Sean Humor

Using anything to bribe Sean into using the potty I bought a bag of licorice. All day long Sean would keep asking me if he could have a "ticklish." (You bet I tickled him!)

Today he came up to me with a straight face and said, "Mommy, I have a cute bum." and then walked away. (Or did he turn around to show me his cute side?)

The Batman Party

Chad is my oldest child, but he has the last birthday month of the three kids. So by the time it is finally his birthday he is more than ready to celebrate. As seems to be our theme this year - Chad had an extended birthday. He had friend party the Saturday before (since we would be out of town the following Saturday), his nanny and uncle David came for a visit, and then he had his actual birthday date of August 23, 2007 to turn 7 years old.

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Happy Birthday Chad!!!!

What I love about Chad.

1. He has a sincere and sensitive heart.

2. I love the big dimple in his left cheek when he smiles.

3. He makes up his own interesting phrases that crack me up.

4. He doesn't like to give up.

5. He gets his big blue eyes from Chris' mom and my dad.

6. He is not afraid of bugs or snakes - in fact he loves them!!!!!! (And he catches all the spiders in our house for me!)

7. He has a talent at building/putting things together. Especially bionicles.

8. He puts up with being my guinea pig child.

9. He loves people and includes everyone as being one of his friends.

10. He has great confidence in himself. He knows when he is good at something and isn't afraid to tell you!

Caviness Reunion 2007 - Sun Lakes Resort

It has been a very busy and exciting summer (and lets not forget to mention full of drama too). We just got back from our (hopefully) last adventure of the summer - our annual Caviness reunion. This year it was held at Sun Lakes Resort just outside Coulee City. (And if you are like me - never heard of it or Coulee City before.) It was a beautiful resort and full of water-filled activities. It was nice to catch up with family and see how it has grown and changed. I have not been able to make a Caviness reunion the last three years (Sean was born, clashed with the Hansen reunion, and out of town).

View of the resort as you drive in. We stayed in a little cabin by the side of the lake.

We arrived Friday night - just in time for everyone to take a quick dip in the frigid swimming pool (except for me - I am deathly allergic to cold water! and being in a swimming suit!) We then had a great time at a huge potluck dinner and meet up with all the Caviness family.

Saturday started early for the Caviness clan. The golfing tournament started at 6 am. (Golfing is very serious business in the Caviness family!!!!!!!) The day started all too early for me. The kids were also up at 6 and ready for some fun. After making them stay in bed a little longer (although I don't know if it was worth the effort - I didn't get any extra sleep) I cooked breakfast (yes that is right I cooked breakfast - I do do that every once in a great while).


Luckily Grandma rounded up the kids and took them all on a walk. That gave me time to clean up without interference and lay down again for a 10 minute cat nap. When the kids came back they were ready for swimming suits and for a whole day of activities.



First on the agenda was Water Wars. A little built up area for major water balloon fights. There are two cages across from each other, each with two catapults in which you load your water balloons into and then fire away. We of course had the girl cousins (Halle and Lindsey) against the boy cousins (Chad, Sean, Justin and Jackson).

Lindsey and Halle on the girl's side. Lindsey was the only one big enough to really launch the balloons all the way to the other side.

The boys on their side. Sean gets help from Grandma to load up his balloon.

After using up three free buckets of balloons and buying four more buckets it was finally time for the water balloon fight to end. The kids could have done this all day!!!!! (Too bad our wallets couldn't.)

Next we went to the designated swimming area of the lake. It was pretty nice - except it was really rocky, so the kids didn't have too much fun walking around. Chad and Justin were brave enough to jump off of the dock. And Sean had fun trying to throw rocks when we weren't looking (he knew he wasn't supposed to do that).

After getting sore feet from the rocks we decided to head over to the pool. We had big hopes that the water wouldn't be so cold and would feel good after being in the hot sun. Well, it was still freezing cold - but the kids didn't seem to mind as long as they were having fun.

Kayla, Cindy (Chris' cousin), Justin, Lindsey, Sean, Chad, Grandma, Jackson, and Halle.

I was so grateful for life jackets and Grandma - that way I didn't have to go in with the kids.

After an exciting morning of being wet - I finally got the kids dried off, warm clothes on (to help the blue lips) and then got them all down for a nap. (You know you are old when all you look forward to in your day is laying down for a nap).

After napping Chris was home from golfing and took Chad out fishing with his brother Jeff and his kids. Chad came home with a brown paper bag. In it was the prize fish he was dying to show mom. My husband was also proud of the fish since it had been be-headed and gutted by him. I was going to take a picture of it - but by the time I located the camera someone had thrown away the discarded brown paper bag. (I wonder if they looked inside to see what was there before they threw it away?)

While Chris and Chad were away Sean and Halle and I played cards (Old Maid and Crazy 8's) and then went swimming again. (Those crazy kids!) Halle just couldn't get enough swimming in. She has been deprived all month long because of her picc. But luckily she had the picc removed just a couple of days before we left. She enjoyed showing me all her swimming tricks (with the aid of her life jacket) and also proudly showed me how she could put her face under water - something she didn't like doing until she took swimming lessons from Tyler Porter.

When it was time for dinner we again had a huge potluck - this time there were over 50 people in attendance. While we sat around and ate and talked the kids had fun just running around. Sean also observed some people playing a game where you toss metal rings into holes (any one know the name?). So Sean decided to join in too. It kept him quite busy (thank goodness!!!!).

Sean, trying to figure out how this game works.

That night the winds kicked up pretty fierce and howled all night long. The kids had such a long day that they actually slept in the following morning.

Sean and Chad still sleeping at 7:00 am. A very unusual occurrence.

Sunday morning meant it was time to go. After cleaning up the cabin and packing the van we stopped by for a group breakfast and group pictures (but I didn't put my camera amongst the 20 other cameras lined up - figured I could use someone else's picture as soon as they send it my way - so I don't have those pictures yet). Then it was time to go home. We stopped by a nice scenic view on the way home - just a few miles east of the resort we where at.

A pretty view.

My four kids, oh I mean my three kids and my husband, standing out on the ledge.

It was lots of fun. But I am also glad to be home. I am hoping for a little boring and normalcy around here for the next week. But all too soon school will have started up and then I will be missing that I can't go have fun with my kids when ever I want.

Olga's Time Capsule

With all that has been going on this summer I have either been too busy to blog, too tired to blog, or really not in the mood to blog (or my husband has taken possession of the computer). I am starting to feel my blogging addiction starting to come back (thank goodness) but haven't known what to blog about. Now I could just type all the random thoughts and words rambling through my head (like a high school writing exercise) and drive everyone else insane. Or, maybe I could think of something coherent to write about.

I've been wanting to catch up on my "10 years ago" stories but I have misplaced the pictures that I want to include and haven't been able to find them yet. While I was looking for the pictures I found an envelope with some pictures in it that Chris' grandma (Olga Walker) had been given from us. Chris' mom had returned the photos when Olga passed away. It was fun to see what was in there and reminisce. So, I thought I would share the photos as my blog for today.

This is Chris and I at Stoneridge in July 1997. This was my first trip to Spokane to meet his family. Stoneridge was were the Walker Family Reunion (Chris' mom's side) took place.

They just happened to have an extra matching shirt for me. This is just one month after Chris and I meet.

There are some more pictures that were taken. Those are the ones I have been hunting down.

Do you notice how young and happy we look? That is because it is a picture of us BEFORE kids!

This was Chad's (our first born at 3 months of age) first venture to Spokane. We came up for thanksgiving - November 2000.

This is a four generation picture. Chris with his mother, Jeraldine, his grandma, Olga, and his son, Chad.

I remember GG (as we called Olga) being so excited to hold and play with Chad. Chad was also pretty spoiled by his four girl cousins who were also there.

December 2000. Our first official family picture (mom, dad, and Chad). We sent this picture out with our first ever Christmas letter.

I remember this picture making me feel so grownup. I was finally married and actually had a child to take care of. We finally felt like a "real" family.

This is Chad at 18 months. The Lederhosen that Chad is wearing was about 19 years old. Chris had bought them while on his mission to Germany.

I never thought of doing anything like that from my mission. It about made me cry when Chris first showed me the Lederhosen and the Drindl he had purchased for his future children. He has always been a family man.

May 2002. Halle's first photo shoot at just a few days old. Used this picture to send with her birth announcement.

June 2002. Chris' family gather for a picture in front of our house on Halle's blessing day.

Halle at 6-8 weeks. Getting a picture of her and her blessing dress. (I made the dress - I'm pretty proud. That is one of the things I had always wanted to do as a mom.)

It was so amazing that we got such a good picture of Halle and with a smile on her face. In case you don't remember Halle in her early stages of life - she cried all the time!!!!!! So this picture is very atypical of the real Halle Ann.

In order to get her dressed finished my niece, Ashlee, helped to watch Halle and Chad. When Halle would finish a crying spell Ashlee would joyously announce, "Halle-lu-ya!"

For quite a while, Halle was known as the "Whaling Banshee!"

Again, a great picture of Halle. She really likes to ham it up for pictures!!! Always been a natural at that.

This is Halle's six month picture (Nov 2002).

Halle's one year picture. Happily wearing her Dirndl.

She still sometimes asks to wear this dress, even though she knows it is now way too small for her.

I hope Halle has a little girl that can wear it too someday.

July 2003 get together. I don't know why Chad is not in the picture and I can't remember who the older couple in the middle is - some relative of Chris.

You can see they had been playing croquet. The Caviness' are always competing in something.

A picture of GG with Sean. This picture always makes me a little sad because it is the only picture we have of Sean and GG together. GG passed away about 6 weeks after this picture.

While GG was in the resting home we had brought Sean over for her to see for the first time. But we forgot our camera. That is one of my biggest regrets as it was such a precious moment.

I was so glad to have found these pictures and especially to remember about Chris' grandma. She was a really strong, determined, and wonderful woman. I was so glad to get to know her. I always thought it was the neatest thing to be able to have four generations sitting together at church when she was well enough to attend.

GG passed away on August 19, 2004. August 19 is also Herm's birthday. So next week, while we are celebrating a birthday, we will also be celebrating the life and legacy of Olga Walker.

Back to Activity

When I woke up this morning I realized that I had not been to my home ward for 5 weeks and had not been able to participate in taking the sacrament for the last 3 weeks. It has been kind of a weird disconnected feeling to be away for so long.

I was really looking forward to sacrament meeting today. The added bonus was that Chris would be with us today (which I had forgot and not planned on). But all my high hopes were soon dashed as Halle layed on me, demanding I rub her arms, with Sean constantly fighting with her for my lap and being as much trouble as he knows how. By the second bathroom break I decided that was enough and went to the primary room with Halle and Sean. Tried to listen to the testimonies in there - but just didn't feel the same. Oh well, at least I did get to take the sacrament (and as my husband so lovingly told me - finally repented for 3 weeks worth of sins - and no wonder I was acting the way I was (what? - no one likes an overly stressed out tired emotional wreck of a mom on the verge of PMS?)).

And there is nothing like a kick start to re-activity than to teach the Relief Society Lesson which I had to do today. I can hardly believe that I have had this calling for over a year now. I still shake and get nervous before giving a lesson, but at least now I don't also feel like throwing up and fainting. I've really struggled with wanting and enjoying this calling. But at the same time I don't know how I would feel if I were suddenly released. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens when all the big changes happen to our ward boundaries this fall.

Halle's Hospital Adventure

Here is a recap of what Halle went through this last week.

Monday - July 23

Halle's stomach is finally feeling better after having a nasty tummy bug for several days. But she starts limping and complains about her hip hurting. Hip out of joint? Strained muscle? Overly dramatic kid?

Put her to bed. Hip still hurting and I notice a fever.

Tuesday - July 24

Halle wakes up moaning in pain. Hip hurts even worse and can't walk or move it at all without screaming pain. Fever still present. I know something is wrong - call the doctor and get an appointment right away.

Dr. examines Halle and concludes that she has "Toxic Synovitis," a self limiting viral disease that has occurred in her hip. Recommendation - give her motrin and codeine and keep her off her feet for a week and she should feel better in 7-10 days. Drew blood (which Halle of course did not like and let every one know it!) and ordered blood work "just in case" it is something worse. Should get blood results back by tonight.

No word on the blood work - assume everything is okay. Keep giving pain medication and make her as comfortable as possible. Hates going to the bathroom because I have to pick her up - which bends her joint a little and causes a lot of pain.

Wednesday - July 25

Halle is still in a lot of pain. Fever still present even with both motrin and codeine. Try to get stuff done around the house (been gone for three weeks and then had sick kids).

Around 10am I get a phone call - can't get to it because Sean is finally agreeing to use the potty. Get back to the answering machine and listen to the message. A little disturbing to hear, "Mrs. Caviness, this is Dr. Shipowick. We have the results of Halle's blood test and you need to call me right away." He has also called my cell phone and left and message and left his home phone number and his personal cell phone number (he was not working that day). Not what you want to hear - but still didn't think anything was too serious at this point.

After I call he tells me that Halle's sedimentation number is pretty high. It should be below 30 and hers is 39. He still reassures me that it is nothing to be alarmed at - probably high because she still has some inflammation. But "just in case" he would like me to take Halle down to the hospital to get an ultra sound done of her hip to see if there is an abundance of fluid. If it looks okay - then good, but if it looks a little iffy then he wants to get some fluid aspirated out of her hip. He says he has already called the hospital and that they will get in touch me with and set everything up.

About 30 minutes later the calls start coming in. One from radiology, one from records (got to make sure you have insurance!) and several from pediatric surgery. Finally when everything gets coordinated they ask me to check into pediatric surgery at 2:00pm. They will do an ultra sound and then if needed do the hip aspiration procedure. Halle is not to have any more food or liquids. (She had only a few crackers to eat at 7:30am that morning.)

I inform Halle of the new events for the day and prep her for an ultra sound and possible procedure. We are both mentally prepared to get through what we think is the worse case scenario.

We arrive at the hospital. I am carrying Halle and trying to find my way around. Finally someone orders a wheel chair for us. After waiting about 20 minutes for transport to come we finally check in at the pediatric surgery center. After checking in they whisk us over to radiology for her ultra sound. Halle lies real still and is very cooperative and very fascinated with the monitor. The technician gives me the look of -yes - positive for the next step. Lots of fluid. Then the doctor comes in (Dr. Sanders) and takes a look. He doesn't see the extra fluid that the tech had seen but decides that it is best to do the aspiration, "just in case."

We are wheeled back to surgery where Halle has to get prepped for the procedure. They give her a medicine to calm her down and then have to insert an IV line. They then give her some sedation medicine (just to relax and forget - not totally out). She is then wheeled back to radiology where Dr. Sanders can do a ultrasound guided aspiration.

They allow me to stay with her for the whole procedure. She is kind of funny. One moment she looks like she is asleep, the next she is wide awake and babbling on about something. When they poked her with another sedation needle she yelled out, "Sean - stop poking me." And then when the really big needle finally went into her hip she again yelled, "SEAN!!!!"

As they aspirate the fluid I can tell it is not good. Instead of being clear fluid it is really cloudy looking. I still just assume it is from a virus. The nurse told me that taking some of the fluid out of her hip should help with some of the discomfort she had been feeling. The doctor says he will send the fluid to the lab "just in case."

With the procedure all done they take us to the recovery room. Halle is really out of it and we have a hard time trying to get her to wake up (she isn't even supposed to be really asleep). As the nurse takes her vitals she notices that her temperature has gone up. They give her some tylenol. 45 minutes later her temperature is still going up, not down. They are not allowed to give her anything else without a Dr.'s order but the nurse allows me to give her some motrin that I happen to have in my bag. After a time her temperature is still 102 and she starts getting the shakes. She is still having a hard time waking up and now I am getting a little scared. She should be getting better, not worse.

The nurse is worried too. They are supposed to be discharging us (I already have the papers signed) but she thinks Halle needs to be admitted and I agree. She tries to contact Dr. Shipowick but is referred to the Dr. on call for that medical group. She has to explain everything and he says he will get back to her.

Mean while I decide I had better call Jeraldine and let her know that we will be at the hospital a little longer (she is watching the boys because Chris, his dad and his brothers are having the big annual Walker Cup golf tournament today). I have to turn my cell phone on because I had it turned off during the procedure. When I call Jeraldine she is okay with keeping the boys longer and tells me Dr. Shipowick has been trying to get a hold of me but didn't tell me why. I figured he just wanted to see how things went.

After a few more minutes my cell phone rings. I don't recognize the number but maybe it is Dr. Shipowick again. I answer and am greeted by, "Is this Mrs. Caviness?"

"Yes."

"This is Dr. Perry. I'm a pediatric surgeon. Where are you right now?"

"I'm still at the hospital in the recovery room."

"WHAT EVER YOU DO DON'T LEAVE!!!!! We got more results from Halle's first blood test . Her white blood cell count should be well below 5000 (5000 means an infection is present). Halle's WBC is 7500! That probably means that bacteria is causing the infection and that means we will have to do surgery on her hip right away."

Then he started throwing out more medical terms and I handed my phone over to the nurse.

Come to find out Dr. Shipowick had been trying to find us for about 2 hours. For some reason the pedicatric recovery room told him we were not there. Then since he was working in the ER he called Dr. Perry in to help find us.

So, as soon as they knew where we were we had the surgeons (Dr. Perry and Dr. Lynch) come and explain the procedure to us and why it was necessary. They said they would put a 2-3 inch incision into her leg (in reality it is a 4-5 inch incision with other smaller incisions on her hip too) so that they could open her up to the hip bone, clean out all the fluid and then check the bones to make sure they weren't diseased or infected. Bacteria is never good to have in the body - especially where it can grow undetected for a while. If the bacteria enters her blood stream then she would really be in trouble.

Once all the surgical staff is ready (and they put in another IV, since the last one was removed)and the OR is clear they take her away from me for emergency surgery. I was not at all prepared for this scenario! I start crying and shaking and praying.

I call Chris to let him know what is happening. He is at the 11th whole and not too thrilled about getting interrupted in the middle of his golf game.

I call Jeraldine and she of course is willing to keep the boys until tomorrow.

It is late, I am tired and I am in shock. Why did my precious little girl have to go through this?! I would much rather it had happened to me than to her. I wished more than anything that I could take away all the pain she had had and all the pain I knew was coming.

I wait by myself in the surgery waiting room. Hoping all will go well and than I can see my little girl again quickly. An hour later there is finally some relief. The surgeons tell me everything went well. They also say that it was a good thing my Dr. was on top of things and that they had operated right away. She not only had bacteria in the fluid, but mounds of puss that they had to clean out and scrap away. They say that she should not have any problems with her joint. She is young and will recuperate well, but of course there is always a small percentage of a chance that there could be further problems.

I continue to wait for when they will allow me to see my daughter again. (I have to wait until she has recovered from the anaesthesia). As I wait the golfers return. First Chris and then Mike and Dad. We wait and wait and wait. Mike and dad go home. It is 11:30pm and I call to find out what is happening and one of the nurses that I finally talk to says, "We looked for you in every waiting room but that one. Halle has been crying for you."

AAGGGGG!!!!! Stupid people! First they don't know we are still in the hospital and then they can't find me in the waiting room that they took me to to wait.

Chris and I make our way to her room as quickly as we can. And there she is, a little girl in a big old hospital bed with tubes (IV fluid, antibiotics, and morphine) stuck in her arm. She gives us a big smile and we know it will all be okay.

I spend the night - and watch her face and listen to the beeps of machines all night long.

Thursday - July 26

Halle wakes up and sees that there is a TV in the room and requests cartoons. She is taking everything is stride and doesn't seem worried or confused that she is in a hospital.

Finally she has to go to the bathroom. She is in too much pain to get out of bed. The nurses slide a bed pan under her but it is a disaster and the bed gets flooded. They decide she will have to wear diapers until she can move. Halle is deeply offended until I tell her that her Grandpa Hansen had to wear one when he was in the hospital too. That seemed to give her some comfort - but she still didn't like it.

The big cheer-up of the day is a dog named Mowgley brought in by a cute older couple who volunteer their dog at the pediatric center.

Halle happy to see a dog at the hospital.

Friday - July 27

Halle starts to get the hospital routine down - blood pressure, temperature, medicine, using her diaper. She also has major bed head!!

They determine she has been infected with streptococcus bacteria. But, they don't know how or why it happenend. But they do know they are using the right course of antibiotics for the infection.

Halle really is Supergirl - staying cheerful through it all.

Saturday - July 28

Halle gets a little walker and can finally get to the bathroom and the playroom (but still with lots of pain). I tackle her bed head and put in braids and give her a sponge bath.

Getting Halle out of her bed to use her walker.

Halle using her walker to get to the bathroom.

Next adventure - walking to the play room.

Halle enjoys coloring some picture while watching the other kids run around.

Sunday - July 29

Grandma and Bompa spend the day with Halle after church. Her friend, Madison, from Arizona comes to give her a visit. Halle is thrilled to have a friend to play with. Halle's most memorable words for the day are, "I love the hosptial, mommy. I want to stay here for a long time."

Halle gets visitors! Kristen, Maddison, Halle, and Maddison's Grandma.

Playing together in the bed.

Showing Maddison how to get to the play room.

Halle showing off in her walker.

A big goodbye hug!!! Maddison heads back to Arizona.

Monday - July 30

Told that we can go home today if three things happen. 1) Echocardiogram of Halle's heart (to make sure no damage from autoimmunity), 2) VPlacement of the P.I.C.C. line, 3) Visit from home-help nurse to show how to use P.I.C.C line. By mid-day Halle was no longer wanting to stay in the hospital but was screaming, "I want to go home. I hate it here. Take me home!!!"

The echocardiogram was easy - and every thing looked normal (so far).

The nurse came by but didn't give any instruction as the PICC was not in place yet.

We waited and waited for the PICC. They told us it was scheduled for 11:30am. And again Halle could not eat or drink as she would be sedated. Finally at 2:30pm they took her down to pediatric surgery and inserted the PICC. (If you don't know what a PICC is - it is a small tube inserted into her arm that goes up a vein and ends near the heart. It is attached to some fancy tubing so that medicine can be injected directly into the blood stream).

After the PICC insertion she was x-rayed to make sure it had been inserted correctly - you know, "just in case." The results of the x-ray showed that it was too long. So they had to pull off all the tape again (pure torture - just ask Halle what was the worst thing - yucky tasting medicine and having bandages removed!!!!) and pull out 2cm and rebandage her up.

Finally at 6:00pm we were finally discharged and on our way back home.

Tuesday - July 31

Home-help nurse comes by and shows me how to administer Halle's anitbiotics through her PICC. She will need to take this medicine daily for 4 weeks.

Halle - happy to be home again!!!!

Thank you everyone for your concerns and prayers - I know they really helped us at this time!!!!