Getting Settled

We have been back in Vegas for two weeks. And what a crazy two weeks it has been!

When we got here we had a mattress, two folding chairs, a memory foam pad, a highchair and a pack n' play. And a few random kitchen things. Not much to live on. We started off looking on craigslist for furniture. Turns out that is a lot of work. We wasted so much time! In the end, we did get a bed for Adelyn and that's it. We found a nice furniture place (after going to two separate ones that ended up to be being out of business). We ended up with a couch and rug for the living room, dining room table and chairs for the dining room (duh) and a mattress. And just in time!

Friday night we had our first event at our house. We ended up having about 30 or so people over. It was a busy day of shopping and food prep. First guests started arriving around 9 pm. We had a great time and it was fun to see the different social groups collide.

Saturday Mickey came to town for a few days. And on Sunday Rick joined us.

It is so nice to have some furniture. It was getting challenging to eat every meal on the floor. And I'm sure Rick and Mickey appreciated a mattress versus sleeping on the hardwood floors. We are still on the look out for a few more pieces, but we've actually been enjoying the minimalist lifestyle we have started. 

Gone

This past Father's Day the plan was to meet my parents, brother and Katie to go bowling followed by dinner. The kids were both so tired that we had them take a nap before the festivities. They were still sleeping when it was time for us to go. I was about to text my brother to let him know we were running late when he texted me saying that Gram wasn't doing too well. They were going to stop by the rehab center on the way to go bowling.

Doug, Jane, Leah, mom, dad and Jacob were all there. They couldn't wake her up at all. Her breathing was labored. She would take a breath and wouldn't exhale for a few moments. Then she took her last breath.

Needless to say, Father's Day wasn't what any of us were expecting. We decided to pick up dinner and eat in the privacy of my parent's house.

My last conversation with my grandma wentsomething like this:
Gram: How are your beautiful children?
Me: They're great. They must get their looks from the Obert side of the family.
Gram: [blank look]
Me: I mean Bridenbaugh (her maiden name).
Gram Yes. That's more like it.

Even with her difficulty breathing, lack of energy, etc. she still was able to show off her feisty wit. I miss her so much.

First Broken Heart

The other day I was going downstairs to let Zoey out. Odin followed me down. Zoey was in the middle of doing her "business" when I heard Adelyn upstairs crying hysterically. I hurried Zoey along and ran upstairs. Adelyn was sitting in her chair in the library, holding her blanket. I asked her what was wrong.

Adelyn: He broke my heart!
Me: Who, sweetie?
A: Odin!
Me: How did he do that?
A: He told me I couldn't go downstairs with you and that just broke my heart!

Happy 4th Birthday Adelyn!

What a lucky girl this year - she got two birthday parties!

On July 1 we celebrated with Grandpa and Grandma O, Uncle Pranob, Auntie Krys and Asher, Uncle Jake and Katie and Uncle Doug and Aunt Jane. Asher's birthday is July 4, so we had a combined party for the two cousins. Pranob and Krys made some yummy tandoori chicken. Adelyn and I made cupcakes. She picked out a recipe that she thought Asher would like. They were supposed to look like this:

They didn't quite work out that way, but they sure were tasty! 

As we were singing the happy birthday song, I realized that it was the first celebration without my grandma (more on that later). Typically with my family we sing also sing the birthday song from "Howdy Doody." I was really hoping that no one starting in on that after the typical birthday song, because there was no way I was going to be able to keep it together. Fortunately for me, no one tried to start it up. Phew.

On July 3, we headed up to the lake. There was a party waiting for us there! Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle John, Aunt Sara, Malachi, Simon and Coen were waiting for us. They had games and prizes set up for the kids. Adelyn had so much fun. Well, I think all the kids did. 

Adelyn, I love you so much. You are growing into such a fun and spunky girl. I love that you love to dress up, even if that leaves your room a disaster. You are sensitive and kind. You are a great helper in the kitchen. You love books. You are willing to try new things. You still bring use your purple blanket, but it doesn't have to come everywhere with us. You like crafts. In so many ways, you are like a little me. Happy Birthday, Little Lou!

Blow Flowers

While it makes sense, I'm not sure why Adelyn calls dandelions "blow flowers." She was so excited the other day to find a bunch of blow flowers at Como Zoo.

 

The other day Odin waved and said, "Bye! Going [to] Timbuktu!"

This morning around 6:30, Adelyn said, "Mom! Mommy, come to my room quick!" I jumped out of bed and "ran" to her room. "What is it?" She replied,"Mommy, can you open my window so I can hear the frogs and birds?" She is so like me!

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.