Our Home Show!

Sadie made this gorgeous invitation for our event this next Tuesday. Isn't she talented? We look forward to seeing many of you at the home show! Remember, if you can't attend, please participate online and help Wes and Jamie adopt a baby! More details here.

Books for Babies

I am so excited to introduce our fundraising event held for the benefit of my brother, Wes, and his wife, Jamie.

Wes and Jamie have been blessed with two beautiful children. However, they feel that their family is still incomplete. Due to some medical conditions they are unable to have more children on their own. They have lovingly and selflessly decided to adopt a baby, two if possible.

The expenses of adoption are immense. I thought I had it bad when I received labor and delivery bills for my son, but those expenses are only a drop in the bucket compared to the costs associated with adoption.

Any of you who know Wes and Jamie know how hard they work. Since they made the decision to adopt a couple of years ago they have worked hard to earn and save extra money. They have held a garage sale, taken on odd jobs like babysitting and lawn care, and have scrimped and saved their pennies by couponing and buying their clothes second-hand.

Please join me in helping Wes and Jamie raise the last bit of what they need to adopt. Their family profile is currently being shown to birth mothers and they could be receiving a baby any day now!

Jamie and Wes with their two kids.

On Tuesday, October 23, from 4-7pm we will be holding an Usborne Chilren's Book Open House at my mom's house in Sandy, Utah. We will donate 20% of the retail value of all sales to Wes and Jamie for their adoption expenses. If you cannot attend the home show directly you may participate online here or contact me directly to make an order. Direct donations are also appreciated and can be sent directly to Wes and Jamie through Paypal or by clicking the "Donate" button to the right just below our family picture.

I love this event because everyone wins! With Christmas just around the corner it's the perfect time to stock up on gifts for the children in your lives: your kids, grandkids, friend's kids, nieces, nephews, etc. Usborne books are some of the most beautiful and educational children's books out there. You get to share these wonderful books with the children you love the most while helping Wes and Jamie complete their family.

Please pass the word along so we can get as many people involved as possible!

Here are a some of my favorite Usborne books:

For infants/toddlers:  Baby's Very First Black and White Library, Lullabies (great for baby showers), That's Not My..., Baby's Bedtime Storybook
For preschoolers: There's a Mouse About the House!, Wipe-Clean Collection (sold individually as well), Big Book of Things to Spot
For early readers: Farmyard Tales, Beginners Adventure Collection (sold individually as well), Ted and Friends
For older kids (8 yrs+): Write Your Own Story Book, Discovery Starter Collection (also sold individually), Drawing, Doodling, and Coloring
Family reading: Bible Stories, Illustrated Stories, Illustrated Classics

Remember, from now until the end of October, 20% of all book sales made online and from me directly will go straight to Wes and Jamie to help them pay for their adoption! We hope to see many of you at our home show on the 23rd! Pass the word along!  And Thank You!!

Disclosure: As an independent consultant for Usborne Books & More I do earn commissions on all books sold. For this campaign, 80% of commissions will be donated directly to Wes' family. The remaining 20% will be used to fund the home show and to pay for all other expenses related to this fundraiser. If money remains after all expenses are paid it will be donated to Wes and Jamie as well. Usborne Publishing Ltd. (UK) has no connection with this page and does not sponsor or support its content.

Games With Daddy

OK, still playing catch up. Here are a few games that Tommy and Daddy have made up together in the past few months. The first one is called Box Computer. Tommy spontaneously did this on his own. Ben has an extra mouse that he lets Tommy drag around. This morning Tommy decided to plug it into the cereal box and play a game. It's amazing how vivid his imagination is. I can almost see the chip game and I don't even have an imagination!

This next video is the dump truck game. It's one of our favorites.

Spring Training

I'm going back through our older entries and finding drafts that are all ready to post. I guess you actually have to press the "Publish" button for it to show up on the blog, don't you?

In April we went to a Spring Training game at the Goodyear Ballpark. It's a fun chance to see major league baseball teams play without having to spend much money. We sat on the grass and bought ice cream. It was one of the first hot days of the season, which was unfortunate. I kept Lily in the shade of my body for most of the time. We had a great time, though. We played in the grass, took walks around the stadium, and ate homemade gourmet sandwiches. When we left Tommy said, "We should always buy ice cream when we go to the game." Yes we should, Tommy, yes we should.

Denver - May 2012

I know this post is so late, but better late than never, right? In May we went to Denver for about 10 days to spend time with Ben's family. We even got to see Aunt Steph, who flew in from Provo to spend some time with us and run the Color Run. She's so cool. We drove to Denver in one day this time, which is something we will never attempt again. It took us nearly 18 hours. Tommy threw up twice before we even got to Flagstaff, Lily hated her carseat, we had to stop frequently to nurse/change diapers/go potty/run around and scream like crazy people, and when we finally pulled into the Chatterton's driveway three of us were in tears. Real family bonding time. On the plus side, our Ford turned over 100,000 miles on the way up, so that was fun. Our trip back to Phoenix was much better. We split it into two days. Awesome.

Although the driving was no fun, the part in between driving to Denver and then driving back home was very pleasant. The Chattertons are so fun. We always just relax and hang out and relax and eat and chat and play in the backyard when we are there. It's awesome.

Mad baby with a gun. Watch out.

Tommy and Grandma walked to Sprouts and bought "medicine candy" (Tootsie Rolls).

Grandpa and Lily

Awesome shades we bought for Lily. Yes, America's Next Top Model, here we come!

The Color Run. My arms were stained green in places for a couple of days following. Steph is so hardcore.

Helping Grandma plant seeds. Yes, he is wearing an apron with a jacket over it.

That's Tommy and Steph playing Ghost. They built a fort and slept in it together.

We went to a prairie preserve one morning, which was pretty fun. I think Tommy must be saying something about poop to the chickens because Grandma is laughing.

Videos!! 

Here is a video of Tommy and Grandma playing a game called Cashoes. It's a mix between croquet and horseshoes.

Here is Tommy playing with Grandpa. He basically just grabbed balls and anything that looked like it could hit a ball and played.

And finally, here are the kids in a hotel in Santa Fe on the way home from Denver. We wised up and split the drive into two days. We had been in the car for about six hours and I think at this point it was past 11:00 pm, but the kids were just happy to be out of the car. We had a hotel room with two double beds, so Lily and I slept in one and Tommy and Ben slept in the other one. Before we left the hotel the next morning Lily did what she does best and pooped all over everything. We literally had her strapped in her carseat when we realized she had pooped, so we had to pull her out and use the hotel towels to clean everything up. It's her special way of saying "Thank you." But this video is really cute and not related to poop at all, so you should watch it.

We love you, Chattertons! And we'll even drive to Denver again one day to see you!

An Update On Lily

I wanted to give everyone an update on Lily's condition so I didn't leave you hanging after that last post! After spending nearly 48 hours in the hospital Lily was able to come home and has been doing great ever since. She is actually happier now than she's been for several weeks. She's back to being the easiest baby in the world, the baby that makes you want to have more babies. Now we just have to keep a Band-Aid over her incision and make sure she gets her meds (can I get a shout-out for baby Loritab anyone?) for the next few days. Ben and I were reminiscing today about where we were last week at this time - in the ER, waiting to hear if they were going to do to surgery that night or the next day, cold, worried, tired. We are so grateful to be home this week:)

Thank you again to everyone who helped out with Tommy and with meals for us. Thank you to all those who offered to help. We had way more helpers than we even had need. It touched us and humbled us to be the recipients of so much love. Thank you to those who prayed for Lily and who called or sent messages of love and support. Your prayers and your love were and still are warmly felt. We are so grateful to be home together again and to have a happy and healthy baby.

Tommy was a trooper through the whole ordeal. By Friday, though, he had had enough and was feeling very neglected and jealous of Lily. So Friday afternoon me and Tommy went on a date. I let him choose what he wanted to do. Of all the activities in the world, what Tommy wanted most was to go to Food City (our Hispanic grocery store) in our pj's. So we did. After I put Lily down for her nap we changed into our pajamas and went to Food City to get a cookie, buy some produce, and ride the electronic digger out front. He's been very well behaved since then.  Small thrills, anyone?  It was really good for both of us to spend some quality one-on-one time together.

To Celebrate Lily Turning Nine Months Old...

And then there was the day we took Lily to the ER and she got herself some surgery accompanied by some really awesome pain medications.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when the kids and I got sick with nasty colds. Lily developed what looked like a swollen gland. The area right under her jaw on her right side was swollen and red and hot. We took her to the doctor. Doctor #1 said it was probably just viral. Then she said it could be mumps so we got some blood work done. Then we switched doctors because we thought Doctor #1 was insane. Doctor #2 said it was an infection and prescribed a 10-day course of antibiotics. Lily got diarrhea because of said antibiotics. It was delightful.

After a few days her swollen gland started looking less and less like a swollen gland and more and more like a really swollen bug bite. It got hard and red and purple. We were worried. We took her back to Doctor #2 who told us to go the ER. Cue the tears and some minor hysteria. Tommy asked me, "Mom, why does your voice sound funny?" In my most chipper voice I told him it was because I was crying. Then he said, "It's ok, Mom, it happens. Are you going to be happy again?" Bless that boy's heart.

We have been blessed by amazing friends who have dropped everything to watch Tommy while we took Lily to the hospital. We have been blessed by amazing friends and family across the country who have prayed for our sweet baby.

We got to the ER at about 4:00 on Monday. They did an ultrasound and determined that the abscess was 2 cm across and 1 cm deep. Pretty big for a little baby neck. We watched Monday night football (Green Bay vs. Seahawks) and several snippets of various Disney movies. Lily was a trooper and played games and laughed even after we had been in the hospital for hours. It was cold and we had to sit around a lot. Lily couldn't eat because they thought she might need immediate surgery. Here we are hanging out in the ER when everyone was still happy.

By about 10:00 they decided to admit us to the hospital. They put an IV in Lily's arm, which I'm pretty sure is the most awful experience any of us have had to endure. They stuck both her hands and one foot looking for a vein. She's so chubby they had a really hard time finding one. After at least 20 or 30 minutes they finally found one in her arm. She screamed until she was hoarse. I tried to stay strong and not cry as I held her. Ben held me in return. They had to put her arm in a splint and tape it from her wrist to her shoulder so she wouldn't bend her arm. Cue more tears.

After this they started her on some antibiotics through the IV. I lay down with her and sang primary songs until she fell into a restless sleep, interrupted by hiccoughs from crying so much. Ben went home to get Tommy and try to sleep a bit. Lily and I were finally ushered into our room at the hospital around midnight.

We both slept lightly until 5:15 am when they started Lily on more antibiotics. She woke up screaming and didn't stop until nearly 7:00. I just held her and tried to stay calm and suppress my tears in spite of myself. The surgeon and the anesthesiologist came and talked to us. They gave Lily a drug called Versa that was a wonderdrug. Within one minute she calmed down completely, looked at me through half-closed eyes, and smiled. She was totally stoned as she let her head flop around and giggled. I laughed. It felt really good to laugh and to see Lily smile again.

All ready for surgery. You can see the infected site on the right side of her chin.

The surgery was very short. They apparently drained her lymph node of a truckload of puss. Then they looked at it under a microscope. Doesn't it sound fun to be a doctor? They still aren't sure what caused the infection, or what bacterial strain it even is. Hopefully we'll know in the next day or so.

Taking a long snooze this afternoon.  Pain meds = amazing.

Ben came bearing gifts of deodorant, socks, and fruit. It took Lily 30 minutes or so to wake up. Then she ate for over and hour. Then she slept. The rest of the day, that's how it's been: eating or sleeping. I feel like I have a newborn again.

We are hoping to go home tomorrow. It has kind of been nice to step out of my busy life and just hold my baby all day, but I'm ready to go home. Lily is ready to go home. I miss Tommy. I miss my own bed. I'm still wearing the same outfit I wore yesterday and slept in. I miss my shower. I'm sure everyone else wishes I would shower, or at least put on the deodorant Ben brought me.

Being in the hospital with my baby conjures up a whole host of mixed emotions and paradoxes. I am saddened beyond belief to see her in pain, but I know she has to be poked and prodded a bit in order to get better. I hate being interrupted every 30 minutes by somebody coming into our room to check on Lily, but I am grateful to be surrounded by capable nurses and doctors who are working hard to help her heal. I hate being in the hospital, yet I am grateful for the wonders of technology and medicine that make a potentially life-threatening infection something routine and simple. My feet are cold, yet my arms are warm from snuggling my little girl. I am so tired, but I feel energized from taking a break from my busy schedule. I miss my boy, but I am grateful for the hours I have to focus completely on my girl. I miss snuggling with Ben, yet I love him more deeply as I watch him tenderly care for our children. It's so emotional. I kind of feel like I'm a new mom again in the maternity ward, except I can walk and pee by myself.

Thank you so much to those of you who have watched Tommy or brought in meals. Thank you for the text messages, the phone calls, and the Facebook messages wishing us well and offering your services. Thank you for the prayers and for the love you send. We feel it and it is so humbling. Cue more tears.

This evening she felt well enough to play with toys for a few minutes before going to bed. Her gown doesn't stay on very well.