Friday, March 28, 2008

Sympathies


I found out today that a good friend of mine's sister passed away on Easter. She was only 28, and she leaves behind 3 children. She's had a rough life and wasn't living the best life style, but she had also been through a lot of hard times in her life and was probably doing the best she could. I never met her, but I was going to try to go to her viewing tonight or tomorrow, but both Isaac and EmmaLee have the stomach virus, and I just didn't feel good about leaving them. I'm planning on visiting both my friend and her mom, if not tomorrow, then sometime as soon as my kids are well. My heart aches for my friend and her mom, and for her sister's three children. I can't and don't want to imagine how hard it would be to explain to those kids that their mom isn't coming back. She might have made some bad choices, and not influenced her kids for the best all the time, but she loved them and they loved her! Talking to my friend brought back a lot of my memories of what it was like right after we lost Caydin and how emotional and hard it was. While the situations are slightly different, I know how much they are going to miss her, and while right now might be some of the hardest times, there are still many rough days ahead! My friend and her mom both received blessings that have already brought them comfort, and I'm sure they will continue to bring comfort as the time goes! But, I still pray for them and wish there was an easier way for the transition of when a loved one returns home!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Not so Fun!


So, Friday night we were up at Grandma and Papa's house watching the Jazz game. We were actually the only ones there, Grandma and Papa were on their way home, as well as Bonnie, Allan, Brad, Ryan and Drew. Eden and Isaac were playing in the other room, and even though we couldn't see them, we weren't worried about them because we lived there for so long, it's almost like a second home and we figured kid proof. Wrong! All of the sudden we heard Isaac start crying, and it was one of those cries when you know something is wrong! I jumped up and ran into the kitchen, and there was Isaac, his whole head literally COVERED in liquid dish soap! He was crying and rubbing his eyes, which had soap in them, and he was just rubbing more soap in them! Eden had taken an almost full bottle of the soap and dumped it everywhere, on the floor, and all over Isaac! She must have done his head last because by the time he started crying and when I got in there, there was not enough time to make all the other mess. So, anyway, I yelled for Rob to come help me because I was almost so stunned I couldn't think of how to even start getting the soap off! Rob came in and told me to grab him and take him to the tub, which I did. Luckily his parents have a tub with a detachable shower head, so we sat him in the tub and quickly adjusted the temperature and then began hosing him off. He was bawling his head off and rubbing his eyes like crazy, and us spraying water all over him didn't help his panic. It was horrible! Everybody got home about 1 minute after we found all this, luckily, and they were taking care of EmmaLee and Eden for us so Rob and I were able to focus on Isaac. The only hard part about them all being there was that his parents were trying to "help" too much and just kind of got in the way. Even after we were able to get most of the soap off we knew we needed to irrigate his eyes, which was still traumatic for him. We got him out of the tub and tried to just irrigate his eyes by the sink, but he was so upset he wouldn't hold still, so water was going in his nose and mouth, and just panicking him more. I called poison control because we didn't know how seriously his eyes could be injured by that amount of soap in them. They told us to irrigate his eyes for 15 minutes, then to take a break for a little bit. They were going to call us back in an hour and see how he was. If certain symptoms were still there, we'd have to take him in to get his eyes checked, but if they were gone, he'd be fine. We finished irrigating them, and then everyone took turns trying to distract him. He looked like he'd been punched in both eyes! His eyes themselves were red, and he was just swollen and red all around the area. He would be okay for a few minutes, and then he'd kind of start crying and pointing at his eyes and say "eye"! It was so sad! But, by the time poison control called back, his eyeballs were a lot clearer, and he seemed okay. They just said to try to keep the lights dim and try to not let him rub them much, especially once he got tired and went to bed. The guy was really nice and said he'd be there all night and to call back if we had any questions. We finally left his parents house, but it was hard because we kept debating what to do because one second he'd be find, and the next he was crying all over about them! His left eye especially still seemed a little red. We stopped at the local store before heading home and got some eye drops that hopefully helped him have a little relief. They actually told us not to use the drops when it first happened because sometimes they can mask the symptoms of a more serious injury, but once we knew he was okay, we decided to use them. Anyway, he ended up being fine, and slept great that night after we got home and he went to bed, but it was a really stressful event for me and Rob. I think ever since loosing Caydin, situations like these are tons more stressful because it brings back a lot of the emotions that we felt when we lost Caydin, and we know that sometimes the worst case scenarios really do happen! I feared that Isaac was going to go blind, and all the life changes that would mean for him and us, and I worried about how that would affect Eden. We got mad at her right at first, but were so busy taking care of Isaac that we didn't do much at first. Rob went and talked to her after Isaac was somewhat okay to make sure she was okay. It's hard because she is still so young herself that she didn't know what she was doing or that it would hurt Isaac. So, the thoughts of him going blind, and her being the reason was so hard to think of. In fact, I had to stop thinking about it because it wasn't happening, and I had to remind myself that if it did happen, Heavenly Father would bless us to get through it and everything it would bring to pass. Rob and I were talking about it on the way home, and one thing that often is hard for us now is knowing how and where to put our faith. I mean, of course our faith is in Heavenly Father, but sometimes we aren't sure what to have faith about. Do we try to have the faith that it won't be serious, or do we just wait and see what happens and trust that it's the Lord's will? We've often heard the talks and stories about how faith healed or changed the course of things, but often we don't know how long to pray for certain things. I mean, when everything first happened with Caydin, I thought I was having faith that he would be healed. I remembered his baby blessing that said he would do well in his school work, and I thought, well, he can't die then because he has to go to school. And, he received a couple of blessings that said he would be healed, so when everything kept coming back very negative and not very hopeful, I feared that I didn't have enough faith. I feared that I was too weak to bring the blessing of healing to my son. I wanted to believe he was going to wake up and be my sweet, happy, energetic little boy, but it wasn't happening, and every test was coming back saying the very opposite! Even when I realized and knew that he wasn't going to be coming back, I felt very guilty that somehow it was partly my fault because I didn't believe strong enough that he could be healed. I know the spirit must have been whispering peace to my soul or else I know I couldn't have handled the events leading up to his last moments here on earth with as much calmness as I did at that time, but Satan was also whispering to me at that time that I was being selfish and just not being willing enough to have the faith to heal him. Luckily, Heavenly Father blessed me fairly quickly with the knowledge that it was his time to go and that it was not a lack of faith that prevented him from staying, but simply that it was the Lord's will that he should return home at that time. Anyway, even with that knowledge, I find that it is often hard for me when situations happen like the one with Isaac and the soap because I still fear knowing if I've done everything I should! I mean, I worried about if we still needed to take Isaac in and if we were doing the right thing or not by not taking him in. I knew how guilty I would feel if some long term consequence happened that wouldn't have happened if we'd only taken him in! I think I fear the responsibility of making good decisions for my children now. Because of what we went through with Caydin, I don't always think clearly, and I fear more extreme things and get paranoid so much quicker and easier! But, I know this about myself, so I fight it more as well, and try to do the logical thing. But, it's like my paranoid self is fighting the whole time with my logical self, and the fight itself makes me a hundred times more stressed than I would be if I was just one way or the other! I understand how easy it could be to go weird and crazy after loosing a close loved one! Things that were once easy and non-complicated suddenly because these huge, emotional situations! Anyway, my kids are needing me, and I'm tired and not sure this is even coming out in any kind of logical way, but I just know that since it happened Friday night, I've felt emotionally drained and stressed, and I'm trying to figure out how to relieve it! I'm trying to figure out my emotions and what all is involved in what I'm feeling so I can let it go and deal with life a little better!!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Still Surprising


I'm not sure what to write because I don't know how to put into words everything I am feeling, and I know my attempts would be long and drawn out, and I'm not sure I'm up for that right now! I do have to say that I am still surprised at how many things can happen that I wasn't expecting. Maybe a better way to describe it is that I'm surprised at how I handle things sometimes. The other day we were all in the van driving home from somewhere, and Rob turned around and saw Isaac choking a bit on something he'd had. I don't remember exactly what was said and how, but at one point Rob said something like "he's still choking", and I turned around, but by the time I turned around, he was fine. But, what was weird to me is what happened to me in probably literally 1 second or less, however long it takes for someone to quickly turn in their seat in a car to look behind them. As soon as I sensed from Rob that it might be serious, I instantly started hyperventelating, but what was weird is that I heard myself breathing hard rather than just knew because I was doing it! My whole body went numb, and it was kind of like in the movies when they suddenly zoom in on somebody. Nothing else in the world existed except us in that car at that moment. But, like I said, it was weird because it was over so quickly! I was almost in a state of shock right after because I had reacted so strongly for just a split second, but it ended up being nothing serious so quickly! I remember sitting there and thinking of what my body had just done and thinking how unexpected the whole reaction was, especially since it's not the first time he's choked on something and I didn't react like that before! Most days in the last year or so have been pretty "normal" days for me, meaning that I think of Caydin, but I don't really have the emotional part of missing him affect me as much. Some days can be hard, but mostly just from missing him, and the rest of the time I feel almost like it never happened. Or at least, that's what I thought. I think this experience taught me that no matter how normal I think I feel, I will never be the same. I will never react the same way to situations as I once did, and no matter how well I think I'm dealing with it, there will always be times and incidents that are going to pop up and take me by surprise! I feel like as time goes, different struggles arise that I have to deal with. I think right after Caydin passed away, part of dealing with it was having the spirit with us more to comfort us. We needed it just to survive the days. I think we still need it, but it's like it's not as close or as much as before, or maybe we just don't think about it as much and are slower to do what we need to do to keep it with us more, like the Nephites. We start forgetting how much we need to do all the basic things because we feel stronger and become more prideful in thinking we need the help, and as a result, slowly start drifting into compliency in our daily habits. I think I fear accidents and loosing another child more now than I did right after loosing Caydin! I think some of that is normal, but I think some of it is because I'm slacking in reading my scriptures, or saying my prayers as sincerely, so I'm leaving myself more open to Satan's influences. Not that this is totally in my control, but I haven't been able to go to the temple since before EmmaLee was born. Nursing her makes it difficult to leave for more than 2 hours since other people are not able to help her if she gets hungry. The only option for that is if I pump so there is a bottle for her. But, I haven't taken the time to see if she would accept a bottle, and I have thought, oh I need to do that, but then I forget, so as a result have not been able to leave her with babysitters. I finally did try it last night, and she did great (unlike Isaac who refused bottles for a full month when I was trying to wean him when I got pregnant with EmmaLee!). So, hopefully now Rob and I can make it to the temple sometime soon. But, I have found great comfort in the temple since loosing Caydin especially, and not having been able to go for so long has probably not helped my spirituality! I think all the ways I've been feeling lately are really showing me that I need to revamp my life and really try a little harder to do the basic things I know I should be doing. Having three small children often makes me think that I spend most of my days just trying to survive! But, there is a saying I have heard that I think most people have heard that basically says something like I'm too busy in my day to take time to pray, but in the end they realize that they are too busy in their lives to NOT take the time to pray. That's how I feel right now. I need to make sure I am taking the time everyday to do those basic things and invite the spirit into my life and home so I can enjoy the time I have right now with my husband and kids, instead of just trying to survive the days! Anyway, we were finally able to visit Caydin's grave today for the first time in probably a month. It's been hard to get there now that we've moved away. Whenever we are up that way it's usually for a reason, and time goes so fast we find we are needing to leave to go home without having the chance to go up! I've told more people about you in the last few weeks. Everyone reacts slightly differently, some I appreciate more than others, but all have been okay. I haven't cried in front of anyone yet, and I wonder when that one will happen first! I've also been surprised because I'm finding that word has spread a little more than I would have thought and that more people actually do know about you than I had thought! It's funny how some people I have known for like a month, and they still don't know, but other people I have met once, and they found out! I guess it's all a matter of what you end up talking about with people!