Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers over the last few days. Dustin is improving every day and we are slowly making adjustments in our every day life to make all the recent changes work.
We had an appointment at the University of Iowa Hospital Burn Unit on Saturday and they decided to cancel surgery for Monday. We have another appointment tomorrow and hopefully we will have a better idea of what we are up against. His index finger is probably the worst of all the fingers and that's the one I am most concerned about. His thumb and back of the hand are probably the next worst.
Every day I have to change the dressing and clean the wound. Yes, it's about as fun for both of us as you can imagine. He's been a great patient, though. He hasn't screamed or thrown anything at me. :-) I cannot fathom the pain he is in and he does his best to put on a strong face for everyone.
You can imagine what something like this can do to an active family of four. Life has turned into quite a circus but thankfully God has given us wonderful family, friends, co-workers, daycare providers and church members to help. I keep telling Dustin that his main focus is to heal and everything else will fall into place.
We continue to thank God that it wasn't worse. After being on the burn unit for a few days it doesn't take long to realize what COULD have happened. The hair on each arm was singed up to his elbows and it is an excellent reminder of just that.
Prayer Request
I ask that everyone reading this post will please say a prayer for my husband. He had an accident at work yesterday morning and received 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his hand. We have another appointment on Saturday morning at the University of Iowa Hospital Burn Unit and will know more then about the extent of his injury.
I will be sure to post any updates on the blog.
I will be sure to post any updates on the blog.
Snow for Sale
First I want to say that I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. Dustin had to work so I actually ended up making dinner for my brother and his roommate...and doing their taxes. So I can't really say I had a romantic dinner...but after two kids I can say that I don't really have high expectations for this particular holiday anymore.
Even without a romantic dinner Dustin was able to get the message across...
Josh picked out the balloon and Dustin found the cutest card from the kids. So I guess I can't complain. :-)
My gift to Dustin was to go with him to the camper shows on Saturday. I had gone in to work VERY early Saturday morning and got off mid-afternoon, took a 15 minute nap then got ready to look at campers. He was happy, I was tired, Josh was happy and Lauren was just glad to be brought along.
And while there is no camper in our driveway yet....I'm thinking there probably will be soon. I've only been hearing about getting a camper for 5 years now and coming up with reasons why we shouldn't get one is getting harder and harder each year.
Then Sunday....
Yet another snowstorm has dumped on us. And because a challenge never scard Dustin or me...we decided to brave the storm and even went it to church in the middle of a blizzard. We are crazy.
While the boys "played" out in the snow, Lauren and I made potato soup and watched their progress from the comfort of indoors.
As soon as they came in from the cold they were pleased to enjoy the fruits of my labor and warm up with some of my yummy soup. Miss Lauren liked it too!
I honestly cannot remember a winter like this one. Thankfully, I hadn't planned on working today anyway so the kids and I have been holed up at home all morning. And since I haven't had to go out in this stuff yet today I can't complain too much.
But talk to me tomorrow morning when it's time head to work.
Even without a romantic dinner Dustin was able to get the message across...
Josh picked out the balloon and Dustin found the cutest card from the kids. So I guess I can't complain. :-)
My gift to Dustin was to go with him to the camper shows on Saturday. I had gone in to work VERY early Saturday morning and got off mid-afternoon, took a 15 minute nap then got ready to look at campers. He was happy, I was tired, Josh was happy and Lauren was just glad to be brought along.
And while there is no camper in our driveway yet....I'm thinking there probably will be soon. I've only been hearing about getting a camper for 5 years now and coming up with reasons why we shouldn't get one is getting harder and harder each year.
Then Sunday....
Yet another snowstorm has dumped on us. And because a challenge never scard Dustin or me...we decided to brave the storm and even went it to church in the middle of a blizzard. We are crazy.
While the boys "played" out in the snow, Lauren and I made potato soup and watched their progress from the comfort of indoors.
As soon as they came in from the cold they were pleased to enjoy the fruits of my labor and warm up with some of my yummy soup. Miss Lauren liked it too!
I honestly cannot remember a winter like this one. Thankfully, I hadn't planned on working today anyway so the kids and I have been holed up at home all morning. And since I haven't had to go out in this stuff yet today I can't complain too much.
But talk to me tomorrow morning when it's time head to work.
Wii Free Weekend
I'm not sure if it's the fact that the weather has not permitted outside play or the fact that mom and dad are working a ton of hours, but Josh is hitting a bit of a rough patch.
As of Saturday morning he had lost all rights to the Wii for the entire weekend. As much as he loves that machine you would have thought that would have taken care of it. Oh no.
Saturday afternoon after I had gotten off of work we had to run a few errands. Normally, he is a my good little shopper. Saturday...not so much. Whining, yelling, running, crying, throwing toys out of the cart, screaming...he did all this and more. I was so frustrated by the time we got home I sent him straight to bed for the night.
Then Sunday morning. I got up and made breakfast. Everyone came down to eat and Josh started playing with the kitchen drawers. At first he was just opening and shutting them. Then it turned to opening and forcefully shutting them. Then it turned into opening really fast and slamming them. Dustin and I each told him at least twice to stop. Then it happened. He slammed the door so hard that the actual drawer shot back towards the wall and the front broke off.
The drawer slammed so hard that the board connecting the drawer to the front split in half exposing eight nails. Dustin and I sat there completely stunned for a minute or two. When you see the front of your kitchen drawer fall to the ground it takes a second to realize you aren't imagining things.
In the time that it took my brain to register everything, Josh had scooped up the front and had begun trying to figure out how to fix his problem. When the front kept falling down he finally turned around and smiled at us all while holding the front of the drawer in place...like maybe we didn't see anything.
That's about when Dustin freaked. All Dustin did was yell, "Josh!", get up from the table and start to walk over to him and Josh buried his hands in his face (thereby dropping the drawer front) and immediately began crying.
At first Dustin just stared at the piece of wood in disbelif...at least so I thought. I punished Josh and told him to go to time out and returned to Dustin. I surveyed the damage and Dustin looked up at me and said, "YES! I get to use my nail gun!"
He is a 6'2" child. I swear.
Needless to say, Josh now has the tv taken away, too. Not having any other distractions allowed Josh to get all his Valentine's signed and assembled.
Then the kids had a field day opening their many Valentine's Day gifts from everyone.
Let's just hope that Josh comes back around and that Dustin doesn't need to use any more power tools in the meantime.
As of Saturday morning he had lost all rights to the Wii for the entire weekend. As much as he loves that machine you would have thought that would have taken care of it. Oh no.
Saturday afternoon after I had gotten off of work we had to run a few errands. Normally, he is a my good little shopper. Saturday...not so much. Whining, yelling, running, crying, throwing toys out of the cart, screaming...he did all this and more. I was so frustrated by the time we got home I sent him straight to bed for the night.
Then Sunday morning. I got up and made breakfast. Everyone came down to eat and Josh started playing with the kitchen drawers. At first he was just opening and shutting them. Then it turned to opening and forcefully shutting them. Then it turned into opening really fast and slamming them. Dustin and I each told him at least twice to stop. Then it happened. He slammed the door so hard that the actual drawer shot back towards the wall and the front broke off.
The drawer slammed so hard that the board connecting the drawer to the front split in half exposing eight nails. Dustin and I sat there completely stunned for a minute or two. When you see the front of your kitchen drawer fall to the ground it takes a second to realize you aren't imagining things.
In the time that it took my brain to register everything, Josh had scooped up the front and had begun trying to figure out how to fix his problem. When the front kept falling down he finally turned around and smiled at us all while holding the front of the drawer in place...like maybe we didn't see anything.
That's about when Dustin freaked. All Dustin did was yell, "Josh!", get up from the table and start to walk over to him and Josh buried his hands in his face (thereby dropping the drawer front) and immediately began crying.
At first Dustin just stared at the piece of wood in disbelif...at least so I thought. I punished Josh and told him to go to time out and returned to Dustin. I surveyed the damage and Dustin looked up at me and said, "YES! I get to use my nail gun!"
He is a 6'2" child. I swear.
Needless to say, Josh now has the tv taken away, too. Not having any other distractions allowed Josh to get all his Valentine's signed and assembled.
Then the kids had a field day opening their many Valentine's Day gifts from everyone.
Let's just hope that Josh comes back around and that Dustin doesn't need to use any more power tools in the meantime.
As promised....
It's hard to believe that just 24 hours ago we had little to no snow on the ground. That's certainly not the case anymore. Depending on which news channel you watch, they are saying around 12 inches of snow in about 12 hours. Josh is overjoyed and Mattie hops through the backyard like a bunny rabbit because the snow is cold on her tummy.
When we pulled down our street this afternoon the sight was similar to the water display in front of the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas...except with snow. Every house on both sides of the street had their snow blowers going. I laughed right out loud because it was so odd looking.
Tonight I went out to get the mail and the hum of snowblowers and the smell of gas fumes hang in the air.
The six o'clock news said that this isn't the end....we're expected to get snow for the next three days. This is about the time when I miss snow days.
When we pulled down our street this afternoon the sight was similar to the water display in front of the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas...except with snow. Every house on both sides of the street had their snow blowers going. I laughed right out loud because it was so odd looking.
Tonight I went out to get the mail and the hum of snowblowers and the smell of gas fumes hang in the air.
The six o'clock news said that this isn't the end....we're expected to get snow for the next three days. This is about the time when I miss snow days.
Step Aerobics
Here it is February 5th and as if we haven't already had enough snow and winter weather, we are preparing for yet another major snow storm. This storm is expected to bring 8 - 13 inches of the white stuff and when I told Josh he shot out of bed with excitement.
In other news....Lauren has figured out how to climb the stairs!!!! The kids and I were playing in the family room and all of a sudden Josh started screaming, "Lauren!! Lauren!!" I looked over and she was just topping the stairs into the kitchen. Josh and I were screaming and jumping up and down and she looked back at us just long enough to crawl like hell into the next room.
Being the good mother I am I didn't want Dustin to not see it so I made her do it three more times so that I could get it on video.
In our attempt to get Lauren to climb the stairs several times, I caught a cute video of Josh encouraging his little sister.
Jaime, our daycare provider, had a "Pajama Party" last week and all the kids wore pajamas for the day. Somehow, even though it should have been an easy morning, we were running a little behind. So that morning it would only make sense that since I have to leave the house by 7:10 that Lauren would make a "dirty" at 7:05. This "dirty" wasn't just any "dirty". This was the KING of all "dirties"! It went up her back and almost touched her neck. I kid you not and if I thought you each had the stomach I would have taken a picture! I basically had to give her a bath with baby wipes and find her a new set of pajamas. It was disastrous and disgusting.
Nonetheless, I was able to grab a quick photo of the two of them in my haste to make it out the door.
It was a good thing that they were already in their pajamas that day because by the time I got home with them in the evening they were wiped. I thought it had gotten quiet in the back of the van and after pulling into the garage I opened the van door to find this.
I guess playing hard all day can really wipe a person out!
I'll be sure to post pictures of all the snow. And if we really get that much snow I guess Punxsutawney Phil was right!
Stay warm!
In other news....Lauren has figured out how to climb the stairs!!!! The kids and I were playing in the family room and all of a sudden Josh started screaming, "Lauren!! Lauren!!" I looked over and she was just topping the stairs into the kitchen. Josh and I were screaming and jumping up and down and she looked back at us just long enough to crawl like hell into the next room.
Being the good mother I am I didn't want Dustin to not see it so I made her do it three more times so that I could get it on video.
In our attempt to get Lauren to climb the stairs several times, I caught a cute video of Josh encouraging his little sister.
Jaime, our daycare provider, had a "Pajama Party" last week and all the kids wore pajamas for the day. Somehow, even though it should have been an easy morning, we were running a little behind. So that morning it would only make sense that since I have to leave the house by 7:10 that Lauren would make a "dirty" at 7:05. This "dirty" wasn't just any "dirty". This was the KING of all "dirties"! It went up her back and almost touched her neck. I kid you not and if I thought you each had the stomach I would have taken a picture! I basically had to give her a bath with baby wipes and find her a new set of pajamas. It was disastrous and disgusting.
Nonetheless, I was able to grab a quick photo of the two of them in my haste to make it out the door.
It was a good thing that they were already in their pajamas that day because by the time I got home with them in the evening they were wiped. I thought it had gotten quiet in the back of the van and after pulling into the garage I opened the van door to find this.
I guess playing hard all day can really wipe a person out!
I'll be sure to post pictures of all the snow. And if we really get that much snow I guess Punxsutawney Phil was right!
Stay warm!
