Family Journal

Most of my blog posts are about Eden because unfortunately, besides her life, sometimes I forget that there are other things to talk about. :) I decided that for the sake of family history, it would be fun to do a journal update of each of us and what's been going on in our lives.

Brad

This year Brad finished his last year as an early morning seminary teacher and was released after 5 long years of teaching. He created quite the legacy in the stake and all the kids loved him and begged to be in his class each year. We were able to teach together for one semester before Eden was born, and it was such a great learning opportunity for me, and I loved watching Brad in action. He truly has a gift for teaching and touching the lives of those teenagers. It will be really strange adjusting our lives now that this calling is over because it's been his calling for the majority of our marriage. It's going to be weird having a husband who isn't begging to go to bed by 9pm each night. :) He is now a counselor in the Stake Sunday School Presidency.

Brad also became the managing director of the Albuquerque Branch of Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. It's a huge leadership opportunity that we were blessed with much sooner than we had expected. It has kept him very busy, and has created lots of new opportunities for him so we feel very blessed with the change.

Brad turned 30 in December... I still can't believe it. He also has lots of gray hair. :)

Brad reads more books than anyone I know. He also buys more books that anyone I know. We have quite the home library collection now with all varieties of books. We have bookshelves both upstairs and downstairs, all filled with books. He also keeps a bunch of "to read" books in our room. I've tried telling him his "to read" stack should get down to only 5 before buying more, but he hasn't heeded that council and they just keep pouring in! I'm not complaining though, I'd rather him buying books than some kind of man toys or something. :)

I'm hoping he will discover a carpentry hobby soon in the hopes of significantly contributing to my new hobby of home DIY (do it yourself) projects. This is in the works...

Brad is the best, most exciting book reader for Eden. When he reads books to her, it comes complete with several different voices, songs and even dance moves. Needless to say, she always prefers daddy to read to her.


Lisa

As I was talking with a friend the other day, she put it so perfectly saying that it's basically like I have two seperate lives and I just bounce back and forth between the two. So here are the updates of my "lives":

Life #1 : hospitals, doctors, speech/physical therapists, medical bills, medical programs, insurance fights, Apria supply orders and fights, and living part time in Denver, CO.

Life #2 : this is my fun life where I get to be a mommy and play with Eden like a "normal" kid. As often as we possibly can, we go to the park, take bike rides and walks, and play with other kids as much as possible. I also LOVE being able to hang out with my girlfriends, and look forward to our GNO (girls night out) whenever I'm able to go. I have also recently gotten this itch for doing projects around the house and am always trying to figure out how to make some changes to freshen things up. Recently I created a new toy room upstairs, and repainted and glazed some old furniture. Next up I'm hoping to do some changes to our dining room. I just have to get Brad on board now... that's the hardest part.

Currently my calling in the ward is the Bulletin Specialist, which is just a fancy name for the person who creates and prints the programs for Sacrament meeting each week. It's nothing spectacular, but it's been the perfect calling for me this year because I can still contribute to the ward and do this even when we are out of town and not attending our ward. I just have to enlist the help of others who have been good about printing it and putting it out for me on the Sundays that we are gone.

I hate running, actually I hate exercising in general. I'm trying to get myself motivated though because I know how much better it feels to eat right, exercise, and be in shape. I recently bought a jogging stroller, and we have a bike trailer on my bike so I try to do some sort of outdoor exercise each day. Fortunately, Eden loves riding in the trailer or stroller so she makes it easy. I really have no excuse and am trying to be better about changing my couch potato ways.

I'm going to be 26 in a few weeks. Upper 20s now, that's weird....


Eden

This girl is so funny these days. I look back at pictures and miss how young, and cute she was when she was a baby, but I am absolutely loving that she is a toddler now and has such a fun personality. She is definitely starting to throw some pretty good toddler tantrums, but those aren't too often and fortunately at this point they are quite managable.

She is still comforted best by her thumb and blankie whenever she is sad. Ever since her surgery in March, she has become even more attached to the blankie, and usually wants to make sure she is either holding it, or that it's in sight. I'm trying to create some seperation, but the process is a slow one I'm learning. :)

She used to not be particular about what blankie she had, any receiving blanket would due. However, a few months ago a transition occured and now she is very particular about what blankie she wants. It used to be that she would hold the blankie up by her nose while she was sucking her thumb. Then she discovered some of the blankies had strings on the corners so she started putting those up her nose while she sucked her thumb. For some strange reason, she really likes those strings up her nose so now she only wants the type of blankie that has those strings. It's actually quite funny, and I really need to capture this on video, because she will sign blankie, and I will try to give her the kind without strings, and she shakes her head no and then signs blankie again and sticks her finger up her nose telling me she only wants the blankie she puts in her nose. So funny, and so cute.

Eden hit a huge growth spurt over the last few weeks that completely caught me off guard. I know now that the steroid she was on was the reason it happened, and it seems like she is leveling off again. She has been in the same size clothes and shoes since last fall, but within just a week or so she outgrew almost all her 12 month clothes and her size 3 shoes. She is also a little over 22 lbs now.

Eden signs a ton, I think over 50 words, but communication is definitely getting harder sometimes. Her receptive language is so good, and she almost always knows and understands everything we tell her, but our limited knowledge of sign language has made it difficult to communicate. Quite often she is signing something, or moving her hands around basically making up signs and we have no idea what she is trying to say. This often results in her getting sad which is frustrating. We are trying to get back into our sign language videos full force again since we learned about the additional delays with getting the trach out.

She has learned all about time-out recently, usually because she has hit or thrown food on the floor, both things she knows not to do. Many times she laughs as I put her in timeout, and she will usually get up and leave once, but once I put her back in the time-out spot she will stay there and usually by the time the one to two minutes in time-out is up, she is crying. It's cute and sad all at the same time.

Eden has finally started to go to nursery at church now and absolutley loves it. Either Brad or I have to stay in there with her, because of the trach, which is good anyway because I don't think she would stay if we weren't there. She hasn't spent a ton of time with kids over the past couple years because of all the medical stuff, so she still gets a little overwhelmed and most times just tries to stay out of their way. She loves when they sit in the little chairs for singing time and snack time though and is getting more and more social each week that she is able to go.

Adorable Hats, Adorable Girl

I just realized today that I never posted these adorable pictures taken a couple months ago. So these are a few months old, but I can't resist blogging them because they HAVE to be in my annual blog book!

A couple months ago when Eden got half her head shaved for the brain shunt, a friend of mine and her sister were so generous and made these AMAZING hats for Eden. That friend then took these precious pictures that I love so much. Thank you Heidi so very much!!!




This one is a large print framed and hanging upstairs. I love it!

Thanks Grandpa...

Thanks Grandpa for building an awesome water attraction that all the kids love to play in. I know when you created this masterpiece, the kids are exactly who you had in mind to enjoy it the most... well maybe besides the dogs. ha ha



I'm clearing a place in my backyard so you can build us one too... (wink wink) :)

Siblings

I love my siblings so much! I feel blessed to be surrounded by such awesome people. [ I'm a middle child, so I'm literally surrounded by them :) ]

They are all such great examples to me in so many different ways. I'm so grateful for every one of them and their little familes too. Thank you guys for being awesome!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

This past Saturday night, Brad's office had a company picnic at the Isotopes Baseball game. Unfortunately we didn't last through the game to watch the fireworks, but we had tons of fun at the picnic, and always love socializing with friends.




Eden was having such a blast running around and entertaining everyone. She was in such a happy mood until this came around...

The team mascot "Orbit" was ok at a distance, she just kept staring at it. However, as soon as it got within a few feet of her to come say hi, the breakdown began! I felt bad she was scared, but it was pretty cute. Once he left she returned to her happy self, but always kept an eye on him to make sure he stayed far away.

Why Eat When You Can Sleep?

I have seen so many pictures and videoes of kids falling asleep in their highchairs while eating. Eden has never once even come close to this... until I left her for a few hours with her daddy!

I went to a Stake Relief Society meeting and lunch yesterday and Brad kept her busy all morning. He put her in her chair to eat lunch and was in and out of the garage working on his little projects. He swears he didn't leave her long, but this is what he came in to find. :)



Now I can say I have the famous highchair sleeping pictures too! Thanks Brad! :)


P.S. She absolutely LOVES cheese and insists that she has some with every meal no matter what else we offer her. Usually she eats more of that than anything else, but we are progressing!

Zoo Time

I love the zoo... Eden seems to enjoy it too so I guess it's a good thing she gets to tag along where ever I go! :)

A couple weeks ago, my aunt, cousin and her son all came to town for a visit. We decided to take them out to the zoo and unfortunately had to cut the trip short due to a chance rainstorm that never seems to happen here! Bummer.... it was fun while it lasted though!

Discouraging Airway News

Yesterday Eden and I returned home from another trip to Denver. I've been thinking a lot about my need to update the blog, but I've been avoiding it. I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about the recent information we have received from the doctor in Denver.

Eden had another bronch on Monday and everything went so perfectly. They actually took her back into the operating room on time (usually they are running an hour or two behind schedule), the procedure was fast, she woke up from anesthesia beautifully, and within only a couple hours from the start time of the procedure, we were discharged from the hospital and on our way back to my sister's house. If only the news would have been as perfect....

Dr. Prager said that despite the steroid medications, and the dialation and manual stretching of her airway that he has been doing every other week, it is not working and her airway is still trying to close up. If we continue as we have been doing, he could dialate it every couple weeks, but it doesn't seem like that will work for the long term. Also, he can't just leave it as is because it will not stay open enough for her to ever get her trach out. So the answer is to go back to the stint.

Right after the reconstructive surgery, a round, plastic stint was sewn into her airway to hold the cartilage grafts in place while they healed and attached to the existing airway. The stint came out after about three weeks and that's when the manual dialations began in order to stretch out the airway as it continued to heal. The plan now is to do another dialation of the airway to stretch it back to about 6mm in diameter, and then he will sew the stint back into her airway and leave it there for two to three months. The hope is that this will give her body enough time to get used to the grafts and basically "accept" the new airway, all while it's being held open by the stint.

Unfortunately, we have no idea whether or not this is going to work. In two or three months, after the stint comes out, is when we will know whether or not we are completely back at square one. I have no idea what will be the next step if this doesn't work. I will try my best to remain hopeful and positive that it will work.

It is all so discouraging and disappointing though. Allow me to vent my frustrations for a moment, and then I will be hopeful and positive like I just mentioned... :)

With the stint in she will no longer be able to wear her speaker valve, and her voice has been getting louder and so much fun to hear. She has just recently really been recognizing her sounds and experimenting so it's been such a blessing to hear her "talk" and giggle. We will cherish this for the next couple weeks, because once the stint is back the voice is gone for a while. This just puts her further behind on her ability to speak sooner rather than later. Her speech and language will just be this much further behind now.

The stint also puts quite a bit of pressure on her esophagus so swallowing is difficult and uncomfortable. This means that the amazing progress we have made with her eating over the last week or so will most likely stop again.

The incision on her neck is finally starting to look mostly healed but now we are going to have to start over.

After the stint comes out in two or three months, these regular visits to Denver will start back up and possibly be starting over with exactly what we have been doing since her surgery in the beginning of March. This means it will most likely be close to the end of this year before we know what's going to be the long term plan, so I feel like the rest of our lives will continue to be on hold for so much longer than I had hoped for.

And for one last complaint, due to limited openings at the doctor, and not wanting to delay the surgery, this is most likely going to happen the weekend of her birthday and we will have to stay in the hospital the night of the procedure. Poor girl...

In trying to be positive though, the good news is that once the stint is in we most likely won't have to return to Denver until it's ready to come out so at least we will be able to have a "normal" and fun summer. With the trips every other week for the last few months, time has just flown by and we haven't been able to do too much as a family. We are looking forward to staying together for the summer months and having more time to do fun things.

I will continue to pray and hope that this will work and we will be able to make significant progress. We will make the best of the next couple months - hopefully hospital free!

Eden is growing up....

Where did my baby go? Look how old this girl is!! Just a few more weeks and she will be 2....

Outdoor Fun at Grandma's and Grandpa's!

I absolutely love warm weather and all the fun outdoor adventures to be had! I also love that I live so close to family and that we can get together so often. With all the kids around, it's definitely crazy, but always so much fun.

Michael and Jesse took on the enormous task of supplying water balloons. I don't think they could fill them as fast as the kids were popping them!



Eden looks like she was bracing herself for the pop!

Adorable little Lincoln just kept popping them on himself over and over again. Each time he would cry and get mad, but then he would just do it again!




Erin was sitting by Eden and for some reason Eden just kept leaning in for the kiss over and over again.


Baby Sophie and her crazy, adorable hair.



Despite being upset by the freezing cold water, she still felt compelled to wave. :)


Because Eden wouldn't stay, Brad found a new swimming companion in Michael's service dog Xxon.

More of Eden...

Life would be so boring without Eden. So would this blog....





Have I mentioned how much I love this girl?? :)

Water fun!

Because Eden's trach can't get wet, she hasn't really experienced swimming, or showers, or running through sprinklers, or anything that would splash too much. However, that doesn't stop us from playing in the famous clown fountain (with only a little trickle of water of course) :)

She was pretty curious at first so she would only reach from a distance to touch the water.


Then she started to get excited, and the fun began!


My little supermodel!

Mother's Day Get-Away!!

Ok, so this post is going to basically be me bragging about how AWESOME and THOUGHTFUL my husband is... if you're not interested than don't keep reading! :)

For Mother's Day this year, Brad suprised my mom and I with an awesome little get-away to relax and spoil ourselves! He told us a couple weeks in advance that he was planning something, but wouldn't tell us any details about what we would be doing. So this past Friday, as we were heading out the door, he gave us a stack of sealed envelopes which had instructions about when to open them on the outside cover.

The first envelope instructed us to drive over to the Sandia Resort where we would be checking in to our hotel room for the night. We spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool and then got into our room and opened the second envelope of instructions. Inside was some money for dinner and a movie and our appointment time in the spa the next day for manicures and pedicures.



We went to dinner at El Pinto and then went to see "Water for Elephants" at Century Rio. It has been so long since I have been to a movie, so I thoroughly enjoyed myself! The movie was pretty good too!

The next morning (after getting a wonderful, uninturrupted night's rest) we went down to the spa and got our mani/pedi. This is only my second manicure, and I enjoy them, but there's nothing like getting a good pedicure! It was fun to visit with my mom as we were pampered there in the spa.




After we were done there we returned to our hotel room to open the next envelope of instructions. Inside was more money for each of us to go shopping! :) Whoo hoo! We spent the afternoon at the mall getting lots of fun things and then finished our day off with a lunch at Zio's.


I was just totally blown away by Brad and his thoughtfulness! Not only did he plan something fun for us (and provide the money to spend!) but he made it even more fun by keeping the excitment and suspense going with the sealed envelopes. We had no idea what was in store for us so it was fun to finish something and then open up the envelope to find out what was next. I can't even begin to express how grateful I am to be married to such an amazing man. I love you Brad! Thank you!!!

I also absolutely LOVED being able to spend some really fun, relaxing time with my mom. She has done so much to help us, especially in the last few months with all our trips to Denver, so we can't even begin to thank her! Also, more than anyone I know, she totally deserves to have a relaxing and fun day. Thanks mom for all you do!

I love my family!!!

Easter!

Easter was so much fun this year. I love that as Eden gets older, the holidays get to be more and more fun! A day early, the Easter Bunny actually came and dropped off this little suprise for Eden... (I heard he got a really good deal on Craigslist, whoo hoo!)





Then Easter morning he left her these other fun things...

Unfortunately she is terrified of the pirate bear who sings and moves around so we have to keep it put away. She won't even play in the same room with the darn thing :)

That morning we were able to attend my brother's ward and be with them when he blessed Sophie. He did such an incredible job on her blessing and we were all so happy for their family. And of course, Sophie looked absolutely adorable!


The rest of the day was spent down at my parents house where we had a delicious BBQ and celebrated with all the usual Easter traditions. Unfortunately Eden missed out on dying eggs because she was napping, but I was able to help Kadence which I'm sure was much less messy than trying to help Eden!




Cute little baby Carson...


Then we did the Easter egg hunt for the kids and Eden was totally into it! She got so excited every time she saw another egg so she would run to it, throw it in her basket, and then start searching the grass for more. She ended up with quite a lot of eggs! Somehow we even convinced her to actually eat a little of the candy. She seemed to latch on to the malted eggs and wanted to keep eating those. Unfortunately though, she was so intrigued by the eggs and candy that out of about 20 pictures I tried, she would not look at the camera and smile.... little stinker.





I am just so grateful for the Easter holiday and the reminder it is to us of our Savior and the miracle of His resurrection. I feel so blessed to have the family that I do and I love being able to celebrate with them!