When Pictures Say It All

I could name this post about 100 different things....cause it's been about 100 days since I last posted anything on here. Or I could  give each topic an entire post like what needs to be done....but that will never happen at the rate I'm going. I'll have another 4 posts started and never finished...waiting....waiting...still waiting for an ending. I'm beginning to think this pregnancy has made a geriatric out of me...or at least a little of life has created quite the geriatric schedule. At 10 pm I could blog or I could sleep....and right now, I'd just rather sleep. So...until I carve time out for this forsaken little blog here's more of life in pictures. Oneday entire stories might accompany them. And I feel many run on sentences coming cause it's just that late and I'm just that tired. But I feel a bit obligated to post something on here. 

Bringing it all to a close. Moving the remainder of what was left behind in the west to our permanent home in the east. TX house foreclosure became imminent after more than a year of being on the market and renter tenant having made a drastic move across the state. After months and months of carrying a mortgage and an east coast rent payment, and rural west Texas town overlooked again and again by buyers due to remote location, both payments could no longer be sustained. On the day of foreclosure when bank mandated locks be changed, and after 5 days of negotiations with seriously interested buyers that came from seemingly and miraculously nowhere, an acceptable offer was reached and house has been put under contract after 14 months of being on the realty market. All is going well and we have hit no bumps. Buyers have large amount of cash to put down and are pre approved. House has passed inspection and sell should be final in 20 days. While God's timing, tactics and ways do not quite match up with mine, this faith walk only grows more interesting as we live out this journey. So it is in the 11th hour and 59th minute our Texas home has sold. It did not go into foreclosure and it did not end in a short sell. God is good and He is indeed forever faithful. I do not always understand the ways He works but I do know that He is abundantly good. Despite all that was lost financially He is faithful to go above and beyond and replace it with wisdom, discernment, and character we did not possess when we began. And after all, is that not what this is really all about? There is no amount of money or material possession that can equal what He abundantly gives to those with a yearning to see more of Him and watch Him work. Absolutely nothing rivals watching Him come in within the very last hour and doing what only He is capable of doing. While sell is not quite official we have only 20 days left and there is no reason it should not go through. Realtor sees no problems and is very happy with outcome.

And no....that dog is not taking a crap in the pic...despite what it looks like.

So maybe we overestimated just how much was left behind. It didn't even fill up half...but what was brought back was definitely worth the trip, despite the emotional toll it took on all of us. 

Kitchen helpers.

Happy 10th birthday Aubrey-girl! Her major birthday accomplishment....2 miles in 20 minutes. Her very 1st 10 minute mile...and 2 of them, at that! Almost ready for our 1st 5K. 1 more mile to conquer! Sweet sweet girl. The diligent helper that is forever faithful with the details.

 Trying it out with chickens. By far the absolute grossest thing I have ever done. I am quite certain no one just naturally desires to go sticking their arm inside a raw chicken to dig out guts. I just about puked. But they turned out great and made enough shredded chicken for about 3 dinners. And it tastes way better than the canned crap!

Icy, snowy days spent in front of the fires he builds with tons of kids all piled up all over us. Pretty fun when he's off shift on the snowy days...all 1 that we've had. But he was off!

Homemade chicken broth. Suffice it to say I'll just be pretty content with canned chicken broth after this endeavor. You've gotta really want some chicken broth to go to these lengths to obtain it. So yeah...probably won't be doing this one again. It was still waiting to be portioned into 10 oz cups and frozen at this point.

 The feisty little firecracker completely adored and loved by absolutely everybody.

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth
hang out the washing and butter the bread
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother who's house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockabye, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting, bills are past due,
(pat a cake, darling, and peek, peek a boo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockabye, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait til tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.
(Ruth Hulburt Hamilton)

This childhood poem so often heard when I was little came to mind while I rocked.

Sweet blue eyed boy of mine...there is so much to do. But you are only this little for so long...so I will sit and just rock when you need it. 

And at 10 1/2 months he has officially found his balance and is walking everywhere! Sill pretty foreign, unexpected and so much fun to see him toddling around a corner. How sweet and loved this boy is!

It only takes once. One of the very many reasons blogging has taken a backseat. These pictures need an entire post...and hopefully someday will earn one as a reminder to us all...but as of now, I don't see that happening anytime within the near future. So, a short synopsis until that day comes. Our 1st hospitalization ever with any of them. After having more than a few too curious kids we have learned safety precautions unlike ever before. In '04 when Aubrey, as an 18 mo old climber who rocked our world and put to the test everything I had ever learned or known...even after 10 years of experience in child safety and childcare assistant in two daycares and assistant director of our large church nursery.... we began locking up all medicine within the home. A large tackle box was purchased and we began keeping it in an absolutely unreachable location under lock and key.

Our medicine box. Since allergies of mine are so severe we consistently have within house liquid Benadryl, Benadryl pills, albuterol, inhalers, sudafed, claritin, epi pens, steroids and all the like...along with the general adult ibuprofen, Tylenol, children's liquid Motrin, Tylenol and so forth. All stay safely locked within, as we have children that are quite adept at very early ages of mastering the art of overcoming the "child proof" safety caps. Our medicine tackle box!

Locked up, keys in hand, beginning many years ago!

 A peek of the inside.

Where it all stays...

Way up in the laundry closet

And what happens when just 1 goes left out due to failure of diligence on my part. I hesitated greatly before posting these pics and this story, as I know how critical people can be and how harshly they can judge. But the message here needs to be heard...and if it brings it to the attention of just one other family  who safely puts away their meds as a result of our experience it was worth any backlash or condemnation others would try and toss this way.

With enough of an allergic reaction taking place the night before I downed a dose of liquid Benadryl to keep it under control, as it only takes about 10 minutes, sometimes less, to spiral out of control for allergy happy body of mine. Being 1am and exhausted I put box back up without replacing bottle within. After discovering it was still left sitting on counter and not wanting to take the time to put bottle back within box and back up in closet I just hurriedly and sleepily hid it behind coffee maker. Monday came and while making dinner I caught a glimpse of bottle and knew it needed to be put up. But, dinner prep interfered so with onlookers standing by I briefly just stuck it up on highest shelf within cabinet. And Graham, in all his Baby A-edness, observed it all. I left to take oldest to Scout meeting and while off shift husband readied others for bed, in only a brief minute, it can happen...and it did. Graham pushed huge 40 gallon flat topped, lidded, kitchen trash can to counter, climbed upon and reached highest cabinet where I had made it "unreachable". He drank the entire remainder of the bottle, 1/3 of a bottle to be exact, which equaled around 22 tsp from what we could calculate. A single dose for him is a mere 1 tsp. We ended up in ER, where all attempts of getting him to respond to any meds failed. He was then transported to the PICU of the local Children's Hospital and admitted. After 7 hours of irrational screaming and hallucinations they finally reached a dose that worked for him.

In this pic his heart rate had finally come down from where it had stayed for hours around 180-200  to a normal and stabilized 90. His respiratory rate was down from 90 to a normal 22 or so and with which dr's were happy. We were still waiting to see how he did when he awakened.

Sick, sick boy.

24 hours after it happened his stats finally remained good enough that he was able to lose most of his wires. Still waiting for what seemed like forever for him to wake up from the sedation.

He finally roused a little and wanted covers.

Coming home for a shower and change of clothes and met with this sweet site. There is nothing in the world like being absolutely surrounded by gravely ill children in a PICU unit and coming home to be met by 10 perfect healthy ones and a site like this. And so I cried just looking at him. Sweet, chubby cheeked, smily, cherub boy. How overwhelmingly humbling it is to be given the gift of these 11 little people...each who are entirely healthy in every way. Something not ever to be taken for granted.

And after an entire 30 hours he finally was back to his playful self, though still not quite good enough to be released. While it took an entire 2 days after hospital discharge for him to reach complete playful normalcy again he is now no worse for the wear. Once awake in hospital all he did was ask continually for his "B". Life just isn't the same without ever faithful comrade by your side. And poor Gatlin, banned from hospital...along with all siblings of any children within hospital....due to stringent hospital policy right now due to severity of flu epidemic, was left at home searching the world over and continually calling "A's" name.

Reunited little duo and the best of friends! We had 11 very happy, happy kids when he returned. It's just never the same when even one goes missing. And though still quite wobbly upon his return home he had more than enough willing hands to help him out! That is an experience I don't ever in a lifetime want to relive. How overwhelming it is to realize the gift we were given in bringing him home with us all perfect and healthy...when other's stories have had such very different endings. We were spared lots of heartache that day. It could've been so much worse. The bottle could've been fuller, there could've been more up there such as children's or infant's Tylenol...one of the most dangerous and fatal of accidental overdoses seen in pediatric hospitals....or so many other things. So, I've cried a lot this last week knowing what we have been given, what we were spared, and just how easily it can happen....even when you have it under lock and key way up high. It only takes once.  

Definitely back to himself and ready to take on life once more.

Just chillin' with some Blue's Clue's and his buddy, perfectly content to be together again.

The day before the next carpet riddance phase! It was supposed to have begun last Monday but due to the little detour that life took, was not started until Thurs.

And it begins! The "where your treasure is" journey continues. 

Finding gold along the way!!! I have never in my life been so absolutely in love with orange, yellow and gold linoleum! This would be the amount of dust, dirt and mold that was not cleaned up before carpet was laid. A small glimpse into why we've stayed a bit sick. Oh but how in love I am with this new treasure we have unearthed! It's moppable, disinfectable, cleanable, practical and durable!

The surprise subfloors have to offer. Since they had not been repaired before carpet was laid mold grew aggressively underneath the floors we have lived on and breathed in for 16 months. And while it's hard, even still, to maintain a good attitude about this whole process, I am forever grateful for the opportunity we have to just help and be kind to landlord unlike anything he has ever known or any kindness he has ever been shown in life. While world screams that he needs to be taken to court and these are uninhabitable living conditions we know that there is a solution and every problem has a remedy. It would solve nothing and only hurt everyone involved. We would be out of a place to live and he would be treated with yet more contempt by renters, lose not only his job but his profession and way of providing for family, and what little hope...if any...he has left...would be put to death....all because we did not want to rise above and just show kindness to someone who very much needs it. We have the ability to, our lives are not endangered and there is no reason...except pride, belligerence and self entitlement...not to go the extra mile. And while sometimes it goes against every fiber within being to die so fully to self as knees grow sore, back begins to ache, days grow long, hands sport blisters from pulling out a million staples...there is, paradoxically, such great reward in the joy and contentment that is being felt as we walk this out. No one can ever fully explain it until they've just lived it. Definitely one aspect of it all I was not prepared to discover along this journey.

So, mold has been professionally tested...it is not the dreaded black mold but just standard allergy aggravating mold growth due to rot and moisture....and it is being dealt with. Now that carpet has been removed subfloors need a few weeks to dry and specific areas need to be replaced before hard floors can go in.

Beautiful floors!

And while it only exist in the living area....it's still a pretty sweet find. And looks good even before any staple pulling or mopping was done. It's temporary...but it works!

Walking into everyday kindnesses being shown. Bigger guys helping little ones. Pizza night celebrating the swiftly disappearing carpet and the hard floor we found!

Back to his normal little mischievous self!

And very much back to his mischievous, maddening antics!

When you really love your bikes.

Scrubbing walls and preparing for paint!

Many hands make light work..and work fun!

Sooooo....with shift husband working I wasn't entirely thrilled with the thought of tearing down beds to accomplish what was left of carpet removal. So...we improvised, adapted and overcame! And yes...eventually we got it all out. Though I'm fairly certain tearing down beds would've taken just as long.

What was found under tack boards that had never been replaced....shreds of carpet laid years ago. I'm thinkin' nothing screams sexy like bright red shag carpet in the master bedroom! Bring it on, baby! We also found woodstock green shag in hallway. Hippie green, bright red, and orange, yellow and gold. Oh yeah!

More subfloor finds...and mold...in the bedroom. We also unearthed petrified cat crap and evidence of a mouse infestation long before we ever arrived. Crevices between boards buried under carpet so packed full of mouse poop that it took a flathead to break it loose in order to shop vac it all. And we wondered why every night I reacted so badly to the bedroom and we are constantly and very frustratingly fighting sickness. There are no words for how good it feels to know it's all being dealt with....and restored health is in site. Landlord is in awe as he watches us work. And admittedly, it's taken some powerful discipline to not grow angry as we are dealing with it all. But to hear him thank us over and again and to have him ask why we're doing it....it's worth it all. Labor of love..or kindness...in every way.

Diligent, hardworking, early morning helpers....despite pajama pants.

When you've been at it a VERY long time. Staple pulling. Kinda sucks.

Side note here.....had I known the extent of what we would be exposed to when we started our carpet party I might would've worn a mask and had children vacate premises for the day. But...given what lied beneath, it has the ability to make those doing it very sick. And so we started the week with one in the hospital and we ended it with all of us dropping like flies. Since I had not eaten or drunk much of anything earlier in the week I started out a little behind the hydration power curve. And so we ended the week with 7 sick kids and 2 bags of IV fluid going into me. And even then I was told to go home and drink yet 2-3 more liters of fluid. But, at 20 weeks baby does indeed look good, weathered the storm well, and is growing exponentially! Been an eventful few weeks around here.