Always so brave

The miracle that is Lydia never fails to amaze me!

I saw a quote at Target the other night that totally sums up how I feel,"It's the little things that often bring us the most joy"
Lydia is my little thing. :)

Today's surgery went well. Dr. Raines reworked her trach stoma and placed it back in the correct place. The upper one will now close on it's own and we will do plastic surgery later to repair. She is now is a larger size trach tube in the right place so nights should be much better. She came out of the surgery and immediately asked to go to McDee's to get french fries. Dr. Raines showed me the scope pics of her vocal cords. They are beautiful! He's said he couldn't be more pleased at their condition. I could have told him as much, as she sings and never stops until we are all screaming for her to be quiet.

I'm about ready to drop as I didn't sleep much last night. We left for the hospital at 4:00am. I told Lyd we should go to bed but she says her bedtime is not until 10:30.I am pretty convinced she is an energy vampire.

Gordon B Hinckley

We are saddened by the passing of our beloved Prophet this evening! Although our hearts know he is so happy to be reunited with his dear wife. We will miss his guidance, humor, and the ways he so inspired us to be better people through the Lord's teachings. President Hinckley has been the prophet through my children's lives. We always felt that he truly loved us. Our world will be less light with his passing. Blessings and prayers for his family we are sending.

Need Heat!

I would have been quite happy being a bear! Eat, get fat, hibernate all through winter, nurse the cubs and then come out in Spring. As hard as I try each Winter I just can't bring myself to like the cold weather. I just want to curl and cuddle up with hot cocoa and few good books and not go anywhere or do anything. It is wet and cold outside. After getting the gas bill, it's a tad bit colder inside too!
Last Autumn, I was choosing songs for our circle time and picked a great I Love Winter song. I refuse to sing it. No matter how cheery that flippin song is. I don't love winter or cold. I haven't found a new one yet. We are not sing anything in the mornings/afternoons for circle time.
When I was a teen, we had this pot belly wood stove for heat. That was it. We would stand in front until our fronts were toasty and then turn to get our freezing backsides warm and then continue the cycle until it was time for school each morning. One was never completely warm at one time. I was so grateful that PHS had heat! Maybe I just need to talk to a therapist and then I would love being cold....I doubt it.
I love heat so much! When I lived in the valley that first 110 degree day each year was like heaven. I'd walk out the door into the "oven" and just smile. I few years ago traveling through Vegas I called Michael from a pay phone and said it's got to be 116 here! He didn't believe me and sure enough when we passed a time/temp sign a few minutes later and I was right.
I am going to retreat to my bedroom,cover my self completely with blanket, enjoy some cocoa and get warm.

Here's some pics of my new amazing feeling warm living room! I fell in love with this floral fabric and hand sewed all the drapes (not the burgundy ones). It is wonderful how a little paint creates a lot of happiness!

QOTD

Chaiya:"Do you need anything at Hastings?"
Me:"Yeah, Sanity and Peace of Mind"
Chaiya:"Is that a book or a movie?"

Daddy's Home!!!

Last night Michael finally decided to come back from tromping around back in Ohio. We had a secret surprise for him! Since Friday, we have been involved in a major project! The living room is completely re-done. New paint and new curtains. I had about 6 more inches to hand sew on the drapes when he called for us to come pick him up. WELL... Michael actually started walking because he said it was warmer than waiting for us and I picked him up at the high school. Silly man! We are so happy our daddy is back! He was incredibly surprised when he walked in the door and saw everything that we had accomplished. Lots of color and we love it! I'll post pics as soon as I find my missing camera cord hmmmmm.

Sometimes you just find a new song that makes you smile! Happy Monday!
make sure to turn off my radio at the side before you play this great video.

Yes, you do!

Each night as one of my bedtime rituals, I try to think of several things that I have been grateful for during the day. Granted sometimes it is a little thing like being grateful for paper towels that I had available to clean up the dozen eggs that my lovely little boy broke all over the floor. Trust me, having paper towels is an amazing thing when faced with a huge mess.

Yesterday, I was putting Thayne down for a nap and reflecting on how my Quayde is turning 12 what that means and how fast my little ones are getting older; I was hit with the most powerful realization. I have had the perfect life!!!
With everything I have experienced, it's perfect.


What? Yes, absolutely perfect. I know from the outside looking in it might not look so perfect. Abuse, divorce, financial struggles, children that have disabilities etc... If Heavenly Father wants to give us spiritual beings the human experience, He has blessed me to have an amazing range of LIFE. An absolutely incredible range of experiences.

There is nothing more humbling than being on your knees at 2:00am praying that your little girl can make it through because you never take breathing for granted again as each day passes. Walking outside for the first time in weeks after being at the hospital and really seeing all the color that God has created. It is completely a WOW! Do you know how wonderful a simple bowl of plain brown rice can taste?

Struggling as a single mom then getting the privilege of completely being loved by a wonderful man. Having 3 kiddos in the NICU, getting to watch their healthy smiles for the first time.
Seeing the older girls growing up and experiencing for the first time...jobs, boys etc...
I am sure with my 5 kids, we are in for more wow experiences.


Someone at church mentioned that they were reading a book about joy in adversity and thought of me. I have been simply blessed to have a human experience.

I have learned that I am ALWAYS taken care of. It is a matter of trust and faith. Chocolate cake and rubber stamps have magically appeared at my doorstep in the past! God really does care about those type of things. I honestly feel happy most of the time.

After Thayne's birth was hard, I felt like I had failed him and failed to provide the experience I wanted for my husband, best friend and family. I wanted his birth to be a gift. Yesterday Lydia was talking about how she and Chaiya hid under the table and watched. It was not what I had planned and it took me 2 years to finally "get back to me" and be okay with the fact that pushing out a 12 lb kid was a triumph.

Last week when I was teaching a song to the children at church. Something I love to do. I caught this wave of Spirit as I was telling them about opening yourself up to God's will to be like Jesus. Is it easy ? No! Is it amazing ? You bet.


I have been reading a lot of post of my friends, and the people I play voyeur with. There seems to be a lot of fear out there, about recession, health etc... January is more than half over, it always goes so quickly, open yourself up. 2008 can be your best year. Even with all the things that you think are wrong everything is working for your good and I promise that you have the perfect life too!

When you get home...

Hi honey...we are so sorry but when you arrive home tomorrow night...the house smells like burnt broccoli. It's not going to go away for awhile either. Love you, us

The Midas touch

I am sitting here expecting Michael to walk in the door anytime now because he usually does but I just got off the phone with him being in Ohio , so far away and I miss him.

Lydia is finally making some progress with getting better today!!!

Maliea survived her first day at work and came home and slept for several hours.

This afternoon Lydia and I had a Princess make-up playtime. I got out her play makeup and fingernail polish she received as a gift for Christmas and we had fun!

She wanted her nails pink and toes gold. I opted for the gold on my nails, which by the way is not a color I would have normally chosen. We had a marvelous time!

Thayne awoke from a nice long nap a few hours later; took one look at my nails and screamed. He ran got a wash cloth and tried to wipe off the polish. In an effort to have some fun with this, I told him I had a magic potion for getting it off. I got the sponge nail polish remover out and with great flourish plopped my nails in, twisted them around, and promptly brought them out expecting all nail polish to be magically disappeared.

Then I screamed. Not one bit of it was gone. In fact the remover wouldn't touch it at all.

Now mind you, I have crappy nails and gold is NOT my color! I put my fingers back in all the way to the bottom thinking I hadn't gotten enough remover on them. Alas nothing worked!

So all afternoon I had lovely gold nails. I started to be very grateful for the cancelled client appointment tomorrow. I called a friend who used to do nails and she said I had to find 100% acetone to get it off. Well, guess what worked and this is totally scary. Baby Wipes!!! and a little scraping. That was enough excitement for me for today.

Oh we had a delightful afternoon learning about Mt. Rushmore and creating! Did you know that Jefferson's face was originally on the right but after 18 months of work they had to dynamite the mountain and start over on the left? Here is a picture taken through Quayde's new creation. We made a kaleidoscope today and place leaves, seed pods, marbles, crystals and polished gems in it.

Lydia is breathing better today. She has had quite the "vacation" from school work. Lying in bed all day is no fun at all.

Maliea starts tomorrow as an assistant Pre-school teacher. She is very, very excited. Today she spent several hours at the zoo and came home to tell about their incredibly cool copy machine (it copies both sides at one time) that she got to know intimately.

Chaiya has finally finished a book that she has been reading forever on deaf culture and history. I am sure she is thrilled to be done with it.

Found out this morning there is a new baby on Michael's side! He will be able to visit and hold little Sadie tomorrow when he arrives in Ohio. I think that was great timing.

Off to make dinner for a little girl who wants to eat whatever with ketchup. I think she might be on the mend!

Michael leaves early Tuesday morn for Ohio. I am hoping that Lydia is feeling somewhat better by then. Her sats are at 92 now with 2 liters of O2 but her heart rate is now mostly staying normal. Thanks for all the prayers. She isn't out of the woods yet but slowly I hope we are getting there.
Tonight we had a Priesthood Preview for Quayde. Oh how grateful I am to having a wonderful , loving husband to be a daddy to my boy!!! I just watched them tonight together sitting there and Michael giving Quayde tips on how to look interested in the talks. They truly love each other and I couldn't ask for more. We have such a happy home, God has really blessed these children with a great example of a good man in their lives. I love him so much!

Off to work on preparing school. The math gnomes are meeting King Equals tomorrow!

Oxygen is our friend

Still not well here. Lyd is just a weird kid! She did get up and play on the computer for a tiny while today so that was a big improvement. At least her heart rate is normal again.
School group didn't come but the advantage is that the house is clean including the bathrooms!
So for our lazy day we watched a few of the sections of Planet Earth dvd set. Quayde threw up last night. He actually made it home from Kristi's prior to letting the corn dog he ate earlier in the day come back to haunt him. After that he was pretty good but just wanted to lie around with Lyd today and not work on his Citizenship of the Nation stuff. The corn dog did provide a good excuse not to do the boy scout camping in the snow thing tonight. I was really pleased with the fact he took the responsibility and called his scout master himself to explain that he wouldn't be attending. Quayde is growing up too fast but he really is an awesome boy!
Well, I am off to collapse, I mean snuggle and sleep well. Michael and I are planning our "1st" anniversary in Vegas for the end of February! Can't wait to get away.

Having fun while she is sick

We switched Lydia to a nasel canula today. WOW !!! What an improvement. She is not breathing a whole lot through her trach tube anymore and it was worthless trying to pump O2 into her that way. She is down to a liter through the nose but she definitely doesn't like it. Everytime I would be out of her sight, she would pull it out for a minute and then quickly put it back in if she saw me. Tonight she is better and her heart rate is slowly coming back to normal. I think the very cool Princess woobie that she got in the mail today helped. Thanks Nana, she loves it.
Thayne didn't break anything today just pulled over the entire white shelf thing on top of me this afternoon. How nothing fell on Lydia is a miracle. Today I made paper snowflakes, played fairy SNAP, Dora Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Disney Memory and colored fairy pictures, watched lots of Bewitched episodes on the computer and really need a break from all this play.

Are you still smiling?

Our "normal" back to routine day started with lots of snow! Chaiya did not go to class because the PHS schedule was on 2 hour delay. Lydia is more sick than she was this weekend and I will most likely call in tomorrow and reschedule her surgery that she was supposed to have on Thursday. I got another call for a wedding in May.
We started our day with watching the Planet Earth DVD on the Arctic and Antarctic. Ate banana muffins for breakfast. Quayde and I made the choice, after looking over his merit badge requirements, that scout stuff would need to be part of schooling. He started his Citizen of the Nation today. We are working on making a lapbook that will contain vital parts of the information he needs to learn. Quayde is also excited about making a video of touring a federal facility; to be revealed at a later date.
Kind of a snuggly day with the snow. Thayne didn't break anything today only spilled all the eggs that were to be lunch all over the floor. We had just enough left to make our broccoli frittata. As I was scrubbing and cleaning all the eggs up, I found a word half way under the cabinet , that is part of our magnetic poetry.....guess what the word was? FUN

QOTD

"And the neighbors are probably looking over saying,"And the fence isn't big enough" said by Michael after walking in the kitchen where we were "mixing" hot cocoa

Happy New Year!!!!!
May your year be filled with magic and joy.