Tuesday December 18th Ashton was sick with flu-like symptoms. He woke up early early in the morning throwing up. He threw up a total of 4 or 5 times between 5am and 12pm. The rest of the day he didn't eat, and was just kind of lazy and not too energized.
The next morning he woke up better. Cheery and hungry, he asked for waffles for breakfast! We had waffles, and then Aaron went to get his hair cut (he had the day off work). A couple days earlier we had gotten one of Ashton's old standing/walking toys out from the garage in hopes that it would help him walk! While Aaron was gone, Ashton was using it as a walker when I told him something to the effect of, "You know, now that your leg is better and that toy has helped you walk, you could probably let go of that toy and walk on your own." Not expecting him to believe me (because he hadn't up to this point), he moved aside from the toy and just started walking!!! Hallelujah! I instantly grabbed the camera. =) December 19th was a good day indeed. 9 days after the cast came off, Ashton walked.
We had made plans to go to Chuck E. Cheese as an incentive for Ashton to walk again, and so it worked out good that Ashton walked again on a day Aaron was off work. My mom had said that whenever Ashton walked, she wanted to go with us to Chuck E. Cheese. So Ashton, Sadie, Aaron and I met my mom and sister at CEC for lunch. Even though Ashton's walk was less than perfect, he was walking on his own, and we had a good time.
We went home so the kids could nap, Aaron stayed home, and I went Christmas gift shopping. Aaron called me about 3pm to say that Sadie was throwing up. Sure enough, she definitely caught the flu, and was throwing up about every hour. We already had plans to have a game night at my folks' house later that evening, and we went anyway. On the way over, my stomach became upset, but I wondered if it was just the nasty pizza CEC served. To make a long story not so long, Sadie and I both were sick all night long. My parents kept Ashton overnight because I was overwhelmed. Aaron & I kept a careful eye on Sadie so as to make sure she didn't get dehydrated. After all, she was throwing up about every hour. At one point in the middle of the night I remember feeling so sick and incapable of helping Sadie, I thought that it might be best to go to the ER simply to have Sadie under someone else's care other than my own (sorry honey -- turns out you did a fine job of taking care of Sadie).
The following morning I received a phone call from my parents who were watching Ashton to let me know that my mom and sister had caught the bug. In fact, my sister fell into the bathroom wall, put a hole in it, and suffered a small concusion. She even collapsed a second time, but my mom was there to break her fall. Craziness. We think she was just dehydrated because after sitting in the ER for two hours, drinking bottles of water, she felt better.
So there. That was going to be my original blog.
But what got me to actually write this post are last weekend's events. They were the straw that broke this camel's back -- I finally needed a place to vent and record life's events.
Saturday and Sunday were Christmas with Aaron's side of our family. Aaron's brother Josh, his wife Lynn, their daughter Kayleemarie, as well as Aaron's sister Tiffany, all returned home for the weekend. We had just finished opening gifts late Saturday morning. We were in Aaron's parents' basement which serves as the grandkids' playroom. There happens to be a rowing type machine down there and Aaron's mom was sitting on it with Kayleemarie in her lap. Lynn and I are chatting and next thing I know, Kayleemarie starts crying, Mary says "oh you guys, there's blood." Josh and Lynn get up and run to Kayleemarie. Lynn takes Kayleemarie's sock off and I'll always remember her gasping, screaming, and jumping backwards. Mary starts to carry Kayleemarie upstairs, saying, "call 911 -- or do you want to drive her to the ER?" Aaron and I remained downstairs with our kids, and started praying. There was so much comotion, so many loud voices, crying, etc. Christina called 911 and then was yelling orders to help stop the bleeding. It wasn't long before the ambulance arrived. I never did see the toe that got pinched in the the rowing machine. But evidently, the top half of Kayleemarie's right big toe was severed down to the bone. There was so much hysteria in that house, as well as tears. The adrenaline was definitely rushing. I just received word tonight that the top of the toe was not able to survive and is going to be amputated.
Saturday afternoon, our little family left in order to let the kids nap at home. On the way home, my sister called to let me know that my grandma who lives in Idaho had called my mom earlier in the day to let her know that my grandma thinks she's dying. Later I spoke with my mom to learn that my grandma is feeling fine and is healthy, but has received a word from God that she is "not going to India [which she was scheduled to do January 12] but is coming home." I could spend a couple hours expounding on this, but I will have to save that for another day. Needless to say, I was unnerved by the day's events. Right now I have nothing to go off of other than my grandma's certainty that her days are numbered. I spoke with my grandma that Saturday night and we said our "last words" to each other, that we want each other to know before she dies. Wierd, I know. We'll see what happens...
