Blog is okay!

As you know, we thought there might be some problems with my blog a couple of weeks ago. Turns out I think it is okay. They only problem is if you go in the comment section and see a comment from someone that says click here or click here don't do it! It may be something that was put on in an attempt to get you to download a virus. I have spoken to a few other people who have had this happen. I have started to moderate the comments before they are posted so hopefully I will catch them before they get out there, but just in case don't click on anything that you are not sure of the sender. If you are the icky person who does this kind of thing to other people's blogs, GO AWAY!!!!!

So enjoy and if you ever find any problem let me know so I can take care of it, please!

A lesson in patience....

Now when you all see the title of this post I bet you are all thinking, "Uh, oh! Chan is coming to the end of a three week stretch without Jamy home, the kiddos must be driving her nuts and she is ready to pack it in!" Not so my friends. Actually, a beautiful thing happened at our house today that allowed me to teach the kiddos a quick lesson in how amazing the rewards for being patient can be.

The story starts last summer. As many of you know, Abby is notorious for being a mother hen. The kid will adopt anything, wrap it in a blanket, name it and proceed to love it, if not to death, at least to a place close to death. Last summer, we had all sorts of new adoptees at our house. A couple of slugs, a baby frog, many bugs, and lots and lots of catepillars. Abby kept coming home with so much stuff that I eventually bought her a little bug house where she could keep the critters for a day or so and watch them. Toward the end of the summer she caught four different catepillars. The very night she put them in her bug box they cocooned themselves up and that was that. We waited and watched and nothing ever happened. Summer turned into fall and fall into winter. Every week or so I would peek in there thinking that I ought to clean that bug box out. I never did, though, because I remembered some caterpillars take quite awhile to become whatever they are destined to become.

So today, we got home from our world travels and I started unpacking bags. I was putting some books away in Abby's room while the kids were playing. I happened to look down at that bug box and inside was the most beautiful luna moth. If you have never seen a luna moth you are really missing out. They are gorgeous! They are an incredible shade of soft green and so delicate. I put a picture of one on this post, but it doesn't really do them justice. The kids were over the top excited. Then tonight when I was putting them to bed I looked in there and a second one had come out! What a gift for the kiddos to be able to see such a beautiful transformation. We talked about how beautiful they are and how it was so much fun to wait all winter wondering what was in those little cocoons. Maybe, just maybe the kids picked up a little lesson in how beautiful things can come to you in life if you just have some belief and some patience.

So another really great memory was made tonight. I hope the kids hang onto it and everytime they see a luna moth as they grow up they get a warm feeling from their childhood.

Hello from Ocean Springs, MS

Howdy folks! Me and the youngins are down here in Mississippi vistin' with some of our kin folk while Pa is off over yonder fighting in the big war. Ooops, sorry the locals are rubbing off on me.

Well, we made it to Misssissippi yesterday just fine. The 20 hour trip with the kiddos didn't go to bad at all. We had some minor battles at the start of the trip as everyone tried to contain their excitement and settle in for the long haul. Once we got those ironed out the kids did fabulous. We drove until we felt the kids needed a break and then stopped and let them play. Yesterday, for the second half of the trip they were amazing! It was very stormy and yucky weather for almost the whole drive so they only actually got out at a park one time! They were sooooo good. We played and colored and read and played and colored and read and played.......well you get the idea. I actually only had to bust out the movies about an hour each day and that was at the very end in the evenings as we were finding places to stop for the night.


Today, we took Dad over to see his sister. It was great! We surprised her. For those of you who don't know, she is dying and this is probably the last time they will see each other. She didn't know we were coming so was very shocked when she came down her hallway and saw us standing there. She is on oxygen and moves very slowly with a walker so it took her an eternity to get across the living room, but her eyes never left Dad and when she got to him she grabbed him up in a huge hug. Tear jerker!!!

The kiddos had been cooped up and waiting to go to the ocean (the Gulf) so we left Dad and headed to the beach. We found it but everyone was getting tired for naps. We checked it out a bit and then came back to the hotel for naps. After some rest it was off to Walmart to get some beach toys and then off to the beach.

If you have never taken your young children to the ocean get off your rear and do it right now! I will treasure the memory of the joy on their faces for the rest of my life. They were amazed by the whole experience. Abby says the water tastes, "fresh and salty"

They started out playing up on the sand. It was only 50 degress out so too chilly for swimming right? Wrong!! Pretty soon, we put our fingers in the water to taste it. Since our fingers were wet we might as well step in it a bit. Now our shoes are a little wet so hey let's step on in a bit more. Aw, heck our pant cuffs are a little damp might as well go for the gold. Pretty soon, we were running through the water, splashing and having a great time. I felt bad pulling them out of there but after a little bit I was afraid they would freeze to death. We played on the beach while the sun went down. It was a beautiful sunset. I am a mountains kind of girl, but I tell ya, you just can't beat the sun setting over the ocean. That is when you really know God is there and watching over you. The only missing piece is that Daddy wasn't there to see it all. We miss him a bunch and can't wait to bring him to the ocean too.

Well, I will try to get pictures up tomorrow but for now better get to sleep.

See ya all soon!

Skylar: Splishing and Splashing

So, it has taken me days and days to get YouTube to cooperate, but here is the new video of Skylar! Abby helped make this one so it was even more fun to do. I will work on some from ice skating soon.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

God is a blogger!!

So apparently God does read my blog. Shocking I know!! After I posted last time about being a bit stir crazy, the very next day it got to 60 degrees here for just a few hours. It was Valentine's Day so the kids and I jumped on it, grabbed our coats, packed a picnic and went to the lake for a Valentine's picnic. It was so fun to get out and watch them enjoy.

Of course, at about 2:30 that afternoon as we were driving home the wind shifted to the north and the temp dropped 15 degrees in 20 minutes. By the time it was all done the temp dropped 25 degrees in just under two hours. It was like something out of that movie, The Day After Tomorrow! Brrrrr..............

But we got out of the house and all is right in the world again. We had some great fun this weekend with Daddy and a day out in KC. I will post more pictures and hopefully some video of that outing later!

Cabin Fever!!!

For Heaven's Sake!!!!! Where the heck is spring? There is a good chance by the time it gets here I will be sporting one of those cool jackets that has the arms that tie behind you, sitting in a corner, bouncing my head off of the wall, and singing old Michael Jackson songs over and over. Dang! What is up with all of this cold weather? You know when I was working I remember being tired of the cold weather about this time of year, but I never remember feeling like pulling my hair out. Now that I am staying at home with these three beautiful children who look up at me with their little eyes all full of expectations just burning to find out what cool adventure Mom has planned for today, if it doesn't warm up soon I may go nutty. There are only so many forts you can build, pictures you can color, dances you can make up and cookies you can bake before the mommy just flat runs out of creativity.

Today those darn weather forecasters promised a much warmer day. Okay, granted it was 20 degrees warmer than yesterday but it still was only in the low 40s. Not warm enough for Skylar to stay outside all afternoon and play. Abby and Weston went out and played for awhile but came back in with little frozen noses. I decided to throw a bubble beach party to kill some time. We put on swimming suits, filled the tub with bubbly water, brought in some music and "swam" for an hour! They had a good time but kept asking if they could go get some sand to build sand castles in the bathroom. I almost let them!!! That is how far I am reaching nowadays!

It used to be that when the weather got too cold we would go somewhere. Lawrence had way more ways to entertain the kiddos than Osage City! Now though, it seems that there is so much awful sickness going around I hate to take them to any of the kiddy places. With my luck, they will get sick and then we will really be stuck inside.

Don't get me wrong, I can't imagine doing anything but staying home with the kids. I just think a few warm days would keep me out of the looney bin!

Sorry, no pictures of the beach party. They were adorable, but of course I left the camera downstairs! I really am slipping!

I also wanted to say a "Happy 22nd Birthday" to my cousin Nicholas. Nicholas was an amazing little boy who was killed when he was eight years old. It is hard to believe that today he would be 22. Where does the time go? So often when I am parenting my kids I think of him and think how special they are and what a miracle it is to be blessed with the responsibility of raising them. Nicholas's memory helps me to be a better parent. So to my Aunt and Uncle, Barb and Keith, thank you for giving us all such a special blessing. He may no longer be with us in the way that we wish he could be, but he will never be forgotten and his influence has gone on into the next generation.

Keep warm, kiss someone you love and Happy Valentine's Day!!

And so here we are.....

So it has been an exciting, frustrating week at the Dunbar house. Abby started puking on last Sunday, Skylar started on Wednesday, Weston blew on Thurs., Jamy and I rounded out the pukin' on Friday. Good news the bug only lasted a few hours for each of us, but yuck while it was here!

In the midst of the puke I got to go a few rounds with some people at the neurology clinic at Children's Mercy. I won't give you all of the frustrating details as they are too numerous to count. Someday maybe I will write a book and give you all a discount on a copy. Basically, on Tuesday we got the update from her pediatrician that I wrote about this week. Somewhat abnormal EEG, but probably nothing to worry about, go on with life. Yippeee!!! He did want me to confer with Children's just to make sure they weren't seeing something he didn't since they are the "experts". I called them. Noone called me back. Finally, after two days I called them back on Thursday. Got bounced all over the place, noone could figure out who her doctor was, who ordered the test or who could give me the results. Insert a day of lots of confusion, frustration and anxiety here. Finally, talked to the on-call neurologist that night. Guy has the beside manner of a skunk! He says.....EEG shows abnormal spikes consistent with someone prone to have seizures. I say....Okay we know she is prone to have febrile seizures so we are good right? He says....No someone with febrile seizures has a normal EEG. This is different. I say.....HUH and what does that mean? He says.....She may or may not have a seizure disorder. I am thinking......Gee, glad we paid you all that money to clear that one up. After a very frustrating, circular phone call with this guy I come away with......we won't know unless she starts having seizures not associated with fevers if something is wrong. Nothing to do but wait.
Gotta love a diagnosis like that. But sooooo much better than an outright your daughter has epilepsy and we need to get her on some mind numbing drugs right this minute. So that God for that.


I called her pediatrician back the next day who basically clarified that the other doctor was pretty much saying the same thing our doctor was, just in a much less reassuring way.

So here is where we are.......Abby is at a slightly higher risk of developing a seizure disorder because she has complex febrile seizures. She is also at a slightly higher risk of developing a seizure disorder because she has some abnormal spikes on her EEG. Something like 8% of the general population also show these spikes and never develop anything though. So for now, we do nothing except thank God for such a good diagnosis and pray that nothing more ever comes of it. We all just continue to let her be a normal kid doing normal kid things. For Jamy and I there will always be a little undercurrent of anxiety wondering if the other shoe is going to fall, but we will not worry about it anymore than we have to. Our kids could get stricken with much worse things at any minute and I am not going to spend my life worry about everyone of them. That is a good way to miss out on all of the good times.

So for now, please everyone say a prayer for Abby and remember her in your prayers from time to time. I am confident that no matter what comes of this she will grow to be an amazing person surrounded by lots of love and God will help us to help her become that person.

Take care and have a great beautiful evening. Finally, the weather here is warm so "YeeHaw!"