Lending a helping hand

Hello Wilkison friends & family:  With Rick and Meghan's permission, we are hijacking their blog for a little while.  We know that many of you are probably wondering how to help the family during the upcoming  surgery and recovery.  We've consulted with Rick and Meghan and talked to the Ronald McDonald house in Seattle and we have some suggestions for any of you who want to help. 

1.  Alaska Airlines gift cards:  Rick will be traveling back and forth during the four weeks that Meghan and Jacob will be in Seattle.  There will also be future travel needed for check-ups and other doctor appointments.  You can purchase gift cards online at http://www.alaskaair.com/certificates/.

2.  Gift cards for incidentals:  The family will have some food and other miscellaneous expenses while in Seattle and we know that there is a Safeway grocery store near the Ronald McDonald House.  We also suggest Target or other gift cards for incidentals and maybe some toys for both boys to provide some cheerfulness and keep them distracted during this hectic time.  According to our sources, Josh likes Legos and Jacob likes books.

3.  Help in Boise:  Rick and Josh will be on their own for several weeks and after the surgery there will be numerous trips for therapy visits so we'd encourage folks to arrange for cleaning services to help the family out.  It looks like there are a few options in Boise (Merry Maids, Happy Homes Maids) but if any of you Boise-ites have suggestions, please let us know.  We'd also suggest some gift cards for restaurants in their area including Smoky Mountain Pizza, Great Wall, Chili's, Applebee's, Whitewater Pizza & Pasta, Cucina diPaolo, and Dinner Thyme Solutions.

4.  Gas cards:  The family will be driving out to Seattle so if you'd like to purchase gas cards they often use Chevron and Shell. 

5.  Starbucks!  Meghan will be spending long hours and late nights in the hospital.  'Nuff said. 

Other ideas:  The family will hopefully be staying at the Ronald McDonald house, but if there isn't room at that time, they will probably have some lodging expenses.  We'll keep you posted.  Also, the Children's Hospital in Seattle does not accept flower deliveries and the Ronald McDonald House discourages it, along with fruit baskets.  They said that most people aren't in the house for long enough periods to eat the fruit and enjoy the flowers. 

If you have any questions or other ideas on how to help, please feel free to contact us (Glenn and Lucy Pauley) at (307) 637-6034 or email at lhpauley1@hotmail.com.   If you'd like to let us know what you want to contribute, we can keep track so that they don't end up with 200 Starbucks giftcards, but maybe that's what Meghan wants... Feel free to email us or leave a note in the comments section.  Also, please send this information along to anyone who might be interested in helping. 

Thank you in advance for your help!!  We hope that we can make the next few months a little easier on Rick, Meghan, Josh, Jacob and Baby Jingleheimerschmidt.

Skunked Again?

I had decided that since Jacob's hair was likely to get shaved in a month anyway, that I would just not pay to get it cut, so I have been trimming it up here and there to keep it out of his eyes and off his ears.  It is starting to prove to be a bit wild and hard to keep under control though, I may have to break down and take the electric trimmer to it, so I don't have to wet it down and gel it everyday. 

Jacob started doing some tumble time classes to increase his strength and stability in his walking about a month ago and just loves to bounce on the trampoline.  I do think it has helped get him more stable and I figure the stronger we can get before surgery the better.

Well, we spent another Saturday on the ice doing some ice, but this time we decided to try Magic Reservoir over by Fairfield. We had got reports that the fishing was good, so what the heck we went to give it a try. We met friends Kevin, Angie, & Laney over there and got poles on the water, but talking to others around us it sounded like things were a bit slow.  I had my pole in the water for about 5 minutes when I got a phone call from my sister, so I answered it, wouldn't you know it, that is when I got a fish on.  Unfortunately, because I was on the phone though, I lost the fish.  I took a lot of flack over that one, because as it turns out, that was the only bite any of us had all day.  Josh decided he would rather amuse himself sledding down the hill next to the reservoir with a new Friend, and Jacob went from laying on the ice and rolling around to occasionally being content to just sit and watch.  All in all he didn't complain quite as much as he did the week before. By the time we left though, he gave up and just passed out riding back to the truck in the sled.

 

The rest of our plans for Seattle are still coming along, with a few minor changes here and there.  We decided that Joshua was going to have to stay in Seattle with Jacob and I (and my mom), because as it turns out with spring break falling at the end of March he would only be in school for about a week, so we would end up paying for a month of school and he would only get a weeks worth of time out of it. Rick would also have had more trouble trying to find places for Josh to go after school was over in order to be able to get his work done, so it seems to make more sense to leave Josh with my mom and I. Any way, other than that Jacob's seizure have seemed to be increasing a bit, so his doctor raised the medication a bit.  So between the medicine and his increase in seizures, he has been a bit cranky and hard to deal with.  I have had a few more "moments" lately that I was not sure I could keep things together, but hopefully when he gets used to the increase and maybe it will start working and the seizures will decrease he will become a sweet boy again (please pray that I can hold it togeter till then).      

In other news

Well not much news on the trip to Seattle except that they have scheduled his neurophsyc (development) test for the 8th of March, so we will be leaving Boise and driving up on Monday the 7th.  We are still trying to make arrangements as far as the other stuff goes, but I am sure it will all get figured out OK.  We will all drive up together and my Mom will follow in her car, and I believe Rick's Mom will fly up and meet us there, but then Rick and Josh (and Rick's Mom) will make their way back home at some point and leave my Mom, myself and Jacob in Seattle.  Jacob is supposed to be in ICU for the first couple of days after the surgery and then in the hospital for an additional, but then they say they will want him in inpatient rehab for up to 3 weeks after surgery.  I am still trying to figure out what all of that means for lodging and stuff, but I guess it will all work out.  Rick and Josh will probably drive back on weekends or at least one or two times, so that should be interesting for Josh (I guess it is good that the Durango is equipped with DVD player). As more gets figured out we will let everyone know. 

Last weekend we decided to get out and go try out the ice fishing in Cascade.  The fishing was very slow and I ended up taking Jacob back top the truck after only an hour or so, because he did not think much of the whole ice fishing experience.  In fact the only time he was happy was when he decided to sit down and eat the snow (which didn't last too long).

After a few hours and only one small perch that they threw back, Josh and Rick packed it in too and we decided to head to McCall to catch part of the winter carnival and get some dinner.  Josh loved seeing the ice sculptures and would have been happy to wander around in the dark most of the night looking for them I think, but we had to settle on seeing the most popular ones before getting something to eat and making the trek home.  I think everyone had a pretty good time (maybe some more than others) and  we will have to plan to try to get up again before it is over. Hopefully if we try the ice fishing again though it will have improved.

I did say though that there was other news, and that really was not it.  This news may come as a shock to some (it did catch Rick and I off guard), but we have know for a little while we were just waiting for tests to come back (which by the way were all good!) and the right time to break the news.  So here it is:  in July we are expecting another baby boy.  The due date it July 11, but as long as I have him before the 17th (my 40th birthday) I will be happy.  I always said I did not want to be a mother having a baby when I was 40, so that is why (I know there are those of you out there saying "well it is close enough", but I think I need to still be 39).  So there you go, we thought we were done, but I guess I never should have joked about having a backup in case anything ever happened, because someone decided they needed to grant that one.  I guess the surgery was not enough for me to have to think about, we had to throw a new baby in the mix as well.  All kidding aside it is a welcome addition, we will jut have to reconfigure the rooms a bit (I am having a bit more trouble with that because I don't want to give up my office or my guest room).  We did finally tell Josh and he is up for having a new brother, so that is good.  Any way, that is all the news for now.