Sunday, March 29, 2009

Egg hunt in the Pool


Kynadi got to go to the rec and participate in the Easter Egg hunt in the pool. Unfortuneatley, for me and everyone that had to see, I had to get in with her. She had fun though, and I can't believe that Easter is that close. Poor Brooklyn wanted to get in soooo bad. She wasn't old enough though so she had to sit on the sidelines and watch. Maybe next year!

While I'm waiting for the video to upload....quick comment by Kynadi.
I was telling my mom on Friday how they accepted Kynadi at the CDC preschool because of her scoliosis and that means she gets to go to pre-school for FREE. I was saying that her scoliosis was kind of a blessing in that way...blah, blah. Then my mom said, "oh that is really cool!" Which Kynadi immediatley proclaimed, "That is NOT cool!" LOL I'm not sure if it's not cool to have scoliosis, or go to pre-school for free. :) Either way she's a cute kid!

Before and After


BEFORE


AFTER

As I had mentioned in my HUGE blog below about Links surgery; you can already see a difference in the face of his head. These are just before and after pictures that make it obvious I think.
Note: I just noticed the blanket colors of the before and after LOL...NO Linken is not a girl now nor coming out of the closet...all the boy blankets are apparently dirty.

The shoes live on..



So I made John clean out the car before we took Linken down for his surgery, and he happened to find Kynadi's old pair of princess shoes in the trunk. Grandma had given her these and she LOVED them since they light up. Well, Brooklyn saw them and immediately had to put them on. They are a bit big for her but I can't get her to let me take them off. She has insisted to sleep with them...just as Kynadi did when she first got them from Grandma. I thought it was too cute!
I took a picture with Kyandi sleeping in them...so here is Brooklyn sporting the same shoes to bed. She has also had an obsession with her coat and won't take it off either...thus the sleeping in the coat too. The third obsession; her baby doll. She won't go to sleep without it and will barely leave the house without it too. Such a stubborn thing and she's not even 2.

All is Well!!!


[After surgery..at home, you can see the difference already]

***WARNING...as Brynn has often reminded me, my medical updates are BORING. She may be right, but this is my journal of these events, so proceed to read if you like, but there is a lot of detail most may not care about.

Anyway here's my update on our Little Linken. His surgery is over with and he is doing great now!

Morgan was already in GR so we left the girls with her and headed down on Monday (16th) night. Thanks again Mor for watching them...and teaching Kynadi some Spanish while you were here! :) Anyway, Tuesday we had to get up early and take Linken to Shields. They put him on a "scanner" and scanned his head, which then produced a 3-D image of him on the computer so they could get measurements and ratios...yadda yadda. It is amazing what they can do with technology these days!

Then the rest of the day we just bummed SLC, until that afternoon when they had us take Linken to PC (Primary Children's) for his labs. I was not expecting this to be so bad, but it almost had me in tears. They needed to get blood samples, and were trying to get the needle into his tiny little veins. Unfortunately they were having problems, and once they got it in his one hand, they couldn't get enough blood to come out. So they had to attempt it again, poking him on the other arm. I hate having my blood drawn and I have some pretty hefty veins, so watching them dig around in Linken's little arm was awful. I'm sure it was painful to say the least. Finally that torture was over, but before we left one of the nurses commented on how the docs/nurses the next day were going to need luck getting his IV in. Thanks for the peaceful thoughts-- and we left.

The 18th was the big day. We got to PC at around 8:00 where they prepped us for surgery. Basically just kinda talked to us, let us meet the anesthesiologist (Dr. Clark) and put Linken in funny little clothes (they match Brooklyn's set from her night at PC--we're collecting them I guess :) ) So then they took us over to the pre-op waiting area. This is when I really started getting nervous. I of course let all kinds of things enter my mind...while John entertained himself on the video games they have for the KIDS!!! Then the hardest part was when Dr. Clark came and talked to us a little and then I had to hand Linken over! Linken had had a blessing before we went, so I felt like things would be ok, but the "what-ifs" always pop up testing our faith, not to mention, they are awful to think about. I'm proud to say that I was strong though and fought back the tears...though it was tough.

The next two hours were spent mostly in the waiting room provided for the families with children undergoing surgery. That was interesting to me. I loved to eaves drop on all the conversations about how each child was doing and what procedure was being done. Doctor after doctor came in and the news to the parents was always positive. So that helped lighten the mood.
Finally, a little over two hours later, Dr. Siddiqui came in and gave us the update on Linken. The surgery had gone well. He did have a blood transfusion, as his blood was getting a little low and they didn't want to risk anything, but other than that, the doc said he was pleased with how it turned out. Yipee! So then off to the PICU to see Link.

This was hard too. The pictures don't show it much, but he was pretty swollen all over, and just seeing all the "things" in him and hooked to him was scary. The IVs and everything were put in him after we had handed him over, so this was the first time seeing him this way. He was crying a lot and the nurses and techs thought he was probably still feeling a lot of the pain. They had given him quite a bit of morphine, and were worried about giving him much more since it could make him stop breathing. That was a pleasant thought again.

He seemed so fragile I was afraid to hold him, but I did for the next few hours. He was in and out of sleep and crying. You could tell the poor thing just wasn't comfortable. I was so glad to be in there though, as a nurse was standing there with us the whole time making sure he was doing alright. As I sat there I was grateful that I knew Linken was just in there per protocol. There were so many sick little children. We had a little girl (under a year old) in the bed next to Linken's that appeared to have heart problems (she had a big scare on her chest). The PICU is all open so I could hear everything the nurses were telling the mom. She had been there before, and was obviously known by other nurses, and they were trying to figure out something that was wrong with her...anyway, it was humbling. Who knows if that little girl was going to get better or for how long, ect. Later, Linken was moved to a different spot in the PICU (he was being isolated because they thought maybe he was not over the virus he had a few weeks prior). In this room I could hear the boy across from us moaning continually. He was probably only about 7. Sooo sad. At one point during Linken's stay in the PICU I walked to the end to use the restroom...passing bed after bed of sick little kids. It brought me to tears thinking what special children I was surrounded by and the suffering that they were having to endure. Not to mention all the grief and stress the families must be enduring. Oh, this was cute though. When Linken was first in there and was crying off and on...a nurse came over and said her patient (a little 6 year old girl) had heard Linken's cries and said, "he must have a headache like me". Too cute, and sweet. I wanted to meet her but I never did.

Anyway, after a few hours Linken was given Loritab rather than morphine and he seemed to calm down a bit, but not completely. By night he was doing better, so John and I finally left around 9:30 to get some sleep.

The next morning we got there and Linken seemed a bit better. The swelling was worse, but he was at least calm for the most part. We sat with him most the morning and they finally released him from the PICU to a normal room. We just hung out with him that day and spent the night in the room with him (a terrible nights sleep at that). Then the next day we did the same thing. He had a temperature they were monitoring, but by that evening it had been controlled. Dr. Siddiqui had visited us that afternoon and was pleased with how he was doing. So that evening Morgan came with the girls and at about 6:00pm the released Linken. We took Morgan to the airport, and then after getting our belongings at Barbara's and Rob's we headed home. YEAH!!
Linken has a HUGE soft spot on his head now...it's pretty icky to touch. The two incisions in his head are healing well...and everyone that sees him says they look good and are small. They're still big scars to me, but I am the mother. I can already see a difference in his face. Now that the swelling has gone down, you can tell he is much rounder now.

Now we should be headed down this week or next week to get the helmet and go in for a check-up. But all is well, and I am soooo happy to have it behind us. I'm grateful to so many people for the prayers and concern on his behalf. My biggest fear now is dropping him or having one of the girls hit his head on accident with something. The helmet will be good to have just as a protection. :-)


This is the back scar This is the scar on top


Sorry...this is the only pic I got of the babysitter
My girls miss you Boston!!..can't wait until May


Linken the day he was discharged Look Mom I'm doing fine! (out of PICU)

If you look above his ear there is a mark...the doc made it before surgery...he said it was protocol to mark where the patient was having surgery so they would accept him into the OR

IV #1
IV #2


This IV was in his artery (thus the greater protection to keep it from coming out)
All hooked up--he was on oxygen at this point in PICU

Isolated in PICU...his whole body is swollen


Holding him right after surgery. You can kinda see
in the 2nd pic his eyes are swollen.


His poor head right after surgery
(I'm glad I didn't see the incisions for a few days)


Pre-op with mom...he was soo
happy that morning, he obviously
didn't know what the day held for him.
Look Brooklyn, my PJ's match yours now!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Linken Update






Seriously, does it get much cuter?!?! I know I'm biased but I love to see Linken smile, you just can't help but smile when you see a baby grin, especially when it's your own. I love his little dimples, not sure where they came from, but I'll take them.

Linken is a great baby. I probably don't give him the attention I should all the time because he is so good. It's easy to just leave him alone while I do other things. We still bond all night though, so I guess that's mommy-son time (someday maybe we'll change the time of day for that).

Anyway, here's the latest news on his medical "issues". We have Linken scheduled for surgery on Wednesday, March 18th (coming too soon). We will have to be down in Utah on the 17th so we can meet with shields orthopedic and they can get everything in order for his helmet. He'll also, have to have lab work done that day in preparation for the surgery (I really don't know what they'll do, just know they'll be in contact with me to give me more details that day).

We were just down there this weekend for his x-rays and CT scan. It went much better than expected. The appointment for his CT-scan was scheduled for 9:00 on Friday morning. We (my mom went with the kids and I) got there around 8:30 and I started filling out paper work. I hadn't even finished before they called us back for his x-rays. They took two x-rays of his neck (they need these because of the position they have him in during surgery) then they took me over to the CT dept. to see if they were ready for us there. The lady said she had just finished setting everything up for Linken and to come on in. I was expecting Linken to be sedated, but she wanted to try it without sedation first. She wrapped him up tight in a blanket, secured him to the platform and let him suck his binki. Sure enough, he was completely still for the 5 min it took to scan him and we were done. No sedation or anything. It was 7 min to 9:00 when I went back to my mom and the girls to let them know we could go. It was great! I was nervous about the sedation, so I was so excited that it worked without, not to mention everything was done and it wasn't even time for my appointment yet. So if the surgery goes just as well, I will have nothing to worry about.

Morgan is flying out on Tuesday and she'll stay with the girls while John and I are in Utah with Linken during the surgery. Good luck Mor...you'll definitely have your hands full.

So everything is set, now I just want to get it over with and know that all is well. I'm grateful for all the prayers and concern shown by so many people, as well as all the help people have offered to give with the girls during this time. It is so nice to be surrounded by such good people.

Thanks Brynn...from Kynadi...uh what!?!?

Brynn sent us this cute little outfit, I think it's for Linken, but Kynadi thought otherwise. I turned around one day and saw her strutting her stuff in this....

Finally....




The mullet is slowly fading, and I have actually been able to pull Brookie-Lyn's hair into little pigglets. I think she looks so cute. She even wants me to do her hair. I'll finish with Kynadi's hair and then she'll point and grunt and want me to pull her's up too. She just knows she looks pretty all done up. I think it's funny how young they catch on to feeling pretty. Now if she would just leave it in all day we would be victorious!

Fancy Nancy Party





Kynadi got invited to a birthday party for her friend Pace. They are in pre-school together and have a little bond forming I think. It's fun to watch them interact with one another. The are becoming quite the friends. That's another post though. So anyway, the theme for Pace's party was "Fancy Nancy". All the kids were supposed to dress up in there fanciest clothes. So this is Kynadi all ready for the party. I even put a little make-up on her, which she thought was pretty neat. It was a really cute party and Kynadi had lots of fun.

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This is just a pic of the two friends, Kynadi and Pace, playing at the park one day. They are both such cute little girls!

Day to Day

My girls were in the room playing and were being really quiet, so I suspected something might be up. I was pleasantly surprised when I went in the room and found this:


They were just happily coloring and actually sharing without complaints. I love that they each pulled up a ball to sit on. As always...too cute!

Our days of sickness

Our whole family has had our turn at some virus that's been going around. We were all pretty miserable at one point or another. I think I started it all and was at my worste on Linken's blessing day...what a day to choose. Then the kids picked it up. Kynadi seemed to get over it the quickest, although she still missed a day of pre-school because of it. Brooklyn's turned to an ear infection and Linken had to be put on antibiotics. John finally went to the doc after missing a few days of work. He had 104.5 degree temp when he went in and they put him on steriods (which made him onery to say the least) as well as a couple other drugs. I think we are all on the mend now though (thus I'm finally blogging) so hopefully we'll stay that way. Here's a cute pic of Brooklyn during our "sick days". She was soo tired she just fell asleep.
This pic is kind of gross, but shows all the "goop" draining out of Brooklyn's ear. It was worse in person...trust me. Yuck!

Happy Valentine's Day


I've never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but once you have kids, things just change. So I decorated a little and had a little gift for each of the kids sitting out when they woke up. Kynadi loved it all. Brooklyn was just excited about the balloons, and Linken was obviously clueless.

During the day we went to the store and picked out a few things for secret admirer gifts. Kynadi got to choose three friends to give it to (Grandma and Grandpa were one of the choices--cute). Then that night we went to deliver them. We set the gifts on the step, rang the doorbell, and hid until her friends came to the door to find the surprise she left. She had sooo much fun. She was so cute. I wish we had it on camera, because words don't do justice to describe her hiding behind cars, and waiting to surprise her friends. I think it is a fun tradition we will continue.

Then while we were at Grandma's house later that night, someone rang the doorbell and left all the kids a secret admirer gift too (I'm sure you can't guess who did that). Anyway, it was cute and was a fun Valentine's day. John even surprised me by buying me a CD (which I really like-David Cook), but my favorite was that he hid it under a bunch of hearts he cut out and wrote on each one a different characteristic he loved about me. I thought it was sweet. So maybe I'll start to like the holiday after all.

Go GR Wolves



So it was the big rival basketball game a few weeks ago. Rock Springs vs. Green River We missed the first one so I took the kids to this one. Kynadi gets really excited to go, and she loves her GR sweat shirt. So we took a few pics before we left. I think she looks really cute!


Linken's Blessing

So I'm a bit behind as usual, but Linken was blessed the second week in February. John's parents flew out and stayed with us for a few days. We all ended up sick, so that wasn't so fun, but we were glad to have them. John's mom made Linken's blessing outfit, which I think is the cutest thing ever. She has made the girls blessing dresses as well, and has always done a great job. I wish the pictures did his outfit the justice it deserves. Most of the pics were downloaded on my mom's computer though, so these are all I have for now.



I don't know why, I just really like this picture of Grandma, Mom, and Linken. Probably because I just love everone in it!

I realize this is a terrible pic of us (especially me), but it was really all I had. As I mentioned most of the blessing pics are on my mom's computer not mine.
Anyway, for his special day we had a lot of John's family here. His brother Richard, his sister Barbara and her family, his parents (as I mentioned), as well as John's friend Craig and his fiance Erica. My grandma and grandpa Walker came, and my parent's (obviously since they live here). It made me wish my sisters were closer so they could have come, but I guess there's not much to do about that. Anyway, it went well, and I'm grateful to have my little boy with us now.

Pay it Forward

The Rules:

1. Be one of the first THREE to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me- something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift-anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send your THREE friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And remember, It's the Spirit and the Thought that Counts!

4. When you receive your gift, feel free to blog about it.If you are not one of the Top Three Commentators on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! So remember...it is good... :) Pass it Forward! And I might feel generous and send something to the first FOUR people so don't quit commenting at three :)

Note: Since I do vinyl you can probably guess what type of gift you MAY recieve...so if you have a preference on what you might like...let me know...NO guarantees though. Maybe I'll surprise everyone and not do vinyl at all.

Kyandi's Art

I have never seen Kynadi draw people before. Then just last week she brought this picture to me and told me it was our family (along with Grandma's dead dog Tippy). I thought it was cute, and as a mom I was very impressed with her work.