Adventures in Rodeo

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since the last update. We have been crazy busy Wagner-style around here and by the time evening rolls around, I have just enough energy left to haul myself to bed and turn out the light. We've been having a late-night nocturnal visitor to our room for the past few weeks (her initials are Juliana Wagner) and between a little peanut asking for juice at 2 am and another little peanut requesting to be held at 3:30 am, we're not getting too much sleep around here! I always said I didn't want to move to the whole family-bed sleep arrangement (too many elbows and feet flying) - not to knock anyone who this DOES work for...I just can't sleep when I'm crowded!! I am starting to see the beauty of it, though. I have learned the art of barely having to open one eyeball to move over a little bit and let Juliana snuggle under the covers. Hopefully it's just a phase, but for now we're going with the motto "IF IT LEADS TO SLEEP, LET'S TRY IT!".

If any of you are YouTube fans, I have tried to post a video of Juliana at the Stick Horse Rodeo from a few weeks ago. I think if you just type in "Stick Horse Rodeo" and maybe "Juliana" it should come up. Somebody email me and let me know if I actually did it right and you can find it!

For those of you who are now wondering, "What the heck is a stick horse rodeo?", rest assured - it is not much more complicated than the title would suggest. It was during the event called the NILE (Northern International Livestock Exposition) which is pretty much a week-long celebration of all things western. Kids can sign up for the rodeo in events like barrel racing, calf roping, and even bull riding. Instead of scary and smelly live horses, the coordinators wisely provide stick horses for the kids to use. Add in a cowboy hat and a real paper number to go on their backs and you have an arena full of hyper preschoolers ready to take on those wild animals! It was pretty hilarious, and also much more hypo-allergenic than the real rodeo which followed. Check out the video and prepare to be amused.

That's all for now, folks! Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying some good weather - it was almost 70 today!!

love and miss everyone!

-Brooke

Are ya kidding me?

Low. Grow. Know. Show. SNOW!!!! Yes, that's right. The forecasters are calling for snow this weekend in Billings! (I'm so depressed as I'm typing this that I just ate an entire Snickers bar - no, I really did.) After enjoying temperatures in the 70's and 80's for the past few weeks, winter has decided to make it's arrival a little early in Montana. This is all very confusing for Juliana, who is trying hard to figure out the seasons and get them in the right order. I was explaining to her the other day how fall is the same as autumn, and next comes winter, and then spring and summer. Here in Montana it is apparently more like spring, fall, winter, summer, spring, winter, fall. Don't even try to figure it out. All the moms I talked to this morning at preschool made me laugh because they all have entire outfits for every season for every kid in their vans at this very moment.

I got to go to the annual consignment sale here today and spent waaaay too much money all in the name of BUT LOOK HOW MUCH I'M SAVING! It's an addiction, really. This is the biggest consignment sale in the state, and if you've ever seen the Running of the Brides at that bridal store in New York, you have a little taste of what this sale is like. Women were lined up 30 minutes before the doors opened, and when they finally let us in it was like letting my husband loose in a Mac store - madness! Women were running to things like high chairs, bouncy seats, and play kitchen sets, knocking each other over and cursing like sailors at anyone who got in their way. Okay, maybe that last part was a stretch, but I did see one lady running valiantly towards a Thomas the Train lego set. Anyway, it was fun, and I got some good stuff for the kids.

Well, better try to get to bed. Juliana has requested snow cream if we really do get the white stuff, so I'd better rest up for the big day tomorrow. Hope everyone is enjoying warmer weather!!

love,
Brooke

P.S. - John Curran, if you're reading this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Adventures in Anesthesia

Thank you to everyone who was thinking of and praying for Landon today! His test went well and we are just so relieved to have that behind us. We went in at 9:00 this morning and checked him in, and took him back to the room where they were doing the procedure. At this point he was all smiles despite the fact we had been starving him since 8:00 the night before. At 20 pounds, Landon is not used to missing many meals, so he was in a surprisingly good mood for his malnourished state. We were able to be with him while they gave him some "sleepy medicine" through a mask - he fought going to sleep and it was hard to watch him struggle. We got to hold his hand and I sang "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (a Wagner kid favorite) while he went to sleep. Then we had to leave while they got him all set up. When we came back in the room he was on the table with a little breathing tube taped around his mouth, his eyes taped shut (so they didn't dry out) and an IV stuck in his little hand. Bo and I both just looked at each other and willed each other not to show how upsetting it was to see our baby like that. The anesthesiologist was in the room the entire time and was a wonderful guy, and there was another nurse who was right by Landon's side for the whole procedure. When it was finally over it took him awhile to wake up and come out of the anesthesia. He cried and cried and it was weird because it is so unlike him to be that upset! Guess what made him feel better? His wonderful 6oz bottle of pure joy - he gulped it down and we were free to go.

We heard from the doctor late this afternoon and it sounds like there is definitely some kind of blockage on that left kidney that isn't allowing it to drain properly, but there was nothing from the test that had the urologist concerned enough to do surgery. We are just going to follow up with an ultrasound in 3 months and see where to go from there. It's a little frustrating not having many more answers than we did this morning before the test, but it is GREAT to know that his kidney IS working and functioning well.

Thanks again for all of your kind words and phone calls!

On a more fun note, I'm posting some new pictures of the kids from Juliana's trip to the pumpkin farm. The lady on the hayride is an aunt of one of her classmates that Juliana decided was obviously there to visit HER - she wanted to sit on her lap during the hayride and was her little buddy for the morning. We love our two little pumpkins!!

Hope everyone is doing well! Love and miss you all.

Throwing Up Trumps Going Under

Hey out there everyone! Just a quick note to say that Landon's procedure has been rescheduled for this coming Monday, October 6th at 9:00 am. I called the radiology nurse this afternoon just to let them know that he had, in fact, had the stomach bug in the past few days, and they weren't comfortable using anesthesia unless he was at 100%. SOOOO - even though I am disappointed that we won't have any answers for a few more days, I am relieved that he will have a little bit longer to recover before going through the test.

Thank you so much for your prayers - I've gotten lots of emails letting me know you all are praying for Mr. Creed (as we call him...one look at his hair and you'll know why). I'll update again before Monday just to let everyone know it's a go.

Thanks again for the love and prayers!! Miss everyone.

-Brooke