Koeman update

The twins had grand parents day.  I got to help with juice and cookies.  It brought tears to my eyes to watch.  I didn't feel bad because there was another mom crying too. These kids are so passionate!  It's absolutely amazing to witness!  Love them! 

What happens when a farmer runs over his lunch box and water jug?  Yup, Steve calls and says guess where my lunchbox and water jug are?  In a million pieces in the field. You're suppose to take those off the tractor tires before you leave with the tractor.  Silly boy.  So off to Meijer, (because a lunch box is kinda an emergency).  The girls had to text him a picture to make sure he approved.  His water jug has pink on it.  They thought that was soooo funny :)

FIELD TRIP!!!  The twins had a field trip to Post farms.  Very fun and cute.  They LOVED it!  I am loving having these two.  I don't know if it's because they are my last ones this age or just life experiences but parenting at 38 is more fun than parenting in my 20's (just my opinion).  When I was younger I felt rushed, structured, very agenda driven.  Our thought process has changed and this is just fun!!

 Mystery dinner!  Some friends and I went to a Mystery Dinner.  We had to dress up for the Roaring 20's.  WHOOO HOOOO!  It was very fun.  We are not really good detectives, but we looked GOOD and we had FUN!  That's all that matters :)

 This is what I found in my fridge.  At our house, we know not to eat the strawberries.  They are Brooke's.  Well I had just bought these and thinking they were still in the container I took them out.  All EATEN strawberry hulls.  GROSS!  Brooke ate them all, down to the tops and put them back.  I texted this picture to my mom and was like, "what the world?"

 I then walked into the bathroom to help the twins wash their hair and I find THIS on the shelf.  2 hunks of turkey!  I said, "Brooke what are you doing?"  She said, "Well, I can't eat it in the bath tub, so I'm saving it for after."  I am now scared to open any cupboards.  Who knows what she has hiding.  With that being said the feeding tube is scheduled to be removed Dec 16.  We have a date, and she's super excited! (for it to be gone, not for surgery) 

 Last but not least, the 1st paper is what the twins came home with from school.  November 7 a FATHER/DAUGHTER preschool night. The twins were SOOOO excited to show me and can't wait to show Steve.  The girls are young and this is their 1st year in school.  They don't really understand, during harvest daddy works.  NOTHING stops him.  We don't try to stop him.  We had Leah in October. Steve took off for the birth and then Leah and I were in the combine with him (no lie).  So I tired to let them down easily and explain this.  They are NOT taking WORK for an answer.  They even pleaded, "he won't take off work for one hour to be with us."  Oh boy!  So below is also their note to him (with Megan's help).  I called Steve to warn him.  The note lays on the table and awaits him tonight.  The girls even have their outfits laid out.  I honestly have no idea how this will play out.  I told the girls I will take them and their response was, "mom's aren't allowed, our teacher said so."  I'm hoping this plays out in their favor or we may all cry :(  I'll keep ya posted!

Mini Me!

I'm not sure my daughter likes that label, but it's been said time and time again.  If you saw pictures of me when I was young, their is a very strong resemblance.  Today my mini me turned 15.  Holy cow!  I remember bringing her home from the hospital and feeling so inadequate!  Steve always laughed and reminded me I was a pediatric nurse (at that time).  I wasn't worried about killing her :)  I was worried about messing her up.  What did I know about parenting?  Nothing!!  These kids come with no instructions.  My fear was that she has to talk to a psychiatrist someday and starts out with, "you won't believe how my mom raised me......."   hehehe  Well, I'm over that now.  I have just learned to have fun with this whole parenting business.  I know there are things I've screwed up on. I try to apologize as soon as I realize what I did.  But I am also stubborn, like her, and some things I'm just pretty sure I'm right about.  Poor kid. 

Happy Happy Birthday, sweet sweet Leah Rosa!  Thank you for teaching me how to be a mama.  And having patience with me.  We will learn this whole growing up thing together :)  Love ya!!

Results are in......sort of!

We got CAT scan results.  I haven't seen them, but the pulmonologist called me and said, her current CAT scan actually looks better than her last one.  So that's a good thing.  And her swallow study was normal (for the numerous time).  It appears her "funny" breathing may be from a hernia she has developed from her nissen (the thing that helps her not to vomit).  We've known the hernia is there, just never correlated the two.  So I called her primary MD and asked if they'd send of the referral to get her feeding tube out.  Then I called the surgeon and said, "ok lets do this."  Then I called the urology surgeon and said, "ok, get this scheduled."  So, it appears Brooke will be having surgery in December to have her feeding tube removed, hernia checked (maybe repaired), and urology surgery. 

As I was talking to friends today, they were saying, "never a dull moment huh?"  Which is so true, we wouldn't want to get too comfortable over here.  However, these are issues Brooke has had for a long, long time.  We never addressed them because we didn't think we had too.  She was always so sick, we honestly thought, the chances of her making it to school is slim, let alone anything else.  So, to us, this almost feels like a small victory.  We made it!  She made it!  God gave us another chance and entrusted us to raise her, love her and make it through another step. 

Brooke has an appointment with bone marrow team next week.  That will tell us her immune system numbers and vaccine titers.  It's been 6 months, so I am interested in those.  Not sure why I care anymore, but curiosity gets me.    As much as all the chatter and busyness gets to me sometimes, I am so in Love with each and every one of these ladies.  I am eternally grateful Steve and I have been given this opportunity to raise these girls and love them.  As crazy as it gets, we know His amazing love, grace and understanding will carry us through. 

 As you know, pictures make me smile.  At times, they make me cry :)  We are so blessed with all these ladies and family and friends that love them!  Above are my grandparents with their Great-daughters.  Pure Joy!  Thank you Jesus!

A good day........

A good day to me is a day I don't check my emails.  For some reason the numerous emails that fly into my in box in a day cause me grief.  It's not that I don't love technology, I do.  Especially when it's used for good.  But sometimes I think we have taken it a little too far. 
As you all know, we have 5 kids, in school.  So that's a lot of emails coming from school.  When they used paper, they tried to "conserve" the paper, so we got 1 paper the end of the week.  Now they just "shoot us a quick email."  Maybe a lot of it's the beginning of year stuff, but I'm sorry to say, unless it's short and sweet I don't even process it.  It appears now on line you can check your kids grades before they even get home, you can look up what your kids choose to eat at lunch every day (at least in high school), you can sign up for anything from potlucks, conferences to field trips,  I'm surprised we don't get an email when our kids go to the bathroom!  I am probably embellishing how irritating some of this is :)  I do appreciate all the work that goes into this, and it does make our lives easier, in the end, I guess.
My point is, our kids go to school to learn some independence.  If we are constantly micro managing, is that helping them make life decisions.  I recall in high school drinking mello yellow and eating brownies OFTEN as intake for a meal.  I recall my mom telling me that was gross, but that's only because I told her I was eating that.  She put well balanced food on the table for dinner to help with my sketchy choices.  I learned that I couldn't live off pure sugar.  (But oh I wish I could!)
I had a daughter come home today. I said, "anything good happen today?"  She said, "nah."  I said, "anything bad happen?"  She said, "nah."  I said, "anything happen at all?"  She' said, "I got everything wrong on my math test."  I said, "oh, that sucks.  What ya going to do about that?"  She explained she fixed it and all was good.  She also explained she did the same thing wrong on every problem.  So we talked about how technically she only got one wrong, she just kept making the same mistake.  If I would've read that on the computer, I probably would've jumped to conclusions and the conversation wouldn't have taken place. 
There are some things computers can't replace.  Conversation.  Talking with your kids and friends about what's going on in their life.  (however with the twins I need the assistance.  Them two are in ka hoots and won't tell me anything :) 
I write all this on a computer, that I post on my blog :)  Obviously I'm not that against technology, just had to vent about something hehe.
Brooke had her CAT scan and swallow study today.  She ROCKED the swallow study.  They asked why we were doing this.  I said, "To prove to doctors that she can swallow without difficulty."  She proved it.  Their only observations was how slow she eats.  I explained this is FAST compared to how she use to eat. 
She did great on the CAT scan as well.  Walked up and crawled right onto the machine.  Did everything they asked and we were off.  It's the 1st time she cooperated with that test so well.  We wait for those results and carry on with life. 
Praying for some dry, fall weather.  Happy Harvest!  I better go check me emails :)

Spoke to soon!

I've tried to go back and figure out what Brooke updates I've given.  I think the last was GI.  In my last post I commented on how smooth/easy life was going.  It still is, I guess I just got my undies in a bunch this week. 
Brooke went to urology this week.  And we decided to proceed with a urology surgery she needs.  Our urologist is retiring and he feels it's the best time.  Since we'll be scheduling that, we figured now is the best time to take out her feeding tube.  1 stop shopping.  So we get the ball rolling with scheduling.  As I was waiting for the call from scheduling with a date, I get a call from pulmonology (her lung MD).  They said her chest xray had "increased inflammation" and we needed to do further testing.  They feel it's from refluxing.  She had an upper GI that did not show any refluxing and her nissen (so she can't vomit) is intact (for the most part) so that shouldn't be right.  But they ordered a CAT scan.  Because of the abnormal CXR they don't want to approve her feeding tube being removed til they are certain she is swallowing and eating ok, so they want a swallow study.  My head was spinning. I explained to them she's had numerous swallow studies and all normal.  But they have to "make sure."
After about a zillion phone calls (that might be exaggerated) to her MD's, I've come to the conclusion, "whatever."   Very deep, I know :)  I know they have her best interest at heart but when you are in the medical field you tend treat the disease and the findings.  We are her family, we treat Brooke. And if you know her, she doesn't appear nearly as messed up as her medical charts say she is. 
This week, I plan to first of all, calm down :)  I still have a family to run, my husband has harvest to contend with.  Brooke is in no distress, so there are no worries.  Second, I plan to call pulmonology and get a copy of her last chest xray.  I need to see for my own eyes what her results were and the fuss is about.  It's just the way I am.  Third, we go to Devos Tuesday for a swallow study and CAT scan.  This is a normal routine for us, so it's ok.  I pray the results come back quickly so we can proceed with our initial plan. 
His plan is always greater than ours.  Trust and follow Him!

Fall update!

Fall is here!  We have a very happy farmer.  He LOVES this time of year, which makes us LOVE it as well.  He works crazy hours and, most of the time, with a smile on his face.  I'm so thankful for cell phones and buddy seats in the combine.  That way the girls get their daddy fix as well.  The older the girls get, the easier this gets. 

This is one of our farm girls :)  When we bring the guys food, most of the time, some child wants to ride with dad. If we aren't close to home we hang out and wait.  I treasure the times laying in the grass with my girls, talking, trying to make grass whistle or just being silly. 

 I posted the last picture because.........this is the same "farm girl."  Her daddy had a REALLY hard time with this.  None of it made sense to him.  Why the need to dress up? Why the need to go out with friends? Why the big deal?   I remember my first homecoming.  It was a big deal.  And it's fun to dress up once in awhile.  So I texted Steve the above farm girl and the below.  Same girl, different clothes.  Beautiful inside and out!!!  So proud of her!!  She looks amazing, no matter what she wears :)

 I love the stages of all my girls, but it is hard to see them grow up.  So I had to post a picture of the twins in their footie PJ's.  Still cuddly!  (and they are clean, that's a rare occasion these days :)

 This guy, Jack, has caused us grief these days.  He seems to have found a "girlfriend" and it's been a chore to keep him around the Koeman compound.  So after picking him up a couple times (5+ miles away), we fixed the underground fence and he took a little trip to the vet.  He has been sticking around again (hopefully forever!)  I ask myself why I let a silly dog cause me grief.  The picture below tells it all.  She LOVES Jack!  And he Loves her!  He is not an indoor dog, but she tends to sneak him in and play. 

One last picture.  This dear man makes me smile.  He is the most sensible man I know.  And God knew exactly what He was doing when he put us together. Stevie has been looking at snowmobiles for about a year now.  He thought if he looked at them the "itch" would go away.  But it did not.  So he talked to a bunch of his friends about it.  They just fueled the fire :)  But they asked a good question.  "When was the last time you spent money on you?"  The last time Steve spent money on himself has been a long, long time.  He occasionally hunts, but since the twins, that has even dwindled.  After all his searching it seemed that a snowmobile was what he REALLY wanted.  So more research went into this.  What kind, what size, how many hours etc etc.  This weekend he went to "look" at one.  I asked if he needed the money.  I think he thought if he didn't bring the cash then he couldn't buy it.  JUST BUY IT ALREADY!!!!    So he bought it!   I think he's happy.  He's in shock that he did something so irrational (for a Koeman :).  He bought something for the sheer fun of it.  I pray there is snow this year so he can go and have fun, but be safe!! We need to go buy a really good helmet for this precious man! :) 

That is about it for us. I had the girls at work and a co worker stated how fun it was to see Brooke.  The little girl she prayed for so intensely, and how great she is doing now.  I told her, it seems as if life is going, too good.  Too easy. It sounds dumb, but some days I feel like I'm just floating through and enjoying every minute of it.  The girls are getting older.  We can carry on conversations with all of them. You can reason with them.  Optioncare, our medical place for Brooke, came and picked up Brooke's IV pole and feeding pump.  It was like saying good bye to the past.  Brooke has more MD appts this week and the middle of October.  She may be getting her feeding tube removed the end of the year.  We will hopefully know that by next week.  We are just going to enjoy this ride and thank the Lord daily for His continued Blessing on us.  We see Him and feel Him.  And are so blessed. 

Happy Parenting..............

Mornings at the Koeman's have come a long way over the past 19 years.  When Steve and I first got married we quickly learned mornings were not our time to shine.  The 1st 4 years of marriage we worked opposite shifts and that was best for a happy marriage.  Then we both were working days and we learned how to love each other, silently, in the morning.  We just went about our routines.  Then children came into the mix.  They didn't realize our vow of silence in the morning and we again had to re learn our system.  Unfortunately our learning curve didn't go without a lot of yelling and rough mornings.  Our mornings just got off on the wrong foot.  I'm so happy those days are done and we are wiser!

This week, the girls were getting ready for school.  One girl was being poky, (she's not the poky one), brushing her teeth (she doesn't always even brush her teeth!) I said calmly, "the bus will be here soon."  No response.  Steve walks into the bathroom, calmly and kindly, "hey, they bus will be here in one minute."  She roams into the kitchen.  One of the girls says, "I think I see the bus."  Another girl says, "BUS!"  To which poky explodes, "WHAT!!!! NO ONE TOLD ME IT WAS CLOSE TO THE BUS COMING.  GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"   Steve held up the backpack, I stood by the door with the lunch.  All the while we smiled and said, "have a great day!" 

First of all............She's definitely our child.

Second................I felt this gnawing urge to apologize to our first born for all the crazy mornings!  Typical Steve and Shelly would've yelled and hurried her along.  I'm not sure where the new Steve and Shelly came from, but I like them :)  I think the combination of being given a 2nd daughter that is so laid back hardly ANYTHING gets to her, and going through Brooke's life saga, we've chilled out.  And I like it!!   Thank you Jesus for transforming us!!  I pray He continues!

 



 

These pictures are proof of how GREAT our GOD is!!  They make me smile and cry! 

You go girls!!!  Represent your school with Joy!!