Day 15

Aaarrrrggghh!  So this day started with one child missing the bus AND refusing to eat her breakfast, one child finishing all his jobs before 7am, one child completely ready for preschool and trying to leave before 8:30am (preschool starts at 9am), and one child with a leaky diaper that completely soaked into the cast....
And so I just wanted to go back to bed.  Why did I even get up?
Ever have those mornings? I'm sure I'm not the only one...but AAAAHHHHH I hate them.

But I didn't go back to bed. (Yay, me).  I did my best to be empathetic, yet firm with the one who missed the bus.  Lost my temper a bit, but I don't think that she knew, which is pretty good for me.  Ended up driving her to school TWICE, because of a forgotten lunch the first time.  But hey, I stayed true to the consequences.  Poor girl had to empty the dishwasher, give me her Leven Thumps book, AND pay me 50 cents to drive her twice.  Hey, you don't want to miss the bus around here.  But by the time we got to school the second time (about an hour late, after taking care of wet cast and driving other child to preschool), she was blowing me butterfly kisses on her way out the door.  (Something she made up, completely adorable :))  And I'm really proud of that.

The cast was about as wet as I've ever seen it this morning.  And SOoooooo smelly.  I cleaned him up, then blew it dry for about 45 min.  It was still damp, but we really had to go.  My neighbor volunteered yesterday to sew something for him, a kind of diaper that we could design ourselves.  I'm TOTALLY taking her up on this option.  I just have to see if I can come up with something that works.

At least the preschooler got herself completely ready for preschool all by herself.  That doesn't happen every morning.

And my day has calmed down somewhat.  I got to go on a walk with one of my friends this morning.  Always a fun thing to do.

Day 14

Happy Easter!
I love Easter.  This time is a wonderful time to ponder on the renewal of life, the atonement, the resurrection, and Spring.  I am so grateful for my Savior and His sacrifice for us.  His love for us makes even the hard things in life become beautiful.  I am grateful that He broke the bonds of death so we can live again with our families and with Him again.

Today was our first Sunday back in our ward with Russell in his cast.  We have such a great ward.  It's nice to go and feel the love and support from so many of our friends there.  Someone said to me, "Isn't it nice that it's all over now?  The waiting is done, and he's fine now that he's got his cast on."  This is one of my good friends, and it made me remember that THAT is exactly what I thought before we got his cast on.  I thought the waiting and anticipation was the hardest part.  Ha ha.  It's hard to explain to people that even though I am so grateful for this treatment option, and that it's helping him, it is still very hard to go through.  Amazing the difference in my eyesight that the last two weeks have made!

Today is a beautiful day.  It's so nice and warm outside...hard to believe that it was snowing just a few days ago.  Springtime = Renewal of the earth.  My heart is full of gratitude today for the gifts of Spring and the Atonement.

Day 13

Russell is getting braver every day.  He takes a few steps unassisted each day.  Most of the time he still holds on to furniture and my legs, and chairs, etc, to walk, or he walks on his knees, but he's getting a bit braver. 
Did I mention that one perk we got was to get a handicap decal to hang from our rearview mirror?  My sister-in-law, Heidi's, daughter is in a cast too (a spica cast for hip dysplasia) and she was nice enough to call us and tell us that we qualified for one.  It was pretty easy to get too.  It's nice to be able to park closely, especially since Russell is so heavy.  And it's nice when it's raining, because the cast can't get wet.
Today, I got to go to a baptism with Emalyn and Krysta.  One of Emalyn's friends was being baptized and both Emalyn and Krysta love her.  Her mom is one of my friends too, so it was nice to be there and share that special experience.  I love how excited Emalyn is to get baptized this year.  We had a nice discussion about it and she says she most excited that both her grandma's will be coming to it.  Sweet girl.  I am glad that I get to share these special experiences with my children.  To watch their testimonies grow is very dear to my heart.
It was a good day today.

Day 12

A couple of days ago, Russell woke up with a poopy and wet diaper (if you have a weak stomach, you may want to quit reading right now...) that leaked. 
This was not a new occurence.  Diapering in a cast is a real issue.  It's really hard to keep a diaper on, because the cast goes down past his hips, and you don't want the diaper up over the cast (because what would be the point then. Really.), so you try to tuck it up under the cast.  That doesn't work very well because the cast is REALLY REALLY tight.  And you want the cast to stay dry...because it's super hard to clean and because of bacteria and mold, etc, the grossness factor.  So what we do now is put a maxi pad along the front (tucked up underneath as much as possible, a pad along the back, disposable diaper tucked up as much as possible, with a green FLIP diaper shell for cloth diapers outside of that.  The FLIP has snaps and it will fit up over the cast, and kind of hold the rest of the absorbent stuff up where it should be.  So it's a process. 
But anyway, back to a couple of days ago, when we were still figuring all this out, and didn't put the maxi pad in the front.  So his diaper really really leaked bad.  In the front and in the back.  Soaked.  So, I took all the wet stuff off.  And then washed the knit-rite shirt and the inside of the cast with a cloth and mild baby soap.   Which made it wetter, but it smelled better.  Then I used a blow dryer on the cool setting to dry the shirt and the inside of the cast.  Russell hates the sound of the blow dryer.  It seems to really scare him.  So he cries the whole time it's on.  And it took 30 min to dry everything.  After that, I put the whole "diaper" on him, got him dressed and then we went and had breakfast.   It took about 45 min to take care of all of this.  We've since figured out how to not leak into the cast (I hope) and it's worked for about 3 mornings now.  That's the longest we've gone without any leaks.  I shudder to think what the inside of his cast will look like by the time it's taken off.  Yea, just don't think about it. Eww.

So I just thought I'd share this.  Because it's not the first thing I would think about when I see a kid in a cast.  And I was pretty sure you all needed educating in this area.  Yup.  Super helpful, I'm sure.

But also, because I think I take too much for granted in my life.  I mean, at least we have all of those things.  Especially the FLIP shell.  I don't know what we'd do without it.  And the blow dryer with a cool setting.  We didn't have one with that feature until last week, when we realized it was ESSENTIAL.   But it's nice to be able to speed up the drying process (but I still wish it was faster...) without burning my baby.

I am grateful for all the advice I got on diapering from the support group.  There were lots of ideas there, which helped us figure out what would work best for us.

The start of a "new" year for us.

Russell has recently begun treatment for PIS (Progressive Infantile Scoliosis), through body casting.  He had his first cast put on March 26.  That day, picking him up from the bed they wheeled him back in after surgery, it dawned on me that I wasn't as ready as I'd thought I was for this.  That there was no way I could have been ready to deal with this.  No, it's not as horrible as it could be.  Yes, it's worse than I'd like it to be.

Russell was diagnosed with PIS in July of 2011, by his pediatrician.  I'm so grateful to her for picking up on that.  I'd noticed that he sat "crookedly", like more on one side of his bum than the other, but I figured it was just part of being a flexible baby.  That started the road of multiple x-rays (he's had more than a dozen x-rays since then), multiple treatment options, and the overwhelming news that this will be going on at least until he stops growing.  My mind immediately jumped to thoughts of my cousin, KaeVe, in her body casts while we were growing up.  So I was devastated with the news of scoliosis. 
The doctors were very confusing.  One said that we'd just "watch and see".  That we should take no action, and just wait to see if it got worse.  He said it most likely would get worse, and that he'd eventually be in a brace and have multiple surgeries down the road. This didn't set well with us.  So we went for a second opinion.  The next doctor, from Shriner's hospital, told us that with Russell's measurements (45* curve, with a 45* RVAD) he had a VERY high risk of his curve progressing.  However, he said, there was possibility of a cure.  Casting.  (OK, this totally freaked me out, thoughts of my cousin in a body cast made me terrified of this option(no offense KaeVe!))  But then there was good news; it's a new type of casting, called Mehta casting, which uses the quick growth of the baby to correct the spinal curve, not just keep it from worsening.  It has to be started before Russell turns two, to be the most effective.

After a lot of discussion, research, and most importantly, fasting and prayer (including our families on both sides), we decided to go with the Mehta casting method.  We got the go-ahead at our appointment at Shriner's in January.  From there, we set a casting date: March 26.  I joined a support group, C.A.S.T., and read everything I could on PIS.  ISOP  is a great place to learn more.  This is where I learned how blessed we are to live as close as we do to SLC Shriner's hospital.  The Dr's there have been personally trained by Dr Min Mehta in the Mehta casting method.  There are only a few hospitals that currently have the ability to do this casting method, and they are all in the US and England.  There are people that live in Australia and South America who fly to SLC to be casted there.  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father blessed us to live as close as we do to this place that has the best treatment for Russell.  I hope more facilities become available closer to these people who have to travel so far right now.

I read almost daily before the cast was on, learning what that would entail.

Then the day came.  We arrived at Shriner's by 8:30am.  (We were 30 min early, having misjudged how long it would take us to get there in traffic.  But that was just fine.) Russell had his last drink at 9am, when we checked in.  It's a blur to remember how many people, drs we met that morning.  It is a much smaller hospital than Primary Children's, which was good and bad. 
Good because it had a more personal feel, and because everyone was very attentive to us and to Russell.  Also good because we got to wait in Russell's room(given to him as soon as we got there) the whole day, instead of being with 20 other parents who also had children in surgery.  Much more calm and relaxing to be by ourselves, in our own room. 
Bad because there was only the one surgeon, and they'd started a complicated 5 hour surgery at 9am.  Russell was supposed to go in at 10 am.  I'm not sure why they didn't call us before we left Orem to have us come in later.  But they didn't.  So Russell waited until 1:30pm to go back.  He was a VERY hungry and tired little boy by that time.  Very frustrating for us. 
The surgery involved full anesthesia, breathing tube to inflate his lungs full of air as they casted, untwisting his spine, and of course applying the plaster cast.  Kind of funny that they still call it surgery, even though there was no actual "surgery", like no knives.  They brought him back to the room we were in about two and a half hours after taking him.  They said he did really well.  He was already awake before they brought him back.  At Primary's we always got to be with our kids while they were waking up, not sure why it's different at Shriner's.  In a way, I liked it better, because he woke up with the nurses and drs, and it seemed like he blamed them for the cast, and then when he saw us, he just wanted comfort. 
Which was incredibly hard to give.  The cast covers his whole torso, with a mushroom-shaped cut-out in front, and rectangular cut-out in back.  It is a plaster cast, which cannot get wet, cannot come off (until it's cut off), and cannot bend at all.  He was pretty scared, and pretty mad about it.  It was heart-breaking, even though we knew beforehand it would be hard.  It's very hard to give a cast a hug.  And he just wanted a hug.  I can't tell you how many times this has been the hardest part of the whole ordeal.   Baby Einstein movies were the only thing that calmed him down.  Sort of.  But after another couple of hours, and getting him to eat a bit, we were discharged.  Before this though, they showed us his x-rays.  The drs were very happy and proud of the awesome numbers.  His curve had gone down to 19* and his RVAD was 0*.  Seriously amazing.  Another blessing from the Lord.
Going home was nice.  some of the drs and nurses had asked us if we wanted to stay overnight.  I knew from our experience after Krysta's surgery how much I hate that option.  I knew it would be so much better for all of us to get away from the hospital and go to my mom's house.  I"m soooo glad that we didn't have to stay.
Russell didnt sleep too much that night.  Neither did Scott.  (Thank you thank you dear!)  The next morning was still so sad and hard for all of us.  Russell couldn't sit straight up anymore, because of how low the cast goes past his hips.  The cast weighs about 5 lbs., so at that point, he couldn't get up on his hands and knees to crawl, he couldn't roll over, he couldn't stand, etc.  Basically, he could just lay on his back.  And cry. We left my mom's by 8am because we had to get to Shriner's before 10,so they could check his cast before we went home.  They did end up loosening the front and back a bit before we went home.  He did pretty good all the way home, watching more Baby Einstein movies.:)  But when we got home, all the crying and sadness and anger came back.  I think that in the car, he's used to being strapped down and unable to move.  But when we got out of the car, that was when reality set in again for him.  I held him alot that day, which didn't really seem to help him and made my back hurt a lot.
That night, after he was in bed, I decided that the next day, I wasn't going to be so helpful and carry him as much.  It wasn't helping him and it wasn't good for my back.  So the next day, I got him up and fed him and left him on the floor.  He was pretty mad at first, but by the end of that day, he figured out how to stand up by pulling on the couch cover.  He still couldn't roll over, or walk, or crawl, but he could stand up.  Since then he's made so much progress.  He can pull himself to standing if there is something nearby to pull up with.  He can walk with help.  He has gone up the stairs two times (very exhausting work).  And just yesterday, he learned how to roll from his back to his tummy, and then to get up on his knees.  He walks on his knees now.  He's amazing.  It's been 11 days since the cast was put on.

 What you can't see in these two pictures, is that the cast actually goes down past where his pants/waist is.

Our next casting date is May 22.  I'm going to try to blog everyday.  He's going to need 4-5 casts in all, hopefully, which should take us about a year, give or take a little.  I'm going to blog about it, because it feels so overwhelming to me right now.  Maybe it will help me see the progress we've made as time goes on.  I do know that it will help me to see the hand of the Lord in our lives as time goes on and I learn a lot this year (so far I've learned more about how to diaper in a cast that can't get wet, what to do when said diaper leaks anyway, how to dress a 17-monthold in a cast, how to wear a bib almost all day, how to put padding down on the high chair and car seat so that it doesn't hurt his legs, how to hold him in a way that it doesn't hurt him, how to "petal" a cast, how to duct tape a cast, how to change the knit-rite shirt under the cast and decide I'll never do it again, how to sponge bathe in a cast, how to apply for a handicap decal,  just to name a few):) .  I know that Heavenly Father loves us.  I know He loves Russell.  I know that this will all work our for our good, right now.  I really do believe that this is a blessing for us.  I just can't see it yet. I know things will get better, but right now, it feels like this huge YEAR is LOOMING in front of me with all kinds of unknowns and hardships.  And yes, I know it could be worse.  But this is difficult for me.  And for our family.  So I repeat what I said at the beginning.  No, it's not as bad as it could be.  But yes, it's worse than I'd like it to be.

Santa came a day early...

Since we knew that we would have to travel to Utah on Christmas day, we asked Santa if he would mind visiting us a day early. 

Guess what?

He said yes.

But we didn't tell the kids; we wanted it to be a surprise. 

Here are the kids with their stockings:

 Some favorite gifts were: the girls dollhouse, that Scott made from some wood given to us from another dollhouse (Thank you!!),

 The puppets and the puppet stage from Grandma Linda,

 Russell's helicopter,

 An ornament made by Emalyn,

 Star Wars legos,

 Some of the interior design the girls and I are working on for the dollhouse,

 And this is Tyler about one hour after opening the presents,

So it was a great Christmas.  We didn't put as much under the tree this year, on purpose, and it was nice to be able to concentrate more on the individual gifts and givers.   Also, the kids were not as overwhelmed as they usually are on Christmas day.  So I think this is a tradition we'll be continuing.  I

New camera, homemade Christmas tree decorations, and two lost teeth.

First of all, we got a new camera.  And it has 35x zoom.  So these are blades of grass in our back yard taken from inside the house, about 10 feet behind the glass doors.  I find that particularly awesome.

We made homemade tree decorations from salt dough and then painted them.  Then the kids got the great idea to give them to their teachers at school as Christmas gifts.

Above, Emalyn's ornaments, and below are Krysta's.

Tyler's ornaments that he made.

And Emalyn lost her two front teeth, just in time for Christmas!!  She went around singing "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" until Christmas came. :)

Our trip to Utah for Thanksgiving

Our camera broke during our trip...so the only pictures I have are courtesy of my mom and my sister Cheryl.  Thanks guys!

Thursday and Friday we spent at Scott's parents home.  We had a lot of fun with them.  We went to Thanksgiving dinner at Nancy's sisters house (Janet), where the food was really yummy, and where there were so many of Scott's cousins that we filled the kitchen and living rooms both.  But we forgot to bring our camera, and it was broken anyway, so we have now pictures.  On Friday, we had a family dinner with Scott's brothers and sisters.  That was a lot of fun too.  That night, Scott and his brothers moved all of the furniture into one room so that Ron and Nancy could paint and recarpet and lay down tile in four rooms. We left the next morning, so they could get right on that, being the obliging people we are. :)

Then we went to Amy's parents home in Orem.   Amy's sister Cheryl and her family were in town from Nebraska too, so all the sisters were together.  We had lots of fun.  We went to the Bean Museum down at BYU in Provo.  The kids had lots of fun watching some movie about bees in the picture below.



Gotta love this girl's pretty face.

 That night, we had our annual lip sync.  We usually have this around Christmas, but certain people wouldn't be around at Christmas, so we had it at Thanksgiving.  Our family was the only one that actually practiced beforehand, AND we came prepared with props.  We lip synced a song called "Santa's Stuck Up in the Chimney".  Scott was Santa, the blue box was the chimney, and we were all the reindeer trying to pull him out.

Everyone else did a lip sync too...I just don't have any pictures.  It was a lot of fun.  Kayli and Bryce even gave us a violin concert, Cheryl and Blake showed us their gangsta moves, Megan and Weston did a lip sync/puppet show about losing shoes, and my parents did some song about being really old and "Thrill me." It was awesome.  And super funny. 

And then we had an encore.  I did "Santa Baby"-the infamous lip sync that started the tradition of lip syncs at Christmas. My Mom did "Tiptoe through the tulips"- a slightly disturbing song sung by a very disturbing Tiny Tim from the seventies.  If you've never seen it, click here.   And then Megan and Weston did an amazingly authentic version of this Russian Vita Opera singer.  Megan did the calmer singing, while Weston rushed in for every screaming chorus. 

The next morning was Sunday, and we got to go hear my sister Megan teach a lesson in Sunday School.  She is an AMAZING teacher.  Really.  I think it's a gift that she has developed.  And then we had Krysta's birthday party, which I covered in the last post.  And then, sadly, we went home.
Thanks for a great visit everyone!

Krysta's 4 Now!!

I can hardly believe she is 4 already!  She loves flowers and pretty things and dancing around the kitchen...

And playing with her preschool friends,

and spending her birthday with her Grandma and Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  My camera had died during this trip, so all these pictures of that day are courtesy of my mom (Thanks!!).  Since her birthday falls around or on Thanksgiving every year, we often get to spend it with some extended family.  Thank goodness she loves it. 

So that day, we went to my sister (Megan)'s ward in Lehi and then went to her apartment to have lunch before heading home to Idaho.  We all had what Krysta had requested from her grandmother to eat for lunch: meat and cheese sandwiches, carrot sticks, chips, and cake with pink frosting.

 Her grandma Linda made this cake just for her, and she was so excited by it, the pink frosting, her name on it, and the pretty blue flowers.

 Grandma and Grandpa also gave her a book and a pretty new dress-up dress.

 She loves getting cards...

 Here she is, wearing her new dress-up dress and giving her Grandma a big thank you hug.  I love these pictures.  And I like the look on her daddy's face in the bottom one.

We came home and celebrated her birthday with just our family the next day, but due to the broken camera, we have no pictures of it.  It was so much fun.  I love four year-olds, they are so cute.

Krysta, we love having you in our family.  Your sweet and innocent manner endears you to everyone around you.  I love your  questions, and the amazing things you can think up and tell me about.  I love spending everyday with you and being able to teach your preschool sometimes.  I am amazed at how brave you are, especially this past year with all the medical tests and surgery.  You are so patient and accepting of it all.  I love that just holding my hand through it is enough for you to be able to handle anything.  I am so grateful for all that you teach me about faith, love, and acceptance.  Happy fourth birthday Krysta!

Russell's First Birthday

Make sure you enjoy this video, courtesy of Emalyn's budding filmography skills.  At the end, the shaking is due to her vigorous clapping, while holding the camera.  We have very multi-talented children.

This is Russell enjoying his pseudo-birthday cake, soy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  We recently discovered he cannot eat dairy, thus the SOY cookies.  I just LOVE his contagious laugh here.

Giving Russell presents is as much fun for you as it is for him. ha ha. Enjoy.

Aaahhh Russell, can it really already be a year since you were born?  Time has flown so fast.  You bring so much joy to everyone around you.  With your easy smile and adorable laugh, and your intense joy that you find in everything around you, you are loved by everyone.  You also keep me running to you...running to close the dishwasher so you don't break it by sitting on the open door, running to close the bathroom door so you don't play in the toilet, fall in the bathtub, and eat the toilet paper, running to close the gate to the stairs so you don't fall down them, running to keep you away from the organ foot pedals so you don't get stuck again, running to find a new seat belt for your highchair so you don't climb out and sit on the tray, running to close the cupboard doors so you stop making copies with the printer (seriously, how did you figure that out so fast!?), running to take the aluminum foil away (again), and just running when I hear you exclaiming "whoa, whoa" in that deep voice when you find something absolutely amazing that will probably cause you more trouble.  I hope this stage lasts forever though, because you are absolutely adorable.  We love you, our now 1 year old Russell!