Week 11 of Summer

Saturday morning I received a text from my dad to pray for mom because she had been vomiting. Later he texted & said he had called the ambulance to come get her because she was too weak & dizzy to even walk to the car. My brother & I were started to get concerned & we were praying it was just a virus.  They can ALL kinds of tests & eventually diagnosed her with vertigo & found she had a nerve to her heart that was damaged.  She was having an extremely low heart rate.  After more testing, they decided she needed a pacemaker out it.  Madison & I left Saturday late afternoon & drove to my parents.  We got in just a little before midnight.  Sunday morning we visited mom all day while they ran tests & my brother had driven in town too.  Monday morning mom got her pacemaker put it.  Madison & I did some grocery shopping for her & got her house all cleaned & ready for her to come home.  Tuesday she came home & then Wednesday Madison & I left to come back home.  It was a big shock for all of us that my mom actually got a pacemaker.  My mom is the most energetic 59 year old..she has more energy than I do!  She exercises & eats healthy as well.  The drs say her actual heart muscle looks great and it was just that one nerve that was making her heart beat out of sync.  We are so thankful of the vertigo because without it they may of never found this issue with her heart.  She had to take it easy for 5 days & not raise her left arm but should be back to normal soon.

I am so thankful for my husband, SIL, & nurses for jumping in to help so that I could do be with my mom. James had to take off 2 days & switch his schedule from nights to days.  My sister helped take care of Gage & then had his friend here as well that was babysitting for the week & she also helped clean my house.  My night nurse picked up 2 extra shifts so James could sleep at night.  It takes 5-6 adults at my house each week to keep it running.  Autumn is just a little high maintance. :)  The first night I was gone, Autumn decided to pull her trach out while asleep.  The night nurse did not respond well but thankfully James had heard her beeping & was heading to her room to see what was up when the nurse came running down the hall yelling for him.  He got a new trach in but Autumn kept pulling at it until James told her, "Daddy fixed it" & she stopped crying & calmed down.  She knows her daddy takes good care of her.  Everything else ran smoothly after that & I guess they are capable of doing things when mommy is away...may have to leave more often now, yeah right!

Thursday we took a mini vacation to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine which is about a 45 minute drive.  My MIL came into town to stay with the nurses & Autumn so we could have a peace of mind while we were away.  My brother's family joined us as well.  We had a blast! It was exhausting but so much fun!

 They have a fun (& expensive) Quest game.  You buy a wand & then they have artifacts all over the hotel that you have to find & activate with the wand.  At the end of each quest you get points.  There are 10 quests in all.  It's really fun for the kids but a workout for the parents.  There are 8 floors in the hotel & you have to use the stairs to complete the quests.  Some take you from the 2nd floor to the 6th floor, down to the 4th floor, back up to the 8th floor, etc. You may do the entire quest to get to the end & find out you had the wrong item so you need to go back.  Some have to be in order as well.  Oh my goodness, I was sweating!

Gage getting his quest

Gage finding the crystals

  When we first got to the hotel, we swam for a couple of hours, played some games in the arcade, had dinner, then did 7 quests.  The next morning we finished the rest of the quests, checked out, had lunch, then spend about 3-4 hours swimming. Gage rode one of the large slides the first day & was done with slides.  The next day though we made him try the other slides & he LOVED them! 

The group eating lunch

The outside swim park

Gage trying to defeat the dragon after finishing all his quests

This is in front of a little store with goodies at the hotel

They have food places, arcade, shops, spas, crafts, & lots of fun for the kids all in the hotel

Family photo in front of the fireplace in the lobby

A part of the indoor water park

Kiddie area & wave pool inside

Gage & Dean being silly with the bear

Madison & Uncle Chris posing in front of the trash cans

On Saturday, Madison & Gage rode back to Austin with Nanny.  Gage will be staying with her until Wednesday & Madison is going to San Antonio to visit her dad until Wednesday.  I'm having myself a mommy vacation by staying busy with my LONG list of things to do.  There were 29 things when I began this morning then had to add a couple of more things to my list as the day went on but now I'm down to only 22 items left.  :)  It's nice to have a slight break from the kids even though I'm busy because I'm finally getting all the things I've been putting off all summer finally complete!  The kids & I will have Thursday-Sunday & then back to school they go.  I am ready for a routine but will miss all the fun & memories we've had together everyday.