Christmas "Letter" 2012

As usual the Gibson family has had a busy year, here are the highlights-











Ty- Loves being a firefighter. His first year with his TRT specialty has been filled with mountain rescues and difficult training exercises, like scaling down the side of the Tempe APS building (The biggest building by Tempe Town Lake) and doing drills/climbing all over Hayden's ferry, to name a few.  They may be difficult but according to Ty they are a lot of fun too.  He also affectionately picked up the nick name "tunnel rat" after getting himself out of some pretty tricky drills that included  working his way through twisty, turney, completely dark tunnels.  I find comfort in the fact that if he were in a building collapse, he could "tunnel rat" his way out of almost anything-with is air tank still on! He has picked up several hobbies, including a garden that took off this summer.  He's not sure which ones will stick, but his love for cooking is definitely becoming a constant.  He does the majority of the cooking at home, and we all love it (especially me!). He is also busy with his calling in our church as cub master.  Planning pack meetings and going to 3 days of scout, although time consuming, has been fun for him too. Not sure how he managed to not have to work at a desk for his career or his calling, but it suits him.  He did however, have no such luck in going back to school to get his bachelors. He is taking online classes, and has to work at a computer for that, but even than he goes outside or at least by a window whenever he can. We are home schooling again this year and Ty really enjoys participating, he comes up with the more creative and active lessons for them.  He finds Joy in watching the kids learn & relishes the extra time too, since his job requires him to be away from home 1/3 of the time.

Megan- I think House Manager has become my official title. Although, CEO of Gibson Incorporated has a better ring to it.  I am homeschooling Cal & Lainey this year.  We have a lot of fun and I especially love our mornings together- eating breakfast and starting lessons in jammies is the best. I am adjusting to the role of "big kid mom" and all the challenges and joys that come along with these miniature people who now have opinions, and interests all their own. I get to spend extra time with Cloey as assistant Activity Day Girls leader (our church equivalent to girl scouts) and I get to spend extra time with my grandma too because I do respite care for her! In January, I reluctantly celebrated turning *gasp* 30. We had a mock Vegas party and went out with my girlfriends, it was a lot of fun, and I have got used to saying "I'm 30".  A good friend introduced me to Bikram Yoga right when I needed it most, and I love it! (If you don't what it is, it's basically 90 min of yoga in a 105 degree room with 40% humidity) Crazy I know, but the practice has done miracles for my poor broken back.  Not to mention stress, anxiety and overall emotional & mental health.  I completed a 60 day challenge (a class everyday for 60 days), and even got a medal! I eased back into my midwife apprenticeship in March, and am really enjoying it. I'm working on my AA degree to include classes that will meet requirements for my licence, and am also starting a midwifery certificate program after the new year.  I am loving taking care of "my mamas" not to mention all the sweet new baby snuggles I get as bonus pay ;) 

Cloey- She's done it again! In March Cloey was discharged from Hospice care. She doesn't need it anymore.  In June we went back to Mayo Clinic and they said "We don't know how or why but as of right now, Cloey has no degenerative conditions".  Well I know why, all the love and prayers for our little girl, I mean young lady :)  Who knows what this means for the future, but for now she is happy and healthy! We are all enjoying her new found freedom without a trach and other health issues slowing her down (read her story here) We were able to go to the Grand Canyon this summer and stay at my childhood cabin which would have been too difficult even one year ago. Cloey is also able to do so much more with us and on her own now that she feels better and doesn't have to have trach supplies and a trained adult everywhere she goes.  There isn't much free time with all the effort she puts into planning her wedding, but somehow she finds time for other things too.   She loves Activity Day Girls and School.  She is still at Brisas Elementary repeating the 4th grade with her same teacher and a long time friend in her class.  She LOVES Taylor swift and falls asleep every night listening to her on her iPad. I sure hope she gets tickets to her concert in May for Christmas ;) She also loves to read, right now she is reading all the Junie B Jones books and has even started the first Harry Potter.
She continues to brighten the day of everyone she comes across with a smile and hug.

Cal- has discovered Minecraft. A computer video game, that is border-lining an obsession. He is still wearing a fedora daily and has developed his own sense of style to go with it.  He likes *some* things about home school and is continuing tutoring for his dyslexia.  He has a great sense of humor about it,  one time referring to closed captioning on the TV as a "dyslexic's nightmare".  He is gaining skills with  his tutoring and it doesn't seem to be holding him back any on his dreams of being an inventor, making video games or doing voice overs when he grows up.  We introduced physics in home school this year and he really loved the experiments so I see more of that in the near future. He will be done with cub scouts in April and really loves participating in the program, especially since dad is a leader. His big finish was winning first place in the pinewood derby! He designed his Angry Birds car all by himself, so it was a great accomplishment.  He is an amazingly sweet and polite boy, who growing way too fast.  He is up to my shoulders now, and more devastatingly handsome everyday.


Lainey-
oh Lainey-bug! such a firecracker.  She is always busy and always talking! she will make up her own "school" when we are done or taking a day off.  She is interested in everything, cooking, working on the car, sewing.  Whatever we are doing she wants to be a part of it and know the how & why of it. One day as I was pumping gas, she wanted to know how it makes the car go. I told it just does, but that wasn't good enough.  Of course I had no idea, so she called dad at work and got a mini lesson on internal combustion.  She agreed to cutting her hair, only if we died the ends pink.  She wears whatever she wants, including pink boots and leggings with just about everything.  Her American doll, Lainie, is a favorite companion & she sleeps in an insand mountain of pillows and animals & never without her "frog eyes" She has recently joined a Daisy troop and really enjoys meeting with the other girls for projects and activities.  She really is a joy to be around.



Last but not least, Brutus & Sheldon (or Shelby, that has yet to be determined)-
Brutus is getting old at 3 years now.  He is a pain sometimes when he runs out the door and I get a call from someone who has my "sweet" dog that "just came right up to them. grrrrrr. or gets in the trash if he has been left alone for too many hours, but for the most part he is a buddy too everyone in the family.  Our newest member Sheldon (or Shelby  is an African Sulcata tortoise that was Cal's birthday present.  He doesn't do much.  He's a tortoise  But the kids love feeding him and watching him when he does move.  Cal can't wait till he is 100 pounds.

From all of us to you, have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

I am not so sure where to start. The last post on here I talked about how overwhelmed and stressed we were at our water leak and having to move. Not only does that seem like forever ago, it also seems laughable. Obviously, the Lord thought we could handle more. 

Many of you read the post I wrote just before I had surgery.

 Everything I said was truth. I felt I had always been honest on the blog before, and had no desire to paint a perfect picture for everyone. I thought our family needed the support of family and friends more than ever and was sick of giving vague answers to everyone. I do not feel like I trashed Ty in any way. I love him, always have.

 I also told Ty that he should read it, before I posted it. He choose not to. The next day I was receiving loving messages from everyone, I quickly realized my blog reached more people than I thought. I didn't want Ty to be blindsided, so that night I told him he should read the blog. He did and he was uncomfortable and upset with the amount of details about our life, and so he later deleted it without telling me.

 I am a much more open person than Ty, maybe more than a lot of people. In hindsight maybe it was a little too raw and personal for a family blog. While I would have left it up, because that was the snapshot of our family at the time, I never intended to cause worry or hurt to anyone, Ty least of all.

The last 10 months have been h*ll for both of us. So here we are, After being separated for nearly 2 months, we are now living together again trying to fix what's broke. Ty is now taking responsibility for choices he made, we are going to counseling and committed to making our family great again.

 

P.S. If you are worried about our great kids, Thank You. Ty and I have done our best at protecting them from all of this, but no doubt they have been affected by the tension.  We can only hope that surrounding them in our love, will heal them too.


P.P.S. Ty has approved this post.......we are working together now ;)




 A midst all this drama, life does go on. We were busy with lots of great Hope Kids activities and general family fun. Here are the highlights of the last 10 months-

We moved into our new house on June 30th, our 11th anniversary. The water leak and the property management company we were dealing with were a nightmare. We are so grateful for the church and our friends and family that were so helpful and supportive in getting us out of that situation. Especially given what was to come in the following months, I know the move was right for us.

July- Cloey and Cal participated in Buddy Bowling, a league for special kids where they have a typical peer as their "buddy".  Cal was Cloey's buddy and they both had a lot of fun.  Ty and I attempted to attend a home school convention, but as details of the situation between us emerged, we left, making the decision that with our relationship, midwifery and Cloey on Hospice, we would not be able to give the kids what they needed if we continued with the plan to home school them all this year.  They were promptly enrolled in their former school, Brisas.  The school has been wonderful in accommodating them and we now know Brisas was the best place for them this year.

Ty went camping.

We began marriage counceling.

I also "caught" my first baby.

August- I continued with midwifery and providing respite care for my grandma. Ty and I went on a camping trip without kids, while Cloey stayed at Ryan house and Cal & Lainey went to Miss Julie's. Cal started dyslexia tutoring and I was called to be the assistant activity day girls leader (the church equivalant to girl scouts).

My back started to hurt.

September- Cloey had another short Ryan house stay, followed with a family camping trip. Cloey had a really rough time with the altitude, but as always she was a trooper.  I was so excited to take the kids to slide rock because they would be the 7th generation in my family to go.  Unfortunately we were there for all of 5min when Cal slipped and hit the back of his head directly on the red rock.  Ty went over to him and as I watched them from across the creek, I thought "oh great, I am gonna have to convince Ty that he needs stitches because he is going to say he's fine" Just then I see Ty turn Cal around to face him and tell Cal that we needed to go to the hospital.  That is when I freaked out a little bit. If Ty thought we needed to go without even discussing it with me, it was bad.  I have to brag a little here though, the first thing my sweet son did was walk a few feet away, kneel and pray. I am glad the people watching didn't call CPS on us for allowing him to take the time to do this while he was obviously injured.  I am so proud of him. He has such a strong and responsible spirit.  He has Faith.  I learn so much from his example.  What a blessing to know he has this head start before he has really tough decisions to make as he grows.  This kid will be a leader some day. We took him to the ER, he ended up with 9 staples in the back of his head.  They didn't do a CT scan because he didn't completely lose consciousness when it happened, even though he needed to sit down because he was dizzy and almost fell.  They said he did not have a concussion or anything.  By now it was about 5pm, so we decided it would be harder on him to pack up camp and sit in the car for 3 hours, so we ate dinner in Sedona and headed back to camp.  Bad idea.  He started to throw up that night and complained of a terrible headache. He was lethargic, dizzy and basically miserable.  Cloey was also still having a rough time, this made for a really long night. We packed up first thing in the morning and went straight to PCH, where they confirmed a concussion.  Poor kid.

October-  Ty was accepted into TRT (technical rescue team) training.  These are the guys that fly in the helicopters to rescue hikers off the mountain, or people out of cars trapped in flash floods. This is great opportunity for Ty and he really loves it.  He was really excited.  It also meant a 9-5 schedule for 2 months.  My back was killing me as I suffered to keep up with prenatals, caring for my grandma, kids and house and everything else.  I went to the chiropractor and doctors to no avail.  Finally, on the 25th, I saw a spine specialist who sent me straight to the hospital where I was admitted.  I had an extruded and torn disc. My right arm had gone numb and I was losing strength and and control in it as well. Not to mention the EXCRUCIATING pain, and remember I have had 3 natural births.  I consider myself a pretty tough chick.  I had surgery the next morning.  I had a discectomy and  two of my cervical vertebrae were fused.  It was pretty scary.  I was lucky enough to have one of the best spine surgeons in AZ. He was Cloey's surgeon for her fusion.  In recovery I had feeling in my arm again.  The whole ordeal was rough, I honestly don't remember most of October and November.  I couldn't even wash my own hair.  Ty was in TRT school, which was an added stress. Not to mention our unstable relationship at the time.  It was so hard, I don't even know how else to explain it, just freakin hard.  I do know we had LOTS of help.  Family, Friends, Church, they all stepped up, again. The prayers for me and my family were felt too.  I can't express my gratitude for those who helped. Somehow things were taken care of, even if I wasn't aware of it. Thank You so much, you know who you are even if I don't :)

 I am told my kids got dressed up and went trick-or-treating for Halloween too.

November- More of a blur. Ty continued TRT school.  My sister graciously came over and handled all of the thanksgiving meal, since I was so out of it.  I was forced to give up my apprenticeship since I still had numbness and fine motor problems with my right arm.  I was also still in a lot of pain and had limited movement in my neck. I was so sad, I knew I would be a midwife someday, but at that point it seemed like it would be years before I was well and found another apprenticeship.  I returned to online classes, thinking I would focus on my degree until I healed.

December- Ty graduated TRT school and started getting interested in Fly fishing, his new favorite therapy/past time. We separated and then had family portraits taken that were already scheduled through Hope kids. The kids were really cute, but I'll admit it was pretty awkward between Ty and I.

Thanks to some secret Santa's we had a pretty good Christmas.  Ty was actually off Christmas day, so that was nice. We all enjoyed spending the day as a family.

January- Lainey started gymnastics! She is a little monkey and absolutely loves it.  She is at it good too, if you ask me :) I also had a fun time celebrating the first anniversary of my 29th birthday.

The hurt and stress between us was mounting, so I took a mini-vacay and stayed in a hotel in Scottsdale for a few days.  

February- We went to WICKED! It was Cloey's Christmas present from grandma Leslie. If you know Cloey, you know she loves the theater. It was an amazing show.  Even though Cloey wasn't feeling well, she had a good time nonetheless.  As I got further from my surgery and the stress continued, I needed something to help me get out of my depressed funk, manage my anxiety,  and build strength in my back to try to heal and see what limitations I would really be living with for the rest of my life. I had mixed feelings about starting physical therapy and needed more of a whole body, whole mind approach, so I thought I'd try hot yoga first.  Bikram says if you give his yoga 60 days, it will change your life.  That is exactly what I needed, so with the support of a bestie I tried it out. I was doubtful at first, but faithfully went everyday. Ty was very supportive in this endeavor and watched the kids whenever I needed to go. even helped me get my water bottle and towel sometimes when I was running late.  I recently finished my 60 day challenge and could write a whole blog post about the amazing benefits I have experienced both physically and mentally.

Circumstances were such that I contacted a lawyer and reluctantly started the divorce process.  We were at a crossroads, and Ty choose to come home.

I was also offered the aprenticship back half time, and I accepted.

March- We settled back into family life at home.  I eased back into midwifery.  Cal earned his bear badge in cub scouts.  Cloey was also discharged from Hospice, more on her journey to come at princesscloey.blogspot.com.

Cloey also turned 11! (look for a birthday post next)