First Play

I will admit that while there is some sketchiness around the libraries in Vegas, they also have a lot of things going on.

On Friday, May 16 the kids and I went to a puppet play at one of the libraries. It was free. And it was a real play too (meaning a traveling puppet troupe, Tears of Joy, was in town for the event, not just the librarians doing a show). It was pretty neat. It was "Malika: Queen of the Cats." It's a Palestinian story about a poor lady who was very generous and kind. She is rewarded with a gift from Malika. Towards the end, Adelyn whispered to me, "Can we go now?" I thought this was a strange question since she seemed to be enjoying herself. The play ended about 5 minutes later. They had a Q&A session. Adelyn raised her hand. I was a little scared about what she might be asking, so I asked her what her question was. Sure enough, she wanted to ask why it was so long. Silly girl. Fortunately, she wasn't called on. But when we left the theater, she did ask the one puppeteer why it was so long.

She Got Her Cookies

My grandma makes these awesome cookies. They are chocolate with a maraschino cherry in the middle and then covered in chocolate. This is the only way I like maraschino cherries. On my first mission trip she made a whole batch for me and met me at the airport with a tin filled with them. They tasted so good! Especially after 10 days of rice and beans.

On April 11 my Grandma O (Gram) fell and broke her hip. It was very strange. My uncle had just had lunch with her. She got out of the car and fell. Just like that. My uncle could tell right away that her hip was broken because of the angle. She went to the hospital and had surgery. The kids and I visited her a few days later. She was happy to see us. After a few more days at the hospital, she was transferred to a rehab place for physical therapy. Before we headed back to Vegas (April 21), I visited her there. She mentioned to me that she was in some pain, so I passed that on to my mom.

Some time passed and my mom mentioned how short of breath my grandma was. Keep in mind, she does have COPD and has been a smoker for a very long time. But at the rehab place she was on oxygen and she was still short of breath even from just talking. I thought right away that she must have pneumonia. It seemed strange to me that prior to her hip she wasn't on oxygen and smoking and didn't have this much trouble breathing. Sure enough. When my parents and aunt and uncle requested a chest x-ray it was confirmed that she had pneumonia. It seemed strange that the medical people didn't think to check that.

On Thursday, May 15 my grandma was taken back to the hospital because of low oxygen levels. Sunday May 18 I got a text from my mom that Gram had to be resuscitated. This surprised me on several levels. For one, I have known for years that Gram has a DNR in place. So why did they? (But secretly I was glad, because that did allow me to see her again). It also surprised me because it seemed out of the blue. Sure, she was on oxygen, but still? When my parents got to the hospital they found out that the resuscitation actually happened on Thursday. But no one bothered to tell her family until Sunday. Really??

Monday, May 19, my grandma was transferred back to the rehab place. We also made the decision to fly home on Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon we landed in Minneapolis. On the way home we stopped by to say hi. She seemed to recognize us (although she called Odin, David) and was happy to see us. Adelyn gave her a bunch of pictures that she colored and painted.

On Wednesday I wanted to visit her again, but our day turned into a little craziness. And she had a doctor appointment that afternoon, so our visiting times were limited. So I planned on visiting her on Thursday after bringing Ben to the airport (he had to go back). I knew that I wanted to bring her cookies, so I started making them right away. Her doctor appointment was ok. He said that her right lung wasn't working at all and her left was barely working. He agreed with the DNR as her body is just too weak to ever really recover if that happens again.

Thursday morning I get a call from my mom that Gram has been transferred to the hospital. I was so confused. After she got back to rehab on Monday my parents made sure that all the paperwork for the DNR was in her file so they wouldn't do anything for her. After some calls and some waiting, we found out that the admitting doctor in the ER was sending her back to rehab because of her DNR. My parents met her at the rehab place she was pretty tired and out of it. Ben changed his flight to 5 pm so I could head over there.

When I got to her room, she woke up right away. We talked very briefly, but it was clear that she was too tired for company. She did say, "It's been an exciting week, huh?" Understatement, but yeah. I found my parents and aunt and uncle in a conference with the Assistant Director of Nursing to find out why she was taken to the ER. I guess her oxygen level was 60 and they couldn't get it up (normal is 100, they want her at 90). She was agitated and uncomfortable, so they asked her if she wanted to go to the hospital. She said yes. That superseded the DNR, apparently. While I understand, it is frustrating because my grandma isn't of sound mind. Especially with all the recent medical drama. You can ask her the same thing within a minute and get two different responses. So, after more paperwork, the dude told us that instead of bringing her to the hospital, they could give her something like morphine, and then call us to see what we want to do.

After the meeting we went back to the room and found her sitting and eating lunch! Well, the cookies I brought her, but that counts as lunch, right? We were all a little shocked. Happy, but shocked. We were able to have a nice visit with her.

So now it's a waiting game. But I got to tell her that I loved her. And I got to give her cookies. 

Mother's Day 2014

Last week was Mother's Day. It was a terrific day! It actually started on Saturday when Ben gave me these:

On Sunday morning, we started off the day with breakfast at the Peppermill. Ben and I have been there before, so we knew to expect huge portions (rumor is an omelet is made from about 10 eggs). We ordered an omelet and a waffle with fruit and whipped cream. That amount of food was just about perfect for the 4 of us. 

Quick Adelyn story: on Saturday we had gone to the library for story time. They made some crafts for Mother's Day. One was a paper frame that Adelyn colored. Adelyn wanted to bring it with us to give to another mom for Mother's Day. When we got to the Peppermill, she gave it to the hostess that seated us. The hostess was touched. I thought it was super sweet too.

The weather had been super windy the past few days. Sunday was no exception. I felt like a bit of a walk, so we headed over to the Venetian to walk around the canal. We ended up taking a gondola ride. The kids liked it a lot. Our guy was actually from Italy. And had a great voice. He sang two songs to us as we rode along. 

After that, we were pretty much ready to leave. As we were leaving, Ben asked if it were too early for lunch. We were walking by Haagan Dazs. I said that it was never too early for ice cream lunch! So we had some ice cream then headed home. 

We ended up having a family nap (aahhhhh!!!!). After that we packed up some stuff and headed outside to grill up some steaks. It was a perfect family day. I'm so thankful for my honey bunny and kiddos.

Cinco and MOPS

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo. We sort of celebrated.

In the morning Ben wanted to go rock climbing (indoor. He joined a local place). We decided to take the kids along so they would know what we were talking about. We got there about 10:30 to discover that it didn't open until 11. So... we found a park a few blocks away. Turned out to be a pretty awesome park. Very creative equipment in a woods theme. And there was a splash pad too. We will definitely be back there! Once it was 11 we headed back.

We watched Ben climb a few runs. Then the kids said they wanted to try. So, we got them geared up. Adelyn did great. Until she decided that she was scared of how high she was (maybe 3 feet off the ground). We tried to show her how the belay system worked. That backfired. She was caught off guard and ended up hitting her leg against the wall. Oops. Odin did great too! Until he was too short to reach the next hand grip. But we were proud of the kiddos for trying. We will try again when they are a little older.

After climbing we went to Chipotle. Yum. That was part of our Cinco celebration. When we got home we had a pinata for the kids. Note to self: an almost 4 year old and a 2 year old can't really break open a pinata on their own. They thought it was fun hitting it.  Daddy had to give it a few good whacks to get it open. The kids were excited to find bouncy balls, watercolors, place mats, bath stuff and some Oreo cookies.

Today the kids and I attended our first MOPS meeting. I have thought about it for some time. And now that we're here for a month, I figured we could check it out. The one we attended meets twice a month during the school year. So, this week and in two weeks we can attend. Then not again until the fall.

I wasn't sure what to expect. Turns out it's a pretty large group. I think there were about 35 of us. When I went to drop off the kids I found out that Adelyn and Odin would be in separate classes. Hmmm... He's really not used to being without mommy AND big sister. I let the lady in that room know that he might not be thrilled with the arrangement and that she could get me. He made it about 40 minutes before they said he was crying. So he got to join mommy and the other moms. I am very thankful that he is a pretty chill guy. He had some fruit with me and then was happy to take notes on the guest speaker and finally put some puzzles together on my phone.

Adelyn had a good time, but she did say it was a long time (it was 2 hours). I had fun. The ladies at my table were very nice. And we all come from very different backgrounds. We had some nice discussions and laughs. Now to get Odin on board with going back...

Odin's 2 Year Well Check

Yesterday Odin had his 2 year well check. He did really well! He stood on the scale nicely while the nurse weighed him. And he stood still when she measured how tall he is. When the doctor did the exam he didn't fuss or cry or anything. Just kept pointing to the crayons on the wall and saying the colors (which did impress the doctor). Such a big boy! I am so proud of him.

His stats:
Weight: 33.4 pounds (94 percentile)
Height: 3'1/4" (92 percentile) - this would put him at just over 6 feet if the double the height at 2 role is true.
Head: 20"

The doctor was very impressed with his language development. Apparently for boys it is typical to just make 2-word sentences at this stage. Odin regularly puts 4+ words together. She did say that trying to keep up with big sister is probably why he is above average. Good job Adelyn on being such a good teacher! She also said that we should be able to understand about 50% of what he says. That made me feel better because sometimes I really struggle with what he is trying to say. Sometimes Adelyn is able to interpret for me. :)

After the appointment we headed to the grocery store. Odin got to pick out lunch. He picked mac and cheese. Or as he says, "mac n cheeeessseee!"

Home Sweet May Home

We got back to Vegas on Monday, April 21. The staff at the Platinum were happy to see us. But we knew we couldn't stay there forever. So on Wednesday we met with a Realtor to look at some rental options.

We looked at 6 different condos. Some were immediately out. Others we weren't so sure on. Both Ben and I looked online for more options that night. The next day we were off to see a few (6!) more options. Same story as before. On Saturday we looked at a few more. We decided that a few of the options that we looked at could work. But none were perfect. Not that we need perfect. So, we quickly changed gears and started looking at places that were available for a month. We only had a few options since May was almost upon us.

We looked at one at the Trump Towers. It was beautiful. Gorgeous views from the 59th floor. But... it was too small. A lot of the square footage was taken up by a ginormous master bath. And it was only one bedroom without a nice size living room. Sadly, we passed on that.

Our other option was a two-bedroom unit at Sky. It is only on the 5th floor with not much to speak of for views. But it has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a nice layout. We took it. So, we have a place for a month. Yesterday we moved in. So far, I like it. There's a CVS on the bottom floor, which is nice in case we need something quickly. Like yesterday. The kids and I needed cookies. :) The kids did great with our move. So as a special treat, we got some fudge stripe cookies and had a picnic on our patio.

During this month we plan on keeping an eye on the listings to find a place. In June and part of July we will be in Minnesota to spend time with Ben's brother and family. We will need a place when we get back.

And yes, I know I haven't written about Japan yet. I really need to. Just been busy with life.