WEEK 1 ~ JANUARY 1-7, 2015

The time between Christmas and New Year's was a bit of a challenging time as we worked to help out my father-in-law who was taking care of his wife who has been struggling with Alzheimer's disease and dementia. It's been hard this week to see such a decline in Mom's health and trying to figure out what was best for both Mom and Dad. We are praying that she will begin to feel better and that we will find a nursing home for Mom as soon as possible. We are all just taking it one day at a time. Unfortunately, Mark and Dad took Mom to the ER again on Sunday in hopes of figuring out what else could be going on. After spending the day there, they returned home with some meds.

While life got so busy, we tried to get some finishing touches to the boys room and hang some pictures that have been waiting to be hung in the living room for quite awhile. I love seeing things coming together. I also decided to clean Savannah's room up for her as well since I won't be redoing her room too soon. 

Sunday was my birthday and Kim along with the kids had a grand plan for an Amazing Race Birthday for me...they have been letting me know for quite a number of weeks that they had my birthday present and they weren't going to tell what it was. Road Blocks, Route Info and Detours...Today was THE day...Run the race...receive the prize. Mark missed the race as he was with his parents at the hospital but never fear, Savannah took plenty of video and Kim snapped pictures. It was a lot of fun and the grand prize was AWESOME!! We will be going to a Red Wings game in the near future...I was truly spoiled. I can't wait for the new upcoming season of the Amazing Race Birthday...Savannah is getting ready to race.

Unfortunately, Mom went back to the ER on Tuesday with a reaction to meds and was admitted for observation and hydration, with hopes of straightening out her medication and to get relief from the hives. Lots of visits have been made to the hospital to spend time with Mom and Dad. Mark took most of the week off to be at the hospital and to be available to help his parents when needed. So thankful for an employer who is very understanding. Kim was a great help as the two of us would head up to the hospital to help take care of Mom.

We tried to enjoy the time we had together when we weren't on the run. We especially enjoyed seeing Canada take Gold in the World Junior's Hockey Tournament. We also loved playing with Alex's new pet, Alvin, the hamster. It is often quite the job to wake him up, but we just want to play with him :)

We ended the first week with a snow day and you can tell there are a lot of kids over when the bowls and plates span the counter...Rowan enjoyed all the extra kids...9 kids and 2 adults...we had a good time.

Well Week 1 has been a bit exhausting. Hoping that Week 2 we see lots of improvement and that life will kind of settle back down into a little more of a normal routine.