The Great Flood - AGAIN

So...our basement flooded. Again. :-P Oh, the joys of failed sump pumps!! The smell is absolutely horrible, and I'm hoping that it goes away once the carpet is down again. They are putting the carpet back in Saturday. But I wonder how many times the same carpet can go through floods and be okay?? He sprayed tons of cleaners and anti-microbial things on the carpet and floors, so hopefully that will take care of things.

Last night when the carpet cleaning guy was moving equipment around in the basement, Jackson ran inside from playing in the yard. Through the screen door. Literally. Apparently I shouldn't leave the doors open with just the screen there, unless I want a Jackson sized hole in it! :-0

Hopefully we can make it a couple weeks without a new house disaster! :-)

What's With A Wind Shield?

So as you all know, we just recently went through windshield issues with Mike's car; he got a rock chip, then it cracked across the entire window. Then not long after, my car got a rock chip, and we had that repaired. The other day, I noticed that the small crack that was repaired cracked across my windshield. Grrr! So today, someone is coming to the house to put a new windshield on my car.

At least both cars will now be equipped with new windshields?? ;-) I just think it's strange that neither of us have ever in our lives had a rock chip, and now within the same month we both had one which required a new windshield altogether.

Mike's Bum Leg

(Cut and pasted from my facebook note - this happened last night)

Tonight after our small group at church, Mike slipped on the ice and fell - breaking his leg/ankle in multiple places. (Thank you SOOOO MUCH!! to the Mitch and Regina for taking Mike to the hospital so I could go pack an overnight bag for the kids!! And to Kevin and Lisa for watching the kids for us tonight!! We seriously have the best friends ever!)

After a long time in the ER, and lots of x-rays and CT scans, they put Mike under sedation/anesthesia so they could move it into the right position again and splint it. He's at Methodist Hospital right now, in Powell 469. They are planning on doing surgery tomorrow, and we're not sure when he'll be able to go home. I'm spending the night here tonight with him and his Morphine PCA pump.

Tomorrow morning I will let Lisa know if the surgery is scheduled yet, and I'll come back and pick up Maddie (and grab some more stuff for Mike). Then I'm hoping my parents will be able to stay with Maddie and pick up Jackson from school so I will be able to be with Mike at the hospital for his surgery. I'm just taking it one step at a time, because none of the details are set yet.

I'll keep everyone posted! I also have some pictures to post as soon as I can get to my home computer to put them from my phone to the computer. (Yah yah, we're picture freaks)

We also ran into someone that Eileen Kurth knows (I already forget his name! Brian? He's a PA with Mike's ortho doctor) and also Sarah Copple's sister! Woo hoo! :-)

Oh yah...I gave Jackson a crazy haircut for Sparks tonight, and he'll still have that crazy hair tomorrow for school. Poor little buddy!! :-P

OK, that's all I can think of for now. Going to try to get some sleep!

Crack Crack Boom

When Mike's car was in getting fixed (radiator), apparently they noticed a small crack in the windshield from a rock. Since it's way below zero here and the car was outside, then in the warm shop, then back outside, etc - the small ding turned into a huge crack across his windshield. So now he needs a new windshield. That's hopefully getting fixed today. Ugh...

It's Hot, It's Cold

Mike took his car to get looked at today again, since the heater hasn't been working well. I guess it looks like he needs a new radiator now. Another chunk of money. Our vehicles are like a never ending money pit, it's so frustrating.

Brake Light

Apparently one of my brake lights are out, thanks to the random notification of someone driving next to me. If someone doesn't tell you, how are you supposed to ever find out??

Maddie and I went shopping this morning, and got a box of Dora The Explorer pull ups. I think next week we're going to start being more serious about potty training and trying her "big girl panties" with Dora on them. We'll see how that goes!!

Ebay And Away

I think I'm going to try to spend more time getting back into sewing, and listing more things on Ebay. With the new ban starting 2/10/09 on the sale and resale of new/used children's clothing, I'm not sure how this is going to affect my ebay sales. There was another revision today saying that used children's clothing is now OKAY to resell. However, with many of my items that are new and handmade by me -- according to this bill, I will be unable to sell them without doing the testing on them (for lead, and something else I can't remember off hand) -- which costs $180 per test!! Praying that the government will reassess this bill before 2/10!!

Also, I think the heater went out in Mike's car. Umph... We switched cars today so he could deliver a bed to Pat, so I took Jackson to school in Mike's car. BRRR!!! All it did was blow ice cold air on us the whole time. It was a short drive though, so Mike's going to test it again tomorrow on his way to work since that's a longer drive.

Also as soon as we pulled up to the school, Jackson told me that the zipper on his coat broke at school yesterday, and he can't zip up. Ummm...it was seven degrees outside!!! And with a coat that doesn't zip. Great. At least it velcros in a few spots, so it closes - it just isn't warm enough for him to be playing outside for 3 recesses a day I don't think. So now I'm on a quest to find him a new winter coat; hopefully something that will fit him next year too!

And a special thanks to Julie B, my favorite nurse friend ever! Your reference letter was super fab! haha :-) You're the best.

Prayers For My Dad & Economy

I just received a phone call from my mom, saying that Lennox (my dad's employer) is closing its doors next year and laying off all employees. This is very concerning to them from a financial and medical insurance standpoint. Both of my parents have medical conditions that require constant follow-up with physicians, and they need to have insurance for their medicines.

Please pray that the economy will change, and they will not have to close their doors. Please pray that if they do, another job will present itself to my dad. Pray that medical care and insurance will not be affected, and they will still be able to receive the care they need. And also please pray that Gods peace will envelop them, and that depression over this stressful situation will not overcome them.

...I'll Hit You With This Here Hammer!!

OK, so only my mom and I will understand the title of this post. :-P

This afternoon upon trying to fix our leaning tree, I was trying to pound the stake into the ground to pull the tree straight again - which I'm learning to be an absolute lost cause!! - and I let go of the hammer in mid-swing, and it went flying towards my knee. Yah that's right, I hit myself in the knee at full force with a hammer. Right now it's really painful and starting to swell up, but I have it up with ice on it right now.

We'll probably call someone to come and take care of the leaning tree, because it's starting to get way out of control and is going to totally fall over soon - especially since there's super force winds today.

Another One Bites The Dust...

OK, so perhaps we need to work with Maddie on her "taking care of baby" skills. (Sorry Grandma Mary!! At least the dolly lasted a couple weeks!)

Sick Of It

And after half of the lawn being mowed, we now need a new lawn mower.

I'm so frustrated lately. It's hard to look at the 'up' side of things, when it seems like everything is pushing you down.

We have to buy a new lawn mower.
But at least nobody was injured when it broke.
We have to buy new tires for Mike's car.
But at least nobody was in an accident.
We have to pay for Mike's speeding ticket. (GRRR)
But at least nobody was injured in an accident.
We still need to hire someone to fix the fence.
But at least our house is okay now.
I feel miserably sick, too tired to do anything and can't stop coughing.
But at least I will get better.
Many do not.

Jackson's Not-So-Jazzy Journey

We had a good time this weekend with Grandma Katie and Aunt Julia visiting. After church on Sunday, we went to Okaboji Grill for lunch for free kids meal day. Jackson seemed a little tired in the morning and said he had a head ache, but otherwise acted normal. Once we got seated, he started looking a little lethargic and kept saying he was super cold and shivering. He drank his milk, but when the food came he started looking even worse. He was just sitting there with a glazed look in his eyes and started crying a little bit and said he felt sick to his stomach, had a huge headache, and kept chilling. When we left, we got a to-go bag just in case he got sick in the car. We carried him to the car, and I sat in the very back with him on the way home. Once home, I took his temp and it was about 103. I gave him some Ibuprofen and we made a little snuggle bed on the couch for him. After an hour or so, he seemed to be feeling a lot better! So he called Grandma Katie, who had already gone home, to let her know that he was feeling better.

As soon as his medicine started wearing off though, he started to feel sick again. We already had plans to go to Kevin and Lisa's, but I decided to stay home with Jackson instead. As soon as Mike left with Maddie, Jackson started throwing up and spiked a temp again. I took him to a walk-in clinic in Urbandale, the only one open in or around Des Moines on a Sunday evening. His strep test was negative, but he had an elevated white count (even though the diff looked a little more viral than bacterial), fever, and abdominal pain. The doctor was worried that it might be his appendix, so he sent us to Blank Children's Hospital ER to rule-out appendicitis.





The ER was an absolute madhouse!! There was a little girl, maybe 2 years old, sitting next to us that kept throwing up, screaming, throwing up, screaming....yet her mom kept trying to feed her this horrible smelling oatmeal-looking paste from a can that smelled like hot curry Indian food. So we got up and moved seats, right next to an older girl that was on the verge of throwing up and looked horrible. To another seat again!! I don't want to catch the plague! After a while, it was our turn to see the triage nurse. They were expecting Jackson, since the walk-in doctor called, which got him a 'quick entrance' to see a doctor. The people in the waiting room had been waiting for HOURS, but we had been there not 30 minutes before they called Jackson back to be seen. As you can guess, that didn't go over well with the other people waiting. There were a lot of "Hey, he just got here and we've been here for HOURS!!" being said.

The ER doctor was hilarious, and really great with kids! I had my camera and really wanted to get a picture of him for my blog, but I was a little embarrassed asking. They did a flat and upright abdomen x-ray, which came back okay. He did say that Jacksons intestines were full of air, as well as a gigantic load of poo that needs to come out. (Which, is another story for another time!!) He said that most likely, his abdomen is tender and painful from a bad case of the stomach flu and not appendicitis.


So after some discharge instructions, we were back on our way home! Once we got home around 10:00pm, Jackson was still really fussy and crying, so I dosed him up with Ibuprofen and Tylenol again before bed. Luckily Maddie was already asleep and done with her night-time crying routine, so things were nice and quiet. Jackson was asleep within a few minutes.

I kept him home from school today; he's feeling a little better, hasn't thrown up today, and is only running a low-grade temp. Hopefully nobody else catches what's going around!



Notice the pajamas that Jackson chose to wear on his day home from school. He woke up saying that he was cold and chilling, so I told him to pick out some warmer jammies. I wonder who he gets his color coordination from?? The pictures were taken while he was playing Wii Bowling, our favorite game ever!!

Hospital Doctor

Yesterday I had to go see the hospital doctor for a follow-up exam and a clearance to go back to work. He didn't seem too concerned, and said I'm okay to go back to work if I feel up to it. The things bothering me now are just a killer headache 24/7, lots of cramping in my back, and some pain down my T-spine area. I've also noticed being a little forgetful, and also my right eye feels a little fuzzy; I'm not sure if this is something temporary, or just because of the horrible headache. I'm supposed to wait a week or two and see how I feel, then follow-up with that doctor or be referred to someone else if needed.

I took one of my muscle relaxers yesterday, and passed out about 7pm. Mike woke me up around 10pm to go up to bed, and I haven't slept so hard in my entire life! I don't know why some people actually like taking those and become addicted, because it makes you totally unable to function or walk. But at least my back felt great for a while!

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. Time sure does fly!! Mike's picking up Lindsay after work to watch the kids, and I think we're going to go out for dinner.

An OB Nurse, A Cleaning Lady, And A Lactation Consultant Walk Into A Bathroom...

I would like to preface this post saying that I have just taken a muscle relaxer and a Vicodin, so details might be a bit distorted!

I was nursery nurse at work Saturday - the OB nurse that goes to the deliveries and does the baby part of the delivery and any transitioning or resuscitation. I went to the bathroom in the afternoon, and as I was getting ready to wash my hands...I don't remember a thing. I wake up about 30 minutes later laying on the bathroom floor, and my leg is soaking wet from a giant puddle of water under the sink.


My head is throbbing. I try to get up, but my back hurts so bad that I can't move. I feel like I'm going to throw up. Then I go back to sleep. When I wake up, I grab my work cellphone and start dialing numbers. "Must call Julie B...must call Julie B..." She was the team leader on Saturday, and that's the only person I thought to call. I strangely didn't think that anything was wrong with me, but since she was in charge I thought I needed to call her and ask her to help me get up. I don't remember the conversation that I had with her, but later she told me that I kept asking her to come to the bathroom. Which one, there are many on our floor. Then I rambled a while about how there were two doors in the bathroom, but not the bathroom next to the manager's office, but it was the bathroom by the manager's office, but there were two doors, etc etc. (There are no bathrooms on our floor with two doors.) Julie didn't believe me at first when I said I'd fallen, because we play jokes on each other a lot and she thought I'd be hiding in the bathroom to throw a glass of water on her or jump out and say BOO or something.


I'm not quite sure how much later, but I heard people calling my name through the bathroom door. The door was locked, so Julie got a PSA (the cleaning girls) to get a key to break into the bathroom. That's all I remember until the point where the bathroom was flooded with OB nurses, I was hooked to a blood pressure machine, everyone was freaking out and calling people, and Theresa M put a washcloth on my forehead. Then out of the blue, I was wearing a neck brace. I don't remember anyone putting it on, but there it was. Then I heard a conversation between one of our lactation consultants Ginny and the rest of the nurses - Ginny thought that I should be moved to a wheelchair but no one else thought it was a good idea to move me since there was a possibility of a spinal fracture. Hooray for all of those that voted against moving me!! When someone asked me what my name was, I remembered that. When she asked me what my social security number was, I think I said 4. Just 4. And I didn't remember the President either, not sure if that one was out of concussion or denial that he's actually the President!

Next thing I knew, someone from the ER transport was sliding me onto a board and they put me on the stretcher. And they kept strapping me down, and tying my hands. I felt claustrophobic! Then I think I made a comment like "This feels like an S&M video gone wrong...very very wrong!" The transport nurse laughed, and then Julie said that she'd go to the ER with me and pretend to be my SO for a joke. Then I laughed, but it gave me a huge muscle cramp all down my spine so I think I shed a few tears. I think I slept some more on the way to the ER.


Julie and I had fun checking out all the equipment in the ER. It's different seeing all of the equipment in adult size, since we usually just take care of newborns. The ET tube was HUGE! Then Julie thought it would be funny if we could set my alarms off so she told me to hold my breath. I didn't have anything better to do, still tied to my stretcher, so what the hey. I held my breath, but it still showed that I was breathing. Then my pulse started to drop, and drop, and drop. She freaked out and finally made me start breathing.

Julie had to go back to the floor for a while, so she left while they took me to get my X-Rays and CT scans. When I got to X-Ray, the nurse asked me how far I fell. I was really confused at this question, so I said "Oh I don't know...about 5 feet 2 inches??" Not sure that's what she was asking me, but that's the answer she got. When I got back to the ER room, I felt a little more "with it" but my head was pounding horribly and my spine really hurt - along with every muscle in my back and legs spasming. All of my X-Rays and scans came back okay, so I was going to be discharged from the ER. I got some Rx's - an anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxer, and pain pill. I wasn't supposed to take the pain pill that night since it would make me really sleepy. I'm supposed to call Workmans Comp Monday morning and figure out what I need to do next; I'm assuming that I'll have to follow up with one of the hospital's doctors and take things from there. My doctor went through discharge things with me, then my nurse called Julie to come pick me up in a wheelchair.


The ride back was funny, and Julie filled me in on all of the things that I said in the bathroom, people that were there, etc. She got me the form I needed to fill out for an employee injury and I filled that out; although my head was still pounding, and I don't think I had the greatest thinking skills still. I told everyone I was going to drive home, and I was practically pounced by people refusing to let me drive. Which now, I realize that it was stupid to even think of driving. But it seemed like a good idea at the time!


Mike came to pick me up and take me home. The pharmacy on the way home was closed, so I decided to just pick up my Rx's the next morning. I took a few Ibuprofen, laid down on the couch, and passed out. I was so exhausted! Then I kept getting poked by Mike to "keep me awake." But I was so exhausted...


Today, I went back to the hospital to pick up my car. It was kind of embarassing with everyone there knowing that the day before I'd had a concussion at work. Jackson came with me, and he had a good time looking at the babies - Julie was gavage feeding a baby so he got to see that through the window. My back is still really crampy and hurts a lot, and my head has the worst ache ever. I feel like I got hit by a truck! I've noticed a few times that I've forgotten things since yesterday; like after church this morning I told Mike that we parked in one lot, but he insisted that we'd parked in the other. I could have sworn we parked to the right, but apparently he was right and we did park to the left. I was also talking with someone at work, then totally repeated myself and didn't realize it.


I've got ice on my neck/back, and feel okay when taking a little medicine for now. So I guess we'll see what they say tomorrow about the follow ups I need.


If there's a water puddle to slip in, you can be sure that I'll find it...

Concussions Happen

Stay tuned, for the story of my concussion and adventures in the ER. It was about time for another Wald Disaster!

Not So Magical Mufflers

So Mike drops his car off this morning to get looked at. They say it will either be easy (Approx $40) or difficult (Approx $300). After taking a look at it, (and of course having a Wald touch it..) it was the 'difficult' type. Luckily they will be able to fix it today, but yet another expense.

Today during school drop off, I took Jackson inside the school and he was in charge of getting to his room and showing me what he needed to do instead of him following me. He went down the right hallways, even in spite of the millions of kids going in all directions. He found his locker right away, hung up his backpack, and took out his Friday Folder to turn back in with his book money envelope. He found the 'popcorn door' and walked right in, said good morning to Ms Douma, and went right to his seat. Good Jackson!! I think later this week I'm going to try the 'drop off from the car' and not walk him all the way to his class, as long as he's okay with that. He's doing so good! Today is also the first day he's buying school lunch instead of packing it, so we'll see how that goes, little Mr Picky Eater!

After School:

I go inside to pick up Jackson, because I guess his teacher waits with the kids inside instead of outside. I run into Allie on the way inside, and she says that "Jackson's inside waiting with Ms Douma, and he's making crazy faces and sounds!" Goodie! So I go inside and pick him up, and we head home. I asked him how eating lunch went, and he said "The nuggets were great!" Umm, just the nuggets? What about your noodles, pineapple, carrots, and milk? "Nope, just the nuggets!" I think we're going to go back to packing lunch tomorrow.

Magic Muffler??

So I think I'm going to add another tag to my blog to divide my posts into categories; what is the new one you ask? "Wald Disasters". Yet another thing that The Walds have touched has broken. Mike's Nissan Maxima now sounds like a 1960's racing street car. I would type what it sounds like, but there aren't enough letters on my keyboard to give the sound justice. I'm assuming it's the muffler, and hopefully it won't be too expensive to fix. And where is it getting fixed, you ask? Nowhere else, but Magic Mufflers! I know I know, it sounds so magical.

I think I could fit most of our Orlando Vacation in "Wald Disasters" but to save time (and a few bad memories), I'll leave it out. So far, our latest disasters include:

*Flooding in our basement
*A billion disasters in Orlando
*Fence blew over (twice)
*Furnace needed to be repaired
*Flooding in living room ceiling
*Hole in ceiling still needs to be repaired
*New brakes for Jill's car
*Jill's car tail-light getting hit at work
*Lots of work on Mike's car
*Living room shades broke
*Mike's "Magic Mufflers" trip
*Mike needs new tires on his car
*Giant random trees keep growing in the yard
*Freezer has giant sheets of ice developing every 2 days
*Weed Eater yard trimmer has broken
*Tree in yard is leaning because of winds

Let me predict the next things that go wrong: Our AC will stop working. We'll need a new hot water heater. Shingles will blow off the roof. Refrigerator will self combust. Our deck will become infested with beavers, building a dam in the back yard river - of course, caused by yet more flooding. Only time will tell!

Hmmmm. So this post isn't a total downer, I'll add this: I'm thankful that nobody in our family has needed hospitalization, that nobody has acquired an incurable disease, that nobody has been in an accident, and nobody has needed emergency dental work. See, things are looking pretty good!

Adventureland

Yesterday we spent the day at Adventureland and had lots of fun!! We went with some friends of ours and their kids; although, our kids were a little more adventurous. We split up, then met up for lunch. We started off on the rides close to the front of the park, and Maddie was a trooper!! She went on the Umbrella ride, Teacups, and a few others that were probably a little advanced for her. Then Jackson and I rode on the Raging River and got soaked! After lunch, Mike and Jackson hit the rollercoasters. Jackson's quite the thrill seeker! At 6pm we decided that it was finally time to come home, and the kids absolutely passed out exhausted.

However, I noticed today that my back left light is crashed out of my car. It wasn't like that yesterday when I got to work, so I am guessing that someone hit my car while I was at work and didn't do anything about it. Frustrating!!

Today Mike and Jackson went out looking at minivans while Maddie took a nap and I stayed home. They test drove them to the house, then I looked at it, then they drove it back to the lot. Genius!! However, each time they pulled up to the house Jackson kept yelling "It's our new minivan!! I love it!!" so excited! Then I tried to explain that we were just borrowing it to see if we liked it, and it doesn't belong to us. Then the tears came, as he was so sad that we weren't going to keep it. Mike said when they got back to the lots, Jackson would be in a full out cry as he had to get out of the minivan and back into our car. I think this was brought on by a conversation I had with him about how much more room we'd have in a minivan and that he'd be able to fit 3 friends in our vehicle, compared to 1 friend (snugly!!) now.

There's a few vans that I want to take a closer peek at that we saw online from local dealerships, one in particular that we plan on seeing on Monday. Hopefully it lives up to our expectations so we can find what we're looking for!

Our freezer's icemaker seemed to be broken today, as no water would come out of our fridge. I think the only problem was that it was just frozen in the tubes, because after thawing things out it seemed to be working okay. (Besides the water that always pools in the bottom of the freezer and needs to be removed a couple times a week) Can anything else break?

Nervous Twitchy Eye

I have apparently developed a nervous eye twitch, that started while we were in Orlando. Although the stress of the vacation is over, now the unpacking begins. All I have to say is "Hello Sand!" Everything I take out of our suitcases is covered in sand from the beach. Now we have a little bit of Cocoa Beach at home with us on the kitchen floor!

Today I'm hoping to get all of the unpacking done and put away, get my Ebay packages mailed, and download all our vacation photos. What will probably happen though is have a lazy day and go to the Splash Park. And a HUGE thanks to Emily for being awesome and taking care of our house and cat Sabrina while we were out of town. You're the best!

Updated To Add:

It has been eleven days since my last moment of sanity. Upon our return home and inspection of our house, we noticed the following things:

1. Our fence has blown over and broken (again)
2. Our furnace in the basement is leaking orange goo everywhere
3. Our living room ceiling is soaked with water below our master bathroom

*Eye Twitching*

The plumber is here right now cutting a giant hole in our living room ceiling. And cutting. And cutting. And cutting. Apparently there is a leak in the pipes and drain in our master bathroom shower. The heating/cooling guy is coming Thursday, and the fence guy is coming in a couple weeks. Good times had by all.