Tuesday, October 30, 2012

October so far



14 years ago today I asked Jeff to go out with me. It was the best decision of my life!

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I know I haven't written much lately. Mostly it has been because we have just been hanging out as a family lately and laying low. The kids have been doing pretty well working with their casts. Our little town is great about holidays and had the town square all decked out for Halloween so we decided to take some photos out there.

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Last weekend Jeff suggested we go camping, so we packed our bags and headed down to Huntsville, TX. It was pretty chilly at night and we were disappointed when we discovered that our heater wasn't working because of a problem with the battery. We all bundled up and cuddled Elizabeth in the middle of the night. We were a little concerned we wouldn't be able to find a camp site because it is camping season and that also made us decide to veto hiking. We did get to explore the Texas Prison Museum and chase the kids around there. We all found the Sam Houston Museum more interesting and the kids had lots of fun walking around holding hands.

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We have had some beautiful fall weather lately, but I know that isn't true for the east coast. We even claimed a refugee from that area. My dad was traveling and couldn't get back to Virginia so he decided to stop in and visit with the grandkids for a few days. Since he has been here we have been preparing for Halloween by carving pumpkins and the kids decided to rearrange the baby pumpkins I had outside the front door. They brought them down the walk to the mailbox planter and back up again. Over and over again.

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Tomorrow is a pretty big day for us here. The kids get off their casts and we are all excited to see the final result. After we return from that we are getting decked out and going trick or treating. I hope to post photos from tomorrow soon and I can't wait to see all the cute little munchkins dressed up tomorrow at our door and on Facebook!

Friday, October 12, 2012

surgery update

It has been a week since the kids had surgery on their hands.  All in all it went pretty well.  We got up early to get to Dallas in plenty of time.  There was lots of waiting around for all the nurses and doctors to be ready and have everything assembled.  Elizabeth was up first and not happy about letting any one other than Jeff or I do anything to her.  So we gave her the "goofy juice" or I tried to at least.  It doesn't taste very good and neither of the children were very cooperative when we tried to dose them up.   Soon enough it was time for Elizabeth to go off to surgery.  When I scheduled the surgeries I was under the assumption that Jason would be in an almost concurrent surgery, but we found out that Jason wouldn't be taken back until after Elizabeth was done.  It was a nice distraction to entertain Jason instead of constantly worrying about how Elizabeth was doing. 

After about 2 hours it was time to go back up to the recovery area to wait for Elizabeth to come back.  As she slept we got Jason ready to go back.  Although neither of the children got the full dose of the "goofy juice" they didn't give us any trouble leaving with the doctors.  Elizabeth was still sleeping after Jason was left so the nurses said they would call us and we could run down and grab lunch.  While we were eating Elizabeth woke up and I rushed back to her.  We cuddled her a lot and gave her juice.  She was pretty fussy and very angry that she couldn't use her arm, but she didn't seem to be in much pain. 

Soon enough Jason was back with us and he woke up on the way back to recovery.  Jason has never been very happy when he wakes up, but in a new place with lots of strange things going on, he was not a happy camper.  I got him some juice and cuddled him and he was alright.  The nurses needed to be sure he was ok for a half an hour after surgery and he was so we loaded the kids into the car to head home.  Thankfully they both fell asleep on the way home.

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That first afternoon we spent lots of time cuddling and we have laid low more this week than normal.  The kids are mostly weaned off of any medicine and sleeping well at night, or at least as well as they were before casts.  Jason is taking really well to the cast.  I think it helps that he understands what is going on because he has been through it before.  Elizabeth is often frustrated because she can't hold everything she wants to.  I have even banded "Dolly" to her cast before, but she didn't like that either.
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When we were going in I thought they would need to have the casts on for 6 weeks, but I must have misremembered because they are getting the casts off in a little less than 4 weeks!  It happens to fall on Halloween and I don't think I have looked forward to a Halloween this much since I was little!  Hopefully we will find time to do the cast removal, get back from Dallas, get suited up and go trick or treating because Jason is already talking about it and insisted on practicing using our bedroom doors the other day.
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Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for the kiddos as we go through this.  The other day in the store an older gentleman noticed Elizabeth's cast and after I explained that she had surgery and that she was born with her hands that way, he asked if it was serious.  I am so thankful that in the grand scheme of things this really isn't serious.  It isn't a problem with a major organ like the heart or brain.  I just read a blog about a classmate who has breast cancer and realized that these issues that we are dealing with are miniscule compared to what her family is battling!  I thank God every day that my family is generally healthy and I will take my two gimped babies any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  It doesn't hurt that they are so adorable either!

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Wednesday, October 3, 2012

18 months!

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Maybe I'm in a little bit of denial, but I kept stalling on writing this post.  As you probably guessed from the title, my baby girl is a year and a half old!  Jason's preschool recently asked for a family picture and with our trip and everything going on I didn't remember until yesterday so I had to search through my stash.  The only one I could find was from May 2011 and Elizabeth was so little!  I can't believe that our ittiy bitty baby has turned into this sweet little girl.  She has such a personality!  Elizabeth has her own opinion and will tell you to "go" while pushing you somewhere and she has a little temper that will let you know when you don't do something her way.
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Elizabeth is such a sweet little cuddle bug, especially with her Daddy!  She is working very hard to have him wrapped around her finger.  She also gives the sweetest kisses, you just ask her for one and she will lay one on you!
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I know I have said this before, but I am so thankful that Elizabeth isn't struggling with speech the way that Jason did.  She knows so many animal sounds and loves to name them when she sees them (like the cow on the milk jug.)  When we are done reading a book, we frequently hear "again, again" and hearing "please" is music to my ears.  She knows all her favorite foods and that she wants them on her "plate."  She loves to say over and over "Mommy" and "Daddy."  It seems like every day she is adding new words and I can't keep up!
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On a little more nerve wracking note: the kids are both having surgery on Friday.  Jason is having his left hand done and Elizabeth is having her right.  I'm not as nervous this time about Jason because he handled it so well last time, but I really worry about Elizabeth.  She is just so little!  So please keep both of them in your thoughts and prayers on Friday!
2012_10_ 013 by RachSal