Sad Month

Sad Month
April 6th marked 4 years that my brother Daniel Michael Kauffman died from congested heart failure. I have a picture of him in my bedroom that reminds me of the happy times he & I shared. He was a good person that tried to do the right thing for everyone around him. He is missed every day!!

April 28th 2010 my Uncle Joe died from complications from a good mix of everything. He had a brain tumor removed last month and then had to go back to the hospital because it got infected. The infection went throughout his body and he ended up with pneumonia. The infection from his brain then also turned into highly contagious case of merca (staph infection MSRA). He was so weak from everything attacking his body! Thankfully he went peacefully in his sleep. He left behind his wife (Lori), 3 kids (Erin, LeeAnne, and Kirk) and 2 grandkids (Zion and Micah). I didn’t grow with a good strong male figure in my life but 2 of the men that were constants were my Uncle Sonny that died when I was in high school and my Uncle Joe. They showed me what I wanted in a husband & friend for myself and a father for my children. Thank you Joe and Sonny and please keep an eye on my family for me!!!

“Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy." ~ Eskimo Proverb

Orthodontist

The day after our spring break getaway I had to take the boys to the orthodontist to get some hardware put in their mouth – OUCH!! Stephon got a retainer for now. It’s glued in so he doesn’t have to worry about taking it in & out. He’s still got 2 more teeth to lose before they will put his braces on. This retainer is just holding the space he has so there is no more movement than need be. We go back in June to check his progress.

Ashton on the other hand got a mouth full!! He got a turn-key contraption on the top with 3 pieces of acrylic holding 3 teeth on each side. The acrylic is covering his teeth. Makes it very difficult for him to chew! It’s like having rubber on 6 of your top teeth – you have to either use the front 4 to chew or the few he has uncovered. He was already VERY slow to eat before and this has only magnified it!! UGH!! On the bottom he has a wire that is glued in. Both of these pieces are put in to expand his mouth. Once they get the jaw to the width they need them to be to fit all his teeth in then they’ll take them out and put braces on. Hopefully if everything moves like it’s supposed to then he’ll only wear the stuff he has now for 6 months. He’s done very good brushing his teeth 2 – 3 times a day (he has a toothbrush and toothpaste at school for after lunch) and using fluoride every night and then giving me the tool to turn his key. He hasn’t complained one time. I will say this…….he was 63 lbs for an entire year. He was up to 64 lbs the week before he got his mouth pieces on and it was a celebration in our house!! Last week he was down to 62 lbs but last night he was back to 63 lbs so thankfully he’s not losing too much weight!!! He doesn’t eat much but he’s been drinking Ensure shakes to get his proteins and vitamins! One month down and 5 more to go!!

Spring Break 2010

Sorry no pictures this year – took my camera but the batteries died after the first 2 pictures and then couldn’t get the camera to work again the rest of the time. Oh well – we have the memories in our heads.

This year we took the boys to Cincinnati. It was a first for all of us! We stayed the first night at Coco Resort with an inside water park. It was nice but it was more for younger children and Stephon got bored real fast! But put them in water and they are entertained for hours! The night we checked in we got there between 5:30 & 6 and thankfully we did. After we checked in and went to the water park area everything was good for about 30 minutes. Then the electricity for the entire city block went out!! We sat and sat and then when they finally realized the lights weren’t coming on any time soon they shut the park down for the night. We decided to go to the room and change for dinner. It’s a violation of some fire code to not have emergency lights in the stairwell area….lets just say they should have been fined very heavily as it was a very dark walk to the 9th floor!!! It’s been 3 weeks since that happened and Ashton is still freaked out about the dark. We drove to Kentucky to have dinner and but the time we got back the lights were back on. Thankfully the next day it was back to running full steam and the boys spent all day there in the water. Even Stephon - pretty sure there were girls chasing him around & he loved it. It was a nice enough place but I can’t see us going back again.

The next night we stayed downtown at the Millennium. I had stayed at the Millennium in Chicago and I can tell you that even though they are the same chain they are NOTHING alike. This was nice but windows were so thin we could hear the wind howling and could hear every car drive by even though we were on the 13th floor. With Ashton still freaked out about the dark from the previous night and now mixed with the constant sounds from outside…it made for a long night of tears with him!! Breakfast the next morning at the hotel restaurant was very good though so all was forgiven!! We took the boys to the Cardinals & Reds game (thanks to Amy for the recommendation). They were calling for rain but not one single drop fell on us. It was partly sunny but still very chilly. We dressed like it was the middle of winter. Their park is very nice and it was a fun game. Ashton had never been to a MLB game before so he was very much into it. Plus we had seats behind 3rd base, 2nd row. It was a great view. We got home late that night after the game and had to be up at 5:45 the next morning for the boys to go to the orthodontist…..