AUGUST

August began with a BANG.  Our kids, who had been sick since June 22nd, were diagnosed with Cyclosporiasis.  Actually, only Brooklyn received a positive test result, but given the boys and her had the exact same symptoms we just accepted they all 3 had it.  Brooklyn was the 3rd confirmed case in the state of Louisiana and while it was an incredibly horrible parasite that caused a lot of discomfort and  sickness for our kids, I was SOOOO grateful to finally know what was wrong with my babies!  Thankfully, our pediatrician was willing to take an aggressive approach and treated the boys as well as Brooklyn. It was only a matter of time until they would all be feeling better, or so we thought.  

Within days of the kids diagnosis we moved to Borger, Tx.  It just so happened that Brooks had a meeting in Houston, TX right before we were planning to leave Lake Charles so he met up with us and helped get our Uhaul loaded up and all our stuff since our move from Saudi packed up.  It was a sad day leaving my parents house since we had been with them since May.  I'm not quite sure the kids knew what was going on, but we were off for our next adventure.  

I ended up getting a minivan as my rental car, which ended up being a blessing.  I fell in love with the simplicity of it and decided I'd get one when it was time to buy my car.  We decided to split our drive to Borger up in 2 days since we were taking the Uhaul and had never made this drive before.  We weren't ready to take on an unknown/expected 14 hour drive and it end up being a 21 hour drive.  We stopped outside of Dallas around 11pm and got as much sleep as we could.  

This was my view the entire drive!  And guess who was still awake at 11pm?!?

We made it to Borger around 7pm one evening and were set to close on our house the next day.  We were staying in a local hotel for the week until our shipment was expected to arrive by the end of the week.  Closing went somewhat smooth if you call having to move back your time a few hours because you find out your loan approval never got processed!  Yea, that was fun!  Eventually everything got settled and the house was ours.  We brought the kids by that evening and they were excited!

Check out the balcony banister that over looks our living room!  It wasn't to code and failed the inspection so we had to come up with a quick and easy solution to keep the kids safe.  Their bedrooms are next to this and since we live in a small country town chicken wire was the only accessible/ cost efficient item we could find.  It did the job though!

I spent most of the week cleaning the house and on Thursday the movers were here with our sea and storage shipment.  For some reason our air shipment was not on the truck so we had to wait another week for that.  Funny, our air shipment was suppose to be the first shipment that arrived and it had all of our necessity/essential items.  Oh well. It is what it is!  It kinda felt like Christmas seeing all our belongings from our storage shipment.  It was things we didn't take with us to Saudi and I forgot we owned some of it!  The kids were awesome with the movers and stayed out of the way for the most part.  We had some great guys working and they worked hard.  At 6pm they had all 9,000 lbs of our belongings unpacked in the house including furniture and beds set up!  What a glorious nights sleep we got in our own bed for the first time since May!

Friday morning I stayed busy putting things away and getting the house ready for our first house guests!  Brooks' mom, her husband John, Brandon and Kate were driving in to help us get things settled.  It was great having all their help and the extra hands to entertain the kids.  They were so excited to see familiar faces in this new place we now called home!  From staining the boys new beds to changing door knobs, we worked everyone the whole time they were here!

It was sad to tell our family goodbye, but we were onto our next adventure to visit my best friend Stephanie and her little boy Jacob while they were in Oklahoma for a few days!  Steph and Micah moved to Doha, Qatar a month after we left Saudi, which meant this was the first time in the 7 years we've been friends to NOT live in the same place.  Telling each other goodbye back in May was brutal so the fact that we had the opportunity to see each other again this soon was GREAT!! The kids and I drove to OK and made it the 6 hour drive and as we were 30 minutes out Miles got sick from the Cyclosporiasis.  He had been sick so often he was always able to tell us when he needed to throw up so I handed him the trashcan.  Unfortunately, Miles used it as a hat instead of throwing up in it.  He spent the last part of our drive in a diaper and I drove with all the windows down!  UGH!

When we arrived we were so happy to see Aunt Steph and the kids were excited to finally see Jake!  Steph and I had fun watching the kids play together and we got to catch up!  My kids ended up getting sick while we were in Oklahoma, so that made the time a little more straining, but we managed.  Apparently the meds they were on just weren't doing the job!

The first evening we just ate at home and spent the night catching up and getting kids into bed. The next morning we did our best to keep 4 kids entertained. We went to a little children's museum type place in Stillwater called the "Wondertorium".  It was a great place for all the kids. They had older activities for Gavin and even Miles but they had a separate toddler area that was great for Jacob and Brooklyn. It definitely got some of their energy out.

Once they were played out at the Wondertorium we took all the kids back out to the farm house for nap time. When they started waking up we did a little playing around outside. Gavin got to go for a ride with Aunt Steph around their property and loved checking out the cows.

When everyone was awake and ready to go we headed out again for dinner at Eskimo Joe's. It felt a little crazy to be at a restaurant so outnumbered by kids but they did great and we enjoyed our dinner. As a reward we took them all out to Boomer park and let them have some time running and playing.

The next morning we packed up and headed home.   Our trip was WAY too short but still wonderful to see Steph and Jake.  I miss seeing them on a daily basis SO much and wait for the day when we're back in the same place again!!! 

Life didn't slow down once we made it back home.  Miles decided he was done with diapers and semi-potty trained himself!  This was his favorite way to pee for a while.

Gavin started KINDERGARTEN.  Kindergarten.  I mean where did all the time go?  He was excited about going to a new school, but had some hesitations.  He still didn't understand why we weren't going back to Saudi and asked often when he could see his friends Devin, Tucker, and Peyton.  We encouraged him that he would make new friends and like his new school just as much as ISG in Saudi.  Thankfully, my mom came to visit us and help me get things somewhat organized around our house so she was able to help with the little ones while I took Gavin to school.  Brooks met us there and we sent our little guy off to big kid school!  Gavin's school is only Pre-K and Kindergarten so they have the kids line up in the cafeteria every morning and wait for their teacher to come get them versus sending the kids to classrooms before 8am.  Kinda smart on their part!  Gavin was shy after telling us bye, and it was so hard to watch him sit in line, not knowing or talking to anyone!  Broke my heart, but I knew all he needed was a few hours to meet a few kids and be comfortable in his new class!  He had a great first day and by the end of the week there was not a shy bone in his body!  

Gavin's first day was a crazy one for me.  On top of the emotions I was having sending Gavin off to school, Miles touched the chrome muffler of a motorcycle parked next to us and burnt his hand which meant for major screams and tears and heartache, and at some point Brooklyn ended up with a sucker stuck in her hair and required cutting some of her hair to get it out.  This day was NUTS!  So glad my mom was here for that, too!

 

Two days after Gavin started school, he turned 5!  Can you believe it?  Our little man turned 5 years old!  We weren't having a birthday party for him since we didn't know anyone here in town (we had only been here less then 3 weeks) so I made sure to make his actual birthday a BIG deal!  I decorated the house with balloons and streamers, got donuts for breakfast, and let him open a present before leaving for school!  We also pulled out his baby book and watched him look through it.  He couldn't believe he was that small!  It was cute to see his reactions to all his first things as a baby.  He asked me to bring cupcakes to his class to celebrate his bday and he had specific instructions on the colors and type of cupcakes!  It was fun to meet his classmates and see Gavin interacting with his new friends.  

We decided to have dinner at home and give Gavin plenty of time to open his gifts.  Grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, and friends sent gifts that we were holding onto for him to open today!  Gavin was excited to get his new gifts and played with them all evening.  Afterwards we went to the local park to play and have cake!  Gavin had a special day and loved the extra attention he got.  He kept saying how we couldn't wait until he turned 6!

Whew!  Just like that August was over!!  

Wait.  not yet.  We had surprise visitors come through Borger a few days later.  Brooks' grandparents, Mim and Pop dropped in to see us and celebrate Gavin's birthday, too.  It was so nice to see them and catch up!  

Summer 2013 Part 2

Brooks went straight from Saudi to Borger, so after several weeks apart we were ready to see each other!   We decided to fly him to LC for the weekend and surprise the kids.  They were so excited when Brooks walked in the room, they didn't let go of him for at least an hour!  Gavin showed him the tooth he lost, Miles sang the songs he learned, and Brooklyn tried tickling him over and over!  It was precious to watch the kids with their daddy and get to love on him.  Brooks' weekend with us was jam packed!  We had dinner at my brothers house and got Brooks a cake to celebrate him being with us!  We took the kids to a local park and after running around playing we through our swim suits on and played at the nearby splash park.  I can't describe how great it was to be together as a family!

   

We also had Brooklyn dedicated to the Lord.  What a special day that was.  The older our kids get the stronger our desire and prayer for them to know the Lord has become.  We're believing that Brooklyn will come to know our Heavenly Father and serve him with everything in her!   

Brooks flew back to Borger and within a few days Miles got sick with a stomach bug.  I figured it had to run its course and knew that it was only a matter of time before Brooklyn, Gavin, myself, and even my parents got it.  Our pediatrician gave us meds, which I hoped was going to alleviate how bad we got the bug, but it didn't.  It hit the whole house and after several days of it not getting better, we went back to the doctor.  Our kids were miserable.  They laid in bed for the first few days and just weren't themselves for a while.  After almost two weeks and multiple trips to the doctors office, everyone started feeling better.  I was beginning to see a pattern and felt like something wasn't right since outside of our home, no one else got the bug.  The kids had what I called cylcles.  Every 12 days, they would be sick for 3-6 days. Once one of them got sick, another would start the next day, and another the next. It seemed like they would be fine during the day and then at night it would just be horrible.  I monitored everything they ate, kept them as hydrated as could be, but nothing seemed to work.  At some point we had them tested for several bacteria parasites, but they all came back negative.

 





















I was still getting use to living in the USA and had difficulty adjusting to grocery stores that were filled to the brim with multiple options of each item.  While Walmart trips use to be my saving grace because I would load up on our necessities for the year, it quickly became an opportunity for full on anxiety attacks.  I just couldn't handle that there are 9 flavors of goldfish, Saltines now come in round (isn't that Ritz crackers job?), Capri Suns can be purchased 6 different ways- 25% less sugar, Roarin' Waters, Real Juice, Super V, etc etc.  AND you can now buy it in one large container versus the pouches!!  Say What?!?!?  I quickly realized I somewhat missed the few selections we had offered in Saudi.

I also was getting use to driving and with driving means filling a car up with gas.  OOPS!  Thankfully, I made it to the gas station!

In between our sickness, was my dads birthday and I wanted to make it special for him so I made a cake and invited our family over to celebrate with him.  My mom was sick at this point and if I remember correctly, I ended up getting sick that night.  Oh well.  The kids enjoyed the golf cake I made and had fun singing Happy Birthday to my dad!













This summer was also time for Brooklyns 6 month check up on her kidneys.  I went by myself since today she was scheduled for not just an ultrasound but another MAG3 exam where they inject the dye and watch how her kidneys work and if it distributes throughout her body the way it should.  Our biggest focus on this exam was to check the rate at which her kidney secretes the dye, which would tell us whether a blockage was there as well as how good her kidneys were doing what they were suppose to be doing!  Brooklyn was a trooper throughout her exam.  She wasn't interested in laying flat or still on the table for her ultrasound and since they have to look from the side she kept laughing from feeling ticklish!  After calling in another ultrasound tech to help, they eventually got her results.  I've done this exam with her enough to know how beneficial it is for her to pee while they are screening so I filled her up with liquids 30 minutes before!  Praise the Lord she peed twice so they were able to watch both kidneys, separately!  Woo hoo!

After the ultrasound we went to radiology and waited for a room to open up.  Brooklyn had no idea what was about to happen to her- the last time she did this test she was two months old.  I purposefully scheduled her MAG3 during nap time hoping that she would already be tired and willingly laydown on the table.  While we waited for her nurse I gave her a snack and we played peekaboo and sang silly songs.  I think in reality I was trying to keep myself calm!  Brooklyn's nurse arrived and prepped B for her IV and Brooklyn somewhat cooperated- okay who am I kidding?  She tried everything she could to get off the table and did not like being restrained.  After about 10 minutes of tears and tired of fighting off the nurses, she ended up falling asleep.  TCH is awesome and their pediatric rooms are equipped with lullaby music to calm and sooth a child, lights that will scatter around the room on the walls you can follow with designs, not to mention TV's with cartoons and movies ready for the kids.  Brooklyn fell asleep while I was humming in her ear.  She slept the entire test and didn't wake up once while they moved her in and out of the machine.  The test lasted about 45 minutes and I never stopped praying the entire time.  I just wanted them to locate the blockage and be able to determine if or how it is affecting her.

After the MAG 3 test Brooklyn and I waited to see her urologist for 2 hours.  They were waiting for her MAG 3 results to come in before the urologist finally arrived.  At this point I was so nervous and anxious I'm pretty sure I didn't hear the first 10 minutes of what she said.  I tried my hardest to focus and pull myself together to hear every word she said.  At the beginning of the appointment our urologist asked me if we did surgery on Brooklyn in Saudi because her Hydronephrosis was completely gone?!?!?  What?!?  Those were the very words we had been waiting 18 months to hear and then I hear them and I don't believe it!  She said how the dilation surrounding Brooklyn's kidney was no longer there and she couldn't explain it.  Even though B's condition can go away and fix itself on its own, it still can show remnants of some form of dilation and hers didn't.  So after a few minutes of both myself and the urologist in shock, she asked me why Brooklyn was currently taking certain meds that I shared with the nurse at the beginning of our appointment.  I mentioned how Brooklyn had been sick with a stomach bug vomiting and diarrhea.  The urologists face just fell.  She asked me to give her a few minutes while she left the room.  She came back and pulled up more of B's exam results side by side.  She brought me over to the images and told me to look at two spots.  I saw them.  I've seen enough of B's kidney ultrasounds to know what I was looking at.  There it was plain as day.  The bottom right quadrant of B's kidney had deteriorated some.  It had a shriveled look to it and you could see how the normal shape wasn't there.  The urologist explained how Brooklyn must be dehydrated since her kidney had NO signs of thickness or shape like it normally would.  Basically, while she was dehydrated her body had been trying to soak up anything and everything it could from her body causing her kidneys to show up as having NO dilation at all.   For a hydronephrosis patient you want this!  You wait for this, but upon further examination the urologist noticed inside the "shriveledness" was in fact some damage to her kidney.  So while I went from getting the BEST news to the news we had been dreading, the next step was determining what was our next step.  The urologist didn't want us to base everything off of these tests results and asked for us to come back again in 6 months and reevaluate things when she was healthy.  I agreed and was immediately filled with heartache for my daughter.  Will this ever end and will we ever be able to not have to worry about her kidneys?

Other then birthdays and doctors appointments we spent a lot of time at the Country Club pool swimming.  Gavin swam most of the summer without floaties, Miles wanted to swim without floaties thus giving us several scares, and Brooklyn showed us she's fearless with or without floaties on.  These kids will certainly keep us on our toes at the pool!

Our summer wasn't over yet.  Next, we were heading to the Mediterranean for a 12 night cruise!  

Summer 2013 Part 1

We spent our summer in Lake Charles at my parents house like we've always done the past few years and had a grand ole' time!  Our days were spent playing with cousins and friends, shopping, eating at Chick Fil A, swimming, hanging out at water parks/splash parks and SOOO much more!

Dinner time with 3 kids is always crazy and quite frankly not always fun so we were always looking for ways to manage the chaos.  My parents backyard has a large slope going down towards the golf course that makes for an AWESOME slip n slide.  The kids have a blast sliding down the tarp and are creative with every slide.  Even Brooklyn got in on the action and went as fast as she could!  

I knew that I wanted to take advantage of our time in Lake Charles and found various activities for our kids to do to get new life experiences.  Our first big activity was Vacation Bible School.  All 3 kids were able to go since I volunteered to work VBS.  Gavin was in class with my niece, Neve and they got to spend the week learning about Jesus!  Miles and Brooklyn loved meeting new friends and went to their classes willingly everyday.

After VBS, the boys took swimming lessons.  I was so impressed with how much they learned, how quickly they picked up the concepts, and their eagerness to learn.  IT was precious seeing how proud they were of themselves.  Both the boys were in a group lesson with 1 other kid, but they each got the individual attention they needed.  Gavin was able to swim confidently by himself in the deep end and almost mastered his front stroke.  Miles learned how to hold his breath underwater, blow bubbles, and to let go of the side of the pool and swim out.  He wasn't even scared to try.  I'm sure it helped the boys having access to a swimming pool daily in Saudi, but this was great in teaching strategy and building up their confidence.  

Miles:

Gavin:

Along with swim lessons, I signed the boys up for a sports class- it's kinda like a Little Gym concept, but with older kid activities.  Gavin and Miles took the class together and I did it with them.  For the summer, I hired a girl, Stacey, to help me with the kids so she came along and was the 2nd parent with me.  It was so nice having another pair of eyes around.  The boys loved the class.  They especially loved the blow up tumble track.  Everything in the class was right up their alley- running, jumping, climbing, flipping, chasing, throwing.  The activities were great and kept their attention and when we left, the kids always asked when they could go back!

 

I signed Gavin up for a local golf camp to introduce him to the sport of golf.  He finally was able to use the real golf clubs he got for Christmas last year and was excited to spend the week with his cousin, David, too.  Gavin really liked golf camp and did pretty good from what I was told.  He and David were the two youngest kids by several years but that didn't stop them from learning and trying hard!

Part of our summer was spent away from daddy, which left me doing everything I could to make it by without him.  But kids are kids and they bring lots of joy and laughter regardless of where they are and who they are with.  We made lots of memories and had lots of FUN together- going to birthday parties, Mr. Gatti's, and local parks!  

Miles kept all of us on our toes and graced us with his ever surprising antics and goofy personality!!

So I flew to Borger one weekend to go house hunting with Brooks and my kids stayed with my parents.  They were having so much fun during the days, they decided to take baths outside!  HAHA

Gavin lost his first tooth, which he was NOT excited about.  He was actually scared out of his mind and cried when my mom finally pulled it.  We had been working on it and turning it and wiggling it for days and it just needed to come out!  Once he realized it didn't hurt and he was okay, he eventually calmed down and wanted to know when the next one was going to come out!  CAN'T believe he was 4 years old and lost his first tooth.











Lunch at Chick Fil A.  I'm pretty sure we ate at Chick Fil A once, sometimes twice a week.  It's just easy and manageable with all 3 kids.  They loved it too!

We spent lots of time with our cousins and played together!  The kids played in the rain, ran around outside,  took more baths outside, rode bikes, and just enjoyed being together.

We took advantage of seeing and spending as much time with our friends that we haven't seen often while we were visiting.  It was great to catch up with old friends and see all our kids playing together.  Every once in a while, thanks to my parents, I was able to get some mommy time and slip away for dinner with friends.  It was nice getting to catch up with friends who have been around for years!!  I got to spend time with friends at their kids birthday parties and even had Houston friends and Baton Rouge friends come and visit us!!

Needless to say, we had a VERY, VERY busy beginning to our summer and that wasn't even all of it!  

So my all time favorite picture from the summer might be the one below!  My mom had a friend come over to take her usual "Bench Bunch" picture of all the grandkids so we tried to get a few of siblings together.  This is how my kids felt about taking their pictures!  And no, Miles isn't really sleeping- that was just his response when asked to smile.