Ammon

Ammon. When we were thinking of names for a baby while I was pregnant with our second child the name Ammon came up. He was a favorite missionary from the Book of Mormon for both of us, he is a favorite for a lot of people because, well, he's awesome! We had never intended to name one of our children something unusual  but Ammon just felt right. I was induced at 40 weeks and had what appeared to be a normal delivery. Ammon was a big baby, everything about him was big, hands, ears, head circumference. He slept through the night from day one and only woke up to nurse once every three hours during the day. I thought he was too tired though, I knew enough about babies to know that he was too sleepy.

When Ammon was about 3 months old he started to be more alert and was happy. It was easy to get a grin from him. He was fun. He was a floppy baby, carrying him was exhausting! It was even more exhausting as he didn't walk until he was 2. We also had trouble understanding anything he was saying. About this time we moved and we found a new pediatrician who began to suspect something was wrong. By this point I had a complex about Mothering! We moved again and joined the Air Force and met a nurse practitioner who referred us to a neurologist who informed us Ammon had suffered a stroke inutero or at birth, an MRI confirmed her diagnoses. I will always remember the moment the Doctor said stroke, I was shocked, can that happen to a baby? I was also relieved to know what was wrong, it was a like there was a weight lifted for a moment but then came the crashing reality that it was brain damage, it was permanent but fortunately it was mild . He began more occupational and physical therapy, he was already in speech and language therapy.

Ammon had the dearest most wonderful pre-school special education teacher in the world, Miss Patty, she was such a blessing. Miss Collette was his speech teacher, she taught Ricky as well, she was gifted. I think we moved to North Dakota for the boys, they needed Dakota Elementary on Minot Air Force base. Minot-now that's a whole other story!!

Ammon is 14 now, he is in 8th grade in middle school. He is the sweetest 14 year old I know. He is blessed with the very best of natures, he is handsome with dark brown eyes, he is a big guy! He is a little bit stubborn but has a great sense of humor, he is fun! He doesn't like school but he goes and the teachers like him. He would rather be home looking at his Pokemon collection and eating sandwiches and hanging out with his best friend, his brother Ricky. Ammon has taught us many things about patience, like, we need more of it. He detests contention of any kind and has a hard time when there is a trouble maker about. He also likes to point out the obvious. I remember sitting in a waiting room when Ammon started talking to a young man next us "Why is your nose so big?" says Ammon "I don't know" says the nice young man. I guess most kids do this but when your kid is not 4 anymore you are hoping and praying for the patience of the person on the spot. We learned recently from a respected pediatric neurologist that even if Ammon had not had a stroke he still would have had learning disabilities. We have decided Ricky and Ammon had come to this life the way they were supposed to, we are grateful for all they have taught us!

The photo below was taken at the Lincoln Museum, you should go, it was amazing. This photo of Ammon is a typical moment for him, with Ricky enjoying the joke!

Ricky

My new blogging resolve is to post something everyday. It's something I have wanted to do regularly, especially since our extended family is so spread out and are always so happy when we actually post something and also to inspire me to keep a more complete history of our family. My journal writing has suffered the past couple of years so to think that a few people might be counting on me to write something everyday will be a motivator to keep going. I am going to write about each of our children this week.

 Ricky. He was born in Payson Utah a couple of weeks early, he was not breathing too well at first, he had to stay in hospital for a couple of weeks with chemical pneumonia and group B strep infection. He was healthy otherwise and so cute, I remember one of the pediatricians (who I called the "Baywatch doctor" because he was handsome and confident) said that Ricky was handsome, he said he doesn't say that to all the Mothers and then he pointed out another baby that was not so handsome. I was flattered, my baby is gorgeous, I knew it! Of course I was absolutely heartbroken each day when I had to leave him there.

 One day I came in and he looked like a four ended cotton bud, his hands and feet were wrapped in white warm towels and they had been taped on. The nurse explained they were having trouble getting a good vein for an IV so they were trying to bring the veins to the surface. I was sent out of the room not long after and cried like a little girl into Rick's shoulder because I could not be there to comfort my baby. I remember looking down at Ricky in that little bed and thinking, he doesn't understand, is this what he thinks life is like? I couldn't wait to take him home and wrap him in soft blankets and hold him and nurse him and help him forget this place.

 Ricky was about one when we began to notice he was different, but he was also just like other kids, it's impossible to explain! Others tried to comfort us and told me not to worry, but a Mother knows, I doubted myself those first years, there were many dark moments, what am I doing wrong etc. He was tested for all kinds of things over the next five years. We heard about Aspergers, it was a brand new syndrome, not every doctor knew about it then. He was labelled with many things, somantic pragmatic disorder. pervasive developmental disorder. short term memory loss. Perhaps the lack of oxygen to brain at birth had caused damage, most babies die or suffer severe brain damage from a group B strep infection but since he was treated immediately with antibiotics he escaped the worst- we heard all kinds of theories from specialists. Eventually came the diagnoses of Aspergers and learning disabilities, we were told we would never know why. Why, it is pointless to ask it but we still do.

 So our dear Ricky is now 16, he is a sophomore in high school. He has struggled and floundered but also grown and become a wonderful young man, and he is still handsome, the Baywatch doctor was right! He is shorter than most guys his age but he has a strong build. He is unsure of many things but is absolutely sure of others. Morally he is a rock, you better not swear in his presence! He loves reading the Percy Jackson series, we eventually bought it for him. He likes the fact that Percy has what everyone in the world thinks is ADD but is actually part of his god like abilities, super powers. Ricky has an elaborate imaginary world he has created where he has numerous powers, it's been going on for about 10 years now. We don't know what the future holds for Ricky, we are trying to help him plan for the future but it's tricky. This is a whole other subject! So here is my favorite video from 2011, and now that you know a little about Ricky you will know why I cried when I saw it.

Well it's been over a year since I last posted. Why? Well for the very few that check here every now and again I have no explanation. I have been going through some tough spots in my life, a lot happened in 2011. Perhaps I didn't want to post about the not so fantastic things but I may in the future. We had a family photo taken in the fall. I figured this was a good place to start my return. I should say here that I love my husband Rick, he is a spectacular man and I know I am very fortunate to have him in my life. I have 5 wonderful beautiful children, I forget how blessed I am to have them even though I find them exhausting at times! 2012 is going to be great!

White Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas. Lots of parties. We received some lovely gifts and had the chance to relax and be together. We have had a crazy year and needed some time out, especially Rick who has had a lot going on. Last Christmas we got a dusting of snow and we were thrilled about it. This year we got an even bigger treat when we got about 2 inches of snow on Christmas Eve! It was not a ton but it was enough to go sledding and make the world a winter wonderland. This was what our yard looked like Christmas Eve.


The kids had to wait a while for us to get out of bed Christmas morning as Simon and Rachel had a restless night and we were up late finishing the wrapping etc. As you can see they were anxious to open presents.


Ammon with his Pokemon Wii game. They combined his two loves!


Ricky with his Sonic Wii game and controller. He had a great day playing video games with Ammon and Bridgette


Bridgette on her skateboard?? This was the one request I was confused by, she wanted a skateboard so Santa granted her request. We shall see how this turns out.


Simon with his Thomas the tank engine set, he loves it and will not be separated from his trains now.


Rachel with her little activity centre. She was busy getting into everyone elses toys on Christmas day.


I made homemade eggnog and Rick was trying to polish it off. This is a joke by the way, he just wanted to illustrate how good it was. I made it for a party we had gone to the night before and everyone was loving it. It really is a once a year treat as the calories are off the charts.

Christmas morning videos for the grandparents. The last video was taken after I set up the nativity sets and Simon was playing with them, it was so cute.

Surprise!

So about two weeks ago we get this phone call from Rick's parents saying they were on their way to see us. We were in shock but so excited. We had not seen Rick's Dad in three years or his Mum since she came to help after Simon was born. We decided not tell the kids and let the Grandparents surprise them. It took them a couple of days to get here from Utah so I was dying to tell the kids but I held it in. Rick on the other hand was relishing it all and even had them outside writing notes to Grandma and Grandpa on the driveway saying it was to imagine what they would say to their grandparents if they could see them today! The kids still didn't catch on. It was a sweet moment when they saw their grandparents and even Simon seemed to know he was supposed to love these people instantly. Rachel needed to some warming up though.

We headed to Nauvoo the next day and spent the night there and the day after seeing the sights. We had a wonderful time, we love Nauvoo Illinios, it is an LDS church history site and it has a very special feeling I can't quite explain but I think it has a lot to do with the temple.

Grandma and Grandpa stayed on another night but we had to get back to St Louis. It was a quick trip but I am grateful for those few days and what it meant to our children.

Our children have only seen my parents a few times in their life, Bridgette has only met them once and of course Simon and Rachel have not met them yet so it makes me very happy to have seen them with their Utah grandparents. I have come to realize how important it is for children to have people in their lives besides their parents who adore them or who at least take an interest in them.

Here are some pictures of the Nauvoo trip. If you ever come this way we would be happy to show you this wonderful place.

Tots, trees and toes!

Our Ricky has been battling with an infected ingrown toenail. Last week he had it taken care of at the podiatrist and is much happier. We have to soak it day and night which is a little challenging before seminary but it's looking good. The bandage came off after one day but he had to soak it to get it off. We thought it looked like a clown nose.


2010

2008

The tree I see from our kitchen window is a real treat each fall. It has grown a bit in a couple of years


A video for the Grandparents of the babies.



By the way it takes a long time to download a video to blogger. I unloaded the dishwasher, folded and changed a load of laundry and picked up the living room which is in the process of being trashed again by Simon! All while the video downloaded.

Highland Games

St Louis Scottish Games. We all loved it. In fact we keep talking about it. Rick and I love the bagpipes and there was plenty of that going on the whole day.

One field was devoted to the pipers and drummers and they played the whole day. It was amazing.

This was part of the games, the log toss, it has a more technical name but I don't have time to search for that right now. Look close and you can see the log in midair.

Re-enacting a black knight fight.

The parade of clans with a military parade as well. Some of the veterans were very elderly so there was a little difficulty with the turns! They were proud scots!

The english car club trotted out the MGB's. My Dad passed on his love of these gorgeous cars to me.

Release the hounds.There were scottish terriors there as well.

I wish we had taken more pics. There were birds, sheep, dancing, and most importantly cornish pasties and sausage rolls, fabulous. It reminded me of Australia and made me think of my family and our scottish heritage, is that why the bagpipes sounded so good to me? Whatever you did this past weekend was not as wonderful as what we did. Okay, maybe you had a great weekend too but I had to show you what we did (Besides listen to an excellent General Conference of course). Here are some videos we took if you need some bagpipe therapy.