Flat Stanley Visits Utah

Anna's 1st grade teacher in Hawaii has been very sweet to keep in touch with her. Recently we got a request to take some pictures of her friend Flat Stanley and send them back for the class to see. The class is reading the book and each student has sent their version of Stanley to relatives or friends in hopes to receive pictures of his adventures. We had a lot of fun taking the pictures. If you are wondering about the bear and rhinocerous, we took those at the Bean Museum at BYU. =)

Happy Valentine's Day

Joel had beautiful flowers delivered to the house for me for Valentine's Day. They were so beautiful and I have been enjoying them so much. He also sent a Pajamagram. =) He is so thoughtful. I wish I had gotten him something better. I gave him a hammer and nails. Seriously. =) I thought he would rather have something we needed. I had better do something really good for his birthday.

Joel and I make a special breakfast for the kids every valentine's day. This is a tradition from my side of the family. Half of the fun is setting it all up and writing the little valentine's for each member of the family.

Photo Shoot

A good friend took some beautiful pictures of Lily recently. The pictures tuned out really nice. I am glad that we did it before her feet were casted. I think it will be a good memory of how her feet looked. Thank you Rachel!

Dads and Doughnuts

Anna's school held a special event recently called "Dads and Doughnuts." All of the first-graders got to invite their dads to class for a little doughnut social, including a little music by the class. Anna was thrilled to have her dad there with her. I guess that they do another day called "Moms and Muffins." I told Anna, though that I wish it was switched to "Moms and Doughnuts" and "Dads and Muffins" right???

And the winner is. . .

We won tickets to Disney on Ice for the whole family with this picture. Joel sent it in to a radio station and was chosen as the photo of the day. It is a classic Joseph moment!

Casting

Joseph asks to hold Lily every day.
He loves her so much and gives her kisses every chance he gets.

Lily's blessing day.

Isn't this so cute?? She smiled just as I snapped the shot. Her little casts go all the way up her legs. But they are placed to stretch her feet into correct positioning.

Here is a picture of her feet when she was a few weeks old.
I may post another picture later if I can get a hold of it.

The Orthopedic Specialist changed his mind about casting Lily's feet. He had originally thought she would not benefit from the process because her feet were a little stiff. But after consulting with other doctors he was encouraged to try because other similar cases have been successful. So we have jumped quickly into starting her casting. The process is a lot more involved than I would like. It requires weekly visits to replace casts for about six weeks, then about 3 months of wearing shoes with a bar connecting them for 23 hours a day. Then the shoes will be worn for nap and bed time up until she's maybe two years old. I have to keep telling myself that it is better for her life in the long run. I just can't help but feel a little sad for her and for me to have to deal with all of this.

Updates

We are moving! We feel very blessed to have found a home for rent within my sister's ward boundaries and Anna's school boundaries as well. It is just right for what we need right now until we feel ready to buy something. So we will be making the move in a few days.

We got a new car! Okay it is actually a used 2004 Nissan Quest. But man, it feels new. =) We are loving having our own wheels again. Anna and Eryn are loving the DVD player in it.

Lily and I attended our first Spina Bifida Clinic appointment a few weeks ago. It was wonderful. The way it works is that all of the families arrive around the same time in the morning. Then each family is placed in a room down a long hall. The doctors then roam the halls going in and out of each room all morning long. This way families can see multiple specialists all in one visit and doctors can communicate with eachother easily about each patient. We arrived a little early, so we were one of the first few to arrive. As I sat in the waiting room filling out paperwork I was very impressed. Family after family arrived, filling up the waiting room. Each child with spina bifida displayed different degrees of capability. Some were still babies being carried or pushed in a stroller. Others were walking with no aid whatsoever. Others had walking devices or wheelchairs. All were surrounded by loving parents. There was a very sweet feeling in that room and I just felt blessed to be there.

The doctors were so positive and capable. The main information we got dealing with Lily is that she will be needing some bladder studies in a few months to better understand what kind of function she has there. Until then we will still be cathing her every four hours (which we have gotten much better at doing). They think she will need surgery on her clubbed feet between nine months to a year old. Other than that we have some people coming to the house to start working on physical therapy in the next month.

My friend Daylynne came with me to the clinic as moral support. She and I went to school together in Hawaii and lived down the street from each other. Our families are very close. In fact when I found out about Lily, she was one of the first people I thought of. This is because she is the only person I knew with spina bifida. Anyway, she is taking the opportunity to help me as much as she can and I feel very blessed by her love and positive support. It was great to have her imput and company.

Jojo showed his big brotherness when he sat still for his first haircut at a local barbership. Everyone is commenting on how much older he looks. When we say, "Handsome," he hand combs the right side of his hair.

Eryn's 1st Day of Preschool

Eryn has never been more excited. This morning was her first day of Preschool. She is just thrilled to finally be going to school like her big sister.

Christmas

Here are my sister's boys and Anna and Eryn on Christmas Eve. Anna could not sleep hardly all night on Christmas Eve. She was so excited. So by the time she allowed herself to sleep she was so exhausted, we had to wake her up.

It was so great to be home with Lily for Christmas Eve and Christmas. She seemed very relaxed and comfortable to finally be out of the hospital. Here she is in her swing sleeping while the rest of us were pigging out on our big Christmas Eve dinner. =)

The day before we could bring Lily home Santa dropped in for a visit. I was told that this was the real Santa from the Macy's in New York. He was very cute and jingled his jingle bells all over the hospital.

My sister Becca came for Christmas and spent a full day of sitting at the hospital with me. She made for great company. In this picture Becca is holding Lily very carefully with pillows on her lap and her hands placed away from the stitches going up Lily's back. We couldn't put any pressure on her back until just recently when her stitches were removed. She was also kept in the hospital an extra day or two to make sure she was taking in enough oxygen. That's why she has the little round sticker on her face holding on the oxygen tube.

Over all it was a very memorable christmas where presents meant nothing to me and family meant everything. Right now we are just settling back in to a routine and anticipating more doctor visits. We are also in the process of getting into a rental home and buying a car. Thank goodness Joel is on the job or I would be a mess. =)