hmmm where does the time go?

As I looked at my blog post I realized, its been a long time since I've updated!  I was reading some of my old posts and it flooded my memory with everything we went through with our little Lucas.  All the uncertainty that I wrote about is now a distant memory.  It's hard to believe all that we went through with our children in the year of 2012 and at times I wasn't sure I would make it.  But through faith and trust in God we made it through and now can look back on those times and realize just how much stronger we are because of it all.

I am currently in my 13th year of teaching middle school.  That's crazy that I have been teaching that long and still love what I am doing.  The kids are great and I blessed with another great group of 8th and 9th graders.

Andrew is loving 1st grade.  He is a sweet little boy and is doing very well in school.  He told me today he wants to be an archeologist, no wait a librarian because I love to read.  I said that's great as I used to be a librarian Andrew!  He LOVES math (clearly gets this from his father) and is making some nice friends at school.  Andrew played Ankeny Junior Football this year and had a great time.  He learned a lot, made some "tackles", receptions, and even a few touchdowns.  Now he's playing basketball and so far he's enjoying himself and his teammates!

Jacob is in four year old pre school at our church and LOVES it.  He is really coming out of his shell at daycare with his buddies and seems to enjoy school and daycare.  Jacob also played his first year of flag football through i9 (Andrew played 3 seasons with i9) and he had the best time.  I can honestly say that for four years old, he did a pretty good job.  They had the 4 year olds playing with kids who were 6 and he stood his ground!  He made at least 2-3 flag pulls a game, did a great job blocking, and even made a couple touchdowns.  Most importantly, he had FUN!  He will play basketball through Ankeny Parks and Rec this winter so we are looking forward to watching him play!

Lucas, well this little guy is 2 1/2 and is crazy as ever.  He is enjoying daycare, driving his brothers crazy and tries to make us laugh.  We are working on potty training, but it's not as easy as I thought it would be.  Andrew and Jacob were pretty easy to potty train and Lucas is being stubborn.  He has gone a little bit int he potty, but not consistent.  I am SO OVER changing diapers and we are READY for him to just start going more regularly!

Lucas' Caring Bridge Site

Here is Lucas' caring bridge site http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lucashaase Until after his surgery February 15, I will be keeping this up to date.  Please check this for updates on our baby!!

update 12/22/11

Hello everyone!  Not sure where the time goes, but it looks like I have been a bit neglectful in my blogging updates, so here ya go.

Andrew's surgery was on Tuesday and praise God our prayers were answered.  Everything turned out better than expected and his parts are where they are supposed to be!!  He did a great job and has been such a good patient!!  Grandma Pam has been at our house tending to him the past couple of days and we really appreciate that, so we don't have to miss more work.  I know some may judge me for working outside the home, but the only one who can do that is God, and this is what works best for our family. 

Jacob's tube surgery is scheduled for January 3rd and hopefully everything will stay put this time!!  Poor guy has had an ear infection that will not go away, so I am hoping this will get rid of it.  Other than that he is our little stinker and keeps us on our toes.

Lucas is still our happy little guy despite all of his medical issues.  On December 6th we met with the craniofacial team in Minneapolis and were very impressed.  So much so, we scheduled surgery for January 30th.  We are going to Dallas next week to meet with the craniofacial team down there to make sure we are making the right decision by Lucas, but we are confident we are doing right by him.  I am ready for it to be over and for all to settle down for a bit in our home.  I am going to take him to the nephrologist (kidney specialist) tomorrow for his three month ultrasound and check up, and we are praying for good results with this as well.

 

Thursday

I have found that I am not a clever blog title updater.  I just don't have the energy or cuteness to come up with titles it seems.  So since it's Thursday, I thought, hey let's call this blog post Thursday (it's like Billy Madison said I wanted to color the duck blue because I've never seen a blue duck).  ANYWAY!!!  Here is the latest on our kiddos:
Andrew is scheduled for surgery in DSM on November 30th.  So now its the waiting game for that.  We also have an ENT apt for him on the 22nd to get his ears checked out in case he needs tubes again.  We have been watching this for awhile and I hope he won't need surgery again for this either.

Jacob: We meet with the ENT on the 22nd as well to see the status of his tubes.  So we will know (maybe) at that point what we will do about his ears.

Lucas: We are going to MN to meet with a specialist there December 6th and then December 29 we have an apt scheduled in Dallas to meet with the specialist there.  At that point we will decide who we will go with and when we will preform surgery. 

So that's the latest.  I am so ready for Thanksgiving.  I hope to relax, drink a beer, and maybe squeeze in a nap.  Oh and eat some turkey, but that comes after the nap.

Sunday's update

I supposed I should have updated this sooner, but life gets away from me and I hardly have time to breathe it seems!  I heard back from Dr. Fearon in Texas, and from the pictures I sent him of Lucas, he states he is a candidate for surgery.  So now comes a lot of questions about what John and I are to do.  We have to make a lot of decisions fairly quickly as Dr. Fearon likes the surgery done by 11 months.  He will be 8 months tomorrow, so we have a lot to do in a pretty short time.  I will keep everyone posted on that. 
I am going to meet with Andrew's surgeon tomorrow and will have some questions for him as well.  His surgery is scheduled for the 30th and I hope and pray all will turn out how its supposed to.

On a more fun note, my parents are here visiting providing John and me a much needed break.  We went to the Hawkeye game yesterday with Paul and Emily and cheered the Hawkeyes onto victory against Michigan.  yes I know I am from MI, but I wasn't a big fan when I lived there, and its much more fun being a Hawkeye fan anyway :-)  We had a great time and are already looking forward to next season!!

Friday update

I am still waiting to hear back from Dr. Fearon in Dallas.  I am a little surprised that I haven't heard from him because other parents I have read about on the site cranio kids heard back from him within 24 hours.  So I can take it as, his head isn't that bad and so he doesn't feel an urgency to get back to us, he's on vacation, or he's been so busy fixing other babies heads that I should just calm down (with hand motion, this goes back to college days with my friend Autumn).  At any rate, I did contact Gillette Children's hospital in Minneapolis today to have a consult with Dr. Wood.  We have decided to meet with him to see what he has to say and I am going to have a ton of questions for him as well.  We are currently scheduled for November 29 (the day before Andrew's surgery, perfect timing insert sarcasm), but they are hoping to move us up.  Dr. Wood is on vacation the first two weeks of November, so hopefully we can get up there before that.  I also have a CT scan scheduled for Lucas on the 15th of November, but I will most likely push this back as well.  Reason for that, Dr. Fearon has done 25 studies where a CT scan isn't necessary and he doesn't want to expose a child to radiation.  Lucas has already had three tests where he has been exposed to radiation, so if we can get away without having a CT scan, I am all for that!  So we continue to wait and pray that all goes well. 

I finally did it!!!

I went ahead and emailed Dr. Fearon tonight!!!  This is the craniofacial specialist in Dallas.  I finally heard back from the pediatrician that referred us to Dr. Frank and I can honestly say I am glad I do not go to this pediatrician!  Our PA that we see wanted us to see a Ped. to make sure she wasn't missing anything in terms of Lucas' head.  At any rate, he basically said (through his nurse) that Dr. Frank (who mind you is a plastic surgeon and not board certified) would be a good match for surgery.  Really, gee thanks Doc but no thanks.  He did get us some information about Gillette hospital in Minneapolis, so I am going to do some checking there.  This pediatrician is very nonchalant about the whole surgery and at one point stated that I know more than he does!  I find that to be a very telling comment as I have just started to do research on craniosynostosis and hadn't heard of it until a month ago so I really don't think I know more than this Dr., but I am trying to find out as much as I can so I know the right questions to ask when going into such a serious surgery.  I am very anxious to hear what Dr. Fearon is going to say.  I basically asked him if he thinks Lucas is a candidate for surgery and I sent him some photos.  We will see.  I pray that God continues to lead us in the right direction and we come to the right decision that is in our hearts.  We want to make sure we seek out every option and thoroughly weigh our decisions as what we do will affect Lucas for the rest of his life.  Please continue to keep him in your prayers, along with Andrew and Jacob.