Vandervaart Family: August 2012

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

July started off with me being diagnosed with strep throat. The next day, Pete was sent to the ER for suspected meningitis. He remained in the hospital for two days while my amazing family came and picked up the kids and took care of them. After Pete was released, we went to Indy to see our family and pick up our kids of course. We had a great time seeing all of our out of town (and in town) family and friends.

After arriving back in North Canton, Pete was still complaining of a headache. We had to go BACK to the hospital because he had what is called a post-dural headache. (They performed a lumbar puncture which involves taking fluid out of his spine. A post-dural headache can be caused and only cured by replacing the fluid with your own blood) After the procedure, Pete felt better. It still took several days before he felt back to his old self.

To continue on the health topic - one night we were tucking Grace into bed and I just got a motherly itch that something was funny. She felt clammy so I listened to her heart (I know, such a nurse) and she had an irregular heart beat. We took her to the doctor the next morning and they diagnosed her with strep throat. She was not sympomatic, but since strep throat can affect the heart muscles they decided to test her for it and she came back positive. Then, we took the other two kids into the doctor to see if they had strep throat and both Jake and Claire had it. We were one sick family throughout the month of July! But that wasn't going to slow us down....

We went to a good high school friend, Elaine Lee's wedding in Saint Louis. Sarah and Mike (Pete's brother and soon to be sister in law) took care of our three little dears while we went. We enjoyed a nice weekend together, played some poker in a casino and went to the wedding. We were able to catch up with some old friends and really had a nice time.

July also entailed our 21st annual Beach Mo trip. The weekend trip where we go to the beach during the day and play cards and hang out at night. This year, we divided up kid duty and with the Gettys and had a great time! The kids LOVED the beach and we really enjoyed watching them enjoy it so much!

We also had a bachelorette party for Sarah (sister in law to be) as well as her 21st birthday celebration mixed with Kathy's (Pete's sister) birthday. We had a great time and I am so blessed to have these two (among the three others) as sisters in law.

Here are pictures from July...

Pete being such a trooper in the hospital

My sister, myself and my beautiful cousin, Jesi

Jesi and I

We came home from Indy to a shattered patio table (Apparently, the high heat can cause this type of class to spontaneously combust)

Below are pictures from our trip to Saint Louis

Jake loves spaghetti :)

Me and two of my fabulous sisters in law

Beach Mo XXI

June 2012

SOOOO sorry that I am so far behind on blogging - I have been gently reminded by a few of you who religiously check the blog that it has been a while since I posted so here it goes...

Looking back, June seems like FOREVER ago and although at the time I am sure I thought it was busy but nothing will compare to July (post coming shortly).

The first weekend in June - Pete had to work so the kids and I had a quiet weekend at home. We went to spend time at the Vandervaarts a little bit and I was able to work on Pete's Father's Day gift.

The girls went to the dentist this month. Claire went back by herself!! I went to stand up and the dental assistant said kids do better by themselves and she (reportedly) did great! Grace was a little more apprehensive but we really like our new dentist.

All three kids got their hair cut this month as well. I had been cutting their hair myself but I thought it was time for a professional to clean up my non-professional work!

The second weekend was the girl's annual Put In Bay trip. Put In Bay weekend is basically relaxing and taking a ferry over to an island that has restaurants and bars on it. We had a blast!

Pete's brother, Mike is getting married in August so we had a Bachelor Party for him the third weekend in June. The next day the boys all went to an Indians Game and then we celebrated Father's Day at the Vandervaart house. Father's Day was extra tough for me this year - no rhyme or reason and I guess there doesn't need to be one, but I was glad to be surrounded by family in the evening time.

The final weekend in June, I went home to Indy (NO kids or husband) for cousins weekend. Cousins weekend is basically a family reunion on my mom's side. My mom hosted this year because of her awesome new condo on the lake. We had a lot of fun!

Here are some pictures from June...