Andy & Jessica

The boys really keep me busy. Asher is the easiest boy. He just eats and sleeps. Jude is the next easiest. Jude requires a lot of attention, likes to be entertained and talks constantly. Levi is the most difficult because he is constantly getting himself into danger with his impressive climbing skills. He will do anything Jude will do.

When Levi was an infant, we called him “Grunt Monster” since he would sleep peacefully during the day and grunt all night long. Asher is also a grunt monster. He sleeps quietly during the day and likes to keep us up at night while grunting in his sleep.

It seems we have spent the last 3 weeks or so at the hospital or doctor’s offices and that’s because we kind of have done so. Jude has had a lot of appointments and Asher has also had some standard appointments. One of Jude’s recent appointments was a neuropsychological evaluation, to determine if the brain tumor impacted Jude intellectually, cognitively or behaviorally. Although the doctor had some theories about how the tumor may have impacted certain test results, I feel confident it has not had an impact. Jude’s testing revealed that he has an IQ of 129, which is superior and makes him a genius, at least with respect to 4 year olds. The testing also placed him socially at age 6, which was the ceiling for a 4 year old. But, for self-help skills, he tested lower than his age at 3 years. When I asked Jude about that later he said something like, “Why should I do something if I can get someone else to do it for me?” So, it appears I need to stop babying Jude and make him start doing more tasks himself. The neuropsychological evaluation report also reminded me of something I had forgotten about — that the post-surgery vision exam revealed that he suffered peripheral vision loss in his right eye as a result of the tumor. Other than that, it seems the tumor has had no impact.

Yesterday the 5 of us spent the day at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics. Jude had another follow-up MRI. I had been really nervous and not able the sleep the night before the scan. But, it turned out well. We were told the scan looked good. The neurosurgeon who operated on Jude will also review the images and if we don’t hear anything further, that means he agrees with the radiologist and oncologist that nothing is going on. There is one bright block of tissue on the images that is likely scar tissue, but tumor cells also show up as bright spots. It appears to have shrunk slightly, making them feel more confident that it is scar tissue. Jude is in remission and hopefully that doesn’t change. We learned something that we found quite surprising — that even if the cancer never comes back, Jude won’t be considered cured until 20 years after the surgery since his type of cancer (ependymoma) is such a slow growing type of tumor. So, he’ll have regular MRIs for at least 20 years. Crazy.

Andy and I were so worried about how we could possibly handle another one. But, it is going much better than I expected. Jude and Levi just love Asher and love to take turns holding him and kissing him. Asher sleeps a lot and seems really content. He never cries unless he is hungry. So far, so good!

On Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9:21 a.m., we welcomed Asher Austin Olson into the world. Even though I had a c-section scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on that same date, Asher picked his own birthday. Most of the day on the 23rd, I was having cramping that I now realize was real contractions. They were fairly minor and bearable. My mom had arrived the evening of the 23rd so that she could take care of Jude and Levi for us the following morning since we had to arrive at the hospital by 7:30 a.m. By 1 a.m. on the 24th, I was having cramping so bad that I hadn’t been able to fall asleep. I had Andy call the doctor since I figured I was in labor and know I’m not supposed to go through labor given that my uterus has plenty of scar tissue from a prior surgery to remove a uterine fibroid tumor and 2 prior c-sections. The doctor on call thought the contractions sounded far enough apart that it wasn’t real labor yet and that I could safely wait until my scheduled time. Since I couldn’t sleep anyway, I went to work on this annual profile of my practice that I needed to do for work. I would mark down how far apart the contractions were. Sometimes they were 8 minutes apart and sometimes 15 minutes apart. They were really painful. I had to take breaks from working to get Levi back to sleep a couple times and also get Jude back to sleep. Jude was so excited about the new baby’s arrival that he got up for good at 4 a.m. or so. By 4 a.m., I was in so much pain with the contractions that I told Andy to call the doctor again. I decided no matter what he said that we would head to the hospital. I felt the birth was imminent and didn’t want to deliver at home or on the way there. We headed to the hospital at 4-ish. We hooked Jude up with Star Wars or something to watch and then my mom woke up as we were heading out. Jude said something like, “Grandma Forbes, can you watch over me?” He wanted company as he partied in the wee hours of the morning. We made it to the hospital (I had 3 painful contractions on the way there). I surprised myself by gladly accepting a ride from Andy in the wheelchair. When we arrived, they got me hooked up to a machine that monitored the baby and contractions. I was indeed in labor. My real doctor prescribed some medicine that stopped the contractions. Then they attempted to move the c-section up to 8:30 a.m., but it got a bit of a late start. We headed to the OR at 8:45 or so. I was just so excited to get the little guy cut out of me since he had been crowding me for months and had been causing me bad pain for a day. The birth itself went just fine. Andy got it all documented. Little Asher came out with dark black hair. It didn’t seem like I got to get a very good look at him in the OR and then he was gone to the nursery with Andy while they sewed me up. It was in the recovery room that I got my first real looks at him. He’s absolutely adorable. I love him so much.  We brought him home on the 25th, the day after he arrived.  I was so eager to get out of that hospital.  I was doing whatever I could do to get out.  I would ask the nurses what the soonest was that I could walk/remove IVs/get off meds.  We waited to leave until after Asher’s circumcision on the 25th.  The adjustment to 3 kiddos is going much better than I could have hoped for. Jude and Levi are crazy about him and not jealous at all yet.  I’m just finding it’s harder than ever to keep the house clean and get stuff done, but maybe some of that will get easier once I’ve fully recovered.

 

A couple weeks ago, I lost one of my favorite people in the whole world — my Grandma Proper.  I’m pretty sure I haven’t processed it yet.  I think that could be because I have so much else on my emotional plate dealing with the worry associated with Jude and the worry about how we’ll juggle another kiddo without neglecting any one of them.  I wish I had the time to write a proper tribute to my grandma.  Instead, I’ll tell a couple quick stories.

— I admired my grandma so much for her hardworking nature.  She often told stories of all the things she shouldn’t have been doing on the day she gave birth to this kid or that kid.  Later in her life, I remember how with every task she completed (from eating up the rest of the potato salad to addressing an envelope), she’d say the cutest thing, “Well, that job’s done.”  I always loved that phrase and starting using it on a daily basis years ago.  It helps me remember my cute grandma and helps me to celebrate every job I get done, no matter how small.

— I also admired my grandma so much for her generosity.  I couldn’t go to visit her without her offering me almost everything at her place, including her shoes, which happened to be just my size.  Even though I was an adult and certainly didn’t need any of her money, she never failed to send $10 or so for my birthday and for the boys’ birthdays.  Even after her death, my mom delivered a small bag of clothes to me that my grandma had bought for Jude and Levi.  They were just their sizes.  It’s amazing to me that someone who was struggling to stay alive found enough energy to think about others.

Her obituary is below.

Genevieve “Jean” Proper passed away Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at Golden Living Center East in Rochester, MN due to complications of diabetes.  She was 86 years old.

Jean was born April 14, 1925 to Gusaf and Esther Johnson on a farm in Elm Creek Township  near Welcome, MN.  She married Donald Lewis Proper on March 17, 1946, and they farmed in the Zumbro Falls area.  They later divorced.

Jean enjoyed spending time with her family – especially her grandchildren, playing cards with friends, playing bingo, shopping for bargains, and watching the Twins.  She was an avid reader and loved helping people.  She had a great sense of humor and loved hearing stories about her children’s misadventures.  She loved going up north to her sister’s cabin and hitting every casino on the way! In addition to raising her family, she worked as a custodian for the Rochester State Hospital and RCTC.  She belonged to the Homestead United Methodist Church, Ladies Auxiliary and Royal Neighbors.

Jean was preceded in death by her parents, three brothers: Oliver, Dwayne, and Richard Johnson, a daughter, Nancy, and a son, Jimmy.

She is survived by Delores (John) Forbes of Grove City, MN, Suzanne (James) Wharton of Byron, MN, Dean (Jackie) Proper of Coon Valley, WI, Jerry (Karen) Proper of Chatfield, MN, Leon Proper of Rochester, MN, and Donna Mackey of Goodview, MN,  18 grandchildren, and 17 great-grandchildren.   Also surviving are sisters Darlene Tillotson of Carson City, NV, Marcella (Bob) Brush of Tulsa, OK, and Averil (Ronnie) Voth of Madison Lake, MN.  She also had several surviving nieces and nephews.

Memorials can be sent to the Salvation Army or to the Mayo Foundation for heart research.

The funeral service is at Homestead United Methodist Church at 400 13^th Ave. SE, Rochester, MN on Tuesday, August 9 at 11 a.m.  Lunch will follow.  Internment will be at the Pine Island Cemetary.

 

 

In no more than 8 days, we’ll welcome another mess maker to the family. Maybe the new little guy will be less high maintenance than the others, but I have my doubts.

Within the last few weeks or so, Jude got into the lotion in our main bathroom and decided to decorate the 6×5 or so mirror with lotion and to also fill his hands with lotion and squirt it out all over the room by clapping. It was such a disaster, I had to get out the video camera and record it.

Then a little more recently, Levi broke into the pantry and spilled out half a box of Cheerios on the floor. He was having such a fun time dragging his entire body through them, eating handfulls of them, throwing other handfulls away, and throwing them at Jude while laughing. After getting some video of the action, I took advantage of them being distracted with the Cheerios and ran into the play room to clean up the cars that they had spread all over the floor. When I returned a few minutes later, Levi had gotten into the desk drawer and had drawn with ink pen and pencil all over the tile floor. It’s really just one mess after another around here. I wonder if the same would be true of girls — but then I remember my mom used to call me “Messy Jessie.”

I already feel guilty about the lack of attention #3 (the little guy who will be born no later than August 24th) is getting. Although we got some great 4-D pictures of him 3-1/2 months ago, they are not loaded up on this blog. And, we’ve had no countdowns on the blog like we did for the other boys. If I can’t find time to devote to #3 before he comes out, how will I manage him on the outside? Scary. Maybe I’ll have to slack off in other ways. For example, the other day I told Jude to come to me so I could brush his hair. When he didn’t immediately comply, I said outloud and sincerely something I would have never said with just one child, “Maybe we can just put a hat on you and call it good.” Sounds like words of an already frazzled mom.

He can ride a 2 wheeler without training wheels, go tubing and isn’t even afraid to try waterskiing. Check out this link of my amazing boy:

I’m one proud Mama!