So far this summer...

It's June 9th (Happy Birthday Mom!).  That's crazy.  Ever since our summer list got put up on our chalkboard, we've crossed a few things off of it.  We've stayed busy for the first two weeks of summer and if I've learned one thing it's this...

...my children love water.  Puddles.  Any type of water they can play in. 

We were taking middle school softball photos and the kids thought they should play in this puddle at third base.  On a separate occasion we went to a softball game and the twins were so soaked I had to take them home in-between games to change clothes.  Fun times.  By the way, this photo if SO Bowen.  Pure ornery.

Brody has spent a good chunk of his summer days hanging out with our neighbor, Jon.  I'm not sure whether it bothers Jon or not, but Brody loves helping with whatever Jon is doing.  Brody had to put on one of Jon's hats.

He was trying really hard to do something here.  I'm not sure what, but his face cracks me up.

A couple of weekends ago we went to Omaha for our niece, Aubrey's, birthday and also our nephew, Noah's baptism.  We went to the Amazing Pizza Machine, which was awesome!!  Super fun!  And...I forgot my SD card for my camera. AH!!!  So mad.  We were honored to be asked to be Noah's godparents.  I'm pretty sure he was the cutest thing ever.

Another accomplishment this summer - Brody is free of training wheels!!  Not to compare my children, even though I'm going to compare my children, but Jenna just got hers off this spring.  I think it's a birth order thing.  Jenna overly cautious...Brody, not so much.  It took him 24 hours and he was good to go!

I'm waiting for a crash with these two! 

We are so lucky to live behind our neighbor, Emily.  She has beautiful flowers and a really nice garden.  She has lilacs, which I think are one of the best things about spring/summer.  They remind me of our house in Armstrong.

She also has peonies!  Aren't they gorgeous?!  Emily said to go ahead and pick myself a bouquet, so I did.  Jenna snapped this picture and she didn't even realize she captured a fly on the flower.

We've also had drama.  Lots of it.  Bowen thinks he should get to do what he wants, when he wants to.  That mainly includes going outside.  All the time.  Pretty much every second of the day.  It's exhausting.

We've been watching lots of college baseball super regional action!  Have you?  You know we're a baseball family.  Anyway, the kids were asking Aaron how to pitch like a baseball pitcher.  A lesson then followed. :)

Saturday morning I took the kids out to get some flowers (finally).  The place is out in the country and they also have animals.  Goats, miniature horses, pigs, cats, chicks, a donkey, peacocks, sheep...  Anyway, the owner is so awesome and took the kids around and let them see all the animals.  They had a BLAST.  The mom didn't have her camera.  Not even my phone with me. #mommyfail

We decided to spray paint the pots purple and Jenna and Brody were great helpers with the flowers!

And...more water.

Sunday was weird.  Super sunny and blue skies.  And then a shower.  And repeat.  And repeat again. 

I let the kids play in the rain because they're kids and they should do fun stuff like that!  Who cares if they had to take a shower in the middle of the day?!

Brody and Bowen are two peas in a pod.  Which is kind of scary, really...

And Blakers.  The poor kid, because of his dialysis stuff, doesn't get to take baths with his brothers and it breaks my heart.  I know it seems like the simplest thing, but he isn't able to do it.  He tries to climb in and I have to tell him no.  Today, he was in heaven!  That smile pretty much says it all. :)

We also had friends visit that have moved away from State Center!  It's always nice to catch-up.

Saturday night, we had family movie night and watched, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days of Summer."  It was funny.  We had popcorn and the kids had a living room sleepover.  Two more things off our list, even though I know they'll be repeated.

This week is Rose Festival, which means it's going to be a C-R-A-Z-Y week!!!

Aaron's Appointment

If you all remember in this post here we told you that Aaron had a few issues that would keep him from being Blake's donor.  Well, he had an appointment a couple of weeks ago that I didn't blog about where the surgeon he met with said he saw no reason that Aaron COULDN'T be Blake's donor.  I tried to tell myself to not get my hopes up too much, because if I have learned anything, it's that things can change quickly.

So, we spent a couple of weeks trying to get Blake's surgeon (who said Aaron couldn't be the donor) to communicate with Aaron's doctor (who said he could).  What happened was we got an email from the transplant coordinator saying that they had received his records from Mayo and that the doctor said Aaron's case was "more complicated" than originally thought.  Note to doctors out there: don't say something like that via email.  It causes worry.

Anyway, Aaron went down Friday and the doctor mainly discussed Aaron being Blake's donor.  Or not, as the case may be.  The golden rule of organ donation is that you would never do anything to put the donor in any harm.  For Aaron, a couple of his numbers are indicating he may have diabetes later in life, which could be trouble for his kidneys.  If he only had one, that is worrisome to the doctors.

Secondly, with this weird Castleman's Syndrome that he has, in about 10% of the cases the person may have hepatitis.  We are waiting for bloodwork to confirm that Aaron doesn't have it, but obviously, we wouldn't want that passed on to Blake.

At this point, Aaron and I have full accepted that he will not be the donor.  The doctor would like to have Aaron have his lymph node removed in July of 2014 as a precautionary measure.  Aaron and I are a team in this craziness that is our life and we just really need him to be as healthy as he can be.  For now, that's the priority.  So, we continue to search for a donor for Blake.  I have some more donor packets coming, so if anybody is at all interested, please let me know. 

Summer List!

We did it!  We made our 2013 edition of the Burdorf Family Summer List!  We've done one the past couple of years.  It's not a big deal, but more like random things we would like to do over the summer together.  

This year, I made Jenna do her own, while I made a list with Brody.  Then, Jenna and I made Aaron add one thing to each of our lists.  I just thought it would be interesting to see what kind of stuff Jenna came up with.  I loved hearing things like she wanted to go to the strawberry patch and she thought we should play outside at least one hour each day.  It was also her idea to read everyday.  

Without further ado, here is our list:

 

If you have never done one of these you should try it.  The kids will love it! :)

Now, if only Mother Nature would start to cooperate...

Oh hey...May.

Oh hey...May.  Where did you go?!  I cannot believe how fast the past month has flown by.  The Burdorf house has been so incredibly crazy, as I'm sure many of yours have.  Just the time of year I guess.  I put together a bunch of pictures that highlight some of the things we've been up to.

It snowed.  10.5" here in Central Iowa.  On May 3rd.  It was the strangest thing, so yes, I did indeed make a sign and have my kids stand in the snowbank holding it.  It's history!

 

Aaron took this picture of Brody and we thought it was funny.  Shortly after most of the snow had melted there was still this drift by our neighbor's.  Snow in the background.  Brody throwing a snowball.  In shorts.  With a grill in the background. 

 

The first Sunday in May we headed to Iowa City to do our second straight year of the Ronald McDonald House 5K.  You all know we love that place and try to give back when we can. 

So...we were all going to walk together, but then I got antsy when everybody started to run around us, so I asked Jenna if she wanted to run.  She did!  We ran/walked the entire thing and she did so good!  I was so proud of her for completing her first 5K!

 

Anyway, Jenna was certain she was going to die the last 200M or so, but I kept telling her she could do it.  I pointed to the banners where the finish line was close to.  Once we hit that, we turned the corner and all these people were cheering us on.  What did Jenna did?  She took off on a sprint!!  The little stinker!!  I caught up to her and said, I thought you were tired.  She informed me she had a 'burst of energy at the end.'' Super proud mama moment.

Brody made it about a half mile and then him, Daddy and the boys turned around and waited for Jenna and me.  They did cross the finish line for an official time.

We are so grateful for all the people and organizations we've come in contact with because of Blakers.

Softball season is underway!  Jenna plays Tuesday and Thursday nights and Aaron is now umpiring, so it seems we are always heading in different directions.  Jenna was so nervous before her first game (she is her mother's daughter), but she did great! 

Yes she hit this.  Or golfed it.  I'm not sure how she made contact, but she did.  And, even though she got out, she was smiling afterwards.

 

Muffins for Mom's Day was held at school!  It's my fave, fave, favorite!  I look forward to it every single year and I'm not sure what I'll do without it next year.  It's a great opportunity to have some one-on-one time with Brody.  Each year, we make a picture frame together and then get our picture taken together to put in the frame for our refrigerator.  I have them all on my fridge. 

We love it when the weather is actually nice enough to play outside!

Brody had his last day of preschool.  When Mrs. Randall said she would be there for the kids' first day of kindergarten, I teared up a little.  How can my baby boy be heading to the big school?!

Elementary track and field day!  What a great way to spend a Friday afternoon!  Jenna had such a good time and it's awesome how many parents and grandparents come out.  The kids pick random events (kangaroo hop/softball throw/limbo/kick the shoe/etc) and then they do a sprint at the end of the day. 

Guess what that blue ribbon is for?  Jenna won her heat.  In the 40 yard dash!!!  I kid you not.  Those of you that know how fast I am are probably laughing. ;)  I never thought a child of mind would win a sprint, but even though I know this is clearly Aaron's genetics and not mine, I'm claiming it. Ha!

 Last Sunday and Monday nights were not so fun.  Back-to-back nights in the basement because of tornado warnings.  Ugh.  Luckily, nothing major happened because of it.

 So, I don't dress the boys matchy-matchy too often, but seriously, how cute are the twins dressed up as mini-Twins fans?!  I melt.  And, as our baby-sitter pointed out, they match the couch...haha!

 We've taken a TON of photos lately.  Which is AWESOME!!  We've so far had 12 little league teams and more to come.  Plus, other baseball and softball stuff, plus graduation.  On this night, Bowen wanted to be like one of the big boys...

Speaking of Bowen, he is a stinker.  Terrible twos.  Oh my word.  Everything with that kid is a battle right now.  Like staying in his bed at naptime and bedtime.

 

Or dumb stuff like sitting in his high chair correctly.  He is the youngest, which probably means he will cause me the most gray hair!

And we have a new pet!  His name is racoon-gets-in-our-garbage-nightly...GRRR.

 

Blakers after our tough Friday night.  Poor kiddo.  One of the tougher days as his mama.

 

There you have it.  I'm sure I forgot some stuff, but you're pretty well caught up.  Tomorrow is Jenna's last day of first grade.  I can't believe it!  Aaron's last day is Thursday.  It makes me kind of sad that another year is already over, but I'm excited for the summer!  I told the kids we have a summer list to get working on. :)

Home. Sweet. Home.

We got to come home this afternoon!  YAAAAAY!  I was pretty sure that we were going to have to stay until Monday, so imagine my surprise when the nurse came in this morning and said the latest page she had from the resident said they might send us home.

After Friday night's fiasco, things settled down for the most part.  Saturday was spent slowly getting Blake re-hydrated with just an IV drip and then IV/pedialyte and then IV/formula, until it was just formula.  Thank goodness he tolerated it.

Can I just say that hospital sleeping sucks?!  Oy.  We didn't get to sleep until after 11 PM again last nite and I hate that vitals every four hours thing, plus Blake was coughing and restless.  After 4 AM vitals, we both slept hard until I woke up to a lady wearing a white coat and yellow mask telling me she was there for labs.  I was not a happy camper.

Anyway, on the downside - Blakers has a respiratory virus.  Nothing we can do about it but watch it.  His temp got up to 102 in the hospital, but has been ok since last nite (knock on wood).  I can't remember the exact name, but they said his cough could last two weeks.

I'm so very thankful that the nephrology team thinks so highly of us that they put the ball in our court about what WE wanted to do.  Did we want to stay a little longer?  Were we comfortable going home?  That is awesome.  We are so grateful to have that kind of relationship with the entire nephrology team.

Life is funny.  When you're in the midst of everyday chaos, you sometimes feel like you're going to lose your mind.  But, when circumstances you can't control take you away from it, you realize how much you miss the noise.  The bickering.  The giggling.  I am so happy to be home and so is Blake.

Thanks again for all of those prayers!  Your encouragement means so much!

P.S. I am super-duper behind for the month of May, so I'm working on a couple of May posts, filled with pictures. :)  Coming soon!

Dehydrated.

We (Blake and myself) are in Iowa City.  We (Aaron and myself) decided he really needed to come down yesterday and after shuffling the three other kiddos and packing bags for five, we headed out.

Blake has had a cough and snotty nose for four days and Thursday and Friday things got worse as he started puking more and more.  The puke is a result of snot draining down his throat.  On Friday morning, no matter what he tried to drink or what I tried to get him to take via his g-tube, he puked right back up.

The plan was that we just cut him off from his formula and then start him on IV fluids and if he doesn't puke for 12-18 hrs., gradually add back in his formula feeds.  The trickiest part of this whole thing has been getting the poor kiddo an IV. Especially when you're dehydrated, getting a vein to work is a nightmare. 

Two nurses on the floor tried.  Two blown veins.  Two nurses from the NICU tried.  Two more blown veins.  An anesthesiologist tried.  Make that five blown veins.  Finally.  FINALLY.  He got it to work by putting an IV in Blake's foot. 

It took five adults holding Blake down to get him still enough to get the IV in.  And, the anesthesiologist kept telling Blake to hold still.  Like at least eight times.  Listen to me when I tell you that after all of those tries and the fact that it was 11:30 PM and I felt so incredibly terrible for my child, that did not sit well with me.  Dear Mr. Anesthesiologist: he is two!  A toddler!  I can't get him to sit still when people aren't poking needles into every possible appendage. I literally bit my lip as hard as I could to not say anything.  After he left I said something to the nurse and she knew I was upset.  If you ever wonder what it's like to go through something like this imagine this:  your heart being ripped out of your chest.  Again.  And again.  And again.  It's the worst. :(

Anyway, the positive - Blake has a working IV!!  That's the main thing.

I will try to keep you up-to-date as we go along.  Thank you all for the continued prayers and positive thoughts.  Keep those hydrated, puke-free thoughts coming our way. :) In the meantime, this mama is going to sneak down for the biggest coffee I can find while Blakers is still sleeping...

My perfect Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas out there!  Did you have a good day?  I had the most ordinary day, but it was my sort of perfect.  

Coffee, magazine reading, breakfast, a leisurely trip to Ames without rushing around for groceries and a few other random things.  Aaron was in charge of lunch - Wendy's. Ha!  I know it's not fancy, but when you have four kids under the age of 7, you don't go to sit down restaurants very often.  After we got home I soaked up the sun by putting my feet up outside with the kiddos, made some oreo cupcakes and then we took the kids to the little league field for awhile.  

 That was totally the icing on the cake for me.  I have about 752 bajillion memories of being at the ballfield with my family.  Taking a little batting practice.  Taking grounders.  Pitching.  Good times.  The best times. 

 Daddy ran our "practice."  Jenna and Brody hit, took grounders and ran the bases.  Blake and Bowen wandered around.  It was good stuff all around. 

 Blakers might end up being my lefty.  Maybe.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!

 And then there's Brody.  He sometimes hits right-handed...

 And sometimes left-handed.  We think he looks more natural as a left-handed hitter, but we'll just see what happens.

My heart is melting.  This has made my list of favorite pictures ever.  I mean, the cuteness!!!

 Bowen had fun just wandering around, checking stuff out.

 

 Skinny boy probs...haha!

 I hope these two end up being baseball buddies.  A pitcher and a catcher maybe?! 

 I hope today is just the beginning of many more trips to the field for our family.  They were some of the best times I had growing up and I hope that my kiddos feel the same way someday.  No electronics or technology.  Just green grass.  Fresh air.  Dirt. And ball gloves.  My kind of perfect. :)

 

I asked Aaron if he would please take a picture of me with each of my baby dolls. 

Jenna Jo was my first born and changed my (our) lives forever.  I love this girl.  We will butt heads as she grows up.  We're just too much alike not to. :)

And Brody.  My very first boy.  My very first mama's boy.  I adore his infectious smile and laid-back attitude about everything. 

 The twins.  SURPRISE!  The best surprise!  I cannot imagine my life without these two who can go from eyeball gouging and biting to giving each other hugs and sharing.  No dull moments with these two around. 

 I just felt incredibly blessed today.  God has blessed me with so much.  My heart is full.  I do the best I can every day and I think of this quote often:

“There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one."

Happy Mother's Day!