February is the month of love!
Valentines Day only comes once a year! Right? This year, I wanted to make it special for my family. I decided that I would tape a heart to their bedroom door every morning for them to find when they woke up. I would leave a little message on the heart telling them why I loved them so much. I started on February 1st and hung the last one up on Valentine's Day. It got a tricky for me towards the end. I tried really hard to make them unique for each person. I wish I was a bit more creative! Blakley was the most excited to find her new heart each morning and we ended each night me reading them to her. She had them memorized by the time we took them down:)
Troy and Carter's Door
Clint's Door
Blakley's Door
Tanner's Door
Valentines Day also means we get to make school valentines boxes. Troy worked hard on his. He came up with this brilliant idea to make a basketball court. I think it turned out great. I only wish I would have taken more pictures of it. Darn!
Carter didn't want to make a box this year so used Tanner's box from a couple of years ago. He put his name on it and called it good. That's my Carter:)
After being such a big helper all day long to me, Blakley woke up the next morning to find a present on her bed. By the look on her face, you can tell she was excited!
She loves to play dress up with her cousins and friends, so this princess dress made the perfect addition to her collection.
The night before Valentines, Clint surprised me with a night away to Midway. He lined up a baby-sitter, told me we're going out and didn't let on that we were staying anywhere till we were in the car. While he was driving, he handed me a gift and said to open it. Inside were the cutest pjs:)
I sure love that man!
He got us tickets to go see the ice castles. While we were there, Clint started to not feel so well. He was really dizzy and his balance was off. We didn't stick around too long. He really needed to go lay down for a bit. We got take out and went back to the hotel. Unfortunately, Clint got worse over the night and we ended up in Insta-Care the next day.
One of the first tests the doctor performed was to have Clint walk in a straight line with his eyes closed. He failed. The second test, he had him stand up, close his eyes and hold his arms straight out in front of him. He failed. He couldn't hold his arms still, they continued upward and he almost fell backwards.
The doctor told us that he most likely had something called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) otherwise known as "crystals in his ear". It basically is when the calcium crystals in your ear break loose and travel around in your inner ear. When these misplaced crystals shift positions they can send the wrong info to your brain and you can get dizzy, lose your balance and get that foggy head feeling.
I wish that I could say that his sickness ended there....
Two days later, we ended up at the ER. The doctor listed all the worse possibilities and started doing tests to check them off one by one. MRI was done to check for possible brain tumor or lesions on the brain (sign of MS). CT scan was done to check the head and neck for any unwanted things. Blood was taken to check for anything abnormal like infection.
Good News~all the tests came back normal
Bad News~still have no idea what is causing his problems
The doctor recommended seeing a neurologist and getting an appointment at the Hearing and Balance Center. Until then, take it easy. Which of course is easier said than done for Clint. For me sure, I would love to take it easy for awhile. Give me a book, give me a TV with all my recorded shows on it and I'd a happy girl. But for Clint, who is very active (Cross-fit, running, basketball, biking) this was a big deal. Plus the fact that he has a full time job that is counting on him. Thankfully, his company let him work from home whenever he needed to. Good thing he had Blakley to keep him company. She's awesome like that:)
We made an appointment with my neurologist. We also made an appointment with a doctor at the Hearing and Balance Center. Both places were out a couple of weeks. During those weeks, more and more symptoms starting showing up. Headaches, pins and needles all over the body, feet and hands going numb/tingling, neck and upper back muscles super tight, and plain ole' just not feeling right.
It was a long couple of weeks.
Lots of unanswered medical questions to ponder about.
Lots of prayers in his behalf.
Lots of tears shed.
Lots of blessings received.
Oh gosh, I Love Clint!
I hated watching him go through these things.
I just hung on to the words of the first blessing he received from my Uncle Bob saying that this was just a trial that we were going through as a family. One that would bring us closer to our Father in Heaven. One that we needed to go through to strengthen our testimonies.
February 2014
