Grandpas

Grandpa Rasmussen passed away a little over two years ago. Which is still hard to deal with sometimes. Tonight I happened to glance across the street at my neighbors as he was getting home from work. They have their eleven year old grand daughter visiting them and she had met him out in the garage. It reminded me of all the times I spent with Grandma and Grandpa, but mostly it reminded me of when they would come to visit. I remember so clearly knowing they were almost there when they would bring the diesel truck. That thing was so loud you could hear it from a block away. And there was something about that diesel truck that even when we weren't expecting them and I heard it coming up the road I knew it was them.
The other thing that is hard is that when Bub was born four and a half years ago grandma and grandpa helped me with Monkey. When I was told that I wasn't leaving the valley there was no question in my mind where I would be staying that night because Grandma and Grandpa would always be willing to have me there. I don't have that this time. And maybe it is because of this loss, both of Grandpa and Grandma's memory, that I haven't made the arrangements that I need to for when this new baby is born. Who really knows. I miss him. I miss Grandma too. Last week when I went in for my doctor's appointment I was pretty tired. I drove in by myself so we didn't have to drag the kids in with us. I told Spencer that if I was too tired I would run up to Grandma's and take a nap. If I had done that I would have been emotionally exhausted as well as physically. Grandma is there, but things are just not the same. I made the comment to mom last month that it is hard to see how far she has slipped because the grandma I grew up with would NEVER have let herself be like this. oh, the beauty of Alzheimer's. Except that it is the exact opposite of beauty!

How do you show proper sympathy?

I found out that the son of one of the couples that we know here in town was tragically killed by an accidental self inflicted gun shot to the head Friday. How do you show these parents any type of sympathy? I am sitting here getting ready to welcome a new life into the world and they are mourning the loss of their 9/10 year old. I can not even imagine what they are going through.
I really did not know the child. I have met his older brother, but not him. The parents are great people and are very active in their kid's life as well as the community. The are great people and it breaks my heart to know that they are going through this tragic event.
My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Crazy, crazy week

This week did not start out looking like it was going to be that out of the ordinary. I did have a doctor's appointment on Monday, but I have known about that for a month.

Monday turned out really well. Spencer was sick and so stayed home with Bub so I was able to go in by myself, which is nice every once in a while. I did a lot of shopping and just had a good time.

While I had been away the kids had played out in the the water. Spencer had sprayed them with sunscreen. I put them in a bath before sending them to bed and didn't think anything about it. That night Bub was quite restless. I was down on the couch and kept hearing him wander. He never came all the way down to me or into the bed with Spencer. If he had I might not have been so surprised when he woke up just after 8 the next morning. He had a rash all over his chest, arms, and face. I quickly got him in the shower and washed him down. The put so itch cream on him. I then ran to the store and got some benadryl. After running by Spencer's office and giving him a dose of the benadryl I took him to my friends because I wanted some advice. She advised me to make an appointment for early afternoon so the benadryl could have a chance to work or not work. The benadryl did not help so I took him into the doctor. We assumed it was an allergic reaction to the sunscreen so the doctor prescribed prednisolone. The first three days it seemed to be helping. By Friday there were rashes popping up where they hadn't been before so I was thinking I needed to take him to see his pediatrician. Unfortunately Spencer had a project that had to be done in Wells and had caught a ride the night before with one of his coworkers from over there. So he had spent the night and needed me to pick him up. So I called the pediatrician's office and talked to a nurse and was told that hives will show up in odd places for a long time. So I let it go knowing that the pediatrician office is open for a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday. We woke up on Saturday and what he looked like on Tuesday was mild compared to what he looked like then. So we quickly got us all ready and headed in to see the doctor.

It was determined that the rash was not an allergic reaction to the sunscreen. Because his tonsils have been swollen for almost two months we are leaning towards either strep or a viral infection. The quick strep test came back negative which kind of surprised the doctor, but they are letting the culture grow for 24 hours. Hopefully I get a call around noon letting me know that the second test came back positive. I never thought I would want my son to have strep, but if it comes back as strep then at least we know what is wrong and have a course of treatment. If there is not then we will keep an eye on it and if it doesn't get better then we will take him to see a dermatologist.

Ultra sound

I would be lying if I said I was okay with having another boy. I had my heart set on a baby girl. I almost cried when it was confirmed that I am having a boy. In a couple weeks it will be okay. Or maybe when Bub 100% potty trained I will be happier it is a boy. Right now the thought of potty training another boy brings me to tears.

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faceheart beatIt's a boy

Playing Cowboy

On the way into the corral

Looking at the bull and 2 steers
the bull looking back
Trying to pull the pitchfork out of the hey

still trying.... (they would eventually get it out and then grandpa would immediately put it back into the hey so no one could hurt themselves)

Why walking along

Monkey letting mom take his picture

Why telling us something

playing on the old coral fence

Kay showing Monkey something On the way back up the hill to grandma and grandpa's

Easter

Bub coloring eggs Monkey coloring eggs

It was too cold so we did the Easter egg hunt in our front room. The "Easter Bunny" didn't realize that I had bought a dozen eggs after the kids were done dyeing eggs so put the wrong eggs out.

Showing off their loot.

Bub's 4th birthday

Today is Bub's fourth birthday. I had no idea what I was going to do for his cake so I pulled out the cupcake cookbook that my mom had given me for Christmas. There are tons of dog and cat cupcakes in there so I figured I would be making dog or cat cupcakes. Nope. He was not interested. finally I sat down and started looking through the whole book when I came across the garden. Immediately Bub jumps in with... "Rabbit's garden." So for his birthday I made him "Rabbit's garden."
Due to the time of year a lot of our friends were not able to make it because they had sick kids. I would like to thank those that were able to come and make his day special.

He is so excited about his cupcakes.This is Spencer lighting the candles for the first time. Here are the candles lit for the second time while we sing happy birthday to him. Spencer had barely moved his hand away after lighting them the first time before Bub had them blown out. Right before blowing out the candles.Look at his eyes. Can you tell how excited his is?He got them all in one shot!! A garden cake doesn't sound all that fun. And I had to buy over $20 worth of candy in order to make all the vegetables, but his face made the work and the expense worth it.

Happy Birthday Bub!

KC's farewell post 3

So I started out wanting to take pictures of everyone that was at KC's farewell...

Here is a good one of Girlie with Kay and Bud in the background.

Here is one of Jessie and Clint with Jen and Dale in the back ground.

And then I got distracted, but can you blame me?

Why is one of my favorite people to take pictures of. His face is shows exactly what he is feeling.

At the end of it all someone had had enough. He was finally given to Grandpa and he and Grandpa took a nap!

I didn't mean to only get Jessie's family. Really I didn't.

KC's Farewell post 2

She has a camera pointed at me... what is up with that?

Let me see if I can talk her into pointing the camera at someone else.

Well the comment didn't work so maybe I will just ignore her.

That didn't work either so let me be animated while eating the last of the dressing from the grape salad.

Still didn't work. Let me just ignore her some more.

Really that is enough.

Love ya KC. I miss you already!