Dad is still in the hospital.  They are running all kinds of tests trying to figure out what’s going on.  They think he’s got another liver infection, and are treating him for it.  But, they can’t figure out where the bleeding is coming from.  He is perplexing his doctors.  Go figure.  Nothing is EVER diagnosed easily in this family!  Yet, he still goes for walks there in the ICU.  He’s amazing, and he WILL get better!  PLEASE, keep him in your prayers!  Thanks!

I had just finished this page yesterday.

And then, got a call from Mom.  She told me that she needed me to come over right away, that Dad was bleeding and they were taking him away in an ambulance.  I sped over there, and ran into the house looking for Mom.  They had already taken Dad to the hospital.  I drove Mom there, praying that he would be alright and that the roads would be made clear so that we could get there fast and safe.  (Safe because I was speeding, and safe because I can’t see very well in the dark.  :0)  )  We actually made it to the hospital before Dad got in there.  He was so gray, and yellow.  And in a TON of pain.

He had been trying to tie down some pulled corn stalks that was on his trailer so that he and Mom could go dump them.  The pain started then, making him scream and double over.  Somehow, Mom was able to get him in the house, all the while he was starting to pass out.  They found that his drain, from surgery, was filling up with blood.  He told Mom to call 911.  The paramedics got there 2 minutes later.

At the hospital, they gave him fluids and pain medication.  They did an ultrasound on his abdomen, looking for pooling blood.  There wasn’t any.  He was then given a priesthood blessing by two of his “sons”- his sons-in-law, but, he doesn’t see them as anything other than his sons.  (I love that!)  The blessing was amazing, saying that he would be healed and given strength to make it through these hard times and that he would live to a “ripe old age”.  I am SO thankful for the power of the priesthood.  My family and I would have gone crazy without it!  (Well, crazi-er!)  They also did a CT scan, and once again couldn’t find the reason for the pain or blood.  He was feeling better by this time, so, they sent him home with instructions, and told him to call his surgeon in the morning.

Then, this morning, I called Mom to see how Dad was feeling.  She said he was feeling better, yet still weak, and he had a little more blood in his drain.  Yet, he slept better last night than he had in a long time.  Then, as I was talking to her, I heard Dad in the background screaming.  He had started heaving, and the pain was excruciating.  I piled the kids in the van and rushed over there.  We had to take Dad to the ER again.  He was still heaving, and he was very yellow and grayish- if it’s possible to be two colors at once…  I tell you, trying to get into Logan in a hurry- even with hazard lights going- is ridiculous.  Nobody looks, nobody moves.  But, we got there pretty fast, I suppose, and they got him in.  They gave him anti-nausea and pain meds, which helped quickly.  The doctor and Dad’s surgeon’s physicians assistant- since Dr. Belnap is out of town- decided it would be best to have Dad moved to Salt Lake so he could be treated there.  They had to do it by ambulance.  He’s down there right now.  I don’t know what they’ve figured out yet- I do know that they are going to have to do something with Dad’s drain because the blood is coagulating in it and in the tube, which makes it really difficult for it to drain properly.

I will post more when I know more.  PLEASE, keep him in your prayers!  I love him SO much!

Emily turned 9 years old today.  I can’t believe how fast this time has gone!  I keep telling the kids that they can’t age any more than 5 years old.  They don’t listen to me.  Big surprise there, huh?!

She wanted a belt buckle for her gift.  Or, “hub cap” as Ivon calls them!

I wanted to get her a real cowgirl shirt, to go with her new boots and “hub cap”.

She also wanted a cowgirl hat cake…

She helped decorate it. :0)

I don’t know what I’d do without this girl!  I couldn’t get through a day without her help!  She’ll make a good mom someday.  (She just needs to practice on her own kids, and not mine.)  ;0)

Happy Birthday, Emily!  I love you TONS!

Six years ago today, I was going through the WORST labor ever.  And, I got a cute little redheaded boy out of it!  LOVE. THIS. KID!

Don’t mind the finger.  He was being weird…

He wanted a “head light” for his birthday.  Him and lights and tape.  Don’t know…. :0)  He also got a Crayola Glow Book.  He likes the light a whole lot more!

He also wanted a green boot cake.

Considering the fact that I had a migraine when I made it, I think it turned out okay.  If you like pickles.  (The green reminds me of pickles!  :0)  )  Not sure if it tasted like one or not, though….  Robby LOVED it!

Happy Birthday, my cute boy!  :0*

Last week, when Wesley and Stefanie were here in Utah, we got together for eating, playing and visiting.  The cousins had a blast!

All the girls got out the hats and horses and started galloping all over the place!  I couldn’t resist taking a picture of these three cuties!

Friday night, we went to the Rodeo!  My kids were SO excited to go!  They got their boots and hats, and Emily and Hannah found their button up shirts that they think are cowgirl shirts…  It was SO cute.  I really wish I took a picture of them.

(This horse is my FAVORITE!  (Sorry for the blurry picture- the horse was going fast!)  If we ever get a horse, I want a Palomino! They are so pretty!  I’d name her Buttercup!  :0)  Although, Emily wants a black and white one, and she’d name it Oreo Cookie.  She even asked our Bishop who has property if we could keep one at his place! :0| )

The first 20 minutes of the rodeo were great.  Then it started to pour!  Ivon and I got Mallie and Christopher out of the rain, making me miss the rest of the show.  Yet, we could NOT get the other three to leave.  Come rain or shine….. They didn’t care how wet they got, I guess.  Ivon ended up driving the rest of us home and went back to finish watching the rodeo with the Emily, Hannah, and Robby and the rest of his family.  The kids came home with stories to tell!  They had so much fun!  (I wish I could have seen it too!  Actually, I was hoping to go see the other sights there at the fair.  My nieces had some things that they made on display and I missed them!  I couldn’t leave Mallie out in the rain like that, though… :0( ).

Anyway, we had SO much fun, and we hope to be able to do it again very soon!

Hannah’s birthday was today!  She is so excited!  She’s funny, she came up to me today and said, “It seems weird that I am a year older.”She wanted a “Dream Light” for her birthday.  She loves it!

She wanted a cake in the shape of a boot.  She helped decorate it and we did it to somewhat match the boots that Grandma and Grandpa Van Duren gave her.

Blowing out the candles.  (Notice Emily and Robby?  They do this when they watch me blow up balloons, too!)

Sweet girl!  I can’t believe she’s eight already!  Happy birthday, sweet Hannah!

It’s that time of year again.  “Birthday Week”!  So we had our family get togethers at our house.  My grandma had bought this pool, that she wasn’t able to use in her yard.  She gave it to Mom and Dad.  They didn’t have room for it either.  So, Ivon decided to set it up here.  And, we barely have room for it!  Since it’s here, we decided to have pool/birthday parties.  And, since both families are pretty big, we had one for the Cullumber’s and one for the Van Duren’s.  Much to the dismay of some on both sides- they wanted to have both sides together, (I’m SO sorry!).   Anyway, get ready for an overload of pictures!  (We had so much fun!)

Miku (from Japan) and Nichole!

Ivon and I got the kids a trampoline for their birthday's. I want them to want to be home... instead of at the neighbors house. ;0)

For the Cullumber party, Annie joined the celebration! (She turns 4 on the 18th!)

Cute Haiden!

Lexi! (I have such a soft spot for this girl! LOVE her!)

Zach- who reminds me SO much of Robby!

Soki (from Japan), Christopher and Emily

Mallie.... LOVE. THIS. GIRL!

Robby was given camo duct tape! He was SO excited! (And, now, everything in the house is camouflaged!)

Mallie and Madelynn. (They are going to be GREAT friends!)

He he he! LOVE this view! She was begging for Hannah's food!

Mom and Charity. (Mom was SO excited that I took this picture!)

More TAPE!!!!! (Thank you Heather!)

Sneaking more food! (Notice the band-aid? She had to have shots. :*0( )

Christopher did amazingly well this year. This week is so hard for him.... of course he did take Robby's fishies and had a grand old time eating them!

Getting the tape ready!

Cute Emily! (She's getting SO big! :0( )

My two FAVORITE men! Ivon is quite HOT. And Dad looks SO good! He doesn't even look like he's got cancer! LOVE them SO much!

Getting ready to stand.....

And....she did it! Little stinker!

Proudly showing off his tape!

Such a fun time for us!  Thank you to everyone for all you do for us and for putting up with such a HUGE birthday week!  We love you all!

So, I needed to make a chart for Hannah.  Another one- for water, though.  She is supposed to drink about seven 8 oz. glasses a day.  You know, I can’t even remember how much water I’ve had every day, so I can’t expect Hannah to keep track of her own.  I used the same style chart that I used for her voiding chart.

After I had it printed and laminated, I got to thinking that I should have used numbers/amounts instead of times… I did it this way so it would coordinate with her voiding times, though, and she just makes tally marks in each square, so that if she has more than one drink in that time slot, she can record it.  It works.  We’ll use it.  (Plus, I think it’s cute!)

I think I should make one for each of the kids.  I know they aren’t getting enough water in a day, either.

We finally have a diagnosis for Hannah!  It’s only taken 9 months and 8 doctors to figure it out.  In the end, it was a Nurse Practitioner who finally told us what was going on and what to do about it!  Grrr!  (I was going to add a few more “R’s” to the “Grrr”, to express my frustration, but figured I should calm down… ;0) ).

Hannah has what is called Voiding Dysfunction.  It’s completely embarrassing for her- and I hope she’ll forgive me for posting about it….  But, her body doesn’t know how to “go” correctly.  As far as I know, she has always had problems, but it has gotten worse the last few years.  Her bladder wall is three times too thick- meaning it’s REALLY strong.  Her bladder and brain aren’t communicating, so her bladder decided to take matters into its own hands.  It spasms, it contracts, it does whatever it can to get that pee out- no matter where she is.  This causes leaking and a LOT of pain.  Which is where her abdominal and flank pain come in.  It also causes a LOT of bladder infections, vesicoureteral reflux (which she HAD, and is now gone!  Yippee!), and a very strong bladder muscle.

Kids can get this problem for a number of reasons.  One is because of painful voiding, from bladder infections and constipation, causing the child to hold it in because they are afraid it will hurt.  Or it could stem from abuse.  Or even a very busy child- they don’t want to stop playing, so they hold it in and they stop feeling the need to go.  The last reason could be from potty training problems.  (Someone once told me that I am a terrible potty trainer.  I’m feeling awful about that right now….  But, then, they also told me that Ivon and I would have ugly children.)  It could have been any one of these things- except the abuse one.  Her dad and I love her WAY too much to do anything to her.

So, what we have to do is retrain her body to hear and listen to the signals that the brain sends out.  She is on a strict schedule.  We bought her a watch that will vibrate, letting her know when it’s time to use the bathroom- whether she needs to or not.  I even made a chart for her, and I will have to make a pocket sized one for her for school.  It will take anywhere from 6 months to a year to retrain.  They will also have to give her medication to calm her bladder and get it to slim down.  There is no surgery needed!  :0)

I am so happy to finally have this figured out!  Hannah is going to get better!  And, half the battle is won!  :0)

(On a side note- I am publishing this post because I want to inform all the parents who read this to know how to help their own kids who may develop similar problems- I am not trying to embarrass my cute Hannah!   So, now you know…. :0)  )

Someday I might just get all my pages done.  I think I might be a 10th of the way there!

(This one is my favorite.  Although, Ivon says I should put the original note in it, but, I don’t have it scanned into my computer yet.)