Sydney's Hospital Trip

As the work party was winding down Sydney told me she didn't feel well. I thought no big deal -- we'll head home rest and all will be right with the world. Not 30 seconds later Sydney said "Momma my chest hurts". At that point I noticed she was a little grey and covered in a cold sweat. This is a moment every heart mom dreads -- at least I assume we all do. This moment has NEVER happened to us before. The first thought that ran thru my head was "Oh my HELL not now"! The next thing I knew Sydney was leaning into me with her eyes open wide saying her chest hurt, and now her arm.

I told the boys it was time to go -- they were both so good. We headed to the van and I made Sydney sit in the front seat. I phoned the transplant nurse on call and held for what seemed like forever -- really only 10 minutes. By the time I spoke to her we were heading down Parley's Canyon. I kept expecting her to tell me to take her home and watch her -- Nope. We were invited to go and see them in the ER. As I looked at Sydney who had tears in her eyes, and my two little big boys in their car seats I wanted to cry. Caitlin was at Youth Conference and I was on my own. The boys I'm sure were hopped up on cotton candy, soda and a fun afternoon of rides. A trip to the ER was not going to be on their "list". I called Charles and he was able to get a hold of his parents. They had his brother’s boys but my FIL could come down and get the boys if needed. As I was driving down Foothill Blvd. the thought came to my mind to call Wennie. Wennie would come and get the boys at the ER, take them home, pack them up, feed them dinner and give them to my FIL. Oh what would we do without our Wennie?

At the ER there was no parking, the valet was closed so we parked in the BMT. Someday when I build a hospital it will have more than 10 parking spots at the ER. I carried Sydney in with Jon holding Zachary's hand following behind. At the check in desk I got to hear one girl’s tale of sadness about her yellow bridesmaid dress with pink flowers on it for a wedding this summer. On the third "excuse me" she acknowledged that we were there and asked me to wait -- I told her "no" that we were there by the request of Cardiology and could not wait. Nice reception girl informed me that they did not have a paper from Cards on a Sydney VanShaar however they did have one on a Tiffany VanShaar with the same birthday as Sydney etc (insert eye roll here).

The LPN came out and got Sydney who had quit talking and took her into a triage room. Sydney's heart rate was quite high (150+) and her blood pressure low (60's/40's). They paged the Cardiologist on call -- and moved us to a trauma room. The fellow from cards came in and ordered a ton of tests, and then asked Sydney what had happened. Sydney just looked at him and didn't say much. Brother Jon to the rescue -- he told Dr. Hoffman all about what happened. I hate having Jon know so much when he is so little. The lab came, EKG, x-ray, and then we headed for an echo just as Wennie got there. It was good timing as the boys had explored every part of the room and had used all of the stickers we had. The EKG was a bit off, her echo was okay, her lab work was fine -- not dehydrated, and the x-ray looked a bit off as well.

The plan was made -- admit to cardiology for at least overnight to rule out a heart attack. I think this was the point I asked if they (the cardiology team) were serious. They were. At that point I was scared. Dr. E even came in – hello it is 9 at night – cardiologists don’t come in at night.

We headed up to the third floor for the night -- I had nothing with me just my hot sweaty clothes I'd worn all day. I didn't feel like I could leave so I just sat there feeling icky. Thank goodness for my sister Mandy who came with all of the needed items. We spent the night talking and playing games.
Sydney slept well overnight but had some pain. Her labs looked good and they eventually decided that she had an infection in her sternum and her cyclo level was way off. At that point they were able to discharge her -- none too soon.

She has her regular cardiology visit on 8 July -- so we hope to stay healthy until then.

Works 10 Year Birthday Party

The place I work held our 10 year birthday party was held at Park City Mountain Resort. I could not imagine it would be as wonderful as it was. There was tons of food, games and rides for the kids and adults along with giveaways of every kind. It was nice to be up in the mountains for a few hours where it was quite a bit cooler. I have pics to post but I can't find my cord so they will have to come later.

New York cont...

Day 2 of my trip involved meetings at FSC -- our office in New York. The meetings went well and we were done in time to catch the one o'clock shuttle to JFK. I felt like I really scored seat wise when I ended up with the window in the emergency exit row!

We had plenty of time and went to find something to eat inside T5. Joy and Amalys were traveling with me and we agreed upon the Spanish restaurant called Piquillo. They have an awesome menu and I had wanted to try their food for a while now. Charles lived in Spain for about a year in his early 20's and still talks about the food. I ordered 3 different tapas -- Tapas are Spanish appetizers. I had one that was made from marinated artichoke hearts, peas and thick chunks of bacon -- in my book if you have bacon you can't go wrong. The second was chicken on little kabobs served on brushetta with olive oil and fresh herbs -- talk about tasty. The final was a potato and egg torte. Charles has made me something similar since we were first married and all I can say is WOW no wonder he loved it!

I had to pick up something for each of the kids so I went to Muji and bought Jon new blocks of NYC and Zachary the set from London. They really enjoy the wooden city blocks to play with. For the girls I found bags that say I heart NYC. They were more than reasonable in price so I grabbed them. I grabbed a snack and headed for the flight. We arrived home 50 minutes early -- We didn't have to wait to take off and made great time! Charles and Zachamander came to pick me up it was great to be home!

New York

Have I mentioned how much I love NYC? I was lucky enough to have business meetings this week at our offices there. Even better I was lucky enough to travel with some good friends. We took the Saturday night shut-eye flight from SLC to JFK.

Always the optimists we hoped for early check in at our Chelsea hotel -- Not going to happen as they were sold out. We stowed our bags and headed for early breakfast. The diner we went to was fine -- nothing flashy -- it wasn't even 7 yet so we were limited on choices. We sat there for almost two hours before heading out to find something to do.

John suggested the High Line -- It is an above ground park that is built on elevated train tracks/platforms for the meatpacking district in the 1930's. Over the past two years it has been converted to a nine block above ground park rather than torn down. You could see the Statue of Liberty, Chelsea pier, the Hudson River where they docked the Miracle on the Hudson and a zillion other little things -- I'm into small details and found many.

There were several highlights of our walk -- the first being I fell asleep (along with Joy) on one of the wooden lounge chairs -- John and Amalys snapped some photos. I don't have a copy of them right now but I was sacked out. The next highlight was that I found Saskatoon bushes with ripe berries -- Yes, much to everyone’s horror I began picking and eating the berries. You can take the girl out of the prairie but you can't take the prairie out of the girl (something like that). I have not had Saskatoon’s in years and they tasted so good. Most of my traveling companions declined to taste the berries (chickens). My theory -- it left more berries for me.

Next we headed to Starbucks to have ten-zies (food again). I love their Vivanno's! While resting there (they had a/c) I noticed that Chelsea Market was just across the street. I was so excited! For those of you who don't know that is home to The Food network! We went over and looked in the shops, went to a sample sale, had eleven-zies (French croissant), looked at odd photos of men with mustaches -- it was great!

We headed back to the hotel to see if there were any rooms open yet -- No such luck. We re-grouped and headed to the subway and two stops and past an assortment of stores (holy cow) later we were at this cute little Spanish restaurant. Their food was to die for! We ate and ate -- after all it was 1230 by now. I had never had saffron rice before.

At that point it was time for my friends to head to their afternoon Broadway play and all I wanted was a bed. I managed to get back to the hotel without getting lost and checked in. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I woke up nearly six hours later, took a shower and found a BBQ place right down the street. It was great! I had some prep work to do before the meetings in the morning, called Charles and the kids, Dr. Durham -- got to love it when you have to call the pedi from NYC and went back to sleep.

Today I didn't think about my calendar being in mountain time vs eastern and ended up at the office two hours before the first meeting. It gave me time to get a few other things done. It was great to see everyone here. I miss working with revenue management daily etc.

Tonight we went and had the best Indian food I've ever had. It was this cute little hole in the wall place close to our hotel. Joy is part Indian and could tell us what everything was -- she was so excited. Amalys was kind enough to drink my wine that came with dinner too :) . After, all I wanted to do was sleep as we have a full day tomorrow -- A meeting followed by the flight home.

Miquela's 21st Birthday

I can't believe that my little Miquela is 21. Happy Birthday to our Miquela bird! Time certainly has flown by -- it seems like only a few months ago that you were 7. That year you had a shared birthday parter with Great Grandpa Roger for his 80th birthday.

Some Of My Favorite Things

Below you will find 40 things that are my favorites -- I could go on and on but this today is enough.
Cherry coke from the soda fountain
Pellet ice
Time to cook and bake
The smell of clean babies – there is magic in baby lotion I swear
New, clean sheets with a high thread count
Listening to the ocean – I never knew it was so loud
Reading anything and everything – wait I’m not into vampires
My kiddos – I can’t believe how old they are getting
Charles – what more can I say
Traveling
Perogies
Dark chocolate
The wind right before it rains
The smell of outside right after it rains
Disney World
Taking pictures
JetBlue
New York
Learning anything new
Good doctor reports
Fresh flowers
Fire and Ice roses
Talking on the phone – not so much into texting
Snuggles
Buddy the dog
Playing in the ocean / at the beach
Movies and movie popcorn
Christmas (side note I hated Christmas when I married Charles until we had the girls)
My Daddy – he thinks I’m perfect – yes, I have him wrapped around my little finger
Not having to hurry
James Taylor / Rod Stewart / Kenny Chesney / Enya
Las Vegas
Snow
The apple gorgonzola salad from Buca di Beppo
IMH (Its My Heart) My friend Corrie started it for all of our heart kiddos in honor of her son Noah
Pomegranates – Charles says that I love anything to eat that I can play with
The smell of Pine Sol
Frozen fruity drinks from Sonic
Girl talk
Always being able to find some hope

17 Years Ago

today I met Charles. I wasn't looking for him but he was looking for me. It was one of the first times I'd been to church in three months due to my work schedule. I went to the Weber State 5th ward after working a night shift at SDCH -- I was so tired and just threw myself together to get there. After all I was going to church not to meet some guy.

It was a nice service and I learned it was Mothers Day. I made a mental note to stop on my way home and pick something up for my mom -- so much for the whole keeping the Sabbath day holy. As I was leaving sacrament meeting I felt this tap on my arm and there was Charles. We walked to the parking lot chatting and as it turned out we were parked close together. We talked and talked -- believe it or not it was mostly him chatting not me. He told me that he was going to be out of town for the next week but asked for my number to go out the following weekend. We had lost track of time and over three hours had gone by – who would have thought that Charles could be such a talker! Seventeen years, seven kids, two houses and a zillion other things here we are - who would have thought so much could happen in such a short amount of time?

I love you Charles!