What A Week

What a week is all I can say. A week ago my brother had an accident in his pool. He has an above ground pool with hard sides. He stood up on the ladder and went to lean forward to do a belly flop and the ladder slipped out from beneath him and fell to the side head first. His head hit the side and then the bottom. As you may know my brother is pretty tall. He is 6' 10" and at least 250lbs. When he came up from the water he knew something was wrong, he felt tingly so he stayed and floated in the pool for a few minutes waiting for it to pass. When it didn't he got out of the pool and said he needed to go to the hospital, no ambulance just drive him. When he arrived in his small town hospital they determined that his neck was broken and had to be transported by ambulance to Mercy in Des Moines. Later at Mercy it was discovered that his neck was broken in three spots, C 5, 6 and 7 plus he broke the bones in his ear and blew out his eardrum. He was admitted ( 8hrs after arriving at Mercy) and was going to get a halo placed early Sunday morning. This is when I decided that I needed to be back in Iowa. My older sister Lisa kindly payed for our tickets. The halo placement was thought to be a success until he tried to move around and he still felt movement in his neck and had numbness in his arms. Next step and only step was the fusion surgery. So that was scheduled for Tuesday morning. Mind you this is one of the most painful experiences he has ever been through and Noah has done a lot of crap in the past. The surgery started around nine and finished around three. It was a total success!! Since his vertebrae were crushed forward ( which usually paralyzes and sometimes kills people) the doctor had to go in from the back of his neck. The surgery is typically done from the neck but with his injuries it was best from the back. His incision is from the base of his head almost to his shoulder blades. The doctor said that this route has a more painful recovery since they have to cut through so much muscle. The fusion of the vertebrae will cause a little immobility. He will still be able to turn from left to right but not up and down. What a blessing to walk away from such a horrible accident and just have a little immobility. Praise God!! After the surgery he was in a whole lot of pain. It was very hard to see my big brother in so much pain. The last two days have been up and down. His pain management has been an issue. The nursing staff were treating him as an average sized man but he isn't. He wasn't getting the amount of pain relief that was needed. After about 15 hrs of excruciating pain it was under control. He has been able to get out of bed and walk the hall way. Oh, he doesn't need the halo anymore, just a neck brace. The doctor is planning on releasing him on Tuesday. He has a long road of recovery but we are so blessed that he will still have a functional life. Things could be very very different and we are truly blessed and thankful. Thank you all for remembering my family in your thoughts and prayers.

Home Show

Last weekend Scott and I were able to go to the BIA Home parade in Dublin. We have gone for the past few years and have really enjoyed it. Jessica and J.J Smith came over to babysit the kids for us. We had a whole day to ourselves. We first went in search of a new couch. Our couch is really gross and I would like to replace it soon. We did see some nice furniture but didn't settle on anything...yet. Then we went to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. We sat out on the deck and had a great lunch. It rained most of the time but that did not stop our plans to go see the pretty houses. The crowd wasn't too bad this year, I guess the rain did turn off a few people. There was a total of ten houses on the block. We previewed the homes a few months ago on the website so we already had a few favorites. We did have a number one pick, at least for the exterior and we were really hoping to like the floor plan. The first couple houses were not as impressive, in fact one of then was just weird. It was built to be a house in the 1800's, even had refurbished barn wood used for the flooring. The rest of the decor was way too modern for the style. It really wasn't the house for us. We really liked houses #4 and #6. They were really family friendly and had all the space we would like to have someday. After we went through all the houses we went back through our favorite and decided that we would like to build the Georgian Style house. We need to contact the builder to see if we can buy the plans from him. Since we will be moving to southern Illinois and MIA Homes does not build there. Any way, we will have to see if this is truly our dream house. The house that we are interested in is the white with brick, huge front porch and double fireplaces. Many of the houses had some really nice over the top features. Most of them had amazing movie rooms, one had a 120 in screen and leather movie seats and even little twinkly stars in the ceiling. The home bars were done to the nines and stocked with just about anything you could want. MIL sweets were also popular. This year one house even had a pool. I have never seen a home parade with that before. I was also pretty surprised to see a roof top garden. One thing that Scott and I were surprised with was that all the houses were already sold. I guess in this economy a builder wouldn't build unless it was guaranteed sold. It was a great day and the kids had fun with Jess and J.J.

Picnic at Erin's

I have been stuck at home this past week and I was in desperate need of an outing. So sent out an SOS to my friends begging them to invite me over. My friend Erin offered up her backyard. Perfect!! Outdoors and not my house. I was a little nervous when I woke up this morning and saw all the clouds. I knew that out picnic might be canceled. Totally bummed. Around 10:30 the rain held off so we went to Erin's. It turned out to be a perfect morning/afternoon. Grisham was so excited to see his friends and I was too. So many people showed up. Michal, Kelly, Ashli, Kendal, Autumm and Jessica arrived just as I was leaving. That always happens:( The kids had a blast jumping on the trampoline and swinging. Brenner was having a very rough morning. He is cutting a few teeth and I am so lucky that Michal had some baby orajel. Cheered him right up and we were able to stay a bit longer. I am so happy to have friends that will do things at such short notice. Thanks friends!!

A Little Behind

So I am a little behind in my postings. Sunday July 5th my friend Keren had a grill out at her house. She provided all sorts of food, my favorite is her salsa. I think Genevieve and Lila Ross put down half a watermelon themselves. Wow they can eat!! Lots of people showed up. Erin brought her slip and slide for the kids. They all had a blast. I didn't think Grisham was going to join in the fun but he surprised me and followed the big boys lead. Scott did stop by for something to eat and to socialize a bit. He was post call and had a very rough night so I was so happy that he made the effort to show up. It was a great night and I am so happy Keren had the idea.

It Is Just Wrong

Hey friends and family. I need you all to go to Michal's blog (Our Family Days) that will lead you to a website about how to help stop abortions. Apparently there is a law right now that says that our taxes can not pay for abortions. Great!! Well I guess President Obama has his sights on it and wants it on the chopping block. So Michal's blog has a link to the Modern Catholic Mom and she has a link to a form to fill out to put a stop to it. It takes one minute of your time. Please, please check it out. Babies lives count on it. Side note... I would put the link up myself but don't know how.. sorry:(

4th of July Parade

We went up to Dublin for the parade this morning. We have been going up there since we moved here to Ohio. It is a great parade. We always park by the McDonalds off of 161 and always find a good spot. I usually stand toward the back and Grisham inches in front of all the lined up chairs close to the road so he can catch candy. My friend Erin was able to join us last minute. It is always nice to have someone else there. Scott was on call again today so he was busy at the hospital. The parade was great. Lots of my favorite things, marching bands, gymnats/dancers, bagpipes and floats. Grisham got a few pieces of candy but was more interested in his flag. After the parade Erin and I took the kids to eat at McDonald's. It was a nice way to spend the 4th. Don't think we will make it to fireworks tonight. Grisham has decided to give up naps now. Boo hoo!! I am not ready for this.