Been a while

It has been a while since I blogged. I have been very busy with family problems. My dad moved in four years ago. He was hospitalized with several health problems including malnutrition. Now four years later and several hospital stays things are worse. His health is bad and his mental state is worse. I thought he was malnourished due to mild depression. No, he has dementia. I am now facing the hardest and most heartbreaking decision of a lifetime. I must find a care facility for my father. This is not an easy thing to do. He has become too hard to handle here. He has caused a major rift in my family and marriage. He is mean, angry and just flat out cruel. He prowls my home at all hours taking things and stashing them in his room. He treats my husband like a villain and flat out hates two of our children. THIS IS NOT MY FATHER. I have to say he has never been a warm fuzzy person but he has never been like this. He was put back in the hospital late November and moved from there to a rehab center. They called me one day and said, "hey your dad is ready to come home". THEY LIED. He won't bathe, won't shave and refuses every other meal. What is heart breaking is that he worked for the State Of Nevada for 52 years then retired. Instead of traveling and enjoying life he sat at home. He would come here for dinner but otherwise refused to do much. He stacked and stacked his home and yard with junk, paper, cans and such. I now see this is all a sign of the dementia. I just wish he had done something fun. Traveled and visited with friends and family. I wish he had dated and over enjoyed life. Dementia is cruel in that a person can deteriorate so slowly it is hard to see. Once you do see it and look back you can't understand why you didn't see it clearly before. I have learned one thing, I will live my life with more happiness.

Merry Christmas

Growing up Madalyn

Madalyn has added two more words to her vocabulary. She says Mama, Dada, hi, and out. She also says b to call her brothers. Not bad for a 10 week old baby. Some people are blown away by this. I have had a couple of the other kids talk early so it doesn't shock me. She is also starting to sit up, grabbing things and blowing bubbles. After yesterday I can see why she is developing so fast. We went to the Springs Preserve yesterday. We do this quite a bit as we have a pass for the place. ( An amazing Christmas present from a family member.) This baby was shown everything from the floors to the ceilings. Her brothers held her over the glass floors to see the exhibits in them. Wind chimes were held up and played for her. She was allowed to feel things, and smell all kinds of things. She even noticed, and let rip a blood curdling scream, the bats on the ceiling in the bat exhibit. She is stimulated like this daily.I am looking forward to seeing what she will be like at 5.

Out of the mouth of babes

Out of the mouth of babes. I have heard this saying most of my life. I now frequently experience this in my own life. This last week seems to be filled with them.

The other day we were driving and passed a police car with someone pulled over. Emma said "BUSTED" and laughed. I asked her what she would do if she got pulled over. She told her dad and I that she would hand over her license and reputation. Emma will not be driving anytime soon. At least not until she understands that it is license and registration.

Today I asked Evan to get me two ibuprofen. He went upstairs and must have forgotten what I wanted and asked Kate to check with me. Kate came downstairs and called, "Hey mom! Did you want Prozac?" I informed her as much fun as that might be we didn't have any Prozac so ibuprofen would have to do.

I think this will become a weekly blog just so I can remember some of these things.

Birthdays

We have had several birthdays over the summer. Evan turned 13 July 7th. Mark had a birthday in August and Maddie was born August 12th. Caleb turned 11 September 2nd and Andrew turned 16 September 5th. I can not believe my first born is already 16. Happy Birthday to all of them.

Madalyn Faith

Madalyn Faith came into the world August 12th at 6:30 P.M.. She weighed in at 7 lbs 7 ounces and was 18 inches long. I am finally awake enough to post the wonderful news. This is a photo taken with a cell phone as I can not find the cable to upload photos from our digital camera.

First lost tooth

Katie lost her first tooth today. This has been a two week process. Katie is all about the drama. At the first sign of it being loose she developed "the shakes". The daily updates were detailed and horror filled. This is Katie. Tonight I tied a string around this very loose tooth. I have found this works great, as I am tightening string the tooth normally comes out. Not this tooth. She walked around the house being very dramatic driving everyone up the wall. Andrew reached over and pulled the string, this was followed by high pitch screaming and the sound of feet up and down the stairs. Then came the wailing, "there's blood, there's blood". I thought we could do the tooth fairy thing and be done but oh no not with Katie. She came into the computer room and asked me if I would give her a dollar for her tooth. I tried to explain the Tooth Fairy would do that. She looked at me rolled her eyes and said, "oh come on mom we both know you and dad do that". She doesn't buy the Santa thing either. Oh well I still have Maddie to play Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause for.