Family Updates: Part 3

... moving on.

Kaitlyn did her best in 2nd Grade this year; it wasn't always easy but Kaitlyn came far this year!  Kaitlyn distracted herself after school by dancing.  I've always thought that Kaitlyn was born to dance, and it made us so happy seeing her dance like no one was watching.  She took a ballet/jazz class, and tumbling. We are changing dance studio's this fall so Kaitlyn can take a more classical ballet.  It's Kaitlyn's dream to "dance on her toes."

Danelle has to be the most ambitious 14 year old around.  She rocked the past year in Martial Arts (she's a red brown belt now!), horse riding, advanced choir, piano lessons, and orchestra II as a Violist all while staying on her school Honor Roll. Honestly, there's really  nothing she can't or won't do if she puts her mind to it.  Danelle makes us so proud.

Liam loved Kindergarten this year and we recently discovered that he's quite the talented puzzle guy. This kid is great at complex puzzles, complicated mazes, word search puzzles (even the hard ones), and all kinds of games.  It's really quite fun to sit down next to him and watch him at work.  Liam knows how to have fun, too. Right now he's really into monster trucks, Hotwheels, and tornado's.  We sure love him!

Shayne just "celebrated" his third year with diabetes.  Diabetes sure changed our life in big ways, but he's managing himself.  He's still working with Admiral Beverage (Pepsi), and while it's not the dream job, Shayne is doing it well.

When money got tight during Pepsi's slow season, Shayne took a weekend job at Maverick to pick up the slack.  With my schooling, observation hours, and work, I couldn't take any extra hours and times were rough. It wasn't what anyone of us wanted, but it felt good to take care of ourselves.  Shayne grew to really like working at Maverick - so much so that when the time came to quit, he chooses to keep going, just once or twice a month to keep his status.  Who knows, maybe he'll be an area manager or running his own store one day. If there's one thing I know about Shayne, it's that he will never give up chasing that dream.  I strongly believe one day, we'll have everything he hopes for.

I think that's *most* of our updates.  I hope to keep this blog going and will post many more updates moving forward!  Thank you for reading.

Family Updates: Part 2.

If you've been following our blog *at all* then you probably know about Kaitlyn and her "coin incident" that we discovered in 2012 and still haunts us to this day.  Flash back to November/December 2018.  Kaitlyn started noticeable have trouble eating again.  Just like before, she was avoiding food, and losing weight (weight she couldn't afford to lose).  I didn't realize how much it was affecting her until her brother (three years younger!) weighed more!  She was back in the first percentile.  Here's the abridged version of our update...

In December, we made an appointment to see our specialist.  With such high demand, the nearest appointment wasn't until January.  Dr. Sutton isn't in practice anymore, and this new doctor didn't seem to believe me.  It wasn't until I pulled up a picture on my phone (FINALLY a good use for Facebook and my history of over-posting), I showed him the diverticulitis pocket we were worried about.  The nurse brought back pages of history and pictures, and we got his attention even more.  He agreed it was worth looking into and scheduled an EGD and dilation.

This happened on January 24th.  The doctor wasn't back there long, but had some news that I guess we prepared ourselves for.  The pocket was bigger and he felt it had to go.  Dr. Sutton had suggested to do this years ago, but it didn't feel right.  However, worrying about Kaitlyn choking all the time and not eating is no way to live either!  For once, we were open to the option of removal.

Early February, we did a swallow study.   Clearly, we could see the pocket now, it's position, and size. We scheduled to meet with the pediatric surgeon.

End of February, we met with the pediatric surgeons to discuss Kaitlyn's problem.  His name was Dr. Short.  After reviewing her history, going over her more recent information, and his own research on similar issues, he also agreed strongly that she needed it removed.

He was the first person to present the risks, however.  The pocket was on the airway side.  They could cut her vocal chords, the airway, a gland in the neck, or worse, she could bleed out if a major artery was nicked.  He suggested we meet with a panel of pediatric surgeons at Primary Children's Hospital to go over their thoughts for Kaitlyn. We left with tears in our eyes, and concern for Kaitlyn.

When the day of March 6th came, we were nervous and ready to find out what they would suggest for our little Kaitlyn.  Meeting with the panel was really different than I expected.  They put us in our own room, and the doctors came in and out, asking questions, looking over charts, and moving on.  It was like being on display at a museum. After quite a few doctors and specialists came through and a long wait, they ALL filed in the room again and gave us their collective feedback.

Everyone agreed that while there is legitimate concern, and this is a risk for Kaitlyn's life, unfortunately, the surgery was much riskier.  Kaitlyn could learn to eat and swallow with a pocket, but if any of the four bad outcomes happened, Kaitlyn's life would never be the same.

We couldn't do it.  We said "no," and we're learning to cope with her way of life.  The panel at would like us to come back next March... but I don't see that happening. Kaitlyn is learning fast, already avoiding the foods we were concerned about, and we'll cross every other bridge when we get to it. We continue to pray for her, but we know Heavenly Father has a plan for her and she is capable of doing hard things.

Family Updates 2019: Part 1.

Life did seem hopeful when I wrote my last blog in August 2017.  It seemed that we had hit rock bottom and the only way to go was up.  Little did I know that life *could* get more difficult... starting with work.

I loved Entrata.  At one point, I seriously considered working there forever.  I was rocking my QA scores, I was a superstar team member, I had a team leader who made me (and everyone else) feel valued and appreciated, and I was being treated very well by the company itself.   I honestly thought I could go on to be a manger, trainer, or more in this company.  When my team leader was removed from his position however, I started to worry.

Sadly, it only got worse from there.  I was put on call filtering; a grueling task where you filter hundreds of calls an hour that the properties themselves took.  It was redundant, mundane, and I felt like a machine.  I thought I would love being off the phones, but the hours were long and my anxiety was high as I tried to filter at least 100 calls an hour. I opted out.

Being on the phones wasn't much better.  With so many agents doing call filtering, the lines got busier.  MUCH BUSIER.  From January to September, there was almost NO BREAKS in it for me.  It was brutal.  I wanted to quit every day.  It was hard to be positive anymore.  I was starting to lose hope altogether of a better life.

Why does this matter?

This matters because it made me realize that I *can't* do this the rest of my life and my family needs me to work.  I was forced to think of other options. Then it hit me.  My associate degree didn't mean much when it came to applying for a real job.  I could possibly be doing jobs like Entrata or worse the rest of my life.  I did however, have my bachelor's degree almost complete!

There was my hope again.

Getting back into school again was not easy.  I literally had to petition my desire to come back to school, why I deserved to be reconsidered, what I would do differently so I don't quit again, why know I would not quit, etc, etc, etc.  Fortunately, I was let back in!  I began the journey again, only this time as a working mom, something I was unfamiliar with before.  If I thought school was hard in the past, I never realized how hard it would be with a job.... and family.... and all their things happening simultaneously.  The next nine months pushed me past my breaking point.

I had a lot of ground to cover if I wanted to be a teacher.  I had licensure exams still to take, classes to finish, even more classes that were added to the program after I quit, one hundred observation hours (which is not as easy as it sounds), and as if that wasn't enough, everything else as well. At one point, I almost went back on my words written in my petition for re-entry.  I wanted to quit. I wanted to quit SO BADLY.  I just wanted to make the uncomfortable go away and make my life easier again - start later when all my kids were in school full time.

Tempting as it seemed, I still knew that I was doing the right thing and it was the only thing keeping me going.  Maybe, just maybe, all the uncomfortable life lessons we were having happened because I was meant to do something better. I'm in my last week of classes right now.  I met my requirement for observation hours and I'm ready to student teach in January 2020.

(More family updates to be continued...)

Bringing Back Blogging

Social media ruined me. Oh sure, there's a lot of great posts; uplifting, exciting, funny... but there's a lot of negativity with that also. Social media often reminds me of high school.  A popularity contest with drama, cliques, judgement, and comparison.  With that I can also see the insecurity, the trying hard to impress, and the false sense of connection to others which can actually make you feel more lonely.  Long story short, it was chipping away at my happiness every time I got on.  Social media is not for everyone. It's not been good for me. 

Now, I haven't given up on social media completely.  Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I enjoy being connected to friends and family and knowing what's happening in their lives, too.  I simply decided if it's a running record of my family I'm mostly after where my posts are concerned, why not go back to blogging about it instead? I used to love blogging. I could write our stories and share photos without having to worry as much about likes, dislikes, comments, or battling constant feelings of rejection. Besides,  my blogs aren't written for fame or fortune. They aren't written to always inspire or teach either. They are for my family to look back on and remember the good,  the bad, and the ugly.  If anyone is interested, it's here for you, too. 

So, nice to see you again, old friend.  It's good to be back in my happy place with you. Let's never lose touch again.  Here's to many more updates...