More Kamp Fun!

By Day 3, we were tired pups.  We decided to run in to Silver Dollar City for the afternoon.  Babe was itching to ride some roller coasters and I had great memories of Silver Dollar City from when I was around five years-old.  When we arrived it was blazing hot and 2 of the 3 roller coasters were closed.  We did, however, really enjoy the log ride!  And we rode one roller coaster that made JLS' "tummy go in my froat".  After about two hours we went back to kamp and dove in the pool.

That evening was our camo party.  The boys were so excited for it, but they were tired.  Number one, all of us sleeping in a room with WHS is a recipe for disaster.  WHS thought the party was just beginning when the lights would go out.  Long nights...  Number two, we played hard.  JLS and JBS played hard and really didn't rest during the day and went to bed later than usual.  So, by camo night, and party 3#, JLS fell asleep at the dinner table.  Babe, took JLS and WHS back to the room and JBS and I joined the party, although tired, as well.

WHS was ready for the party, tired and all...

WHS a few hours later...

A wiped out JLS...

And JBS.

 But never fear.  The Sampler boys don't stay down for long.  We were all up and ready to hit it early the next morning.  AND, we discovered the wagons at the baby house...supposedly for the babies.  All 3 of my babies evidently.

Happy Birthday WHS!

It is amazing how quickly time flies once you have more than one child.  I remember when JBS was little thinking a year seemed like eternity.  Now those years just keep flipping by.  When JBS was two, I was 5 months pregnant with JLS.  When JLS was two...oh Lordy, he wasn't even sleeping thru the night yet!  Holy Hannah!  How in the world did we survive JLS as a baby?  Thus, WHS is three years younger than JLS.

Now, our sweet WHS is entering all the things that were our "new things" when we first moved here.  He now has JLS' first sunday school teachers at our church.  He is in the same classroom at school with the SAME awesome teacher that JLS had when we first moved here.  He has started going to gymnastics at the same place and same day that JLS did 3 years ago.  Yes, we left Tulsa four years ago in December.  Incredibly hard to believe.  It's hard for me to believe that JLS doesn't remember Tulsa at all.  And WHS, well, along with Babe and me is a true Texan!

So sweet WHS is two.  He has fast become a huge "Mo-Mo" fan (Elmo for those who don't speak Will-ish").  So, Mo-Mo was the theme to the party.  JBS actually had a "Mo" party (in Jake-ish) when he turned three.  We like Elmo in this house.  He didn't quite understand why he was getting so much positive attention.  He hadn't grabbed someones hair or crumpled their papers, or snatched their books and we were all showering him with loads of attention.  When I lit the birthday candles on his Mo-Mo cake, he ran from the birthday candles.

Still not totally thrilled about posting for birthday pictures.  We must have birthday pictures!

At the end of the day, WHS had a great birthday.  His brothers loved giving him a party, WHS loved being the center of it.  Birthdays have such a bittersweet feeling.  It is such a celebration, yet all I can think is that I won't be having another "Mo-Mo" party again.  No more two-year-old birthdays.  Not to mention, WHS is two going on twenty.

 Why must I always get so sentimental?

Yummo...

Mr. Potato Head... HOURS of entertainment!

JBS very thoughtfully bought WHS a baby Elmo...

More presents...

Three cute boys.  Two loving brothers...who wanted to open every single present.

A great day for WHS.  Here's to a great third year!!

WHS' First Day of School

While WHS started going to school for two months before summer began, WHS is now an official school boy.  Proud is an understatement.  He absolutely loves wearing his backpack and carrying his lunchbox just like his big brothers.  He. Loves. School.  That's all there is to it.  Even better, he loves going to the same school JLS does.  Almost as much as JLS loves going to the same school that WHS does.

Somewhere, somehow, JLS has become obsessed with the longhorns.  Vin would be proud.  Babe, not so much.  Now, every time we take a picture he flashes the longhorn sign.  This is WHS trying to copy everything JLS does, even though it looks more like gang signs on WHS' part...

WHS' sweet teacher, Ms. Annie, whom we adore.  She was JLS' teacher just a few years ago and has two boys about the same ages as JLS and JBS.  We like her...a lot.

WHS playin' some tunes...

WHS' first day of school was a par-tay!  WHS' birthday was actually on Wednesday, but we celebrated on Tuesday, his first day of school with cupcakes for all.

He still isn't quite sure what all the fuss was about over him.  He ran from his birthday candles and just appeared to be a little unsure of what all the great attention was for.  He will have all that figured out soon enough.

WHS had a great day.  JLS had as much fun checking on him.  Hope they love each other forever!!

Back to Kamp

At this moment, I would LOVE to be back at Kamp.  I still have lots of pictures to post for sure. After breakfast every day, the kids went in their directions based on their ages and the parents had the opportunity to hear Todd Wagoner, pastor at Watermark in Dallas, speak.  He was amazing, convicting, insightful, challenging...we loved him.  After him, we usually had about an hour JUST TO OURSELVES.  That means, John and I alone in the middle of the day.  What do we do?  We did the ropes course one day, the zip line another.  I was much more excited about this than Babe.  However, for never having done either, he was a trooper.

The boys shootin' hoops...

The first night there was "ESPN Night"...dress like your favorite sport.  The boys, of course, chose baseball.

Cutie-pie walking like the owns the place...

Mommy and WHS...

JBS...getting so big!

JLS..too cool for school...

By the end of the first night, my  mission was accomplished.  Babe was sold out completely on Kanakuk, JBS and JLS never wanted to leave, and I was in heaven being back in my old stomping grounds.  We never wanted to go back to "the real world."

First Day of School 2011

Today was the first day of school for both JBS and JLS.  WHS starts tomorrow....and I will be in Heaven! :) It will just be me and Toley...and all the workmen in my back yard.  But, the house will be quiet...sort of.

Last year, our sweet neighbor organized a pancake breakfast the morning of the first day of school.  I was not that ambitious, but it was so fun having all the neighbors together early in the morning.  The kids were so excited.  Unfortunately, our fearless leader moved out of state.  So, I offered our driveway to convene for the neighborhood breakfast.  Everyone brought finger food, juice, coffee.  It was a great way to start the morning.  Then, we all loaded up our already sweaty bodies and trekked to school on our bikes.  Not only do we love The Woodlands, but we LOVE our neighbors.

JBS and JLS started today.  WHS' big day is tomorrow, but you wouldn't know it from watching him.  He is SO "big"....

Breakfast time...

Big man...

 Cute neighbor girls...

Cute neighbor moms...

JBS and his new teacher, Mrs. Kurtz...so excited!!

JLS and his new teachers, Ms. Misty and Ms. Cindy  (JBS had them, too!)

Great day.  WHS and I have already cleaned up the driveway, cleaned the kitchen, run to the hardware store, grocery store, unloaded groceries, and baked cupcakes for his birthday celebration at school tomorrow.  WHS is napping, I am cleaning and I already have to go get JLS from school.  Where did the time go?  It's Ah-mazing getting back in to routine.

I like order. :)

Health Update

So, we have some good news!  When I had an endoscopy at the beginning of July my GI doctor said he barely touched my ulcer as it was "bleeding like crazy."  After a month of meds, there was no report of bleeding in the endoscopy I had a Mayo Clinic.  I was thrilled to hear this in my follow-up with the GI doctor there.  He was a pretty serious man.  When I said, "That is great news...isn't it?"  He stared at me and I repeated, "That's an improvement, right?"  He smiled and said, "You have lots of room for improvement, but yes, I guess that's an improvement."  He went on to tell me that he believed that if I was on the wagon train to Oregon, I would have made it without a doubt.  He told me that most people in my condition roll in to his office in a wheelchair.  He went on to tell me how bad they looked inside and out. He said I was a very sick girl, yet I looked nothing like them.

That has really stuck with me.  My previous doctor in Tulsa, whom I loved, told me he put me in the "NCS" category of patients....the "Non-Complaining Souls."  I don't say these things because I am trying to be a martyr for the cause or praised for being tough.  I do have pain...and a lot of it.  But, I certainly don't feel close to a wheelchair!  Who wants to be down and out?  I want to be a mom and a good one...and a wife and a friend.  I want to enjoy life!  So, there are probably more days than I will admit that I feel pretty bad.  But, I don't want my disease to define my life.  It didn't click with me until last week.  I have prayed for years, 15 years, for healing.  I know I have had many prayers put up on my behalf from loving family and friends and myself!  On the discouraging days, I sometimes think, "Why can't I be that miracle? God can heal me, so why isn't He?  Why do I have to go thru this?"  Last week made me realize that God IS answering my prayers and I AM a miracle.  I am a miracle in that I am not in that wheelchair Dr. Tremaine mentioned.  I am not miserable.  I am not living my life completely around my disease.  I have had THREE beautiful and healthy boys in the midst of 15 years of a tough illness.  Nobody can tell by looking at me that I am sick.  I have pain, but that can be worked around.  I have found diet as a relief for my pain.  I AM a miracle.  My prayers ARE being answered.  God has heard all those prayers.  I truly believe that those prayers are being answered today.  He is guiding me to this special diet, but I also believe while I have had incredible pain in my life, a lot of pain may have been prevented.

When I left Dr. Tremaines office, I was determined to get him to smile.  As I left him, I turned around and told him that I was, indeed, heading to Oregon and I would see him there.  I am NOT giving up!

He laughed.  Mission accomplished.

Mayo Clinic

Just a quick update for everyone.  Babe and I flew to Minneapolis on Monday to go to Mayo Clinic for some second opinions and ultimately a surgery consult.  I have been having so many issues with my iron and blood...ie, not having enough/any!  All my other issues have been at least tolerable, but my body just can't function when my iron is virtually non-existent and my blood levels are low. Thus, I consented to visit Mayo.  It has been an emotional roller coaster for me, I will admit.  The kind of surgery I need to have is huge.  Major reconstruction of my stomach and ultimately a reversal of the first surgery I had.  It would not be pretty and it would put me down for weeks, if not months.  The thought of even going under scares me more now that I have kiddos.  Having major surgery here, in Minnesota, far from my boys and at the very least for two weeks away from home killed me.  Not to mention, all that I would have to ask of my friends and family to take care of my boys at home.  I cried every time I thought of it.  I cried the whole way up here!

To my GREAT relief, both the GI and the Hematologist I visited up here agree that if I get aggressive with my meds that I can heal the bleeding ulcer in my stomach.  They both believe that if that blood loss gets under control then both the issues of needing blood transfusions and iron transfusions will be gone.  PRAISE THE LORD!!  It will be trial and error to see how my iron levels respond, but it was a breath of very fresh air for me. My doctors at home believed that I could not absorb iron secondary to the results of my first reconstructive surgery of my stomach.  They thought my iron absorption would improve if we re-routed my stomach back to its original form.  That could still be the case, but for now, I am thrilled to be going the conservative route.

The GI does want me to take some pretty big meds that I am not sure I want to take.  The risks are pretty large.  We were a bit disappointed, albeit expected, that the GI doctor found no validity in the fact that my diet has cured my symptoms in the past.  This is a research hospital that researches DRUGS...not diet or alternative medicine.  Thus, their solutions will always be drugs.  This is just something we have to take into consideration and definitely pray about.  I want to be healed.  However, I am discovering that:
1)  I have taken meds for 15 years and they aren't healing me
2) Changing my diet got me off ALL painkillers on two different occasions. Diet works!
3) I have to advocate for myself.  While I loved my doctors in the past, they did the best for me that they knew at the time.  That has possibly caused me more problems down the road.

So, this is where we are.  I am off to have an endoscopy to see if they ulcer has healed at all since my last endoscopy a month ago.  Prayers!  And then to meet with the GI doctor again.  Home tomorrow! Can't wait!

Small, Small World

Whitney (from TCU) and Jen
(from The Woods)

I know it drives mom crazy when I bounce from one event back to another.  It drives me crazy, too.  BUT, the reason I do this is that sometimes I am not on the computer that has my pictures for a certain post.  I do good to get a post in at all these days, so that's how I flow...

Nikki, Pi Phi at TCU with me

I am going back to family camp at Kanakuk, K-Kauai.  We had so much fun.  There were a total of 40 families there at the same time as us.  We knew one family from The Woodlands was going to be there with us.  When we were touring camp the first day, Babe looked back and saw a friend he worked with at Williams in Tulsa!  Along with them were several other couples from Tulsa...another of which I knew.  It was such a fun connection.  

Chas, William's buddy...

Then, I discovered that a friend from college and in my sorority was there with her family! Small world... 


There was another girl I kept thinking looked familiar and when she called out her maiden name to her son (named after her maiden name) it clicked!  She went to TCU with me as well!  


It doesn't stop there.  The family that was next door to us was so nice.  We talked for awhile and she thought I was familiar.  We finally figured out that when I was in high school, I went to Denver with our K-Life group to Sky's the Limit Inner City Camp.  She was part of the Denver K-Life group that joined us there each summer.  We had so many friends in common!


Lastly, a dear friend of mine from graduate school emailed me while I was there.  She said she thought she just saw my husband (whom she's never met) at the K-Kauai pool.  She asked if we were there.  As it turns out, she recognized Babe only from his pictures on Facebook and was at the neighboring camp with her family while her husband served as camp doctor!


Too many fun connections.

Dentist Visit

I love the system at our pediatric dentist office.  First of all, everyone there is so nice and happy, which creates an awesome environment for the kids.  The waiting room has Xboxes mounted on the walls...first plus for 3 boys.  They are speedy...very little wait time in the waiting room...first plus for mom.  When we go back, there are 6 chairs of constant rotation.  The process is smooth and quick.  HUGE pluses for the mother of an almost two-year-old.

Thursday was WHS' very first dentist appointment.  JBS and JLS jumped on their chair with excitement.  They had already been discussing which movie they would choose to watch on the ceiling.  (Big draw...another plus for Mom.)  WHS saw them and thought, "Hey! That's cool!"  He saw the hygienists clean their teeth and he really wanted a piece of that action.  He climbed on his chair, laid back to watch the movie on the ceiling.  (This is good!)  We put the ear phones on his head and he was still good.  (Yeah!)  Sunglasses on...because they are cool and they keep the bright lights out of the kids' eyes.  (Still good!)  Then the nurse was thinking, "This kid is good.  Maybe we can actually use the cleaning machine on this one."  This picture was taken just seconds before the screaming began.  Machine on, tears on. 

Didn't happen.

However, we did the kid hold.  The dentist looked in his screaming mouth and said everything looked great.  Maybe next time we will make it a few steps further without tears.

JBS begged to go back to the dentist today because he said the toothpaste there tasted SO good! Maybe WHS will be to that stage someday soon...maybe?