Category Archives: Kelli

Saturday with Kelli and Georgia

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On Saturday I had nothing that I had to do.  None of our kids were at our house.  I woke up and for the most part it felt like Saturdays of my past…a whole do to do my choosing.  I can’t tell you the last day I had like that.  It felt like a luxury.

There was an auction I could go to….there was a house I could clean…there was yard work I could do…there were blog posts I could write.  But what did I do?  I called Kelli and asked if she had some bottles Kalissa could try out with Gannon and she did.  I new before Georgia was born, she would go to garage sales and buy bottles in new packaging just in case Georgia hated the bottles she had.  Well Georgia never used the bottles so I thought I could get the bottle from Kelli and Gannon could try them out.

West Union is the closest place to meet…and the Backstitch in Elkader is only a little further down the road.  If you don’t know, the Backstitch is a cross stitch and quilt shop in Elkader.  I was on a mission to get a few threads so I could start one of the projects that I had bought when we went to Osage a few weeks ago.  Kelli was looking for thread too.  You might remember she bought cloth in Osage at the Stitchery Nock…now she needed thread.

I’ve seen lots of Kelli as she’s been such a help with covering childcare so I can take Kramer to his cancer treatments.  But most of the time, she’s been here..I’ve been gone.  We needed a fun day…and we got it.

This piece is so tempting.  I’ve seen it online.  To see it in person is even better.  WOW.  I was so tempted but I didn’t get it.  I have enough to stitch.


Kelli loved these but she resisted temptation too.


The Tom Turkey Sampler was one I liked and I have it on my list to possibly get but I’m holding myself to finishing something before I buy something.


Little Miss Georgia was with…. Continue reading →

A Kramer Family Update

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Here’s the Kramer update
Monday-I took off childcare and drove Kramer to his appointment. Chemo and radiation all went well.  He was feeling good.

Tuesday-Our friend drove to radiation.  He went to working the morning for a few hours.  He has an oxygen pack.  It had four hours of charge to it.  I’m thankful for only 4 hours as it makes it hard for him to work any longer than that.  We started oxygen overnight now too as he has been waking up with headaches.

The rest of the week he has some farmer friends driving him so I have a break.

The Gannon report…This comes directly from Kalissa:
“Well this isn’t where I expected to be. It is a long story but I’m here now.

I’m going to start with the good news:
Gannon does not have Hirschsprung’s disease.

Gannon is doing much better. This morning they came in and clamped his NG tube and stopped his IV fluids to see how he would do. He is tolerating both well.

Another piece of good news is we should be going home in the morning.

Now I’ll tell you the okay news:

They *suspect* Gannon is allergic to milk protein. Gannon has been in a trial of Alementum milk replacement while he is here and it’s has been going well. This is a very expensive fancy hypoallergenic formula.

This means I either have to completely cut dairy and soy from my diet – no exceptions – to breastfeed him or I have to be done breastfeeding. This absolutely and completely breaks my heart. I’m not quite ready to talk about how much that upsets me.

Gannon does have some abnormal anatomy towards the end of his digestive tract which they *suspect* in combination with the *possible* milk protein allergy caused his problems. This can be treated with simple dilation.

Do you notice how many *maybes* are involved in all of these *possible* diagnoses?

I’m frustrated. I’m sad. I wanted a definitive answer. I didn’t want thousands of dollars workup to be told to switch to formula. I don’t want to quit breastfeeding.

I’m thankful Gannon is feeling better. I’m thankful we will be able to go home. I’m thankful it was nothing serious.

Mixed emotions here tonight. We will continue the trial of Allimentum through the night and make sure he tolerates feedings. We will likely head home in the morning. Supposedly he is fixed. Supposedly he will be fine but my mom gut still isn’t all the way convinced. Stay tuned.”

I am not super confident about the diagnosis.  I think Kalissa will be taking one blog reader’s advice to have the chiropractor have a look at Gannon.  We have a great chiropractor and she’s reasonably priced so why not?!  I just feel like the doctor’s never saw him when he was screaming and obviously in pain.  They didn’t see those grossly obtuse belly moments.  Oh well, we will try this and hopefully it will be the trick…I’m also a believer that prayer is playing a part in him feeling better.  Time will tell.  I just can’t wait for him to be home.

As for me personally….
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Weekend with the Kramers

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We had quite the weekend around here….

Kayla was here Friday and left in the early morning of Saturday.  She got in some good family time before she left.

She needed an auntie picture with Georgia. Aww.  Sweet.


(Notice the pictures in the background?  Kayla deboned shirts for me!!!  I love her!!)

Friday night was fajita night.  Notice each of the girls have a planner.  We’re trying to find days for baby showers and family day…and every other thing.  Oh my.


While we were doing that, a little cousin love was happening.  Aren’t they cute??


Georgia on the left….Gannon on the right.

Kelli got a taste of what twins would be like….um, she’s happy with one!


Carver couldn’t be left out…  He had to learn all about Kelli’s “tiny baby”.


That happened on Friday night….

Neighbor Girl was here Friday through Sunday….On Saturday we had the house to ourselves.  We got groceries in the morning and went thrifting.  In the afternoon we made it to the sewing room.  Here she is working on a craft.


Saturday we have raing and then more snow.  We had tickets to go to a local fundraiser breakfast but ended up staying home and not risking the roads.  Kalissa and her family had planned on going but they also weren’t excited about the roads so they came to our house (6 blocks away)  I made breakfast…French toast, bacon and eggs.

It was so sweet….Kalissa passed Gannon on to me and cleaned up the kitchen.  I feel like I finally got some time with him.  I needed that.

Later Kelli called us in a video chat.  Carver wanted to see Jason, the cows, Puppycat and Georgia.  Kelli, of course, obliged.


Grandpa even got in the action….
They ended up staying all day which is fine as it prompted me to make a decent supper too…homemade PIZZA!!  This one was Philly Cheese Steak.  YUM!!


I made another…that was meat lovers with mushrooms.

I didn’t get much done at all the entire day….except this…I took a nap!!  I consider that a great accomplishment.  It was my job to take Carver up for a nap so I read a few books to him and laid there for minute and the next thing I knew, an hour later, I woke up.  I never, ever, ever, take a nap.  If I’m sick (really sick) I nap.  That’s it.  We tried to think of the last nap I took and we decided aside from being sick or having surgery it was likely 20 years ago.  As Kramer said, “She must have needed it!”

I think that’s the least I’ve ever accomplished in a day…and amazingly, I feel great about it.  We had a really, really fun few days.

Meeting Georgia Grace

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Well the day was a little crazy yesterday.  Kramer had his set back episode at the doctor’s…I had the childcare kids and Carver.  Kalissa had Gannon and was taking care of Kramer.  Kelli was at the hospital with new baby Georgia Grace.

Well the stars aligned and I was able to get to the hospital to see Kelli.  I had Carver with me.  Kalissa and Kramer stopped on their way through when driving home.

We knew Kramer wasn’t feeling the best so it was a quick stop.  Only long enough for a photo op.

Sadly we were only there for about 15 minutes.  I would have loved to sit and have a long mother daughter talk with Kelli but that time will come.

Georgia Grace is a sweetie.  She’s petite and perfect.  Here’s Kalissa with her.


We quick snapped a picture with both of the new babies.  Gannon is on the left and Georgia on the right.  I thought Gannon had a lot of hair.  Oh my Georgia has him beat.


Here’s their first cousin picture.  Bahahaha.  I’m sure there will be many more to come.  I thought Gannon was tiny.  Georgia is even tinier.


I am happy that one is a boy and one a girl.  We get to enjoy the best of both worlds.


…and the picture I MOST wanted….  My girls and their babies.

I am so eager for a day to come where I can just sit in the rocking chair and focus all of my energy on enjoying them…not thinking about Kramer…a day will come that I’ll be able to do that.  As I write this, one is a day old-one is a week old and I already feel like I need to do a little catching up with them.

This guy however….no catching up.


I’ve had this cheese ball LOTS lately and it’s been really good for me.

So that’s the latest on the grandpa and grandma front.  How fun!!