Well, its my baby's fourth birthday today. It doesn't seem like she should be 4 already (although it does seem like she's been three forever). She has gotten so big and grown up. Pretty soon she'll be off to school and she won't be my "baby" anymore. So I'm going to enjoy her while she still likes us. :)
It rained all day and all night - and not just off and on, light rain - I mean, constant pouring down rain. We got 7-9" of rain in just 24 hours. At about 1:00AM yesterday morning, Eric peeked outside and came back to tell me that we need to get out. When I looked, the neighbor's garage was under water, as was the road, and the ditch was backing up towards our yard. We decided to not wake the kids and see how it plays out in the early morning.
Got up at 6AM and it looked to have receeded a little bit. Then we saw a number of fire trucks come into our little circle and a bunch of yellow jackets jump out and split up to knock on everyone's doors. They had come to warn us that the culvert underneath the only road out of our culdesac was flooded over with rapids and was eroding quickly, and if we were going to leave, we should do it now. We ran around and grabbed everything we needed for a day or two stay at his parents' house and jumped in the car. By the time I got to that road, it had washed out about 25% of the road, and the river that flowed through the far side of the large park now egolfed the entire park, parking lot, and was starting to come over the bridge on the main road. I had heard that the river had come up so far that all roadways that crossed over it were not impassable (including the usual road I'd take to his parents' house. So we found our way to the only road I thought was high enough to be passable and made it to his parents'. As we watched the news and it kept raining, it became more and more evident that if we didn't find a way to get to the dogs and bring them back, we may not get to them. So his mom and I took of in the big truck and headed off on a long journey of detours and through many rivers that crossed roads, and were finally able to get into our driveway. Only now the water that was covering the park, now covered the road and the neighbor's garage, so we knew we had to move fast. We ran in, grabbed everything we could, and got out of there. We watched the news all day and the pictures of everything that was happening around us were just so weird to see. AND IT KEPT RAINING! When Eric was done with work, he made it back to our house and got stuff out of the garage to bring to his parents' house (the neighbors even came over to help him load it all up). At that time (about 4PM), the water line came right up flush with our property line and was about 3 ft from our house. The neighbor's boat was floating around their garage. Everyone that lived downhill from our house (us included) had been ordered to evacuate. He made it back to his parents' house, and his parents took off to see if there was anything left of their business (they had been told earlier that the water was over the windows of the building and one of their trucks that had been parked outside had water over the hood - and no flood insurance). When they got back, he said they couldn't get near the building, even with chest-waders on. Around 9PM, Eric went to check on the house/neigborhood and said that the water had started going down, and the police officer said since it wasn't going to rain anymore and it had started receeding, we could probably go back home if we wanted. But that we shouldn't flush toilets, shower, or do anything to add water to the city sewer since it was overflowing into people's basements. So we showered at his parents' before we left and headed home. And today - the water has receeded back into the park. And although many of the bridges are out and roads closed or eroded away, we were able to find round-about ways of getting to daycare and work. Our family is back to a little more settled routine and I can get back to this again! Eric's leg is doing very well. He's back to work and back to all of his old activities. Allysa and Alex are doing great! Getting big and really funny.
Alex has started sleeping in his "big boy bed" (which is really just his crib mattress on the floor). Apparently we were pretty spoiled when Allysa transitioned and she wouldn't leave her bed until we came to get her. He, on the other hand, will wake up at random times throughout the night/morning, go into the living room and play. And when he's feeling lonely, he'll just go wake up Allysa so she can play with him too. (There shouldn't be giggling coming from the hallway at 3AM). We thought "oh, we're smart - we'll just put some chairs in front of his door. That'll keep him in there." Ahhhh - NO! "ok, we'll put up a baby gate on his door." This only worked until Allysa showed him how it opened, and now he can do it himself. So aside from turning his doorknob around the other way and locking him in, we settled on a solution that seems to be working - wrap a chain around the unlocking mechanism on the gate. So far so good. Now instead of waking up at all hours of the night, around 6AM I'm greeted by "MAMA!! MOM!! MOOOMMM!! MAMAAA!!!" and when you go into the hallway, there he is sitting in his room on the other side of the gate with his pillow, his blankie, his stuffed animals, and all his toys surrounding him. "I done sleepin'. I wake up." But I'll take what I can get. We're all looking forward to our House Family Vacation in a few weeks! Well, as many of you know, our family had a terrible accident on Sunday. For those of you that don't, here's what happened:
Eric, the kids and I were going to go four-wheeling up at the deer stands to collect the portable stands for the winter. When we got to the last one, the brush was so thick to get back in there and there that the kids never would have made it all the way back there. So we decided that I would stay by the four-wheelers with the kids and Eric would go get the last ladder stand. After about 15 minutes I heard him screaming. [When coming down the ladder, the middle brace gave way and the ladder buckled in towards the tree. Thinking it was going to fall, the pushed away from the stand since he was only about 3-4 feet off the ground. Only his foot slipped and his leg got hung up in the ladder, snapping and twisting his femur]. I tried to grab the kids to bring them with me to go get him, but the brush was too thick, so I sat them on the four-wheeler together and told them to stay there. They instantly started crying and screaming. I ran as fast as I could through the brush and over the large, down trees until I could see him lying on the ground. He was screaming that he had broken his leg and when I looked down at it, his thigh looked to end about 4 inches above his knee. He called his dad and I called 911. The major problem at this point was that I didn't know how we would ever be able to get him out of there and to the ambulance I had hoped would be waiting. This ladder stand is about a mile and a half off a back road on a four wheeler trail that has multiple junctions. And he was another 100 yards off the four wheeler trail through very thick brush. Very few people would know where we were exactly. We tried to use what we had (a sheet of rubber, tree limbs, and rubber snubbers) to make a brace, hoping we could attempt to have him hop, but there was no moving him. At this point we thought we might be able to bust through the brush with the four wheeler and get it back to him, but I just got that one stuck instead. With no other way to get him out, dark closing in, our kids screaming that they're scared, no means of communication (because eric's cell phone had fallen out of my pocket in the woods at some point), and the wolf that made the tracks we'd seen earlier probably looking for a snack (kids or Eric), I had no other choice but to leave him and head out to the road with the kids to look for help. I put Eric's hat on him and bundled him up as best I could (luckily it was pretty warm out - 43) and told him I'd be back with help and not to worry. I flew with the kids on the four wheeler, with Allysa screaming to slow down the whole way. And just about 500 yards from the road I saw 3 men walking in along the trail. As we got closer, I saw flashing lights, two of them carrying medical equipment and bags, and the third was Eric's dad. He had flown up there after he had hung up and found the ambulance waiting, but they didn't know how to find us. Luckily, his dad did and started walking them down the trail. I briefed them on his condition (he was conscious and pretty warm, the break was above his knee, and that he could feel and move his toes) and what they could expect. I told them that I didn't know how they would ever be able to get him out of there. They explained that they were the part of the St. Louis County Rescue Squad and a bunch more men were coming with more gear, four wheelers, and a rescue sled. Eric's dad took the kids back to his truck to wait and I led the paramedics to Eric. By the time we had gotten to the trail junction, I looked back and could see the flashing lights of the rescue ATVs (a wonderful sight at this time). I led them back to the end of the four wheeler trail and then led them through the thick woods yelling to Eric that we were all here and the paramedics were with me. By the time they got there he had started shivering and had a few signs of the beginning of shock. They put oxygen on him, got a backboard under him, then used a traction device to straighten his leg so they could transport him. One of them even found Eric's cell phone!! One of the rescue team members and I started breaking branches and trees to blaze a trail they could walk the stretcher through to get it back to the rescue sled. Eventually they were able to carry him out on the stretcher, get him into the rescue sled, and they started heading out towards the ambulance. Once of them stayed back to help me get the other four wheeler unstuck and drive it out. We caught up to them just as they were loading him into the ambulance and off to the hospital he went. I went to check on the kids who were fine - happy to play with all the knobs and dials in Grandpa's truck. Eric's dad loaded the four wheelers onto the trailer for me and I got the kids in their car seats. We all met back at our house where his dad stayed with them and I got dressed and headed to the hospital. The paramedics were still with him - they had stayed to help the ER staff transfer him. They took xrays and (SURPRISE) it was a broken femur and his thigh muscled had retracted the lower portion of his leg up almost to his groin. They did emergency surgery at about 9pm. It went well - they put a permanent metal rod through the middle of his femur with screws by his knee and his hip. And today he's recovering slowly (just a lot of pain). So it'll be a long road ahead of us, but we're thankful that it wasn't any worse. We love you honey! And many thanks to our wonderful family, friends and co-workers that have visited and lent support in numerous ways. We're very grateful! And a huge thank you to the St. Louis County Rescue Squad (and the Andersons) - I don't know what we would have done without you. So if you're looking for a charity to donate to, please donate to the St. Louis County Allysa looked at me at dinner the other night, crossed her eyes, and put a goofy smile on her face amd said "I HAVE SHINY EYES! I HAVE SHINY EYES, MAMA!" I just about fell out of my chair laughing.
Well, its already the 8th of December and I'm not really in the christmas mood yet. In november I was waiting and waiting for christmas music on the radio, and now its here and I never put it on. For some reason, this year just seems so BLAH and stressful. And I'm not the only one ... most of the people I've talked to are in the same boat. I haven't even made christmas cards yet. Hopefully the christmas spirit will ki Well, we had a nice thanksgiving and got home early. The kids were taking a bath and playing in the tub. Suddenly we heard a lot of screaming. When we got in there and asked Allysa what was wrong you could barely make out her words through the screams ... "Poo Poo". That's right - Alex had pooped in the tub and brought bath time to an early end.
Check out the new Thanksgiving day photos on the Photo page Allysa's quote for the day: "Mom, someday I'm gonna drive a new car when I get older. I get older in four minutes". I was sitting here tonight working on christmas cards with Biggest Loser - Where are they now on in the background. When a contestant names Abby Rike comes on and started talking about how she lost her husband, her 5 yr old daughter, and 3 week old son in a car accident. So I went online to look up the book she had written and found this (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42915175/ns/today-books/t/biggest-losers-journey-begins-after-four-tragic-words#.Ts25crLZeSo) excerpt from the book. Reading it, I was amazed that she's still functioning. I would be completely lost. So tonight, this thanksgiving, I'm
So I'm home for the second day with two pink-eye'd babies. But thanks to the wonder of prescriptions, hopefully it'll be the last. I'm also hoping that my grandma starts feeling better. Well, I know this is short, but its my first attempt at a blog post and the babies are awake now.
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