an X-ray on his hand and in the meantime, I had started to plummet again. Standing, walking and driving were not things I could handle at this point I guess. When they came back in with the results from his x-ray I was laying on the floor crying. Yes, on the floor and I know that is gross but I couldn't sit or stand. They took my O2 sats again and this time I didn't pass. Plus, the results from the x-ray showed that his hand was BROKEN. BROKEN!!! I felt horrible. Shake it off I had said. Go to school. He walked around all day with a broken hand. I am a very bad mom. They put his hand in a soft cast and said they would hard cast it on Monday after the swelling had gone down. No more baseball. He took it all very well. Course the fact that his mom was sobbing didn't help. He asked me if I was crying because he broke his bones again. He thought it was his fault. What a sweetheart.

Urgent Care was very worried about me driving and actually about me going home at all. They thought that maybe I should go to the ER. I told them I wanted to go home and would find a ride. After calling many people, my sister Heather answered and said she would be there right away. And she probably would have been, if she hadn't been pulled over on the way there. Yep, this story just keeps going. The cop pulled her over in the same parking lot as Urgent Care and when I called to ask where she was, she let me know that the flashing lights were for her. I called Marcus and got the name of the cop. Then, I left the kids in the car and walked over to her. It almost killed me. Once again, I found myself in tears on the ground. This time in the parking lot next to Taco Bell. It was not a good day. The nice man let us off with a STERN warning for my sister and the kids and I finally made it home.

Now it's 330 in the morning and the steroids have my heart racing and I am unable to sleep so I thought I would share my day with everyone. Days like this don't come around that often, and I hope they never come around again. I say that lightning does strike twice in the same spot because almost exactly two years ago, this month, I was in the hospital with pneumonia (and Marcus was out of town) and about four weeks later Jay broke his femur in half. What are the chances? Marcus will be home tomorrow and then I am going to hand all of these crises off to him.

This year we were on our way back from California for Easter. My Grandma Bodine let us stay overnight at her house on the way home. I am so grateful for her. She really made Easter special for the kids. Here is a picture of the kids on our way to church. Easter morning after the kids ransacked their baskets, they searched for Easter eggs in Grandma's back yard. What a fun morning!