Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Post Surgery Photos

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. I'm finally making time to do it. Here are some photos from after Garrett's surgery while he was in the hospital. I have to say their playroom they have there is awesome and was a life saver! They had so many different things for kids to do. From toys, to art projects, to video games, to piano playing, etc. I will post a couple of more slide shows of our Christmas, so be looking for them in the next day or so. By the way, Garrett is doing great in his recovery since he's been home. He was on oxygen until the 17th. That was a real pain so we were very happy to get rid of that. He's running around and talking up a storm. It's now been just about 4 weeks since the surgery. Thank you everyone for your prayers and support!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Daddy's homecoming and Garrett's surgery

Well, Curtis made it home safe and sound this past Sunday evening. He had some flight changes and went to San Francisco instead of Chicago but his luggage was still sent to Chicago. The airlines had it shipped to Boise and delivered it to our door in the middle of the night. Anyhow, the next day we took off to Utah to get Garrett's surgery done. Tuesday was all of Garrett's pre op appointments and Curtis was kind enough to take him to all of that while I rested at the condo with Nikki and Jack. That evening we went to my aunt's house where she made us some delicious dinner of enchiladas and other great foods as well. Not to mention one of my new favorite flavors of ice cream, mint cookies n cream. Yum!! Then on Wednesday we kinda relaxed during the day and then Curtis took Garrett to a pre surgery class. After they got back we decided to do something fun with the kids since it was the night before surgery and took them to the Mayan restaurant in Sandy, UT. I do have to say the only reason we went there was the atmosphere and the diving show for the kids to enjoy. The food was not that great. I especially did not like their refried beans. Great restaurant for entertainment but not for food.


Day of surgery came and Garrett was all smiles from the time he woke up, which was around 5:30am until we parted with him 2 hrs later. He was so happy to play with toys in each waiting room and was having such a good time he didn't even ask for food or drink once. For surgery they have to be fasting. He happily let the nurse take his vital signs and enjoyed putting on his hospital clothes. My favorite part was when the anesthesiologist was pulling him away in the wagon towards the operating room he waved and yelled "Bye Mom! Bye Dad!" with a smile on his face. That made the day so much easier for me. I was also able to go back to the condo to take a nap with Jack during the surgery (the surgery was 5-6 hrs in length) also. The surgery went very well. He was in the ICU for 2 days and is now in the Children's Surgical Unit in his own room. I actually had a more difficult day yesterday because we couldn't take Jack into the ICU so we had to take turns. But now that he's in his own room Jack is allowed in and we can all be in there together. Garrett is doing well and is slowly starting to eat and drink. He hasn't been very happy though and not wanting to do much but sleep. The nurse recently gave him some medicine to help with pain on his sides and he's taking a nap. So hopefully when he wakes up he'll be a little happier. That's the update for now. Here are some pictures from this week.


It took a little while but Jack finally warmed up to his Daddy the night he came home. At least he didn't cry the first time Daddy held him.

Daddy giving the kids a ride to bed. Can you tell they missed him?

This is at the Mayan restaurant.

Jack and Daddy at the Mayan restaurant.

This is what they had outside the Mayan restaurant. This restaurant looks really cool. Great decorations and surroundings.

I think Nikki is trying to be a snake charmer.

This is Garrett when we were riding up the elevator the morning of surgery.

He didn't waste any time finding the toys.

Now Jack is joining the fun.

The nurse was taking his temperature and showing him what it said.

Surprisingly Garrett actually wanted that blood pressure thing on his arm.

Now he has his hospital clothes on.

This is him being wheeled away by the anesthesiologist. As he was rounding the corner and going through the double doors he yelled out "Bye Mom! Bye Dad!" with a smile on his face and was having a good time.

And this is after surgery. Every once in awhile he would raise one arm, even while he was sleeping. He looks like he wants to ask a question.

This is the first time he opened his eyes for me. Obviously not smiling now.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday Nikki had a Thanksgiving party at school. They made Indian hats, place mats, and turkey cookies. After seeing how cute her cookies turned out I decided that we could make some more and take them to Grandma's for a dessert item for Thanksgiving dinner.


On the way home from school yesterday Nikki said this was the best day of her life but you can't tell by the look on her face in this picture, lol.



Nikki made this place mat at school. It's even laminated.


Getting our supplies ready.


Let's make turkey cookies!


The finished turkies :)

Monday, November 23, 2009

Miracles Do Happen

My Monday started off great and here is why...



Nikki's room was a big mess last night when we went to bed and this morning she decided to clean it all by herself before eating breakfast. She was the last to get up so the boys and I were in the kitchen eating our breakfast. I heard some noise but I thought she might have been watching TV. When I called to her and asked what she was doing, she said she was cleaning her room. And sure enough she was. I think our little talk we had last night worked. I asked her if she liked having a messy room. She said "yeah" playfully. Then I said "Do you think Jesus likes your room messy?" She said "No". "How would Jesus like your room to look?". She says "clean". And then I said "we should do what Jesus wants us to do". Then she replies "yeah". ( I don't remember the exact words of the conversation but it was something like that.)

This morning after she cleaned it, she then wanted to vacuum it. So of course I let her. When she was all done she said "now the spirit can be in my room". Of course that made me very happy and I told her repeatedly how impressed I was and how happy it was making me, etc. etc. to encourage her. These are the moments when I finally feel like I'm doing something right. I also went visiting teaching this morning and had a good time so today has been a really good Monday!