The Tale of Two Preemies: June 2013

Friday, June 28, 2013

The Last 4.5 Months in Bullets

So I've been busy...

In early March, I broke my arm doing chores. I broke the neck of the ball of my humorous, basically right below my shoulder. I didn't need surgery, but was put in an immobilizer sling. Essentially, I had fabric wrapped around my waist and my wrist and elbow velcroed to it. I wore that for about 6 weeks. I slept on the recliner for 3 weeks. I do not recommend the experience nor care to repeat it.

A few days after I broke my arm, my sister and 6 kids (3 of hers and 3 friends) traveled up for spring break.

It was actually nice to have her help. The kids played well together and had a blast playing outside in the hay, despite the cold, rainy weather. They even got the snowmobiles out before they left. We even managed to go sledding, which was a horrible idea. Poor Tate came home looking like this:

Just before Easter, I started a long term sub position. It was a mostly good experience. I had some pretty good classes and one horrible class. So horrible that most other teachers would see my class list and go "oh, well there are a couple of good kids in there." It was the longest 42 minutes of my day.
Shelby turned 1 on Good Friday. She wasn't walking then, but is now. The only time she is still is when she is sleeping. She's also a climber. I caught her one morning trying to scale the refrigerator. She is constantly busy, but she's happy.

The end of April brought my dad's retirement celebration. The whole family was there. It was a great day. My mom had a fabulous day and we saw many friends that we haven't seen in years.

Tate graduated from the school readiness program. He will get to do it all over again next year too! He had a good year. He made lots of friends and learned a lot.

Cole finished up Kindergarten in May. He had a great year. He is reading well and did great in all the subjects. It was fun to see all the writing he's done throughout the year and to see how far he's come. He had a fantastic class and teacher. I'm sad he has to move on, but I think he'll have a couple of good friends in his class next year too.

In June, Cole turned 7! SEVEN! Where does the time go!?! He's been busy working all summer. He spent about 20 hours picking rock and he's always ready to help Dad or Grandpa do whatever it is that they are doing. He's trying to get enough money for a $100 bill. What is he going to spend it on? He doesn't know, he just wants to be rich :-)

The summer has been busy with swimming lessons, t-ball, running club, soccer camp, summer camp, trips to my parents', trip to my sister's, strawberry harvesting, landscaping, and remodeling. July is a bit of a break. We have lots going on, but most of it involves me staying home and that's OK. Stay tuned, I might update before Christmas :-)

Cole's Story

Cole was born at 30 weeks 3 days, much to our surprise, in 2006. I went in to the hospital because I wasn't feeling well and was afraid I'd get dehydrated. I ended up being air lifted to a larger hospital where Cole was born 24 hours later. He weighed in at 4 lbs. 2 oz. and was 17" long. He had some developmental delays, mostly due to acid reflux. He also had positional plagiocephaly and was in a remolding helmet for 6 weeks. At 14 months he underwent a cardiac catheter procedure to close his PDA. At 25 months he tripped getting out of his kiddie pool and broke his femur. He was in a cast from his hips to his toes for 4 long weeks. He also broke his shoulder at age 5 1/2. His latest medical drama has been a cyst in his left ear. He's had his adenoids removed and another surgery to remove the cyst. He'll have a second surgery in August. He's been through the ringer, but you'd never know it. He just rolls with the punches. He's 100% farm boy. He wants to know how everything works and why. He loves the farm. Farming is definitely in his blood.

Tate's Story

Tate was born at 34 weeks 2 days in 2008. Since I had a previous premature delivery, I was on high alert for another one. It didn't help. We had ultrasound after ultrasound and everything looked great. Tate, however, was not patient. I was admitted to the hospital with preterm labor. He held off for a couple of days, but was still born early. He weighed 5 and a half pounds and was 19" long. Fortunately he had no problems and was released from the hospital 3 days after he was born. He was born the middle child. He desperately wants to do what his big brother does, but has his own interests and wants Cole do to those with him. He's my trouble-maker, fit-thrower, and snuggle bug.