Fireworks, Set backs, and Visitors

Our first two weeks in July began with fun and fireworks. 

We drove up to Huntington Beach to be with Matt and Johanna for the day. On the way, we bought me a new bike to replace the one that was stolen in Chicago when we went there back in Oct 2018. Dallin took a nap in the car in this odd position. 

We got our bikes all suited up for a ride to the beach!! It was really neat to take this bike ride because it was the exact same path Jeremy and I took back in the day when we lived in HB. JoMatta actually live in the same apartment complex that we lived in, so it was a big trip down memory lane for us.

The newlyweds! Funny to think this was just a few days after their big wedding bash in Sacramento!!

We had a picnic dinner on the beach. (We were hoping it would be our lunch, but everything took extra long, so it ended up being our dinner). All four boys played in the water while Johanna and I visited. It was a chilly evening while the sun went down. For dessert, we managed to continue our fruit pizza tradition. And this was an extra big deal because the stores I shopped at didn't have sugar cookies. So in a last ditch effort, we tried the gas station and bought individually packaged cookies. I was so excited that we could each make our own mini fruit pizzas with the cookies. Mine was so yummy.

Then we got back on our bikes and rode closer to the HB pier to watch the fireworks. It was a fun bike ride down the busy path. Everyone was out cheering and blowing up fireworks and dancing and eating. I love being surrounded by this during the holiday. It is very heartwarming to me that everyone puts a day on hold to celebrate our freedom. 

We laid down in the sand right as the firework show began. There were some really big ones!! It was a beautiful show. But the best part was after the show ended. We knew a lot of people would leave, but I didn't think that even the families gathered around the big bonfires would leave, too! The place went from packed to empty in a matter of minutes, leaving the sand and glittering bonfires abondoned in the windy, night air. We weren't in any hurry to leave. So we set up camp at one of the fire pits and had fun visiting while the boys dug in the sand. It was so beautiful to be surrounded by dozens of bonfires, all by ourselves! Well, okay. There were a couple of other people walking around, including a few dynamic characters that said hi to us. But for the most part, we had the beach to ourselves for over an hour. As an added bonus, the pier shot off another round of fireworks that must have not worked during the real show. So it was all pretty magical!

When the beach patrol kicked us out, we got back on our bikes and rode past all the cars that were still congested in the parking lots trying to get home. Then we drove home. Late night, but so much fun.

Dallin took this picture because he stole my phone.

Tanner learned how to clip his own fingernails.

The Saturday after 4th of July, we took a big trip to Walmart to get more things for our house. Remember, we had just barely moved into our new place a few weeks prior to this time.

The boys learned how to work the self check out line more independently.

Dallin got in a good habit of reading in the library throughout the day. Here, he is reading to his teddy bear 🐻, named Junior, on Sunday morning.

On Sunday July 8, the boys looked so cute for church! But things for me took a turn for the worse. My sciatic nerve went absolutely bazzurk and I ended up going to the hospital. I wish I could say that it just came out of nowhere, but it was an issue that got worse and worse over the two weeks of our wedding travels. Sitting for long drives and airplane rides will do that!  

I tried to mitigate the pain during our travels with essential oils, hot and cold rubs, ice packs, heating pads, massage stick, and lots of rests. I avoided taking pain killers at all costs because it makes me forget how vulnerable my body is, and then I end up on my back for a week. 

In Sacramento, it actually got painful enough for me to give up and take some IB profin. The pain killers helped me get through the festivities with a smile on my face. The pain seemed to let up when we got home. But after our 4th of July bike ride, everything flared up again. The bike ride wasn't anything to brag about, but it was a lot more physcial activity than I normally do.

I succomed to pain pills again Saturday the 7th.

 

On Sunday morning, we were out of pain pills, but I thought church would be doable before getting more. I didn't want to miss church just to get some pills. But sitting on the church pew was much more difficult than I anticipated. It took an amazing amount of self control to wait until the bread and water was passed to me. I had tears streaming down my cheek, but not because I was thinking about Jesus! As soon as the sacrament was passed, I left for Walgreens, thinking I could get back before the service was over. 

Well, by the time I got to Walgreens (12 min drive), I could barely move because the pain was so intense. With each step I took, I felt like my leg was ripping apart, and the pain was growing exponentially. In the store aisles, I could not see or think straight. I had to ask two people for help to find the IB profin. The ripping pain was now more like knives stabbing deep into my left hip and leg socket. The cashier rung me up very slowly and asked if I wanted a bag. I was dizzy and frustrated. I almost yelled at him, "just give me the pills!!" But I managed to constrain myself. 

There was a drug addict in the stoor doorway frantically opening her pill bottle and scarfing down a handful of capsuls. It was me. I could not get the pills in my mouth fast enough! 

When I got to the car, I discovered that my body was not going to sit down. The sitting position felt like electric drills blasting through me. I stood up and started balling. There was no way that I could endure pain like this in order to get myself back to the church. I would not be making it back in time for Sunday school. I waited for 20 minutes for the pills to take effect, since that's how long it usually takes for me to feel relief. But the pain got worse and worse. I was trapped. After texting Jeremy, a lady in the parking lot saw me balling and asked if I needed help. I said my husband was coming in an uber to get me.

I hoped that when Jeremy and the boys arrived, I would feel the pain meds kick in. But now, it felt like a chainsaw was digging into every tendon and vein and nerve in my hip all the way to my toes. I was in an orange daze; the color enveloped and throbbed around my whole body. 

Jeremy helped me lay down in the trunk of the car. The pain was taking my breath away and I began to hyperventilate. Even though I was not in a real carseat with a seat belt, we drove to the hospital. As we checked in to the ER, I let all self control go. My hysterical cries are probably the reason they admitted me immediately!

They gave me lots of different pain killers. Tylenol, lydocane, morphine, etc. None of it was working- AT ALL. They made me wait for a couple hours to see if I would feel better. I had to beg and beg for them to give me other kinds of pain meds. Finally, when I told the doctor that I delivered both of my babies without an epideral and that I clearly have a high tolerance for pain and that this was twice as painful as childbirth, they gave me something else. I felt relief within 20 minutes. I was really exausted, but glad that my pain level went from a 10+ to a 5 or 6. I wanted Jeremy to take some pictures so we could remember how crazy this all was. 

They did a CT scan to see what was going on in my spine. Which was dumb. I really wish they had done an MRI or ultra sound. The docs thought I was dumb for requesting those things.

The rest of this story is best told by sharing what I wrote on Facebook a few days later:

So I've been bed-ridden since Sunday. Sciatica pain like crazy. I actually LEFT church in the middle of the service to get more pain killer from the store, and eventually spent 8 hours in the hospital as a science experiment for the doctors to figure out what pain meds work on me. It was twice as painful as childbirth.😢😖

Yes, it really sucks for me, but laying here has been a neat opportunity to reflect a little. Despite the big disappointments, I can see that God's care over me and my family has been constant, and I'm feeling nothing short of overwhelmed.

The miracles that have happened over the past 4 days seem small, but were game changing. I made it to the store, a lady stopped and got out of her car to comfort me, when I couldn't drive back to church there was an Uber driver for Jeremy and the boys to come to my rescue, the hospital was close and they admitted me immediately. In the moment, I knew these were blessings, but I just didn't have the energy to properly praise them. My best foot forward (literally) was all the thanks I could give for making it to the store, my tears were all I could give the kind lady in the parking lot, a half-hug was all I could give Jeremy, and covering up my screams was all I could manage at the ER.

The nurse brought me warm blankets and socks, I wasn't cold during the entire ordeal, Tanner and Dallin didn't fight amid all the waiting time, a member of our church whom we didn't even know came to help administer a blessing to me, and then he and his wife entertained our kids while we were at the hospital. A grunt and thumbs up was all I could muster for the nurse, a smile after the blessing was all I could conjure up for Jeremy and our new friend, and a text of smiley faces and thank yous was all we had time to send our new babysitters as we tried to manage my pain and save our phones from completely dieing.

Our mom was available to answer our text questions right away while we were in the hospital and give words of support and pray for us. The pharmacy was open long enough to fill all the drugs before we got home. The boys actually slept in the next day, my prescriptions have worked, two different ladies from church who we barely know have watched the kids so I can rest 🙂🙂, my sister doctor has given me tons of great ideas to relieve the pain, Amazon delivered a tens unit to me in ONE day, I've been able to manage the pain without the narcotics👏, I found out our new health insurance is way better than before 🎉, I found an accupuncturist all with the help of a health advocate that Jeremy's new job provides, and all the kind words and prayers from family and friends have uplifted me a lot.

Im grateful for this time on my bed to see more clearly the miracles I couldn't properly appreciate in the moments of my pain and exhaustion. Even when I wasn't able to see how much my Heavenly Father was with me, He STAYED with me!

In case you are ever being God's hands in a miracle for someone else, just know that you are so VERY appreciated, especially if all the person can do is stare or cry at you like I've done. 😂 Words can't express how much your kindness means!

Needless to say, I was on my back for about 2 weeks. Here's pictures of some things the boys did while I rested and recovered. They began basketball practice at the YMCA. It was a great beginning to a great season.

Dallin doing drills.

Tanner doing drills.

Jeremy's work, Bumble Bea Seafood, had a family picnic at Sea World. Our family got free admission and a yummy lunch. I had to stay home though, still recovering.

Another Padres game!!

His 2nd tooth gone!

As I got better, I ventured out a little with the kids. We tested out the summer school lunch program. Not impressed. We were spoiled in Austin.

Yuck on our front door!!

I took the boys to our neighborhood pool so that I could have hot water and jets on my back in the hot tub. The boys had fun trying new ways to jump in the pool. 

On July 19, JoMatta came to see our place and spend the night with us. I was feeling much better at this point. And their arrival gave me a lot of motivation to get the house more unpacked. Almost back to my "normal."

While they were with us, we all went to see Dallin and Tanner play in their basketball games. The boys had practice twice a week and a game every Saturday morning for about 10 weeks. This was their first game (I think?) and it was my first time to the YMCA. I was really impressed with the staff, parents and kids. The facility is brand new and very welcoming and organzied. The staff are well trained and have age-appropriate expectations for the kids. They also have great behavior management skills over each team. My boys learned many skills, drills, and rules about basketball by being in this league. They also made new friends! Giving our kids these kind of experiences is exactly one of the resons we moved here. I loved seeing how proud Tanner and Dallin were after their games!!

Next, we headed over to Balboa Park for a picnic lunch and visit. Then, we spent the afternoon at the Fleet Science Center. We had fun exploring science exibits and watching an IMAX movie about looking at earth from space.

This merry-go-round featured a ball tossing game so you can see how the path of a ball thrown in the air seems to curve and change as you ride on the merry-go- around, but it doesn't. And then we experienced how our brain can learn the new trejectory and adjust the pass so it goes where you want it to. First Johanna and I tried. Then all four of the boys tried.

It felt really great to do this outing with the family!!

We had dinner at the Taco Stand. YUMMY.

We found Dallin hanging out with his aunt and uncle that evening...touching his own nipples. It's a soothing habit that he's had ever since he was two years old. Dallin doesn't do it as much these days, but it's always kind of sweet for me to see that he is still little enough to need his calming measures. Kind of like how kids still love and need their teddy bears when they get bigger.

Im really grateful Johanna and Matt came to visit us for a couple days. I just realized that they sent us our first piece of mail to this home in San Diego and they were our first guests to spend the night in our home in San Diego. Pretty Cool!!

Eight is Great!

Tanner turned 8 years old on June 28, 2019. 

It's been an adventure to see this little guy turn 8 and become a big kid. This past year, Tanner experienced some important firsts! He enjoyed his first coach-pitch baseball team. He lost his first tooth! He went kayaking and snorkeling for the first time. He completed his first year of formal piano lessons. And of course, he went to first grade, and says it was his favorite year of school so far.

A big turning point for Tanner this year was going to Puerto Rico for 5 weeks. He learned some Spanish, made new friends, hiked the jungle, and played on dozens of beaches. The best part of the trip was that he learned how to relax and meditate, tackling lots of issues with his anxiety. He developed a lot of good habits that we've tried to build on since then. 

He grew big enough to get a bigger bike, started doing more regular chores like being our trash can retriever and mail retriever, and he started taking care of his own laundry on a regular basis. Tanner improved his reading skills by big bounds, taught himself multiplication, learned lots of rules in basketball and how the game really works, and made more friends at school and in the neighborhood.

Tanner's favorite food is pizza. He will eat most of what we feed to him if it isn't too flavorful. He still has a hard time with ethnic foods, which is unfortunate because I love ethnic foods and cook them a lot. At least I can always count on him to eat breakfast. It is his favorite meal. He will inhale waffles, eggs, bacon, fruit, etc in the morning, and he gets better and better at making his own breakfast. Another important note about food for Tanner is that we have to be careful that he eats soon after waking up and has frequent snacks throughout the day to help avoid meltdowns. When he is too hungry, he gets too upset to eat.

Tanner's favorite thing throughout the year was basketball. He loved studying his sports cards and making up basketball plays and teams for recess with his friends. Almost everyday, he had something to tell us about how basketball (or kickball or soccer) went during recess. He was so passionate about everything that happened in each game, and especially upset when kids didn't follow the real rules to the game. After school, he shot hoops on Roger's court behind our house every chance he could, either alone or with Dallin. When it was too cold, he shot hoops in the basement with the toddler hoop that he set up on a chair. We also took him to the church to shoot hoops in the winter. In PR, he shot hoops everywhere, too. Also throughout the year, he loved playing other sports like baseball and football, especially with Jeremy and Dallin on the lawn.

Other things Tanner does for fun is create and solve his own math problems, build his own creations with legos, improvise on the piano, play PBS kids games on the computer, read non-fiction books about science and the world, ride his bike, and boss his little brother around. He loved climbing on the climbing tree, swinging on a swing or laying in a hammock to calm down. Tanner is often the calmest when he is making something, like drawing a picture, writing a story or list, or building with something like legos. It is common to hear him singing or beat boxing around the house. He also likes to dance, especially making up his own break dancing moves.

One strength we saw a lot of this year is Tanner's loyalty to his friends. He had a couple of classmates that he became really close with (and maybe even borderline obsessed with). They were always on his mind! He made little gifts and notes for them constantly. He told us stories about them everyday when he came home from school and always wanted to do stuff for them!

Tanner loves to be the leader. He pays attention to detail as he organizes games and rooms and supplies. He loves to overthink, which is sometimes nice, but often causes problems when other people have different ideas from him. In all reality, he approaches life in very similar ways to me! This is sometimes endearing and fun to see my "mini-me" doing exactly what I would do. And other times it is absolutely terrifying! The only thing worse than having an inner battle with yourself is having a battle with a little human that you created and is excatly like you, but isn't you!

In May, when we were scrambling to move our family to San Diego, we realized that Tanner's birthday would occur while we'd be unpacking boxes in our new home and traveling for weddings. Tanner was pretty devastated about it. The thing that bummed me out was that his baptism would not take place in Minnesota like I had fondly anticipated (he wouldn't turn 8 until after we were gone).

We decided to throw a very early, very last-minute birthday party for Tanner. Very early because it occurred in May, exactly 7 weeks before his birthday. It was even before Dallin's birthday, which was weird for all of us. But it was really important to Tanner for his dad to be at the party, so doing it early was the only time to squeeze it in before Jeremy began his new job. It was very last minute because when we figured out a time to hold the party, we had 4 days to plan and carry out the gig. Tanner wanted to invite friends that he hadn't done much with recently or whom he had never had a playdate with. The little party was a big success!!

It was a basketball birthday, and Tanner chose all the activities for us to do. We began with a basketball craft that we found online, and it was a big hit: Mini basketball hoops.

The boys decorated their backboards that I pre-cut out of foam poster board. Then we hot-glued them to red drinking cups. With orange ping pongs, each boy had a complete mini basketball game to play with at the party and to take home! Super simple, inexpensive and fun!

Next, we ate dinner. We served Dominos pizza and a basketball veggie stadium! I used hummus, black beans and mini peparoni to make the dip into a basketball court. I bent the veggie trays into the shape of bleachers and piled them with various foods to look like crowded fans. Tanner and Dallin ate more veggies than anyone else, which I was proud of!

The boys talked about basketball and things they like about Tanner while we ate dinner. It was fun to see him play with his classmates in our home that I had heard so much about throughout the school year!

Pizza. Basketball, Birthday. Friends. Tanner was in heaven.

Some of his friends did a little dance for us! It was so adorable!!

Then we played basketball on the court that belongs to our backdoor neighbors, Roger and Sharon. We were so grateful to them for always letting the boys play there, especially during this party! We were also feeling blessed that the weather cooperated. 

Jeremy was the coach. We had red and blue basketball "sweatbands" made out of bandanas for each player to wear so we could tell which team the kids were on. They played 3 on 3 for a little while and it was a pretty close game! Not gonna lie, Tanner was very emotionally invested in the game, which made things a little touch and go to begin with. Jeremy did an amazing job mitigating arguments and preventing meltdowns. Pretty soon, all the boys were fully engaged in playing. It was fun to see how athletic they all were!

Jeremy could see that everyone (except Tanner) was getting tired of playing 3 on 3. So he put together some other basketball games on the fly. He put the kids in a half circle and played fire round shots. Then they played a game of lightning.

Tanner could have played for another hour, but it was time to call everyone in for cake! I ordered a small ice cream cake from Dairy Queen just the day before, which felt so hasty to me. The store actually had a basketball cake topper! With purple and black frosting, it went perfectly with the cake sticks that I made. It was a very simple and succesful Sacramento Kings Basketball cake! Tanner LOVED it.

I love his surprised face!

Just like Dallin's birthday this year, we did a "fiver" party. This is where everyone brings $5 in lieu of gifts, and the money goes towards one big gift for the birthday kid. Parent feedback was very positive because it relieved a lot of stress from families, esp since we could not give much notice for the parties. It was also awesome for us because we did not accumulate a lot of stuff while preparing to move and we were able to get something we knew Tanner would really enjoy. Tanner loved opening all the envelopes/cards. His friends wrote such nice things to him and drew funny pictures.

Then Tanner got to open up the gift that was from everyone. It was an engineering kit to make lots of different machines!! (Dallin helped wrap the gift and he used most of our tissue paper. 😂Naturally, they had to be thrown everywhere! Woohoo!!)

The kiddos played in the basement while they waited for parent pick up. This friend was a champ at the drums!

After all the excitement, I laid on the couch for a rest. You can see my reflection in the balloons.

We had to box up all the fun from the party with the rest of the things we were packing up to move. The next chance we had to think about Tanner turning 8 was in Colorado, a couple days before his actual birthday. We went out to eat pizza, sang to him and he opened some presents from Nana and Papa. 

Then, his actual birthday occurred while we were in Sacramento--the day before the big wedding event. Grandma made a yummy breakfast for him!

That morning we had a fun playdate at the park. Tanner struggled to cope with the fact that he wasn't having a birthday celebration on his actual birthday. (That kind of thinking/attitude is not something he learned from me! It makes me gag when people mope on their birthday). It was a rough morning. Later that day, he was able to cheer up when he went swimming with Jeremy and Dallin, and he had a really great time! He said, "This is the life!!!"😎

Then we went to the church to set up tables and chairs. We bought pizza for everyone so that Tanner could have his favorite meal and so that we could keep working as we ate.
One of our family traditions is to do a SERVICE project on our birthday. Coming up with a birthday service project this year was tricky for Tanner with the move and the traveling. He ended up helping keep the cousins entertained while the grown-ups worked on decorating for the reception. Tanner was a very good babysitter to Hazel, Lucy and Dorothy. He did such a great job that Aunt Melissa tipped him a couple of dollars! We were super proud of our little leader keeping things under control with the little kids for hours! We also got a cute picture of him with baby girl Garrett when her family arrived.

Grandma had a cake for Tanner that we sang and ate over while we were continued setting up for the reception. There were even some gifts for him to open up!! One of them was a special outing to see a pre-season Kings game with Grandpa Z. A few days later, they went to the game in style and had a blast!!

A big life lesson that I hope Tanner learned from all his birthday adventures is that often, things don't go the way we hope or plan, and that's okay. Often, it turns out even better! We had a lot of fun celebrating Tanner in three different states this year. He is such a blessing in our lives! The next thing he had to look forward to was his baptism in September, which I can't wait to post about soon!!