Ethan and the Discharge

Sleep was abundant last night as far as a hospital goes.  Annalyn and Ethan woke up in good spirits which were enhanced as doctors began speaking the best "D" word in a hospital vocabulary, "Discharge." Ethan was a little slow this morning trying to make a decision on breakfast but he eventually settled for french toast.  The room service was a little slow this morning as well.  They were substantially late for breakfast so Ethan started with a bowl of cereal the nurses had in the break room.  In addition to bringing the breakfast for lunch, room service doubled parts of his lunch order because the speech pathologist needed food for his final swallow test.

Ethan had another opportunity to play in the Forever Young playroom which wore him out.  He passed all his final tests and was approved to be discharged.  

Our final instructions were to be PATIENT!  This can be difficult for a family whose children only seem to have one gear, running, but I'm sure we'll make due,  The next few weeks and couple of months are critical to make sure both feet are planted and he doesn't bump that head again.  Two feet on the ground is the saying.  No biking, climbing, contact sports, sledding, scooter, running, polo, cricket, etcetera. We also have to stay close to him around the house especially going up and down stairs as well as meal time.

The next few weeks are going to be an adventure.  We have the opportunity to meet many new people.  Moving forward we'll probably just update you after doctor's appointments or major advances.  We will also be posting other non-related fun we've had in the past decade.  Until this accident we were not the best at posting. So, those that have been reading we again thank you for your love and prayers. If you're interested in the rest of our posts you're welcome to keep on reading.  If not check back now and again and catch up with our boy wonder.

Steve

Ethan and homesickness

Today started with a clear longing for home.  Ethan was a little sad that he was not able to go home.  He's a trooper and continues to show small improvements.  Ethan has shown a large attachment to mom and will not let her go.  If that how he is coping we'll gladly indulge him.  Seth and Ellie are also missing him.

He did continue to move forward.  His second day with the speech pathologist went well.  She upgraded his menu plan and worked through some memory exercises. He received a couple special K9 visitors which really brightened his day not to mention he keeps receiving gifts like it his birthday.  Yesterday it was a book of "outrageous verse", a puzzle, balloons, a stuffed bear, a couple of coloring books with crayons.  Today he got a couple more hot wheels.

He also visited the Young Foundation Playroom walking all the way.  He is enjoying being out of his bed with appropriate naps.

Still looks like we need a few more days before the medical professionals release him, and we'll have to be sensitive to his need to stay safe.  If anyone knows where we can pick up pillow sumo suit with helmet let us know.

Again thanks for your concern.  We too have had many come to our aid.  We're grateful to neighbors who have come to help with a frozen pipe, one who noticed our van dome light was left on which could have likely killed the battery.  Teachers and office staff at Whitesides Elementary who have shown love and concern, sent those special furry visitors and gits, and offered many payers in our behalf. In fact we have felt the love and support and healing affects of countless prayers from all of you.  We are well.

Steve

Ethan and the Swallow test

What a terrific day today.  We advanced through many phases today on our way back to recovery.  It was the swallow test to see if Ethan was ready to take on solid foods.  He did just what the doc said and really like the Cheeto's that were given last in the test.  After he passed in the room he was given the opportunity for a repeat with an X-ray making sure nothing was going down the wrong pipe.  Give that boy a diploma for best swallower! At least a meal of Mac & Cheese with chocolate milk to wash it down.

Other Milestones today include improved speech, loss of the neck collar, recognition of colors, things, and people, wheeling (in a wheel chair) around the hospital, he was even able to tell jokes and laugh tonight.  There is still a delay in his thought process especially when sleepy, but overall it has been a very promising day today.

Steve

Ethan and the Minivan

As a family we are all very grateful to the love and support of family, neighbors, and friends.  We are blessed by trials so we can grow; fortunately our's is much smaller than it could have been and it is supported by all you.

The Story:

Monday afternoon Ethan, from what we can tell, missed his bus home from school.  As a proactive young man when he sees a problem instead of complain he looks for a solution.  Despite our instruction to call if he needed a ride, he simply decided walking home could solve the predicament in which he found himself.  As he approached the reason for a bus, Fairfield Road, he may have misjudged or not seen a minivan coming in his direction.  He was hit on the left side.

At the time of the accident Annalyn had already mobilized neighbors and the School to look out for Ethan.  It was his teacher that notified Annalyn of the incident.  As Annalyn arrived "on the scene" the ambulance had left the scene transporting Ethan to Primary Children's Medical Center.  Annalyn had the Sargent on the scene contact my work.  I rushed home and together we made our way here (The Hospital).

The first major blessing was Ethan did not suffer anything life threatening and through multiple tests it was determined he had a skull fracture and broken clavicle.  It's a good thing I've always taught my children early on where their clavicle is located.

Our initial optimistic (and the Ogden Standard Examiner's) assessment was met with reality and through an MRI we saw not a simple goose-egg  but a flock of geese.  It is apparent that his brain suffered some sheering (Over-stretching of the nerves) and will take some time, weeks even months before he returns to normal whatever normal is.

The last two days we have watched as he has slept and moaned, today (2/2/11) however he has become more aware and is communicating 100 times better.  We are excited by the ongoing improvement and comforted by the next great blessing that however long it may take his prospect for a full recovery is excellent.

The moral of the story: Kids listen to your parents and cross the road safely with an adult next to you.

We will continue to update this blog daily until we leave the hospital probably sometime next week.  Thank you again for all your support.  We feel very loved indeed.

Steve

2010 Highlights Dobb World of Sports

Ellie started softball for the first time this year, and as it happened that her age group is now the machine pitch, so she really jumped in with both feet first.  Well, actually her mouth first, she started the first practice by getting hit twice in the mouth with the ball.  She wasn't so sure she wanted to continue after that, but she stuck with her team the rest of the season and seemed to enjoy it a little. Especially when they won.

Even when it got kind of cold

She loves saying hi and smiling for all her adoring fans.....

I was going to add her team photo when I got it scanned in, and that's why I had not posted this, but now it's been moved somewhere, so if I find it I will add it here.

Ethan was very excited to start T-ball this year and especially with his friends Evan and James

Ethan is in this instructional league where the start by learning the basics and practicing the skills each week, instead of really playing a game.

Ethan was the one who wanted to pull his socks all the way up.  He's getting some batting pointers from his coach.

These guys just love to take pictures.... not!!

2010 Highlights Vacation to St. George

Our vacation to St. George in June 2010 started with the kids splashing in the jacuzzi on the deck almost every day. They loved having their own private pool!! It made it easier to swim every day for longer.

They also enjoyed playing in the big pool,and going under the waterfall. And who doesn't love being silly with daddy.

Steve had so much fun in the pool.  I had fun watching and taking the pictures to keep the camera dry !!!

We tried something new this trip taking a Historic walking tour of St. George.

It started at the art museum and they had these cool exhibits made from bolts, old scissors, saw blades and lots of different metal objects welded together. They even had a list of things to look for on the exhibits

Seth was pretending to play this guitar. We thought these were so creative.

As part of the tour they had live actors who stepped into characters from the time period of when the city was being settled. They told about what was going on at the time and some things they did. We learned quite a lot of things about the area and had a fun time as well.

This was Ellie with "Jacob Hamblin" he settled a lot of the area of St. George, Ivins, and the surrounding areas. He had a lot of fun and interesting stories to tell.

Seth and I were with Orson Pratt who invented an odometer of sorts to help make it easier to know how much distance the wagon had gone.

Steve posing with "Brigham Young"

This is Brigham Young's Home. It was quite the fun story about all the green paint that was used. It was a fun tour. We learned a few things from his life that we didn't realize before.

We even had our friends the Hansen Family from Fruit Heights that were down there at the same time come and join us. We spent even more time in the pool cause it's always more fun with a friend.

Seth liked being in charge of the ball and trying to get it back when it would slip away.

A trip to St. George wouldn't be complete without a visit to Zions National Park

The kids really liked the tram you have to take to get around. They liked this particular part of the ride when it was empty and they had it all to themselves. Other sections were quite crowded, standing room only.

Along our first hike Ethan noticed this cactus and said look it's a mickey , we thought that was kind of cool.

They were glad to have finally gotten out of the heat and into the shade of the emerald  pools, not to mention finding puddles to splash in

They especially liked standing here and getting dripped on by hundred year old water coming from weeping rock. Seth is trying to fill his hat with the dripping water. 

One of our favorite parts of this trip was going to Tuacahn. We saw Tarzan this year and loved it !!! They told us at the beginning that they had over 150 different flight cues, which is when someone flies suspended in the air across the stage or above the audience. It was a fantastic production.

Ethan liked walking along the edges of this waterfall running down the stairway. He thought he was pretty cool, but it made us a little nervous

We all enjoyed the show, except Ethan and Seth, it seemed to be a little too late for them. They fell asleep the last half hour, just too much too late.

We went with our friends to a local splash pad and the kids had fun !!!! It was quite hot, but the wind blew a little and they got cold once they were soaked, but they enjoyed it while it lasted.

Ethan loved to sit of the water as it shot out of the ground and he would just giggle and laugh trying to hold all the streams down. He liked it when he could get it to squirt up his pants and they would balloon up.

Seth took a little longer to warm up to the water but he eventually got soaked and had fun running in between the different streams mostly.

Seth followed Ethan a couple of times by standing on the water openings and squealing as it tried to get out. Oh, the simple joys in life...

Ellie and her friend Anna got wet, then decided they didn't like the little breeze that made them a little cooler, so they went into the sun to dry off and warm up.

One day we played at the Fiesta Fun Center and since it was hot the bumper boats were fun with the whole pond to ourselves. They came back definitely soaked. After that they enjoyed some time in the kiddie arcade.

Ellie and Ethan both had fun trying to soak dad and each other


That evening we met Steve's cousin Garron and his wife Lavonne for dinner It was a lot of fun to spend time catching up with them. Our children just love posing for photos....?

Overall it was a great trip and we are grateful to have had the opportunity !!!

2010 Highlights Traditional Hike to "The M" on Memorial Day

 (Sorry it took me so long to actually publish this.  I thought it had been, so here it is even if it's late.)

When Annalyn was growing up it was tradition to do a hike to the "M"  on the mountain.  It hasn't always happened every year since we've gotten older, but our kids were really excited to be able to do it.  Especially because they love to be able to carry their own water

We took the backpack for Seth to ride in if he got too tired, but he never wanted to.  It was a motivation for him to keep going.  We'd offer, well if you're too tired we can just put you in the backpack, but he'd say no, no, I can do it, and keep plodding along. It's several steep hills, but he did it the whole way !!!

We made it !!!!   But it's definitely more windy than when we started.  It's kind of fun to remind the kids that Grandma Miller was in the class that created the M.  Their class carried up the bags of cement and water to make the cement to make the M, and then every year after that they would have to go up and white wash or paint the cement to keep it nice and white.

Ethan decided that he could see the flag up higher, this really steep hill, and he wanted to go up there, well since it was so windy, we couldn't let him go alone, he might get blown over, it was getting that windy.  So we all went.

Seth triying to climb the top of the M

Ethan at the top with the flag, overlooking Morgan below.

We All Made It !!!!  Dad took the photo !!!

Strange Sleeping Spots

June 1, 2010--Proof that Seth takes over the bed!! He just makes himself comfortable.


May 17, 2010--Hayden got to sleep over again, but this time neither Seth or Hayden wanted the bed. So they both slept on the floor. This was how they started out. A couple of hours later they looked like this...
They certainly move around a lot...


Hayden stayed for a week and at first Seth didn't want the bed, but Hayden did. Hayden woke up in a strange position. Seth slept in almost a kneeling spot, with only half of him on the folded chair.
April 24, 2010--The boys ended up sleeping downstairs. Why Ethan would want to sleep in the small space between the couches....??

March 31, 2010--I walked in to check on them before going to bed and found them this way. That just seemed really strange to have socks on his hands, then I find out why, because he wanted to be like his brother....
Ethan had put socks on his hands and feet. The curiously odd things kids do....


March 30, 2010--Seth again didn't want to go to sleep, he eventually got quiet. We went to check on him and couldn't find him. We found him here in the closet, he'd even taken his pillow. The closet door was closed more than this, we opened it carefully for the picture..... I don't know why you'd want to sleep in the closet

February 14, 2010--This chair is in their room. He finally gave up the fight to go to sleep, and lost here.

January 18, 2010-This is how I found Ethan in the morning, feet barely resting on the pillow.

September 5th 2009 Ellie was trying to avoid finishing her piano, and waited too long. She is sound asleep sitting on the piano bench using the keys as a pillow.

July 21, 2010 Ethan was exhausted.... apparently.

September 18th 2009-- Ethan and Seth didn't want to go to sleep, so they were playing, they both fell asleep on the top bunk

Children certainly don't need a sleep number bed to find their slumber.