Aidan's Tooth Mishap

Nov. 5, 2007

It started several months ago with a leaky tire and a leaky eye.

I’ve been babying that tire on my van, filling it with air every several days. Then on Saturday, I was driving to Mom’s when I ran over a block in the road (stupid block!). Before I left Mom’s, I had to put air in my tire. Sunday morning, I had to ride to church with Bob (good thing I didn’t have to do media, which I had offered to do!) because my tire was flat.

I also have been dealing with a blocked tearduct for a while. It started when I would bend over, and my left eye would just gush. Then in September, it began to run constantly. I went to Dr. Valentine, who said it probably was a blocked tearduct (I was born with them, and had surgery as an infant to open them up, but no problems since), and I should see an ophthalmologist in town. So I went to see Dr. Ward, and he said “Yep, it’s a blocked tearduct, you need to see our surgeon, Dr. Stallo.”

Fast forward to yesterday. Since I took the day off, I decided to take Aidan to school myself. As we were getting ready, I set up the compressor to fill my tire with air again. Went out to check on it once, and it was about half done. Went out a second time, and the tire was flat, and there was a hissing noise coming out the side. Hmm, how am I going to get Aidan to school on time? I saw Sandy’s car in the driveway next door, so we went over and rang the doorbell. Terry answered in his bathrobe. Sandy must have taken his truck to work. Shoot. Well, the only thing left is Morgan’s electric scooter, so guess what Aidan and I rode to school?! He thought that was quite fun, of course, while I was mildly embarrassed.

When I got home, I knew I needed to call Triple A to come and change my tire, but I could not find my card anywhere. Luckily, I was able to look up my account number and give it to them. Someone came fairly quickly – I was impressed. But he had a devil of a time getting the spare down. Well, I’ve had the van 5-1/2 years and never had to use it, so I’m sure it was quite rusted in. Finally he managed, but when he got it out, I could see a spot worn almost completely through! I told him I was only going downtown to get my tire patched or replaced, so hopefully it would work.

I immediately went down to Howard’s Tire Service, as Charlie had suggested, and waited about 10 minutes before anyone came to the front desk. When someone finally did, he asked me to come back about noon. I agreed, but thought, “I hope it makes it that long!” I had planned to go to Menards to look for some storage boxes, so I went ahead and went, praying all the way. Of course, they didn’t have what I was looking for, so I went next door to Lowes. Neither did they. Frustrated, I went back home and worked on cleaning the basement.

At noon, I went back to Howard’s, and they put a “good, used” tire on for me. $32.10. Not bad, for all the hassle I’ve been through with it! I really hope it lasts.

Came back home and worked more on the basement, picked Morgan up from school and came back home, then it was time to go to my eye surgeon appointment. Morgan would pick Aidan up from school on her scooter (cool for her!).

I saw Dr. Stallo, who looked in my eyes and asked if I had already had some work done on them. I told him about having blocked tearducts as a baby, but nothing since then. He said that made sense because my tearducts were larger than normal! Then he stuck a needle a little way into my left tearduct and squirted some liquid into it, which promptly came out through the back of my throat! I had read that they were connected, but it was still a really weird feeling. The first time I flinched and moved, so he did it a second time to make sure it was completely open. He said it must have just been some swelling back in September (and before), because it was open now. The whole thing took about 15 minutes.

As I pulled in the driveway, the front door flung open, both kids were in tears, and Morgan said, “Mom, Aidan broke his teeth!” After checking out the situation, I found out he was “ramping” his bike, crashed and landed on his chin, and the force of his teeth coming together had broken off his two front teeth diagonally. There was no blood, but a scared and sore little 7-year-old. We walked quickly down to the place where the accident happened and looked for the tooth pieces, but couldn’t find them. Then the question was where to take him. The only dentist he’s ever seen does not take our dental insurance anymore, so we hadn’t been there in a couple of years. I figured I’d deal with that later, I need to get him in as soon as possible. Se we went to Dr. VanTreese’s office. I could tell nobody was there except the receptionist, and she was on the phone for what seemed like an eternity. Finally she hung up and we told her what had happened. She called the dentist back in, and he called in an assistant. They were able to make his teeth look like new, thank goodness. Now I’m hiding my eyes when that bill comes.

She's On Strike

I’m on strike. It’s not really a matter of cleaning the house only, but the respect that goes along with having a full-time job, working on coursework for a Master’s Degree, and shuttling the kids back and forth to their functions, trying to attend and support everything I can. Or at least the respect that should be included.

A few weeks ago, I was informed that we would be yet again entertaining strangers met over the internet in our own home. This makes me extremely nervous, even though Bob puts complete trust in everyone he meets that way. So far, he’s been lucky. Anyway, about two weeks prior to their arrival, Terry & Missie decided they didn’t want to have this couple stay overnight at their house, and Bob offered to take them in. However, the house was in its usual horrendous state, and my calendar sported an activity every single evening / day for two full weeks. That in itself would cause me to crash when I finally had a chance to sit down, but now I had the added pressure of cleaning the whole house by myself, including coercing the kids into helping, and listening to all kinds of whining and arguing. I managed to get it into presentable shape by that Friday night, complete with having one car in the shop. As I picked Bob up in New Bremen (as I had dropped him off in the morning, driven to Piqua, then driven back to NB to pick him up), he informed me that Beth was allergic to cats. I had just been thinking about this the night before as I vacuumed. I admitted to Bob that I am not the best housekeeper in the world, and he decided to call Terry & Missie and ask if they could stay there after all (btw, they have a cat, too). They were expecting the call, which made me feel even worse. For a few brief moments, I gave some thought to finding a way out. However, I came to my senses, realizing that this was not the best option.

We had a good time with James and Beth that weekend, although it meant I had to bring all of my lesson planning materials to the Freistuhlers’ to work on.

All the time I was cleaning up the house by myself for our non-existant house guests, Bob promised that after I got the house cleaned up (there was my original mistake), he would help me keep it clean. Don’t you know, that very next day, there was a freakin’ pile of laundry on the couch? I mean, how hard is it to put some shirts and pants on a hanger? That ticked me off, but I didn’t say anything. But I couldn’t get to them because again, for the next week, I had some activity every night, including working late. But the final straw came last weekend, when I asked him to load the dishwasher for me. He refused. I was busy with schoolwork, so they didn’t get done that day. That night, I fell asleep on the couch with Aidan (who had asked me to sleep on the couch with him earlier). Bob woke me up and asked if I was coming to bed, or staying there. Since Aidan had asked, I decided to stay.

The next day I asked him again to load the dishwasher, and he gave me the silent treatment, saying he had really wanted me to be there, and that we didn’t have to do anything. Yeah, right. I’d have been in the doghouse for sure if I didn’t! Know what I mean? Anyway, now every counter in the kitchen is full of dishes. There is not a clean one in the cupboard, and the kitchen stinks so bad from the mold that I had to get the kids out.

Although this is not my child, there is stuff growing in my sink!

I decided to visit Carrie, Marte, and Sebastian, since it had been several months since I had seen them. I am writing this from the Best Western in Columbus, as I promised the kids I’d let them swim for a little while.

Oh, and since we don’t fight by yelling, I tried giving him a taste of his own medicine, and didn’t tell him my plans. I know this isn’t right, but I’ve been hurt too many times to let this one go.

The dishes probably won’t be done when I go back tomorrow, but with lots of prayer, we’ll get through this. And maybe he’ll actually begin to realize that I’m not supermom. I can either provide a clean home by myself, or I can contribute to our family finances with help on the clean house from everyone else who lives there, but not both.

Wow, Back to School already!

Well, it's for sure - summer is almost over. August 1st always marks the end of summer, as I begin working on my classroom and lesson plans for the next year. Today was our make-up Kindergarten Screening day, and I worked on my classroom. Got all the furniture arranged in about a half-hour - a record for me! But I put everything back where it was last year (arranged by my principal), except for my student tables, which were too crammed last year. Even got the new table arrangement ok'd by Mrs. Anderson before I left! Now I don't have to go back until our retreat on the 10th - need to put away a few things, remove the newspaper from my bulletin boards, and finish unloading the lockers, so it's completely ready to go (minus student names on EVERYTHING!) before I go to Tar Hollow - Open House is during camp week!

DSP Celebs at Night Sky

I love living close to Margie! I got to meet Lauren, and to see Kimand Debi again! Special thanks to Margie for organizing a get-together at Night Sky Cafe in Troy while Kim and Lauren were in town! We had free wireless internet, great food, and super company!

Happenings at the Smith Home

I finally got my eagerly awaited camera, and have been busy taking lots of great photos with it! I took it along to see the fireworks this year, and just kept pressing the button the whole time. Most of the photos are just OK, and some are completely, uh, well, black, but this one looks pretty good.

Lately, I've had a hankerin' for camping and getting away. I knew that Margie (CEO of Digital Scrapbook Place) was planning a digital scrapbooking / camping weekend at a park near me, so the kids and I just made a whole week of it. We pitched two tents and a canopy, cooked over the campfire, watched the raccoons eat our food, made friends, rode our bikes, and swam in the lake, all without daddy around. He had to work, didn't want to shower and get ready at the campsite, and basically doesn't like to camp, so we went without him. I even created a small altar and "quiet place" overlooking the lake so I could catch up on my Bible Study. That's it to the left of the tent.

This was the view from my chair (looking to the right of the picture above):

And since the kids both like to sleep in, and I'm a morning person, it was perfect.

While we were there, we were visited several times by a fairly friendly group of geese. This group was 99% Canadian geese, and 1% regular white goose! He acted like he had always been a member of the family!

And then there were the ducks. The dog-food-eating ducks ...

All three "kids" enjoyed themselves.

Of course, it helped when we rented these "bikes" ...

And then it was time to scrap ...

(front) Debi Miller, Amie Miller, JoAnn Shinall, Casey Reed, (back) Morgan, me, Margie Lundy.

I came home rested (I did sleep well on the air mattress in the fresh air!), having fulfilled my need to camp!

We met Dad and Eva for breakfast at McDonald's this morning, as they are on their way to Illinois today and were passing through. Now he tells me I could have borrowed the RV! Oh well, I'll have to remember that the next time!

My All-Time Favorite Picture

This is my all-time favorite picture of my kids ...

This gorgeous picture was actually a fluke, since it was taken before I learned much about photography. We were sitting by the window, and the automatic flash didn't go off. I was so surprised and amazed when I got my pictures back!

"This angelic sweetness won’t last forever! Soon there will be battles over silly things, like who gets to sleep next to mommy and who gets the computer next. But this bond of sibling love will never be broken, because it was a match made in heaven. Aidan and Morgan, Oct. 2000."

It's All About the Attitude

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. "Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today." So she did and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. "Hmm," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today." She did and she had a fantastic day.
Looking in the mirror on the third day, she took in her one remaining hair and announced, "Today I'm wearing my hair in a pony tail." She had a really great day.
On the fourth day, her head was completely smooth. "YEA!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"
The moral of the story: Attitude is everything!

I found this story in the July 2007 issue of Memory Makers Magazine.

My latest purchase

I'd been watching Canon Digital Rebels on ebay for a couple of weeks, but they kept going for too much. I've saved $200 from doing weddings, but they were going for around $300. Then, we did another wedding on Friday night, and this auction was ending on Saturday around lunchtime. I upped my top bid, and won this one in the last few seconds! I am so excited to get it, I can hardly stand myself! I have been wanting a digital SLR since I bought my film SLR 3 years ago, but they were way out of my range then. I'll be eagerly awaiting the UPS man!

My husband, a runner!

When Bob gets an idea in his head, he gets pretty determined about it. This time he's decided he's going to run a marathon to raise money for Haiti. To train for the Columbus Marathon in October, he's been running daily, and is doing smaller runs around the area. This particular time, he was about to run in the Troy Strawberry Festival 10K. I am so proud of him for finishing the course in 1 hour, 8 minutes!

Biker Dude

We bought Aidan this bike on Saturday. When we brought it home, he practiced tirelessly, going up and down the hills of our yard. On Sunday, we took it to the cemetery to meet Grandma and Grandpa. By then, he was slightly wobbly. On Monday, he was riding like an old pro! Memorial Day 2007

Pure Joy

Precious Sebastian, April 2007

Where is John?

This morning, as we were leaving for church, I reminded Aidan to get his Bible. As he brought it out, this was our conversation:

A: "I've been reading this Bible."
K: "Oh? What did you read?"
A: "John 13."
K: "What did John 13 say?"
Aidan opened his Bible, about to the middle, trying to find the book of John.
A: "Mom, does John come before or after Plasma?"
K: "Huh?"
When I looked, he was in the book of Psalms!

Sing to Jesus

April 1, 2007

Everytime Aidan sings in front of the congregation with the Kidz First! Choir at our church, he cries. He’s fine before and after the performance, but it seems when he gets up there and looks out at all the people, he is overcome by stagefright. He still sings, but as he’s singing, he’s constantly wiping his eyes. Other people might think he just has something in his eye, because he’s not sobbing. But mommy knows those are real tears. It breaks my heart, but I know this is a hurdle we need to get over, to build his self-confidence.

This particular time, the Kidz First! Choir was singing a small part of the Easter Cantata (according to Morgan, about 3 minutes out of the hour!). They performed during the 9:00 service today, and then again for the community at 4:30. I was absolutely astounded at how Aidan paid attention during the first two-thirds of the performance, before the Kidz sang. While other children were squirming and fiddling with anything they could find, Aidan was actually watching the actors and the choir. But when it was the Kidz’ turn to sing, he began to puddle up. He made it through the performance, but it was hard. Afterwards, when he found out he would need to perform again, he adamantly refused, to the point of tears again. But we had already made a commitment to Miss Eileen, so I explained to Aidan in the car that God gave him a wonderful singing voice, and that He wanted Aidan to use that voice to teach others about God and Jesus. Then I asked if it would help if I invited his grandparents to come and watch the afternoon performance. He finally agreed to go back. Fast forward to 4:00. When I dropped him off for the second performance, I reminded him that he was singing for Jesus, and if he began to cry, to think of this. I also reassured him that I would be in the same seat I was this morning, right in front behind the pews the kids would be sitting in. He seemed to accept this, and I went to grab my seat. The performance was just as beautiful the second time, and Aidan still paid the best attention of all the kids there. I love how interested he is in music! Then, it was time for the Kidz to perform. No tears! He even smiled, ever so slightly, back at me! And when the Kidz were finished, how proud we both were of him! I know I’m going to look back on this memory with a smile in about 10 years when he has the male lead in the SHS spring musical!

Sweet Baby Boy

It's a Boy!!!

Sebastian Alexander Ramirez Krouskop was born last Tuesday, March 13th, at 4:14 a.m. to my sister Carrie and Marte'. He weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz., and was 21 inches long. Unfortunately, he was immediately whisked to the NICU, and then transferred to Children's Hospital because he could not breathe. They found out later that day that his vocal cords are paralyzed shut. He was on a CPAP mask for a few days, but needed to be intubated by the weekend. Today, the doctors removed the intubation to see if the vocal cords might "wake up" on their own. Now we're just waiting to see. If it doesn't happen in the next couple of days, they may need to do a tracheotomy. Carrie did not get to hold her son until Wednesday night. When I visited that evening, she still had not held him. By the time I convinced her to just ask, his nurse was on dinner break. I made her ask the nurse in the bed across the way, but that nurse wouldn't say yes because she didn't know anything about his case. Even though I was determined not to leave without seeing her hold him, it was getting late (I had both kids with me, and we had not eaten supper yet), and I didn't know when his nurse would be back from her break. I had to leave. I came back on Saturday morning to spend as much time as possible and lend my support. She told me then that she did get to hold him when the nurse came back that night. I can't imagine what it must be like to not be allowed to hold your baby. Mine were both placed right on my chest in the delivery room. Morgan had not even been cleaned up yet! They did quickly clean Aidan up, but then wrapped him and gave him to me right away.








On Saturday, we had planned to stay overnight with Dad & Eva, but they called to say they were both sick, and we didn't want to bring germs in with us, so we called Heidi & Darren to ask if we could stay at their house. We're thankful they said yes - we didn't want to drive all the way home and back again on Sunday! While we were there, we decided that we would hold our own Sunday morning service in the chapel at the hospital. Morgan wanted to be responsible for looking up scripture to read, I said I would do the prayers, and we gave Aidan the job of picking out which songs would be played from my iPod. As we were setting up in the chapel, some people started coming in. I asked if there was a planned service, and they said yes. A few more people showed up, and we waited for a little while. However, no pastor came, and finally everyone left. The Smith family continued on with our little private service. I opened with prayer, thanking the Lord for allowing us to be together. Morgan read Mark 7:31-37 (The Healing of a Deaf and Mute Man) and Acts 2:42-47 (The Fellowship of the Believers). Aidan played "Awesome God" and "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" on my iPod (through the earphones!). Then I closed with prayer, lifting up every child and family in the hospital, and specifically Sebastian's healing, and the souls of Carrie and Marte'. It was truly a special and beautiful time together, and we ended with a family hug. As I was writing a prayer request in the book in the chapel, Carrie peeked through the window at us, wondering what was going on, so we met for lunch in the cafeteria.








Tonight I called to see how he was doing, since they were supposed to take the intubation out today. She said he was doing ok when she left, but they won't know for a couple of days if they need to do the trach or not. Apparently, since the intubation tube was in for several days, the vocal cords are stretched somewhat. It will take a little while for them to go back to normal. Hopefully, with prayer, they will begin working then.

Haiti - News from Bob

It's 8:00 PM on day one in Haiti. We made it with no real trouble. Please let the kids know that I love them and that I say, "hi". Also, if you would, please let my mom know that we made it OK. I should be able to get email at this address from time to time.

I love you,

- Bob

Brrr...

Waking up this morning to temp of –4, Windchill of –23. My sixth day off of school, today because of a water main break at Nicklin! Had conferences last night, when a parent came in to say there was water bubbling up in the parking lot! Sure enough, it was coming up through cracks in the pavement. I’m sure they’ll have to tear up the lot to fix the pipe.

We were off last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday due to windchill Monday & Tuesday and snow on Wednesday (just a couple of inches). This week we got a blizzard on Tuesday – it snowed literally ALL day! We ended up with 15 inches of snow, and Tuesday and Wednesday off of school. Have I mentioned how I HATE shoveling snow?

Bob left Wednesday morning for his second missions trip with the church to Haiti. What fun it was taking him to Eileen’s house at 6:45 a.m. for his ride to the airport! Only the major roads here had been plowed, but since it was still snowing, even those weren’t great! I had to rock the van to get out of our driveway (so much for Bob shoveling me out that morning – he shoveled a path from the garage door to the van! :) ). Then I got stuck on the edge of Eileen’s driveway – couldn’t get in, and had to be pushed out! When we got home (had just put the kids in the car in their pj’s, since we were coming right back home), Morgan and I had to shovel ourselves IN to our driveway! OK, so now we’re safe in our nice warm home for the rest of the day. So wonderful, I took a nice warm bubble bath that morning, then put my pj’s on for the rest of the day! LOVE those days!

Thursday morning, we were on a 2-hour delay, but I knew I’d have to shovel again, since our street had since been plowed, so I went out early. I was right – the plowed snow was up to my bumper! Luckily, I was smart enough to not pull into the driveway very far, so it was a smaller patch that I had to shovel. It still took me 45 minutes to do the width of my van! I didn’t bother with Bob’s car. I guess I should take a picture of it now!




Later that day, the kids enjoyed sledding the hill next to us. They ended up frozen, but had a great time! We have also found out that Zanmi LOVES the snow! She frolics around everytime we take her out! However, she doesn’t spend too long in the snow because she doesn’t like cold paws – after only a few minutes, she starts lifting one or two paws as she stands.




























Well, I can’t stop without mentioning the Lord’s work in our lives recently. With Tuesday’s blizzard, we watched intently the news of flight delays and cancellations. Almost every flight from Dayton to Chicago (which was the first leg of Bob’s flight) were being cancelled. We wondered how that would affect Bob’s trip. But they left here on time, not knowing what would come. I signed up for American Airlines’ service to call me whenever there was a change to the flight status, or when they departed/arrived. What a cool service! I knew exactly what they were doing all day! Anyway, they departed Dayton on time, and arrived in Chicago without any problems. Their flight from Chicago to Ft. Lauderdale was delayed by about an hour, but all went well with that one, too! All this while other Chicago flights were still having major delays and cancellations! God is Good, All the Time. Bob called from Chicago, then from Ft. Lauderdale. At 4:45 a.m. Thursday morning, he called to say they were leaving for the flight to Haiti. I love how the last trip changed Bob, as well as using him to spread God’s word to the Haitian people. I hope this trip affects him just as much.



(photos from first trip)

My birthday

Well, today has been just another day. However, Judy (one of our lunchladies) made me a delicious cinnamon roll, and Mike (our custodian) added a candle, but he didn't have a match to light it!

Of course, I got my standard flowers, except this time they were carnations instead of roses. Much easier on the budget!

And two of my nerdy sisters BOTH sent me the monkey happy birthday - "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, You look like a monkey, and you smell like one, too!" Mandie sang to me via voice mail, and Erica text-messaged me! What goobers!

And then there was sweet little Aidan - "Roses are red, violets are blue, I am sweet, and so are you!"

There is a birthday chat on DSP tonight to celebrate Amber Gray's birthday, and there are several others of us with recent birthdays. So everyone was to try their hand at making some birthday elements, and Amber collected them to pass out as a goodie bag at tonight's chat. I made several overlays and circular text items. This should be a good time!

Aidan's trip to Children's and Diagnosis

Here is my layout of Aidan's TS diagnosis.
Journalling reads:
Aidan has Tourette’s, but I will not let Tourette’s have Aidan. It will always be a part of him, but I will not let him be defined by this syndrome. We are learning how to control his tics with changes in his diet and vitamin supplements. I feel so sad when he asks why he can’t have a certain food that everyone else is eating, but this will be a part of the journey that lies ahead of us in the next few years. We are trying to change our eating habits as a whole family - it certainly can’t hurt us to eat more healthy foods! I truly believe that God doesn’t give a family a situation they cannot handle with His help. May He always be with us as we travel on this journey together.

“He’s My Son,” by Mark Schultz
I heard this song on the radio while travelling to Children’s Medical Center on Friday, November 17, 2006, the day Aidan was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome. Somehow, though, I remembered this song ending with God talking about His Son, Jesus. Strangely, I felt very peaceful that day*. I was expecting the diagnosis, so it did not surprise me. I accepted Aidan’s condition from that Friday until the following Wednesday, when, while picking up the kids from Cool Kids (of all places!) it finally hit me that I couldn’t “kiss it and make it go away.” While there, my angel, “Miss Eileen” took me under her wing, and begged me not to remove Aidan from the Christmas play, which was my intent. After all, I didn’t want his ticcing to ruin the play for the other parents. She assured me that it would not be a problem, and that I would actually be doing him a disservice. I reluctantly agreed, and of course, she was right. The play went off without a hitch, and only those of us involved even noticed the tics!

*In re-reading what I wrote above, I realized that Nana (my maternal grandmother, who would have absolutely adored Morgan and Aidan!) went to Heaven on the same date in 1988. She was on her star helping to bring me peace! I was moved to sobs. Thank you, Nana!

Here are the lyrics to the song, which is superimposed over the photo:

"He's My Son," by Mark Schultz
I‘m down on my knees again tonight. I’m hoping this prayer will turn out right. See there is a boy that needs your help. I’ve done all that I can do myself. His mother is tired, I’m sure you can understand. Each night as he sleeps, She goes in to hold his hand. And she tries not to cry As the tears fill her eyes. Can you hear me? Am I getting through tonight? Can you see him? Can you make him feel alright? If you can hear me, Let me take his place somehow. See, he’s not just anyone. He’s my son. Sometimes late at night I watch him sleep. I dream of the boy he’d like to be. I try to be strong and see him through. But God, who he needs right now is You. Let him grow old, Live life without this fear. What would I be Living without him here? He’s so tired and he’s scared. Let him know that You’re there. Can you hear me? Can you see him? Please don’t leave him. He’s my son.

Here is another layout I created about the time we spent in the Children's Play area at the hospital.
Journalling reads:
November 17, 2006
On the way to see the doctor at Children’s Medical Center, we passed
the Children’s Play Area. Of course
Aidan wanted to stop and play, but we didn’t have time. So I told him we would stop back after our appointment. Aidan played contentedly for a long time.