tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70063580854989679332024-03-04T22:42:01.594-06:00The Grigsby FamilyAmyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.comBlogger272125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-63499767223495602362013-08-29T16:00:00.000-05:002013-08-29T16:00:09.822-05:00Christmas in Ruidoso<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Is there anything about Christmas that isn't just so.much.fun? (It's clearly been 8 months since then and I've forgotten all of the work and stress and late nights and exhaustion). This Christmas was a lot of fun. I think I say it every year, but this stage was just the best. Everything was so magical for them. Even Harper got pretty excited about the details. We baked cookies, did the <strike>stupid</strike> Elf on the Shelf, helped Eli and Landon shop for gifts for everyone and loved watching them get more excited about giving than getting.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We went skiing in Ruidoso, NM with all of Dustin's family for Christmas. It was Eli and Landon's first time to go skiing and they did pretty well. Harper stayed with Nemo and Papa while we were on the slopes. There wasn't a whole lot of snow, so they only had a few slopes open, but it wasn't terribly crowded and it was the perfect opportunity to just take it easy and help the boys.<br />
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We went on a horse drawn carriage ride on Christmas Eve. It was a lot of fun and about half way through, snow just started pouring from the sky. We had a white Christmas and it was beautiful and exciting...for the first five minutes...and then it was just wet and cold. It was much more enjoyable from the comfort of our warm cabin.<br />
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Eli and Landon got new bikes this year and Harper got a pink kitchen :)</div>
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<br />The Grigsby Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16604150953243097293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-73374701683884310082013-08-27T15:45:00.000-05:002013-08-27T15:45:36.043-05:00Thanksgiving 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, it's been quite a while. I haven't made blogging a priority because at the end of the day, when everyone is finally asleep, I just can't give one more ounce of energy to anything other than drinking a Dr. Pepper and watching whatever sitcom is my current guilty pleasure. I know I'm not the only one that feels that way, right? From their very waking moment to the moment they fall asleep with me held prisoner in the bedroom, I promise to you that there are not three consecutive minutes where my attention is not <b><i>needed</i></b> by one to four people (not to mention the dog). So I'm laid up on the couch today, sick and watching a constant stream of Jake and the Neverland Pirates and I thought, "what better time could there be to dust off the old blog?"</div>
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So I'm going to do a couple of catch up posts, mostly consisting of pictures because let's be honest, this was a long time ago and I can't even remember what I had for breakfast this morning, so the chance of me remembering noteworthy details of our lives nine months ago is slim. Which is one reason I'm back. There is this nagging voice inside of me, telling me that I <i><b>Will</b></i> regret it if I don't continue to record the important and unimportant happenings of this little family. And I know it's true.</div>
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So, we'll pick up where we left off: Thanksgiving of last year. We spent this holiday in McKinney with my family and had suuuuch a good time. It seems like it had been such a long time since we had all been together for Thanksgiving, which made it that much sweeter. We did everything that makes Thanksgiving so great: ate amazing food, played lots of cards and dominoes, did a puzzle, shopped at midnight on Black Friday, watched Football, went to the movies, and gave many thanks for the incredible blessings we enjoy. </div>
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My greatest blessings</div>
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Cousins</div>
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The whole crew</div>
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It was also Katelyn's 16th birthday, so she (of course) got the traditional red velvet cake with roses on top.<br />
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<br />The Grigsby Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16604150953243097293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-72642248710921673982012-12-31T08:00:00.000-06:002012-12-31T08:00:03.659-06:00Halloween 2012<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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We have a Peter Pan book that the boys want to read
every.single.night. The funny thing is that while they are a little obsessive
about that book, they had never even seen the movie. So, it was no surprise
that they wanted to be Peter Pan for Halloween. I decided it would be so much
more practical for me to make their costumes instead of buying them
(whatever!), so I spent every spare moment of two weeks combining several
different internet tutorials to fashion them the perfect Peter Pan costume to wear.
We had a hand-me-down Tinkerbell costume, so there was never any question what
Harper would be. Dustin made Eli and Landon the most perfect wooden swords to finish off their costume.</div>
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We had such a fun Halloween. We went to the United Way Fall
Festival at the coliseum and ran into plenty of friends there. We played games
and ate candy and then finished the night off with fajitas at our little
hole-in-the-wall Mexican food place. We also had a big party with all of the
young families from church. The Hinton’s were kind enough to host it at their house,
complete with a hay ride through the cotton fields, a pumpkin carving contest,
and a Mexican pile-on feast. It was a lot of fun! It was supposed to be a
costume party for everyone, so I was able to talk Dustin into being Captain
hook and I was Wendy. When we showed up, we were the only adults that were
dressed up (except one other couple who I had threatened.<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span>)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dustin is such a good sport! </div>
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By the time Halloween rolled around, I was kind of over the
whole thing and ready to be done. We had celebrated just a little too much
already. Since it fell on a Wednesday, we decided to take the kids trick or
treating for just a little bit before Bible Study that night. They had a great
time running up to all the houses and getting candy. I mean, what is not to
love about dressing up as your favorite character and eating unlimited candy? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I was kind of relieved when all of the Halloween festivities were over. Eli and Landon still dress up in their Peter Pan hats almost every day and Eli carries his sword with him absolutely everywhere he goes. I finally ordered them the movie to watch and it has definitely become a favorite around here. I, personally, find it a little creepy, but to each his own. </span></div>
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<![endif]-->The Grigsby Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16604150953243097293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-3578280519613108842012-12-27T20:56:00.001-06:002012-12-27T20:56:15.138-06:00The Puppy Fiasco<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Eli and Landon looooovvvveee animals. They have always loved
Penny and Annie (Nemo’s dogs) and Max (Grammy’s dog). And for the last two
years, they have asked for a dog of their own, but our fence needed to be
replaced and we just had been busy with other things and projects. So, Dustin
and I agreed that he would have the fence rebuilt by their 4<sup>th</sup>
birthday and I would come to grips with the idea of owning a dog (they didn’t
get their animal love from me!) </div>
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I have no idea how you go about getting a puppy. Do you just
grab one off the street? Go to a shelter? Wait until someone is selling them in
the Wal-Mart parking lot? I had some major requirements for this dog: it couldn’t
get very big and it absolutely could not shed. That was non-negotiable. And we
wanted a girl. So, I figured the stray dog approach probably wouldn’t yield the
results we were looking for and nobody had been selling puppies at Wal-Mart
recently. Dustin had been way too busy at work to focus on getting the boys a
dog, so I just took it upon myself to get one the only way I knew how: the
Thrifty Nickel. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I made all the arrangements and my mom picked up
this puppy on her way to our house (it was in Abilene). So on the day of the
boys’ small, family birthday party, we gave them their puppy. It was definitely
not the reaction I was expecting. They were totally and completely speechless.
I think they were either overwhelmed or in disbelief or just not impressed at
all, but for whatever reason, they just didn’t make a big deal about the dog
like I thought they would. This was on a Saturday.</div>
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By Sunday, I knew something wasn’t right. The dog had NO
energy whatsoever. It wasn’t playful. It laid in the same spot I left it in. It
didn’t eat. And although it was sweet natured and liked to cuddle…it just wasn’t
the run, jump, play in the backyard with the boys and wear them out kind of
puppy I was expecting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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So Monday morning, we took the puppy to the vet. A couple
hours later, we were back home with special food and two medications. Our puppy
had hookworms: a nasty parasite that was slowly sucking the life out of this
poor dog. So I brought it home and started nursing the puppy back to health,
but the more I read about hookworms, the more disgusted and completely
overwhelmed I got with the whole situation. By the afternoon, I had made a call
to the woman we bought the puppy from and I told her I just couldn’t handle it.
I was returning the puppy and I wanted my money back. So I loaded up my three
kids and the sick puppy, got some corn dogs and slushes at Sonic for dinner,
and we headed towards the dog lady to return Eli and Landon’s “forever puppy”
as we had so stupidly called it. Turns out they liked the puppy a whole lot
more than they let on because they wailed when we gave it back. I was pretty
much annoyed with the entire situation. I’m pretty positive that anyone who
knows anything about dogs (and even those who don’t, since I was able to pick
up on it) could have told that something was wrong with that dog. I was sad
that I had given my boys a puppy that “they could love forever” and then took
it away two days later. And then I was really irritated when I came home, put
all the kids to bed, and then had to bleach every square inch of our hookworm
infested house (or it was in my mind at least). And the next week at Harper’s
18 month checkup, I had to notify the pediatrician that my kids were almost
positively going to end up with hookworms (he assured me that it was very
unlikely). </div>
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Eli and Landon ended up taking it a lot better than I
expected. We explained that the puppy was just really, really sick and that we
couldn’t take care of it the way it needed to be taken care of and we couldn’t
let the puppy get Harper sick, so we had to give it back, BUT we would get a
new, healthy, playful puppy that would be our best friend. </div>
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Several weeks went by and we just kind of did nothing. For
someone that doesn’t even like animals to begin with, I was a little burnt out by
the whole thing and I couldn’t even think about bringing a new puppy in after
that. Plus, I was NOT about to be the one to pick our next puppy, so I told
Dustin that it was completely up to him to handle this. </div>
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So, he did what any responsible, adult man would do. He
called his mom. </div>
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Neva was sweet enough to find our boys a puppy, drive to get
it, take it for a complete check-up at the vet BEFORE we showed it to them, and
then bring it to us. She is really too sweet to us.</div>
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Meet Libby. </div>
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She was just seven weeks old when she came to us and she is
completely precious. She has the cutest personality, she’s playful and fun, she
loves to cuddle, and she is soooo good to my kids. </div>
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Of everyone in this house, Harper loves Libby the most. This is just a peek at their goodnight routine. It takes longer for her to say goodnight to Libby than all four of the rest of us combined. <br />
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After her second round of shots, Libby got her first haircut. She's so precious.<br />
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This was Libby's first road trip with us for Thanksgiving. <br />
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This little rug in front of the dishwasher is Libby's favorite spot, which by default makes it Harper's new favorite spot too. <br />
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So this "I will never in my life own a dog" girl has been converted. I can get over just about anything if it brings my kids so much joy. And Libby definitely brings us some joy. </div>
<br />The Grigsby Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16604150953243097293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-8604824265690931202012-12-12T16:46:00.000-06:002012-12-12T16:46:48.408-06:00Funny storiesHere are the latest "Eli and Landon Stories" for your enjoyment:<br />
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<b>"Really Amazing Trick" </b><br />
While I was somewhere else in the house, Eli and Landon screamed for me to come into the bathroom to see their "really amazing trick" (these were their exact words.) I was, of course, immediately nervous and went in there, prepared for just about anything.<br />
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I found this:<br />
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So naturally, I took a picture and posted it on all the appropriate social networking sites. They were quite pleased with themselves...until they couldn't get down on their own. Eva's comment was, "that's really funny until they try to do it soaking wet and bust their heads open." That might be a good point. <br /><br />
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<b>"Landon Rebukes With Scripture"</b><br />
I've been doing some simple scripture memory work every week with the boys. I've been quite surprised at their little minds and the amount of things they can remember. Well, one very long and tiring day in Lubbock with all three kids by myself and several instances of discipline with the same offender, I lost my cool in a moment of frustration and I yelled at Landon. (No judging people...it happens.) As soon as the harsh words came out of my mouth, Landon says, "MOM, remember? Do unto others as you would have them do to you?!" I probably should have been humbled by him, but instead, it pretty much fueled my anger. Needless to say, "Children obey your parents, in the Lord, for this is right" will be the next verse on our list. <br />
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<b>"Landon's Hand Has A Mind Of It's Own"</b><br />
If you're a parent, you know that kids have distinct cries. So, when I hear Harper's "I have just suffered an injustice" cry, I immediately start interrogating the suspects. I was in the kitchen and I hear Harper start wailing, so I go in the living room to find Harper and Landon standing there. I asked, "Landon, what happened to Harper?" He pursed his lips, furrowed his eyebrows and looked around as he said, "hmmmm, let me see here." (Long pause) "She got hit," he said. I naturally asked who Harper "got hit" by. Landon raised his right hand, looked over at it, and matter-of-factually said, "this." I almost lost it right there. His whole "I think I'm going to outsmart mom by acting like my hand hit Harper and I had nothing to do with it" approach just seemed really comical. We had a little talk about how his hand is part of him and HE is responsible for what it does, so he better get it under control fast. <br />
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<b>"Peter Pan Can Fly"</b><br />
Eli and Landon have reallllly been into Peter Pan for about the last six months. What's funny is that they had never seen the movie, but we have the book and they want to read it every.single.night. It's super long, so we just paraphrase most of it. Combine their love for Peter Pan with their love of pretending and sometimes I just don't know if they can tell reality from fiction. They <i>truly</i> believe they <i>ARE </i>Peter Pan. So, one day, I hear a big thud, a moment of silence, and then the ridiculous wailing ensued. Of course, I rush in there to find Eli with a big goose egg on his head. He had stood on the end of the bed and jumped off and landed head first...trying to fly. All he kept saying over and over while I rocked him was, "But, Mom, Peter Pan can fly!" I could not have been less surprised by this whole situation. My children take make believe to a whole new level. <br />
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<b>"The Roller Coaster"</b> <br />
We took a little trip to Sea World back in June and ever since then, Eli and Landon, continue to act like car rides are roller coaster rides. Again, with the imagination...there is never a dull moment. And Eli and Landon have plenty of imagination. I thought this would eventually get old and die down, but this picture is just from a couple of weeks ago.<br />
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<b>"Harper Loves Undies" </b><br />
Harper recently went through a stage (that she is just about out of, thank goodness) where she LOVED underwear. It didn't matter who it belonged to <i>or </i>if it was dirty or clean. In fact, it seemed she preferred dirty because they tend to be more accessible around here. She would dig through hampers, check the bathroom floors, or find them in the laundry room. I mean, she had a serious fetish people. Mostly, this just completely grossed me out. No explanation needed there. Here is a picture of her with two pairs of Eli and Landon's dirty underwear layered on over her pajamas. Kids are so weird. Or maybe just mine are.<br />
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<br />Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-51676504819506227382012-12-05T08:00:00.000-06:002012-12-05T08:00:06.285-06:00Life Through My IPhoneI would have to say that nothing better represents our lives as a whole better than the pictures on my phone. I always have it with me to capture the little things, the funny things, the things that appall me, and even the slightly dangerous (but not too dangerous that I can't take a picture real fast) things.<br />
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So since I just downloaded 234 pictures, here are the best of the last few months.<br />
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Harper is still not amused by all my picture taking. </div>
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We still frequent the doctor's offices. </div>
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Eli and Landon are almost never themselves. </div>
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Some of their favorite people to be are cowboys or Peter Pan. </div>
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We still like to get messy. </div>
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Harper and I still hang out most Sundays in the nursery.</div>
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Shopping is always a <i>ton of fun</i> with these three. </div>
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We love story time (when we are all well enough to go). </div>
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Harper still LOVES her daddy and greets him every time he comes in the door.</div>
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Sometimes we hang out in our pajamas, building forts, on into the afternoon. </div>
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Dustin and I went on a little trip by ourselves (first time in two years) to Fredericksburg. </div>
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It was wonderful. </div>
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Sometimes I'm a really awesome mom and give my baby mini marshmallows in the car so that she'll be happy. </div>
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Harper likes to make phone calls during church...on her thermometer. </div>
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Harper is SUCH a night owl, so we just let her stay up. She's never cranky and just plays by herself without her brothers taking all the toys away from her. She's such a sweetheart late at night. </div>
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The boys and I have been doing a little preschool each day. It's amazing how quickly they learn!</div>
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We love the science museum in Lubbock and stop by every time we're there. It's completely child-friendly and it helps get a little energy out after spending a lot of time in the car. </div>
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We went to a couple of Ira football games this year and the sweet cheerleaders let Harper and Kassidy cheer with them. </div>
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I still seriously love this baby. </div>
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And I will still do just about anything for a little down-time. Even if it means letting Eli and Landon style my hair. It's almost relaxing...until they gouge my eye out.</div>
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We are loving Christmas-time this year. Here we're watching Polar Express and eating popcorn. </div>
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And by Harper's insistence, we have begun to use the toilet. Without any prompting or training whatsoever, she requested to get on the potty and proceeded to go #2! Home-girl is a prodigy! </div>
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So that was pretty long, but that's our life through the lens of an IPhone. <br />
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<br />The Grigsby Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16604150953243097293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-21937043556391008452012-12-03T14:36:00.001-06:002012-12-03T14:36:14.207-06:00Eli and Landon Turn 4!For the first time ever, I celebrated a birthday without inviting 100 people, slaving over handmade details, and using every spare moment of several weeks to prepare. It was kind of by chance that it happened like it did. It was kind of a procrastination meets low-energy meets an I just want to enjoy this situation. And it was <i>totally</i> liberating. <br />
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Eli and Landon's birthday fell on a Monday this year, so the Saturday before, we had a small family party with just the five of us, my mom, Mike, Katelyn, and Neva. We had a laid back day, ate their favorite meal for lunch (One Pot Pasta), opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. Then we just played with their new toys and hung out together. That night, we went to the Big Bash at the Preston's, which is a fish fry, hayride, singing, and hot chocolate kind of gathering each year. We sang to them again out there and they had a blast riding the thrilling hayride over and over again.<br />
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On Monday, we invited Eli and Landon's friends from their Bible class over for a small party. We had pizza and cupcakes and opened presents and played. It was laid back and fun!<br />
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This year, for their birthday, the boys got: GeoTrax, Board Games, HorriBalls (don't ask), Clothes (always a favorite of mine), and a Puppy Dog (more on that later).<br />
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I always love celebrating my boys and there is just something about that day in history that makes me so conflicted with joy/thanksgiving and a little bit of sadness as I remember just how I felt the moments leading up to Eli and Landon entering this world. And pretty much the whole next month while they stayed in the hospital. Looking back, I now realize that it wasn't <i>quite</i> as scary as I thought at the time, although for a first-time mom it was pretty much terrifying. They were pretty stable and just needed time to grow and learn to eat. And I also realize that the experiences with Eli and Landon were invaluable preparation as we faced what we have with Harper. And for that reason (and others), I count our rough start with our boys a blessing in disguise. They have taught me a lot in their four short years and these precious boys are definitely two of my greatest blessings.<br />
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Happy Birthday, my sweet baby boys.<br />
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The pictures are seriously lacking for some reason. I didn't get any pictures with Nemo, Grammy, G-Pa, and Katelyn, or with Me and Dustin, or with their friends at the party. I'm just not really sure what I was doing the whole time. I took the whole "laid back" thing a little too far, I guess. <br />
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We sang Happy Birthday to them individually this year. </div>
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Of course, I forgot to take any pictures once their friends arrived because I'm really on top of things like that. </div>
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<br />The Grigsby Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16604150953243097293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-20896092075800788432012-11-08T22:32:00.000-06:002012-11-08T22:32:11.061-06:00A Little Trip To Wyoming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The summer of 2010, a sweet couple and their brand new baby girl moved to Snyder to work with the church here and get a little experience as an intern preacher. They had visited several times and stayed with us during one of those visits, so we had already decided that we loved them. They got here and dove right into their work, while balancing their new addition at home as well. The internship program lasts for two years, and we knew at the end of that time, they would be moving away from us to start their own mission work or to become a local preacher with another congregation. Even the knowledge that they would be leaving us soon couldn't stop this congregation from falling in love with them. I had great plans of all of the fun things we would do and how we could get together often, since we were both staying home with our babies. But life had other plans for us and the next two years went something like this:</div>
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Schumachers: new full time job, new baby, find out nine months later they are expecting again, had a few complications coupled with some bed-rest during the pregnancy, deliver another beautiful baby girl, life with two babies 16 months apart is completely overwhelming and there is absolutely no time for friendship, consume themselves with working out the details for mission work, discover that God has other plans for them, focus on interviewing for preaching positions in the U.S., move their family to Wyoming.<br />
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Grigsbys: find out I'm expecting, find out about Harper's heart, deliver and spend a month in the NICU, heart surgery number one, life with three little ones under the age of three is completely overwhelming and there is absolutely no time for friendship, heart surgery number two, and all of a sudden we're saying good-bye to this family that just arrived (seems like). <br />
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So, maybe we didn't have tons of playdates or double-dates or even conversations that weren't constantly being interrupted, but I grew to love this family, their sense of humor, their compassion, their love of all things Aggie (well, maybe that's just Rance), but most of all, their love for God and desire to do His will. And their girls. You can't help but love their girls. </div>
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So, they took a job in Wyoming. (I mean...could you get any further?) And right after they left, Rance contacted me about flying up there for Alissa's birthday in September. I think he knew that things would be rough for her as she adjusted to life away from everyone she knows, starting all over in a new place, and having two that definitely still qualify as babies.</div>
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I, of course, jumped on the opportunity. And I wasn't even nervous about flying with Harper for her first time. She's always happy and pretty easy going, especially when she has my undivided attention.</div>
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I should have been.</div>
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The first flight went okay. She was a little on edge, but settled down once we got going. We had a layover in Denver that was pretty long, and since Harper is seemingly incapable of sleeping anywhere but in a bed, I had almost no hope for a nap for her. So we walked the huge airport, we rode the moving sidewalks hundreds of times (that's not a joke), we never stopped moving for almost 4 hours. Our plane was delayed and since it was a mechanical issue, there was no way of knowing if/when it would be fixed. By the fifth hour in Denver, Harper started to have screaming episodes. I could get her calmed down relatively quickly, but they became more frequent and it was taking longer and longer to calm her. There is absolutely nowhere to go in an airport that isn't among thousands of people, so I felt like I might as well have been on a stage, because we had <b><i>quite</i></b> the audience. </div>
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I was completely exhausted, extremely frustrated with our plane situation, and just about on the brink of tears when it happened. Harper started screaming and I did everything I knew to do to try and comfort her and make her happy, but there wasn't anything that was working. She was tired, frustrated, over-stimulated, and hungry, but wouldn't eat. I approached the counter in sheer desperation, begging them to tell me something. The not so helpful attendant informed me I could switch to the last flight out to Worland which was leaving in two hours, or wait this one out and see if it would leave sooner. If my original plane didn't end up going, the next flight out was the next day at 5:30 p.m. The idea of staying in that airport fr 24 more hours made me completely suicidal, so I asked to be switched to the flight that was probably/hopefully going to leave tonight. This whole conversation is going on while Harper is screaming uncontrollably, flailing her arms and legs, and swatting at my face....all while hundreds of people are staring at me. After securing my seat on the new plane (who would want to get on a plane that has had mechanical issues all day anyway?), I gathered up all our stuff and headed towards the stores. I bought fruit, chocolate, doritos, crackers, anything and everything that I thought Harper might eat. I spent 30 dollars on every kind of junk food available at that price-gouging store. I took Harper over to some empty chairs towards to middle of the airport and tried everything. She just got more angry. So it's been about 30 minutes straight of screaming and flailing. I didn't know what to do. I have never felt so helpless in all my life. I couldn't believe all of the people that just sat there staring at me and the pressure was just almost too much. I was begging God for mercy. </div>
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And that's when she walked up. A middle-aged lady in a black leather jacket, with an Australian accent. She patted me on the back and said, "can I give mama a break?" She took Harper from my arms and I willingly gave her up to a stranger. (I probably would have handed her over to Lucifer himself at this point.) Harper was so completely stunned that she stopped crying and just stared back and forth at me and this stranger lady for about 10 seconds. And then her head hit the lady's shoulder. She was out. I'm talking REM sleep within five seconds. Comatose. </div>
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I sat down on the floor and started sobbing. I couldn't even hold back the tears. And then I couldn't stop. I ugly cried for several minutes. It was such a relief to finally cry and it was completely humiliating. The exact same people who had been watching me all night were still staring at the freak show that was me, my baby, and this sweet stranger. I mean, really....how embarrassing. </div>
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I finally pulled myself together, went on and on and on thanking this lady, told her she was an answered prayer and how I KNEW God had sent her to me, I blessed her (like I'm the pope or something) and told her I would never, ever, ever forget what she had done for me.</div>
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Might have been the lowest moment of my life, which totally sounds like an over-exaggeration, but please trust me, it was awful. </div>
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Angel lady carefully handed Harper back over to me and went on her way. I slouched down in a chair holding my sweet, sleeping baby and proceeded to eat every bit of junk food I had just bought, until it was time to board. I managed to board the plane and get through the entire flight to Wyoming without waking Harper. We ended up getting back to Rance and Alissa's house a little after midnight (1:00 a.m. Texas time). Long day.</div>
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Before the meltdown.</div>
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After the Meltdown.</div>
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The next day we got up, ate a delicious breakfast, packed a cooler, and headed towards the mountains. I was completely taken with the beauty of everything and asked several times out loud, "now, why do I live in west Texas again?" God's creation is beautiful!<br />
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I know it looks like Raydon is teetering on the edge of a boulder, but Rance is back there holding onto her. <br />
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I loved watching the girls all play together.<br />
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We celebrated Alissa's birthday with steak, jalapeno poppers, potatoes, salad, and chocolate cake. SO delicious. <br />
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The day before I left we headed back to Cody and spent the night there since our flight would be leaving at 6:30 the next morning. We shopped along their charming square, ate at a delicious sandwich shop for supper, and did a lot of laughing and talking. It was great. <br />
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Goodbye, Wyoming. I'll be back! </div>
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I was, understandably, very nervous about the trip home. This was compounded by the fact that Harper slept almost none at all the night before we left and then got up at 5:30 to leave for the airport. She stayed awake the whole first flight and then Denver welcomed us back. Ugh! Another long layover, but thankfully, no delays. We did a lot of walking and feeding her new baby, and bouncing her new ball (I loaded up on new toys at Wal-Mart the night before to try and ease the pain). And amazingly enough, she didn't cry one time. We boarded our second plane and she fell asleep before we even left the ground and slept the whole flight. She was such a dream!<br />
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People watching right outside the moving sidewalk. </div>
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So, even thought we got off to a really rough start, it ended up being a great trip! I'm SO thankful to Rance for bringing us up there to visit. It was really <i>such</i> a treat. And I loved their charming, little town. And their charming, little house. And the sweet people at the church. And the beauty that they get to enjoy every day. Mostly, I loved spending time with my sweet friend and her precious family. Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-35956190533836832062012-11-04T23:39:00.001-06:002012-11-04T23:39:12.022-06:00Sweet September<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So the next big thing wasn't just big...it was really, really big. It was huge. My sister, Kristin, got married to someone so terribly perfect for her, it's crazy. Chris and Kristin seem to compliment each other in just about every way. He makes her so, so happy and that makes me so, so happy! Kristin waited a long time to find Chris and I really and truly couldn't be happier for them. <br />
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They got married on September 8th in downtown McKinney at Rick's Chophouse. It was a super small wedding with just immediate family and very close friends. It was intimate and personal and detailed and just perfect. Weddings are my favorite type of events because it brings family
together like almost nothing else can. It's great to have so many people
you love in one place at the same time. <br />
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I have waaaayyy too many pictures and I'm cramming them all in one post, in no particular order. There are pictures from showers, rehearsal, and wedding, and they're all mixed together. I'm way too lazy to sort them all out. Enjoy!<br />
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This is my child sliding down the grand staircase. It's almost sad how my first reaction to everything is to take a picture before any discipline or correction can take place. <br />
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Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-25619588042082438792012-10-25T00:40:00.002-05:002012-10-25T00:44:32.457-05:00Sweet Home Alabama<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Okay, y'all are really sweet for encouraging me to keep blogging. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">And Chey-Anne...checking here every week? Really? You're a sweetheart!</span></div>
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After camp, the next big thing on our calendar was a trip to Alabama. And when I say “our,” I mean Eli, Landon, Harper, and myself. </div>
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By ourselves. <br />
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The week leading up to this trip I vacillated between “this is crazy and I can definitely<strong><em> not</em></strong> do this by myself” and “I can do anything! And I can <em>certainly</em> go on a little trip by myself, with my children, to see my family.” It complicated things a little when Harper came down with a horrific cough a few days before we were supposed to leave. I was on the phone with her doctors several times that week and they assured me (after I made them sit on the phone and listen to her cough) that she was going to make it okay. I still hadn’t decided whether or not we were going all the way to Alabama, but I packed enough clothes for a year, loaded my car down, and headed to Dallas…still postponing the big decision until after the weekend. We spent the weekend with Mom and Mike.<br />
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Monday morning arrives and I drag my feet for several hours until I finally thought: <br />
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1. I’m not going to have this opportunity for very many more years. Once the kids get involved in school and activities, it’s a lot harder to just up and leave for 10 days. <br />
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2. I haven’t seen my grandparents in two years. They haven’t even met Harper and I know they are dying to!<br />
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3. All but one of my siblings are going to be there and you <strong><em>know</em></strong> how I can’t miss out on anything.<br />
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So I threw the kids in the car and headed for the state line, refusing to think about all of the bad things that could happen in the backwoods of Arkansas, the car trouble I could have, the screaming and crying that could take place over the next 12 hours, or the inevitable loss of sanity that was coming. <a href="http://adgrigsby.blogspot.com/2010/08/nose-diving-in-burning-plane.html" target="_blank">And can we all take a moment to remember the last time I took the boys to Alabama by myself?</a> I'm a glutton for punishment.<br />
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It took much longer than 12 hours. It took 19.<br />
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Katelyn (my saint of a little sister) was with me for the ride down. That day, we had several bouts of torrential rain, one instance of vomit, one total and utter blowout of a poopy diaper, 5 chipped teeth (Katelyn’s), and one hour spent lost. But we made it. 19 long and gory hours later, we pulled into my grandparent’s drive way and I’ve never been so happy to let my kids run wild (at 2:00 in the morning). <br />
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You know what else we had? Not.One.Single.Tear! I still to this day cannot believe it, but it’s true. No one cried (not even me). Thank you, Lord!<br />
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The trip was great. We hung out with grandparents, Dad, Anita, cousins, aunts, uncles, and siblings. We played Mexican Train every single night. We ate good food. And we even went to the Space Museum one day to see the rockets. It was a great visit! <br />
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And then we missed Dustin so terribly bad that we loaded up and drove home to see him (without Katelyn this time). I came dangerously close to running out of fuel somewhere in Arkansas in the middle of construction and I did get a speeding ticket on the way home (confession), but other than that, we had a very peaceful and easy ride home. Harper (who didn’t sleep much the whole time we were there. Ugh!) slept for most of the way home. I mean it. The drive to Dallas took about 13 hours and Harper slept the majority of it. Another blessing from above. We spent the night there before heading home the next day.<br />
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I can’t say it wasn’t hard. Some days it’s hard to just make it through the day until Dustin gets home from work, so it was definitely hard to be a single parent for 10 days. <br />
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But now that I’m several months removed from the trip, I can definitely say it was worth it :)<br />
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Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-91717914893485037582012-10-22T23:53:00.002-05:002012-10-22T23:53:30.071-05:00Gotta Start Somewhere.So…It’s been a while. Yes, I know. And I hate that. Not because I think there is anyone out there (besides my mom) who even visits this little blog anymore, but because this is the place where I store our memories. The place I can record funny things my kids say because I forget them so very quickly. The place that I can come and reflect on the different joys and despairs we’ve faced and remind myself how faithful and merciful God is. <br />
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So I’m going to try again. Emphasis on try. Because I’m a busy person. It's not that I think I’m any busier than anyone else, but I may just be a little less equipped to handle it with the grace that others do. (cough, cough, Page). I happen to think my job is reallly important and I <em><strong>finally</strong></em> feel like I’ve got a handle on things for the first time since Harper arrived. (Can I just say that three kids in two and a half years very well could be too many, too quickly? Just maybe.) <br />
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So settle in because we have a LOT to catch up on. But because I know there are so many that have a special interest in my little Harper, let me start off by saying that she is doing really well right now. It could change any minute, but for the moment, we are basking in the sunlight – the wonderfulness that is a normal family not anticipating major surgery, or tube-feeding, or weekly doctor trips, or clouds of uncertainty. And this respite has been so terribly refreshing. And even though we have more to face, our hearts and souls needed this time to recharge and we're so thankful for it.<br />
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Shall we revisit summer? Because it went completely undocumented here. Let’s go all the way back to June. The month of June has always, and will always, be known for camp. June and Camp are about as inseparable as two things could possible get. Camp is 10 days long, in the middle of the West Texas dessert, with no cell phone signal, wi-fi, or hot water. Sounds fun, right? Well, it used to be. It was a ton of fun when Dustin and I were engaged/just married, we were both counselors, and only had ourselves to worry about. Now…not so much. I have high hopes that camp will be fun again one day, but at this particular stage of my life, camp and fun are mutually exclusive. This year was especially hard for some reason and I think it mostly had to do with Harper. Harper was just two months out from surgery, wasn’t growing, her doctors weren’t crazy about her being in the heat, she wouldn’t eat anything, and basically just cried a lot. So, we hung out by ourselves in the house we stayed at. In addition to that, we had seen the cardiologist the week before camp and hadn’t gotten a very good report. We all know how my emotional state is directly related to the words that come out of Dr. Robinson’s mouth. I was pretty much an emotional ticking time bomb. This one week of the year is the only time we see so many people and if you’ll remember, Harper had her first heart surgery the previous June, so of course almost everyone asked about her. I know people mean well and they have blessed us so much by praying for Harper, but having the same conversation over and over again about something I hadn’t quite come to terms with was really hard. By day three, I was completely emotionally overwhelmed, tired of talking about Harper’s heart, and miserable. <br />
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We ended up packing our kids up and enough clothes for a couple days and took off to San Antonio. It was exactly what we needed. We hadn’t had much fun the past year. Every day Dustin took off from work was spent at the hospital. We hadn’t done a single thing as a family. So we went to Sea World, watched movies, ate out, swam at the hotel, and just escaped reality for a few days. We came back to camp with a completely different attitude and we enjoyed the last few days of playing, singing, learning, and fellowship. <br />
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These are a few pictures from the workdays at camp the weekends leading up to camp.</div>
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The Atlantis ride at Sea World was my boys' first thrill ride. There weren't any lines, so they got to stay on and ride four times in a row. Those boys aren't scared of anything. <br />
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Enjoying the Sesame Street show.<br />
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Our one regret was not renting a double stroller for the boys. We had one for Harper, but Dustin ended up carrying the boys around most of the day. He was quite sore the day after!<br />
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I lost my camera right before camp, so these are just two pictures that a friend sent me. It's so special to see Eli and Landon want to lead singing and have the courage to go up there and try (together...ha!)<br />
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And here's a picture of Harper from right around that time.<br />
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Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-6835004707826268952012-05-21T23:17:00.001-05:002012-05-22T00:49:39.986-05:00A Birthday Party!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Since Harper had surgery just two days before her birthday, we had a very late 1st Birthday Party for her just last weekend. I wanted her to get good and recovered before we overwhelmed her with celebration. We also have been kind of waiting to see what her heart is going to decide to do (medical update to follow shortly) and it never really did anything to speak of, so finally I just committed to a party. And a party is exactly what we had. </div>
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We did a "Cute as a Button" theme and I could seriously kick myself for the awful pictures that will follow. It was a combination of the wrong settings on my camera and an awful lot of back light coming in from the window. Oh well...we had a great time and it did my heart SO much good to celebrate Harper's little life appropriately with so many friends and family that have helped us get through this past year. </div>
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The invitations that Dustin helped me execute. <span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The design was shamelessly copied from pinterest. </span></div>
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The party table. My very talented mom did all of the sweets. She made Harper's little cake, the big birthday cake, cupcakes, caramel corn, and chocolate dipped marshmallows. She doesn't leave any tiny detail untouched and has a way of making everything gorgeous. </div>
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We had everyone fill out a wish for Harper on her first birthday. I loved this and I love how Harper will have these to read as she gets older. I hope to do this on every birthday for her. <br />
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The food table. We had fresh fruit, pasta salad, hot ham and cheese sandwiches, pink lemonade and juice boxes. <br />
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It occurred to me that a large portion of this group has been together several times in the past year, but never just to celebrate and enjoy each other. I'm thankful that this occasion that brought us together was a joyful one this time.<br />
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I loved surrounding Harper with love and joy and I got a little emotional several times as I reflected on how blessed we are to be able to celebrate this milestone in her life. She is such a precious little soul who has just completely filled our hearts to the brim with joy and thanksgiving.<br />
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Happiest of birthdays to you, Popper. We love you!<br />
<br />Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-77925213761845303332012-04-13T13:46:00.000-05:002012-04-13T13:46:57.835-05:00Where We StandRemember that time Harper was born and after weeks in the NICU we walked out of the doors and took our baby home...but her heart was in reeeally bad shape and we just were waiting until a better time to do surgery?<br />
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Then, that time Harper had her first surgery and it went well...except for the whole "she still has a hole in her heart" thing. So we walked out of the doors and took our baby home, but in the back of our minds, we were constantly haunted by the possibility of another surgery?<br />
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Then this time when Harper had some random tissue growing in her heart that needed to be cut out and the surgery went well and we were supposed to walk out of these doors, hopefully to never come back and to not even have that immediate fear lurking anywhere around us?<br />
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Well, that's what was supposed to have happened. But it didn't.<br />
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Like Dustin said, Harper had some leakage around her Aortic valve before this surgery and immediately after. This wasn't surprising for anyone. What <i>was</i> surprising was when the leakage graduated from mild to moderate. It wasn't supposed to increase. At the time, Harper's heart was under a lot of stress...I mean, we were just a few days out from surgery, she had a lot of excess fluid all over her body, and her lung had collapsed after all. So the hope was that after things calmed down and we got all that fluid out, the valve would look different.<br />
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So even though we weren't expecting another Echo before we left the hospital, Dr. Robinson ordered a chest x-ray, blood work, and another echo cardiogram for yesterday morning.<br />
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And then he came in last night to deliver more bad news. <br />
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The Aortic valve, which we were hoping would have gone back to mild leakage, is still the same. This, in and of itself, isn't that devastating. We're still just 1.5 weeks post-op and there is still time for it to calm down a little as the heart adjusts to it's new "geometry" (as Dr. Robinson calls it).<br />
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So, the new and discouraging part is that Harper's Mitral valve now has a moderate leak as well. What actually happened here was that it was damaged during the course of the surgery and there was just a tiny leak that was seen on the echo immediately following surgery. But that leak has also graduated to a moderate level.<br />
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Just for clarification, I have no idea what moderate means, but I do know that Dr. Robinson's unofficial scale only includes mild, moderate, and severe, so moderate seems just a little too close to severe for me to be comfortable with it. <br />
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So the Aortic valve leak can be somewhat controlled with medicine, which Harper will be on for years and possibly life. There aren't any outward symptoms of this leak, so the severity of it will be determined by regular echo cardiograms.<br />
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The Mitral Valve leak, however, can cause symptoms of heart failure...kind of the same thing we dealt with before her first surgery to repair the VSD: not eating, vomiting, rapid breathing, clamminess/sweatiness. This valve does not respond to medicine and the severity of it is directly related to the severity of her symptoms. So we can check it with an echo cardiogram, but that information is only relative to how her body is handling it. It can look like a severe leak, but if her heart is handling it well, nothing will be done. However, it could also look like a mild leak on the echo, but if it is causing heart failure, obviously something must be done. And that something is...you guessed it....open heart surgery to repair the leak. <br />
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The plan now is to just go home and closely monitor Harper with Dr. Robinson. We are hoping to go home tomorrow, but I've learned not to get my heart set on anything. I can't wait to get our family back under one roof. I feel this intense restlessness in my soul when we are in three different places, like we have been this week. <br />
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As Dustin said last night, "I'm just so tired of bad news." We are pretty weary of this routine. I feel like we barely escape one problem, just to run straight into another one. I was hoping to get her heart all sorted out before she was to an age that she would start remembering all of this. More than anything, I just want my baby's heart to be fixed, but I'm beginning to think that may never happen. <br />
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I could go on and on about the heartache and disappointment I feel, but I'll spare you that. What I do know is that I have to come up with a better coping strategy than the crying all the time, anxiety, and depression I resorted to these last couple of months. I think I'll just go with denial this time. I want to live our lives as full as we possibly can. I want to have fun with my kids. I want to worship with our church family in Snyder. I want to serve others and teach our children the kindness and generosity that has been so richly shown to us. I want to forget about valves, and oxygen saturation, and heart failure. And while I can never really forget, I can choose to not let it be my focus and consume me. <br />
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So we'll walk out of this hospital (hopefully) tomorrow, knowing that there is a good possibility of coming back, but I'll hope that one day...it will be different.Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-14311849928588820532012-04-07T00:15:00.001-05:002012-04-07T06:59:20.151-05:00Roller Coaster Rides are Overrated<div class="MsoNormal">This is Harper’s daddy writing to you by force of Harper’s momma. Let me catch you all up to speed. As you know Wednesday night Harper was put on CPAP (which is basically a pressurized breathing mask that has been a thorn in my flesh) and breathing treatments, and by Thursday morning her lungs were looking much better. A cardiogram was performed on her heart to see if there were any problems with the heart which could be causing, or at least contributing to, the lung problems. Her aortic valve before and after the surgery had a small amount of leakage, which is why the surgery was performed. The echo cardiogram showed that there was more leakage than before and was definitely contributing, if not causing, the lung failure. The lungs and the heart are tied closely together and if there are problems with the heart, such as a leaking valve, then the lungs will suffer as well.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So what caused the greater leakage in the valve? For the surgery, the doctors had to go through the valve to remove the tissue that was causing the problems. The tissue removed came right up underneath the valve and after the tissue was removed, the geometry of the heart was changed. You can imagine the swelling and shock her heart must be in and so these factors are most likely the cause of the new leakage.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The plan of action decided on Tuesday morning was and still is to put Harper on diuretic medicines to get rid of the excessive fluids in her body and especially her lungs. They also put her on other medications to make the heart pump more effectively and efficiently. Then we watch and wait to see if her heart will settle down and the valve will work like it did before and right after the surgery. How long we wait, we do not know. The doctors are confident that the condition can be treated with medication and without further surgery, which is of course a big relief. Just keep praying for my sweet baby.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yesterday, Harper showed signs of improvement. The fluid in her lungs decreased significantly and she was awake for small periods of time, but with very little energy. She was taken off the CPAP during the day and continued the breathing treatments, while at night was placed back on the CPAP.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
Amy and I try to take shifts with Harper at night and I had the early morning shift. She woke up and they took her CPAP off and put in the oxygen nose deals (pardon the lack medical terminology but what did you expect?) and looked much better but made no sounds and just looked at me with her big sad blue eyes. When Amy came in, Harper immediately started crying and was not satisfied until I was replaced by her mother in the bed next to her. For the next two hours Harper gave us an ear full, not really crying but just letting us know that she was there and was not too thrilled about her current situation. It was music to my ears because I knew we had reached a turning point. Harper has been slowly improving today, although she is far from being where we want her to be, so please keep praying for her and for Amy and me.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This, as expected, has been nothing less than heart breaking, to see my little Popper in such pain and has certainly been a torturous roller coaster ride that we have no idea when and where it will stop, which is almost as bad as seeing her in pain. If you have babies, do me a favor and give them a kiss the next time you see them and lavish in their spirit and energy for it is one of the pure and delightful things in this old world. Tonight I miss my spirited and energized boys and wish I could kiss them and I miss my Harper, the one who scoots across the wooden floor and squeals as she chase after her brothers. Goodnight, my sweet babies and hopefully we will all be together soon.</div>Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-47779164135273695752012-04-05T01:39:00.000-05:002012-04-05T01:39:52.606-05:00Happy Birthday, Popper!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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Here's a glimpse into Harper's first year of life. This first year has had a rough beginning and a rough end, but God has been merciful and faithful to His promises. He has watched over our little girl and our little family and we praise Him for His protective hand and for sending us comfort in our hardest moments. I especially thank Him for making sweet Harper especially for me. What a blessing and inspiration this feisty little girl is! <br />
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Warning: this slideshow is kind of long, but it's sure to make you smile <i>at least</i> once.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzOZuc7ROrb0oDE7SOx7G36XbW6bHzvMPOx5pcDJXtkprVu1rqG69qWShB5iaVFlThr_YNw0xJBjbSMDS4vOQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe> </div>Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-29588602166345778932012-04-05T01:25:00.000-05:002012-04-05T01:25:00.468-05:00Surgery Day TwoToday started off great! Harper got rid of her catheter and her feeding tube, she came off the ventilator, and she devoured her first bottle. It was amazing to watch the transformation! The best part of today was that I got to hold that sweet baby in my arms again. That is such an answered prayer and it did this mama's heart soooo good!<br />
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Unfortunately we had quite a set back this afternoon that we are continuing to try and work through. Harper's breathing became very rapid and she was sounding very congested. In addition to that, she was running a pretty high fever. Chest x-rays showed that Harper's right lung has collapsed, probably as a result of the extubation today. It took several chaotic and stressful hours, but she is now stable and pretty peaceful. We are trying to avoid going back on the ventilator, so they immediately started the CPAP and treatments to try and open that lung back up. We won't know for sure how well it is working until we have more chest xrays done in a few hours, but her breathing and heart rate have both slowed down and it seems that she is doing better. Hopefully the xrays will confirm that and she won't be at such a high risk for reintubation.<br />
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The whole ordeal really took me off guard and was a stark reminder of just how quickly things can change. It's so scary to think that one minute she's fine and the next minute, every doctor, nurse, and respiratory therapist in the unit are all crammed in her room working at the same time. It's such a helpless feeling.<br />
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I want to celebrate the victories and blessings of the day, but I also want to ask you to pray for Harper over the next day and week, that her little body can hold up to all of this stress and she can recover from such a hard surgery. Such heavy matters that this little love of mine has had to face.<br />
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She continues to amaze me with her strength. She is in a terribly uncomfortable situation right now, but she's tolerating it very well and I'm so thankful for that!<br />
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Praying for peace and healing for Popper tonight, tomorrow, and the rest of the week!<br />
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Thank you for checking on us.Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-79485436789621749342012-04-03T22:41:00.000-05:002012-04-03T22:41:40.143-05:00A Blessed Day!I know that so many of you have been praying for Harper and I haven't had a moment to stop and give you an update on Harper. We are all physically and emotionally exhausted, so I'm going to keep it short tonight.<br />
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Basically, Harper's surgery went the very best that it possibly could have. The surgeon got in there and discovered that he could, in fact, only cut out the tissue that was causing blockage, and that nothing else would be required. He actually saw the little residual hole from her first surgery and put a few stitches in to close that up, so that was a bonus!<br />
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Relief doesn't even begin to describe the feeling when we found out that they went ahead with "Plan A" and that it was completely successful with no complications whatsoever. The anticipation of this day has been a huge burden for several months now and to know that it is now behind us and successful...there just aren't words to describe the feeling. We are so very, very, truly, completely grateful. Grateful for your prayers and grateful for the way God answered them.<br />
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Harper's recovery is going to be rough, as today certainly was. She came off the ventilator, but they had to put her back on tonight, which was disappointing. Hopefully, her body can get some good rest tonight and we can hit this whole recovery thing hard tomorrow, getting rid of all kinds of tubes and wires.<br />
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Thank you again for your prayers. I mean it. Thank you!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpS9PYwbDtg3AZs_rwCteS6QwYR_50AGIwtJh8b41oaMsZJ86L454KccDanQRULy90NHHSiUyVORLBdO1xwN-iVGkiIFv4gxtZ9M9sF29Yv2Nj4QOP5n7ekTZdAxcro3kbNbkeJ_IGcwo/s1600/Surgery+Day+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpS9PYwbDtg3AZs_rwCteS6QwYR_50AGIwtJh8b41oaMsZJ86L454KccDanQRULy90NHHSiUyVORLBdO1xwN-iVGkiIFv4gxtZ9M9sF29Yv2Nj4QOP5n7ekTZdAxcro3kbNbkeJ_IGcwo/s400/Surgery+Day+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-15801324162976570642012-03-28T00:07:00.000-05:002012-03-28T00:07:28.425-05:00I've Been Avoiding This Topic...As most of you already know, Harper will be having another open heart surgery on April 3rd. We've known about it for quite some time...and for quite some time I've been able to think of it as an event far off in the future. But now it is less than a week away and I'm having to face the harsh reality that in 6 days, this is actually going to happen. I'm panicky and I'm terrified. <br />
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We've been keeping me and the kids in and away from germs as much as possible for a couple weeks now. We want Harper to be as healthy as possible and we certainly don't want the surgery postponed on account of sickness. I'm not going to lie, it's been kind of nice to stay in my little bubble. I do okay when I don't have to face anyone. When I can cry anytime I want. When I can hang out with my little ones and just focus on us.<br />
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It's when it's my turn to go to church that I really fall apart. It's when I hear Harper's surgery announced out loud at church, shocking me out of my denial. It's when I hear someone pray for her and I'm humbled with gratitude. It's when I see people I love, who I know love me and my family, and they are hurting for us. It's when somebody hugs me. It's when someone gives me that look...you know the forced smile and sad eyes. Those are the moments that make my head pound because I have to try so hard to hold the tears in, only to fall apart anyway. <br />
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This wasn't supposed to happen. Harper's heart was supposed to grow, and as it did, the residual hole would become more and more insignificant. That would have happened except for some muscle tissue that has grown in the area underneath her aortic valve, limiting the growth of that artery and causing it to start being blocked off. The pressure has been building and there is already a small amount of leakage from the aortic valve, indicating damage. If the tissue is not removed, the situation would become fatal. There is no less invasive procedure to do this, so another open heart surgery is required.<br />
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I don't want to bog you down with a bunch of medical stuff, so I'm going to be pretty vague. It is impossible to tell from the echo-cardiogram the exact location of this tissue. Ordinarily, this would be a very straight-forward surgery to go in, cut out the tissue, and get out. Unfortunately, our doctors are concerned that the tissue has grown over part of the patch that was used to close the holes in Harper's heart. If that's the case, the straight-forward surgery has now become seriously complicated, basically requiring them to redo what they did the first time in addition to cutting out the tissue. The surgeon won't know exactly what he needs to do until he opens her up. This possibility of the more complicated surgery is really what terrifies me the most and I'm asking, or rather begging, for your prayers on this. Please just pray that Harper will <u><b>only</b></u> need that tissue to be cut out and nothing else next Tuesday. I beg and I plead daily for this, but I need the prayers of others as well. I am desperately pleading that you specifically ask God to bless us in this way. I'm also praying that God's hand is all over the doctors and Harper on Tuesday, that He wraps us all in His loving and comforting arms, that He gives me peace and understanding, that He keeps Eli and Landon safe and happy while they are away from us, that we have competent and compassionate nurses, that Harper comes out of this surgery as her spunky and precious little self with no long-term effects or complications, that this PLEASE be the last time we have to go through this, and that God's will be done and He receive the glory no matter the outcome. I can't even begin to pretend that I understand this. I can't wrap my mind around the "<i>why</i>" of Harper's damaged heart. Satan works at my heart and my mind and he wants my worry, doubt, and fears to overtake me. I have struggled with this so much more this time around and it takes a real emotional, physical, and mental effort to just focus on the goodness of God...on His promises and His faithfulness, where I can always find peace and comfort. <br />
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There really aren't any words to thank you for your prayers. It is the very best thing you can do for us right now. I am really, really struggling with all of this and there is nothing that brings me more comfort and peace than to know that God's people are storming His throne on our behalf to pray for sweet Harper. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsTknHB0zIGmTg8vfdW7hW1lnEh6qkmndNwVewTLy9wst840POMm9pf1j551rnFBm9JUX_IZm5mgwpMTFKN0UB9kMfl_Eun7YOONttaYRR383LUcher3LXc4sWJ-kLF-iXQEQNha4Yd8s/s1600/172.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsTknHB0zIGmTg8vfdW7hW1lnEh6qkmndNwVewTLy9wst840POMm9pf1j551rnFBm9JUX_IZm5mgwpMTFKN0UB9kMfl_Eun7YOONttaYRR383LUcher3LXc4sWJ-kLF-iXQEQNha4Yd8s/s640/172.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-47832280055889207972012-03-12T12:10:00.002-05:002012-03-12T12:19:37.448-05:00Just a few stories...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>We are never lacking in stories around here! Here are a few from the past months:<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The week after new years, Dustin worked a LOT. He was at work between 4:00 and 5:00 each morning, he worked long hours out of town, and he didn't get home until late at night. In addition to that, Harper decided that she didn't want to go to bed until midnight each night that week. So for someone (me) who really has to have a little time at night to regroup and get ready for the next day, this was rough. Things just seemed to spiral out of control. I was just trying to make it to the weekend because Dustin was taking me (and Harper) out of town for my birthday while the boys went to stay with his parents. So Thursday night, Dustin gets off work, comes home late to absolutely nothing to eat, three wild kids, and a crazy wife. He did what any sensible man would do and said, "how about we go out to eat tonight." Great idea. We all get ready to head out the door and we can't find the keys. We've been working with only one set of keys for a while because we had lost the other pair already. I had seen the boys with the keys earlier in the day, but was rocking Harper at the time, so I told them to put them back on the counter. I watched them do that and we all went about our business. Well, at some point, they came back for the keys and where they put them nobody knows. For the next hour, we searched high and low for those keys, all the while asking Eli and Landon what happened to them. They took us on a wild goose chase, with ever changing stories. But one story really stuck out. It was the one that Landon kept coming back to and it was the one with the most detail. According to Landon, he dropped the keys in the toilet and they splashed like his poop and then he flushed the toilet. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Great. Our only set of keys down the toilet. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We ordered a pizza, put the boys to bed, and continued to look all night. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We never found the keys.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So instead of a birthday weekend out with two of my favorite people, I get to spend my day at home while Dustin has the car towed to the nearest dealership (90 miles away) to have new keys made. The estimated cost of that being upwards of $1000. Awesome. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As a last ditch effort, Dustin starts focusing on the other set of keys; the ones that have been missing for months. He goes to the church building to see if any keys were turned in and happens to ask just the right person who took the keys to CVS to see if she could identify whose they were. Not only did CVS not tell her who the keys belonged to, they didn't give them back to her and promised they would call immediately. That had been two months ago and we never got a call, but sure enough...Dustin went up to CVS and our other set was sitting there months later. Providence? I think so. I have to assume that God was protecting Eli and Landon from my wrath. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So what seemed like a pretty hopeless situation turned out alright. We went ahead with our plans, but made a little time to get an extra key made for the car. It's in a very high and secret place where two boys cannot get to it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8-NjzvkSKH672j6Ejc-7WyljOB91lgxvQsaR2IhR67dFMf4edlLqtwLzwj7GIxflQYgwbemVymCX7j2Llr4FC-HSguqUh9lz1Dr_MHNhdbwFuWeANFzczJj-0yk4ifz0Ohh0S4pWjy88/s1600/1511.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8-NjzvkSKH672j6Ejc-7WyljOB91lgxvQsaR2IhR67dFMf4edlLqtwLzwj7GIxflQYgwbemVymCX7j2Llr4FC-HSguqUh9lz1Dr_MHNhdbwFuWeANFzczJj-0yk4ifz0Ohh0S4pWjy88/s400/1511.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> The boys play outside a lot. They love it out there. And I love them being out there. But I never know what I'm going to find when I check on them. Just the other day, I walked out to find them with their pants down peeing up the slide and letting it run down on them. Seriously? How do they think of the grossest activities ever to engage in?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I thought I would never get through to them that hanging out on top of a flimsy canopy was not a smart idea. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdzIB-ugBAKgW4QC_QYD9EeklcZvokf8esyNQgBCrMxeSxP9bmoStx1FsdcKr3pA9Vew910251qb2v53Vv-uWUWKRtDYpH-Cf9e10_SS8IpdmqwHAadkts97Ss6ntkK1wxZxw-13fIbrA/s1600/042.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdzIB-ugBAKgW4QC_QYD9EeklcZvokf8esyNQgBCrMxeSxP9bmoStx1FsdcKr3pA9Vew910251qb2v53Vv-uWUWKRtDYpH-Cf9e10_SS8IpdmqwHAadkts97Ss6ntkK1wxZxw-13fIbrA/s400/042.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Dustin just recently closed in this terribly tacky building in our back yard to turn it into a shop for himself. It is so nice and Eli and Landon think it's the coolest place ever now. He has a couple of old drills that he kept for the boys and he keeps them charged so that the boys can work with him out there. He has a whole wall of screws that they can screw and unscrew and they feel SO important working with Daddy. I thought it was a great idea until they started using their drills on everything else. Eli came in from outside the other day holding boards to their swing set. I went out to find 4 or 5 boards taken off the fort part of the swing set. I also found them taking screws out of the door frame. I have since confiscated the power drills and they can only use them under Dustin's supervision. They are just a little too good at dismantling.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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We don't have quite as many funny Harper stories yet, but I can assure you that we will. Sometimes I think she has more personality than Eli and Landon combined. No matter what is going on, she always wants to be in the middle of whatever it is Eli and Landon are doing. She wants to destroy the train track they just built or knock over their block or Lego towers. It's like she gets SO much joy from making them mad. I'm sure this is just the beginning of a long and beautiful "little sister" relationship. I'm pretty sure they'll get back at her one day when they don't let a single boy near her. <br />
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</a></div>Well, those are just a few things I know I'd forget if I didn't write them down. Next up is a Christmas recap.Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-86240824181213722102012-03-07T01:44:00.000-06:002012-03-07T01:44:29.913-06:00Remember Us? We have a lot to catch up on!In the four years I've had this thing, I've never gone more than 6 weeks without writing here and I hate that I've let so much time pass. Mostly because I LOVE going back and reading about my kids. Even after just a few months, the stories are like new to me. It's amazing how fast they grow and change and how things you never thought you would forget...you do all too quickly. <br />
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Let's start with the fall, shall we? Over the next few days, I plan to try and catch up to the present time, just hitting the highlights of our life the past 6 months. <br />
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Fall was great fun. I say this about every age, but this truly SUCH a fun age with the boys. I'm not going to lie, age 3 has been a real doozie in some ways, but we just won't talk about that. It's also been a TON of fun. Eli and Landon have such great personalities. They are full of life and energy and the things that come out of their little mouths are hilarious. <br />
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Here are a few pictures from our fall:<br />
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Carving pumpkins: <br />
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My dad came to visit for a whole week and we tackled a major project that kept getting put off: painting the exterior of our house.<br />
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Before:<br />
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After: (Yes, I realize you can't see too much, but this is all I have. It's grey with white trim and a red door and while the outside of our house will never be<i> beautiful</i>, this is a HUGE improvement!)<br />
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</a></div> The boys helped me make their costumes for Halloween this year which was fun. They were pretty hesitant to wear them though. We went to the Halloween party at the library with all of our storytime friends and they wouldn't even walk in the room with their costumes. Guess we should try something a little less...overwhelming...next time. They also insisted on taking them off in between each house we trick-or-treated at (this wasn't annoying at all). <br />
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A sweet friend from church made Harper's costume. It was a tad big, but she wore it all night and was a big trooper that night. <br />
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We went to a fall festival: <br />
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Landon had a few accidents in a row. The nose injury was caused by jumping off the couch and diving into the coffee table. This one really scared me. <br />
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This injury was caused by Eli "helping" him off the porch and right onto the cement headfirst. <br />
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Harper got her first two teeth...and then the next six right after it. She now has eight teeth and will gladly bite you with them. <br />
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So that's a start at least. I'm not even proofreading this because it's almost 2:00 a.m. and I can't be bothered with silly things like that. Stay tuned...more on the way...maybe ;) <br />
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</a></div>Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-65978635228164391162011-11-15T17:00:00.000-06:002011-11-15T17:00:47.873-06:00ReflectionsLife with three little ones at home is all consuming, especially since two of those no longer nap. It leaves absolutely no time for frivolous things like blogging, which can be a little frustrating at times. Not that I love blogging that much, but sometimes my soul just longs for a few minutes to do anything I want. More on that later...<br />
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It was a year ago this month that we found out about Harper's heart defect and that combined with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching has left it ever present on my heart these past couple of weeks. So much has happened since then, but it is still so vivid in my mind that I could swear that it was just last week. I can't help but reflect on the road we've been down and rejoice that the road ahead is wide open and full of promise. This has certainly been a life-altering year for us. You don't go through something like that and come out the other side the same person. And while I can't exactly pinpoint the ways that I have changed, I <em>feel</em> so different from the person I was. It's something about seeing your baby...the baby that you love so intensely with every fiber of your being...go through something so horrific. Your heart is never the same again. <br />
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I remember the despair I felt as we learned what exactly we would be facing. I remember thinking that we would <em>never</em> get past this. Because when you are facing something that you've never faced before, something that terrifies you, something you just know you're not strong enough to take, that moment...that struggle, it's totally consuming and you can't imagine life being normal again. <br />
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But yet, here I sit, one year later, and it's all just a memory now. God is so very, very good. <br />
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The love and generosity of others was so intense and so overwhelming that I could FEEL the arms around us, the hearts aching with us, the prayers for us, the joy and thanksgiving at good news. If you were a part of that - a kind or encouraging word, a hot meal for our family, a simple prayer, a visit, a gift card, snacks at the hospital, financial help, a text, email, comment, or phone call, please know that you have impacted my life in a way I will never forget. It has given me a whole new perspective on how to minister to others and the importance of our Christian family during trials. <br />
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We still aren't completely sure of what lies ahead, but we are hopeful that Harper won't need any more major surgery. I would like to think that if, perhaps, Harper requires another surgery, I will be so full of faith and hope that there won't be any room for fear. After all, the Lord has showed me over and over again his love and mercy. But I know myself better than that and when it comes to my babies, my crazy, lunatic side almost always wins. I'm working on it. <br />
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In the meantime, Harper is progressing and developing normally (just a little behind schedule, but who cares about that?). She is scooting around in a army crawl type fashion. She's SO close to sitting up on her own. She has two teeth. She's eating cereal and a few vegetables. She's extremely vocal. She's got a ton of personality (super sweet, but a little ornery). Being normal is what we're about now. I love that she's well. I relish in the mundane-ness of our life. And while I would love to forget the past year, I hope I never do. I hope those images of my struggling girl are forever ingrained in my mind so that I never forget the helplessness I felt then and the gratitude I feel now. And most of all, I hope that I can be an encouragement and blessing to someone going through the same thing. For even if nothing else good came of all of this (which it did), I am now in a position to understand and help those who might have to travel down this same road. <br />
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So happy November to you and thank you for listening to the ramblings of my heart. We have so very much to be thankful for.Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-73099650143106796182011-10-25T15:01:00.000-05:002011-10-25T15:01:10.074-05:00BoringJust for the sake of keeping records around here, we went to the doctor last week and here's how big our children are:<br />
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Harper<br />
Age: 6 months<br />
Height: 24 inches<br />
Weight: 12 pounds<br />
Head: 16 1/2 centimeters<br />
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<img border="0" height="426" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicCUiMpTa-gcUo-33mEFwj_H10Pqg682KdgpCW64X1lkU7Lm52-O98xINY3v5scIcPeT8RWQV_t4AB_hhAyse922OjYjUoimXEbkTJz_LACi_r2gojR0jotULQyynllNAWRmz2UuJ2VAA/s640/108.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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Eli<br />
Age: 3 years<br />
Height: 38 1/2 inches<br />
Weight: 29 pounds<br />
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Landon<br />
Age: 3 years<br />
Height: 38 3/4 inches<br />
Weight: 31 pounds<br />
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Here are a few pictures of Eli, Landon, and Harper as they were all playing on the floor together. I love how sweet and gentle (most of the time) Eli and Landon are with Harper. They really love their Popper! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I just love this picture. It cracks me up.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-57889242203738044932011-10-19T22:49:00.000-05:002011-10-19T22:49:11.097-05:00Eli & Landon's 3rd Baseball Party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Life has been so busy that I haven't even had time to get all sentimental about how my boys turned 3 years old a couple weeks ago. Time really does just speed by and it seems the older I get, the faster it goes. You probably know by now how I love parties. And Eli and Landon have kind of had a rough year...it hasn't exactly been all about them around here lately, which made me want to have a big party even more. They also LOVE baseball, so I thought why not have a big baseball game, grill some hot dogs, eat some cupcakes, and have fun?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">So we reserved a baseball field here in town and we had ourselves a party planned. Bonus points for not having to decorate much since it was outside. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">side note: it hasn't rained in Snyder in over a year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It POURED from early in the morning until late at night. And even though I was a little disappointed, we were all much more grateful for the blessing of rain. We need it so desperately.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Because of the rain, we had to move the party indoors and we didn't get to play baseball after all. A sweet friend offered to let us use their "party barn", so that's just what we did.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Basically, the party was high blood pressure, anxiety, and a headache all rolled into a few hours, but I think the boys had a lot of fun with their friends...so much that they are still talking about it. I love that.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here are a few pictures from the party.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig1_m-Wdiuec6dsZshCeAm5Wyv0dUq7_dhUoM2XK1yS2zmwNL1poJJqas88bFTMEHIdyw11KmxmcKCCXS3OV13DDDlfP7NxTDcqJ8bDD8EhNWeylnBE4vUVxeOxAdsGW-kgMfC6FmtJas/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig1_m-Wdiuec6dsZshCeAm5Wyv0dUq7_dhUoM2XK1yS2zmwNL1poJJqas88bFTMEHIdyw11KmxmcKCCXS3OV13DDDlfP7NxTDcqJ8bDD8EhNWeylnBE4vUVxeOxAdsGW-kgMfC6FmtJas/s640/005.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>(Can you tell how effective my "no presents necessary" was?) If presents are any indicator of how much a child is loved, my boys are very, very, very loved. And we are so thankful! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0EUhCLPtFwzsk0ker7Rhlz2vkMGAEMsIWpa2QRZ5RptmcrOMazih7Dst6OPIEKFXtQFxhZcieE1g3VkgZ_DKsVv6oAUgEAD7A4XUJ3bEZGSM9Qrcres56ZmBO0hrCjStvxe5sz0r33ao/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0EUhCLPtFwzsk0ker7Rhlz2vkMGAEMsIWpa2QRZ5RptmcrOMazih7Dst6OPIEKFXtQFxhZcieE1g3VkgZ_DKsVv6oAUgEAD7A4XUJ3bEZGSM9Qrcres56ZmBO0hrCjStvxe5sz0r33ao/s640/006.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6mDwQ4tjXm2MGYM7_Vj1O4Xf9oQWn9_BCsTrkKX_q_TJPsJ_KQ9Bj47UszgFb7zmYIYBtB6h1xLN_g69nMRFznQ393TLeygJLEPIPymxjvv-Ek6z99b5RUiAyHG_tXBgNFQMUAlg397U/s1600/050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6mDwQ4tjXm2MGYM7_Vj1O4Xf9oQWn9_BCsTrkKX_q_TJPsJ_KQ9Bj47UszgFb7zmYIYBtB6h1xLN_g69nMRFznQ393TLeygJLEPIPymxjvv-Ek6z99b5RUiAyHG_tXBgNFQMUAlg397U/s640/050.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6R-ctdzRcapvViFuMp-TPVuGrd9q41WeJCoXSIM8l9UCuU4rFHWmd2rvPeDzNT7iGNPJ-iv_4_KMtEd_NEAfRCvy7W6F13lKZgsIz6VPgFV_0UFBs-Z6Nv_vzZua_ETL1naBRZj7WH0/s1600/075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6R-ctdzRcapvViFuMp-TPVuGrd9q41WeJCoXSIM8l9UCuU4rFHWmd2rvPeDzNT7iGNPJ-iv_4_KMtEd_NEAfRCvy7W6F13lKZgsIz6VPgFV_0UFBs-Z6Nv_vzZua_ETL1naBRZj7WH0/s640/075.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Look...I was actually at the party. I'm kind of bummed that we didn't get a family picture, but oh well!<br />
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Can I just say that a pinata at a three year old birthday party is NOT a good idea...especially an indoor party. There were some pretty nervous parents in the room at this point. <br />
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Grammy, G-Pa, Kristin, Madison, Katelyn, Chip, Eva, Nemo, Papa, Lance, Kathy, Shawn, Cameron, Amy, D'Laney, and Brynna all came from out of town to help us celebrate. It always makes me feel so loved for our family to drive all this way to see us. <br />
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Happy Birthday to the sweetest boys this world has ever known! We're two weeks into it and I can officially report that the behavior of three year olds really is worse than two year olds. It will get better. It will get better. It will get better. (This is my mantra right now).Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-22969373603504966772011-10-05T07:00:00.000-05:002011-10-04T23:55:02.360-05:00Happy Half Birthday Harper!Harper is SIX months old today. The magnitude of this is unbelievable. I can't quite grasp that she has been with us for half of a year already and I often find myself wondering what in the world we did without her. <br />
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At 6 months, Harper weighs 12 pounds, is finally moving into 3-6 months clothing (although she still fits in most of her 3 month clothes...I'm just so sick of them!), is rolling over from her back to her stomach (finally), takes 2 to 3 naps a day, still gets up a few times in the night to eat, absolutely adores her brothers, is very vocal when she wants attention (not crying, just really loud talking), is in size 1-2 diapers, loves her toy giraffe (Sophie), her glow-worm, and her light wand, eats a little bit of rice cereal twice a day, loves to be laid down in her bed with a blanket and paci for naps, has taken exactly ONE nap in the crib in her room, gives the biggest smiles when you come to get her out of bed, and pretty much spends most of her day smiling and playing. <br />
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This past Saturday, Harper and I took our first shopping trip to Lubbock. She did great all day and I had so much fun hanging out with her. We went to the bank, Hobby Lobby, JCPenny, Babies R Us, Sam's Club, and Kohls and Harper did not cry one time. We talked to everyone we saw and I agreed when they told me that she was the most precious thing they've ever seen. She pretty much is. I think the best part of the day was that I just felt so....normal. There is nothing about Harper (other than her small size) that would indicate to people what all she's been though and it's nice to just go on about life so normally now. <br />
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Harper really is such a joy and I always find myself wondering or asking Dustin how I got to be so lucky to get to be her mom. She really is something special. <br />
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At her last cardiologist appointment, we mentioned that she wasn't using her right arm very much or at all sometimes. This really bothered Dr. Robinson, so he ordered an MRI of her brain, which we had done on Monday. I was hoping to get results Tuesday, but didn't, so hopefully we'll hear something today. I fully expect everything to be fine, but it will be nice to get that confirmation. She did go about 6-8 weeks with a very noticeable lack of movement in her right arm, but has since begun to use it just as much as her left arm, which is a relief. I'll let you know what we find out.<br />
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Happy Half Birthday, Popper! Here's hoping that the second half of your first year is MUCH less eventful than the first half!Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006358085498967933.post-22919267415835279902011-09-16T11:57:00.000-05:002011-09-16T11:57:25.823-05:00The Boy Who Cried WolfAlternate Titles: <br />
<em>The Girl Who Cried Surgery </em><br />
<em>I'm a Complete Lunatic</em><br />
<em>Did That Really Just Happen?</em><br />
<em>Biggest Relief Ever (But I'm Still Crazy)</em><br />
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A back-story: <br />
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Before Harper was born, we went to see Dr. Robinson (the pediatric cardiologist) several times for fetal echo cardiograms and to discuss our plan of action once Harper was born. You might recall, that it seemed very clear to both Dustin and I that they would wait until Harper was 6 months old to do surgery, but if she absolutely needed something done early on, they would perform the PA band as an intermediate step to hold her over until her big surgery. This was discussed several times and Dustin and I both came away with this understanding.<br />
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Fast forward to the time of Harper's birth and all of a sudden they start talking about the big open heart surgery being done between 8-10 weeks. And we were like, "wait a minute, what about the PA Band that you talked about doing? Wasn't that the plan if Harper needed something immediately?" <br />
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And Dr. Robinson said, "PA Band???" (shocked and not understanding). And we said, "yeah, the PA Band that we talked about." And all of a sudden that wasn't even an option and Dustin and I left feeling confused and slightly crazy like we had imagined the whole thing. <br />
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At least that time I had a witness. <br />
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So we go in yesterday. I wasn't really nervous...I'm kind of back into the "let's deal with this" zone instead of the "feel sorry for myself all the time" zone. Harper's oxygen saturation was 100%, she has gained 5 more ounces since last week, and she's looking good. Dr. Robinson comes in to do the echo cardiogram, does it, and then says, "She looks good. She looks happy." (He's always talking about how happy she looks and I want to say, "yeah,, but what about her heart...that's kind of why we're here").<br />
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And I was like, "So...(not even knowing how to finish a question I hadn't even started) what are you thinking now about surgery?" <br />
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And he said, "Surgery?" <br />
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I wanted to scream, "Remember, the surgery you told me she would need last time we came? The time I could barely hold myself together to pay my copay and get out the door at which point I fell apart in my car, picturing my baby going through that again? Six long weeks ago...the six weeks that I've been counting down to come back and check on her? The nights I've cried myself to sleep? The whole conversation about me taking her home and loving her and letting you worry about her heart?"<br />
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But I didn't. I just kind of stood there...speechless....feeling like a complete lunatic. I was so confused, trying to make sense of it in my mind. Had I dreamed the whole thing? <br />
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And then it hit me....as much as I feel like a lunatic and whatever alternate universe we were in last visit...he is telling me that Harper<em><strong> won't</strong></em> have to have another surgery. (He did leave a small window of possibility open, but made it seem very unlikely). And as crazy and embarrassed and confused as I feel, so very much more, I feel grateful and relieved. <br />
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All I can figure is...whatever it is that he saw last time, whatever had him so concerned...he didn't see it this time. And <em>that</em>...is a God thing. <br />
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Now I know what you're thinking, "there goes that Amy Grigsby trying to get attention again, blowing things out of proportion." Which is why I wish so very, very badly that someone would have been with me last time. I keep telling Dustin, "Dustin, I promise..." and he just says, "Amy, I totally believe you." Because let's be honest, he doesn't have much of a choice, for regardless of what he really believes, he is required to take my side. For five months now, I have had three children under the age of three and more stress than I was made to endure....I DON'T NEED HELP FEELING CRAZY!<br />
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Whatev. I'm okay with being a complete lunatic if it means sweet Popper doesn't have to go through heart surgery again. I'm elated, I'm relieved, and I'm praising God for whatever it is He did to Harper's heart. <br />
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Side note: there are some developmental things that Dr. Robinson is concerned about. More than likely, they are related to the heart surgery, but he definitely wants to make sure in the off chance that it is an independent issue, so Harper is scheduled for an MRI the first week in October. I thought it was something we could just skip across the street to the hospital for like an x-ray or blood work, but it turns out she has to be admitted and not eat for 6 hours and all that mess...you'd think I wouldn't still be so naive about medical things. <br />
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Side Side Note: So, our eccentric doctor's ways have raised some concerns about if Harper is really in the best hands or not. As crazy as I feel at times, I have nothing but complete confidence in Dr. Robinson. As much bitterness as I have for anyone that makes me feel so incredibly nutso, I have so much more love and respect for him and there hasn't been a single minute that I've questioned his abilities. I have to remember that Harper isn't his only patient....that he's seen hundreds of kids since our last visit....and that he can only base his decisions and outlook each time on what he sees at the time. I don't think he misdiagnosed her last time. I don't think he was wrong or confused. I think that a lot of people have been praying for Harper and now we are able to see very clearly our answered prayers. <br />
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No pictures this time because I can't find the blasted camera anywhere. If you saw my house you'd understand. I could lose an elephant in here right now.<br />
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Go ahead...leave me lots of comments telling me how dilusional I am. I can take it.Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16006460322792406753noreply@blogger.com8