#4 Thankful

Missed yesterday's.  We decided since we never take the kids out to eat anywhere, we would take them all out to celebrate my promotion at our favorite place.  It's our favorite, but it's a very rare treat.  I'm thankful it was even better than usual last night.  They make the best Chinese food anywhere!

Today was a little different

kinda good different though.

If you know where I work you'd know how hard it is to get a raise.  But, today I found out I got promoted!!  Reclassified really, but more money and a different title.  I had applied for the reclass this summer because of the duties I'd assumed awhile back.  These don't get approved very often and if they do they're after positions get vacated or they take so long the employee forgets about them. Believe it or not 5 months is really, really fast.

I came in after Cole's appointment to a note to see my supervisor ASAP.  She brought me to her supervisor's office and they both looked so serious I got worried. Not sure what about, but worried.  They handed me an email and asked that I read it to make sure I agreed.  I kept thinking what the heck did someone say about me.  But, it was the email from personnel saying what my salary would be and that I was approved.  It's not a huge increase, but enough that I can put a little more in Brian's retirement, so I'm glad.  And maybe, after my 6 month increase, enough to also cover adding Brian to my insurance for 2013.

Cole had a good cardiology appt.  Just different.  I took him again this year because technically he's supposed to go once annually.  But since we had been in February and our deductible was met it could save us money if he doesn't have to go next year.  If he's good to go after today he can wait until January 2014.  Today he felt his ankles checking for edema.  This will be one of the first signs of failure if he gets outward signs. So far he has no major symptoms, but we all know he's on borrowed time.  Really he's way past that.  15 years after your first tet repair and still not having a valve is totally unheard of.  I asked him if he'd make it to age 20 and he said he didn't think so.  He did his echo and EKG and said they looked like his right ventricle was tolerating the leakage still.  He said that basically (since he has no pulmonary valve) his valve is wide open and just contantly regurgitating everything.  But his ventricle is still working well enough.  We talked about surgery times and I told him the time of year, if we have enough time to make a choice, will be up to Cole so he can enjoy whatever time he wants to.  Cole told Dr. R that he wanted to hopefully wrestle his senior year even if it meant missing his junior year.  Dr. R told him he could actually return to wrestling 6 months post surgery.  I was so shocked.  Cole, though, decided a little more soberly tonight that he wants/needs his surgery before he's a junior to give himself more time to acclimate his body back and then wrestle his senior year.   He's hoping for surgery this summer now.  It seemed so far off until today!

I know we're getting close because Dr. R said he's taking Cole's case to present to the team.  He said he still feels good just watching him one more year, but he was to make sure the other cardiologists and the cardiothoracic surgeons agree.  So he will be bringing Cole's MRI from 2011 and today's EKG/echo results for them to give their opinions.  He's going to call me next week and let me know what's going on.  Cole said if he can't have his surgery next summer he wants to wait for the next one.  He said he just doesn't want to wrestle if he doesn't have a year to recover.  I think he's starting to get a big nervous in the reality of it all.  I'm only nervous that he's nervous.  I don't want him to worry too much, but that's like someone telling me not to worry.  It's not fair to say that to someone in this situation.  Your baby is everything and this isn't tubes in their ears or something minor like his appendectomy.  This is OPEN-HEART SURGERY!  It is scary and serious.  He's only 15!

But, we'll wait until next week and see what he says and then we'll have a better idea of what's going on.  Regardless, I know our time until surgery is now very short.  As I look forward to him graduating from high school in 2 1/2 years, I know that some time in that time he will go through a major thing in his life and he will be scared.  I can try to reassure my baby, but he's still scared and he has the right to feel that way.  I just can't believe it's almost time.

I had also asked him if this was Cole's last open-heart since once he has his conduit in and he's just about full-grown he should be able to get valve replacements by caths after this.  He said unless things really change a cath replacement will save him 1 or so over his lifetime, but it's definitely not his last open-heart.  This is why his heart holding out for 15 years without a surgery is so big.  It's so bad for you and your heart to have multiple open-heart surgeries.  And as of today he's put on 20 lbs in the last year and is now 5' 11".  And he's still growing!

#3 Thankful

I have a little boy with sensory and other issues, that we don't even understand.  But because of his sensory he likes and begs to be tickled before going to sleep and yet while most people would not be able to sleep after being tickled, he falls right to sleep after it.  I love him for knowing how his body works and I'm thankful for him.

#2 Thankful

I'm thankful that I was given two older boys that I can enjoy the time I spend going to the orthodontist every month with them.  They have such great sense of humors and they can be really sweet when they're one-on-one with me (or in this case two-on-two).  They make me look forward to the other 3 growing up.

Back up and running

Our internet's been down for awhile.  Our modem broke and I had to wait for delivery and haggling with the phone company over price.  That's an ordeal in itself.

So, now that I have it back, I had been wanting to start my thankful posts again for November, but kept forgetting to post at all and then the sinking abyss of the internet occurred. 

#1 thankfulness post for 2012

I am thankful for my family.  Both my brothers, sisters, parents, etc. as well as my children and husband.  Even on the worst days, because every family has them, I love them all very much.

Controlling the budget

We butchered a 1/2 a cow last Spring.  Sadly we are already out of all of the ground beef and down to some steaks and roasts.  I'm not a big steak eater, so I usually use them by slicing them into Korean or Chinese dishes, etc.  Sometimes Brian will make me something else while he and the boys (and sometimes the girls) eat steaks.  Well, my budget doesn't say beef yet.  It says that we must wait until next Spring or it costs entirely too much for the year. 

First I gave Brian an sermon about us not needing two pounds of beef for every meal.  We can cut back on our meat intake and substitute.  So, I've been pretty much in charge of the menu most weeks.  This is where Brian struggled anyways.  He made the same old, same old every week because of lack of planning and time.  I don't complain because he cooks.  However, money is my department.  I had him go to Aldi and get a bunch of cheap chicken breasts, a friend gave us several more pounds of ground beef as payment for some help at the farm and now we have a deer in the freezer along with some ground turkey I also had Brian pick up at Aldi.  It's only around $1/lb, so it goes further financially and the deer is SUPER cheap. 

Brian now has to abide by my rules of no more than 1 lb of meat per dinner.  That means approximately 3 chicken breasts or 1 lb of ground meat per meal.  He can always fry up a 1 lb of turkey or deer and mix with a pound of beef and it's enough for two meals.  I go through a recipe binder I keep.  I take a cheapy binder, put in sheet protectors and any time I see a recipe I like online or in a magazine I put them in there.  Super easy and now we have our favorite recipes readily available.  I make a menu before I grocery shop.  Sometimes it's based on sale items, sometimes it's just what I feel like making (depending on how much we have going on that week) or just feel like stretching out to something different.  I usually pick up about 5 or 6 items; some quick and easy, some a little more time consuming.  I take the weirder ones (Brian likes very basic recipes).  Brian doesn't like to adlib on recipes and I do.  I will make mine on the weekends or my days off and he takes the other nights.  Sometimes, if I really have time I'll cook up some of the extra dishes on the weekend so Brian only has to finish them. 

It's amazing how much stress this relieves for us.  Brian no longer calls me at work because he doesn't know what to make and he knows when he walks in the door what's for supper.  We can have meat thawed and ready to go.  We never were much for eating out, but this makes you not want to because you're not having the same, boring, meal week after week.  And my favorite part is when I get to cook I throw in a lot of fresh veggies and the kids never ever notice.  They eat veggies fine anyways, but I get a lot more in there to take the place of the missing meat they were use to.  We eat pretty darn healthy with these meal plans too.

This is one of our little tips of getting by, a little less stressed, when parents of 5 work fulltime.

Those days are gone

It was nice when Cole was bringing his lunch to school everyday because.he said our leftovers we're healthier.  But I forgot how expensive it was when he was getting school lunches and extras for w growing boy before he decided to cut weight to wrestle.  He was so disappointed last week after the hydration test to find out he can no longer lose weight.  I was a little relieved with hie heart and his height and weight.  It didn't make sense to me to cut but since he was just doing it by eating really healthy I was trying to be supportive.  Now he's eating everything in sight again.  He has a new higher goal and he seems happy again.  I know he's already put the few pounds he lost back on again and I think a few more at hie height will really look good on him.  Back to eating us out of house and home again!   :)