October 2014

October 2nd

Olivia loved to read scriptures with daddy and the kids. She will stand at Steven's feet and whine until he picks her up. 

Later that day Sam had a field trip at the Fire Station. It was a fun puppet show but he wasn't a huge fan of the little fire engine, it was too loud for him.  He also opted out of going to see the real fire engine because he was afraid it would be too loud.

October 3rd

Olivia's favorite book is Brown Bear Brown Bear what do you see. Sam is sick and said, "Me bless you'd alot!" aka "I sneezed alot" I love his little language and the way he processes things.

October 5th

Olivia wanted to get into the bath so she dove in head first. Steven was getting Sam out when she jumped in.

Sam gets upset if you don't say, "I'm batman" the way he wants you to. He uses different inflections for different batmans (different books) and will say, "no. That batman don't talk like that. He talk like this. 'I'm byat-man!" 

October 7th

Steven had a shoot at asylum 49. It was lots of fun but pretty creepy at first. I was happy I didn't get a bag put over my head. They pulled me in and put me on a hospital bed, covered me with a sheet, and said, "will your friends recognize your scream? If they don't then you have to stay here with us and then go in all by yourself." Then they cut me with a chain saw (for pretend of course). It was fun to feel part of it. I'm not a scardy cat so it was more like acting than being scared. Don't get me wrong, I had my fair share of anxiety, my knees were wobbly and breathing was a bit challenging. Steven and I got separated a few times. Trisha saw a spirit in one of the rooms so that was pretty cool. It is the #1 location in Utah for paranormal activity. After we went through Steven did some interviews. I was just chatting with some of the others in our group (Micha, Trisha, Alishia, Shelise) when a clown came up and started trying to hug me. I thought that was pretty strange and then I heard his voice. It was Steven. Silly handsome husband. It's really cool because the cast are all families and kids and the owner wants to help the kids and is turning the other side of the hospital into a school focusing on the arts. So cool. I was very impressed by the haunted house and the people that run it.

October 10th

Olivia walkingish...
Just after getting out of the shower I heard Max say, "Olivia is getting into mischief. She's Walking!" When Steven and i got down there she was taking a few steps. The big thing was that she would stand right back up and try again. Before today she would just give up and crawl. She doesn't seem to want to crawl unless she is busy playing and wants to take the fastest route. So...we will say that she started walking today OCTOBER 10th. Sam loves having her walk to him. Elese and Max loved it too. She would walk to them and they would give her big hugs. She was very proud of herself and loved the extra hugs and kisses she was getting.

Since she was deciding to walk she also decided that it would be a good time to learn to ride a big wheel. She would walk while sitting on it and zoom all around the driveway.

 

October 13th

Our Pass of All Passes added Hollywood Connection so we went there as a family to have some fun.  It was a lot of fun and while everyone else was on the bumper cars Olivia practiced her walking.  

October 15th

Mountain America was giving away pumpkins today. Sam Picked up all The big ones and then decided he wanted a little one. Liv saw him and tried to pick hers up. It was a fun unexpected adventure.

October 17th

Looking back on pictures makes it look like this was a fairly eventful day.  Unfortunately, I didn't write much down about it so I'll let the pictures (and what I remember) tell the story.  

Elese is an amazing big sister.  She painted with Sam.

It seems we went on a walk that was worth documenting.  It is possible that this was the day that the Millers gave us their old Wagon and it instantly became loved by all.

Olivia emptied the drawers she could reach, stood in Tupperware, and played with magnets.  She didn't like that she kept slipping and falling but she would get right back up and put her feet in the Tupperware.

I think I mentioned before that I had auditioned for the Marvelous Wonderettes. The show was not playing so Elese and I have a girls night and went to see it.  It was a fun show and I hope to some day be able to be in it.  She was pretty excited and very goofy.  We held hands and she finally sat still once the show started. 

October 18th
Olivia crawling up the stairs.

My friend and neighbor had twins and I was happy to hold her cute babies so she could have some quiet time to herself, most often it was to run errands or fold laundry.  They would come for an hour or two every Monday.  This went on for a few months.  Olivia loved them, a little too much.

 October 20th

Steven's friend Tyler from work willingly took some family pictures for us.  The kids made it entertaining (?) for him, I'm sure.  Elese was very goofy and thought that getting her picture taken was a little bit uncomfortable. Sam had to go potty and the door was locked. Steven took him off to the woods. When they came back Sam said, "me go pee standing up. Me a big boy." Then I told him to go poop in the potty and he'd be really big. He said, "Me go poop right now, over there!" Pointing where he had just peed. We suggested that he master going in the potty first. Max and Sam found sticks and had fun playing with them. Olivia did not like Tyler but eventually warmed up and would smile with some help from grandma. Grandma was in the picture with us so we could send Christmas cards to her friends too.

 This is our goofy photo. Which incidentally, Olivia had the same face in most the photos.

My handsome boys.

The Girls

Elese trying to be serious.

Olivia trying to be happy.

Us.

The kids

Happy family

Happy family + Grandma

More craziness

October 21st

 Me: "You can just go sit there and be in awe about how Blake can see now." (he had just had lasik surgery)
Mom: "What did you say?!!?"
Me: "You can just go sit there and be in awe about how Blake can see now."

Mom: "Oh, I thought you said, 'you can just go sit there and be senile'"

I was telling sam that he has to go to bed early. He said, "I gets scared in bed tonight so I get up and stay up." Max said, "No Sam, it's ok. Grandma will stay up stairs so you won't be scared." Sam, "No Max!!! Me get scared to-night and stay up!" He was already preparing his excuse so he could get up and see Grandma Heumann when she came to babysit.  

October 22nd

On September first my neighbor told me she was looking for someone to watch her kids at night while she works. She said she was going to meet someone on Craigslist and to send her girls home (they were here playing). Hailey is Elese's age but one year older in school and Brooke is 5 and comes to play too. They are in my primary. I love them. I did not want them to go to sleep at some strangers house. I called Steven in to talk to me. I told him what was going on and that I felt we should have them stay at our house. It is about 1-3 times a week and she pays me $24 a night. I'm saving up for a day at the spa. It's been a great opportunity to serve them and really grow to love the girls and especially their baby sister Amilia. She's about 3 months younger than Olivia. Sam loves her too. He will wake up and come look at her and say, "That a cute baby." One night Amilia was teething so that was a rough night. Another night Brooke threw up...a lot. I finally asked Ashley to come get her. I didn't take her money. I felt bad that she had to leave work and miss out on some money. They got home and all of them ended up being sick. Last week Brooke threw up again. She said she had too much chocolate milk. Other than that and a few cries in the night by Amilia it's been pretty uneventful. I ask them to say prayers. Hailey always does. Brooke does sometimes and when she doesn't she says, "I don't have one tonight." She's super sweet. I love having the opportunity to help out and the girls are easy to love...it helps that they are always sleeping. That's when kids are the easiest to love. :) Yesterday we prayed as a family for opportunities to serve. Ashley called and said she had only slept two hours the day before and one hour so far yesterday and asked if I could watch Amilia. We took her with us to the chiropractor. It caused some napping issues with Sam and Olivia but Olivia and Sam loved having her here to play with. The. While picking the kids up for school I got a fb message from my new neighbor Janna and she needed a jump at the school so we helped her. I pointed out to the kids that our prayers had been answered. I love serving others.

October 23rd

Olivia is officially walking all the time. Starting today walking is her preferred method of travel with climbing in a close second.

 Sam is obsessed with Wonder Woman. He takes some type of Wonder Woman toy for show and tell almost every day at preschool (Tuesday's and Thursday's). This was the last page of his Halloween Book he made at preschool. He told his teacher Ms. Natalee what to write.

 October 24th

October 25th
Heumann Halloween party.

Max had a football party.

October 26th

Not sure why I took this picture except that my kids are cute.

October 28th

Mom is in bed looking very sad. She said, "I don't want to ever play sudoku again. I used to be really good at it but now I just can't do it. It makes me think I'm loosing my mind." :( I told her that she still has her jewels and they we all love her even if she can't do Suduku. Heck, I don't think I can do Suduku".

 Here is another mom email update:

I wanted to send out an email to let you all know about how mom is doing and what help I would like to have.  Almost daily I notice subtle changes in moms behavior that make it apparent to me that she is continuing to decline. We do know that she declined 6 points in 6 months which allows us to assume that she is declining 1 point each month. This is on a scale of 0-30 where she is currently at 18. I have been given a referral to an Alzheimer’s clinic at the U but I was told that mom may not fit the criteria to be accepted as a patient. I’m hoping to find another option if that doesn’t pan out.

When she first moved in she was almost always upstairs spending time with the family and she was regularly attending church and her family home evening group. Over the last month or so this has changed. She spends more time in her room and goes to church and FHE about 50% of the time. She has also started wondering when we are in public places and is forgetting words. There are 7 stages of Alzheimer’s and after reviewing them Blake and I think she is at stage 4. http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_stages_of_alzheimers.asp This stage can last for any duration but after doing a little research (http://www.alzinfo.org/clinical-stages-of-alzheimers) I learned that they generally say this stage lasts about 2 years.

The point I’m trying to make is that right now mom may not be in need of constant care and things are not becoming overwhelming for me but we don’t have lots of time to still enjoy her being her. Now that mom as settled a bit I think it is time to discuss visits and phone calls to her. At this point it would be for the purpose of showing her that she is loved and appreciated and being able to enjoy time with her. In the near future I will need more help and time from all of you but for now – I don’t want you missing out on valuable time with mom.

What I would like to ask is for Eric to  visit at least once a month and maybe take her to dinner or something and maybe a call a couple times a month as well. Maybe even Nicole or Trevor could stop by on occasion. I know that Trev is sometimes working close to my house. He’s more than welcome to have his lunch break here so he can spend some time with mom and I’m sure she’d even treat him to lunch. Evan, phone calls once a week would be appreciated by mom, she loves hearing from you and knowing how your family is doing. Blake, continue your over nights with mom, she looks forward to it and I like having an evening that I feel like I can just feed my kids dino nuggets.  Spence, your Thursday visits are great. I know that it’s hard for you to spend a lot of time out here with your job but I’d love it if you could maybe stay an extra hour or two at least once a month and maybe help her organize somethings she has brought with her. She currently has photos all over her room. Also with Christmas coming up maybe you could run errands with her and help her get some shopping done. She would also love to see your kids.

I know it’s not the same having her here at my house but I want everyone to feel free to stop by whenever you want to. If it is strictly a grandma visit let me know and I can keep my kids busy so that Mom can have everyone’s attention. It’s best to let me know when you are on your way just in case I take her with me somewhere but everyone is welcome (and wanted) anytime.

Last night Blake and I worked on her Power of Attorney which I will take her to get notarized sometime in the next week. We also updated her will and printed out a advanced directive that Blake will help her fill out. If you have any other ideas of legal (or non-legal) things that you feel we should be taking care of please let me know.

This is a very hard thing to watch our mother slowly disappear but I’m thankful for the opportunity I have to serve her and feel of your love and support while I do so. I love you all!

October 29th
Fun at the park.

Oct. 30th

"Man of Steal no have that on. Regular superman does!" said Sam in reference to his s-curl. "Mom! My costume work outside. I just warm enough."

He opted out of the curl because he is the Man of Steel. Fortunately I got a picture first.

 

Then off to his preschool party he went.

Olivia helped herself to some cheetos.
 
October 31st

Happy Halloween. Steven had to be on Good Things Utah as Superman so I decided to get dressed up too. When we watched it Sam laughed and laughed and said, "Those girls call Daddy Superman." We drove him to work because his car has been having trouble and we had decided to trade it in with the van for a new van because it wasn't worth fixing. After that my mom, the littles and I went to the school Halloween parade. Max was a Zombie.

 Elese was Anna.

Then we came home and I ran Steven's car to the dealership to see what we could get for it. First I took off my costume. When I got there and saw our salesman (our neighbor Ryan Orr) was the joker so decided they I should have kept my Batgirl costume on. 

He offered to bring the van by to our house for me to see which unappreciated since I had left my mom with Sam on the kindle and Liv sleeping. After about an hour he got here. Sam got all weird and ran away. After a while I realized it was the joker costume. Liv got scared too. I put them downstairs to watch cartoons and told Sam that he was Superman so he could totally beat up the joker. He loved that idea and said that Batgirl (me) could beat him up too. Then he felt better. I loved the van. Super nice. Leather, DVD player, back up camera , cooler. I took it for a quick spin around the block and we discussed getting a new battery and tires. We ate lunch and I got Sam and Liv down for their naps and started cleaning out the cars. It was fun and sad to see notes from our dating days on Steven's glove box. We've had that car for our entire relationship and now it's going to the scrap yard.

Then Ryan came by and I filled out what paperwork I could. Sam woke up and we put Liv in her costume and along with grandma we headed out to pick up the big kids. Then we were off to Sister Taylor's for a hug. Then to the chiropractor. I waited until today because the kids wanted to see Liz and I'm glad we did. Sam loves seeing her as Wonderwoman. 

 He would shout at me during the parade anytime he saw someone dressed as Wonderwoman. He has a semi-unhealthy relationship with her. 

 Then we picked up Steven from work and got dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. Everyone but grandma was dressed up. People would smile and say they liked our costumes. Everyone was enamored by Sam and Olivia. Then we dropped Max off to trick or treat with Coach, Micah, Isaac, and Chuck. We left my mom to hand out candy and the rest of us went to sign for the van. I thought it was funny to have superman and Batgirl buying a van from the Joker. We couldn't bring it home because the new tires needed to be put on. Then we came home and went trick or treating. The plan was for me to take Liv to one house and come home but she was having so much fun. She was mimicking everything we said like "trick or treat, bye, thank you, hi Ella...everything. So I walked home and took off my uncomfortable Batgirl boots and then met back up with them. By then Olivia started insisting on walking. It was very cute but slowing us down. We made it around the block and called it a night. It was fun to go out with the kids and the weather was perfect.