Tea Time

Katrina is usually very good at entertaining herself when Leyna is napping and I am working. Leyna is a mega-napper and usually sleeps for 2 1/2 - 3 hours each day so that gives Katrina a lot of time to think of fun things to do. On this day, she came down with an invitation for me to join her for a tea party. I usually just try to work pretty much the whole time Leyna is napping, especially during tax season, but I just couldn't pass up this invitation to a tea party.

Snow Trip

We went up to the Tote cabin with the Totemeier/Robert family in early March and had a great time. We stayed at the cabin and went to Reno during the day to see Nina. The girls had so much fun playing in the snow. We even went ice skating one evening with the Semans, Roberts and Totemeiers and Leyna tried it for the first time.

This is Leyna's pouty/punk face that we are working on. :)

Katrina and her buddy Lauren Semans.

Our visit with Oma/Nina when she was in the rehab hospital...two weeks after her stroke.

The effects of technology

So Leyna continues to make us laugh with the things she says. Not only does she say funny things, but she is really hard to understand because of some speech/tongue issues, which makes things all the more cute. So last night I was reading a chapter in Esther for Katrina (she wanted to read the REAL story from the REAL Bible so we have been reading one chapter per night)...and Leyna was in the room playing with the doll house and kind of listening. She wanted to go and get something from her room and she stopped at the door and said, "Mommy-a, can you pause it?" Can I pause it? My kids must be way too used to our DVD player and TIVO. :)

Where I have been

Ok, I know I have been slacking on the blog posts lately, but like all of you our life has been a wee bit crazy lately. Besides the fact that it is tax season and I have my year-round bookkeeping work to do, we have been busy with family stuff as well. Leo's mom had a stroke on Feb 21st, but was not found until Feb 23rd...about 56 hours later. Not good! She has made a miraculous recovery so far. She is amazing us and the doctors. She has regained her speech, eating (no longer using the feeding tube although it is still in there since it was a surgical procedure), has full motion on her right side, is regaining motion on her left side and is even walking with a walker. Praise God! We went up there this last weekend to pack up all of her stuff and move it into storage and Jonas/Danya's house and we were amazed to see her progress in just two weeks since the last time we were in Reno. Side note...it is never fun to pack someone's stuff when they are not there and when they didn't prepare for you to come, but of all the people to pack up, I think Nina was not hard at all. She keeps just about everything in plastic bags: clothes, towels, furniture, purses, shoes, undergarments, you name it! So it was more just sorting through it, organizing the boxes and labeling everything for when she needs it.

Leo and I were able to go over without kids for the weekend so we could make the most of our packing day. It was the first time that I have left them for two nights in a row. Thankfully, my parents and Brett/Kelly were able to help us out in a huge way. We worked hard the whole weekend, but we also got to go on a couple date meals without kids so that was an extra treat. :) I have some pictures to post of our past month or so, but those will have to come later. I just thought I would say hello and let you know where I have been. Please pray for Nina and her recovery and and her salvation. God has a purpose in all of this and we are daily giving it to Him.

My favorite Leyna saying for this week

One of my favorite things that Leyna says now is...
"Mom, I very love you!" I just think it is so cute! And on a really good day, she says, "Mom, I very, very love you." Two year olds are crazy, but they also say some of the cutest things.

Our not so fun week

Leo got the call at work on Monday afternoon that every child would dread. Jonas, his brother, called to tell him that his mom had not gone to work on Saturday, Sunday or Monday and that her work had just called him to let him know. They were able to get into her apartment with the help of the fire department to find that she had had a stroke in the bathroom. (We think the stroke happened on Saturday morning since there was toast in the toaster and the milk was on the counter.) Amazingly, she was alive, but it was not a pretty sight to see. Nina was rushed via ambulance to the local hospital and has been there ever since. She has recovered beyond what anyone expected already, but it is going to be a loooooong road. Leo called me from work and rushed home, packed, got chains for his car to drive to Reno, and left. He has been there since Monday night sitting by his mom's bedside for over 12 hours each day, and Jonas has taken the night shift. It is sooo sad. We are praying for her salvation, for wisdom and we make decisions, and for her peace (since now the reality is setting in and she is not happy about it). Doctors cannot predict what her recovery will be, but they want her to do 3 weeks in an intense rehab hospital and see where she is after that. It will be a miracle if she ever lives alone again.

Leo is on his way home now and should be home in an hour or so. I cannot wait to see him and hug him. It has been a long week for both of us and our girls really miss him, too. I'm sure our weekend plans will now involve lots of trips to Reno. I'll keep you posted if there is any change. She is supposed to have a minor surgery to put a feeding tube in tomorrow since she is unable to swallow.

Thankfully, we know that God is in control and He gives us peace beyond what we can fathom.

Puke Clean-up is Not Fun

So unfortunately Leyna woke up screaming last night...which is not normal for my good sleeper. I went into her room and saw her sitting up, covered in vomit. YUCK! She was still puking and crying/screaming because her hands were "dirty". Sidenote: this has to be one of my least favorite parts of mothering. I just don't like vomit. It brought back memories of when she had just turned two in June and got sick every 5 - 45 minutes all night long. We ran out of sheets and towels to recover her bed with. That bout of vomiting ended in a two day stay at the nurses' station on an IV followed by a two night stay in the hospital because of severe dehydration. Those are not my favorite memories either. So after the first time getting sick last night and then the second, I prayed that we were not going to have a repeat of last summer. Thankfully, she seems to be fine today. YAY! I am finally finished with the "sick" laundry and washed all of the cups and sippy cups in the house, which is a good feeling. I have sick buckets by each girls' bed...just in case...but I am praying that they will not need them. Little sicknesses like this make me so thankful for my girls' health. Praise God!