Birthday Party in the Hospital

On Sunday evening, November 5th, we celebrated Mary's birthday at Ben's hospital, with pizza, salad, and cake in the cafeteria! :) 

 

Ben FaceTimed us from his hospital bed!

with Cally :)

with Ella :)

Recent Pictures

Walker's cute little football team

Reagan, freezing, and on my heating pad 

Walker tried something new this past weekend. He's been very hesitant to try rock climbing...but last weekend, he did it. :) Evan's birthday party (Walker has been friends with Evan since they were two years old) was on Sunday, and Walker attempted to rock climb. I'm so proud of him. :)

another boy, Evan (in the middle), and Walker

Evan's sweet grandmother helping Walker down

later that evening, at Blue Goose (just like old times!)

I am THANKFUL for these girls! 

Raking Leaves with Brooms

Last spring, I think I broke my rake. Therefore, the kids used brooms to "rake" the leaves. Thank you, kids. :) I do love the feel of fall, however. It's so nice to walk outside to see all the leaves falling! 

And, just a few more reasons why we need a bunny. This girl - Lainey - has done her research! :) 

 

#82...Getting it Done

Look out for little #82! 

Walker is on the far right...blocking! He's getting more aggressive! And he's the most consistent center lineman I know. He can snap that ball perfectly every single time.

Walker is on the far left...

Walker has recently become more hesitant to play football. He told me just recently, "I don't really feel like getting the ball" and "I don't really want to get tackled"....well, Walker, that's football. I told him that if he wants to play, he has to take chances and try things. Today, he did just that. He caught a ball, tackled someone (his first time ever, in a game), and scored a touchdown. :) I'm so proud of him for trying. 

awesome catch, #82

AND! A tackle!

And, Walker scored a touchdown! It was a HUGE day for Walker! :)

I love team sports.

Lainey and Kate...from the other night at the dance studio. Kate took a private tumbling lesson with one of the instructors; Lainey just happened to be there at the same time. :) I love it.

Happy Halloween!

We LOVE Halloween!

Walker was a "gangster skeleton" (because that's a thing, apparently) and Lainey was a white cat. :) 

Since Walker was two years old, he's been a skeleton for Halloween. Except for his Kindergarten year when he chose to be an Angry Bird. Comfortable pajamas are his thing. ;) This year, Walker added some accessories to his outfit to become a "gangster skeleton." Of course, this idea to accessorize his glow-in-the-dark skeleton "costume" occurred to him at 9:00 p.m. the night before Halloween. These accessories were a hat, a slap bracelet, and some sunglasses. I love the fact that he wanted to shake things up a bit...maybe next year he'll break free from the skeleton theme. Who knows!? 

Lainey, attempting to not get her shoes dirty

We ran to see Daddy at the hospital before taking Lainey to dance on Halloween (she had a class for an hour that evening). 

with Yiyia in the hospital room

the three "Dance Industry" Cats...red, white, and black :)

Lainey, Faith, and Morgan

Walker and friends...he's the second one from the left. 

Walker with Nicco

I think he's ready for candy. :)

***

We hope you all had a WONDERFUL Halloween! :) We missed Ben...but overall, we had a great evening. The kids had a blast, and it's always fun walking the neighborhood and running into friends. :)

Big Sis/Little Sis Reveal at Dance

ONE of the most anticipated events of the year...Big/Lil Reveal at the dance studio. :) The reveal was pretty cute this year...the Littles were given masks that matched their Big's...and they had to find one another. It was adorable and hilarious at the same time.

waiting for the go-ahead

Lainey has a union horn sticking out of her head...she's the 7th-ish one from the left.

the big reveal

masks off :)

Lainey with her precious, amazing big sis, Kennedy. She's just awesome. 

We are very lucky!

Here's to another great dance year... :) 

Thank you...

For those who don't know...and for those who do....I wanted to say THANK YOU for your continued support of my husband, Ben, and our family. I have sent this out to several "friend" groups - my employer, our baseball team, our dance team....I thought it would be worthwhile to put on the blog. :) It kinda sums up our life at this point! :) 

*****

Over Labor Day weekend, he was admitted to the Neuro ICU at Medical City Plano. After multiple tests, and several very long and painful days...one test came back positive -- that for West Nile Virus. Ben's case is very severe; it caused something called Transverse Myelitis, which is basically inflammation of the spinal cord. Up and down, back and forth, around and around...every space of that spinal column is inflamed. The inflammation stretches from the base of his neck to his tailbone...affecting every single nerve, including the diaphragm. Ben's case is extremely severe; less than 1% of people who get West Nile have it affect their nervous system. (Only about 20% of us would show symptoms of having West Nile, should we contract it...many people get it and don't show any symptoms.) So that's the background. :) 

Ben spent 5.5 weeks in the ICU at the hospital, and currently, he's in an LTACH (Long-Term Acute Care Hospital) struggling to get off the ventilator and tolerate 2-3 hours of physical therapy each day. He has had several setbacks...ulcers in the stomach (causing bleeding and the need for blood transfusions); elevated blood sugar and other levels in the body (all side effects of drugs); pneumonia; some anxiety; and the latest...a blood clot in his left femoral artery (leg) and another in his left lung (a portion of the clot in the leg that broke off) in his left lung. Thankfully, all of these things are treatable. However, I'm learning that everything in medicine is a "risk vs. benefit" type of situation. We take two steps forward and one step back. We have months and months of recovery ahead of us...even after he leaves this LTACH (once he can breathe on his own and tolerate a certain number of hours of physical therapy per day), he will need to be admitted to an inpatient rehab hospital where he will remain for another few months. Then, onto home with some outpatient therapy. The progress will be slow and steady, with plenty of unforeseen bumps and detours along the way. 

The reason I’m sending this to all of you is to just keep you informed as to what's happening in our family. I have taken a leave from work and all volunteer duties. I stay at the hospital during the day (which can be extremely emotionally and physically draining on several different levels...and it's also busy!) and try my best to handle the kids' stuff in the evenings. Thank you for loving and supporting our family during this time. We don't need anything at this time, other than your prayers. And your friends' prayers. And their friends' prayers. :) I have a very strong, very firm belief in God and His plan. At some point, His plan will be revealed to our family - maybe in a few months, or years....but it WILL be revealed. I take a lot of comfort in that. He is in control. And because of that, I feel peace - not without frustration at times (don’t get me wrong!)…I do worry and I do get frustrated and I do get confused - but I have never asked “why us?” because really, “why not us?” - our family is no different and no better than anyone else's. God will use this situation for GOOD. I’m confident in that fact!!!