Monday, November 25, 2013

Poop

Yep. You read that right. I'm blogging about poop today.

Isn't it funny how you become a parent and suddenly it becomes second nature to talk about bodily functions? I have conversations with people that I hardly know about gabe's bathroom habits, and wether or not he's using the potty. I've shared on Facebook, Instagram and here pictures of him on the potty. In a way, I feel really bad about this generation of kids. Half naked, potty (or bathtub) pictures are everywhere!


Anyways, back to poop. Jorge had his surgery to reconstruct his colon on Thursday. He also needed to take part of his small bowel out. In order to go home, he needed to start getting his bowels moving. He needed to pass gas and/or poop. When he finally went on Saturday, it was some of the best news. I know I was not the only one fearing the worst out of this hospital stay. I texted a few people the good poop news. He even put it on Facebook. I never thought I'd be so happy about some poop!



Jorge was able to come home yesterday, after keeping a small meal down. I'm so relieved to have the surgery done and have him home.







-jen

Friday, November 22, 2013

Can I have a do-over?

2013 has really, really sucked. Well, not just 2013, the past 12 months have sucked.  Last year, I rushed my mom to the hospital with a blood clot. From the blood clot, we discovered that she had lung cancer. She was admitted to the hospital again in December of last year for another cancer related blood clot.

July, Jorge spent two weeks in the hospital. September, mom was admitted to the hospital with terminal lung cancer. Just short of a week later, she passed away. November, again, Jorge is admitted to the hospital for a surgery that we planned on taking place in December.

Seriously, I'm over hospitals. It's not over though. Jorge will be here for a few days. Then, my dad is having surgery on his knee on the 2nd of December. If I don't step foot in a hospital ever again, I will be very happy. (although I kinda want to enter the medical field at some point so....)

Jorge is in a lot of pain right now. He is doing good though. The surgery was a little more than they had anticipated, but it was good it happened now. If we had waited, he might have perforated again and that would have been so much worse.

Thank you everyone for all of your kind words, prayers and thoughts this past year. I appreciated every single one.

 (some flashback friday pics for you)

Monday, November 11, 2013

crying at the mall

Jorge and I were Gabe free for a few hours yesterday.  We ran over to the new outlet mall in Rosemont.  We kinda love it. Anyway, Jorge was talking about how happy his parents were to be watching Gabe. His dad even called and asked if he could take him to the park.  Immediately, tears started welling up in my eyes.

It's moments like that, the ones that catch me off guard, that I feel so empty and so sad for Gabe. I am sad that I lost my mom, but sometimes even sadder that Gabe lost his GB. I've been wearing her thumbprint necklace constantly.

Ok, the tears are creeping in again so I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures of mom.




Thursday, November 7, 2013

Devil's Lake

As a kid, my family and I, including all of the cousin's on my mom's side, would spend a week in Okee, Wisconsin. One of the highlights of this trip was the day we spent at Devil's Lake. I have taken Jorge there before. Every summer we say that we are going to make a trip up there for the day, and it hasn't happened.  My brother was talking about engagement pictures and how they would have liked to have gotten some at Devil's Lake. I decided that our empty Saturday would be spent there.

Before getting to Devil's Lake, we made a stop in Lodi. Lodi is the town next to Okee. Both of these places are very small and I love it! Stopping in Lodi requires two things, a stop at the sausage shop and a visit to Susie the Duck!




After seeing Susie, we jumped on the ferry. Gabe was not too excited to be in the car, on a boat.  It is the fastest way to travel from Lodi/Okee to Devil's Lake. It is the way we went when we came up to Wisconsin for all of those summers.  There's great memories of checking out the algae on Lake Wisconsin, or looking at the other ferry riders with their ice cream, knowing that we couldn't have any.


We wound up climbing up rock stairs to get to the top of the mountain. It was a real workout. Gabe climbed up some of the way by himself, but he also got a ride some of the way from Jorge.

What a view

we made it!


Awesome shot of the Lake from the top

my family


We ended the day skipping stones on the beach. It really was a perfect day. 

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

jealous

  


sorry, i haven't posted in a while, and now i've got a not so happy one.  I'm kinda jealous (read as really jealous) of people whose grandparents are still alive. I'm even more jealous of people and their moms. How did my family end up like this? Why does cancer have to ruin families?




my mom's parents both passed away from lung cancer. I never got to meet my mom's dad. I have some of the best summer memories of my mom's mom, my grammie. I still miss her so much. I am comforted knowing that my mom is up there with her parents.


Both of my dad's parents have also passed away. My grandma from kidney failure and I'm not sure what the final cause was for my grandpa. He was a strong man, he faced many health problems in his life and overcame them. He was the only grandparent to make it to my wedding. It breaks my heart to this day that I didn't get a picture with him. Most of all, it breaks my heart that none of my grandparents got to meet gabe.



I met up with my "aunt" Lisa tonight. She was my mom's best friend for forever. She was talking about her mom remembering my mom.  All I could think was, "Why do you still have your mom and I can't have mine?" I know how selfish this all seems. Grief is hard and I want to get it out, no matter how selfish it may seem, I can't hold it in. In this blog, I'm supposed to show my true self, and right now, this is it.


Saturday, November 2, 2013

Remember




There are those moments that I have to remember. I put gabe to sleep tonight, then went downstairs and wasted hours in front of the tv. I could have been upstairs cuddling with him instead.

Lately, I've been sitting him in front of the tv or giving him the iPad so that I could make Beans. When the day is over, I don't always feel like I accomplished something. More days I start to feel bad because I overlooked the most important thing to me. Gabe.

These moments won't last long. Wanting to 'nuggle' on the couch and have mama read books to him, those moments will be gone before I know it. I've got to step back, reevaluate, and get my priorities in order. Getting Beans made should not come before gabe. I've got to remember that he's only this age for right now, tomorrow he will be a little older. Soon he won't want to snuggle, or play together or even leave his room. Right here, right now, even though I may have other things that need to get done, this is what matters most.


-jen