Recovery

Natalie is resting peacefully next to me as I type this post, and what a wonderful sight that is!  After about three hours of surgery and recovery, Natalie returned to us whimpering.  Her only complaint thus far has been when she is moved or bothered in any way.  That's fantastic news because it means her pain management is working for now.  Her surgery was certainly not as extensive as last year's surgery, so we're hoping recovery will be much easier for this little girl who has no idea what is happening to her or WHY it's happening.

As Yogi Berra says, "It's like deja vu all over again."  Natalie had the same doctor, anesthesiologist and nurse as last year, and is just two doors down from her old room.  We'll hope that the similarities end there.

The view from Natalie's window, just two doors down from her room last year.

 The wait is the hardest...hoping and praying that she will be safe and she will return to us.  Surgery and the subsequent recovery for Natalie is dangerous, especially because she's had issues with RSV and pneumonia in the past.  Her lungs are so fragile, and that is a constant worry for me.  So I laid in her hospital bed this morning, praying and reading and doing anything to keep my mind off of what could happen.

Her throne awaits--including a froggy she received from her summer school teachers!

 Dr. Haasbeek just stopped by to check on Nat...his main concern was that she looked quite pale, so we put her back on the nasal cannula to get some extra oxygen in her.  She looks much better already!

When she wakes up, we'll try to get some clear fluids in her.  That means dietary sent up a tray of Jell-O, chicken broth, water, apple juice and....COFFEE.  Seriously.  She's five years old, people.  Ha!

Also, only of my pet peeves is student doctors.  I know they have to learn somehow, but there's nothing more annoying than having a student doctor come in to get a complete history of your child five minutes after she returns from surgery, then asks what type of surgery she is going to have today.  Ummmm..she already had it.  You may want to know that before you come in the room.  It took all I had not to laugh out loud!

Natalie is sleeping peacefully!  What a little angel.

A cool side note: Dr. Haasbeek is traveling to Ecuador on a mission trip this Friday to perform surgery on children in need there.  His face lights up when he talks about it, and it makes us admire him even more.  The best part is that the plates removed from Natalie's femurs today will go inside of a child in Ecuador...AMAZING!  

Thank you all for your constant prayers!  They mean more to us than you'll ever know!

Surgery Begins

Natalie woke up with a HUGE smile on her face this morning!

I know there are many people praying for Natalie right now, and it is such a comfort to us to know so many people care for her.  We just left our little sweetie about fifteen minutes ago after talking to all of her doctors and nurses about what to expect for this surgery.  

Dr. Haasbeek has told us to expect about two hours worth of surgery.  That includes removing the plates that we put in back in August, as well as performing a pelvic osteotomy, which is the reshaping of her pelvic bone on the right side so that, ultimately, her hip will be less likely to dislocate in the future.  All I know is that surgery scares me to death when it comes to Natalie.  

I'll let you know more when I hear from the nurse.

The Handicap Spot

There's an old saying in my family (the Millers) that nearly every situation in life can relate back to a Seinfeld episode, and this situation is no different...



Man, I love that show.

So, here's my little rant...please humor me for a few minutes.

For some reason, this past Saturday I decided to take the kids out to Target and the grocery store all by myself.  I must be crazy or something.

First of all, shopping in Minot has gotten nearly impossible on the weekends, so most of the time, I just go out during the week and only with Calvin.  Second, taking Natalie with me means that my hands are tied up with a wheelchair, and that means no cart and directing a stubborn two year old to walk beside me while I gather as many things as I can in my arms.

Like I said...I must have been crazy.

However, I was in a great mood, and everything went really well.  Well...almost everything.

Until Natalie came along, I don't think I had ever parked in a handicap spot, so I didn't really notice this stuff before.  Over the past four or so years that we've had our handicap tag, I've noticed some rather annoying violators.

There are three violators I've identified:

1.  The Drop-Offer:  Someone who drops off a passenger at the door, then sits in the car in a handicap spot until that person comes back out.
2.  The Un-Handicapped:  This may be someone who is using a handicap tag that belongs to someone else, or a person who had a tag for a particular reason (i.e., crutches) and no longer needs it, but still uses it.
3.  The Blatant Violator:  If you don't have a handicap tag, don't park in a handicap spot, because I guarantee I can report a violator faster than you can say, "one hundred dollar fine."

I make it a point to never park in a handicap spot unless Natalie is with me.  On this day, two of the three violators taking up spots, which then left all spots full at both Target and the grocery store.

A handicap spot isn't just the closest spot to the front door, it's a safe place for me to load and unload my handicapped daughter on the side of my van.  Instead of squeezing the wheelchair in between two vehicles, I have a designated area that keeps me from doing this task out in the driveway area of the parking lot.

Also, since it takes a lot longer to load and unload Natalie from the wheelchair and put that clunky wheelchair in the back of the van, these spots are ideal during the dead of winter.

Okay, there's my rant for the day.  Those violators were darn lucky I was in a good mood on Saturday!!  :)

PROGRESS!

There are signs of life in Green Valley once again...

The trees are blooming, birds are singing, and hammers are pounding.  We live in a giant construction zone right now, and though it's loud at times, it's the sound of life in the valley.

While we were certainly blessed to be back in our home before Thanksgiving, I had to come to terms with the fact that not much would get done at our house for the next four to five months.  The basketball season starts in December, which has Perry out on the road reffing nearly every day of the week.  

So, over the course of those four months, I sat at home with the kids, staring at all of the unfinished projects and making a mental list that seemed to grow by the second.

It's time to start crossing those items off the list.

First up, a new fence between our house and the neighbor's house.  Ahhh...privacy.  It's a wonderful thing.  

Perry and our neighbor, Joe, built this!  

Pay no attention to the piles of garbage!

Prior to the flood, we had a horrible concrete patio in our back yard.  It was cracked and heaving and altogether...hideous.  

At first, we considered stamped concrete, but it didn't solve the problem of making the patio door handicap accessible for Natalie's wheelchair.  So, we moved on to Plan B...a deck.  Since there are approximately twenty contractors in our neighborhood at any given time, it's easy to find the skilled laborers required for such a project.  Thanks to our neighbors, the Duchscherers, for finding a great contractor to build their deck!  (We stole them!)  :)

The deck is done!

A handicap accessible sidewalk for Natalie leading to the deck

Cute little footprints in the sidewalk

The new seating area

Built in bench

The deck comes right up under the patio door...easy access for Nat!

Built-in planters

Lots of room for fun get togethers!

Have you ever read the children's book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"?  For those who haven't, it's about how one thing can lead to another.  If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk.  Well, if you give Melissa a new deck, she's going to ask for some new deck furniture.  Be prepared, husband.

Meanwhile, we're still dealing with a mud pit for a yard.  There's still much to do, but we needed to finish the construction projects first.  Landscaping will be a chore.  Unfortunately, all of our shrubs died in the flood.

All of the shrubs are dead, but the ash tree is ready to bloom! 

A few weeks before the flood, we planted two little trees in the back yard; a spring snow crab and a honeycrisp apple tree.

Spring snow crab on the left, Honeycrisp apple tree on the right

We couldn't believe it when we saw leaves appearing on our snow crab tree this year!  It was nearly covered in water for weeks last year.  What a resilient tree!

The green is coming back to Green Valley...slowly but surely.  It's going to be a much happier summer around here.

A Trip to the Farm

This past weekend, the kids and I took a trip up to Sherwood while Perry was busy reffing basketball games at the State Am in Bismarck.  We had a great time with Papa and Grandma; on Friday night, we attended the PTO carnival.  Natalie enjoyed all the noise while Calvin went down the gigantic inflatable slide about 30 times.  

The highlight of the weekend, though, was a trip to a local farm to see some farm animals!  I had planned on taking both Natalie and Calvin, but it was just too cold for Natalie to be outside.  So, Papa, Calvin and I jumped into the pickup and drove out to the farm of Guy and Wendy Solemsaas.  They have three beautiful daughters, Madeline, Grace, and Lily, who helped show us around the barnyard.  I'm sorry if I spelled their names wrong, Wendy!  

First up, we met some cats...lots of cats who are as friendly as can be.  

  Calvin has no fear of animals, and went right to work carrying them around.  By the way, check out that vintage E.T. beanie!  I didn't pack for 30 degree weather, so you can also see Natalie's jacket underneath the grey sweatshirt.  Sorry, Calvin.

I couldn't believe how friendly the cats were!  Calvin was so focused on holding as many cats as possible.  But pictures don't do it justice...so here's a video of his kitty-chasing adventure...

There were also bunnies in this barn that were SOOOOO soft, but Calvin was not interested.  He was obsessed with the cats.

In the next barn, we caught a glimpse of a calf that was born just hours before we arrived.  The mama cow was a bit protective, so I just took a picture for Calvin and we moved to the next barn.  Sorry for the poor picture quality...I don't really have any excuse for why that happened.   

The next barn was full of sheep!  Big sheep, little lambs...they were all there, and they all have names.  I was amazed at how they all knew every single sheep by name.  Guy says he wanted to name them #1, #2, #3, etc., but with a house full of girls, he had no choice but to let them choose names for each one.  

Calvin ran around with the sheep in this pen and only got knocked down once.  I was surprised that he didn't seem all that anxious about being in a cage with animals that were larger than him.  I think he had focused in on the lambs, so he didn't really notice the bigger sheep.

Here is Grace helping Calvin pet a little lamb...

 He even got to pick up a lamb...for a short period of time.  They wiggle a bit more than the kittens do!

At one point, we had him penned up with a bunch of lambs, and he had fun petting them and attempting to carry them around.

Thank you, again, to the Solemsaas family for letting us stop by on a cold Sunday morning.  Calvin had so much fun, and so did I!  You're right...there is something very special about how little kids interact with animals.  We can't wait to come back this summer to meet some more farm friends!

Best. Day. Ever.

I realize Calvin likely won't remember any of this trip in the years to come, but Perry and I surely will.  Spending all of this time together, just the four of us, has been incredible.  I've learned just how grown up Natalie is, and how much Calvin has learned.  He's a fun little guy who's starting to say some funny things!

Today, as Perry entered the freeway, Calvin yelled from the back, "Careful, Daddy!"  Also, we've been serenaded throughout the trip with one song in particular...

Natalie seems to like it.

Our first destination on this beautiful March morning was Como Zoo.  I've never been there before, but I can tell you that we will never again visit the Minnesota Zoo.  Como Zoo is absolutely amazing...it's beautiful, not too big and lots of fun for little kids.

Outside of the zoo and conservatory

Calvin thought this giant turtle was interesting

Cal spent most of his time trying to climb under the fences

Hopefully these bears will return to Minot soon!

A corn dog and "Apey Grapey."  Calvin loved his lunch.

Natalie soaked up the sun.  The weather was beautiful!

Yumm-O!

The tropical garden area was beautiful!

Natalie was in HEAVEN!

Calvin & Daddy--my cuties!

Outside of the tropical garden

My princess!  Pretty in pink!

After a fun morning and early afternoon wandering around Como Zoo, we headed back to our new hotel for the night.  FYI, the Holiday Inn Express near the Mall of America is NOT nice.  It's strange, because I've never been to a Holiday Inn Express I didn't love.  So poor Daddy had to pack up the car AGAIN and moved us into the Country Inn & Suites near the mall, which is a MILLION times better.

So, it was on to our next adventure for the day...the Mall of America.  I felt a little guilty that we were heading inside on such a beautiful day, but I knew Calvin would have a blast at the amusement park there...and he did!

Cal's eyes lit up when he saw the carousel

He loved this little roller coaster ride

Sorry...pictures taken with Perry's phone---but he had fun on this fire truck ride!

Second time on the carousel!

By the time we left the mall, it was already dinner time.  It's a no-meat Friday for us, so Perry got to try IHOP pancakes for the first time ever.  If you know Perry at all, you know that this was a very special moment for him.  :)

I really wish we had more time to spend in Minneapolis, but our time here is almost up.  I'm hoping to make a stop at IKEA before we depart tomorrow morning.  I've never been there, mostly because I'm afraid I'll spend way too much money there.

So, for now, I'll just bask in the glow of this wonderful day and thank the Lord for blessing me with such a wonderful family.  Best. Day. Ever.