Ten on Ten

Today I decided to do "Ten on Ten."  That just means I'm posting ten pictures from today (the 10th!).  Pretty simple.  We went to the Iowa State Fair today as part of an Iowa State Dance Marathon event.  Without further ado, our Iowa State Fair edition of Ten on Ten. 

 This is the second time we've taken the kids to the state fair and they were so excited to go!  If you go to the fair, you HAVE to see the Big Boar.  It's a must.  This year's winner was over 1,000 pounds, which is just insane to me.  They fed him Casey's donuts.  Does that seem wrong to anyone else?!

 The kids loved going through all animal barns and were bummed that most of the horses were gone.

 I didn't get food on a stick!  Almost seems wrong, but Aaron and I did get ginormous tenderloins that we couldn't finish.  Soooo good.  Calories don't count at the fair, did you know that?! ;)

 We met up with some of the other dance marathon families and also some of the ISU dM students that were there.  I always love catching up with them!  Numerous people asked how Blake was doing and how his surgery went and that made me feel good.  We are pretty loved by our dM family!

 Aaron took Jenna on the sky glide in the morning, even though she cried and didn't want to.  When she was done she declared it, "AWESOME!" And then Brody wanted to do it.  And then Jenna wanted to do it again.  The view from above...

 You say State Fair, I say Butter Cow!

 The twins were troopers.  They made it until the two o'clock hour before they fell asleep.

 No rest for the weary... Even though Aaron and I were exhausted when we got home, apparently the kids were good to go.  Two more hours outside. 

 And, we ended our day with this:

 Bowen didn't have a diaper on and proceeded to poop in the sandbox.  Yeah, not cool.  Aaron thought it was rocks, but no such luck. :)

We had a great day!  Lots of memories made with the kiddos and they are fast asleep. 

A full weekend

We had a very busy weekend around these parts.  It was good though! Lots of fun!

On Friday night I had to take pictures for the paper in Melbourne at their town celebration.  They do a nice job and they had a tractor pedal pull.  Brody was super excited to participate!  He talked about it all day long. 

 He was so determined.  And then his foot slipped. I felt so bad because he wanted a trophy and he missed the third place trophy by one stinkin' inch!  It's ok though, because he still had fun he said.

 Saturday morning, we all got up bright and early and headed to a run called Ethan's Tractor Run 5K.  It's for a little boy who passed away several years ago after he had a bone marrow transplant.  The money raised goes to scholarships in our county. 

 They also had a kids race!  It was actually 1/4 mile and both the kids did it last year.  I'm all about getting the kids active! 

 The 5K was pretty hilly, but it was a good challenge.  Aaron and the kids did the runs last year and I did it with the kiddos this year.  I love that feeling that they are seeing a good example of staying active. 

 After the run, we hustled back to Melbourne for the parade and other activities.  It didn't take long for this little candy hoarder, a.k.a. Bowen, to make piles out of his tootsie rolls. 

 Double trouble.

 They had hula hoops in the park.  Old school fun!!  We loved it!  Blake just wanted to play in them.

 Jenna is like a little hula hoop queen.  I couldn't believe she did it with this many!

 And then this guy talked to me about doing it.  I informed him I couldn't hula hoop and he said he would give me a lesson.  This guy had a lot of fun in the 60's and 70's I think, but I got a kick out of his personality!  Guess what...

 I did it!  His lesson worked!  I was happier than all get out that I am finally able to do this. 

 They had pony rides.  Bowen was a little unsure, but I think he like it.  The guy running it gave Bowen his hat.  Little Cowboy.

 Aaron captured this picture of Jenna and I just adore it.  I don't know what it is.  Her expression.  Her eyes.  Her smile.  The fact that she looks too grown up.  It may be my new fave of her. 

 On Sunday it was nice, so we loaded everybody up to try to get some new pictures of the Burdorf four.  You know, like, nice pictures where they are all posed and stuff.  We went somewhere new that had a lot of cool places for pictures. 

 It was a DISASTER.  I mean, Jenna and Brody were great.  But, how do people with twin toddlers take pictures?  Do they not?!  It was just one. big. struggle.

 I will maybe share our attempts at these pictures later this week.  Even though it was frustrating...on the positive side - We got some quality family time.  The weather was great.  The views were gorgeous.  We enjoyed nature.  We were together. 

These were the last two pictures of the day.  They crack me up.  Where were these smiles earlier?!  Oh well... :)

 Bowen (top) & Blake (bottom).  Love those monkeys!

I almost forgot...we celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary on Friday!  We haven't had a date night yet, but we will.  This is our official photo.  Fancy, aren't we?! ;)  Ten years flew by and I can't imagine sharing this wild ride of a life with anybody but this guy.

The way I see it...

First of all, I want to start by thanking you all for your thoughts and prayers for Blake.  He had his surgery last Wednesday to replace his dialysis catheter and things went as well as could be expected.

We headed down on Tuesday for appointments and were able to come home Saturday afternoon.  I remembered how much I dislike hospital stays, but it was nice because my husband was there with me to pass the time.  It was not fun that Jenna, Brody and Bowen were in State Center and I missed them like crazy.  

We are gradually getting Blake back where he was pre-surgery for his dialysis.  You have to take things kind of slowly so his catheter doesn’t leak.  We also have to head down to Iowa City weekly for the next four weeks or so for dressing (the gauze/bandages covering his catheter) changes.

While I HATE being in the hospital, I’m also grateful for the time and perspective I get there.  I don’t get it anywhere else.  I’m grateful for the conversations that I have and the people that I meet.

We met a student from Chicago who is starting his junior year at Iowa and is majoring in Microbiology in hopes to be a Physician’s Assistant someday.  He was awesome and really took to Blake.  We met a family who had six kids (three girls, three boys) who had one of their daughters in for surgery to fix her kidney reflux.  We met up with Blake’s kidney buddy from Des Moines who had his transplant a week before.

I didn’t really see who was staying next to us, but I said hello to the parents several times.  Well, Aaron actually talked to the dad out in the hall.  His teenage daughter has an inoperable brain tumor and was given three to six months to live.  She will spend her last days in the hospital.

As Aaron was telling me this, I could not hold back the tears.  Why should this teenager, who should have so much life in front of her, have to go through this?  Why?!

I ran on Sunday because I needed to.  I thought about that sweet teenager, whose name I didn’t know, but whose story brought me to tears.  I ran for her.  7.1 miles that day.  I bet she would give anything to be able to run, walk and just do whatever the heck she wants, but she can’t.  But, I can.

I saw this quote on Twitter while at the hospital, “Our health always seems much more valuable after we lose it.”  It struck a chord with me, for obvious reasons.  All you need to do is people watch and see the wheelchairs, tubes and machines that pass by you at the hospital.

I don’t want to take my health for granted.  I don’t want to value it after I lose it.  I want to embrace it, right now while I have the opportunity to do just that, but that’s just the way I see it.

Family Get-a-way: Minnesota/Wisconsin

Before we had the whole Blake surgery thing, we took a trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin.  It was the weekend before the surgery.  We really wanted to getaway and spend some quality time with the family.  It was a really nice three days up there!

On Thursday afternoon we headed north and Aaron ended up getting a migraine so I had to drive.  We ended up never switching, so I drove through rush hour.  And construction.  And was sweating pretty much the whole entire time.  UGH!  Why would anybody want to do that on a daily basis?!  The good news is that Aaron said he never felt like his life was in danger - ha!

We stayed with my cousin Shanda and her husband, Matt, along with their girls, Arabella and Ivy in Hudson, Wisconsin.  They were kind enough to put up with our chaos for three nights!

 Friday morning we went to Hastings and met my grandma and grandpa for brunch at the Legion.  I love the view!  Right on the good old Mississippi River!  It was nice to have a few hours to catch-up and see them. 

We headed to a Minnesota Twins game Friday night.  It was the kids' first trip to Target Field.  Outside they had a statue of Tony Oliva.  The twins think these are real people!!  They were holding a conversation with him.

 And yes, Bowen, was attacking his backside. 

 We got there for batting practice by the Cleveland Indians.  Our seats were in the shade in left center.  When Aaron and I went a couple of years ago we sat down the first base line and I definitely liked our seats better this time.  I like to watch the ball come off the bat from there. 

 We were there to watch #7.  AKA...Joe Mauer!  Jenna was pretty excited about that, especially when Aaron told her he was in the bullpen, which was right next to us. 

 Our usher was AWESOME.  Seriously, that guy made our experience so good!  He got us a bag for our bobbleheads, got the kids "First Game at Target Field" certificates and offered to take a family photo for us. 

 Brody was quite certain he was going to die of thirst and hunger from the get-go. 

 It was double-bobble head night!  A bobble head with both Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer.  Photo courtesy: Brody.

 Joe, getting ready to warm-up the starting pitcher.

 We made it five innings, which wasn't terrible.  Brody drank an entire Gatorade, so that was troublesome for his bladder and trips to the bathroom!  Otherwise, it was a success. :)

 On Saturday, we played in the park, Shanda and I went for a run, Aaron and Matt took the kids swimming, we went to a state park and hiked to the falls and we ended our day with the most yummy milkshakes EVER.  It was a good day. 

 I could not believe the people that were hiking to the falls.  Strollers, coolers and loads of people on the trail.  We kept track and it was 3.9 miles roundtrip.  That's a lot for little legs!

 So, so pretty. 

On the Thursday we headed up to Minnesota/Wisconsin, my brother and his wife, Mandy, had baby #2!  So, naturally, we had to make a trip through Mankato on our way back through.  McCoy Jay Hunecke is a definite keeper!  This Aunt was in love. :)

 

He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. at birth, but Mandy said he had lost a pound.  He seemed so little, until I realized he was the same size as the twins!  When I held him by my stomach and realized I had that times two, he suddenly seemed very big. :)

Cousins are the BEST!  The best pic we could get.  Bowen looks bored. :)

I was so grateful for the time away.  The time with family. 

Home. Sweet. Home.

Saturday morning, I got a text from Aaron saying he had talked to Dr. Jetton and we for sure got to come home today.  Woo-Hoo!  I loaded up the other three kiddos and we headed back down to Iowa City. 

Aaron and I both feel like it's good for the three kiddos to come and see the hospital.  See where Blake has to stay.  See what he has to go through, at least a little bit. 

The plan is to slowly work Blake up at home to his 500 mL fill volume.  We will be in daily contact with Dr. Jetton about Blake's numbers (dialysis and vitals).  We also have to go down weekly so Jen, our nurse, can change Blake's dressings (the gauze/bandage type stuff) that are over his exit site (where the catheter comes out of his body). 

We are so incredibly blessed to have such an awesome nephrology team down there.  They like us.  We like them.  They trust us.  We trust them.  They welcome our questions and concerns.  They ask our opinions.  I will never forget in the NICU after Blake had started dialysis and they said, "We will end up being like your family."  And they are.

I also have to say a big thank you to all of YOU!  Thank you for the prayers, comments, meals for our family and everything else.  You may not think it's a big deal, but it's a BIG DEAL to us.  We couldn't get through this without our amazing support system! 

Dialysis, Day 2

 Friday.  Dialysis with the new catheter day two.  Things went well!  They upped Blake's fill volume to 200 mL and hooked him back up to his cycler.  It's amazing how fast he drains with the new catheter!  Seven hours of dialysis today.  Seven hours of keeping this munchkin occupied.  I have to say, he is such a trooper and did great!

 

When Blake isn't hooked-up to his feeding machine or dialysis, we like to walk.  Or go for rides.  A lot.   We all go a little stir crazy if we don't.  They had these cute little cars for me to push him around.  Below is the massive construction project of the new children's hospital that is set to open in 2016.  Exciting stuff.  Off to the right you can see Kinnick Stadium.  Blake LOVES all the dirt, bulldozers, etc.

 On our floor he found this cool John Deere trike.  Up and down the halls.  Up and down the halls. 

And today, we had special visitors!  Two players from the Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball team (an affiliate of the MN Twins) and a coach stopped by our room to say hi.  They were super nice!  They even signed a little baseball for Blake that he kept throwing over and over and over again...

 

One of the best pics ever?!  Yes, I think so!!!

Happy news:  I got a text from our nurse, Jen, tonite and she said if Blake's labs look good tomorrow we get to come home! Technically, I am already home.  I got home about 5:30 PM tonite, but Aaron and Blake are still in Iowa City.  Please think happy thoughts, cross your fingers (and toes!) and pray that all looks good tomorrow morning!

Dialysis Day One

Blake started dialysis today with his new catheter.  They did five cycles, manually.  What this means is that instead of using his machine to fill him up with solution and the machine to drain him, our dialysis nurse was there to do it. 

They have to start slowly to make sure he is draining well and to not push the new catheter too much so that it could spring a leak or something terrible like that.  Just to compare, pre-surgery his fills were 500 mL and today we started at 130 mL, so we have a ways to go to get him back where he needs to be. 

The good news is that he drained like a little champ!  Dr. Jetton and Jen, our nurse, were very happy with how today went.  Tomorrow, they will start him back on his machine (the cycler) and up his fill volumes to 200 mL.  We continue to pray that the catheter does it's job!

Can I just also say that even though this hospital stuff is not my favorite, there are always good things that come out of it?  For example, we had visitors to keep us company and I got to see two of my high school classmates! 

It's always nice to talk to other parents and see what other kids have to go through.  I love the perspective you get in this place.  It keeps you in check about the trivial things in life and for that...I'm grateful.