A long end to a REALLY LONG week! Thank goodness for weekends!

Warning, this is long!!

Oh my gosh! I cannot tell you how glad I am that this week is finally over! Yes, this week was bad, and hard, and stressful, etc., etc., etc.!!

It actually kind of started Saturday night with a bad reaction to an allergy pill I took, I was up all night throwing up and dizzier than I've ever been in my whole life. In fact I was wondering if it wasn't really an allergy pill, since the bottle gets dropped quite often in our home, medications have the tendency of getting mixed once in awhile. So, I stayed in bed all day Sunday to start off the week.

Monday wasn't bad. It was my cousin Brooks' 24th birthday that I got to celebrate with family at PF Changs. Brooks died in an automobile accident in February of 2003, so it was a bittersweet celebration. But, I love getting together with my fam, and Emarie of course loves all the attention she gets with them!

Tuesday was a nightmare! Work was insane! I'm on a deadline to re-test all my kids on the screener they take to get in the program. For some reason we haven't been able to find one of our testing kits, so I have to make sure I'm done with all the English kids this week, so that the other teacher can do the rest that need it done in Spanish. I have probably never been less involved in my classroom than I have been the last month! But, I have some really fun things planned for this month to make up for it. Also, I failed to mention that Steve's mom had twisted her ankle the day before (Monday), went to the doctor and was told to stay off of it for a week. That left us with a bit of a debacle on what to do about a babysitter. I asked my next door neighbor for ideas of people, and she was kind enough to offer to do it the next day (Wednesday) and then told me I should email our Relief Society president, since she could send out a group email to people in our ward to see who might be able to help out. This would have been great if I could have just gotten her email right! I tried 4 different times to send it with no luck! I finally gave up and just sent it to Rebecca to forward on for me. Once it finally worked (about 5 pm on Wednesday) I got so many responses, it was so overwhelmingly unbelievable I can't even express in words! I ended up letting the first person to respond go ahead and do it since she is a nurse! And thank goodness for her (see Thursday)!

Wednesday was ok except for Emarie's blasted pump! Every once and awhile we will have a pump (this is her feeding pump) that will have or eventually get a glitch where it tells us things that are not true! Yes, in short the dang little thing lies! What it does is beep and say there's "No Food" when in fact there is food in the bag and in the line, no air pockets or anything. So, if there's not a problem when it's saying there's a problem, essentially there's no way to fix it! Well, you can reset it and prime it, and sometimes it works, most of the time, it doesn't! So, I was worried that morning that someone who's never watched Emarie before was going to have to deal with this thing with virtually no training (since I didn't really have any time to). Bless Rebecca's heart though! I do consider her a very dear friend these days, and probably talk to her more about everything than to anyone else! I did have to drive back to her house (next to my house) only once, and she handled it herself the rest of the day, oh wait, except when Steve came home for lunch! She is a live-saver! And she is going to get a very nice treat! Emarie loved being at her house with all of her kids (she has 5, ranging from 18 mos up to 11 years, great kids too!) Also, this day was my assistant Katie's last day, who's been with me for three years! It was really hard to see her go. But, I think we gave her a nice little send off (the kids and I), and I know she's on to bigger and better things, since she is a college grad now! Way to go Katie, but we will miss you!

Ok Thursday was, well.....SCARY! So, as I mentioned above, Em's pump had really been acting up. It not only was lying about there not being a problem, but that it wasn't giving her as much food as it was showing. Essentially, Emarie had barely any sustenance for 2 whole days! That's a lot when you weigh barely anything! So, like I said, thank goodness for Tarah! She is the nurse that watched her on this day. And she asked me, "Is she normally listless, really sleepy?" And she added that she was concerned that she'd only had one wet diaper all day. By then I was in the room where she was, and the sight about killed me! She was like a limp noodle, and those that know her, know that that's not her at all! Even more alarming was how dry her mouth and lips were, and her breath was really raspy and labored. I knew immediately that this little girl was seriously dehydrated! So, I tried my best to stay calm, but first thing I did when we got home was bolus in about 5 ounces of water. I even gave her a bottle to help with the horrible dry mouth. Then, I called the doctor and made an appointment. By then, Steve was done with work and we went and got some pedialyte. And he had called Intermountain Homecare to come switch out the pump. Em checked out fine with the nurse, and by late into the night, was doing much better! Our new pump worked until her dose this morning, which leads me to......

Friday (today) was ehh. Started off with the pump not working, which made us (well mostly me) late. Finally had to give up and just prime some into her. The problem with that though, is there's no way to tell exactly how much she gets with that. But, there wasn't much else we could do, since Intermountain doesn't open until 9. So when I took her to my grandma, I primed a little more in and then turned the dang thing off, with the promise that I would have the delivery guy bring the pump to her house and I would meet him when he came. I had the last Friday meeting of the year today, which essentially was a big deal, but hey, my daughter will always be more important! We made sure to tell them (Intermountain) that this happens all the time! That being, we have a defective pump, and then they bring us another defective one. So they promised they'd send a new one this time. However, Steve joked that we need to start writing down the serial numbers, so we can make sure we aren't always getting the same one! Ends up the guy can't come until about 1:30, and by then, I'm home. So we call to make sure the guy comes to our house instead of my grandma's. Well guess what?? Around 1:30 I get a call from my grandma saying that a nice delivery man from Intermountain Homecare is there! Well, I'm not driving up there, especially since Emarie is sleeping like the dead at this point! Well, he was nice and drove to my house and gave me a brand new pump (I know, because it was still in a plastic, factory package!)! So far, it's working, but keep your fingers crossed!

So, back to Emarie. She seems to be back to herself, other than that uncommonly long, 4 hour nap she took today! I was a little worried about that, but figured she needed it, and she woke up feeling great! Charmed everyone at Costco! And I do feel I deserve a bad mom of the week award for this! I was so wrapped up with the stress of this week that I failed to notice that my daughter was starving to death! I just really hope her crazy dietician never gets wind of this incident, because I'm sure social services would be involved, since she's threatened to charge us with malnutrition before! Nobody tell her!!!

Sorry, so long, but in all fairness, I did warn you! Thanks for reading though, I needed to vent about my awful week!

Girls trip to Sedona!

Sorry, it's taken me so long to get anything about mine and Emarie's recent trip posted, you really have no idea how busy I've been!! But there is really only about a month left of school, and I've just got to hold on until then. But, I will tell you that I do have to move for a third time this school year from my classroom. Yes, they are demolishing more of the building, which leaves 6 of us teachers with no other choice than to move to a different building until construction is all said and done. So, I am one of those, and they are giving us sooo much time to move out.......NOT! I have to be completely moved out of my room by the morning of the 28th of May. But, here's the best part.....Guess when the last day of school is??? The 27th of May!! So, that's right, after we put kids on the bus that day around 3:40, we will then proceed to be working all night long to get this done! Sucks, I know, but what else can I do? I don't want to rock the boat when I'm so lucky to still have a job!

So, after that mess is all said and done, I will have just about 2 days before Emarie's big surgery. And believe me, I am really dreading this one! I have had several comments about how after 10 surgeries, we should really be pros by now. I just want to know, is that ever possible when you are a parent to be a pro at anything?? But, especially not this! Sure, it's very routine for us when she say, gets tubes replaced, or a prosthesis exchange, because really those ones happen all the time. But, I've talked to a couple parents, and this will be nothing like we've ever experienced before. The only thing that will even come close, will be her feet surgery, because there are a lot of similar techniques. Like, the use of an epidural, the numerous casts that weighed no less than 3 lbs (and that's a lot when she only weighed about 10 at the time!)! And that first night of horrific pain that I really hoped I would never have to witness my little girl go through again. But, this will be worse. Dr. Stotts said, "Much, much worse." Enough said, for me to know that I have a little less than a month and half to prepare for something pretty awful. So, sorry to bum you out, but sometimes a mom just needs to vent!

So now to cheer you up with some beautiful pictures from our wonderful trip to Sedona, Arizona.

Yes, it was just the girls, my mom, me and Emarie. It was wonderful, and just what we all needed. The weather was more perfect than we could have asked, with temps in the mid 80's, even reaching the 90's one (which got a little too hot, in my opinion!). So, we were able to go to the pool and get some sun, and were sorry to have to leave so soon!

No words necessary for the beauty of Sedona!

Just lounging at the pool!

My constantly happy girl!

The girls out shopping in downtown Sedona

Emarie became quite fond of this twirling statue, she would laugh so hard when the wind would blow them around!

Emarie in the pool, she just loves the water!!

Em and I sunbathing (nevermind those rolls, I'm still working on toning! And hoping to be completely where I want this summer!)

Emarie sneakily stealing my magazine!

Doesn't seem to mind that I caught her though!

This girl is really growing up........sniff, sniff

Posing in the dress Great-Grandma Andrews got her

Tried to get a picture of her sitting in front of the condo before we took off, but she wasn't really cooperating!

Grandma and Em at the restaurant in Flagstaff for one last meal before we really took off. Such beautiful smiles!

Conked out in the car! She lasted until Page. Which is pretty good, if I do say so myself!

We finally arrived home around 10 pm that night, and daddy had a surprise for Emarie..........

He worked tirelessly every night we were gone to finally finish her crib! So, Emarie officially has been sleeping in her crib ever since we got back! And don't worry, there is a front to it, Steve just hadn't put it on when we took this.

Sorry such a long post. But I did put all of the pics on Facebook, if you haven't gotten a chance to see them on there.

Some Easter Pics

We tried to get pictures of this little girl sooner in her Easter dress. I wanted some outside shots, perhaps at the park. But sadly, the weather would not allow. But, I'll still try sometime. Maybe we can get some in Sedona.

I kept trying to put the bunny next to her, but she kept pushing him off the stairs!

She wanted the blanket that I was holding (that's why she's reaching!)

Sadly this will probably be the last Easter picture we take on this staircase. I may as well announce that we are officially putting our home on the market on Tuesday. Some of you (a very few) know why this is happening. Those that don't, well, I'm just not ready to divulge just yet, but I'm sure you'll find out soon enough.

But, life will go on......

Things have been hard lately, to say the least. I'll start off with the fact that, I have been noticing for some time now that things are not quite right with Emarie's hips and feet. Her PT and I noticed the other day that there is definitely a discrepancy with the length of her legs. This, I know she wasn't born with, so it could only come from two things: her hips, or her spine. The worst of course being the latter. So, I reluctantly put off making the appointment, until I could no longer avoid it. I knew what the answer would be at this appointment, but does that make it any easier to hear? Short answer, no!

I love Dr. Stotts to no end! He is amazingly compassionate and understanding when it comes to Emarie. His fascination and curiosity about her conditions, do not bother me in the least bit, because he is so sweet and tactful about it. Example, asking me if it's ok if he brings in a student to see her most uniquely shaped feet. My likeness and respect grew even more for him today, when the look of concern I saw on his face (he seriously looked close to tears when delivering the information) when he told me she would need yet another surgery. He told me, he'd never seen any child's hips regress like Emarie's have in the last year. It's no wonder she doesn't like to stand when her hips are popping in and out of joint. He assured me that this is not putting her in pain, just probably very weird and uncomfortable. It is good to get an answer, but it is making me wonder....... I definitely see the benefit of getting this done while she's young, but on the latter, I keep thinking, enough is enough. This child has had 9 surgeries in her 2 short years, I just can't imagine putting her through more. But, I do see that this would be better suited now, than say 5 years down the road. And I want to help my daughter in every way possible.

Here's the hard parts, what this surgery will entail (because it will be bigger, and more elaborate than anything she's had done already):

First, it will include at least a week in the hospital. And, I'm going to be realistic, knowing my daughter, we could be looking at more like 10 days.

She will be in a "Spika" cast for about 4 weeks. For those of you that don't know what this is, it is a full pelvic cast. That means, it starts slightly below the breast bone, goes to just above the knee. There will be a rectangular sized hole for her diaper to go up inside (visualize that as you will!) The hardest part though, is how still she will have to be for those 4 weeks. It makes me cringe to think of how uncomfortable she will be, especially in the dead heat of July.

The worst yet, is Dr. Stotts said this would probably be the most painful surgery she'll ever have. The worst pain I've ever seen her in was the night after her feet surgery, he was sorry to say that this would be worse. I cried for a good 2 hours after digesting this. There is nothing worse than seeing my baby in pain, and I mean NOTHING!! I just hope you will all keep me in your prayers that I can be strong for her, because I just don't know what I'm going to do.

On a happier note, here is a recent picture of Emarie in one of the new skirts I recently bought her. This is the first time I have bought her new spring/summer clothes since the year she was born!

And yes that is really big attitude from a very little girl!

And Steve and I got to go to a Jazz game with his sister Amber and her husband Kevin

We had a lot of fun! Thanks Amber and Kevin (and Kristal and Uli, who couldn't come, so that's who's tickets we got!)

Em's latest surgery and St. Patty's day!

So, on Monday, Emarie had her 9th surgery. This was a tubal (ear) placement, as well as an ABR.

The biggest news with this, is that her ABR showed moderate hearing loss, that has nothing to do with middle ear problems like they previously thought. Which means, she will probably have to be getting hearing aides. We will know more on this when she has her next ABR in a month or so. But, otherwise, the surgery went fantastic! Emarie had absolutely the fastest recovery in post-op, only like an hour! This is really, really good for her, since usually she has problems breathing and staying awake, so we end up being there for hours. But, she woke up alert and didn't take long to be back to her laughing, happy self. She even said her latest word as she was being wheeled from post-op to recovery, which is "VA-VA-VOOOM!" The nurses thought it was very funny, which so do we!

So here's some pictures from the surgery:

Loves holding the pager!

Getting stats done

In her cute scrubs

With the anesthesiologist

In post-op, had to have her computer (thanks again Howe family!)

Had to share these pictures from today! I've been waiting and waiting for this skirt (that my mom got her before she was even born) to fit her! And the weather has been nice enough, and I figured I can make it work, even though it is an 18 month one. But, hey we're getting there!

Nevermind about that nasty bruise on her forehead, we think the I.V. tech must have been new or a student, judging by the fact that she has them all over her body!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Birthday Steve!!

So today is Steve's 31st birthday! Yes, he is well into his 30's now! But gotta love that he doesn't look a day over 25! Or act a day over 12 for that matter!!

So the big birthday surprise were Muse tickets! Shows you how much I love this guy that I'm willing to sit through 3 hours of a band I can't stand! I also got up a little earlier and made omelets, and tonight Steve's mom is keeping Emarie, and we'll rent a movie, get a pizza, and I'm making artichoke dip! It should be a fun night in, and then April 5th is when the concert is!

Happy Birthday to the best husband and daddy ever!!

We love you!!

Update on Emarie

So, Emarie's glasses were broken a couple weeks ago (they got stepped on), and I took them in for an adjustment and was told that it was time for a new pair. So after much deliberation and browsing, I decided to spend the extra $80 for the ones that are much more flexible/durable and come with a two year replacement guarantee! They took a little more than a week to come in, but they are finally here! And she looks sooo cute in them (but who doubted she would!), and they make her look so much more grown up than the last pair, which is a little sad for mommy!

So without further ado, here they are:

If that is just not the cutest little two year old!!

Now, in other news, we had an appointment with the endo today, and there's some bad news (but don't be alarmed!), Emarie has not grown much since last time. Remember how excited we were that she was in the 20th percentile for length?? Well, she has since dropped off the charts again. On a happier note though, she has now hit the 20 lb mark, but don't get too excited about this either, she is still not on the charts for that! All this did however, make Dr. Foster realize she needed to up Em's Saizen dose quite a bit, which made us happy. Now if we could just get the darn new insurance to give us an approval so she can get back on (she has been off for close to 3 weeks)! But, she is still just as happy and chipper as ever! We so love this little girl!!