on my mind

Right now there are a lot of things on my mind, but all of them are being pushed to the bottom because of one big thing on my mind.

Yesterday while opening a care package from my sister (complete with Angry Birds graham crackers and underwear) Logan fell between the chairs he and Jack were standing on.  He hurt his left foot (the pad just before his big toe) really bad.  He cried for a super long time and was not able to be distracted which is unlike him. It swelled a little bit, and we put ice on it.

By dinner he seemed better, and he ate just fine. He still wouldn't walk normal, but we finished our bedtime routine and he went to sleep like a champ.

I called the advice nurse in Anchorage to be sure and she said it sounded like he needed to be seen.  Sure enough, a few hours later he woke up, climbed down from the top bunk (I have no idea how) and ended up in our room, crying and shaking like mad.

I scooped him up and got him to calm down.  We iced his foot again and gave him some ibuprofen.  We ended up having him sleep on the couch in our room in case he woke up again and couldn't get down from his bed.  He fell asleep quite easily and at 4am when I was up with Wyatt I gave him a little more ibuprofen.

When he woke up this morning I thought he was fine, but soon after waking up, his pain was apparent. His foot can't bear weight, he is walking funny and he didn't quite make it to the bathroom on time because of his slowed pace.

Josh was able to get him an appointment at the clinic this morning after going to work and making sub plans for the next few days in case he needs to take him to Anchorage for x-rays.

The last few days the weather has been horrendous. The temperature has been hovering between five and ten degrees below zero, and the wind. Holy wind! It sounds like a jet taking off outside our windows at all hours of the day!  The wind causes snow drifts.  Massive snow drifts. So to get Logan all the way downtown to the clinic Josh had to take him on the schools' snow machine.  But first he had to get the snow machine out of the alley by our house and up onto the road out front.  It took about ten minutes in the frigid temperatures and a lot of physical labor, but he managed to pull it off.

Meanwhile, I bundled Logan in a sweatshirt, coat, snow pants, snow boots, hat, two pair of gloves and scarf wrapped around him up to his eyeballs.  He could hardly move.  Then, wearing just my Uggs and a pair of yoga pants, I carried him outside to Josh.  Holy freezing!  The snow was pelting my face like tiny rocks and the wind whipped around my body as if I weren't wearing any clothes at all.

Once the hand-off was complete and I had snapped a few pictures as they drove off, I ran back into the house and waited for the feeling to come back to my fingers.  A warm cup of coffee helped them along, and now I am just waiting to hear from Josh if Logan is going to need to go to Anchorage or not.

Going to Anchorage, if we can even get out of here with this weather, will require catching a flight from Marshall to Bethel, and then another flight from Bethel to Anchorage.  MLL to BET is about forty minutes.  BET to ANC is about one and a half to two hours, depending on the size of plane you're on.  It will require packing all of Josh and Logan's necessities, including a booster seat, and the purchase of tickets for them.  Our medical insurance will later reimburse us for the trip, at 90%, which does not include a rental car or hotel costs.

It makes me miss the days when the only thing deterring me from an emergency room visit was the long wait!

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{Daddy's Valentine from the boys}

I have been thinking of my family lately, mostly extended family, and how it sucks that we've been out of touch.  Sunday, in an attempt to rectify this loss of contact, I called my Grandpa Harold (my mom's dad).  It was great to talk to him, and he really boosted my self esteem, telling me that Josh and I are his heroes for making the difficult choice to move to rural Alaska to raise our family and that he's so proud of us.

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Wyatt is brilliant.  There is just no other way to say it.  Yesterday our PAT (Parents As Teachers) advisor, Katrina was here.  She always brings some fun toys and a topic.  She brought some blocks with her, and as Wyatt was pulling them out of her backpack, he goes, "O".  She looked at it, and goes, "He's right!"  Then he pulled out another block and said, "A".  He was right about that one, too.  We couldn't believe it.

He can also count to five.  He will play hide and seek with the boys and wait in the playroom counting while they hide.  In addition to playing hide and seek, he will count his Cheerios, pointing with his adorable, chubby fingers, "One... Two... Three..."  he slays me!

He really wants to be a big boy like his brothers, and he is becoming just like them-- whenever he is quiet I know he is up to something. The other day I was at the computer when I realized he had been quiet for too long.  I found him in the kitchen eating gum he had reached in the junk drawer.  Boy was he mad when I took it away!

He has recently begun climbing the stairs.  Luckily when he does so he says, "Climb. Climb. Climb," for each stair he scales.  When I hear that, I come-a-running to rescue him from potentially falling.  He also climbs onto the twins' Ikea stools in the playroom to turn off and on the light. He pretty much thinks he's fantastic when he does it!

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It was sort of snowing when Josh showed me this vertical rainbow.

I have been working recently to complete Logan & Jack's fourth year calendars.  I finally caught them up (from May to December!!!) and am so excited to start on scrapbooks.

From the day they were born I have kept a scrapbook calendar for them.  On the days of the calendar I write activities we did, or cute things they said.  And I use the space up top to scrap my favorite pictures from the month.

Now the drudgery of writing something everyday has worn me down, so for Christmas I bought myself three brand spankin' new scrapbooks and a few collections of "Boy" paper.  My plan is to make a two page spread for each month, and include a little typed up note about what they're up to/loving that month.  I think a once-a-month project for all three will be less overwhelming than an every-single-day-of-the-year project has been.  I am happy to have completed Wyatt's one year calendar, but am so done with that kind of commitment!

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Then we discovered there were two of them.

One BIG thing on my  mind is next year.  Josh was offered a contract for the 2013-2014 school year complete with a raise, and we are so happy!  In LYSD you get a one-year contract each year until you have completed three years of teaching, then you are tenured.  Josh's third year will be a busy one, with teaching, tutoring, yearbook and his masters degree program eating up all his time. I am grateful that our kids are the ages they are, and that I am getting the handle of life at home on the tundra.  Hopefully this helps us get through a cuh-razy school year next year!

The raise is what really hit me when he brought that slip of paper home.  For years we struggled, barely making ends meet, racking up debt and wondering if there would ever be an end in sight.  And now, almost ten years into our marriage, we finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.  We are working to pay down our debt and make the most of this amazing opportunity.  It feels so good!

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And the last thing on my mind is where we're going to stay this summer.  We are hoping to find a furnished place for June & July while we're in Washington, but are open to all kinds of options. We've discussed staying at the coast; house sitting if we can find a good situation, or staying pretty much anywhere in between.  I am getting really excited for the summer after looking at all those camping pictures last week!  Bring on the sunshine!

Update: Logan and Josh just got back from the clinic and Logan is going to be fine.  His foot looks healthy, has good circulation and he can bend his toes.  I am so relieved!!!