The McCoys Buy a House

It's true. We bought a house. Sadly....it's not in the same town. It's not even in the same county. It's barley in the same time zone. (Okay, I may be exaggerating that last part.) 

The McCoys have relocated from the east side to the west side. Yup. We are officially Michigan westsiders. It's weird. Like, really weird. The west side of Michigan is gorgeous, don't get me wrong. But it might as well be a whole other state. It's so different from the east side. I swear that even the accents are different. Seriously. 

You may be curious as to why we decided to jump ship from our lovely little town and buy a house 77 miles away. Well, I'll tell ya.....the hubs got a new job. Not just any job. A job he'd been trying for for almost a year. He swears he loves it and it's fabulous and the company is wonderful. Whatever. All I know is that I had to do some serious soul searching to be "okay" with this. I'm still not 100% okay with it. I miss my old stores. The meijer here isn't the same. Neither is the target. And Costco is 30 mins away!! 30 mins! 😫 it's torture. 

We found out we'd be moving here back in February. We decided to let the kids finish the school year before we moved. Which turned out to be a moot point anyway since it took us almost 3 months to close on our house. Accepted offer in April ...and we closed the day we got home from our week up north for the 4th of July. Seriously. 

We are slowly getting settled. Trying to get unpacked and fix up the house at the same time has been a challenge. Unfortunately, there was no money tree growing in our new backyard...and we have yet to run into those guys from Kitchen Crashers at Home Depot sooooo it's taking longer than I'd hoped to get this place looking how we want. But such is life, right? First world problems and all that.  

Ahhh...home ownership. The worst best thing ever. 😳

Back to normal

I had a post waiting in the wings. A post about how the hubs had been in the hospital, and how he was finally home, and all was well in the world. But then, he had to go back to the hospital, and all was not well with the world. So the post never got published. 

I waited. I waited until the uncertainty passed, waited until he was home again. For good. 

So, now that he IS home, and life IS normal again...I can post about it. Because I don't like posting about big events like that while we are in the thick of it. It's like only writing half a book.You  need an ending. Closure. I much prefer to write about the storms after they have passed through. I dunno why...it's just how I roll. I need the ending damnit. 

So....as I said, the hubs was in the hospital recently, twice. It started out as what we thought, were kidney stones. We headed to the ER a few Mondays ago, assuming they'd do a CT scan, see a few stones, give him a Rx for some pain pills and send send us on our merry way. A urine test, blood work, and one ultrasound later....it was determined he had gallstones. Not kidney stones. Also, his liver was pretty pissed at him. 

They admitted him that night (actually...by the time they got him a bed, it was 4am. And if you are wondering...., no..I didn't wait around that long. I left around 1am to go home and catch a few hours of sleep before I had to wake the wolves for school).

The next morning they were trying to decide if they wanted to remove his gallbladder, or just wait it out. Apparently, when your liver is mad at you, it gets even more mad if you take out his buddy, the gallbladder. They hoped he'd pass the stones on his own, then his liver would chillax, then they could remove his gallbladder. 

Well, much like the kidney stones before them....the gallstones were not moving. So on Thursday he had an ERCP, or scope, done to remove the stones. They only found one and removed it. 

Well, his liver was still angry and his pain was still just as bad. So, the decision was made to remove his gallbladder the next day. Every single person we talked to said it was the easiest surgery ever. They all said he would feel worlds better as soon as it was out. They said recovery was a breeze! 

They all lied. 

The next day he still felt awful. He still couldn't eat (oh ya...I forgot to mention....he hadn't been able to eat anything in a week. He'd be in so much pain as soon as he ate or drank). They sent him home anyway. They said.."oh, you'll be fine. Just give it a day or so."

He was released on Saturday, he went back to work Tuesday. He was still in so much pain. He came home from work Wednesday and had me make an appt with the dr ASAP. We went in the next day. 

He ordered blood work, stat. He called with the results less than two hours later. His liver enzymes were sky high. He was readmitting him to the hospital right then. 

The next day they ran more tests: blood work, ct scan, ultrasound.... You name it. They didn't know WHY his liver was so angry. They kept pushing IV fluids through him, hoping it would help. 

In the meantime....

I was trying to balance taking care of the wolves and being at the hospital with him. I'd get up, get them off to school, then I'd high tail it over to the hospital to be with the Hubs. I mean....let's face it, hospitals are B-O-R-I-N-G when you are there all alone. So, I'd sit with him until around 4, when I had to get the kids off the bus. I'd do the homework and dinner thing, showers are bedtime, then back to the hospital I went until around 11ish. It was exhausting. 

Then....on Saturday....it seemed he had turned a corner. He wasn't in as much pain. He was able to actually eat! And aside from a minor setback Saturday night (they served chili for dinner and he started to get some pains again after eating. But it was just a case of "too much too soon")...it was looking like he might be out of the woods. 

He called me Sunday morning to tell me they'd gotten his results back from his early morning blood draw.....and everything was back to normal!

******insert HUGE sigh of relief here******

They released him early Sunday afternoon. The final diagnosis was that they had simply released him from the hospital too soon after his surgery. His liver enzymes were still high and so when he went home, and was off the IV fluids, they just kept on climbing. Not good.

He took that Monday off work, just in case. But was back at it Tuesday, feeling better than ever. 

Looking back, we think this whole "gallstone mess" started in November. He'd had some stomach pains/back pains around Thanksgiving that kept him in bed a day or two, but we didn't think anything of it. We just assumed it was his back giving him grief again. But now we are pretty sure it was the gallstones. 

And now....now he's good. All better, all healed. It's a good thing. It's scary when you, or someone you love, is sick and no one knows why. When tests keep coming back normal, but clearly you are not "normal". I'm grateful for the prayers and positive thoughts said on his behalf. Grateful for good friends and family who helped watch our kids while he was in the hospital. 

I'm also grateful the Hubs is back. Because, Lord knows I can't handle our wolves alone. ;) 

The above photos were from "hospital stay-round one"...the below are from "round-two"...

Yup....we are grateful he's home. ❤️

And...no school Monday

It was inevitable really. The snow has not stopped since yesterday..or the day before. Gawd, I can't even remember when it started...fri? Sat? Regardless, it's dumped 16" on us and it's still falling. 

Church was canceled today. They never cancel church. We were desperate to get out of the house, so I was actually looking forward to getting dressed up and having some actual human contact for a few hours. Then they went and took that away from me. Insanity. 

So, we did the next best thing we could think of. We took the kids shopping at meijer. 

There were actually more people there than we had anticipated. Oh, it was still insanely empty. It felt more like 11:30pm on a Wednesday than a Sunday afternoon. But it was nice to see we weren't the only desperate souls seeking human contact.....and milk and eggs. The kids were running up and down the isles and I let them. I couldn't stop them. They'd been couped up for 5 days. It wasn't like there was anyone there for them to run into anyway. It wasn't my proudest parenting moment, but as I passed other weary looking souls in the cereal isle, they gave me a knowing glance. One that said.."It's cool. I understand." 

We loaded up on arts and crafts supplies in the hopes it will entertain them for a few hours tomorrow. The windchill is predicted to be around -30*. (Balmy!!) so playing outside is not an option, and there is no way in hell I'm leaving the house. So, we are stuck for another day. *sigh* 

At least we have food. They are getting to the point of looking like they want to eat each other. Wish us luck!!! 

*********

Easton has started attacking the others. It's really in the interest of their safety that they return to school. 

Snowmobile on Michigan ave today. Pretty sure that's not legal, dude. 

It. Just. Keeps. Falling. 

Longest Christmas Break Ever.....EVER

For as long as I can remember, the school district here only ever gave  students 10 days off at Christmas. No matter when Christmas/New Years day fell during the week. 10 days. That was it. 

This year however.....Christmas Day, and New Years Day, landed on a Wednesday. And instead of having the kids return on Thursday, January 2nd, as they've done since the beginning of time...they decided to give everyone a few extra days off, and have school resume on Monday, January 6th. 

Now, I love my kids...I do...but 2 weeks off school....in winter....sucks. It's too much. Really. Add in the fact that the Friday before Christmas, what was to be their official last day before break, was canceled due to icy roads...AND, thanks to winter storm Ion...it looks like Monday will be canceled too...well...you officially have the longest two week break ever in recorded history. Seriously. 

The windchill is sitting around -12* and it doesn't even matter, because I couldn't even get my kids to go play outside when it was 30* out. It's torturous, for everyone. 

I try to sleep in just so I can shorten the amount of hours between breakfast and bedtime. I starting wishing for 8pm around noon. Today they were literally jumping off the furniture. They are fighting with me, fighting with each other, fighting with the cats. They don't care. It's like Alcatraz, only the prisoners have escaped their cells but still can't get off the island. And the prison guards are all dead, or beaten and left for dead. And there's no order. And it's chaos. And I'm suddenly thinking teachers are vastly underpaid and under appreciated. [memo to self: get teachers amazing gifts for when kids to give them when they go back to school. If they go back. Dear Lord, let them go back.] 

I'm not sure we will make it through the next 48+ hours. We need reinforcements. Is this what the apocalypse will be like? Crap, I need to be better prepared. 

And now, for your viewing pleasure...a few, rare, moments in between the chaos....

She got new bibs....it's good thing. 

They wanted to do yoga. It lasted 10 minutes. 

He wanted to paint. I gave him a cup of water. It worked. Paint+hardwood floors+wolf pup= disaster. This mama ain't no fool. 

Headphones. Best. Present. Ever. We are no longer subjected to the horrid "music" from Mario Kart/Mario 3D Land/whatever other game he insists on playing. It's a win win. 

Signing off and saying a prayer Old Man Winter takes mercy on us and sends a heartbwave, ASAP. If not...watch for the white flag that will surely be flying from our home come Sunday. 

 

New year...new post

I can't seem to keep up with this thing. It's been a year since I posted last....and there is obviously lots to catch up on, but for now....I'm just going to say that one of my new year resolutions is to blog more. ;) 

There...

It's January 2014. We have been in Michigan for 3 years and (almost) 5 months. Ricky has had three jobs in that time, and we are still house hunting. (*sigh* that one still hurts to type out.) We've added two more wolves to our crew, Easton and most recently....Finley. Mars started dance class, Ash quit dance class, Cohen is one and half school years from starting middle school, and this coming fall the 4 older kids will be in school. 

When did all this happen? When did my kids grow up? The clichéd "they grow up so fast" is so true. Cohen is on the downward side of being home, with us. In less than 9 years he'll be off to college, or a mission. Ashley is going to be 8 in April....old enough to be baptized. Marley is in Kindergarten this year....and Easton is now older than Marley was when we first moved here. Even Finny is quickly approaching the "been outside longer than she was inside" mark. :( 

On the one hand, I'm so excited to be reaching all these milestones. The kids are getting older and we are able to do more things with them. But on the other hand, I find myself wanting to stop the clock....freeze time so I can keep them little for longer. 

2013 was a crazy year. We reclaimed our cottage, had a surprise pregnancy, house hunting stress, a new job for Ricky, and more. I'm hopeful 2014 will be an amazing year. I can't stop time, I can't keep my kids little forever, but I can pledge to enjoy them while I have them. To make every moment count, and record those moments so that when they do leave the nest....I'll have this space to come back to. To remember. :)

It's late, and I really don't have anything super inspiring to say....so, I'll just leave you with pictures from this past year.. 

 

I have to believe.... | the victims from Sandy Hook

I sit here tonight.. next to my husband,  knowing our children are tucked safe in their beds. I do this knowing that there are 26 families in Newtown, Conn. that cannot say the same thing. My heart aches for them. I have shed so many tears for them, said so many prayers for them. I will continue to say prayers and shed tears in the weeks and months to come, I am sure. All I do is think of all those involved and I start to cry.

As I was driving to Church this morning, I was going over my Primary lesson in my head. It was all about preparing for the second coming of Christ. My thoughts quickly turned to the events of this past Friday. I began thinking of what must have occurred that morning in Heaven, before the shooter entered that school.

I imagined Christ gathering all the angels around. I imagined Him telling them all that they needed to prepare, for in a few hours times they would be receiving 26 new and AMAZING spirits into Heaven. I imagined that He would tell them of the horror that was about to take place, but that these 26 spirits were sooo special, sooo amazing, that were to be called home that day. I imagined the angels preparing, and the family members who had gone before them, waiting anxiously to receive them. I imagined those 26 spirits running towards Heavens gates, no fear, no worry, no hurt, no pain. I imagined them to be embraced by all those who were waiting. What a joyous reunion it must have been.

And then I cried.

 I HAVE to believe this, I NEED to believe this. As a mother, as a Christian, as a citizen of this nation. I NEED to believe that THIS is what occurred Friday morning in the Heavens, because what occurred down here on Earth, was so tragic, so horrific, so unimaginable, that I need to believe that those 26 souls were spared from any memory, any pain related to what happened. And I need to believe that they were soooo special, soooo amazing, that they were needed more on the other side than they were here.

I cannot say that I know what those families are going through. I wouldn't dare try to compare anything in my life to what happened in theirs. Only those who have lost a child can even begin to understand the pain those parents are feeling. Only a child who's mother has been taken too soon can share in the pain of the women who were killed Friday. All I can offer is my prayers, and a promise. A promise to not be so quick to snap at my children. A promise to give them extra hugs and kisses each day. A promise to LOVE them and to SHOW them I love them each and every day. I need to promise that I will do these things so that those 20 babies that were gunned down will not have died in vain. If the events of last Friday can make a parent stop a moment to give that extra hug, say that extra "I love you." or put the laptop/tablet/phone down to really listen to the story their child is telling them.... then those poor sweet babies will NOT have died in vain. They will have helped bring parents and children all over the world, closer together.

I need you all to make this promise with me. Promise that in a month, in a year... you will STILL be making every second count. You will STILL give that extra hug, you will never leave without an "I Love You." And promise that those 26 amazing spirits will not soon leave your thoughts and prayers.

I need to believe that out of this tragedy will come goodness. And I need to believe that we as Americans, as humans, will find the good and share it with the world.

Happy Birthday! And why you should never run in Smaland ;)

Yesterday marked 4 years since we welcomed our little baby girl into our crazy family. I was so grateful for the Olympics that year. What else was a sleep deprived mother of a newborn supposed to do in a hospital bed at 3 am nursing a bebe?? I watched more Michael Phelps those 3 days than I have in my entire life (and that includes these 2012 Olympics. Sorry, Michael.. you were just better in Beijing ;)

Being the uber prepared person that I am (not really), I headed out yesterday morning to grab a cake and some balloons for the birthday girl. The hubs took the kids on the jet ski to help buy me some time. ;) Upon entering said grocery store I scooted over to the balloon section and found THE balloon, the one that little girl would fall all over (for the record it was a TOY STORY balloon, her obsession continues). I had visions of her coming up from the lake, entering the house and seeing her balloons (the Toys Story one and several other color coordinating ones, of course, and her cake, and her presents. She would be so excited! Yes, my plan was fabulous.

I walked up to the balloon desk and a nice boy walked over to help.

Boy: "Can I help you?"
Me: "Yes, I need this blown up along with three latex ones; blue, red, yellow, and green."
Boy: "Um... ya, we're actually out of helium."
Me: "Pardon??" (trying not to sound panicked. There are other stores in town. Surely they would have helium.)
Boy: "Ya, there is a huge helium shortage. Everyone is out."
Me: "Are you serious!?" (who the heck has ever head of a helium shortage??!!)

There it was..... fabulous birthday plans ruined. :( I grabbed the cake and candles and headed home.

Thankfully..... as it turns out... a 4 year old really only needs a cake and presents to be excited about her birthday. ;)

After cake and presents and some playtime with the cousins..... we headed to IKEA. Partly because I needed some shelves for the playroom, and partly because the kids needed to burn off some energy in Smaland.

By the time we got out the door of the house it was going on 5pm. (we take a little while to get going some days). So, birthday dinner at IKEA it was!!

Little girl LOVED the giant piece of chocolate cake. ;) (and yes, she is wearing a different shirt in this photo. She got in a fight with a juice box just as we were heading out the door. Juice Box-1, Marley-0.



After dinner we dropped the kids at Smaland (FYI: if you are an IKEA Family member (it's an orange card that gets you discounts) you get a full 30 mins of extra daycare playtime at Smaland! Bliss. :) The kids were excited, the adults were excited (my mom came with me). Kids dropped off..  adults went to shop. :)

Did you know that when you drop your kids off they give you a beeper/pager thingy that lights up and buzzes, and beeps when you need to get your munchkins? Well, they do. Typically it won't buzz until your time is up. But on occasion, if your kids need you before your time is up, it'll go off. Normally mine doesn't go off until my time is up..... not this time. *sigh* 25 mins into our shopping that little pager began buzzing, beeping, and flashing. Expecting that either A.) Marley had an accident, or B) Ash was having a meltdown (she was a little tired and expressed her dissaproval of being shuttled to the play area while we got to shop).. we headed back down to the Smaland.

I could hear Ash screaming before we rounded the corner. I imagined she had gone into hysterics because she was tired, and just wanted her mom, ie: Me. I also began thinking of how I was going to spring only her from the playplace while simultaneously convince the other kids to stay. However... all those thoughts flew from my brain as we came around the corner.

There, in a chair surrounded by IKEA workers in blue shirts, and one very official looking man in a black shirt and blue gloves, sat my little girl. She was clutching a cloth to the side of her face and the official looking man was opening what appeared to be an icepack. She turned to me and removed the cloth.

I tried to contain the shock and fear that I'm sure crossed my face when I saw her. Her entire cheek was bloody and swollen, and all scraped up. They immediately opened the gate for me and I walked up to her.

Me: "What happened?"
IKEA girl: "Um, all we can get out her is that she fell on the stairs."
Ash: (in between hysterical sobs,) "MOMMEEEE!!! It HURRRTTS!!!"
Me: "Um, you'll be fine." (said while trying to decide if we needed to make a pit stop at the ER on the way  home)

Official-guy-in-black-shirt, and freaked-out-looking-girl-in-blue-shirt seemed to be looking me up and down trying to decide if I was the type to sue them for such an incident. (FYI: we're not those kinds of people). Though, in hindsight I should have thrown out there something along the lines of.."Ya, know... I'd be willing to overlook all this if you'd be willing to furnish my living room for free." ;)  But instead, I just gathered up my wolves, and headed for the door. My mom took Ash to the car so that I could check out. Rushing through the store, (which by the way seems 10x larger than it is when you are tyring to hurry. That place is like a maze!) to get out with my purchase, I hurried myself and the kids to the car. When we got there Ash had stopped crying and was calmly playing a game on the iPad. Her cheek had gone down considerably, and so any thoughts of the going to the ER were replaced with thoughts of just going home.

After we got home, and I placed a butterfly bandage over her wound, I asked her exactly what happened.

Ash: "I was running up to the ball pit with Marley and I fell up the stairs."

And that my friends, is why you shouldn't run in Smaland.

Her eye actually looks worse today. It's going to be quite the shiner, I'm sure. Thank goodness school doesn't start for another month. Hopefully it's all healed up by then.

***********************************************************************************

So yes... it was quite the birthday adventure. Hopefully Marleys party on Saturday goes off with less bodily injury. ;) Wish us luck!