Amundsen House of Chaos

Let's face it, when you have a kid who survived a stroke, life is always going to be a little chaotic.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

2009 Christmas Letter

I'm behind. Again. So I figure I better at least put up a Christmas letter on my blog since they aren't getting mailed out before tomorrow. If I had done a Christmas card here is what it would have said.

Dear Family and Friends,

Another year has gone by so fast. It doesn't seem like it's possible. But Jahnna and Riley insist that Santa is coming tonight so it must be true. We've had another eventful year. Thankfully no where near as eventful as last year or even the year before. It seems we're gradually settling into our new way of life. And that is a good thing. The fact that it seems more normal to live our life this way than it seems strange is a sign of healing. Well, I think it is anyway.

John had a crazy year. We thought he was going to be transferred down to Sandy, Ut for awhile. Then some people higher up the chain of command found out we had family up here and a great support system and the talk of moving stopped. Thankfully. We could have done it, we would have done it if orders had come through, but it never felt like we were going to go. So I decided since I didn't feel like moving we weren't going to. And look, we didn't! John received his recruiting ring this year. He also received the Morrell award. It's the highest award you can receive in recruiting. It is a big honor even if he doesn't want to make a big deal out of it. He had another surgery. His L4, L5 and S1 vertebrae were fused together with titanium rods. He just went back to work two weeks ago after being off work for two months to recover from that surgery. He also made the E7 promotion list and will start BNOC online in January. As soon as that is done he will be promoted.

I had another year. I've learned to look on the positive side of things. I've studied the law of attraction and decided I wanted to manifest some better times in our lives. I think I'm doing a pretty awesome job so far! I made the switch to night nursing. I finally had to admit defeat in that area. I'm glad I did. I was getting pretty run down there for awhile. So now we have a nurse who  comes and takes care of Colby 5 nights a week so I get to sleep. My persistent mono is finally under control. The doctor said it can now be considered Epstein barr virus. That means I'll pretty much always be tired when I have an active infection going on. It comes and goes. I started getting b12 shots from the doctor and that helped my energy levels alot. I finally got brave and started giving myself the shots at home and it hasn't been to bad. See I'm one step closer on my self taught course to a nursing degree. I can give shots now. Not that I would give them to anyone else I'm just saying I can do it. I also lost 49 pounds this year! I feel great! I'm hoping to lose another 20 in the coming year but for now I am more than impressed with myself!

Jahnna graduated from kindegarten and is in first grade. She is 6 years old. She is still as artistic as ever. She likes to think she is the parent and the boss of her sister. She grew a foot it seems like. Lost a bunch of teeth. She had her tonsils and addenoids removed in November. She earned enough money this summer to pay for half of her new big bike. Jahnna loves to learn and she makes her mom and dad very proud of her.

Colby had another eventful year. He continued to make progress after his Hyperbarics last year. We decided to go ahead and have a baclofen pump put in to help with his spasticity. The first surgery went well. He came home and we started making the trips back down to the hospital every week to turn up the pump volume. You have to do it gradually. They up the pump and then I would come down on his oral medication. Then we'd go back a week later and they'd up the pump and I'd come down on the oral medication. We did that for 4 weeks and then his incision came loose and the pump rotated in his stomach pulling the catheter out of his spinal column. We had emergency surgery the next day. 4 days later he was home again. 24 hours later he was back in the hospital with staph meningitis. He had to have the pump completely removed to get rid of the infection. I think we were there for another week after that. It was tough to clear up. He came home with a picc line in his arm and we continued IV antibiotics for another ten days. In the process of these three surgeries we found out his blood pressure was completely out of control and within stroke range every six hours. Not cool. I think the whole purpose of putting in the pump and going through all of that was to find out that it was out of control. I wish we could have done it an easier way but it is now thankfully under control due to two new blood pressure medications. He is one tough little cookie. After all of that the nuerosurgeon said we could put another pump in a month later and we said thanks but no thanks. I think we'll stick with oral meds for now.

In his August appointment for Botox and Phenol shots his doctor got excited. There was a new neurologist in town and she was doing deep brain stimulation. Medically it is Colby's last medical intervention that is in practice today. It involves implanting 8 electrodes into his brain and putting a radio wave emmiter into his stomach. It will take approximately a year and a half to know if it will work for him after the surgery happens. Crazy long time. John and I didn't want to consider it but we felt that we needed to go hear what the doctor had to say about it. So we went down and had an evaluation. She thinks he is a perfect candidate for it. The only problem is it's not FDA approved for kids under 7. So now we are waiting for an ethics committee to approve the procedure and then a study will be set up before we can proceed. Colby will be highly documented in the hopes that his data can help other children. We came away from the meeting feeling peaceful and that this is the next step we need to take with him. A scary step but a step in the right direction. I finally realized that he does need his different medications and stopped trying to wean him off of them. We increased a lot of his doses and he is a much happier boy now. Not to mention an insanely outrageous flirt!

Riley has gotten so big. She is 2 now. She wants to go to school with Colby and Jahnna every day. She has no fears in life and makes our lives wonderfully chaotic. I wouldn't trade her! She is on the verge of potty training and she finally got rid of her bottles when I told her they ran away. She wouldn't accept me throwing them away or geting lost but the day I said they ran away she was fine with it. She talks up a storm and gives Jahnna a run for her money both with getting into her things and with her imagination. She is one creative little story teller.

That sums up our year in as few words as possible. We are grateful for all that we have. We are thankful for the improvements Colby has made and for the challenges we have faced. They have taught all of us many important life lessons and for that we wouldn't change any of it. As always we are grateful for our Heavenly Father and for Jesus Christ. The trials we have faced would have seemed so much bigger and insurmountable without the faith and testimonies we have developed. We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year!

Love
The Amundsens
John, Erin, Jahnna, Colby and Riley.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

Blessed

My emotions are overflowing as I type this. I just went out to the mailbox to get the mail. I found a priority mail letter to the Amundsen family. Inside was a cashiers check from an anonymous family with this sweet letter attached. I can't find my camera to take a picture of it so you'll just have to settle with my typed version. It says.

Merry Christmas.
Hello, for this Christmas my family and I wanted to donate to a caring family that has been there for others during hard times. My family and I have raised money for your child Colby. The number amount might be small, but our hearts are big and go out to your son and your family. We have spent the last month raising money for your son, and we hope him the best of luck. Your family is gracious and filled with optomistic attitudes. We hope this small donation will somehow help Colby further his healing. With such a great family and positive attitudes we believe he can get better! Perseverance, family support, a sanguine attitude, and a large amount of belief have been an ancient cure for all. We hope you have a Merry Christmas and keep your optimistic attitude about life.
Sincerely,

A family that believes in your son and family.

I am so humbled. I can't tell you how much just the letter alone means to me. Who ever you are you have answered prayers. I wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit very strong this last week and had been a little down. Thank you for reminding me what Christmas is about. I hope that who ever sent it can at least read this post and know how grateful I am. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and that you can experience the magic of the Christmas season the way I have.

Monday, December 21, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

Not Me Monday 12/21/09






Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


I would not run to get my camera in an effort to get a shot of this squirrel acting like Scrat on Ice Age. The squirrel was not trying to eat the scarf and take it back to it's nest. I did not yell for Jahnna to get her shoes on and run out and get the scarf away from the squirrel simply because I did not want to put my own shoes on. That would be lazy!


I would not put Colby into his stander Sunday morning so that he could watch us making waffles. He would not fall asleep as soon as I put on his Spiderman cartoon. He would not LOVE the neck massager we wrapped around the head rest to provide him some neck support and totally wake up when I turned it off because he was sleeping. Little stinker decided he really liked that neck massage he was getting. I've got to figure out a way to keep his arms more supported. They kept slipping down like that but for now he didn't seem to mind. 



I would not take pictures of the ash bucket that my husband put ashes into last night just to gloat at him tonight when he gets home from work. He would never put hot ashes into a plastic bucket and then leave it on the brick hearth. I would not come downstairs to the smell of toxic plastic melting in my home. I did not take it out into the snow where it melted a bucket sized hole all the way down to the grass. OK I totally would do that. 



















And I would not be enjoying the freedom of sitting here at my computer typing up a not me monday post while one of the high school boys from our church is playing video games with Colby. He is loving it. His little face lit up like he was saying "Oh a friend came over to play with me!" I think I might have to recruit some boys to come play war games with him more often!

On a side note. If you've ever wanted to try out swag bucks here's a link to join.
Search & Win
I've been on it for a month and I've already earned a $5 gift card to Amazon.com. I'm 10 points away from getting another one. This time I think I might get $10 to Alice.com which is a grocery store type site. So simply for surfing the web I've already almost gotten $15 worth of free stuff. Not bad for a little over a month of membership. It will probably only take me two more days to get that $10 so I figure I can start counting it now! Anyway give it a shot if you'd like. Thanks.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Labels: , , , , , , ,

Friday, December 18, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

5 Question Friday 12/18/09

Welcome to 5 question Friday. I love this bloghop. It's fun to read what other people answer. Fun times. Anyway here it is. Thanks goes to Mama M. for hosting the party.


1. Which boygroup did you like most in your teens?

In my teens? I don't remember. I think the only boy group I've ever really fallen in love with was NKOTB. I loved them. Had the video tape of one their concerts and everything. Other than that I was never really into anyone else that I can think of. 

2. Do you do Christmas cards, letters, photos, nuthin', all of the above?



I usually do a Christmas letter with a family picture. This year it hasn't been done yet so maybe I'll get around to it on Monday or sometime this weekend. I hope or maybe I should just be honest and say I really have no desire to do a Christmas letter this year. I don't know why but I'm not into it. Hmmm Bah Humbug to me!



3. If you could meet one celebrity who would it be and why?


I don't know. Honestly I can't even think of one person I'd love to meet. I met Hanna panna somebody shoot I can't remember her name. (Hanna Panabreaker? Someone help me out it's gonna drive me nuts?) She came to the childrens hospital to promote a new movie she was in and was signing her picture with kids who were sick. She was really sweet. She offered to take a picture with Colby even though he was sleeping. She signed it and we still have it somewhere. Gosh I wish I could think of her name. And no it wasn't Hanna Montana. Obviously I'm really into celebrities cause I can't remember her name. John thinks I am because I make snide comments about celebrity love life's that I read off of my MSN homepage but really not into them all that much. 

*** It bugged me so bad I couldn't remember her name that I had to go and look it up. It's Kay Panabaker. She was in the Nancy Drew movie and a whole bunch of other ones. Anyway really a nice girl when I met her.

4. Favorite thing to cook with (i.e. stainless, non-stick, Dutch oven, microwave, debit card...or, perhaps, a cauldron, etc.)?


It was my George Foreman grill but it started peeling and sticking and I finally tossed it. Now I'm at a loss. I need a new toaster and am debating a convection toaster oven. Any suggestions anyone?





5. What is the one thing you wear the most, besides your unmentionables?



A hoodie sweatshirt and a pair of Dr. Martens. Boring I know. I'm a plain white or black t-shirt and jeans kinda girl. Hmmm apparently my fonts want to do some crazy thing and switch it up on me. Sorry about that. Hopefully someday I'll figure out how to do html. Until then you get to enjoy a bit of random fonts on my blog posts! Until next week, have a great one!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Labels: , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

Riley singing Jingle Bells

This is Riley's version of Jingle Bells.



And this is her playing with her dolls lately. She's gotten really involved with pretty elaborate setups. She saw the video camera and stopped playing. I hadn't noticed she high-jacked my soda until I started video tapping her. She's a pretty funny little girl.

Monday, December 14, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

Not Me Monday 12/14/09



Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I am so far behind today. Oh I mean I am so Not behind today! I would never be typing this rapidly while listening for the spiderman cartoon to stop playing. I would not hope I get it finished before Colby gets mad and starts yelling again. And I would not wish that I had bought more spiderman dvds before Wal-mart ran out of them.

I would not go shopping this morning and totally forget about buying needed groceries and instead buy Christmas presents. I mean seriously who needs to eat right? They can wait another two weeks on Mac and Cheese. Or maybe I'll just head back tomorrow and stick to the grocery side of the store. Or not. I still have two nephews to buy for and I can't figure out what to get them.

Anyway I am not done with my Not Me Monday post because I am in a hurry. I just simply have nothing more to say. OK maybe not.

*** I would totally not post this and then come back 5 seconds later to say go post on my community please! I would really like $10 to be donated to Childrens hospital because I got 20 people to comment in my community. It's not just ten dollars from me. It's from everyone who gets that to happen on their communities so it's hopefully going to be a lot more than $10. Did that make sense? Probably not so just help me out and go comment. Thanks!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

BlogFrog is helping Childrens Hospitals




Blogfrog is going to help childrens hospitals by donating money. If I can get twenty new people to comment in my community, $10 will be donated. Every dollar helps these hospitals. We love our Primary childrens hospital. So help spread the love and leave a comment in my community. It's right over there on the left. Come on you know you want to!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Labels: , , , , , , ,

Friday, December 11, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

Five Question Friday 12/11/09

Welcome to 5 question Friday. I love this bloghop. It's fun to read what other people answer. Fun times. Anyway here it is. Thanks goes to Mama M. for hosting the party.

1. Does Santa wrap the presents he leaves at your house?



Yes and no. He wraps one present for each kid and then the rest are in the stockings. We want most of the focus to be on each other and not on Santa.



2. When is your "big" Christmas celebration...Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Tell us about it...



Depends on the year. When I was growing up we always went to my Grandma's house on Christmas Eve for a buffet dinner that included Oyster stew. Why it did I don't know. Maybe I should ask her. We opened up presents and had a good time. Then my parents would see some passing airplane and tell us it was Rudolph and that we had better hurry home. 


We'd wake up and do presents at home then head back over to Grandma's for brunch and eventually a big sit down dinner. 


This year I think we are doing Christmas Eve at my in-laws. Christmas morning with us and the kids and possibly dinner back at the in-laws. Then all my family is coming the day after Christmas. I'm excited and it will be tons of fun.




3.
Are you big on keeping tradition every year?


Yes. I love traditions but I also love doing new things. If they stick great we have a new tradition. If they don't well we just don't talk about it ever again!

4.
Do colored lights or white lights tickle your fancy?


I love white lights. John doesn't. I like stationary ones, he likes them to twinkle. So we have colored twinkling lights because I gave in and now I like them.


5.
Do you decorate outside your house for Christmas?


 Usually we do. Actually our lights never came down from the trees last year. But this year due to John's back surgery I'm not letting him up on a ladder in the snow and ice. So it's boring and a little sad but next year it will all be back.



MckLinky Blog Hop

        

Thursday, December 10, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

$98,986 plant



This is the plant that the surgeon had delivered to John after his back surgery. Yes it did look better than this when it was delivered. But then the sad little thing spent a month in my living room with hardly any natural light. So the day I threw it away it looked like this.

We got the bill from the hospital yesterday. Only took them 7 1/2 weeks to send it. It was for $98,986.00 and that did not include the titanium rods that were placed in his back. I believe the PA said they cost about $86,000 but since the doctor has a financial interest in the rods we would never see a bill for them. Since we haven't seen the surgeon since the day he performed the surgery I figure this was his way of saying thanks for choosing me to be your surgeon. Kind of funny to me that he would have a plant delivered to his patients after surgery. 

Thankfully because John is in the military we don't pay any part of that bill. It's always interesting to see what the cost is when we finally do get the bills though. Crazy that a three day stay at the hospital is just under $100,000. With Colby it generally takes 5 days to hit that price tag.

Anyway, kind of a random post just something that made me laugh over the last couple of days. 

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

Semi-wordless Wednesday




Can you guess how much this sad dead little plant cost? I wish I had a gift card for a contest or something but leave a comment guessing how much this plant cost and I'll post your name and blog on my next post. Plus I'll tell the brilliant story behind the sad little houseplant.

Monday, December 7, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

Not Me Monday 12/6/09



Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I would never upload videos just so that I had a not me monday post. That would be silly. I mean if you have nothing to say why not just say nothing right? Wrong. I can't do it. So here are some clips from my new video camera.

Colby had a lot of fun playing with Dad this weekend.


He loves to beat up poor Riley.



He also loves to fly. Dad should not be lifting him like this. It's bad for John's back but it's not like he listens to me!



We never promote violence towards snowmen in our family.


And while waiting for You Tube to upload my videos I was not stupid. I did not watch Colby's video again and cry. I wanted to hear his voice again for just a minute. Sometimes I'm a sucker for punishment. If you haven't seen it you can go here and watch it but don't say I didn't warn you.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

Silent Night Fight Filled Night

We usually go get hot chocolate and our Christmas tree then come home and decorate everything together. Laughing having a good time, enjoying the start of the Christmas season. Not so much this year. Colby was grumpy before we even left the house. John's back was hurting him. Jahnna didn't want the tree we got. We couldn't find any good ornaments for the kids. Skipped the hot chocolate and got Arby's instead. Oh well I guess it's the thought that counts.



Colby started out looking like this. He was pretty excited.




Jahnna started out looking like this.















Colby quickly (like 5 minutes quick) went to this.



20 minutes later looked like this.




Riley not listening and getting into the different boxes went from this to this.




She went to bed 15 minutes after this was taken.




Jahnna deep in concentration.



John also in deep concentration.



Someday my husband will listen to me when I tell him that the tree won't fit and we need a smaller one. I don't think our angel moroni has ever been straight on the top of the tree.



Almost done.




Stockings are hung with care.



Finally the reason we got it all done. Not sure why my pictures are all blurry. Maybe cause I'd had a few to many Mt. Dews. Just guessing.

Friday, December 4, 2009

My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://www.amundsenhouseofchaos.com
and don't forget to update your bookmarks.

5 Question Friday 12/4

Welcome to 5 question Friday. I love this bloghop. It's fun to read what other people answer. Fun times. Anyway here it is. Thanks goes to Mama M. for hosting the party.


Questions for Friday, December 4th:

1.
Favorite gift you are GIVING this year? 


Does getting to pick out a gift for yourself from someone else count? I can't actually say what the favorite one I'm giving is because it will ruin it for mom. So I went today and picked out a new little pocket camcorder for myself from my Aunt Cindi. Awesome deal! It was on sale at Shopko for $129.99 (originally $149.99) I had a $20 off a $100 purchase from the mail catalog. Then on top of it you got a $30 gift card at the register when you purchased it. 

So since I'm so stinking smart. I bought the camcorder and then turned around and used the gift card to buy the girls beanbags which were on sale for 1/2 off. I never get deals like  this. I was so excited. Plus the little camcorder actually has pretty good picture and it's all digital you just plug it into your usb port and you can upload right to the computer or to facebook or youtube. How awesome is that? 

I probably should stop saying awesome but I'm just so excited it's hard to stop. Here's a little test clip so you can see the picture quality. Dang maybe Shopko should pay me for such an awesome review. What do you think?

Test clip

2. How many parties are you attending between now and Christmas?

The recruiting station party possibly. I don't think we're going to the Ogden recruiting company party. To a birthday party for a friends one year old. I think that is about it.




3. What is your favorite Christmas song?


Vince Gills - breathe of heaven. I love that song. I like his version better but I could only find Amy Grants version. It's so beautiful. Plus it's taken on a bit of a new meaning to me since Colby's stroke. It makes me reflect on how much I knew about what would happen in our life before we came to earth. I do feel like this was something Colby agreed to before he was born. So if he agreed to it I must have agreed to it as well. Deep thoughts. Way deeper than I'm capable of today.


Amy Grant -Breathe of Heaven

 

4. Who was your favorite elementary school teacher and why?


I think her name was Ms. Maroni. I can't remember how awful is that? We made Oblik and other fun science stuff. Since our elementary school was also the middle school K-8 then my overall favorite teacher would have to be Mrs. Dennis. She made history come alive.

5. If you had a choice to live in any other period of time (other than now) what era would you choose and why?


I was starting to think probably the old west but then I really like modern medicine so I don't know. I guess I'm a wuss like that and like all the new stuff we have these days! 

That was fun. Thanks again Mama M.



MckLinky Blog Hop