August is here and gone!

Uncle Kenneth Wayne McCoy

Hannah at her desk on the first day of 2nd grade.

Hannah on the first day of school.

Hayden and his catchment basin (yes he can do what Hannah can not)!

Hayden and Aunt Nanny at Lagoon.

I can not believe how fast August went by. In our house it was again filled with the 24 hr flu and other random illnesses. We went to Lagoon and went boating but otherwise we pretty well stayed around the house.

It is with a sad heart that I report that I lost my Uncle Ken. My Dad's brother was 76 when he passed away on August 19th. I think I was in denial for a long time about how sick he was. It was easier to deal with it that way. The way that we lost him was so similar to my Dad's that it made it even more painful. All I can say is that I was a better person for knowing him. He was a very loving, kind and generous man that was always quick to smile. Whenever he would see Joe he would say "Hey Joe what do you know?" and flash his contagious smile. When we were kids he would always tickle us and spoil us with attention. We always looked forward to going to his house. He was an instrumental member of his church where he demonstrated the virtue of selflessness and service. He was a mentor and a friend and will be missed very much.

Hannah started school and loves her new teachers. She is in second grade. I can not believe it. Elainea is ready for school and wants to go so desperately, but she does not start kindergarten until next year. Until then she is proving herself worthy of being a big girl by getting potty-trained at night. We are so proud of our little girls that are growing up so strong and beautiful.

Hayden started walking which brings a whole new dynamic into the household. For instance, this morning I found that he transferred a bunch of garbage from the garbage can to the clothes hamper. What a big help he is (I type that sarcasticly of course).

Joe is hanging in there. Neither one of us are doing well under the pressures of lack of sleep. With all of the health issues in the house it has been hard to get good rest around here. We are trying to take it in good stride and not be the cranky parent, but most of the time it does get to us. It is a good thing that kids are resilent.

Today I go in to get my left knee repaired. It is a simple scope surgery and I should be good as new by tomorrow. I look forward to not having to deal with the pain at night so I can get some good sleep. I will post more pictures soon....

Cough it up!

Dad and kids lounging on the lounge chair he got on Father's Day.
Our cute little Tinker Bell at her dance recital.

Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Arlen on the 50th Anniversary Party.

Kids can't wait to get a taste of those cookies!

Our poor little baby Hannah. We took her into the doctor for a persistent cough and it ended up that she has pneumonia. She has been on antibiotics for three days and does not understand why we still can not go out and socialize with everyone. So instead we have stayed inside and played video games and watched some movies. I rented a princess movie that aired on the ABC Family channel and boy was I disappointed. If that is what they call a family movie I am certainly glad that we do not have cable TV. Needless to say Hannah is sleeping in Elainea's room because she is too scared to sleep on her own tonight.

Hayden is almost walking. At last! I never thought I would be excited to see his milestones as he is our last baby, but there comes a time when even the most selfish of Mom's want it to happen. He is totally capable, he just does not see the need for walking. He already can power crawl faster than you think humanly possible. You need to sprint to keep up with him.

Elainea is still in her whiny stage. Let me tell you this one can not end soon enough! She is enough to drive you nuts. We love her so much but when she starts to whine we have to send her out of the room because it can not simply be ignored. I know that is one of the most powerful weapons we have as parents, but no amount of training can prepare you for the overwhelming manner in which she wines. She has it down to an art.

We got the truck back from the service shop and it looks great. What a relief that at least that part of our lives will be getting back to normal.

I will write more later....

Pam

Time to be reflective

Wow a whole month has gone by since I have posted to our blog. So many things have happened since then. Joe and I are still fortunate to have our jobs in this tough economy. We are still able to maintain our four-day work schedules which results in our kids being in daycare only three days a week. That I feel is the greatest gift we could ask for. Spending time with our kids and making memories to last our lifetime is what it is all about.
You might be wondering why I am being so reflective. Well several things have happened this month to really make Joe and I reflect on our lives and what is really important. The first thing to happen is I injured my knee. Do not ask me what happened, because I really do not know. I wish I could tell people that I hurt it in a skydiving accident. I would really settle for something not so exotic like playing soccer or softball, but that too would be a huge fabrication. The truth is one day it did not hurt and the next day it did. I joked about it for a while and told people that my knees were buckling under the pressure of the twenty pounds I have put on since Hayden was born. Then the clicking in the knee was so consistent that Elainea would follow me laughing when my knee didn’t pop when I walked. Then the issue was the stairs in our house. The pain got so bad that I could not walk up and down them. I could not take care of my kids or maintain the house. I went to the doctor and he advised me it was because I needed to strengthen the muscles in my upper leg and then it would be fine. I told him I wanted to start exercising and he told me that was the best thing I could do for my knee. So I started slowly incorporating more exercise into my day. Sure enough my luck would soon change. It was a Monday and I took the girls to camp and went shopping with Hayden until it was time to pick them up. Sure enough I am in the Walmart parking lot and I am no longer able to put weight on my leg. With every step pain would radiate from my knee down to my feet and up to my hip. It was all I could do to get Hayden safely to the car. This time I knew it wasn’t just being out of shape. I went to a specialist and found out that I have torn my meniscus and it requires surgery to repair it. After wearing a brace for several weeks the swelling has gone down and I am once again keeping up with the household. I am postponing the surgery until December.
Next was the flu to hit the house. Elainea came home really ill and was in bed for two days. Anyone who knows Elainea knows that nothing keeps this girl down. She soon passed it to Hayden and then Hannah. Poor Hayden did not know what hit him. For him the flu was more serious as it caused his reactive airway disease to flare up. The poor kid was almost hospitalized when his oxygen levels dipped down to 83%. Luckily we were able to treat him with some steroids in the clinic and bring him home.
Next thing you know we are coming home from Mass on Saturday night and stopped at a traffic light when we were struck from behind by a car going over 35 mph. The kids were buckled in their carseats and are okay. Unfortunately I received cervical whiplash and strained my right shoulder. The paramedics convinced me to go to the hospital in an ambulance to avoid them writing up that I refused medical care at the scene. How traumatic for the kids to have their mom hauled away. We are very fortunate that the accident happened the way it did. Joe saw the car coming and let of the brake so the impact was not so hard.
Next thing to happen is a dear friend lost her battle with cancer. She was living in Virginia with her family and was brought back to Utah to be buried in the same cemetery as Joe’s Mom and Dad. We feel so lucky to have been able to participate in the burial of such a wonderful person. We met Holly when we traveled to China to get Elainea. Her family adopted a little girl from the same orphanage. In fact, many of the baby pictures that we received of Elainea have pictures of the children from the other five families we traveled with. Being able to spend time with Holly and Robert and their dear sweet children was wonderful. When we faced some challenges with the adoption in China they were there to help support us in any way they could. The cried with us and prayed with us. Holly was such a wonderful friend and support for us. Our children have prayed for her each day for the past year. She has become a part of our lives and will live on in our memories.
Just when you think it is all that could happen in a month…wrong! My sister traveled down to Mexico to try to obtain a visa for her husband David so he can come back to the states legally. Not so fast our government told them and advised them that he now has a lifetime ban that may be appealed in ten year if he stays in Mexico. Well how do you like that? Here is someone trying to right a wrong and what does he get?, a door slammed in his face. With this type of law in place where is the motivation to make things right for these people who immigrated here to help their families survive. We also pray for their family in that a miracle can happen and they can be together again.
Then we receive word of a close neighbor that went into the hospital for a routine day-surgery that ended up a major surgery where they had to reconstruct the structure of her digestive system. Doesn’t that beat all? She had a hysterectomy twenty years ago and the surgeon pulled out her intestines and did not put them back in correctly. Thankfully she is healing well and will get to come home soon.
All of these things make me appreciate what our family has even more. I will take our challenges head on as long as we are together that is all that matters. Life is fragile and ends all too quickly at times and we need to make every moment count. I for one will try to remember that each day throughout the rest of my days. I want to say to all of our friends and family that we care for you so much and we appreciate having you in our lives. You make all the difference in this world when not a whole lot of things make sense. We love you all and may God keep you in his loving care….

The Rockwell’s

A few recent pictures.

Dad trying on the amazing boy boa
Hannah and her Dad

Hayden and his amazing boy boa.

Our beautiful girls.

Summer is here!

Joe enjoying Mother's Day at the park.
Cute Hannah

Spaghetti anyone?

Nanny in Hayden's glasses.

Elainea (our little monkey) on the rings.

Is it possible to bend the human body in this way?

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
Anatole France

OK. This is pathetic. I have not posted since February. Since then both Hannah and Hayden have had a birthday, we celebrated Easter and Hannah went to her first concert. Next week school is out and Hannah will have completed first grade. Where does the time go? I will try to catch you up through each member of the family.

JOE is still working for the State of Utah. He enjoys his job and has been asked to work on a focus group for writing new regulations. He is excited and we love the idea that he gets to come home at night to his family. He does go on some overnight inspections once every six months or so. This is still better than being gone three times a week like he was in water quality.

PAM is still working for Northrop Grumman. It has been a difficult week and a man that she worked with for years ended his own life last week. It has been hard to make sense of what happened and why it happened, but we are grateful that we do not understand. It is enough to know that God gives us grace to move past these events.

HANNAH is excited for summer vacation. We had her tested for dyslexia and have found that she has been diagnosed with ADHD. We are looking into some parenting guides for better ways to focus her energy. The phychologist was very impressed with her and she tested very high on the intelligence tests. She is in a school program next week and we have been working hard on a blue bird costume.

ELAINEA is getting bigger by the day. She is almost the size of Hannah. She has grown over three inches in the last two months. She still has her adorable dimples and makes me happy when she smiles. She looks forward to Thursday of each week so she can go to show and tell at preschool. She is looking forward to going to the Zoo this summer.

HAYDEN is one! It if official. He is small but mighty. He power crawls all over the house. He is quick and hard to keep up with. He is a mischievous little guy who likes to test out how serious you are when you say 'No'. His weight is still an issue. He is in the 1% ranking in weight and in the 70% percentile in height. We are keeping a close eye on him and hope he beefs up enough to move out of his baby carrier and into the big boy car seat soon.

We are constantly in motion with three kids in the house. It is a good thing but life seems to go faster and faster every day. I hope the next post is more timely than this one. Until then enjoy the photos.

The Rockwell Infirmary

Hayden is ready to be folded.
Mom is catching some z's at the hospital.

The hospital crib. Hayden thinks it is baby jail!

Funeral flowers.

OK. I think it is safe to say UNCLE! Joe and I are just about overwhelmed caring for sick children. Hayden was hospitalized for RSV and recovering at home for about five days when Hannah starting getting sick. This is unusual for her because she built up her immunity when she was an infant and is now a very healthy girl. Her fever maxed out at 106 degrees and we rushed her to the clinic. As predicted it is viral (not the same one as Hayden has) and needs to run its course. This morning we woke up to Hayden having pink eyes again. His left eye was crusted shut and needed some cleaning up. Luckily we still have some medication from our last round of pink eye for him about 3 months ago.

Poor Hannah is quarantined in her room and not too happy about it. This is our social butterfly shut out from the rest of the world. Luckily the U of U gymnastics team had a meet on TV so we moved one into her room so she could watch it. She is more determined than ever to do gymnastics. Joe and I are thinking that maybe it is time for her to start. We started her in a class this past summer and they told us she has a substantial natural ability. I guess it is time to let her give it a try to see if she really likes it.

Elainea is taking it all in stride. The poor girl is caught in the middle and bored stiff. We are so busy playing nurse-maid that she is left to entertain herself inside and away from the other kids. She is being really good about it and is starting to make some progress on the potty-training front.

Overall we are hanging in there. We are still recovering from the loss of Dad and I suppose we will be for a good time to come. On a positive note. In between the crazy illnesses we were able to spend a night celebrating my Uncle and Aunt's fiftieth wedding anniversary. It was so inspiring. What a remarkable set of people that make up an incredible couple. Joe and I are determined to celebrate our own milestone anniversaries.

For Valentine's Day we gave the girls each a stuffed bear that coos like a real baby and some matching headbands. Joe and I decided to just enjoy the flower arrangement from the funeral and the excitement of our girls. Hayden needed a new bouncy seat so we decided to give it to him for Valentine's Day even though he still has no idea of what it is. Hope all is well with all of you and we hope to post soon.

Joseph Hayden Rockwell

Dad at our house for Easter in 2005.

Giving Grandpa one last hug.
Dad on his way to rest next to Genny.


The Rockwell grandchildren outside the church.

Some of the kids cleaning out Dad's trailer.

It is with a heavy heart and a joyful spirit that we announce that Joe's Dad (and mine too) passed on January 31st 2009. We will miss his laugh and most of all his hugs. I thought I would post a wish I made to him at the funeral service.

The Real Father

It is not so common anymore to have a Dad who is really there. One who is the provider for his family.
One who comes home to his family every night. The kind of father whose predictability creates a sense of stability and security in his household.
Dad your routine may not have seemed valuable to you, but it meant the world to your kids.
Those kids will be forever grateful to you because they could depend on you to always be you.
That was a real father. One who was trustworthy and a great deal of things from your example.
Your kids have learned a great deal of things from your example.
They are our living legacy in which I will be eternally grateful to you.
God speed to my father and God-father.

Love,Your other daughter Pam.