Riley's Surgery

Well...Riley won't be getting tubes tomorrow. He will be getting them on March 13th (hopefully). Today we went in for his pre-op exam. He had a cough, so I kind of thought it might be cancelled. Last night Aiden got sick with the flu. We brought him with today too. When they started to check Riley out and found that he had a fever. He also had red ears with fluid in them. His throat was red and he had swollen lymph nodes. Aiden had a low grade fever, red ears and a red throat. They did a influenza and strep swap on both of them and they came back negative...which is good news. So...surgery was cancelled and rescheduled for the 13th! Hopefully he will be healthy then!

President's Day

So...today I spent the day at home with the boys. Jamma went to work. It was the first time in a long time that we didn't have a professional day at school on President's Day. Well...I had big plans. Big ones. We were going to go to the mall and do some President's Day shopping. We were going to go to a 10:15 movie. We missed it and thought that we could go to the 12:30 one. Well...we read books, played games, wrote some books and laid on the couch watching movies. We ordered pizza and then made some brownies. After doing that, we missed the 12:30 movie. I then thought that we would hit the 2:30 movie...but after playing games on the computer and just hanging out...we missed that movie as well. My next goal was to have us out of our pj's by the time Jamma got home from work at 5:30. We missed that goal as well. Riley and Aiden asked if I had to go back to work tomorrow and I said, "Yes". What a bummer.

As Jamma was trying to get them ready for bed, they were hanging out with me...yelling out numbers. I guess it sounded educational to him, but after listening to us for a little bit...he came into the living room and asked if I was teaching them KENO. Riley said, "Yes". There isn't anything wrong with that is there? After all...I let them pick the numbers...and they had to watch the numbers that got selected from the pot! I was teaching them number recognition from 1-80. They also learned about probability. Out of 20 numbers selected...and 80 numbers to land on...they hoped that the 10 that they picked were good choices. We selected numbers based on their age...the year they were born...their birthday's, etc. So...I guess we talked about lucky numbers too! I'm all about teaching my kids! It was a fun day!

The accident

Today I found out who the man was the was killed. It has given me the closure that I needed. I sent a card to the family and wanted to let them know that they could contact me if they wanted. I want them to know that he was not alone...and that things happened so quickly...he didn't suffer. He probably didn't even know it happened...it happened so fast. Say some prayers for his son and family. I can't imagine what they are going through right now.

Deep thoughts...

This weekend I have been thinking more and more about the accident that I saw on Thursday night. I know for sure that one person died...and the other guy was taken to the hospital but was in really bad shape. I have thought a lot about the guy that died. I can still see him clearly in my mind. I have been thinking a lot about his family. I am wondering about them and how they are doing...how are they dealing with his loss. Did he have kids? Grandkids? I wish that I knew who he was. I want them to know that they accident happened so fast that he probably didn't feel any pain. I just wish that I knew who he was and what caused the accident. I know that I need to move on...but it's hard. I just want some closure...and I thinking finding out who the people were will help me with that. I don't know what to do to move on though...last night I had several nightmares about the accident and I am sure it will happen more.

In a split second...

Usually I write things here about my family. Tonight writing here is going to be my way of coping with the tragedy that I experienced tonight.

Tonight started as a normal night. I picked up the boys and we had some Chinese Food because it was the first day of the Chinese New Year and a little boy in my class' family owns a resturant in town that has Chinese Food. I played with the boys and got Riley started on his Valentine's for his classmates. I was going to take Aiden with me to get some fish for his new acquarium that Jamma was given from a co-worker. We were going to go to school to do a few things and then we were going to get the fish. Well...Aiden was not really moving fast and wasn't getting ready to go. I told him it was cold out and he needed to bundle up. He decided not to come with me because he doesn't like the cold. I went to school and moved some of the things in my classroom around and spent a lot longer there than I thought I was going to. At about 8:15 I thought that I would run to the mall. It is pajama day at our school tomorrow...so I thought that I would see if I could find a pair of pj bottoms. I got to the mall at 8:45 and ran into a store. At 9:00 the mall closed...so I was going to go to Barnes and Noble and pick up a book that I had ordered for my classroom. Because it was late, I thought I would just go home and hopefully see the boys before they fell asleep. I skipped stopping at the bookstore. I headed on my way home.

At around 9:13 or so...I turned onto a road and was headed north toward home. I was in the left hand lane. For some reason...I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed that there was a car that was driving weird behind me. It seemed to be going really fast....picking up speed. I was starting to get worried and pulled over into the right hand lane. The vehicle went flying past me. As I was watching it...I didn't realize what was about to happen before my very eyes. The cars speed increased and the driver lost control. He went right up over the median and was driving north in the south bound lane. The next thing I saw seemed like it was happening in slow motion. He hit a car head on. The car that was hit flipped upside down and the other car was smashed so badly. A third car hit the car that went over the median. I pulled my car over and got out and called 911. The things I saw will forever be burned in my mind...and I wish I never saw them. In the car that was upside down, there was a man upside down. There was glass and metal everywhere. I went over to the guy and started rubbing his arm and back...asking if he could hear me. I asked if he was okay...if he could hear me...I saw his hand twitching a little bit. I kept trying to see if he would respond...but he didn't. In one of the cars that was passing by was a man that was a paramedic. He checked the guy and couldn't find a pulse. I'm not sure if the other person/people in the other vehicle were alive or not. The windows were so smashed in...you couldn't see inside. One of the people that stopped thought that they saw an arm move. It took several police and fire fighters to get him out. Being on the scene of one of the worst things I have ever seen in my life...is so undescribable. I keep seeing the man upside down and all the lights of all the police cars. I keep thinking of the people who were in the car behind the one that got hit. After giving my statement to the police, I sat in my car and felt like throwing up. I called home but everyone was sleeping, so I called a friend to talk. I then called my mom. As I was driving home all these things started running through my mind. The guy was wearing a sweatshirt that resembled one that my dad wears. I never saw the guys face...so I panicked. I called my mom again and asked if dad was home. She said he was...so I was relieved.

All these things have run through my mind tonight. I am wondering what happened. Was the guy that sped up behind me drunk? Did he have a heart attack? Did something happen with his car...malfunctioning? All these things go through my mind. Then I think...what about the other person? Are they okay? Were they on their way home to kids? Did they just run to the store for a quick errand and now their life and been changed forever? I started thinking about how you never know what is going to happen to you or to the people that you love. I also thought...what if I had brought Aiden with me? Life could change in a split second. I keep thinking about the guy that hit the other one and how bad I felt that one guy was in his car...hanging there. Someone was going to have to call his family. I keep thinking...if the driver that went over the median WAS drinking...how mad I would be at him because he may have taken an innocent person's life. I also feel sorry for him...I have thought about all the things that I get so worked up about that don't matter. Tonight I think, I am lucky to be alive and I never know what will happen to me or to my family or friends tomorrow or two seconds from now. I am thinking about how life can change in a split second and that I need to realize how lucky I am to have the family and friends that I have. Each day when I walk out the door...I need to remember that.

Please say a prayer for the people that were killed tonight or injured tonight. Also for their families. Even though I don't know who they are...I will be thinking about them for a long time!!!

Riley is getting tubes!

This week has been a crazy week for us with the boys being sick again. They both have colds and both have pink eye. On Friday Riley was complaining that his ear was hurting again. Soooo..he went in once again and has yet another ear infection. He is on another antibiodic. He was officially off medication for almost a week before getting this ear infection. We did get his surgery scheduled for tubes in his ears. This will happen on February 28th. Hopefully this will be the end of all of his ear infections. He has been a trooper through this all. When we have talked about getting tubes with him he has asked lots of questions about the plugs he is going to have to wear in his ears when he goes swimming or under water. He wanted to know if they came in different colors. We asked if he was worried about that and he said, "No. At least my ears won't hurt anymore!" We were reading over the surgery info today and I asked if he wanted to bring a stuffed animal with him. He responded, "Do you think they will let me bring four with me? I want to bring all four of my cats!!!" I guess we'll have to see what the limit is for this!!!