Not As Easy As I Thought...

So, I had this great idea. Picture this with me if you will:

We're going to place the miniature wooden rocking chair in front of the fully decorated Christmas tree. Then we'll take the tallest present and stand up behind the chair. On the other side of the chair we'll put "Snowflake Jake" (Home & Garden Snowman). Now sitting in the chair a cute little boy dressed in his very own Santa suit.

Now that would make a cute picture, don't you think???

Well, I've since learned it may have been a good idea, but it's not as easy as it sounds for the following reasons:

1) Santa didn't want to sit up in the chair.


2) Santa was very interested in trying to eat "Jake", and with everything else going on around him.


3) Santa gives some strange faces. I had a very hard time getting him to even attempt to smile.


4) Finally you just get fed up with the whole idea and you're happy with any shot that can even remotely be called decent. That being said, these were the best shots of the bunch.



So, this was a learning experience. Definitely not as easy as I thought, but we still ended up with some decent pictures. Maybe next year will go a little smoother. Here's hoping!!!

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town...

Well, I guess to be accurate, Santa Claus already came to town. My mother-in-law is very good friends with a man that plays Santa Claus each year. He used to migrate to New York every year to play the role of Santa Claus in some of the department stores up there, but the last few years he's been staying local instead. He really looks the part, and it's all him (no padding, no fake beard).

On Thursday, December 3, 2009 my mother-in-law got it set up for him to come to their hometown (Centerville, Kansas) to play Santa Claus for the town. She insisted that my husband & I bring Dakota up (about 45 minutes away), because it's his first Christmas, so he just had to see Santa Claus.

We made the trip, and I was fully expecting for it not to go well. The way their town does it, is they serve a supper at the town hall first, then they have door prize drawings, then Santa Claus arrives courtesy of the fire department. We got there early, but Dakota was very fussy. Mostly due to the fact that this fell in the middle of his nap time. I tried to settle him down, but it was so loud in the building, and there was just so much going on, that it just wasn't going to be possible.

Long story short, Santa finally arrived, and my son went from fussing/crying to openly staring at this complete stranger. He was absolutely captivated from the moment "Santa" entered the building. He followed his every movement. When Santa finally took his seat to begin meeting the children, he grabbed Dakota first. This is when I really expected a crying fit, but to my utter amazement, he went right to him. He sat on his lap for quite some time while Santa visited with some of the adults standing around.

Here is a picture of our first visit to Santa Claus.


So, our first visit was a success. We can only hope that his attitude doesn't change and that this type of experience always goes so smoothly.

Blogging Catch-Up...

Well, I thought it was time that I get back on here. I've been following along with all of your lives, but just haven't had the time to write about my own.

My little guy is growing so fast. We had a very nice Thanksgiving. We made the journey from Southeast Kansas to Northeast Missouri. That's right, I finally made it back up "home". We left Kansas about 11:30 Wednesday morning and arrived in Downing about 6-6:30 that evening. For the most part, we had a pretty good trip. We stopped around Sedalia to feed Dakota and refill the gas tank. Then we stopped again at Columbia to top both Dakota & the tank off again. We stopped at Macon because Dakota was tired of riding and wanted out of his seat, then we continued on. Overall, he didn't do too bad. He's a pretty good traveler. He spent most of the time asleep, but it worked out.

Thursday we had the typical Thanksgiving feast; followed by that typical over-fed, drowsy, miserable feeling. We did an early Christmas with my family, as it was the last time we would all be together for a while (we won't be back up until next year sometime & my sister Kayla flew out of Kansas City on Black Friday to join her husband in Honduras). My little Dakota was very much the center of attention. He enjoyed showing off & bonding with everyone. His Aunt Tracy bought him a Precious Planet Rainforest/Safari jumper, and he LOVES it!!!! He spent the majority of the weekend jumping and laughing.

The only downside in my opinion was my little man had some nasal congestion before we made the trip up, which his doctor said sounded like allergies, and to start him on 1/2 tsp of Zyrtec daily. So, we did that, but by Wednesday night/Thursday morning he had developed a cough that definitely wasn't allergies, that was sounding down deeper in the lung area. I didn't want to wait until we could get back home to see his doctor, so on Friday, we ended up going to Lancaster to see Beverly Oliver. She put him on Amoxicillian & Albuterol Nebulizer Breathing Treatments for the next 10 days. He's definitely getting a little better, and the breathing treatments are keeping everything broke up. Hopefully, at the end of the cycle we'll be all better. I called yesterday to update his doctor, and he said he would follow-up with him at the end of the cycle, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I too had a few problems. I normally have no trouble with sinus/allergies; however, the first night up there, I was very congested, so I saw the doctor too. I'm also on Amoxicillian, but mine is much better already.

We also switched my little man from his Graco SnugRide Infant Car Seat to a brand spanking new (and expensive I might add) Britax Boulevard Convertible Car Seat. I have to say, I believe that he very much prefers the new big boy seat opposed to the before mentioned infant seat. At first I was a little concerned about what I was getting since I had never seen one in person. I bought this seat online, and was hoping it was well worth the money they were asking for it. Once I saw it though, it is a very nice, comfy car seat.

We came back home on Sunday. It was great to see everyone again, but it was also great to get back home! Now that we're back home, I need to get everything put up, I need to clean & rearrange the living room, and when I'm done with that, put up all the Christmas stuff.

Busy, busy, busy.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Here's to a Merry Christmas!!!

My How Time Flies...

I guess that old saying "time flies when you're having fun" really is true. As of today, we've added yet another year to the marriage category. Yep, that's right, today's our anniversary. We've been married for 7 years now.

It's amazing the little details you can still remember about a specific occasion, but certain other details or facts you can't remember if your life depended on it. I still remember that we didn't want a big fuss, we wanted something simple. Therefore, we decided not to give anyone much notice. We told his parents the weekend before the ceremony. We were at their house visiting, they said "so, what are you doing next weekend?" James said, "I don't know about you, but we're getting married." You'd have thought we'd dropped a major bomb, as there was complete silence. My group was happy for us, but couldn't make the trip down to join us.

We proceeded on with the week. We planned a very simple ceremony: pastor, bride, groom, witnesses; and that's it. However, then we got that old lecture of: "it's rude not to invite the family", so they ended up telling grandparents and everyone else. Therefore, our wedding of the planned 5 people turned into a wedding of about 50 people. Looking back on it, I guess that was alright. One thing did go as expected, I told everyone we were NOT dressing up, and we didn't! We wore jeans & dress shirts (men) & sweaters (women) as it was raining that day. Not exactly what I wanted, but it still turned out alright.

We've had 7 great years so far (married), we've actually been together for 9 years. I have to say, that this year, with the addition of our son - Dakota to our family, we both agree that this year has been the best one so far. That being said, here's to many more to come!!!

Happy Anniversary, Honey! I love you!!!

The Long Road To Recovery...

Well, what a year it's been for our family! Exactly one year ago today (October 7, 2008), my sister Tracy Ketchum (then 17 - now 18) was in a near-fatal car accident East of Lancaster. It had rained really hard that morning, and on her way to school, she ended up hydroplaning and going sideways down the road. She eventually ended up losing control of the car and it rolled a couple of times before coming to rest up on its side in a pretty deep drainage ditch. We later found out that several people had drove past the scene without even knowing that she was there, so it's very hard to tell exactly how long she would have been there if a truck driver from Glenwood Elevator hadn't seen the accident and immediately called it in to dispatch. My sister, Carrie Orr (who drives the headstart bus) came upon the scene of the accident, so she called one of her co-workers to bring her car and come and get the headstart children and the bus and take them on into the Glenwood center while leaving her car at the scene so that she could stay there until they got Tracy out of the car. Well, unfortunately, extraction took a while. Tracy was driving a Buick Century, and the doors automatically lock after reaching a certain speed, so as a result, all the doors were locked with the windows up. The fire department still had not managed to get into the vehicle by the time the Schuyler County ambulance arrived on the scene, so Michelle Fry (EMT) took it upon herself to bust out the windshield and enter the vehicle that way.

So, after finally getting in the vehicle, they stabilized her and finally extracted her from the car. They had to open and stabilize her airway, and they knew by her symptoms that she had sustained a severe head injury and that due to the position she was in that she was deprived of oxygen to the brain for an unknown amount of time. Before you ask, yes she was wearing her seat belt, but it was the model that came out of the door, and while it kept her from flying forward, it offered absolutely no support from side to side. So, the ambulance departed for Kirksville, where my mom was already at work (she drives one of the OATS buses), so she met Tracy at the hospital. Almost immediately upon arriving at Kirksville, the staff there decided that she needed more help than they could provide, so they decided to transfer her to University Hospital in Columbia. Due to her condition, they requested life-flight, but due to the continuing bad weather (rain & fog), they were unable to fly. So, they ended up transferring her via the trauma ambulance instead. In the meantime, my sister (Carrie) and my step-dad arrived at Kirksville to get mom and they all departed for Columbia.

However during all this, they had forgot to call me and tell me what was going on. The way that I found out was I received a text from my cousin while I was at work that read "Grandma just told me about Tracy, when you know how she is let me know". I was like what the heck is going on, so I called my sister (Carrie) and said what's going on, I just got a strange text, at which point they filled me in and said that it's bad and that they would get back with me when they knew more.

When they arrived at Columbia, as you can imagine, it was to a host of one doctor after another. They met her entire team: neurology, trauma, respiratory, etc. Of course, in a situation such as this, they never want to give you much hope. They informed them that it was a severe head injury (the same type you would see as a result of shaken baby syndrome), and that they didn't know if she would make it. However, that if she did live, she would most likely be a vegetable for the rest of her life. So, after getting this update, and knowing just how bad it was, I left for Columbia almost immediately of getting home. I arrived in Columbia at about 9:30 that evening. Upon getting there, they immediately let me in to see her, of course she wasn't aware of anything as she was in a full-blown coma in the ICU. (These pictures were taken on October 8th).



I stayed there the rest of that week and weekend, but then had to return to work. My parents and sister (Carrie) stayed there pretty much the entire time. When I was up, we rented hotel rooms for the extra people. My parents were able to get into the local Ronald McDonald house just down the street, so that saved them some on expenses. I came back every weekend while she was in ICU, and there were many ups & downs during that time. She had a lot of posturing (typical in head injuries). They put a trach in as it would be easier for them to suction therefore drastically reducing the risk of pneumonia. Late one night we got the cardiology team called in because her heart-rate jumped to 210 bpm, and they said they needed to get it down or it could cause her to have a heart attack. They wanted permission to try an IV drug, so we gave consent. They said if it didn't work by morning that they wanted to stop her heart & restart it by shocking it back to a normal rhythm. Luckily, she came out of it with just the medicine, so we didn't have to resort to that.

The coma lasted for 3-1/2 weeks. During that time the team from Rusk Rehabilitation started coming over to the hospital to work with her to try to build up her muscle strength and control. Before she was out of the coma, Rusk's team decided to transfer her to their facility. They were afraid that they were losing too much ground waiting around on the hospital. So, we transferred to Rusk, and they started working with her everyday. Upon entering rehab, she couldn't use the right side of her body very much at all. They had to re-teach her a lot of things: walking, talking, eating, etc. However, about one week before Christmas she had made enough progress that she had finally got to come home. I was traveling back & forth every other weekend until I found out around Thanksgiving that I was pregnant, then the travel became a little too much for me.



She was thrilled to be home. They started her on physical therapy at the Scotland County Hospital three days a week. In January, there was a tutor that came to the house to home-school her, and she was still able to go ahead and graduate with the rest of her class in May 2009.


As of now, a year later, she still attends physical therapy three days a week. She still has difficulty with her right wrist/hand as well as a significant limp when walking on her right leg. Her speech is a little slow and slurred, but if you take the time to listen, you can understand her just fine. She also had trouble with her right eye, but other than being a little sluggish, it has come back almost 100%.



In September she enrolled at North Central (in Trenton) for a couple of their online courses. Her doctor didn't want her on campus, and didn't want her taking more than 6 credit hours. So, she is still at home, and taking college reading & sociology this semester. She's had a long road to recovery, but I couldn't be happier for her. She's worked very hard to get where she is today. She's not 100% yet, she may never be, but considering what the alternative could have been, we're very pleased with her progress!!!

Weekend Plans Cancelled...

Well, we were all set to return to Schuyler County this weekend to attend the Downing Appreciation Days, but now those plans have been cancelled.

My little Dakota was pretty fussy last night, but I couldn't figure out why. He wasn't running a fever, but you just couldn't seem to make him happy. I was up most of the night with him (by myself as my husband works the night shift). I kept rocking him, walking with him, feeding him; which all seemed to work for a while, he would go back to sleep, then wake up an hour or two later crying again. It made for a long night, but when getting him ready for daycare this morning, he was still not running a fever and he was out like a light.

I bundled him up and dropped him at daycare around 6 am. About 8:15 daycare called me to tell me he was really fussy and was running a temperature of 100.1. Therefore, I made the 30 minute drive to daycare to pick him up, then made the 30 minute drive back to town to get him in to see his pediatrician. I was honestly pretty worried with all the swine flu going around. Well, we finally got in to see his doctor, and his doctor said he had a little bit of congestion (he thought), so he sent him for a 2-view chest x-ray. They also decided to do a nasal swab (which he hated) to test for the flu. The doctor was pretty confident he didn't have the swine flu, but just wanted to rule it out.

My husband met us at the doctors office. I returned to work when everything was done, and he took my car and Dakota home. They'll come back for me this afternoon, and then I'll go home to take care of my baby. The doctors office has already called me back. They said the chest x-rays looked good, no trouble there. However, he did test positive for flu "b". I asked what the heck that was, and the nurse said there is 2 main types of flu they are testing for "a" & "b". The nurse said flu "b" is the lesser of the 2. So, I guess if he had to get one, this is the one to get. They said the only thing to do is regular systematic treatment (try to keep the fever down and keep him hydrated), and it will run its course.

So, nothing too serious, but we've decided we're not traveling 7-8 hours with a sick baby. So, our weekend plans are now cancelled. So, those of you that I normally see, we'll try to catch up with you some other time.

Weekend Plans...

Well, Labor Day weekend has come and gone, and man was it a busy weekend. We managed to get everything accomplished that we had planned. Here is the low-down:

We entered Dakota into the Uniontown Old Settlers Reunion baby contest. I have to say, theirs was conducted differently than any I had ever been to. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't impressed with how they ran theirs. For starters, I think every baby contest I've ever been to was broken up into 3 month categories; well Uniontown broke theirs into 6 month categories. Secondly, on all the contests that I've attended, the judges set out in front of the babies, and they come up and interact with them a little. The judges were always separate from the people that registered the babies. Well, in Uniontown, the judges were the same 2 women that registered the babies into the contest. Also, they were seated behind the babies, and they never came up and looked at them or interacted with them at all. I have to say, I didn't care for how this baby contest was conducted. Now that I've ranted about that, I will say that Dakota did win 2nd place in the 0-6 month boys category.

The daycare that Dakota attends, "Imagination Station", entered a themed float into the Uniontown Old Settlers Reunion parade. The theme for this year was "pride & progress". The daycare requested that any child that was available to ride the float to please do so. So, after the completion of the baby contest, Dakota and I walked the 3-4 blocks to the bus barn where they were lining everyone up for the parade. We rode on the float with all the daycare teachers and approximately 15-18 of the 30 kids that are enrolled into the daycare center. It was very foggy here during the baby contest, and that made it pretty cool weather wise, but about 20 minutes before the parade started, the fog cleared and it got really hot & humid. They had us out in the open waiting for the parade to start. There wasn't any shade anywhere around us. I tried to keep Dakota out of the sun as much as I could. He did get a slight sunburn on his cheeks and nose, but it was gone the next day, so luckily it wasn't bad at all. Dakota decided he was just plain wore out - its hard work waiting around you know, so he fell asleep and remained asleep through the entire parade. When the parade was over, he decided it was now time to eat. So, that sums up our Labor Day. By the way, the daycare's float won 1st place, which earned them $100.

As for this weekend, I can hardly wait. This weekend we're coming back to Schuyler County. We're coming back up home to attend the Downing Appreciation Days. I'm taking Friday off as a vacation day, so we will be leaving Kansas about 5 am, and depending on how many times we have to stop with Dakota (this is our 1st long trip with him) then we should be there by 1-2 pm. I'm sure I'll see a few of you lingering around. I normally run into at least Andrea, Kristina, Kenny, Nick, Crystal, Mandy, Ember & Leah, but I may catch a few more. I try to always make it back home for Appreciation Days. It is the last time that I see my family for the year, and so we try to make the rounds and visit with everyone. This year we'll be entering Dakota into the Appreciation Days baby contest too. Whether he wins or not, we'll have a good time. Hopefully, it won't be too hot, and if it is, I hope I can keep him out of the direct sunlight. So, we'll be up that way by Friday afternoon, and then we'll be leaving to come back home sometime Sunday morning as my husband has to work Sunday night. So, whatever your plans, if I see you, I'll be sure to say hi. If I don't notice you, but you see me, say hi too. See ya soon - maybe!!!