Riding the BP rollercoaster

Well...I'm sitting here at the hospital drinking lukewarm coffee out of a styrofoam cup.  I don't have a whole lot to say.  We got to Iowa City about 11 AM on Friday and as I type this it's 8:20 PM on Saturday night.

When we got here Blake's blood pressures started to go down.  And then they went down a little more.  After Dr. Jetton rounded today I was feeling very hopeful we could go home on Sunday.  However, Blake's last two blood pressures have been high again.  *sigh*

I don't get it.  I don't understand it.  Nothing has changed.  It makes me want to scream.  I didn't really understand why they suddenly went down and I don't understand why they are now high again.  Super frustrating. 

We aren't really doing anything here at the hospital.  Literally, just switching up his dialysis prescription at night.  During the day Blakers and I go for walks, hang out in the toy room, I give him wagon rides around the whole hospital.  I can't keep him in the room because he wants to play with everything except his toys and he screams (because he thinks I'm leaving him) when he is in his crib. 

Honestly, it's exhausting to entertain this kid.  Blake is used to Jenna, Brody and Bowen to play with.  The mom just isn't that fun. :)

Anyway, I will keep you all in the loop and hopefully (fingers crossed) we get to go home on Sunday.

Bad Blakers news

On September 15th I wrote a post on facebook asking for prayers for Blake because he had been battling high blood pressure.  We got so many comments and prayers and I just feel overwhelmed by all the love and happy thoughts you have sent our way.

Unfortunately, though, we are still battling this same problem.  We had our monthly visit in Iowa City and have been in constant contact with our nurse and doctor down there.  Adjustments have been made regularly to both his dialysis prescription and his blood pressure medication.  Still nothing.

Dr. Jetton wanted to see our daily log sheets yesterday, so we faxed them down.  At 5 PM Jen, our nurse, called to say that Dr. Jetton wanted to admit Blake for observation for his continued high blood pressure.  My reaction was, "NOOOO!"  Seriously, it was. :)

UGH.  I love the people in Iowa City, but I really hate being down there.  I know deep down that it must be done though.  Aaron had some questions and emailed our doctor this morning and when she mentioned that a couple of kiddos in Texas (where she used to work) had developed heart failure because of the high blood pressure I totally freaked out.  I understand that she was probably giving us a worse case scenario, but it scared the ba-jeesus out of me nonetheless.

The nice thing is that we can go down either Thursday or Friday.  I'm heading down with Blake on Friday morning.  It involves a lot of shuffling of kids and re-arranging of schedules, but ultimately we know Blaker's health has to come first.

So, please think happy, positive low blood pressure thoughts for us.  I will be super bored, which means I will update you all on what's going on.  Thank you again for your love and support!!

Labor Day Weekend: Swimming

Between a wedding and hiking and eating and campfires, we were still able to sneak in a quick swim before we had to head back to State Center.  The kids had a blast, plus it wore them out so they all took naps on the way home (bonus!).

 Bowen goes with gusto.  Always.  But, especially when he is exploring and discovering new things.

 Jenna busted out some swimming, even though I'm sure she was about in one foot of water here.

 My brother is always overly dramatic. :)

 Brody was all about building sand castles...

 Maddox the fish!

 Once Brody figured out that water needed to be added things went much better. :)

 The only bummer was that Blake couldn't swim for obvious reasons, like infection to his dialysis site.  But, I might have snuck him in the water to dip his toes in.  That seemed to make him happy.  A picture of the swimmers!

Labor Day Weekend: Cousins!

 My cousin Brooke and her husband, Brad, along with their two kids came to visit us at the cabin since they live really close.  It was so nice to see them!  We are all so busy and we don't see them often enough, but our kids just have the best time together. :)

One of the things they wanted to do was walk over to Boy Scout Island.  I didn't realize it until we got over there, but there was a spicket.  Yeah, you can imagine what followed after the kids discovered that...

 

 

 Pretty sure this is my favorite photo of the day.  Three ornery boys just having the time of their lives!

 We tried for a group photo of the water drenched kiddos.  Yeah... Brody was crying about who knows what.  Maddox and Maeci were like, seriously Brody? haha.

 In this one, Brody is still crying and Maddox started having a coughing fit and almost threw up.  Real life right there folks... :)

Labor Day - SURPRISE!

 Labor Day weekend we found ourselves up in Northwest Iowa to stay at a cabin with my mom, Bill, Justin, Jess and families.  My mom had been planning this for an entire year and I could tell she was really excited about it. 

We managed to jimmy-rig a cell phone and a t.v. to get the Hawkeye game and about 3:15 my mom and Bill came over to tell us that the minister was on his way and they were getting married at 4:00 PM.  Whhhhaaaaattttt?!

 To say we were shocked was an understatement.  There we all were, in our Hawkeye t-shirts and my mom was talking about a wedding.

 After being told the news we started putting the pieces of the puzzle together.  Bill's family from the east coast just "happened" to be coming through on their way back from a trip to the Black Hills.

 Some of my mom's friends just "happened" to show up.  Would you believe everybody knew except us kids?!  It's true.

 My grandpa walked my mom down.  She just looked completely gorgeous.  Content.  Happy. 

 The ceremony was short, but very nice.  I cried.  My mom cried. 

 I love this photo.  Happiness!

 The lake made a gorgeous backdrop for the wedding.

 

My hot mama and us kids - GO HAWKS!! :) You got us mom, you got us good!

One of the things the minister said was that life doesn't always lead us down the roads that we think it will.  But, I'm glad that my mom's road led her to Bill.  My mom has been through a lot and she deserves all the happiness that life can offer and I think she found just the person to give that to her!
Congrats Mom and Bill!

Our new venture!

Hey there. Hi there. Ho there. :)  Long time since I really told you about the going-ons for our family.  I don't really know where to start, but here goes...

The most exciting news:  We had the opportunity to take over some of the school photography at West Marshall (sports, dances, etc.).  We shot all of the fall sports - high school and junior high - with the exception of high school football.  Aaron and I have a lot of fun and work well together.  It's really comfortable because the kids know me from the paper and pictures and Aaron has obviously taught them. 

We took pictures of everything in about a week's time, which means we have been BuSy!!  Aaron is the actual picture taker, I do the posing, processing of orders and anything else that needs to be done.  It's super handy to have Aaron right at school to distribute photos or whatever else is needed. 

I should probably tell you the name of our little business.  It's JKay Photo & Designs.  Jamie Kay is my name, so that's where it comes from.  It's the first thing that popped into my head. :)

People have already asked us about kids or family photos.  We aren't opposed to taking any pictures for people, so we're just kind of muddling through this as we go.  We don't have a studio so anything we did would have to be done outside or on-location somewhere.

Anyway, we officially have one sports season under our belts and before we know it, winter sports season will be here.  It's been a lot of fun, so we're looking forward to more adventures with the camera!

Shaving Cream Fight

First, let me say that I have missed blogging.  Life has been super-duper busy around our house, but I'll save that for another post.  It's been a month.  An entire month since I've been on here posting about our family.  Hopefully things will start to settle down now and I can get you caught up on our life.  I have lots to tell you about!

Moving on...I saw this idea online somewhere.  Supplies needed: shaving cream and your kids.  Perfect.  We had actually planned to do this the first weekend after school started, but then I was in Iowa City with Blake, so it didn't work out.  We did it the next weekend though.

FUN!  The kids loved it.  I'm talking serious love here.  What a cheap, fun way to spend an hour.  AWESOME!  We will definitely do this again sometime.  The pictures speak for themselves, so enjoy!

 Somehow this happened to the mom...

 Tip:  Have a towel handy, just in case they get carried away.

 Brody spelled his name in the shaving cream.  See?  It's educational too! :)

 And Jenna, our little artist...

 Our backyard.  The aftermath.

This made my heart so happy.  It was one of those times where I was surrounded by my kids' squeals of laughter and I wish I could have bottled it for another time.  Good stuff!