A Happy Saturday to you all. I was downloading my pictures this morning, and came across these sweet little pics and I just felt compelled to share them, to brighten your day. I know they started my day off with a big smile.
I love it when I can capture these sweet little faces in a relaxed, random moment. Evan’s little sister is already coming up on almost five months old. Oh my how time flies! Hope I’ve added a smile to your day.
Almost a month ago now, The Party House had an emergency. Not the worst emergency ever, but an emergency none the less. Our daughter, Hilary, is epileptic, and she had a seizure right here at home. She had been running a few miles on the treadmill in our game room, and Travel Man and I heard this loud clunk, and bang, and we knew something was wrong. We bolted to the game room simultaneously and found Hilary on the floor in a full on tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizure. Travel Man quickly got her away from the end of the treadmill, I ran to grab the phone to call 9-1-1, and got the treadmill powered off. Her convulsions probably lasted for 1-2 minutes, but it seemed like forever and a day before they stopped. At this moment in time a wave of emotions washed over me like a ton of bricks. The memories of all of the medical procedures and emergencies that we have been through with the kids over the years played like a short, quick movie in my mind. And I’m thinking, this can’t be happening again. I wrote a few posts about our family’s life story last year, and about how I stopped sweating the small things in life.
This is the first time Hilary had a seizure where she got injured. She was bleeding a little and we had to locate the source, which was actually her lip. (Required 3 stitches at the ER). We did call 9-1-1 for the paramedics to help us out with getting her vital signs checked out, and transporting her to the Emergency Room. And I have to tell you all that the 9-1-1 operator who was talking to me was a saint. She calmly and patiently talked me through what we needed to be checking on Hilary. The biggest concern was with her breathing and making sure she did not vomit. This was Hilary’s first seizure in almost 8 years. It had been such a long time since her last seizure we did not want to take any chances with her having another one on the way to the hospital.
My sweet baby girl with her boo-boo lip.
Now fast forward to our hospital visit. My daughter is sitting in the ER bed, her lip swollen and stitched up and all I am thinking is I am ever so thankful she was not in her car when this all happened. I am so thankful I am sitting here talking to her, and her only injury is a fat lip, I can deal with that. Of course your mind wanders to the “What If’s”, and “What Could Have Happened’s”. But mine and Travel Man’s thoughts were resting on the fact that Hilary was going to be ok, and we were taking her back home.
All of Hilary’s seizures (I believe she has had 4) have occurred at home. Ironic isn’t it? We have been right there to take care of her, and get her through all of them, except one. The first seizure she had we think happened while she was in the bathroom, and we had no idea anything had happened to her. She did not take any big falls, and did not remember anything afterward. She thought she had passed out from being dehydrated or having the flu or something. The other three seizures were all very sudden, with big falls, and with no warning whatsoever. That’s the scariest part of Hilary’s seizures. She has never had any physical warning that they are about to happen.
So, Hilary has had a very humbling reminder that her meds are ever so important to her well-being. After this seizure we promptly got her a new med reminder box, and she is diligently back on her med routine. She realizes now more than ever that the daily meds she takes will not go away anytime soon, and that she will need to take them from here to eternity.
Hilary and I chatted about me writing this post. She is quite protective of her emotions and feelings, and I would never share this story with all of you without her permission. Hilary had this to say about her seizure, “I was too forgetful about my meds. It had been so long since my last seizure that I did not really think about the possibilities. My epilepsy had been on the back burner. So, if I forgot my meds I would just shrug it off and take them the next time. This time, with this seizure was just one too many times. This was a wake up call that this is for life.”
Today is my daughter, Hilary’s, birthday. Just wanted to take a minute to wish her an especially Happy Birthday, just because I’m her Mom, and just because I can.
This picture is a blast from the past for my girls. Hilary’s about a year old here, and her big sister, Naomi, was always helping to take care of her. Ironically, now they work together and get along just fine.
Happy B-Day Hilly!! Wishing you wonderful things for the year ahead.
The ladies in our family have a private group page on Facebook called, Renee’s Revelers. We started this page to just to encourage one another, have a place to vent, or throw out random ideas and questions. One of the topics that comes up frequently in our discussions online is – How do you stay focused on your “To-Do” list or lists (in my case) without letting yourself get sidetracked?
At dictionary.com the actual definition of sidetracked is: to move or distract from the main subject or course. I have my “To-Do” list with all of my main “subjects” or items to get accomplished for the day. Yet inevitably I only get one or two of them done due to the “sidetrack” factor. My daughter and I were joking with each other about this over the weekend. I was thinking to myself, I should count how many times each day or in a given period of time that I get sidetracked. Maybe if I knew the number of times I get sidetracked it would help to focus on the main items I’m trying to get finished for the day. I haven’t decided if I’m going to do that yet. I may throw that idea up for discussion with my “Revelers” group.
Here’s a couple of my “sidetrack” areas that always seem to veer me off of my main course on any given day.
#1 The Housecleaning sidetrack factor is a big one. This is the one my daughter and I joke about all of the time. She does my weekly cleaning and I am always teasing her about getting sidetracked.
You’ve probably done this. You’re in the middle of cleaning up a bathroom or bedroom when you suddenly look up and your rummaging through some closet shelves in another room. Sidetracked!
Your putting away the dishes from your dishwasher, and then the next thing you know your cleaning off some pantry shelves. Sidetracked!!
#2 Or how about the sidetrack factor when you’re on the computer. You get on the computer to pay some bills, and before you know you’re reading the latest posts from your favorite bloggers -Sidetracked! Still have to finish paying the bills. Focus, focus get yourself back on the track.
#3 My favorite sidetrack situation to talk about is when you’re trying to get things done around the house, Either just some cleaning or a little DIY project and you get sidetracked by jumping on the computer. You know, just to look something up and see how it’s done. Then half an hour later you try to go back to what you were originally doing.
Or how about those times when you get so seriously sidetracked that you forget what you were initially working on. Yikes, Super-Sidetracked. That’s the moment when you need someone to give you a shout who says, “hey, whatcha working on?”
Do you get sidetracked easily? Is it just me? How do you get yourself back on track to finish what you were doing? How ‘s your To-do list working for you?
Happy Monday everyone – I’m off to work on a DIY project. Hopefully I’ll make it to the kitchen counter without any distractions!
I realized this week that I have neglected to post any recipes recently. This is probably due to the party planning time, and actual parties in session over the past few weekends. There is a recipe I have been meaning to share with everyone for a while now. My Mom has a time-honored recipe for the best tasting frosting ever.
In our house this recipe is called “The Flour Frosting” recipe, and it goes something like this:
Ingredients:
Directions
This frosting is very creamy and extremely delicious, just a little warning. It is not really the variety of frosting that you can do a lot of serious Wilton style decorating with. But you will not be disappointed in the flavor and pure yummyness that this frosting delivers.
These are my brothers’ birthday cakes from his last two birthdays, both covered with flour frosting. This frosting is his favorite and he always requests it for his cakes. It is one of my all time favorites too.
Yesterday I found a recipe similar to my Mom’s on the Tasty Kitchen. This recipe is called, That’s the Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had. This is quite similar to my Mom’s recipe, and goes into some additional detail on the mixing directions.
If you are making your someone special a delicious Valentine’s Day treat, try this recipe out. If you have some cupcakes or a cake to bake this week, try this recipe out. If you have some graham crackers lying around, and some of this frosting leftover you can put them together for a delicious treat. You will not be disappointed. Happy baking everyone.
