My Uncle Ken

My Uncle Ken passed away on Saturday, May 23, 2009 at the age of 63. His passing was very unexpected and our family is dealing with the shock and grief. Services are being held on Friday. I cannot be there so I hope that this blog post will somehow stand in my absence. I want to remember Ken and do so in a way that will honor him.

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These are some of my memories:

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Ken and his family moved from Texas to California when I was just a little kid so he was not a part of my everyday life like most of the rest of the family. However, the distance did not diminish his presence. I clearly remember gathering at my Granny's house on Christmas Eve and opening packages that came from "California". There was always great excitement for these gifts because even though Ken and his family lived so far away, they always knew the perfect gift for the person who's name they had drawn. I still have a doll that Ken's son sent me one Christmas. The doll's name is "Junior" and now Emily plays with him. And every Christmas Eve while we all together, we could expect a call from Ken.

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When I was seven, my family took a vacation from Texas, through New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, California, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and back home. While we were in California, we stayed with Ken and his family. I was so excited to stay at their house because they had 2 stories. Somehow, I thought it would feel different to sleep upstairs. LOL. We did lots of neat things while we were there; we all went to Disneyland and panning for gold. But one day, Ken wanted to show my dad a house he was building for a doctor. Being the curious child that I was, I tagged along. Hand in hand with my dad, Ken showed us around this magnificent house he was building. Even then, at the age of seven, I knew he had some real talent and skill.

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I didn't see my Uncle Ken again until six years later. All of his siblings and their families (including me!) met up with Ken and his family in Las Vegas. I don't remember much of the adults during this trip. (Hey, I was a newly minted teenager and I was having too much fun hanging out with all the cousins!) But I have this image in my head of Ken standing outside the hotel, near the valets with a camera around his neck and a big grin on his face. I know by this image that he loved being surrounded by family.

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During his time in California, Ken and my dad would make wagers on the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys. It's a random memory, but one that made my dad smile.

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A few years ago, Ken and his wife, Norma, moved to Texas. I had already moved to the Carolinas by that time so I still missed being a part of the everyday life of our extended family. However, every time I saw Ken on my return trips I was welcomed with a big hug like I have never been away.

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Some final thoughts:

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Because we lived so far away from each other during most of my life, I didn't get to know my Uncle Ken in an everyday manner. Still, he was a legend within our family. I grew up hearing tales of when he and my dad and their sisters were little. I heard of his great service to our country during Vietnam. I heard about his three tours of duty and the same number of purple hearts he received. I also heard of how he drove all night once to save my dad, but you'll have to ask my dad about that.

More than a legend though, my uncle Ken was a good man that loved his family and his friends. He always had a ready laugh and a good comforting hug for you. He was not an idle man and even if he was still, you could almost see his brain working. I know all that knew him and loved him will miss him, including this long-distance niece.

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http://www3.cottonwoodtexas.com/obituaries/191/ken-farmer-passed-away-saturday

Measurements

Promted by a thread online, I decided to weigh and measure the three oldest kids today. Anna Jaye just went to the doctor for her 2 month check-up on Wednesday so I already knew her stats.

Emily
age: 8 years, 3 months and 23 days
height: 4 ft, 4.5 inches (52.5 in)
weight: 74 lbs.

Garrett
age: 3 years, 7 months and 2 days
height: 3 ft, 2.75 inches (38.75 in)
weight: 38 lbs

Austin
age: 2 years, 1 month and 6 days
height: 2 ft, 9 inches (33 in)
weight: 27 lbs

Anna
age: 2 months, 5 days
height: 21.5 inches
weight: 8 lbs. 6 oz

I can't believe how tall Emily is getting! She has grown an inch since January and before that she grew 1.5 inches from Oct-Jan. My little girl is fast approaching the dreaded "tween" years. Lord, help us all.

Been too long since the last update.

I realize I haven't updated my blog in over two weeks! Bad, Christi, bad! Things have been a little crazy around here and I haven't had the time to be on the computer much. So here is an update on everyone:

Anna Jaye
We went and had her tested for kidney reflux. The test was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. She did really well considering she had a catheter placed and several x-rays taken. We immediately got results and Anna does have kidney reflux. Hers is fairly mild and she has been placed on maintenance antibiotics everyday for as long as she has the reflux. Luckily, Anna's doctor prescribed her a kind that I can pick up for free at a local pharmacy. We have insurance, but $20 co-pays can add up very quickly.

Ever since she got out of the hospital, we have also been dealing with weight issues. Anna dropped back down to her birth weight. She's gotten longer, but leaner. Poor little baby! So now I am pumping in addition to nursing her. We're trying to measure at least 1/3 of her daily intake. It was slow starting, but she has gained 6 oz since Friday.

Austin
He's finally starting to talk! He is just saying a few words, but progress is progress. Austin is calling me "daddy" at the moment, but I hope he will change to "mommy" soon. He is also saying: I, mine, yes, and no. I had Garrett tested by this point for not talking, but this time around I am trying to take it easy and let him go at his own pace.

Garrett
Well, Garrett is Garrett and he's becoming Mr. Independent. In a way this is a good thing. Garrett is starting to really potty train and all on his own. Independence is also a bad thing. It means he always wants his way. He knows his alphabet and has now moved on to writing it (as well as he can). There is no doubt about it now, the boy is left handed.

Emily
She is getting so tall and grown-up looking! I barely have to lean down to give her a hug now. The top of her head hits me mid-chest! We've been working on rhyming words lately and I think she is picking it up. I also think I can now call her a beginner-reader. She has been reading some very simple books all by herself. They only have one or two words per page, but I am pretty proud!

Me
I am so excited to be only a few pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight! I still have a bit to go to get rid of the extra weight put on by Garrett and Austin too, but I am happy to be making this much progress. Tomorrow I am supposed to go to the Y so I can get on a fitness program. Might as well use that membership for something!

I have also been working on Anna's birth announcements. I have 10 completely done, but I have that many more to finish. I hope to get them all mailed by the end of the week. Which reminds me, I need to email her photograph for the paper.

Mark
He's being as sweet as ever. He took Garrett with him to the grocery store Sunday and they brought me home some chocolate. For once he didn't go over board at the store and only bought what we needed (aside from the chocolate)!


So that's it for today's update. I hope to get some new pics up soon!

Happy Birthday Austin!

I was at the hospital with Anna on Austin's birthday, so we celebrated it this Monday. Here are some pics for you to enjoy. Yes, I made this cake too.

Easter

Easter was an absolutely beautiful day at our house this year. This was especially nice considering there were tornadoes in the area the day before. Easter morning started off with Emily waking and asking if the Easter Bunny had come during the night. Of course he (she?) had so Emily had to go through her bucket first before waking up her brothers. The kids mostly enjoyed the chocolate best, followed by the rubber dinosaurs. Austin thought the chocolate was better with the foil wrappers on.

We had a good day mostly hanging around inside the house. The Easter Bunny didn't return until that evening to hide eggs in the front yard. He was very considerate and thought it was best to let the ground dry as much as possible. The kids got dressed in their new outfits for the egg hunting and so I could attempt, once again, to get a photo of all of them together. Silly me, I obviously still hadn't learned my lesson from the Christmas photo fiasco. And we have another kid to add to the mix. However, I was able to get some nice individual photos of my crew.

Here is Anna Jaye in her pretty Easter dress. I was so happy to find one small enough to fit her. I think she looks so adorable in it.
Austin hasn't quite figured out the timing of his smile to match the delay on my camera. That's ok though. Doesn't he look handsome?

Garrett has begun to correct my style of getting them to ham for the camera. You can't hear it here, but he's trying to tell me to tell him to say Ironman, not Spiderman. I love to dress Austin and Garrett in matching clothes. I'll keep it up as long as they'll let me.

I swear Emily is growing up on me everyday. She's holding the gold wrapper off of one of the mini Hershey bars. She claims it is a golden ticker a la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Her imagination was probably helped along by us watching the movie right before hunting for eggs.

One last picture to share. I thought this was an incredibly sweet shot of Mark and Anna.

Anna Jaye's Hospital Stay

The good news is that Anna is doing well and we are home. The bad news is Anna had to spend two nights in the hospital.

It all started Tuesday night when I noticed some pink urine in her diaper. The next morning it was a little more concerning so I scheduled an appointment with her pediatrician for 12 o'clock. We (Anna and I) went to the appointment, diapers in hand. The doctor looked at them and ordered a urine sample. Obviously Anna is too small to pee in a cup, so the nurse had to cath her. I was dreading this as Emily had it done when she was a baby and it was very traumatic. However, this time it was much better. We waited around for the results. When the doc came back in, he sat down and told me that Anna had tested positive for a kidney infection. Then he said that since she was so young, this was not something that was treated as an outpatient. You could have knocked me over with a feather!

An hour later we were checking into the children's hospital. I was worried, but I wasn't frantic. Anna seemed to be her usual self and no fever so I knew that being in the hospital was more of a precautionary thing. Little babies can take a turn for the worse rather quickly. The nurse assigned to us was a total gem. She was very nice to both me and Anna. She put in an I.V. lock on Anna's ankle and antibiotics were started every 8 hours. Mostly Anna and I sat around watching TV and eating. We were waiting for when a friend could come stay with Anna so I could run home and get a few things and have Mark bring me back to the hospital. I had the van with me and all he had was his motorcycle at home. I know it must have been hard on him to be at home while we were at the hospital.

Anyway, Mark and the other kids brought me back to the hospital and I spent the first night with Anna. The next morning our doctor came by to check on her. She still wasn't running a fever and was handling the medicine well. They still wanted to find the source of the infection so we went for a renal (kidney) ultrasound. Mostly it came back ok. Anna does have some dilation of the ureters, but that could be completely normal. They'll want to follow her until they close. So we'll be going for another ultrasound in 3-6 months. They also collected another urine sample (with a bag this time) for another culture. It was this test that in the end would determine if we could go home on Friday or not.

Friday morning we got the news that the second culture was good so we could leave by lunch. Because the first culture was positive for the infection, we did go home with a prescription for another antibiotic. We follow up with the pediatrician this Friday and he'll want to schedule one more test for Anna. He wants to do a VCUG. I forgot what it stands for, but basically they are going to check and see if she has kidney reflux. Thankfully this will be done as an outpatient. If she does have it, she'll have to go on preventive antibiotics. If she doesn't have it, I don't know at this point if they will do anything else.

This past week just seems so surreal. We have four kids and she is the first to be admitted to the hospital. She wasn't even acting sick, but I knew something was wrong (just not hospital wrong). I was so unprepared to spend two nights there. But everything is good right now. Anna is taking the medicine like a champ. I was disappointed that one of those days was Austin's birthday. He turned two on Thursday. Luckily, he is young enough not to know it was his birthday. We're having his cake and presents on Monday. I'll have to blog and post pictures after.

In the meantime, here are some pics of Anna in the hospital:

Here she is sleeping. You can see the antibiotic machine in the lower left corner:

This is a close-up of her ankle I.V. lock:

Here she is just lying in bed. It was nice to be able to pick her up whenever I wanted and to feed her whenever she wanted. The way the I.V. was set up, Anna was completely portable.

Children's Consignment Sale and Strange Coincidence

On Saturday I went to a children's consignment sale. I was selling a few things, but this was a buying trip. As I was driving to town I was thinking about how I was a little homesick for my homestate of Texas. It has been a year since I last got to visit. The longest I have ever been away is 15 months and it looks like it will be that long again. We are planning a family vacation sometime this summer, but the details haven't been worked out. So I get to the sale and as I am looking through the boys' section I see these:
They will be the perfect size for Garrett by October and then Austin can wear them the next year. I have the missing concho--it came off when Emily was trying them on for size. lol I still can't believe I found a vest embellished with Texas in South Carolina! It makes me think of the movie Fools Rush In where it is mentioned that there are signs everywhere. I don't know if finding the chaps and vest is exactly a sign or more of a coincidence, but they did make me feel better. And they are darn cute, to boot!