Does Your House Ever Look Like This?

Everywhere you turn there is a baby asleep, or in time out, or eating her lunch… You just can’t go anywhere without finding one!

Karly, Karly, Karly

Karly has done absolutely fantastic since coming home from the hospital.  She is a really sweet, happy baby. 

She has been sleeping pretty well, usually waking up once to eat.  She has a great big smile and loves to lay on the floor and kick her legs and watch her toys!  She even learned how to roll over this past week. 

She has been surviving Noelle’s endless attempts to hold her change her clothes and diaper, and even the few times she has tried to carry her around!  You just can’t take your eyes off that girl for one minute!

 

I’m so excited that Noelle loves her sister so much!  I hope that they continue to have fun together and will enjoy each other as much as Michele and I do when they are older! I love how Karly looks terrified in this picture!

Look What I Can Do!

It’s official!  The boy who hates to ride his bike can ride without training wheels!  I wouldn’t say that he loves to ride yet but he can do it!

Hooray for Thomas!!

School Days, Again!

Just as soon as I was getting over Thomas starting Kindergarten it was time for Noelle to start preschool.  Even though we loved Snell’s for Thomas we felt it was time for a change so Noelle is going to Central Methodist Nursery School.  She is only going 2 days a week but it has been quite the transition for me!  We were sure that she was going to cry on her first day but she did awesome!  She is enjoying every minute of school and is having lots of fun playing school with her babies at home too!

On her first day of school they had a teddy bear picnic!

I have been learning that life for a mom with two kids in different schools is mostly spent in the car!  It’s a good thing Karly doesn’t mind being in her car seat because this is our schedule on Tuesday and Thursday:

8:15  Thomas’ school starts

9:00  Noelle’s  school starts

11:30 Noelle’s school ends

11:55 Thomas’ school ends

It doesn’t help that Noelle’s school is all the way across town!  We have to really hurry to be on time to pick up Thomas from school!

Karly’s Blessing Day

Karly had her blessing on August 1st.  It was a very special, fun, and memory filled day.  Brother Winsborrow, a long time friend and who baptized me, gave Karly her blessing.  He had also given Karly a few blessings while she was in the hospital and he was so excited to see how big she had grown since he had seen her last!

We were lucky to have my Dad, Mom and Chris, and Aunt Paula be there for the blessing and it was extra special to have have my Cousin Arianne and her children be there as well all the way from Alaska!

Our first family portrait

 

I love this one of the kids

The girls

Ladies Man!!

Everybody!

School Days

Thomas started Kindergarten at the end of July.  I had so many mixed emotions as we started his first year of real school.  I was so sad that for the first time he would be away from home several hours everyday, I was nervous for him to be around so many new people and situations knowing that he’s a shy boy, and I was also excited to start this new chapter in his life.

I still miss him being at home with the girls and I during the day and we are all still getting used to having to get up early and out the door every morning but he is enjoying school, making new friends, and learning lots everyday!

Great Grandma and Grandpa

Dave is lucky enough to have his Grandparents on his Mom’s side living here in town.  I have so many fond memories of my Great Grandparents, none of whom are still alive though, so I am thrilled the kids have Great Grandparents on his side. 

We visited this summer and had a fun time hearing stories and looking at old photographs.

They sent Karly the cutest purple tutu outfit, I just had to put it on her for the visit.  It was just so much fun I can’t wait to go back!

Family Vacation

We took our first family vacation with all 3 kids in July.  We wanted to take them to the ocean but did not want to freeze our buns off in the cold ocean water or spend half of the day in fog.  So we decided to head to Lake Tahoe where we could play on the beach and in the water without having blue toes!

Thomas and Noelle thought that the hotel was the best thing ever!  Noelle kept asking if this was going to be our new home forever and weeks after returning home they continued to ask to go back!

The worst part about going on vacation with children is having to eat out for every meal!  At least if you have kids like mine who are not impressed by restaurants!  We were very happy to find many places had outdoor seating so the kids could be a bit louder and move around a little too.  I had so much fun using the Yelp application on my phone to pick out places to eat that people had rated delicious and economical!  I hate spending a lot of money at a restaurant only to get mediocre service and food.

 

 

 

We had a fantastic time playing on the beach each day.  We were lucky to find a sandy, kid-friendly beach, where the water was warm.  Michele and I even turned out to be pretty good sand castle builders.  The kids enjoyed “treasure hunting” with Dave.  I think the most exciting thing they found was a dead rat by the water though.

Karly was a good sport, as always, and slept most of the time under the beach umbrella.  She really is such an easy, happy baby!

 

Overall it was a really fun vacation!  It took me about 6 hours to pack everything we would need for the trip and about 3 times that long to get all the sand out of our clothes, car, car seats, stroller, etc.  Most of all I was just glad to know that we could accomplish a vacation with 3 kids and we are already planning for next year!

Monster School Bus

Driving by the mall one day Noelle and I spotted a humongous school bus.  She just had to get closer to take another look and when we did we saw that for a small donation you could take a ride on this Monster School Bus!

So, a few days later we returned with Daddy, Thomas, and The Semillo’s to take a ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ride was a little rough and I think all the kids were holding on for dear life with white knuckles but fun was had by all!!

Happy Father’s Day

I know that I am late but I couldn’t let this day pass without paying tribute to my husband.  This year Father’s Day was June 20thwhich is also our wedding anniversary.  We had expected to spend the day in the hospital as Karly was supposed to be born on June 18th.  Instead we spend the day at home with our ONE month old daughter and the rest of the family. 

I am so grateful for Dave and for his love of our children.  He is so great at taking time to do one on one things with each of the kids. 

He loves to play video games and work in the yard with Thomas.  He likes having “man time” with him and takes Thomas on afternoon outings while I nap with Noelle.

Everybody knows that Dave is a push over when it come to Noelle.  He lays in bed with her a night reading, singing songs, and making funny faces!  No wonder it takes him an hour to put her to bed…

And little Karly, Daddy is already wrapped around her little finger there’s no doubt about that!

So here’s to my amazing husband, a great dad, and the first man ever to take his shirt off to do kangaroo care in the NICU at St. Joe’s!

Nurses

I am proud to be a nurse!  During Karly’s hospitalization we met many nurses, some good, some bad, some exceptional.  I will leave this experience with a new perspective on many things.  I will never look at a scared parent the same way, I will never look at a sick baby the same way.  I will forever know how it feels to be the family member who doesn’t understand, who’s tired and frustrated, who is just looking for kindness and answers.

These nurses and many more are proof that nurses do make a difference.  These women were there for us during every step of the way.  They helped me struggle through every feeding,  they held our hands when we cried, they answered our questions. They truly made a difference in my life and my practice as a nurse…

 

Reflections

What an experience our family has gone through.  We all felt the stress of it, Dave and I, Michele, Thomas, Noelle, our parents, our friends.  I can’t think of some of the days without tears coming to my eyes, the feelings are still so raw.

After attending church one Sunday while Karly was still in the hospital Michele and I were driving to go and see her and I  started to cry.  Michele asked why and I told her that I was  thinking about all the people who told me that they had been praying for our family and I thought if all those people really were praying for her that she just had to get better.  And the amazing thing is that she did!

Karly has been thriving since she came home.  Today she weighs 6 pounds, 12 ounces.  She has been awake for longer periods of time, she gives an occasional smile, she sleeps well, she eats well, she has survived Noelle’s “helping” for 6 weeks now, and she is just a beautiful baby.

I am so grateful for this experience and would not trade it for anything.  It has taught me a lot about faith, kindness and generosity. 

When we were in the NICU I saw so many babies that were so much worse off than Karly.  We were lucky that we were able to hold her, feed her, and bring her home.  So many families don’t get that chance and I will remember that always. 

I will never be able to thank those who helped us during those two crazy weeks and beyond. 

As always, Auntie Michele really stepped up to help.  She took time off of work to be with Thomas and Noelle when Dave and I couldn’t be there.  She has helped me with anything and everything you can think of.  Cooking, cleaning, playing with the kids, letting me take an afternoon nap, shopping, making sure my dog gets fed because I suck at that, I could go on forever.  I will forever be in her debt for all that she does for us…

HOME!!

The doctors said they saw no reason to send her back to St. Joseph’s.  They thought Karly was ready to go home.  The problem was that Dave and I weren’t ready for Karly to go home!  We looked at each other with fear in our eyes like we had never taken a baby home before.  What if she didn’t eat well, what if she had an apnea spell, what if she didn’t gain weight?  We were so nervous but the nurses reassured us that she would be fine and that preemies thrive once they go home.

So that was that.  After some paperwork and teaching we were on our way home with our 14 day old baby who was weighing in at her birth weight of 5 pounds, 2 ounces.  She was so tiny still.

We were lucky that Michele reminded us to bring the car seat just in case…

Everyone was excited for Karly to be home!

CHO

We arrived at Children’s Oakland around noon on June 9th…

Karly had just taken her first helicopter ride but had only beaten us there by about 30 minutes.  And we stopped at McDonald’s!

It had been a long 13 days since Karly was born.  We weren’t looking so hot.  And for those of you who keep track, yes, my eye was red!

This was Karly’s new digs… A far cry from what we were used to.  St. Joseph’s has a brand new fancy NICU but no ENT specialist.  Oakland has an ENT specialist but an old, stinky, freezing cold, no privacy havin’ NICU! 

We got to Oakland expecting to see our specialist waiting for us.  He wasn’t.  We waited and waited and waited some more.  They told us he was in surgery, they told us he was in clinic, they told use they couldn’t page him.  They told us to wait longer… There we were in Oakland, no idea where we would spend the night, no idea what was going on with our baby.  We were getting really frustrated.

Then these guys showed up from the Oakland Temple mission.  These sweet Elders gave Karly a beautiful blessing and were so kind to us.  I am so grateful for the members of the church who took care of us during this time.

Dave’s mom was generous enough to have called and reserved us a room at a hotel close to the hospital.  But we still hadn’t seen a doctor.  After waiting until 7:00 pm we decided to call it a night and go to find our hotel, get some dinner and some sleep so we could return at 6:00 am when they promised us the doctor would come in.

After a few hours sleep we were back to our waiting posts.  We waited and waited and finally left to get some breakfast at 8:30.  At which point the doctor decided to show up.  We packed up our oatmeal (my favorite food ever) and ran upstairs to meet him.  The first words out of his mouth were, “as far as I’m concerned Karly can go home”.  That’s right folks, after all this drama he said she could go home.  Apparently the doctor at St. Joseph’s was incorrect, the tumor did not have to be surgically removed.  Even though Karly had difficulty breastfeeding she was able to eat well from a bottle and so the risks of surgery outweighed the benefits.  He told us the the tumor was caused by maternal hormones and that it would shrink on it own and most likely be gone completely by her first birthday.  If not, they would consider surgery then.  She would need to follow up with him every few months but there was no need to keep her in Oakland.

That meant two things to me:

1.  I would be attached to a breast pump for the foreseeable future

and

2.  We could be transferred back to St. Josephs.  Yea!!

They had a different plan in mind though…

The Whirlybird!

On the evening of June 8th the decision was made to transfer Karly to Children’s Hospital of Oakland for evaluation of her epulis and possible surgery.  We had been discussing this possibility for a few days so it wasn’t a surprise but I still totally freaked out because Dave was in Visalia visiting the boys for Garrett’s championship baseball game.  They were nice enough to delay the transfer until the next morning so that Dave could get home.

That night I went home earlier than usual from the hospital to pack our bags.  We had no idea what would happen when we got there or how long we would be there.  I packed each of us a few days clothes and returned to the hospital at 5:30 the next morning to wait.

Dave made it back just about an hour before the helicopter got there.

Dave and I have packed up countless little ones and put them into helicopters to be flown to children’s hospitals.  It’s just another day in the ER.  But I always have tried to spend a little extra time with the parents making sure they understand what’s happening, know how to find the receiving hospital, and that their questions are answered to the best of my ability.  That did nothing to prepare us for the day our baby was getting “packaged up” as we call it.

I can’t describe the feeling of helplessness and worry that came upon Dave and I as we watched her get into the helicopter and fly away without us. 

Next stop: CHO…