Thursday, April 30, 2009

Living room camping trip....................

So I was down playing on the computer, and I went upstairs to check on the kids and I said "What are you doing"? Jackson said " we are camping with sister".
Jackson and Garrett trying to get into the tent with their sister

Hannah Lu seems to enjoy her tent that big brother Jackson so lovingly built for her


Sunny Day

The weather has actually been nice the past couple of days so I gathered the troops and we went for a walk. Here are a few pictures of the kids on our walk.
Jackson having fun riding his big bike. He can get on it by himself now.

Garrett pointing at the vicious dog, good thing he was behind a fence. I am sure he would have eaten Penny!


Hannah Lu enjoying her ride, she decided to take a nap



our Penny poopers enjoying her walk, she doesn't last very long and sometimes I have to put her in the stroller




here are a few pictures of her without the bars in her cheeks





I couldn't take any pictures without her eyes going huge because the light on the camera mezmorized her






Friday, April 24, 2009

Hooray for Hannah Lu!

This past Wednesday, Hannah Lu had surgery to have the bars taken off of her cheeks. The screws were coming loose as a matter of fact, Shawn and I had screw her hardware back together the other morning. Thank goodness they sent us home with the special tools. Anyways, she wasn't supposed to get them off until May 5th, but the doctor felt that her bone was strong enough. So now I don't have to put her clothes on from her feet up. Now I can put things over her head. The little holes on the side of her cheeks scabbed right over and they look great. She was laying in the hospital bed and was turning onto her side, now that she can actually do that. All my kids rolled on their side early. While in the O.R. they also did an ABR hearing test. This test came back significantly better than the last one. We were very excited about that. She is hearing normal conversation and louder. She still will need hearing aids, but we are releaved that she isn't almost deaf. That is what they thought from the results of the last test. Well no more surgeries until she is a year old for her cleft pallete.


she is feeling much better with the hardware off of her face


big brothers waiting so patiently for their sister



Tuesday, April 21, 2009

New Family Member


This is Chuck the Woodchuck that has decided to burrow under our shed. We named it Chuck because when we went out side to look at him, and he is a boy, (I researched it and male's are the first out of their burrow this time of year) anyways Garrett called out "Hi Chuck"! So there you have it. Can't say we know how to get rid of him and I am sure Shawn will put food out. Apparently they eat green vegetables, but if Chuck is waiting for a garden he has another thing coming.

Monday, April 13, 2009

INSANITY

This is what Hannah Lu thinks about the afternoon that she had. Well she had her 2 month well child check up today. It's hard to believe she is 2 months old. Anyways, I decided to changer her G tube dressing at the doctor's office because she is started to have some granulation(that is when tissue grows to try and close the hole). So I wanted the doctor to look at it. Once I got the tape and stuff off I cleaned under and around the button. For some reason the button was really loose, so I pulled up on it a little bit and it seemed secure. Then the pediatrician came in and I mentioned it to him so he pulled up on it and said that he could feel the balloon still there. I explained to him that I carry an emergency gastrostomy kit with me incase the button where to come out. So I was getting ready to tape it back up, and he was looking in her ears and she began to cry, and out popped the button from her belly! All I could do was stare, and the doctor looked at me and said "you better get your emergency kit". So I got it and ripped it open, and the most important thing the catheter wasn't in there! You have to put a catheter into the hole within 20 minutes or the muscle in the stomach starts to close. So the doctor checked the balloon on the button and it had a hole in it. I told him to put the button back into the hole, and we taped it down, I threw her into the car seat ran home got the new button and went back. The doctor replaced it and all is well. I honestly thought that was never going to happen. Well think again Carrie, now I have to order another button just incase!
now this is what she thinks

Easter Morning

Don't ask me why, but for some reason the boys are infactuated with lint rollers. And as you can see so is Shawn. He is trying to take them away. The lint rollers were their favorite things that the Easter Bunny brought them.
Shawn taking Garretts lint roller away

Jackson and his Easter basket


Garrett and his Easter basket



Easter fun

The boys coloring eggs
The end results

The first and the last time........yes this our dog Penny and she is on the kitchen table. Why? Well Garrett decided to smash and smear hard boiled egg all over the boys's play mat so I thought, well eggs are good for dogs so Penny can clean it up. So there she is. Of course I still had to wipe the mat down but she cleaned the worst of it.


Saturday, April 11, 2009

New pictures

There are new pictures of the kids if you scroll to the bottom of the page. They are big so you can see them better.

Friday, April 10, 2009

The Easter Bunny

Today we went to see the Easter Bunny. I have been talking to the boys about it for several days now, and Garrett seemed to be fine with it until we got there. Hence the picture with the Easter Bunny and only two of my children. He actually is a little frightening. But of course afterwards he took a candy from him and everything was fine. I definately have been busy with Hannah Lu being home. Changing the dressings on her cheeks and her belly is very time consuming. Garrett doesn't do very well with it, especially when its bed time. He would like me to forget about Hannah and rock him to sleep instead. His tantrums have gotten worse too. I can handle the tantrums, at least he's just not walking up to his sister and clocking her in the face. I have heard stories like that too often. Hannah is doing really well. She is sleeping through the night, which is awesome. She has been refluxing more often so we got her on some medicine to help that. My biggest fear is her asperating. When I plug in her tube to her belly, she seems to know what is going on because she starts rooting. So I give her the binky, we call it a wuh, and she will suck on it for a good 15 minutes. I can also hear her swallowing. That is what we want her to do so she can start having a bottle again. It has been so nice to have a little girl in the house. It has made Shawn and the boys a little sweeter.
Jackson's first time holding her

Jackson hasn't been able to get enough of her, so this is what I found the other night


eating breakfast together



Sunday, April 5, 2009

We are HOME!

We are so excited to be home. Although we still have to go back to Salt Lake, at least it's not once a week. She did well on the ride home. She slept all the way to the potty supply a.k.a the rest stop. So we plugged her G tube into the pump with some milk and off we were. Pretty convenient, but I would much rather give her a bottle. She slept most of the night, getting up once. I on the other hand didn't sleep at all because the darn pump that feeds her is loud, and the bright blue light doesn't turn off while it is in use. So I am going to have to figure something out. Shawn and I would like to thank everyone that helped our family during this time. Thank you to all the nurses at Primary Children's that tended to Hannah Lu, especially Teresa. She was wonderful, and loved Hannah Lu as her own. My mom went home just after Hannah Lu was discharged from the hospital. She helped us so much, she lived with us for seven weeks and kept the boys busy everyday while I focused on the baby. We could not have done it with out her. Thank you mom. Thank you to Amy (my sweet sister in law) she took the boys when she could so I could spend more time at the hospital, and it also allowed my mom to spend time with Hannah Lu too. Our next mile stone is getting the bars off of her cheeks. That will happen on May 5th. I am counting down the days.
meeting her brothers for the first time

pretty in pink, and ready to go home