Happy Birthday Alyssa!

Alyssa turned 5 years old today. How quickly the time has gone by. We had a birthday party for her last Saturday at the park. She invited kids from her preschool class and had a good time. I didn't get many pictures from her party unfortunately. Couldn't find where I had shoved the camera with all of the rest of the things we brought over to the park. Found it in time to get her being sung to for eating cake and ice cream and then put the camera away and had a hard time finding it again.

She is one of the happiest kids I know. Always has a smile on her face and an easy going attitude. She is excited to start kindergarten in the fall. She's hoping to get the same teacher that her sisters and brother had. Should be finding out tomorrow sometime.

Happy birthday, Alyssa! I hope you have a great one this year! Love you!

Wedding, Dentist and More

It has been fairly busy for us lately, which isn't very typical. Just have had a lot of things going on close to other things. And we're not quite finished.

My sister-in-law, Linda, got married last Tuesday. I would say I made her wedding cake with the help of my sister Susan, but in reality it was more that Susan made her wedding cake and I helped a little. I made the figures for the top of the cake. We got it all put together the night before. I'm happy with the way it turned out. I only heard good comments about it, so everyone else must have been happy with it as well. Here's the cake right after we finished it:

Tuesday was quite rainy most of the day. Instead of taking the group picture outside the temple we went down to the atrium. Which was nicer than standing in the rain, even if we did get in the way of people trying to get in or out of the temple. My mom watched the kids while we were in the temple for the ceremony then was nice enough to bring them up after for pictures. They seemed to really enjoy looking at the flowers in the atrium. I tried to get a good picture of them in front of it, but this was the best I could do. Which actually turned out better than I thought it would.
If you look close you can see Emma looking at me through glass.
The girls, along with their cousin Rebecca, were excited once Linda came out and gathered around her.
The day after the wedding I took all of the kids to the dentist for cleanings. It was Dylan's first time going and we didn't expect much to come from his appointment being so young and not really liking adults other than Russ or me to touch him. Lys was quite nervous because of her experience in trying to get a tooth filled without sedation. She was afraid it would be like that. She was very happy when it was easy and when she learned she didn't have any cavities.

Dylan wasn't as lucky as Lys. He has one cavity that they saw doing a quick lap exam. Which means that when he goes for his next echo on the 4th, I talk with his cardiologist and make sure he's okay with them doing sedation in their offices for him. They do have an anesthesiologist they use for real small kids like Dylan. So it probably won't be an issue, but nice to make sure.

Emma didn't have any cavities but had a tooth that was starting to get infected and needed to be pulled. She had that done this morning. My friend Jodi watched Dylan, Lys and Molly (since Molly doesn't have kindergarten today) while I took Emma in. She wanted it sedated so it was scheduled as one. But then Jimmy didn't know he wasn't supposed to and gave Emma breakfast this morning, which meant they couldn't do it sedated. After some convincing and bribing and a slight freak out over the gas (which they ended up not using), they were able to pull her tooth. I walked out of the dentist almost exactly a half hour after I walked in. Much nicer to not do sedations. Cheaper, too.

Molly and Jimmy also had no cavities. Jimmy is going to need braces pretty soon though. I need to schedule an appointment for him to see an orthodontist soon. He's not thrilled about that. Keeps asking me when he will get them. I keep telling him sometime after I make him an appointment for a consultation with an orthodontist.

Thursday Lys had a field trip with preschool. Because this spring has been cold and wet the field trip had been postponed a few times. Luckily it was a nice day that day. A little cool, but nice. Really would have felt too hot had it been any warmer that day. Molly had kindergarten in the afternoon that day for practice for the kindergarten program so she came along on the field trip. I think Lys was excited that she was able to go along too.

The field trip was to a local park to go feed the ducks. All of the kids seemed to have fun. Almost think they liked playing on the playground for a while after feeding the ducks the most. Of course, Dylan saw some ducks as we were leaving and was mad that we didn't go over and see them again.

This is Lyssa's class (and a few others like Molly and Dylan in front). Lys is in there somewhere. Not sure where though.

Molly and Lys feeding a couple of geese.
Dylan loves swings. As you can see in this picture.
Molly saw this rock as we were leaving and wanted me to take a picture of the three of them on the rock. Obviously Lys and Dylan weren't as excited about it as she was.
Friday morning Molly had her kindergarten program. This is the third one I've been to. It was just like the other two, only Molly had a short speaking part where Jimmy and Emma didn't. I mostly took video of it. I may add one with my next post, which should be coming sometime fairly soon with more upcoming events.

Saturday we went to the annual family picnic with IHH. In the past it's been held at the hospital. This year it was at a park (that I impressed myself with being able to find without getting lost at all when it had been a long time since I've been to that park). I made sugar cookies for the heart shaped dessert contest this time instead of an elaborate cake like last time. I had leftover cake last time. No leftover cookies this time. It was fun being at the park. Luckily it was another nice day.

After the family picnic we went to the hospital for a very short and quick visit to see our newest nephew, Nathan. Then went home and worked in the yard. I have learned that with this pregnancy I get tired easier than I have with the other ones. So I was pretty tired by the end of the day. And end of the week, actually. I failed to mention earlier that on Mother's Day we attended a baby blessing for another new nephew, Aaron. That was nice as well. I didn't get any pictures taken that evening though. One of these days I'll find the paper where I wrote down what I could of the blessing and get it sent to you, Sara.

Surgery Musings and Ramblings

Last night as I was lying in bed to go to sleep I kept thinking of things I could write in a post here. I also thought of Jimmy talking about when an author came to the school recently he told the kids that if they want to be writers they should keep a notebook with them to write down the ideas they get. I kind of wished I had a notebook last night to jot down the thoughts that were running through my mind. Mostly because I do that a lot. I will think of things and ways to write them on my blog but by the time I actually sit down to write it I can't quite remember how I thought of it and it's never as good as it was in my mind. Basically this is a little disclaimer to let you know that what I'm writing in this post isn't as good as it was when it ran through my mind last night. Apparently it doesn't stop me from writing it though.

I have a friend on facebook whose oldest daughter has Tetralogy of Fallot, a chd. She is scheduled for surgery to replace a valve (I believe) in a little less than a month and is quite nervous and scared about it. As I have been reading about this family and their experiences in preparing for the surgery, I can't help but wonder what it will be like further down the road when Dylan is old enough to know what is going on and will need surgery. I would imagine it will be much the same. I can honestly say it's not something I'm looking forward to experiencing.

I think of the age of this girl. She's 10. I remember how when I was 9 I had an appendectomy at Primary Children's. Yes, I know an appendectomy is nothing compared to heart surgery. I'm not even trying to compare the two. I'm just remembering how I felt going into it and realize that there are good things about going into surgery that quickly. None of us really had the time to really think about what was happening. We didn't know weeks ahead of time that this would happen. Of course my dad had recently had an appendectomy and I remembered his. I think that scared me more than anything. Granted, his was worse than mine.

I remember waking up right after the surgery. I was curious and wanted to see the area where they had done the incision. Just wanted to see how it was bandaged and such, but I think I scared the nurse who was close by. She saw me kind of sit up and start to move things to look and stopped me. I think she was afraid I would try to pull everything off. I wouldn't have. I just wanted to look. I must have still been quite groggy from the anesthesia because really the next thing I remember is being wheeled through the halls to my room and my family in the hall with smiles greeting me. And especially the big grocery bag with candy for me.

That grocery bag of candy actually ended up almost tormenting me in the hospital. It was kept by the side of my bed where I could easily look and see into it and look at the different kinds of candy bars and things. At the time I was on a liquid diet. Which was not fun for someone who really does not like tomato soup.

My mom will tell me how she felt bad for me. I would complain that I was hurting but after the first time I told the nurse that yes, I was hurting, I refused to admit it to her again. I expected pills or medicine to drink. Didn't expect the shot she gave me in my thigh. I don't remember the pain. Really only remember hurting that first time when I got the shot for the pain. And even then I only remember that I had been hurting but don't remember feeling pain.

I'm sure Dylan and this girl will remember that they felt pain after their surgeries as they get older. But I wonder if they will be like I was and have no memory of the pain. I'd like to think so.

One thing I always think of when I think of the short time I spent in the hospital following my appendectomy is of my roommate there. I believe her name was Matilda. Or something close to that. She was friendly and always seemed very positive to me. She was also paralyzed. I remember her parents chatting with mine and saying that the doctors told them she would never walk again, but how they knew that some day she would. Sometimes I think of her. I wonder how she is doing now and if her parents were right in their faith that she would walk again. At the heart mom luncheon I mentioned in my last post, Paul Cardall said to never stop fighting or believing for your children. Even if the doctors say something is impossible. Because the things that are possible today were impossible yesterday.

Funny how thinking of someone having surgery soon will lead to thoughts of someone I knew for just a couple of days.

As a parent who has had two children have surgery (one minor, one major), I can understand what my parents went through when I had my surgery. I'm hoping that having been through surgery as a child, I will be able to understand at least in some small way what my children go through when they have theirs.

Heart Mom Luncheon

I have always been glad that I joined the local CHD support group, IHH (Intermountain Healing Hearts). Today has been no exception to that. I am not the most social person in the world, but despite that I attended a luncheon they had for heart moms. I know that any description I give won't really do the event justice, but that won't stop me from trying.

In addition to lunch, Margaret Cardall, mother of award winning-composer Paul Cardall (if you remember I've mentioned him before and had a link to a video on youtube that he did where he included a couple of pictures of Dylan) spoke to us about some of her experiences with raising a child with a CHD. She said many things that were touching and many that were humorous. She talked about how there were times where she thought she needed to sleep for just two hours and have some time and she would be fine. She spoke of losing a son this past summer and how his death made Paul's heart transplant and recovery that much more of a miracle. She talked about how it's okay to live now even when we worry about our children and do the things we would like to do.

After she spoke Paul played a few songs. For one he asked for a volunteer to come up and pick three notes on the piano and said from those notes he would compose a song. The song he played from those three notes was very beautiful. Amazing to me that people have the talent to do that. He mentioned being an adult and being a patient in a children's hospital. Said it was humbling to be around all the children who had so many problems but were so strong. Said he thinks of Primary Children's as being a sacred place.

I actually thought the brief words of the emcee for the event, Rebecca Cressman, a dj for a local radio station were as good as the rest of the day. She mentioned having a son who had chronic illness as a child and as a senior in high school and in track trying to make it to an event and just missing his event. Said he told her he knew she missed it (and was glad) because out of all of the voices in the stands, the only one he can ever hear is hers and how he would know that if he failed, she would feel worse than he did. She mentioned then the power a mother has. That out of all the voices in the world, our children hear ours louder than the others.

All in all it was a very nice event. One that has left me feeling grateful and blessed for having been able to be there.

Ultrasound

Today I had my "20 week" ultrasound appointment. (In case you're wondering, I have the 20 week in quotes because apparently that's what they call this ultrasound appointment even if you aren't quite 20 weeks yet.) One thing I've always liked about my doctor is that there is rarely a long wait at the appointments. Unfortunately, such is not always the case when it comes to the ultrasound appointments. Today was one of those long wait days. The ultrasound tech even commented that his schedule was getting further and further off. When Russ and I got there a lady ahead of us went back. I knew it would be at least 20 minutes before we would go back. It was a bit longer though. By the time we finally went back, two other couples were waiting for their appointments.

Instead of taking the day off, Russ just took a longer lunch. The longer we were sitting there, the more I decided it was a good thing I didn't pick him up and we just met there. That way he was able to leave to go back to work right after the ultrasound and didn't need to wait with me to meet with the doctor.

The ultrasound went really well. He got a really good look of the heart and said that as far as he could tell, everything looked great. This was the same ultrasound tech I've had for all of my kids. He was the one who found Dylan's heart defect, so I trust his results.

I really didn't care one way or the other if the baby were a boy or a girl. I just wanted the baby to be healthy. Russ and Jimmy kind of wanted a boy. The girls wanted a girl. I had always kind of figured it would be a girl but I'm usually wrong. This time he got the ultrasound picture where it should be and then asked us what it is, since we've gone through this a few times before. I said, "Sure looks like a girl to me." So yes, we are having another girl! Now if we can come up with names...

Here are a couple of pictures from the ultrasound. This first one is of a hand and of a foot.

This one is a profile picture.

Last Cub Scout Pack Meeting

This month at pack meeting for cub scouts, Jimmy received several awards. It was his last pack meeting as a cub scout too. And I very nearly forgot about it. Would have forgotten it completely had Russ not asked Jimmy why he didn't go to scouts that day. I started to say because he's an 11-year old scout now and not in cub scouts anymore so wouldn't be going to pack meeting when I remembered that he did need to go to it and looked at the clock to see that it was about to start. I told Jimmy to quickly grab his scout shirt and we drove over while Russ stayed home with the rest of the kids. I had been planning on having the whole family go since Jimmy would be getting lots of awards but by forgetting about it didn't have time to get everyone to go. Which might have been easier anyway.

I did find the camera and did take pictures. Which have been put on the other computer and not the one I'm using. I may go back and add pictures later.

Jimmy received the pins for his communicator, family member, traveller, fitness and handyman activity badges. He earned all but 4 of the activity badges for Webelos. He also earned his compass patch and two compass points. His biggest award was the Arrow of Light award. I took video of him receiving that and since it takes so long to put videos on blogger doubt that I will put it on. The ceremony for that lasted several minutes as all of his past leaders said something about him as he crossed a bridge thing they have into boy scouts. (That wasn't the original plan for the ceremony but the person who was going to do it was sick and couldn't be there so it was a last minute decision. But I thought it was kind of nice that way.)

Jimmy is excited to be in boy scouts now. Partially because they are going to go camping sometime this summer with their fathers. I think Russ is excited about that as well. I just wonder how long it will take me before I remember what day and time he goes for his boy scout meetings instead of thinking he needs to go when he would go for cub scouts. At least he remembers.

Jimmy's Party

I have really slacked off on writing on this blog. Not really sure why other than the fact that I haven't had much to say. Granted, I've had Jimmy's birthday party I could write about for a while now and just haven't done it. Been meaning to for a while though, if that counts for anything.

Jimmy invited a few friends to come over and then walk to the nearby dollar theater to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 and pizza the day after his birthday. He was worried that no one would show up because another boy in his class was having his party at the same time. Russ and I kept telling him that if he was so worried about it we could easily change his party to the following week. We also said if he didn't want to change it and only one or two boys showed up that maybe we could go somewhere else a little more fun. The boy in his class ended up changing the time for his party, which was rather nice of him.

Somehow it went from Jimmy inviting 3 or 4 boys to inviting 6 or 7. (I say 6 or 7 because at this point I can't remember which it was and just don't feel like trying to figure it out.) I had planned all along that we would all walk over and as soon as the movie was over I would drive and pick up some pizza. Then Russ suggested that I stay home with Dylan and pick up the pizza while they were gone. Brilliant. So when it came time for them to walk to the theater, I distracted Dylan by pointing out the neighbor's dog as Russ walked off with a herd of boys and our three girls.

The movie started at 4:50 and was supposed to end around 6:30 so I drove over with Dylan to get pizza when I thought it would give me time to drive over, get the pizza and get home by the time they got out and walked back. Figuring this was a bunch of boys, I ordered a lot more pizza than I really needed. Next time I'll know that I don't need quite so much. Dylan was good and stayed right with me as I carried out the pizza to the car. He snagged a cheese stick before he would happily get in his carseat.

As I drove past the movie theater on my way home I saw people coming out like a movie had recently ended. So I figured I would have a few minutes before they got back. I was surprised when Molly came running out to greet me as I got out of the car. They had been home for just a minute or two so it really was good timing.

The kids all happily got pizza and drinks and then Jimmy opened his presents. He was thrilled with all of his presents. Then instead of a birthday cake, we ate birthday pie. Should have seen his eyes light up when I told him he could have pie instead of cake. The pie went over surprisingly well. At least no one complained about having pie instead of cake.

All in all he had a good birthday and party. Kept saying it was one of his best. Which is nice to hear.