Progress

The Pediatric Dialysis Unit (PDU) at Levine Children's Hospital is holding a "Kid-tucky Derby" to promote healthy diets. Every month has a theme or focus that the patients will learn more about and try in incorporate. January's focus was having a low sodium diet. Evan and Eli played "Low Sodium Bingo" to learn which high sodium foods to avoid, learned how to read a nutrition label, and were even quizzed on all they were taught.
The dialysis shift (they are on MWF morning) with the best average of monthly lab work won a party. They DID it! They celebrated during dialysis with decorations, balloons, and home made low-sodium "Chex Mix".
 

                                                                     Eli's Certificate

Donor testing for Bryant (dad) and Evan is 90% complete! The Selection Committee meets next week for the final approval and to set the transplant date and schedule the OR. We have been told it could be as early as the end of February!

The Blue and Green 5K fundraiser has been moved to Saturday, May 11. Click on the link to register to run, walk or volunteer!

A New Normal

A LOT has changed for the Haines family in the last year.

We found out in August that Evan was in kidney failure. He started on dialysis the next day and has been going through dialysis 3 days a week since then. He suffers from a rare genetic disease called Nephronophthesis. The doctors suggested we have the other boys tested. I added it to my list of things to do...

By October we were settling into a routine when I brought the kids to the lab and had their blood drawn for the test. The next morning at 7:30am I received a call from the pediatrician. Garrett and Noah were clear, Eli's blood work was not normal and he wanted to repeat the test to make sure it wasn't an abnormality. We returned to the lab and blood was drawn. The test was confirmed. Eli is also suffering from kidney failure. The Nephrologist called me at home and told me that there was a bed waiting for Eli at Levine Children's Hospital. We packed our bags (knowing this time what I would and would not need to bring) and headed to LCH.

Within the week we had two boys on dialysis every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

THIS is our new Normal.

There is a whole new vocabulary that comes along with a chronic disease.  Hemo-dialysis, Perm Cath, dry weight, fibrin sheath, BUN, hematocrit, binders.... you get the idea.

The thing that still gets me is that I know more about the disease my boys have than most doctors.
Nephronopthesis is really rare. Our Nephrologist said for him to see one case in his career was rare, but to see two was unthinkable.

This disease is caused by combining two recessive genes both Bryant and I carry.  The odds of our children getting the disease is 1 in 4. We had to go the extra mile!

So what does all of this mean for our boys?

Kidney Disease is treatable but, NOT curable. -- My boys will have this disease the rest of their lives.
Dialysis is keeping them healthy until they can receive a transplant.
Bryant and I are just beginning the testing to see if we are suitable donors for the boys.
Once a transplant is performed the boys will be required to take many pills a day to prevent (slow) the rejection of the new kidney.
The "new" kidney will likely only last 5-15 years. At some point the boys will have to start dialysis and wait for another kidney. Luckily for them they have a big family... two brothers, lots of cousins.

Another thing we're learning about is what's covered by insurance and what's not. We're full swing into our fundraising efforts through ActiveCharity.org.

If you'd like to learn more about kidney disease go to www.kidneyschool.org

Post Much?

I know, I know! It has been WAY too long since my last post. I have thought about it many times over the summer but then think of all the time pressing tasks at hand and put it off (again).

Well get ready for this... a SUPER Summer Update! (Mono-Blog!)

May 28th - (the date of my last post) Was Noah's 11th birthday. We went on a date to celebrate!

The first week of June was filled with field days and school recognition ceremonies. We spent the weekend with family at my nephew's baptism!
The second week we had Noah's moving on (to middle school) ceremony. And watched him perform in the 5th Grade Talent Show!

I will post the video here soon!

(Ryan on guitar, Noah on drums and Andy singing the song he wrote!)

We spent the 20th - 24th of June at Cub Scout Day Camp with over 200 boys ages 6 to 11. I was the program director, Garrett volunteered at the BB range, Evan worked with the kids in the Me Too (siblings) camp, Noah and Eli participated as campers. My dad even helped out all week as a Quarter Master. He kept the coolers full of ice water, transported equipment, plunged toilets... you name it, he did it and with a smile to boot! I love my dad!

July brought an addition to our family with my baby sister's wedding to Dustin Marshall.
We all worked tirelessly to put together a reception for her and it turned out great! The days following the reception the rest of us Woodward kids and our families spent at a beautiful house on Lake Wylie. I love my family and am so grateful for each and everyone of them. My siblings taught (tried to teach) Garrett how to dive. Erin and I bravely performed back dives! I hadn't done a back dive since I was a teenager at girl's camp! We had cannon ball contests and the kids fished off the dock. Monday evening my parents stopped by on their way home from dropping the newlyweds off at the airport. Not having their swim suits with them, my dad borrowed some trunk and my mom just jumped in fully dressed! I can't say that I blame her. We were having a lot of fun and she was missing out.

After my family left (boo hoo) we spent a week gearing up for home school. Yes, you heard correctly. We decided early last year that we would home school the boys this year.

On August 1st Garrett and Evan headed for a week at Scout Camp and Noah and Eli and I started our first day of home school. Currently we school Monday thru Thursday. We aim to start at 8am everyday but letting go of the summer schedule has been difficult for some of us, including me!
We are learning Spanish, Math, Science, and for Literature the older boys are currently reading The Giver by Lois Lowry and the younger boys are reading The Secret School by Avi.
So far it is going well, not without some hiccups, but well.
I am staying busy with the planning and "teaching". I hope that once we get into a groove, my planning will be easier/less time consuming.

Well that is all we did this summer! It went by way too fast.

How was yours?

Nine Days

There are only nine days left of school for CMS. The kids have taken their EOG's (End of Grade Tests) and are now finishing up the missing work and preparing for Field Day, the 5th grade moving on (not graduation) ceremony and talent show.

Noah has been upset because his teacher (couldn't ask for a better one) said while the other classes are watching movies he wants to give them his all so they'll be working until the end.
Imagine doing school work at school!?

Eli and Garrett are just ready to be done. Garrett's exams start this week.

Evan has had some pretty easy days in the last month as I have been swamped with meetings for PTA and Day Camp.

Nine days isn't a long time. I have a lot of items on my list of things to do. I'd better stop blogging and get to work.

Conference Weekend

I've been ready for General Conference for a couple of weeks. As quickly as daily life passes (can you believe it is APRIL!?) the six months between Conferences seems to have taken a long time to get here. My spiritual bucket is in need of a refill.

We still have a few things yet to do before conference starts at noon. Normal Saturday things like mowing the lawn, buying snake food, laundry, bathrooms, and cleaning bedrooms, but when Conference starts the rest of the world stops. We graze all day and eat yummy snacks. Lots of tailgate party foods. When we wake up tomorrow we get to do it all over again! :D

What will you be doing this weekend?

Happy Happy Birthday!

My baby boy turned 9 today. We celebrated by inviting a couple of his friends to the movies and coming home for some cake and ice cream.

Happy Birthday Elijah!

Atlanta

Over President's Day weekend we decided to get out and go somewhere.

We went to Atlanta and spent the weekend seeing some of the amazing things the city has to offer.

The Coco-Cola Polar Bear (and some random dude)

One of the coolest dudes I know!

We went to the World of Coca Cola where we tasted sodas from around the world.
Best Soda... each member of the family liked something different.
Worst Soda... something we all agreed on, Beverly from Italy (VERY Bitter Achk!)

We toured the Georgia Aquarium and saw some amazing fish.

We saw Peter Pan... The show was FANTASTIC and an added plus...

after the show we got a backstage tour! Too Cool.

Garrett with the Crocodile backstage


Bryant feeding birds in the Parakeet House

We became members of the Atlanta Zoo and saw some pretty funny things.



The best part was feeding time at the Gorilla House. Those Gorillas sure like their citrus fruits!


We are going back to Atlanta in a few weeks for the Atlanta Temple Open House

Past Blast Wax Museum

Today my 5th grader became a historical figure for a few hours.

The 5th graders at McAlpine Elementary were all assigned a historical figure to learn about and become at the Wax Museum they held today. My Noah was assigned Nelson Mandela and he was AWESOME! Did you know that Nelson Mandela's middle name, Rolihlahla, means "stirring up trouble" in Xhosa (his tribal language).

(The resemblance in uncanny!)

Here is a link of the local news station's coverage... yup, we made the morning news!

http://www.foxcharlotte.com/rising/History-Comes-Alive-at-McAlpine-Elementary-113871289.html

Happy New Year!

It's been a while since I posted... sorry about that. I have been a little busy.

There was Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, and right after that there was New Year's Eve.

And between the BIG things I filled my time with laundry, homework, reading, PTA, dishes, cooking, watching Cam, shopping, church responsibilities (like Cub Scouts, and Stake Primary), attending Eli's Holiday concert, cleaning, decorating for Christmas, wrapping, planning, and sleeping (a little).

We had a great time over the Holidays. The boys were out of school for only a week and a half but we filled it with family. Christmas morning we had brunch with my 4 NC siblings their spouses (3) and kids (3), my parents (2), my grandmother (1), and missionaries (4) for a grand total of 23 people.

It snowed Christmas night and we woke up to about 4 inches. It was perfect!

THEN my sister and her family (6) came from Alabama, and my Uncle and his family (4) came from NYC and we played games (Scrabble, Spaids, Kings Corner, Laser Tag, Scattergories, Kick Ball, Qwelf) and went to dinner (party of 12), had a family photo shoot, had sleepovers, went to lunch at 5 Guys (thanks Mom and Dad!), and then had 30 people for dinner on New Year's Eve.

Just part of the crew waiting for lunch.
As we all walked in the guy in the background (brown coat) asked "Where's the bus?".

Number of times people confused me for my sister's mother... at least 7!
Number of fights between the cousins... maybe 4. (surprisingly few!)
Number of hugs, kisses, laughs and all around good times... countless.

What a great way to transition from one year to the next. I can't wait to do it all again next year!
(although it is nice to have my house back!)

Field Trips

Week Two or Tow depending on how I type it.... both are applicable.

Monday I had a Parent Teacher Conference at the Elementary School, with his mom.

Wednesday I took Gran to the dentist. We drove to Matthews and back. (and then again without Cam!)

Thursday he accompanied me while I went Visiting Teaching. We went to see Jen S. at 9am, Jen M. at 10am, and Michelle at 11am. (That was too much for the adults let alone the toddler!)
We went home and he took a short nap before it was time to pick up the kids at school(s) for dentist appointments. Then we went to the dentist where we colored (he's 19 months old and needs help!) and ate snacks (him, not me)

Friday was the best day of all. It was a teacher workday. That means my boys are home but Cam's mom (a teacher) is at work! My boys have been so excited about our plans for today.
We discussed taking Cam to the Discovery Place Museum but our plans changed because the weather cooled down. It finally feels like Fall so it was the perfect day to check out the Charlotte Nature Museum.
We saw Live Owls, a possum, a skunk, a crow(?), turtles, snakes, spiders (eeew), butterflies, fish, and birds (Quail to be exact). There were plenty of dead things (stuffed and skeletal remains) too, hence the Museum part of the name. Cam wandered about exploring and seemed to have a pretty good time. So did we. Here are some photos to prove it.

Noah and Camden on our Nature Walk.
We found LOTS of acorns for a future project.

Cam investigating the quail eggs in the incubator.
Pretty boring really which explains
the "what's the big deal?" expression.

Evan outside on the trail.
(I LOVE this picture of my boy.)



Camden digging in the sand.

After we got home and Cam had a nap
he wandered to the pots and pans and
started drumming with pencils ( not sharpened!)
The kid has some skills.

Week One

When I was a young mom (young in years, experience, and patience) there was nothing that would have convinced me to watch another person's child(ren). None!
My sanity was hanging on by a thread and how was I to know that that kid wouldn't have scissors?
Anyway, now that my kiddos are all in school and I have been child free during the day for 4 years or so, I have my sanity tied up real tight (though it threatens to unravel daily around homework time) I am loving having Camden here with me during the day.

Last week was our first week and it went off without a hitch. We had a playdate, took" field trips" to Walmart and Michael's (cuz that is where all toddlers want to be), had a parent/teacher meeting at the middle school, and had a nap everyday. Well, I did nap with him a couple of times but not everyday. (oh, the life!)
On Friday afternoon when Camden's mom came to pick him up he had a fit. I'm talking a drop to the ground, feet kicking, screaming fit when it was time to go. Did you read that? He didn't want to leave!!??

Needless to say, we had a good first week.
(that light saber didn't leave his hands,
he even took one home Friday!)

Answered Prayers

I LOVE how prayers are answered.

As of late we have been in a financial bind. For those of you who know me finance's make me CRAZY. I recall a time early in my marriage (college students with a baby to feed and clothe) when I curled up in the fetal position, sobbing while my sister brushed my hair back from my face and shoosh'd me. (BTW, thanks Jess!)

Anyway, I had been praying to find the way to keep a budget and make a dent in our debt. I thought about how next year (after I finish my year as PTA President) instead of going to school I would have to get a job. But what job could I get with my minimal education that wouldn't require working on Sundays (Chick-Fil-A), and that would still let me be here after school with the kids (substitute teacher, oh, but the school system isn't taking applications anymore)?
AS I mulled my dilemma over in my mind I continued to pray.

I went about my daily routine ignoring the money mess in order to keep the shred of sanity I had left. Laundry, PTA, pick up my son from Driver's Ed, make dinner, check my email... you get the idea, no?
I read thru the email from my son's teacher.... her son is sick (again, poor guy) and she won't be in today... math facts test postponed... looking for an alternative for daycare...
I was in automatic pilot when I shot off an email offering to watch him. After I hit send I started thinking "yeah, sure, like she'll want me watching her kid... she taught one of mine two years ago and is currently teaching a second...".

She and her husband had been praying for a solution to their problem of finding an alternative to daycare as he has been sick constantly since school started and Mom went back to work.
And so, the Lord in all of His goodness heard and answered our prayers.

I will have a job that meets my needs and they will have a place to send their son where he won't be sick or on antibiotics every other week. And as a bonus I will have a little buddy again. :D
Eli is very excited. He said to me that he is glad we'll have Camden around because he hasn't had a little brother to play with. Awwww, what a sweet boy. He gets to be a big brother to Cam.

Now... what about PTA? Thankfully, I have a fully capable and dedicated board. I will still be involved and will take Cam to the meetings I have to attend, it can be done.

I start "work" on Monday!

I am a WINNER! (I have proof)

Bryant and I often dream of the day we win the lottery. Imagining a life free of debt, the boys' missions and college expenses set aside, a retirement we can actually live on, and the kitchen/master bath renovation makes us giddy.

BUT

It is impossible to win the lottery when you don't play the lottery. Nope, not even those fun little scratch offs. I have been known to throw a couple of raffle tickets in a bag if the cause is good, I know I'll never win. I do play BUNCO with the girls at $5 a month but I'd pay more to go out to a movie with the girls and we'd have way less fun so it's hard for me to call that "gambling", ya know?

My point is, it is difficult to "win" when you don't "play". This time I "played" (for FREE) and it paid off!

I commented (one of 570 people) on C Jane Enjoy It 's blog in hopes of winning a CD by The Lower Lights and I WON!!!

I am almost giddy. I can't believe I actually WON!!

C Jane wanted to know why we, her readers living outside of Utah, thought we deserved to win one of the 10 CD's she was giving away.

This is what I said...

"I live in the South, the Bible Belt. In an effort to keep the spirit of peace with me daily I try to listen to the variety of Christian music stations but the music is twangy, or whiny, or LOUD, or too ummm... different than the hymns of praise I am used to. The music of The Lower Lights is familiar and the Spirit speaks to me in small whispers. Please pick me, fingers and toes crossed."

A Few of My Favorite Autumn Things

I liked to say this was my favorite time of year but I'd be lying. I love every season. Really and it isn't just the "people pleaser" in me. I love hibernating through the Winter eating soups, stews, and homemade bread. I love when Spring makes it's first appearance with warm breezes, budding leaves, and bright green grass. I love the LONG HOT days of summer at the beach, homemade ice cream and field trips with the kids. As for Fall, I love that school starts and we get a routine again. I love the cool breeze, cold mornings, and the warm sun on my back.

Here are more of my favorite things about this season...

Candy Corn

Cinnamon Rolls
(I know these are a year-round thing but they are great on those cold mornings!)


The CRUNCH of leaves, under foot and in the breeze.

Oh and these too!

FOUND!

After a couple of days of waiting for Little Mouse to return on her own with no results, I decided it was time to go looking for her.

How do you find a small mouse in a large house? I didn't know so I Googled it. eHow said to make a trap with a bucket, food and books as stairs. Ideally the hamster smells the food, climbs the "stairs", and falls into the bucket and is trapped. Wow, easy enough. I decided to set one up in the bonus room. This was, after all, the place we found her last time she escaped. As I was finishing some of the details I saw a little fuzzy nose and whiskers poke out from under the *printer. Ah-HA! I made a trail of treats to lead her all the way out in the open and then I grabbed her!

I put her into the bucket (cauldron) and brought her downstairs. I was going to put her back into her cage when I realized how dirty it was. No wonder she made a run for it. While I washed out her cage (no small task) I kept her in the bucket. She had stuffed all the food she could into her cheeks and tried like mad to escape.

She almost succeeded.

She is now locked in her cage with food, water, and bedding. She'll get out again I'm sure but let's hope she waits awhile.

*for those of you wondering why I didn't just move the printer.... this is our printer.
Think small refrigerator.

Mouse Musings

When we got our hamsters we could not come together on what their names should be. When we realized that one was mean and would bite and scratch the other we named them "Mean Mouse" and "Little Mouse".

Mean Mouse died shortly after the naming. We were not that sad, he deserved what he got. Mouse Karma, who knew? (I have always spelled it Kharma, but Wiki says it should be spelled without the h)

Little Mouse was the sweetest little thing, climbing, gnawing, jumping, eating, and escaping.

She is quite a sneaky little hamster. We haven't been able to figure out how, but she can open up multiple pods in her "house" to escape. We have found her in the cabinet under where her house sits, hidden behind an old picture frame. Evan came across her in the bonus room peeking out from under the printer. We didn't even know she was missing and it nearly gave Evan a heart attack. Most recently, one night last week, I was sitting in the iJoy chair hoping a massage would make me sleepy when I saw something move on the floor beside me (in the dark). I jumped up and turned on the light to find our sneaky little hamster doing what looked like the army crawl.

She is gone again. We don't know when she left or where on earth she could be. Well, we have a pretty good idea that she is still in the house BUT we have a rather large house compared to a hamster. We have left her house open in hopes she will return when hungry or thirsty.

Now that we know how good she is at escaping we are clear on what her name should have been...

Hairy Houdini.

We'll keep you posted.

Another way Axe body spray lingers

Noah's 5th grade teacher has a great hands on teaching method. He is young and fresh and is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of our kids. In case you don't believe me you can check it out on his website;

http://web.me.com/schoolingwithmra/schoolingwithmra.com/Welcome.html

My reason for this post is not to talk about Mr A, but to tell you what he's done for my son Noah.

Noah came home a couple of weeks ago with the assignment of writing a commercial. To say he was gung-ho about it is an understatement. Writing is not one of Noah's strong suits, but what he lacks in that area, he makes up for in creativity and ingenuity. He decided to make a commercial advertising Bare-A-Cuda man spray (similar to Axe). He and his friend Christopher worked for days on a script and a video. This is what he turned in, early!
(I don't get the tag line "It IS the man" but he's 10. It made sense to him!)

Embarrassing Moments

I must say I don't remember many "God, please let the earth open up and swallow me" type embarrassing moments. I have been involved in some embarrassing situations but have a bad memory so I tend not to remember them.

This is the only time when having a bad memory is a good thing.

So here is an embarrassing moment I can remember.

As many of you know I don't have much of a filter. I tend to say things as I see them, honestly, good or bad. K, here we go.

I was a missionary in my first area in Oak Harbor, Washington. My companion and I went to a member's house for some reason, possibly a dinner appointment. This member was a terrific woman. She was very crafty, and a great cook. In fact, she ran a catering business (mostly cakes) out of her home. She was the mother of 3 children the oldest of which was 12. She was busy. When we got to her home she apologized for the mess (laundry piled on the couch in the living room).

k, let me explain a little about my childhood. I am the oldest of 6 children. My mother was a very busy woman and there was always laundry either on the couch or in a basket or both. With that said, I will continue.

I said to this sister, "Don't worry about it, my mom is a bad housekeeper too!"

Yes, I did.

What I meant to say is "Don't worry, we have laundry at my house too" or maybe I should have just said 'no problem".

This BEST part of this story is that I didn't even realize I said it. I was oblivious!
My companion told me later on how I embarrassed her.

How's that? I have another one to share but I'll save that one for later!

What do you want to know?

Okay, I am desperate for a blog post. I can't make you keep looking at Zurg and reading about September 11th.

I have been here for minutes (it seems a lot longer than that) trying to come up with something to blog about. There hasn't been too much happening here. We go to work, school, to school to volunteer, come home, eat dinner, sometimes back out again for scouts or something. But that is it. we are just living our lives here people. Pretty boring stuff if you ask me.

We have celebrated two birthdays this month but have no photos to document. I know, I know!

While I am thinking about what to post about go to the comments and tell me what you'd like to know about. I'll choose one and blog about it.

Never Forget

Nine years ago today my son Evan turned four years old.
Bryant was scheduled to teach a class at the business college in the evening so we celebrated his birthday at breakfast. We had birthday muffins (instead of cupcakes) and there was a candle in his. We sang happy birthday and he blew (spit) out his candle. He opened his miniature "Toy Story" action figures (complete with Zurg, his favorite). Then we kissed dad goodbye for the day, sent Garrett off to school and went on with our morning routine.
That is as "normal" as the day would be. I turned on the televison to watch Good Morning America a little before 9am to find a LIVE report of a fire/explosion in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Diane Sawyer was reporting in the studio that the cause of the explosion was unconfirmed but there were witnesses that said a plane flew into the building.

The North Tower

I was curious and continued watching. At 9:03am I watched LIVE as a plane flew into the South Tower. I was shocked, confused, and sick. I immediately called Bryant who was working for a large defense contractor in the Washington DC area. He let me know that there wasn't much work being done in the office he was in as they were all watching the news via their computers but, he was safe. At 9:37am a plane flew into the Pentagon which was no more than 6 miles from my husband's office building and just over the 20 miles from our home. I was no longer a spectator, I was a victim. Of course I had been a victim all along but at hearing the news of the crash at the Pentagon my perspective changed. I knew this was no longer an accident, this was an attack. Bryant called on his way out of his office to let me know he was on his way home. He was one of the first to leave the area so he missed the traffic and he was home in record time. I remember my concern for my sister-in-law and my uncle who both worked in Manhattan. I remember the way I felt; violated, stunned, shocked at the chaos, unsure of the future, sad. The day is a blur except that I remember watching as the video of what I saw LIVE was replayed over and over and over again until I finally turned of the TV. Little good it did, I could still see it in my head. My sister-in-law had nightmares due to what she saw and heard. I still remember vividly the sick pit in my stomach and the vulnerability I felt that day.
I don't know where you were on September 11, 2001 but I know that I will NEVER FORGET.