JB is a track star

Teeny tiny Jennibelle decided to join the track team this year. Her two activities were...

High jump and long jump!

She got to compete in all of the home matches, and 1 swat match at Henpfield.

She had a lot of fun!

She’s also been very busy. 

School. Track practice 3:30-5:30. Musical practice (Beauty and the Beast, Silly Girl) 6-8. Travel soccer Mon and Weds evening and games in the weekend. 

Plus, she bought herself a guinea pig!!

Pizza and Paint Date

Jackson and I got to go on a date at church last night. He logged out on Papa John’s Pizza... 2.5 slices with chips and 2 juice boxes (yay!!) then we started to paint. He LOVED it!  He followed the instructor and took it very seriously! Whenever the speaker asked if people were enjoying themselves, he yelled “ME!!” His finished project turned out very good, then he got excited to personalize it- he added a fish, a person, another bird (eating a fish), a turtle and clouds. He LOVES the finished product!!  Then we played with ricks outside until it got too dark. My heart is full right now. 

Chronic Compartment Syndrome

Over the past few years, Jaylee has fought off shin splints. This spring, between lacrosse and rugby training, she was in tears on two spectate occasions. Jaylee does not cry. She asked to see a Dr. The pediatrician NP saw her 2 days later and was suspicious of compartment syndrome so she sent us to Ortho. I only knew about Acute compartment syndrome, from my ER days, so I was very nervous. We saw Ortho a week later and he agreed with the NP. We chose to start conservatively with no running or exertion and PT twice a week for a month. At PT they focused on stretching because she, apparently, is SUPER tight, everywhere. Taking a break helped her to get rid of most of her pain at rest. After a month, Ortho cleared her to run at 50% and to keep up with PT. She was immediately in pain when starting to run on a fancy treadmill at 50% of her weight. So, we got sent the next week to Dr Carroll, an Ortho that deals with Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome.  He believes that she does have it but wants to make sure that she doesn’t have other things going on too. So, in the past week, she’s had a fancy ultrasound test to check the blood flow to her feet, an MRI to make sure that there are not tiny fractures or muscle herniation through the fascia, and an EMG of her lower legs and lower back, to check her nerves and muscle electrophysiology. Luckily, she had good results on all of those tests and we see Dr Carroll on Monday to discuss surgery and to do the defintive pressure testing that must be done before surgery. She’s happy that with all of the tests, it pushes surgery back until after the Sr Prom, and she can wear shoes, not post op boots. 

She also had blood work done over the week that was essentially normal... except for high cholesterol and very high triglycerides!?!  So, next month she’ll see a GI Dr and a Cardiologist at CHOP. This should not affect her having surgery though. She’s been keeping us busy!!

Compartment pressure testing will be done on May 14th...

https://youtu.be/O8ysNbOGV54

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It’s May 14th and Jaylee is in the middle of her test. I watched them inject her 8 times with lidocaine and watch 3 of the 8 at-rest pressure tests done. All three were elevated. Her nerves were jumping. She didn’t cry- because Jaylee doesn’t cry- but kept scratching “Oh yeah!” “OK!”  “That’s OK!” “Oh boy!” I tried to console her in some way but was sternly told yo leave her alone. Why do they get so big? How I wish I could just scoop her up and fix things with a kiss. Jason is back there now, this is the first appointment he’s come to, so I know he has lots of questions for the Dr.  I’ll update soon...

Each leg has 4 compartments, at rest, 5 of her compartments read high. So she ran for 5 minutes and then they rechecked four pressures, all 4 read high. So... it’s official:(

The test was Barrberic. The pressure needles looked more like miniature screw drivers - HUGE! 

The Ortho Dr wants us to talk to the Cardiologist next week then follow up with him to come up with our plan. 

Tonight, Jaylee is icing her sore legs and broke down once because the pain was so bad. Advil did the trick. Hopefully she can get around for school tomorrow. Her legs feel like there’s still needles in her legs. Jason knows how to console her, since she doesn’t like the way I attempt to.

Gecko Funeral

“What happens at a Gecko’s funeral?” You May ask.

Let me fill you in...

It will start with one minute of silence. Exactly one minute. You’ll know that it’s been exactly one minute, because Jennibelle’s alarm will go off, making “Quacking” noises!! 

Then people will stand and give eulogies. Most will be sweet, until Jackson accidentally says “I hope that you have fun in gecko hell. Whoops!! I mean Heaven!” 

Jennibelle will read a passage from Revelations. And I quote, “Hallelujah. Amen.”Then she’ll fill his casket with letters and drawings that she’s prepared. 

Jimmy will be not be able to control his sadness, since it’s his first funeral. He’ll cry himself to sleep by 7pm. 

The burial will be snowy, muddy and cold, even though it’s April. Jason may, or may not, hurt his back digging a three foot hole in frozen ground. Amazing Grace will be sung at the burial site, of course. 

And then, the dance party will begin. The brownies will be eaten. The celebration will last one hour. 

After everyone has left, Jennbelle will fall to the ground, sobbing. She really loved Jesse. Today would’ve been their two month anniversary. She’s going to get another gecko and name him Neil, since Poppop Neil died today. 

Now you know, you’re welcome. 

Poppop Neil

We lost Poppop Neil earlier this week. Luckily we got to say “Goodbye!” to him the night prior. Well, the little boys didn’t get to see him, but Jack sent a letter and Jimny had me relay a message. He was surprisingly with it, when the four of us took turns shuffling through the little ER room. He kept telling everyone how much he loved them... especially “Dottie”. He kept kissing her. I think he was a little bit scared and a little bit in pain. (Abdominal Tumor pushes through the abdominal wall causing pain and infection.)   I’m very grateful for the love he gave my Mommom. I’m heart broken for her. 

My girls are heartbroken. I haven’t seen Jaylee bawl in years. Jennbelle’s gecko had died the day prior, so she was extra sad. She wanted to see him and say goodbye, but she seemed very nervous. The boys randomly tell me that they’re sad, but are easily distracted. 

I worry that Mommom is going to be too lonely and too sad, and go downhill quickly. They’ve been lucky to have adventurous, long lives. 

Easter 2018

We had our traditional Easter shenanigans with a fun twist. Instead of decorating baskets, we painted little metal pails. They turned out really cute, but there’s now paint all of our kitchen furniture and floor. We used the same nonwashable paint to decorate our hard boiled eggs. The turned out amazing, but I forgot to get a photo of them all. The kids were so creative. No one ate any of them this year. 

We attended the Easter egg hunt at Bonfield, like we always do... and Jack complained about the candy they handed out, just like he always does. 

We had dinner and Nan and Poppop’s, like every other holiday. Yummy yummy. Aunt Donna and Mommom spent the afternoon with us, since Neil was in LGH for a few days for back pain. He’s really go down hill, fast. We had our annual Easter Egg Hunt which the kids just love. 

2018 Catch Up

We have been busy as usual and I have been slacking at this blogging thing. Let’s catch up...

We rang in the New Year in our bedroom with the boys because Jaylee had her Bday party celebration with 20 girls. They seemed to have a lot of fun. She’s easily social, but prefers to just hang out with her BFF Liv. 

Jack had a fun first season playing B-ball at the Rec. Jason and I coached his team. He’s just so dang athletic, and he takes his sports very serious. 

Jack’s first competitive wrestling season was fantastic... I did not know how fun it was to watch. His first two matches were just him using his crazy core strength to over power his components, then he really wanted to learn moves so Jason coached him here at the house. And, he became a real wrestler. His first loss was absolutely heartbreaking... for all of us. He ended up taking 3rd place in the Championship Tournament. There’s only one kid who he wrestled that dominated him, and he wrestles year round. Luckily, they won’t be in the same wt class for long! Here’s a few of my favorite pix, Jason  also made him an awesome video. Jack frequently says (straight faced) “Don’t mess with me, I’m a wrestler!”

Jason took the girls to the annual Daddy Daughter Dance with the Manheim Twp Rec. They’ve done this for appx 8 years. Jenni looked so grown up! She’s very into makeup and doing her hair, these days. She surprised us with her heels.  Jason took Jenni to Johnny’s Steakhouse for filet, before the dance (Jaylee had lax practice).

Jaylee’s friends talked her into playing lacrosse because the JV team did not have a goalie. She started over Christmas on the indoor team. She certainly is not afraid, when she in the goal. Training with Rugby and Lax caused her bad shin pain. It’s very rare to see Jaylee cry, so when it happened twice in a week, we headed to Dr, which was her request. Eventually we ended up with an Ortho Dr because everyone thinks she has Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome. She’s been very mature about the fact that for 4 weeks she hasn’t been allowed to play Rugby b/c she’s not allowed to run. She can still stand in the lax goal. She’s done a lot of PT and is allowed to try running at 50% again. If the pain returns, she’s looking at A) givebup sports B) Deal with the pain C) surgery. She truly misses rugby and she had done so good at the Frost Bite Tounrmant in Feb. 

Jennibelle did indoor soccer with her travel team again. She even got to play Goalie 3 or 4 times. She did not love it, LOL.  She’s decided to stop doing travel soccer, she may try rugby in the fall.

Jimmy still deals with his Cyclic Vomitting, but it’s only 1x a month now. We haven’t been able to get him to the ER yet when it’s happening to have the special blood work done... bad Mommy...  He’s so used to it and is so good about hitting the bucket and taking his meds.

He’s also had a lot of fun with his school...

A field trip to Tiny Town, Daddy was a Mystery Reader in his class, a sleepover with Homer the Bear, a school roller skating party and then his first solo play date ever, with Brenton.

He’s even signed up for his first soccer team, with Daddy coaching him. He, literally, works on his “soccer skills” almost every day. 

The boys entered the church’s Pinewood Derby Car race again this year. They each completed their car, with Jason, in 1 day. Jimmy was so into it!!!  His car was Bumblebee. He painted it himself and won 1st place for the paint job!

Jackson made Optimus Prime, he had to be encouraged at first, but then enjoyed working on it. He won 3rd place for pain job. 

They each raced the car 3x’s down the hill, each taking first place 1 time. 

The girls did not partake this year but were there to cheer them on.

For Christmas, Jaylee bought me a yoga class at Float Yoga...  SO FUN!!!

Jackson turned SEVEN. I, literally, can not believe it. All of those weeks that were spent bedside in the Lancaster County hospitals seem like a lifetime ago, praise God!! He had a football bday party with tacos and ice cream cake. 

His pediatrician and nephrologist are both retiring this year. His urologist is happy that a 1/2 pill each morning keeps his undies dry at school... it has been an answer to prayers. Kids would soon start noticing. His creatinine and HUN are stable for now!!! 

His 1st grade teacher has been out for a few months and it’s really killed his “like” of school. We had tears many mornings. Now she’s back and he’s starting to enjoy it more. 

His eyes are green now, no longer blue, no longer gray. 

Jackson is super sensitive.

His feelings get hurt so easily.

This is Jayden, his on again, off again BFF.


His reading has really come along...

I love when he gets overly dramatic when reading...

Jack got the BEST bday gift from Nan and Poppop...

SKYZONE

ALL 4 kids LOVED it.


Even with the cold rainy windy weather we had, the kids play so well together in the house. (Even though the boys would love to play video games all day long.)

I think they’d learn more st home on their snow days, then they would at school...

Jason and I attempted two puzzles this winter... 1500 and 1000 pieces.  Um... nada. Just too many teeny tiny pieces. 

We’ve gotten a new date spot too... 

JOHNNY’S STEAKHOUSE.

Yummy yummy in my tummy!!


Jennibelle is on the Middle School Track & Field Team. She does high and long jump, which is comical because she’s shorter than most girls her age.

She’s also on Student Council and is a Silly Girl in theBeauty and the Beast musical.

Jimmy and Jack love to take me on the Trampoline because I pee my pants, every stinking time!

Trampoline hair??  Don’t care!!

We’re excited for Spring...