The Luckiest No Matter What!

Dear Sparrow Pediatric Inpatient Unit, A few weeks ago, my son Carter was admitted to your unit for a little over 24 hours with extremely low platelets, which was later diagnosed as Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.  From the second we arrived, we were overwhelmed with the level of care and kindness shown throughout our stay. We were greeted and welcomed and as we checked into our room, I noticed right away the fleece blanket on the bed. What a nice touch for kids to feel a bit more snuggly in their hospital bed! Then, we were shocked to see a tub of toys in the room. My son had a coloring book, Legos, transformers, and several cars to be able to play with. Carter, of course, got busy with those right away.  Our family was able to plan and pack to come to you- we knew several hours in advance that a hospital stay was imminent so we were able to bring Carter's blanket, stuffed animal, and some games and toys to be able to keep him busy. I can imagine a lot of families don&

Each January, I decide to focus my New Year's Resolutions (or intentions) through one word. This helps me to keep it simple. 2019's #oneword was WILL. Will has two meanings. One is about action- saying you will  do something. This past year, my intentions for action were laid out with these goals: I WILL take my vitamins every day I WILL make time to read/write  I WILL make time for prayer and spiritual growth I WILL put my phone down During 2019, I took vitamins more than I have in a long time. I researched all different things my body should have to keep me healthy. Researching for me, also meant researching about what Josh needs and the boys need. I learned about ingredients and how to get good things into my body as natural as possible.  I read a lot and wrote a lot. Taking time to read or write has morphed tremendously when I began my educational content writing for Project Explorer. I've technically wrote more than I ever have and that feels great. I also

Friday we took Carter to see our pediatrician. He was covered in bruises.  If you know my son, you'd think that bruises were very much a part of his daily life and you'd be absolutely right. There is no one else I know that runs into more things, falls down, and just generally plays with more gusto than he does. Some of his first and most often-used words are: "I'm okay!" as he gets up from yet another wipe out.  Needless to say, it took us a bit of time to realize that this current bruising might be abnormal. It happened slowly... Carter was unable to articulate how bruises had gotten on parts of his body. We would touch the bruises and they didn't hurt at all, which struck me as strange. He was also bruising in situations where I thought most people wouldn't.  Cater leg bruising- these were also all over his arms The last straw that had me making an appointment with our pediatrician was when my mom, the nurse, said, "hmmmmmmmm" when sh

In my teaching career, I've attended several board meetings in my district. My students have presented their learning to the board, I've gone there to stand with my fellow teachers during contract negotiations, and I've been honored to be recognized as we partnered with a local business to construct a student-driven outdoor classroom.  I know that board room is where things can get done. We have to go to the board to get curriculum approved, for example. There are a lot of decisions made on budgets, human capital allocation, and the priorities for a community and student population. The vision of the entire district is set through a board of education. They adopt policies.  These elected members do have a lot of power, which is why learning about the candidates and voting is so important.  Even though these board meetings felt important to me, as a teacher, I hadn't given them a lot of thought as a mom of students until a couple of weeks ago... I was sitting acr

Traveling, day tripping, sight seeing, and adventuring are huge in the Hundt house! As we prioritize how we spend our time and money, seeing the world is at the tippy tippy top. Because my family is quite like a circus, we have to be really thoughtful and intentional about how we prepare for trips so we can have bring the least amount of things that still get us what we need and also what would make our traveling life easier. I thought I'd share a few things we never leave home without... 1.) Packing Cubes: I am a recent convert to packing cubes over the last year and I don't think I will ever go back. At first, I used packing cubes to consolidate clothes into our suitcases- it really did save space to have things squished into the cubes and it also saved my sanity because things were more organized and I wasn't just throwing pieces of clothing all around trying to find what I was looking for. We have these cubes in several colors in several sizes. Find them here

It's really, really hard for the Hundts to turn down travel- even when it's ridiculous and crazy and last minute... When I learned that I could attend the premiere party for the TV show "Crash Test World," which I've been writing educational content for, it seemed like a no-brainer that I would find some way to get to Brooklyn, NY. Both Josh and I LOVE LOVE New York City and are currently raising boys obsessed with big buildings, lights, fountains, bridges, etc so #hundtboysx4 have taking quite a liking to New York City even though they had never been. We had always planned on going to the city at some point... maybe even kinda soon, but in seven days?!?!?! Um, no. Anyway, I don't know what happened, but there I was, on a Saturday morning, five days before we were set to leave, dancing around the kitchen singing the Beastie Boys "No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn." The rest of my boys followed suit after Josh booked an Air BnB. Off we go to the Big

I am currently a busy mom of 4 little boys.  I am swimming in art projects, buried in papers coming home from school, busy chauffeuring, packing lunches, and cheering from the sidelines of a soccer game while I chase smaller children around. Things are often chaotic, overwhelming even. My mind spins at all hours with how to get things done, how to challenge someone about this, how to support someone about that, and how to give each child individualized love and time and energy and experiences. But not for one single second do I forget where I came from. Not too long ago I was discouraged and sad after getting bad news after bad news as Josh and I tried so hard to be parents. I have never been more hopeless, but also never been so tenacious in my life.  We struggled for years to create a family. We suffered two miscarriages before any of our four rainbow babies were born. We were parents long before we actually got to hold and snuggle and kiss a baby (or in our case babies) for th