For Teri

First, a run down...

I am feeling so much better from the surgery. Sadly, I woke up with the cold that our family can't seem to get rid of-- of course, right? My throat is so raw and my body aches. I visited the surgeon today and had my bandages removed. There's still some swelling, but I'm definitely on the mend. AND, I was able to take a hot bath tonight now that my bandages are off!!

Jeremy is feeling better and won a work contest today-- woo hoo! He's been good to do all the lifting of the kiddos (which is a lot) and even gets up in the night with them. (:

Graci is fabulous! She got her stitches out yesterday-- all 22 of them. It wasn't pleasant, but not too bad either. The doctor also took an x-ray of her swollen hand (she injured it a few weeks ago trying to do a handstand) and we were happy to find it isn't broken. We so didn't want to add a cast to the mix...

Taylor has a horrible cough. He's milking it for all it's worth by getting lots of TV and reading time.

Parker is working his tail off to earn money for an ipod touch. He has been saving for a VERY long time and has just over $100. He checks KSL every hour or so trying to find a good deal. I'm loving his desire to earn money-- then I don't have to feel quite so bad when I ask him to help out so much while I'm feeling crummy.

Jesi had a frenectomy on Monday. Luckily, our dentist has a laser, so it was done without putting her out or putting her through too much pain. We're glad to have it overwith and it's healing nicely.

Lexi is bored. She needs to start school! It's so tough when she can't do so many of the things that the other kids can relax and do (read, watch tv, etc.) And she's got the cold too.

Elli is Elli. Her two favorite words are "flip flop" and "stroller." Don't ask me why. She says them over and over hundreds of times a day and laughs and laughs when we say it with her. Last night when I tucked her in, I said, "Flip flop! Stroller!" and she got the giggles, so we kept saying it back and forth to each other for about 20 minutes while I cuddled her in bed. It was fun to have her go to bed laughing.

Xander is having fun with Jessica. They are hanging out a lot lately, playing spy kids and jumping off bunk beds. I love it.

Sophi is just charming us every day. I am so in love with her. She comes up to me multiple times a day and says in the sweetest voice, "Mommy tummy owie? Oh, I sorry!" and kisses it. Oh, and she has dazzled us with her new skill-- getting UP the stairs!!! We call her our little butterfly, but she looks more like a cute little caterpillar as she wiggles her way up the stairs.














People continue to be so, so good to our family. Meals keep rolling in, laundry keeps getting picked up. I am amazed and grateful-- more than I can say. All the food has been great, but the dessert tonight deserved a picture:




It's a cheeseburger cake, made by Xander's primary teacher. So cute, so yummy.

Oh, and then there was the pretty fruit bouguet from my girlfriends:



Once again, feeling so so grateful.



I know this is late (I'm behind on posts) but I wanted to journal Jessica and Graci's birthdays. Graci turned 13 (yes, we have a teenager!) on August 4, and Jessica turned 8 on August 6. Graci had breakfast in bed, went shopping with me, and had Kent and Terri (her Make-a-Wish granters) come over for a barbeque that night. Just before we were going to start, there was a knock on the door with a surprise visit (and presents) from Grandma and Grandpa. I didn't even know they were coming! It was such a fun night.








We thought Dad needed Graci's hair extensions more than she did. (:





Since the girls have such close birthdays, we had a combined party on the 5th. We decorated in pink and purple, had the girls wear pajamas, played "pucker up for the prince," had a princess pinata (which malfunctioned), made paper bouquets, had pedicures, ate popsicles and popcorn, would have eaten pumpkin pie if it hadn't turned out so badly (forgot the salt), and watched "Princess and the Frog" on a giant projector. You're getting the theme, right?? It was perfect. Jesi has a favorite babysitter that she always asks to her parties-- her name is Kylie. This year, Kylie AND her parents came (her dad let us borrow their big projector screen) and I was so grateful for their help.
































Jesi loved her breakfast in bed, and was especially happy to have her cousins there to enjoy her day with her!! Alissa, Charity, and Mariah got to spend a few days with us. We LOVE LOVE LOVE them and just wish they could have stayed longer.








I'm so blessed to have these two sweet girls in my life! They bring us so much joy, and I love every single thing about them. Love you, Grace and Jes!!!


And now, off to get the big kids to bed-- I let them stay up waaaayyyyy too late just because I was too tired to get up from the computer and tuck them in. (: Goodnight!

Thank you...

...for the good advice to talk with my doctor. Apparently I had a bowel obstruction. Not fun. However, I feel blessed that we were able to get by without surgery, despite a very long, painful night where I just wanted to die. And it was my anniversary. And Jeremy had came down with a terrible cold. Things HAVE to start looking up for us, right?!!! (:



Feeling so much better now, looking less pregnant, and my body is starting to work again. Sure you wanted to know. (:

Graci is home and amazing us all with her strength. The doctors and nurses are thrilled with her recovery. She's still in pain, but doing so great!

Christianne

PS All you wonderful angels taking care of my family, I LOVE YOU!

Questions

Any of you fellow appendectomy-goers:

Is it normal for your abdomen to be so swollen that it looks and feels like there is a bowling ball inside? Is it normal for legs to swell the size of Texas? (No redness, just swelling)

These are real questions.

Thanks,
Christianne

The Blind Leading the Blind...The Armless Tormenting the Blind...

Our kids have some of the funniest interactions. Poor Lexi is always wanting to play with her brothers and sisters. Often they will play with her, but it is easy for them to forget that she can't just follow them as they move quickly from room to room, and she sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. Often, Lex will try to get Elli to play with her. Elli is not a great playmate. Elli likes to sit on the couch and play with her musical toys. When she is happy there, it is generally better not to interfere with her. But Lexi is determined. She will take Elli by the hand and say "Elli come play with me!" You have to realize that both of these little girls can be very stubborn. Lexi will yank at Elli's arm until Elli moves. Elli will resist, wanting to stay where she is. Lexi will finally get Elli off the couch and drag her towards the stairs.

The other day I found Lexi trying to put Elli's hand on the railing to get her downstairs. Elli was yowling, not wanting to go. Lexi, determined as ever, kept repeating, "Downstairs, Elli!!!" and pushing her down to the next step. I told Lex that Elli didn't want to go downstairs and that she (Lexi) needed to stop trying to take her down. I helped Elli back up onto the couch and went back into the other room. Pretty soon I heard them at it again, but this time Lexi had maneuvered Elli all the way down the stairs. Like I said, Lex can be a very determined little girl:)

A few nights ago, I checked on Sophi and Lexi before I went to bed. The two of them share a double bed, but since they are both so little, they sleep sideways on it. This makes it short, but very wide. It's a little wider than a king. So I had to chuckle when I went in and Sophi had scooted (in her sleep) all the way over to Lexi. Soph was was squished up so tightly to Lexi that Lexi's arm was pinned to her side. I moved Sophi back to her side of the bed and then went in to bed myself.

In the middle of the night was suddenly woken by the sound of Sophi screeching. (This is not a terribly uncommon experience.) When I went in to check on her, I found her even farther over on Lexi's side of the bed. This is a metal bunk bed, and on the side by Lexi, the bed rails come up about a foot above the mattress. Lexi, still asleep, had rolled onto her side and was facing the metal rails. Sophi had pushed completely up into Lexi and was using her (Sophi's) legs to push against Lexi with all her might. Our two-year-old with no arms was smashing our six-year-old into the metal rails of the bed. Wish I had taken a picture:)

On the other hand, Sophi tries to help Lexi when she can. We will often find Sophi feeding Lex with her toes. Soph will find fruit snacks in the pantry and feed Lexi. Sometimes at dinner Sophi will pick up her pasta with a fork and feed a bite to Lexi. Sophi also loves to follow Lexi around as Lex walks through the house. It is quite delightful to watch these darling interactions.

Graci is doing well. The epidural came out today and she is doing well even without it. She is eating well. She is able to get up and walk around just a little bit. Thanks to the Hills for coming to visit her tonight. It made her day:) Hopefully she will be able to go home tomorrow. She is a strong, special young woman!

Jer

Recovering

Graci's surgery lasted about 2 hours and was somewhat more complex than anticipated. She is recovering well at this point, although she does have an epidural that is helping keep the pain in check. She is eating well. She has to lie flat until tomorrow around 1pm, and that is driving her crazy. Hopefully she can go home on Thursday. I am exhausted. Good night.

Jer

The Worst Part...

Was not lying in bed for hours with what felt like pregnancy contractions that wouldn't stop.

Wasn't trying to take over with the kiddos when I walked into the living room to find Jeremy dead on the couch from the previous day's 5 mile steep hike with the scouts.

Nor was it spending the entire day trying to decide whether or not I actually needed to go to the ER or if I just had a really, really bad stomachache.

It wasn't being poked at least 6 times in different places as three different nurses took over an hour trying to get an IV going (I always have this problem.)

Or when I looked in the mirror for the first time that day and realized I had come to the ER in Jeremy's baseball shirt, greasy hair that hadn't even been combed, and no makeup.

It wasn't when the Morphine didn't do a thing for the pain, or when the other narcotic made me so sick I wished they hadn't even tried it.

It could have been when Jeremy busted out laughing when the doctor walked in and announced that the imaging results showed I had appendicitis, but then again-- I laughed too. I mean, come on-- OF COURSE it was appendicitis. We are not the kind of family who would have gotten away with a "just a bad case of gas" kind of diagnosis, especially on the night before Graci's scheduled surgery.

It wasn't throwing up after being taken on an elevator in my narcotic-induced nausea.

Or having to wait 10 hours from the time of diagnosis to the time they actually performed the surgery.

It should have been that the pain never subsided that whole time, but it wasn't that either.

Or waking up and having a sore throat from the oxygen tube and soreness from my three incisions.

It wasn't trying to figure out how to make Graci's surgery work, and contemplating going there to be with her despite my miserable condition.

Or driving home feeling terrified each time we hit a bump or made a turn.

It certainly could have been the fact that this whole episode completely took away my one comfortable sleeping position-- lying on my stomach with my toe off the side of the bed! And the fact that my tailbone is going to have a harder time healing now that I'm laying on it ALL THE TIME.


Why wasn't it any of these things? Because as you may remember, I began exercising last week, and eating "diet-y" too, and was so excited to have lost a couple of pounds and be on my way to getting in great shape. So that entire time I was in pain, I kept thinking, "well, at least I haven't eaten anything besides some crackers and jello, so I've got to have lost a couple more pounds." And, upon getting home and finally hobbling into the bathroom, was excited to stand upon the scale, only to find...I had gained EIGHT pounds! EIGHT!! In two days of eating practically nothing. I weigh more than I've weighed since I was pregnant. I weighed myself three times just to be sure, and the same wretched number kept popping up. I must say I was pretty darn discouraged, until my mom just explained to me that I'm just retaining water. May that be true!!!

(:

What I really came on to say, though, is thank you. I am overwhelmed at the kindness shown to our family today. This past hour I am feeling much better, as evidenced by the fact that I finally made it out of my bed and am able to write this. I know it is because of your prayers and I love you for it. To those who said that God would take care of us, you are right. And I have found that He does so through the thoughtfulness of other people. Thank you Kylie, Heather, LuAnn, Breeana, the Short family, Bishop, and my wonderful parents. Thank you for the sweet comments on the blog. Thanks for all the calls-- I know about them even though I haven't personally received them. You are all wonderful. Now please keep our Graci in your prayers. I will certainly have more empathy for her, as her surgery is much more intense than my own.

Christianne

PS Oh, and Becky-- having a few of your children here for the weekend had absolutely NOTHING to do with my appendix, so stop worrying! We would love to have them ANY DAY. They are so much fun.

Graci rescheduled

FYI...Graci's surgery has been changed to tomorrow morning. Lucky to be able to get her in so quickly!

Jer

Appendixless!

Christi is out of surgery and doing well. Correction. This is a direct quote from her: "I am not doing well. I'm miserable. I want to smack everybody! But if you want to lie, go ahead." So in other words, the surgery went well, but she still ain't feeling too hot.

Jer

Are you kidding me?

Christi only THOUGHT she was falling apart at the seams. In actuality, she was merely building up to it. Now that she has been admitted to the hospital with an appendicitis attack a
nd is scheduled for emergency surgery at 7am, she can officially claim "falling apart at the seams" status! This, of course, wreaks havoc with Graci's scheduled spinal cord surgery. Christi at one hospital at 9am. Graci 30 miles away at 12:30 pm. How's that supposed to work?!?
Jer

Falling apart at the seams

So you may remember me mentioning that I was pretty sure I had broken my toe several weeks ago. (It still really hurts--not a good sign.) As it turns out, the toe was just the beginning...

On our way to Idaho, we made a stop at Lava Hot Springs. I would LOVE to go there and raft someday, but this time we just stopped at the water park. There is a very nice outdoor pool and some water slides. There are also three diving platforms, the tallest of which is 10 meters. This may not seem very high, but believe me-- it is!



I've always been a bit of a daredevil, and these platforms looked like FUN! I also had the mindset that they had to be safe-- I mean, we are at a pool, after all-- not cliff jumping in the middle of a lake (which I used to do.) So I signed the release forms that allowed Taylor, Parker, and myself to jump. They immediately went off it-- before we were even done getting sunscreen on all the littles. I was shocked and proud!! Not many kids up there... In fact, not many adults up there!

As soon as I had the chance, I climbed up there myself. As I climbed, I realized that almost everyone was getting off at the lowest platform, and a couple at the middle. I was the only one that went to the top and stood there by myself. It looked much higher from up there!! In fact, the platform was the same height as the top of the waterslides. The lifeguard finally gave me the signal to jump. It took me a few seconds, but I did it. I thought I went straight in, but apparently I must have sat just a bit when my feet touched down. I immediately felt a very sharp pain in my tailbone. I swam to the side and just stayed there, trying to breathe through the pain. After it subsided a bit, I realized that the backs of my thighs hurt too, and I couldn't move my neck. I tried to pretend like I was fine, as the whole thing was quite embarrassing. As I held onto the side, I watched another girl jump off the high one, and she was yelping in pain after she landed.

I climbed out of the pool and back to the shallow area where my kids and Jeremy were playing. I told Jeremy the kids were no longer allowed to jump-- it was dangerous!! Taylor and Parker were not very happy with me, as I think they didn't understand the full extent of my injuries.

Before I knew it, Jeremy had taken off with Taylor. Apparently, the "man" in him decided that there was no way that he wasn't going to jump off that platform now that his wife had. I watched nervously, praying that he wouldn't get hurt. Two people are allowed to jump at the same time, and he later told me that if Taylor hadn't been standing right next to him counting down, there was no way he would have jumped. But he did. And he twisted his ankle on contact with the water. Go figure.

Afterwards, the boys were still asking to go again and Jer and I were both adamant that they not. A lady sitting mext to us in the pool spoke up and told the boys that she had worked there for three summers and had seen broken backs, necks, legs-- you name it.

THEN WHY IS IT STILL OPEN???!!!!

It took several days for my neck to calm down enough that I could turn my head without pain. The backs of my thighs were completely purple/black with huge bruises. And my tailbone is STILL hurting.

One of the days in Idaho was spent on jet skis and I missed a couple of areas when I applied sunscreen, so add to my injuries a couple of bright pink sunburns and it was almost impossible to sleep at night. No matter what position I would lay in, it hurt.

Well, now it's been a few weeks and I am feeling much better. The sunburns have peeled and gone, my neck is fine, the bruises are almost gone, and my toe is somewhat better. Is still hurts to sit, and I struggle to sleep at night because the only position that doesn't hurt my tailbone is to lay on my stomach, but that puts my toe in a painful position. Ha.

I was very excited over the weekend to be feeling so much better overall, and then Parker asked me if he could start getting up early and jogging in the mornings. I didn't want him to go by himself, so I told him I would jog with him. "Cept there's one problem here-- I haven't exercised in a year or so. AT ALL. Besides that, I'm not a runner.

Needless to say, my body is hurting all over again. What a wuss, right?!!

I must be getting OLD.

Beware Lexi!

Lexi loves to ask people their names and how old they are. The other day Christi and the kids were at a church party. (Names will be changed in this post.) Lexi was eating at a table with a more mature member of the congregation. "What's your name?" Lexi asked. "JoAnne," the lady replied. Lexi: "How old are you?" Joanne: "29!" Lexi accepted that with no problem. A few minutes later, one of our neighbors, who Lexi knows well, sat down at the table. Once Lexi recognized that it was Linda, she blurted out: "Linda's 40!". Linda quickly replied, "I thought that was our secret, Lexi."

Someday Lex will have a better grasp of tactful communication. Until that day comes, be careful what you share with her:)

Jer

The Sealing

First of all, jump on over to Elli's blog to read a beautiful post from Jeremy. I love him. He is such a good father. As we lay on our bed after I read it, both of us crying, we talked about how there aren't words to convey the depths of feelings raising and loving Elli evokes in us, but I think he did a pretty good job. (:


I'm a bit late in writing this post. I have actually tried a couple of times, but couldn't find the words to do it justice. I still can't, so I'll just rely on pictures!

On May 28, we took our family to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to have Lexi and Sophi sealed to us. For those of you who don't understand the significance of that, I will explain. In our church, we believe that when we are married in one of God's temples, by proper priesthood authority, we are sealed to our spouses for all of eternity. We believe that family relationships perpetuate beyond the grave, and that children born to us under the sacred covenant of marriage are sealed to us forever.

When we adopt a child, that child has not been "born in the covenant," so there is a special ordinance that takes place to seal them to our family. During this beautiful ordinance, the children kneel at an altar with their parents, all dressed in white. When completed, those children become as if they had been born to that family, with every blessing and privilege.

There are no words to describe seeing your children, all dressed in white, in such a holy place and being reminded of what awaits us in the eternities. There is nothing like it to put daily struggles into perspective!

We had some very special, sacred experiences while in the temple. I am so grateful for my knowledge of Christ and for what He has done for my family.

Love you, our two newest girls!!
















And... just for fun:

Elli's sealing, Salt Lake Temple, 2007




Graci's sealing, Provo Temple, 2008



Xander's sealing, Oquirrh Mountain Temple, 2009

The Exciting News... (:

Ok, so I didn't mean to be a tease like that! I had expected to get a video up before we left on vacation, but it just didn't happen. I don't know how... I mean, we had so much time on our hands!!

Well, I still haven't made the video, and Jeremy happens to be at scout camp for the week. (I don't know how to upload our videos.) But since you asked, I'll go ahead and do it with pictures instead of a video. (:

Anyway... I hope this isn't anti-climactic. This is such a huge event in our lives, but probably doesn't seem all that significant to some. As you may remember reading here, we didn't know if Sophi would ever walk. This is due to her weak right leg, missing fibula, and significant leg length discrepancy. However, we have worked a lot with her. I didn't see how she could possibly ever learn to walk, and some doctors doubted it too, but eventually she did learn to stand. Her poor right leg would just shake, and she couldn't stand for more than a couple of seconds, but she could stand! And then, almost overnight, she did it-- she learned to walk!!! It is the sweetest, most endearing little walk ever. She LOVES it. She wants to walk everywhere now and takes such pride in it.

We are so happy for our little Sophi!! I am hoping to get her to Shriners again soon. Now that she has learned how to walk, I am wondering if some sort of brace could be made for her to help give her weak leg some more stability and height.

So, so proud of you, Soph!!!!!















PS I am going to assume, because of our past pattern, that some of you thought the exciting news had to do with a new addition. (: That would be amazing, for sure, but we very much have our hands and house full right now. HOWEVER... I can't resist telling you that there is the sweetest, most precious little two year old girl waiting for a family. She is breathtaking-- just exquisite. I am sure I am drawn to her because of her special need, which is vision loss. She does have limited vision, and I have no doubt that if she is to retain it and possibly even gain more vision, she needs a good doctor soon. If any of you reading this feels a tug at your heartstrings and want to know more, please email me at christi405@yahoo.com.

Let's find this princess a family!

Taylor's Fave Five

What a week and a half!!! Friday the 15th, we left for Island Park, ID (six hour drive). My brother Matt's in-laws have an unbelieveably beautiful cabin on the reservoir up there, and we were able to stay for five nights and have a family reunion. It was the first time in many years that my mom and dad and all of my siblings were together. All 13 of my parent's grandkids were there. We missed Tyler's wife, Laura, and hope to see her soon, but everyone else was present. It was a lot of fun:) We rented jet skis one day, visited Mesa Falls and Sawtelle peak, and played lots of games. We had our annual Thai food night, which of course I love:). The cabin was plenty big enough for all 22 of us comfortably. I'll post some pictures soon.

We got back from ID on Thursday night and left Saturday afternoon for Richfield, UT (2.5 hour drive) for a short reunion with Christi's family. Saturday night we drove from Richfield to Ferron (1.25 hour drive) to stay at Christi's parents house. We went to church in Ferron and then I had to drive Taylor back to our house (2.5 hour drive) so he could get ready to leave for scout camp. We got home about 8:15 last night and then spent 3.5 hours packing and prepping for his camp. He left at 8:00 am this morning. Christi and the kids are still in Ferron. They have to come home tomorrow in order to be ready for Jesi's medical procedure on Wednesday morning. Yeah, we're busy!

Last night as Taylor and I were eating cereal for dinner, he commented on it being a rather pathetic Sunday meal. He obviously missed his mom's cooking! I asked him what his favorite food was. He gave me this list:
-With a goofy grin on his face: IHOP's cinnastack is hard to beat!
-Mom's homemade chicken soup with rolls. (an excellent choice:)
-Arby's roast beef sandwiches
-Subway meatball marinara or turkey and ham
-He stopped for a few minute then remembered: Grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup.

The kid is pretty easy to please:)

Jer