My Name's Sarah

The Writer in the Family

2011-11-06T19:19:00.006-05:00

Henry came home from school on Friday with his Writing Journal Folder. This is my new favorite folder. Henry is hilarious! There were a handful of stories that he had written and each one left me wanting more. I'm glad he wrote about this experience because I had totally forgotten about it and it is definitely worth remembering. In Henry's words, here it goes:

This story is 100% true, but allow me to fill in a few details. The branch of the tree that this fish became stuck in was about 20 feet off the ground. I did tug on that line to try and free it from the branch... and tugged... and tugged... and tugged. With each tug that fish slammed into the branch it was stuck on until finally it popped loose and took it's second flight through the air before crashing to the ground. It gets worse.

I picked up the beat up little guy and pulled out my pliers to take the hook out. It was then that I realized we were using the wrong size hooks. Now, I'm no fisherman, but I know that when a fish bites a hook it's not supposed enter through his mouth and come out of his eyeball. After a few tries I managed to extract the hook and, miraculously, his eyeball was still intact. I don't know if he could see anything out of it, but it was there.

Finally I go to throw this thing back to his home (more like his watery grave, really) and Henry stopped me. He wanted to toss him back. I handed the fish over to him and explained how to toss it in gently-- underhand, like he was pitching a softball. Clearly Henry hadn't pitched many softballs because that fish went about 15 feet straight up into the air and landed with a SMACK on the sandy ground we were standing on-- about a foot away from the water's edge.

His second attempt wasn't much better. This time the fish landed in a blob of mud-- probably a little softer than the ground, but still not exactly ideal. Instead of giving Henry another shot, I picked up a stick and flicked the fish into the water. Henry was content that the fish was on his merry way, but once the dirt settled I could see the battered thing floating just below the surface. I waited for a minute and just as I thought to myself, "Oh well," the fish swam away. I bet it lived another hour, tops, but I guess we'll never know.

All Four Chambers!

2011-09-29T15:34:00.004-04:00

Needless to say, Randy and I are very happy with the results of today's visit to the doctor. We weren't overly worried about what the ultrasound would show, but, I can't say the memories of Maren's first ultrasound weren't in the forefront of our minds. Everything else looks great, too. I'm 18 weeks and some odd days and that's exactly what the baby is measuring. Hooray!

There was one bombshell that was dropped on us. We're having a girl! I absolutely KNEW this kid was a boy. NOTHING could have convinced me otherwise. And then there it was. BAM! The crotch shot. You can't really argue with that. Although, towards the end of the exam, I did ask the sonographer to go and look one more time. She game me a basic sex education lesson-- boys have a penis; girls have a vagina. Got it.

Henry was a little disappointed. I should have recorded his reaction. A few choice phrases while running around and falling to the floor were, "Ah, come on!" "Are you kidding me?!" "Are you serious?" "That sucks!" "Now we're outnumbered!" It was pretty dramatic. That's just it, though. It was an act. The fact that he was trying not to smile the whole time told me that even though he was hoping for a little brother, he was more than okay with the idea of having another little sister.

Henry did ask me if we could try again for a boy after this baby was born. I told him a slightly modified version of what I tell him whenever he asks for more pets: "When you have your own house, you can have as many babies as you want."

I Can't Wait until I'm Eight!

2011-09-26T13:58:00.007-04:00

Henry was baptized this past Saturday, September 24th. It was awesome! I can't believe how anxious I was about the whole thing. I think I made up for Henry's lack of anxiety. Here's how not-nervous Henry was:

Saturday morning we decided to go out to breakfast at Henry's favorite pancake house, City Limits Diner, in celebration of his big day. (Seriously, yum. If you ever make it to Saline, you've got to try this place.) So Henry was in the shower getting ready when I walked into the bathroom. "Henry, are you excited?!" Henry was clearly excited and immediately replied, "Uh, yeah Mom. Those pancakes are so good!" I snapped back, "Not for the pancakes, weirdo! I'm talking about your baptism!" Henry says, "Oh yeah," and in the same breath, "I'm going to get the chocolate chip pancakes!" Not that chocolate chip pancakes from City Limits isn't something to get excited about, but come on, Henry. Really?

The baptism was really was neat. I've seen a lot of kids go under that water, but watching Henry was quite an experience. There were so many emotions smashed into one little moment. I was grateful to witness it; grateful that Maren was there to witness it; grateful that Randy was able to perform it; grateful for my baptism several years ago; grateful for my Mom and Dad who encouraged me to make that decision; grateful for the restored priesthood that makes it possible for us to be baptized. I was so proud of Henry for wanting to be baptized and I knew that Heavenly Father was too. That brought on a sense of humility, remembering to whom Henry really belongs. I was a little surprised at the sense of relief that I felt as I walked away from the font, back to my seat. I was able to mentally check that off my parental to-do list. I commented to someone, "One down, one to go!"

Mom gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost despite my best efforts to thwart her. Just as we sat in our seats, Mom opened up the program and much to her surprise, (and a touch of horror) the program read that she was to give the talk on the Holy Ghost, rather than on the topic she had prepared for-- baptism. I felt terrible that the lines had some how crossed, but she kept her cool and did a great job on the fly.

Overall, just a great day. If you haven't already, I highly recommend having your children baptized. Here a few pics:

There was a girl who got baptized on Saturday as well. Her mom is a genius and suggested we serve ice cream sundaes for refreshments. Henry clearly agreed...

...until maybe towards the end of his second generous helping.

Number Three

2011-08-13T08:00:00.001-04:00

Come February, Henry will have another notch on his Big Brother Belt and Maren will hold two titles simultaneously-- "Little Sister" and "Big Sister." Yeeup. Randy and I decided it was time.

I'm 11, almost 12 weeks. We heard the heart beat on August 1 for the first time. It was pretty exciting. Pregnancy always blows my mind. What a miracle! We're all excited to meet this little guy.

It's kind of fun talking to Maren about it. She doesn't quite get it. The other day I was looking at my big, bloated gut in the mirror. Maren noticed and walked over to examine it for herself. After she poked my tummy, I put my shirt down and told her there was a baby in there. She looked at me and pulled my shirt up, peeking under it. "No," I told her. "There's a baby inside my stomach." She put the shirt down and stared at me hard with her mouth open for a few seconds. Then she pulled on my elastic waste pants to look down inside. I said, "No. There's a baby inside my tummy." She looked at me a little longer this time, mouth still open, and then let out a little, "Ahh!". It was her "I'm freaked out" yell-- like when she sees someone fall and get hurt on TV or when a big dog passes by us.

Here's one from Henry: He was at the sink brushing his teeth when I again pulled my shirt up to look at my big fat gut. Henry looked at it and said, "Ew. Why do you have hair on your stomach?" (I swear it's just little and you can barely see it unless you're inches away and I usually shave it, but haven't bothered for the last little while.) I told him to shut up and that some girls have a little bit of hair on their tummies and to not say anything about it because it was kind of embarrassing. Henry said, "Oh, because guys have hairy stomachs?" I kind of rolled my eyes and said, "Yes, Henry." He went back to brushing his teeth again and a second later started to smile so big that it was physically impossible to brush anymore. I asked him what was so funny and he said, "When the baby comes out instead him saying, 'Mama!' he's gonna say, 'Dada!'" (Get it... because my stomach is hairy like a man's?) That kid's a real laugh riot.

I've got a "regular" ultrasound scheduled for the end of September. I go back in to see the doctor in a few weeks and at that time we'll schedule the fetal echo to make sure there's no funny business going on with his heart. I'll post when I have any updates. Yay for third and final kids!

Don't Mess with Henry's Sister

2011-07-18T16:18:00.004-04:00

Henry's always been protective of Maren. The first time I really noticed it was when Maren was pretty little. I'm not sure how old she was, but probably less than a year. We were walking through the grocery store-- Maren in the cart and Henry at my side. Suddenly Henry tugged on my shirt and whispered, "Mom, that boy is smiling at Maren." I said something like, "That's nice." Henry shook his head and with a straight face said, "I don't like that."

Fast forward a few years. One day last week I picked up a couple of Henry's friends on our way to the park. It got a little quiet in the back and I noticed in the rear view mirror one of the kids whispering something to Henry. Henry looked at the kid for a second and said, "That's not funny." The kid got a little defensive and said, "I was just kidding." Here's Henry-- "I don't care if you're kidding. I don't like it and if you say that again, I'll punch you in the face." My first reaction was to laugh, but I did not. My second reaction was to tell Henry to cool it and apologize, but after thinking about that kid and the things that I had heard come out of his mouth, I decided to pretend I didn't hear it and trust Henry's judgment.

Later that day I asked Henry what his friend said. Apparently the kid said Maren was weird. I told Henry he did good.

Best Missionary Ever

2011-07-18T15:45:00.003-04:00

Missionary work has been a hot topic in our stake for the last several weeks. Henry even showed up after Primary last week with a mock missionary tag with his name on it. I asked him what missionary work was and I was a little surprised at how flustered he got. For whatever reason, Henry seemed to have a hard time grasping the concept. To help him understand a little better, the next night we talked about ways that we could share the gospel and our testimonies with our friends for Family Home Evening. I thought it went pretty well.

This morning we were running some errands. As Henry was jumping out of the car I noticed him picking up his Book of Mormon from the floor to avoid stepping on it. After he was out of the car, as he turned around to set it on the seat, I somewhat jokingly asked him if he was going to take it inside the store and find someone to give it to. He was flabbergasted that I would even suggest such a thing. "No, Mom!" I pressed it a little-- "What? Why not?" He said, "Because, it's like our secret." Maybe that FHE didn't go as well as I thought.

Mr. Edwards/Jesus

2011-06-07T21:33:00.010-04:00

Sunday afternoons, when Maren and Randy are taking their naps, Henry and I usually sit down and watch a movie together. This week we sat down to watch a Little House on the Prairie DVD. I think there were like four episodes and Henry sat their with his eyes glued to the TV for each and every one.

Maren woke up about half way through the third episode. It's the one where Mr. Edwards and Charles meet up with a black guy and some racist white guy to do some kind of job involving blowing up stuff and pulling a wagon load of crap through, well, the prairie. (I know this is obvious to all the die-hard Little House fans out there, but for the normal people, don't worry. Charles reformed the racist before the episode ended.)

So just before Maren walked in, a couple of thieving no-gooders snuck up on the group as they stopped to take a break at a watering hole. Guns cocked, the bad guys told Charles and the rest they were going to take all their stuff. Mr. Edwards had a plan, though. He walked up to the wagon, grabbed a bottle of what he said was some kind of explosive and started shaking it all around, acting like he was crazy in the head, so as to scare the bad guys off. In walks Maren. She got a big smile on her face and called out, "Jesus loves you!" So there you are: Mr. Edwards looks a lot like the Savior in Maren's mind. I don't know. It's kind of a stretch if you ask me.

Because I know you're wondering, the bad guys bought Mr. Edwards "crazy" act and took off fast without anything. As for the explosives, it was really moon shine. Oh, that Mr. Edwards!

Funny Bunnies

2011-05-24T12:32:00.002-04:00

Randy looked up "bunnies" on google images for Maren to look at and this is one of many (a googol if you will) that came up. I don't know why this is so funny to me. What can I say? I'm a Dillingham.

Easter Pics

2011-04-28T14:34:00.012-04:00

These bad boys speak for themselves:

Happy belated Easter from the Robinsons!

Bye, Bye, Binky!

2011-04-28T14:30:00.001-04:00

Because of these:

We decided it was time to dispose of these:

Saying goodbye to binkies is hard. Maren's coming up on four years this summer, so it was do or die time. Mary taught me this one: I started talking to Maren like a month ago about collecting all of her binkies and taking them to Wal-Mart to buy a Mickey Mouse. Seriously, everyday for a month. Finally, one Saturday, I mustered up the courage to actually do it. I let her have one final suck...

...and then threw that binky in the ziplock bag with the others and we were off. Maren picked out her Mickey Mouse, we went to the check out and the nice lady behind the register made the exchange. Here she is with her beloved Mickey:

Of course she asked for her binky that afternoon when she laid down to take a nap. She didn't like it, but I was surprised how quickly she went to sleep. She has now been binky free for just about 2 weeks. Yay!

So long, Stefano!

2011-04-28T14:20:00.000-04:00

On Thursday nights Randy takes Henry to wrestling. That leaves Maren and me home for girls night. We usually sit down together and watch the recording of American Idol from the previous night. Maren's favorite is... well, was Stefano. He went home last week or the week before. I don't remember. She takes a little while to get going, but here she is singing along...

Now her eyes are set on that country girl. Keep your fingers crossed, Maren!

Cardiology Visit

2011-04-25T23:09:00.002-04:00

Maren had and AWESOME visit to the cardiologist today! Last time we went, she was a total freak show! It began in the waiting room. She went into a fit when her name was called to go back, held her breath and induced a seizure. Good times. The rest of the visit wasn't much better.

That did not happen today :) This visit was the polar opposite of last time. She hopped on the scale and laughed, almost hysterically, when they lowered the little hat thing down to measure her height; she was very excited to have EKG stickers all over her chest and belly (less than excited when said stickers came off); had a big old goofy smile on her face while she watched the red light of the pulse oximeter light up her fingernail bed; sat perfectly still watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Randy's i-Pod while having 2 blood pressures taken; giggled every time a doctor touched her because it tickled; and finally, she yelled out, "cheese!" while having her x-ray done! Not that I'm complaining, but what the hell, Maren? What a difference 6 months make!

The medical side of the visit was just as good. Her EKG was fine, her blood pressures were "great," her heart and lungs sounded good. I think her x-ray was okay. We left after it was done and haven't heard from anyone. The only thing that I wasn't sure about was her pulse ox. It was 100%. It is pretty neat to see Maren as pink as they come, but the fear of PLE is always lurking in the back of my mind. Whatever. The doctor was okay with it and Maren's doing awesome, so I'm not going to read anything into it.

So in conclusion... Freakin' awesome visit! Yay for God, yay for Dr. Jonas, yay for Dr. Donofrio, and yay for everyone at CNMC who got Maren to where she is today. Yay for umich, too, but lets be honest-- Children's did all the dirty work!

Please Pray for the Johnson Family

2011-04-25T19:58:00.003-04:00

When I picked Henry up after school today the first thing he said to me was, "Mom, I have some bad news." Without hesitation I asked, "What did you do?" I was not prepared for his answer: "Kendall's mom died."

Kendall is a little girl in Henry's class. Her family lives in the apartments we first moved into when we came out to Michigan. She's a funny kid. She'd just show up at our door every once in a while, invite herself in, eat all our food, and talk our ears off. The social worker didn't tell the class exactly what happened to Kendall's mom, only that she died unexpectedly.

Tomorrow will mark 25 years since my dad unexpectedly passed away. I was 7 years old-- Kendall's age. I will never forget planting flowers at the church that one Saturday morning. We were right by the steeple outside the bishop's office. Ben came racing up on his banana seat bike and between breaths called out while waving his arms, "Hurry up! Dad just had a heart attack!" I couldn't have known what a heart attack was at 7 years of age, but the look on Ben's face told me it wasn't good. As convincing as he was, I quickly replied, "Shut up, Ben!" Ben, like any good big brother, was always teasing us. This was just another one of his jokes, I thought. I was wrong.

The five of us ran after Ben's bike, down the hill and then up the big hill leading to our house. When we got to Hammonton, I could see the ambulances and firetrucks parked along the street in front of our house. The next thing I remember is six of us (I don't know where Don was) sitting in the living room with my mom. Bishop Fox walked in. "Children, I am sorry. Your father has passed away."

Dad's death was hard for me. I wasn't sure how to deal with it. I was sad. I cried a lot. I remember being taken down to the office in the middle of school on several occasions because I'd start crying and just couldn't stop. Sometimes I'd wake up at night and just sit outside my mom's door crying. Eventually I'd wake up my mom and she'd come get me. She would hold me and ask me what was wrong. When I didn't answer, she knew. She'd just sit there and hold me until I couldn't cry anymore. Primary was really hard. Those songs we'd sing would just pull at my heartstrings and the floodgates would burst right open.

Every once in a while those sad feelings creep back in. I don't remember much of my dad. For a long time if I concentrated hard enough I could replay his voice in my head. That's gone now. Most of my "memories" of him are borrowed from my mom, my siblings, and cousins. I do remember that he loved me, though. I guess feelings are harder to forget.

Perhaps it was one of the Lord's tender mercies that Nephi speaks about in the Book of Mormon that Dad died just after Easter. As much as I wish he was here, I know he is not really gone. He is very much alive. I have felt his presence on a handful of occasions. I know he is very mindful of the family he left behind on earth. At the same time, I know he is very busy, engaged in the work of the Lord on the other side of the veil.

How grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father and His great Plan of Salvation. How grateful I am for my Savior; for his sacrifice that will allow me, through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, to live with them and my family for eternity. I know with absolute certainty that I will see Dad again. I am sealed to him. He is my father and I am his daughter forever.

My heart aches for Kendall and her family. As hard as it was losing my dad, I really think losing my mom would have been harder. It's a tough road their family faces. I pray that they will be comforted and have the strength, the faith, whatever they need to get through this. If you have a minute, I would ask whoever reads this to do the same. Thank you.

Wrestling

2011-04-10T15:10:00.005-04:00

How come nobody told me wrestling is a white trash sport? We took Henry to his first tournament yesterday and I swear, for a minute I thought we might be at a Kid Rock concert. Ay, caramba!

The whole thing was crazy. There were about a bazillion people there with kids aged 5-14 waiting for their turn to wrestle. Henry wrestled twice over the course of four hours. It was double elimination. He was pinned pretty quick during his first round (or whatever it's called.) I was pretty worried after that one. The second kid Henry was assigned to wrestle left early so Henry was able to advance to the next bracket w/o doing anything. His last time up, Henry did really well. He got 2 take downs, scoring 4 points and got out of being pinned like 3 times. The other kid won, scoring more points, but for it being Henry's first tournament I thought he did great! His coaches, Randy and I were praising him like crazy-- so much that Henry thought he had won. I burst his little bubble in the car on the way home, but he was still excited about it.

There are a few more tournaments left in the season. We'll try to hit at least one more before it's done. Well, I should say Randy and Henry will try to hit at least one more. As well as Maren did, nobody is looking forward to dragging her along again anytime soon.

As crappy as these pictures are, I'm going to post them because they're they only ones I got thanks to my awesome photography skills and the fact that I couldn't take my eyes off Maren for fear that she'd jump off the ledge on which we sat.

This is Henry waiting for his turn to get on the mat. (One day I'll learn how to use the ISO settings on my camera.)

These are Henry's legs (black shoes/white stripes)... seconds before his opponent flips him over and pins him. Good times.

Maren Video

2011-04-02T09:14:00.002-04:00

Meet Daisy

2011-03-02T13:22:00.019-05:00

Clearly I forgot that my last post was on flatulence, or I would have found something, anything, to post before now. Sigh.

We'll, Henry has been asking for a dog since he could talk. He has always loved animals. Here are a few of his favs, in no particular order:

Pinto Bean, the three-legged cat:
(It's kinda dark, but Henry is pointing to a turtle we found one day after a storm. There is a good story to go with this picture and I'll tell it next post.)

Mom and Bill's late dog, Maggie, with same turtle we found after that storm:

Poor, dumb, decrepit, diseased, Abby:

Kath's dog, Callie, with beads around her neck courtesy of Henry:

Chewy-- this is the cat that Randy and I got after we were married. He wasn't too bad of a cat until we had Henry. Chewy tolerated adults but hated children. We dragged him across the country with us when we left Utah, and then back across the country when we moved to New Mexico. We couldn't take him with us when we went back to DC for Maren's stuff so we had two choices: give him to the class act who volunteered to take him for target practice, or take Chewy to the shelter and hope he'd get adopted. These pics were taken about a half hour before we said our last goodbyes and watched Randy drive away with him. Poor Henry was heartbroken. I'll admit I was pretty sad to see Chewy go, but it really killed me to see Henry so upset. We sat on the steps of the front porch together and cried for probably a half hour. Henry still talks about him. Randy NEVER talks about him, except for the time when Chewy peed on his bullet-proof vest. Good times.

There is also Fudge, the guinea pig, but I can't find a picture of him right now. Most of the pics of him were on the old computer that I punched. Boo.

Anyway, back to my original comment-- Henry's been asking for a dog for a long time. We finally bit the bullet and did it. Daisy is a Welsh Terrier and may be the biggest spaz of a dog I have ever come across. She sure is cute, though, and Henry LOVES her. Maren's not quite in love yet. One might say she's just gotten past the "hate" phase. Maren likes Daisy best when she's sleeping. It'll come.

So anyway, here she is:

Here's Randy hating the dog. He's trying to put up a gate while Daisy is "helping." The dog probably loves Randy as much as Randy hates it.
Out for a walk:

Maren keeping her distance:

Welcome to the family, Daisy!

Toot, toot!

2011-02-02T21:39:00.002-05:00

In our house farts are funny, and if you let one fly, you get called on it usually in one of three ways:

1. Someone points at you and calls out, "Toot, toot!"
2. Someone points at you and laughs, or
3. Someone grabs her nose, crinkles her whole face and says, "Stinky," over and over again whether it smells or not. (That would be Maren.)

SBDs are different. It's harder to identify the perp and seldom does anybody find a lethal-smelling flatulent funny.

Last night we were all upstairs in the kids' room getting ready for bed. I was on the bed with Henry, reading a book. Randy was lying on the floor, playing with Maren. All at once everyone caught a whiff of straight-up stank. A chorus of, "Ugh!"s rang out. After checking Maren's pants I asked Randy, "Was that you?" He denied it, but the smile on his face gave him away. I said something like, "That's nasty!" Then Henry, with a blanket over his face, said, "It smells like your fart!" He was talking to me. Um, that's embarrassing.

...One of the Greatest Joys of Your Life

2011-01-25T18:48:00.005-05:00

I don't particularly like it when anyone yells at me, but when a three-year-old screams at me because her Ramen Noodles are too long to fit into her mouth in one bite, or because I can't figure out what "muh" means it makes me want to punch a wall. I don't know if she's tired, if she's "just three," or if it's just my sugar and Coke withdrawal combined with PMS, but I swore a handful of times today I was going to throw Maren out the window.

This afternoon Henry was sitting at the dining room table doing his homework. I sat down with him and opened the mail to take a breather from Maren. There was an envelope from the church headquarters. It took me a second but then I remembered I had requested a copy of my patriarchal blessing a few weeks previous. About half way through I read, "...I promise that there will be children to love and care for. You will find this one of the greatest joys of your life."

I've been thinking about this throughout the evening and I just can't get it out of my mind. Motherhood has been kind of a struggle for me. I remember bringing Henry home from the hospital after he was born. Randy left me in the hospital room with Henry so he could pull the car around. As soon as he left I burst into tears. My life had completely changed and I was absolutely terrified. I’m sure the nurse thought I was a complete freak, but she just smiled and patted the seat of the wheelchair, telling me to sit down. I remember people staring at me the whole may down to the car. I’m sure they were thinking my baby must be retarded, or that I was a teenage mom, or maybe that I was a teenage mom and my baby was retarded. Anyway, the crying proceeded until a little while after we got home.

Raising kids is still terrifying to me. There have been a few times when I’ve even said to myself, “This is a mistake. I was not made for this,” and then it’s like I can see Satan looking over my shoulder laughing at me—like he’s won. (Weird, I know.) But really, for every moment that I want to pull my hair out, there are moments when I really love being a mom. It’s those moments that make all the hell that comes with being a mom worth it.

Maybe about a month after Randy and I brought Maren home from the hospital we heard her laugh for the first time. Randy and Henry we doing a puppet show for Maren—The Three Little Pigs. Henry was the wolf and when he got to the “huffing and puffing” part Maren laughed. Not just a smile and snort, it was a full-on laugh. It was priceless. I swear I would have relived every second of that horrible year leading up that moment just to see that first laugh.

I can’t remember if I’ve written down this experience, but one afternoon I was sitting on the bed with Henry, reading him a story. I think he was two years old. When I finished reading I grabbed him and tickled him for a minute. We stopped to catch our breath and ended up lying down on the bed facing each other. We just sat there, breathing deeply in and out, looking at each other in the eyes for probably like 30 seconds, although it seemed like forever. As I sat there looking at Henry I felt like I went from looking at the “physical” Henry to looking at his spirit. It’s hard to put it into words, but I felt a bond with him that I had never felt before. For a second I felt we were more like brother and sister or very close friends, than mother and son. Yes, it was freaky, but at the same time one of the neatest experiences I can remember.

So yeah, being a mom sucks hard sometimes, but I guess it only makes sense the things that bring us the most stress and heartache would bring us the most joy. When I sit back and look at the overall picture, yes— I think it’s fair to say that “I find this one of the greatest joys of my life.”

See ya, bye!

2011-01-21T07:44:00.004-05:00

Halle-freakin-lujah! Yesterday was the first day in a week that I did not have to change a nasty, stinky, juicy, preceded by gurgling noises, put-her-in-the-tub, makes Randy gag and occasionally throw up, diarrhea diaper. To celebrate Maren and I went to McDonald's and split a $1.99 10-piece McNuggets. Yeah, that's what I said... $1.99!!!

What Henry Said...

2011-01-21T07:09:00.003-05:00

Okay, before I forget...

The other day Henry, Maren and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. It was quiet. Not awkward quiet, just everybody enjoying their cereal quiet. Henry breaks the silence with, "Mom, I think ninjas are stronger than pilgrims." I think the boy is on to something.

Last night at the school as we were leaving wrestling practice, we stopped to watch the swim meet that was going on through the glass in the hallway. (Side note: that high school is INSANE. It is what I imagine high schools in Beverly Hills look like sans the palm trees.) Anyway, Henry whispers, "Oh my gosh! Mom, they're wearing their underwear!" I told him they looked like underwear, but really they were swimsuits. Henry says, "No. That's underwear." (Henry thinks I'm an idiot.)

We watched for a little while longer and then as we went to leave I explained that swimmers wear tiny swimsuits that look like underwear because it makes them go faster. Henry was quiet for a minute. I could tell the wheels were turning. And then I could almost see the light bulb pop up over his head when he said very matter-of-factly and with compete certainty, "Mom, that's why I'm slow. If I swim in my underwear, I would be fast." The topic of swimming in one's underwear didn't come up again.

Things that try my patience...

2011-01-15T07:46:00.002-05:00

1. Packing for a 10-hour road trip and THEN learning that a certain little girl has diarrhea.

2. Learning 3 hours later (after she's fallen asleep,) not only does she have diarrhea, but she's throwing up and continues to do so through the night. (Yes, we did just do this 4 days ago minus the runs.)

3. Bathing said girl the next morning because she reeks of d+ and v+, getting her clean, putting her on my bed and then realizing 2 minutes later that her POS diaper leaked and I now have to include my bed linens to 5 thousand loads of laundry that need to be done.

4. Listening to a gurgling stomach and then hearing squirting sounds from Maren's direction.

I could go on, but I'll stop here. Seriously, sometimes I wonder what I would have done if procreation wasn't a commandment. Too harsh? Be me for the last 12 hours.

Sick Day

2011-01-11T13:43:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday afternoon I got a phone call. It was the school nurse informing me that she had Henry in the health room. He had thrown up in class. Oh dear. Apparently there is something going around the school.

After our little visit to the health room, I was walking Henry from the school to the car and asked him, "Did you make it to the bathroom?" Henry shook his head and said, "No," as he looked down at the ground. "Did you at least get to the trash can?" Henry's silence answered my question. Then I asked, "What did the kids say?" Henry quietly said, "I don't want to talk about it." Fair enough.

Last night, a couple hours after putting the kids to bed, we heard Maren stir followed by that horrible retching sound. Ugh. She was up ALL night puking. I ended up in Henry's bed so I could get Maren to the toilet when necessary, Henry ended up in our bed, and Randy slept downstairs on the couch-- a much better option than spending the night in bed with Henry. That kid never stops moving, even in his sleep.

This morning I called the school to let them know Maren would not be in. The secretary asked what her symptoms were and I told her, "Puking all night." She asked if she had any of the diarrhea that sometimes accompanies this particular virus that has been going around. I was silent for a second and said, "No. But thank you for the heads up." Sure enough, a few hours later we had diarrhea.

So how are Randy and I preparing for our turn with this stupid virus? Brownies and ice cream of course. The brownies are baking in the oven as I type this. If I'm going to be puking and having diarrhea for 24 hours, hells yeah I'm gonna get a few extra calories in!

Suck it, Apraxia!

2011-01-08T14:26:00.004-05:00

One day last week when dropping Maren off to school one of her teachers announced (referring to Maren,) "Here she is-- Chatty Cathy!" It made my whole week :)

It happened over the Christmas break. It's like a switch was flipped in her brain and now she's talking like crazy. Of course, "talking like crazy" is relative. She did have a handful of words she used regularly, but in general, up until this point, if we asked her to say a word or even a sound, you could see her moving her lips around, trying to figure out how to form her mouth to make the sound. It was frustrating for her and us. Some of what she says is Maren-speak, but a lot of it is recognizable as some form of English. She will attempt to repeat everything we say. If the entire word doesn't come out, at least a sound from the word will.

I don't even know how to express in words how exciting this is for me and Randy. I guess, "I AM SO EXCITED," will have to suffice.

Here she is counting to 10:

Three Henry Stories

2011-01-08T14:11:00.008-05:00

1. We signed Henry up for wrestling. He has been really excited about it. I think the best part is watching Randy teach Henry. Randy was really into wrestling when he was younger, living in Idaho. He was really good, too. He was district champion when he was in junior high (the highest you could go, apparently.) It's all sorts of daddy-son fun.

Randy was telling me about a conversation he and Henry had on the way home from practice the other day. Here's how it went:

Randy (speaking in a Russian accent): We are going to crush our enemies!

Henry: Daddy, stop!

Randy (still in his Russian accent, which sometimes slips into a Chinese one): Okay, I'll stop... right after I crush our enemies.

Henry: You can't.

Randy: Why not?

Henry: We have to love our enemies.

Randy: Okay, how about we love them and then crush them?

Henry: No. We can't! Because the bible says we have to love them.

Randy: How about our friends? Can we crush our friends?

Henry: No. We can't crush anybody.

I love that Henry is so sweet but I wonder at what point "sweet" will be interpreted as "nerd" or "sissy."

2. The other day I was getting the kids ready for their bath. I was goofing off or something which prompted Henry to say, "Mom, you're crazy." Curious as to what he'd say, I asked if he thought if my mom was crazy. Henry said, "No, she's scientific." Right.

3. In an attempt to try to make the Sabbath significant in our home we decided to make the rule of no video games on Sunday. EVERY week Henry will walk around and sigh, "I wish we could play Mario Kart today," or some other subtle hint. I'm pretty good at ignoring him for the first few times, but sooner or later I lose it and tell Henry to shut his whine hole or he won't be able to play the rest of the week.

This week was more of the same, but before I got to the point of throwing out threats, Henry asked why we didn't play Wii on Sunday. I told him it was a special day and that we needed to do things that helped us think of the Savior. He seemed to appreciate that and sat down on the couch. He was quiet for about 30 seconds (half of an eternity for Henry) and then said, "I wish there was a 'Jesus' game for the Wii." Ah, sacrilege!

A Diaper That Doesn't SUCK, Please!

2011-01-08T07:08:00.007-05:00

Babies'R Us USED to have the best diapers. Those things could hold some pee! When Henry was 2, a bunch of us Dillinghams drove down to Moab from Salt Lake. When we pulled into the campsite I went to pull Henry out of his car seat and realized I hadn't changed his diaper all day. It had been at least 6 or 7 hours and Henry would drink water like it was his job. His diaper was bigger than his head, but his seat AND his clothes were dry. Yes, that was 5 years ago and I still get excited thinking about it. Is that Sad? Maybe.

Maren's been wearing them and we've been happy. She'd have the occasional accident after a dose of Lasix, but overall life was good... until stupid Babies 'R Us had to go and mess with a good thing. I picked up a new box of diapers the other day and to my horror, they were different. I could tell they were pieces of crap just by looking them, but I game them a shot, and another, and another. Yup, it's official-- they suck.

This is how bad they suck:

Yeah, every friggin' morning. So I gave Target a try:

They're better than being naked, but still not impressed. Now we're using Huggies Little Movers. Sigh. Will it ever end?!

Another Milestone Met

2011-01-02T14:17:00.005-05:00

Maren began her Primary career this morning. Yes, she is officially a Sunbeam! She did great-- WAY better than I expected. I stayed with her today, mostly in the shadows at first, but then ended up helping out with the class later on. We'll give it a couple of weeks and then see about letting her go on her own. Oh, and one of her teachers is a nurse, which, I guess is okay ;)

Update: 1/9-- We just got back from church and I'm am very happy to report (and really surprised) that Maren went to Sunbeams on her own today! Sweet, sweet freedom! And yay for awesome Sunbeam teachers!

Whoopsie

2010-12-20T14:06:00.004-05:00

A few days ago on the way home from school Henry asked, "Mom, Dad hates the cold, right?" I told him, "No. Dad actually hates it when it's hot. He really likes the cold." Henry became very distraught, almost to tears. I asked my the heck he was so upset and he said he didn't want to talk about it. I changed the subject and life when on.

On Friday Henry brought this Christmas card home for Randy. Now I understand. I just ruined the boy's Christmas.

Gingerbread Men and Sausage Fingers

2010-12-14T19:00:00.012-05:00

Maren came home from school last week with her very first homework assignment. With the help of her family, she was to decorate, using any medium, a gingerbread man. I thought Henry would get a kick out of helping her. I sat the two of them down at the kitchen table with the gingerbread man and after Henry convinced Maren that using paint was the way to go, away they went:

My favorite part of looking back at these pictures is their fat little hands. Sausage fingers are the best... when you're little... not so much when you're older... unfortunately.

Cheerio Pasties

2010-12-06T19:14:00.003-05:00

It was that kind of night at the Robinsons. Randy called to tell me he was gonna be late, Kids are hungry, I'm still sick from the 5 pounds of candy I ate 3 hours earlier... scrambled eggs and cereal for dinner it is! (I did throw some applesauce in there lest anyone labels me a horrible mother.) Neither Henry nor Maren seemed to mind. Maren enjoyed it a little too much, actually...(check out the right booby)
About 2 seconds after I got that shot, Maren realized she'd missed one, picked it off herself and ate it. Yummy.

This is random, but I've got to put it in here... I just put Henry and Maren to bed and I'm sitting on the couch listening to the monitor. Maren says, "Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi." Henry finally answered, "You have to go to sleep, Maren. Think of the presents you're gonna get. Maybe you'll get a Wonder Pets movie. You're gonna see Gracie and Tommy. You have to think of those kinds of things." Now Henry is singing to Maren. That kid is the best, really.

I'd like to bear my testimony... Relief Society is true.

2010-10-28T20:29:00.003-04:00

I made this at the Relief Society Super Saturday last weekend. (Thanks, Jami!) Really, the fact that I, least domestic/creative person I know, made this is amazing. Who wants to get baptized?

Hooray for Tiny Miracles!

2010-10-26T14:27:00.005-04:00

For the past couple of weeks we've been working with Maren, tyring to get her acclimated to her new preschool. The first week I went with her and we stayed for about 40 minutes or so. The second week I took her, stayed with her for a few minutes and then left. Each day she made it progressively longer (maybe an hour and a half max) and then I would come in and "rescue" her. She cried the entire time.

Because staying with her didn't seem to help matters, today we decided to dump her off at the door. About 20 minutes after leaving her, one of the teachers came to get me (I was making copies for Henry's teacher in another room.) Maren had thrown up. I don't know what was more embarrassing... the massive pile of barf that was partly on the carpet and partly on the unfortunate teacher who was with Maren when she blew, or the fact that the barf contained hot dogs. (Few things say "Mother of the Year" louder than feeding your kid hot dogs for breakfast.)

Once it was determined that Maren throwing up when upset is normal, (remember when she was in the hospital post op and she'd shove her chubby little finger down her throat whenever a nurse walked in? What a turd.) I left again and Maren was toted off to the library to join the rest of her class.

I'll be darned-- I wasn't called back the rest of the morning. Several people stopped in to tell me how well Maren was doing-- smiling, laughing, playing with the other kids! She even went with the physical therapist to the PT room for a little session. Seriously, if she made it through the day w/o passing out or having a seizure I would have been in awe, but this was UNBELIEVABLE! Maren definitely gets extra credit for this one. Like I said, hooray for tiny miracles!

Unrelated, but funny... while doing busy work at the school today, I came across one of Henry's assignments. He had written, "For Halloween I am going to be a sglltin." (skeleton.) It made me giggle and I showed another mom. It reminded her of something she read the other day, written by a Kindergarten teacher:

A little girl was reading an ABC book and called out while pointing to a picture, "Look! I freakin' elephant!" The teacher was a little disturbed by her language and walked over to the girl to see what she was pointing at. When the teacher got there, the girl pointed to the picture again and repeated, "A freakin' elephant!" It was a picture of an elephant labeled, "African Elephant." (Get it? A-freak-in, A-fri-can?) Oh, kids make me laugh... sometimes.

Maren Update

2010-10-20T12:53:00.015-04:00

Maren had her second cardiology appointment here in Michigan on Monday. I'll give away the ending by saying right up front that I felt like a goober leaving the hospital. I couldn't stop smiling!!! The visit went great... although we had a rocky start. In the waiting room Maren was totally content playing with the toys until the nurse called her name. That's all it took to trigger a breath holding spell and down she went-- seizure and all. (Oh, Maren!) She was fine. I was surprised that the nurse didn't even freak out. She just said, "Let me know when you're ready," and walked off. Works for me-- less is definitely more with Maren.

When Maren came to, we went back for an EKG. She screamed through the entire thing, of course, but this time she made it a point to breathe, so it was all good. When they put the pulse ox on her toe she began to throw her signiture punches ("bitch slaps," really.) After a moment of mass hysteria the nurse said her sats were 86 and asked if that sounded okay. I couldn't believe she wasn't down in the 70's the way she was carrying on!

When we got to the exam room a doctor was waiting for Maren-- one of the Fellows-- for the preliminary exam. Maren pretty much hated the guy and so the breath holding recommenced. The pulse ox was still on and now she was in the 70's. The doctor kept trying to get us to adjust it, but the longer she was in the same room with him and the longer we messed with it, the more Maren got upset. Finally I told the doctor, "this is stupid," took the monitor off her toe and handed it to him. I told him she was pink at home and that was good enough for him.

The fact that Maren was still enough for her echo was nothing short of a miracle. Our biggest concern going in there was that they would send us home and schedule us to come back for a sedated echo. Ugh! She did it, though. Thanks to Echo Tech Mike, the Wonder Pets, Dora, Diego, and the theme song to Little Einsteins, they were able to get the images they needed.

After the echo, Dr. Ensign came in and Maren was all smiles. I still haven't figured out why Maren likes some and absolutely hates others. He was pleased. Her heart function is still not great, she still has the moderate tricuspid regurgitation, but her liver is back down to a decent size and she's doing FANTASTIC. We weaned her Lasix to one dose a day from two, cut the spironolactone and then kept everything else the same. Like I said, it took me forever to stop smiling!

At home Maren is doing great. There was definitely an adjustment period once we got to MI, although it's hard to know how much was post-op behavior and how much was the move. She is more fun than ever. She is the GOOFIEST little girl I have ever known. She cracks herself up and everyone around her. (Except, of course, when she's smacking you or holding her breath.) Her latest thing is knock-knock jokes. She'll knock on a wall, the floor, or anything around her and then say, "Nah," to which someone responds, "Whose there?" She'll say, "Muh," and we'll say, "Maren who?" She’ll smile and then we say, "Maren you glad ...." and finish the punch line with some random statement, but she usually can't hold the laughter in long enough to hear it in its entirety. She's a crack up!

We've been spending the last couple of weeks trying to get her acclimated to her preschool. She's in a special program to help her with her delays. (Once she turned three the program shifts from in-home care to preschool.) Obviously the big push now is her speech. Her receptive language is really good. If we can just get her past that pesky apraxia! She's getting there. Leaving her at school has been a challenge, though. Major separation anxiety + breath holding + seizures = pain in my butt, but the staff has been AMAZING. I know it will work out in a matter of time.

Okay-- blah, blah, blah.... Here's a video. One of Maren's favorite things in preschool is doing yoga. Here's a demonstration of what she's learning... (Maybe even better that the yoga poses in this video is the recording of Henry's inability to control his bodily functions. Listen for it at the beginning.)

Here are some pictures from the last month or so...
Plymouth Orchards (An eternal thank you to the Hansens for introducing us to this place!)

CHEEEEEESE!

Yay for happy, healthy kids!

I'd rather be home watching The Wonder Pets

2010-09-14T12:39:00.002-04:00

... That's the bumper sticker Randy is going to get to put on the back of Maren's wagon that we pull her around in. Here's another Maren video.

The Apple Patch

2010-09-13T13:54:00.012-04:00

We met up with our good friends, the Hansens, today at Plymouth Orchards. They were out here visiting from Maryland (which is where they moved to 3 years ago from Michigan.) It was all kinds of fun!

I think Henry asked when we were going to be at the "Apple Patch" about 50 times during our 30 minute car ride. I corrected him after the 10th time he called the apple orchard an apple patch, but Henry, convinced he is a billion times smarter than me, continued to call it an apple patch. It never got old, either.

While on the interstate en route to said apple orchard, Henry yelled out, "Is that a giraffe?!" To which I sarcastically replied, "Yes, Henry. There is a giraffe on the interstate." Henry, so sure of what he saw said, "No seriously-- I saw the spots and everything! It was a dead giraffe!" Ten bucks says he has nightmares about giraffes tonight.

While we're on the topic of stupid/funny things Henry said, here's another: The other night while I was helping Maren get into her pajamas, I look up at Henry who was sitting on his bed. He had his shirt pulled up, tucked under his chin and he was using two hands to pull his belly chub up so he could get a good look into his belly button and said frustratingly (is that even a word?), "How do so little things fit into so little spots?!" Henry recently discovered belly button lint.

The other day Henry asked if I had color on my TV when I was a kid. Seriously, how old does he think I am?!

I have moles on my neck. They've been there forever, but they have progressively gotten bigger over the last several years-- but not huge. Think Nerds candy-size. When Henry was little, he used to pick at them and call them bugs. Clearly they still gross him out because after watching a commercial for Compound W the other day, Henry says, "Mom, maybe you could get that for the things on your neck." Yeah, they may be kind of gross, but their not warts, damn it!

Okay, last one-- He said this one night right before sitting down for dinner: "I'm hungry like a turkey!" Wuh?

ANYWHO... Here's my favorite picture from today:
That's pretty much the look everyone gets from Maren, unless you have gummy bears, donuts, or Dinty Moore Beef Stew...

... or you're Ash.

Come on-- like you don't go cross-eyed when you're pretending to drive a tractor.

Henry's beloved Brynn. He will count the minutes 'till they meet again.

Thanks, Hansens, for an awesome morning!

Maren video

2010-09-12T18:03:00.002-04:00

For a girly-girl, she sure likes to be tossed around a lot! This is video from the hotel we stayed in on our way to Michigan. Why are hotel rooms so fun?

We made it!

2010-09-04T20:48:00.004-04:00

Maren's fine. Both her eegs came back normal. She doesn't appear to have any seizure disorder... just the ability to self induce them. My daughter's awesome! She was discharged on Tuesday-- a couple of days after she was admitted. That left two days to finish up all the packing and other preparations. Randy flew in on Thursday, he picked up the truck, we loaded it-- well, really it was mostly Randy and Bill. Loading trucks is "Man's work," according to Bill. Works for me-- and then drove off Friday morning.

It was a sad goodbye. Before we took off we had a prayer. I can't remember who said it-- probably Randy-- but as soon as he said, "Heavenly Father," I was in tears. At the end, we gave hugs and said our goodbyes. Henry was fighting tears so Grandma and Grandpa wouldn't see. As soon as we shut the door to the van and turned the ignition Henry sobbed, "Why do we have to go, Mom? I don't want to go!" It broke my heart!

I think Bill was probably Henry's best friend. The two of them couldn't even sit next to each other at church without getting in trouble! All Bill would have to do is look at Henry and Henry would say, "You want a piece of me?" and the shenanigans would begin. Good thing we're not too far. They're moving to Utah pretty soon, though. Maybe one day I'll convince them to come to Michigan. (HAH!)

Okay, so the trip was great. Randy drove the truck and I drove the van with the kids and Fudge. (Yes that thing came with us. I tried to give it to Camryn when she was out here, but when the offer was extended, Henry cried.) We did it in two days just because we didn't want to push Maren. I'm glad we did. The kids were so good.

We like Saline. It's a lot smaller than I expected. It has a small town feel but with all the good stuff you'd find in a bigger suburb. It's nice.

Okay, so I'm boring myself. Here a couple of stories that I wanted to write down before I forget:

1. During breakfast at the hotel there was this guy sitting next to us with his daughter. She was about three years old. I put a bagel on Maren's plate and she acted like it was Christmas morning. (Have I mentioned she likes to eat?) The guy made a comment about her reaction and we started talking... well, he started talking. He went on and on about how his kid was a super genius. She knew her full name, she could play games on a computer, she spoke in full sentences, her daycare was going to bump her up to preschool... totally annoying but I let him go on... and on... and on. Just when he seemed to be slowing down his wife showed up and he said, "Isn't that right, Honey? Suzie (or whatever her names was) can..." and then he proceeded to go down the same list again.

I was so tempted to cut him off and start bragging about Maren-- how she, too was a super genius and then prompt her to say, "guh," which means "go" or "key" which means "binky," or "ne-ne" which means "Henry." Either that or take off Maren's shirt and start talking about all of her surgeries and how she's defied death a bunch of times. That probably would have shut him up. Thankfully after I could take no more, Maren spilled her apple juice. The one-way conversation dropped and we could eat our continental breakfast in peace.

2. The other day the kids and I were driving somewhere. Maren was in the back eating her goldfish. She kept saying, "eee! eee!" I was tuning her out, concentrating on driving and then all of sudden she yells, "Eee Mommy!" I turned around and she was handing my a goldfish. She wanted me to eat the cracker. I about crapped my pants! She has put signs together, but NEVER words. Of course she hasn't done it since, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time!

3. The other day we were at Meijer's. It a like a super Walmart, but the food section is fancier. There was a University of Michigan game going on that day and the stadium must have been up the road because probably every other person was in their Michigan garb. Anyway, I pointed it out to Henry and the idea of there being a big football game was kind of exciting to him, but not really a big, big deal... until I told him the mascot for U of M is a wolverine. He about crapped his pants then said, "The Redskins suck. My new favorite teams is the Wolverines." So there, Redskins.

Just as a side note, there was more than one tailgate party going on in the Meijer's parking lot... at 10:30 in the morning. Ah goody!

I hear the open house went well...

2010-08-23T07:40:00.004-04:00

...but unfortunately, Maren, Bill and I were unable to attend. At about noon yesterday, Maren had one of her crying fits where she holds her breath and sometimes passes out. She did pass out this time, but instead of coming right back, like she always has, she went into a seizure. I laid her down on the couch and I just couldn't get her to breath. It was terrible. Bill called the ambulance while I tried to wake up Maren. She was getting more and more blue (I've seen Maren turn a lot of colors, but I had NEVER seen what I saw yesterday) and finally the thought came to me to give her a breath. I did, and a few seconds later she was breathing on her own and her color came back.

Just as I got her to calm down a little, the paramedics arrived. Thankfully she was stable and we were able to bring her to Children's. Bill followed behind us in the car. Once we arrived, labs were drawn and then we waited... for about 6 hours. Maren was her normal, happy, playful self as long as everyone left her alone, which they did because every time someone walked in, she'd cry... and hold her breath. (It's like a defense mechanism. Chameleons change color, Maren holds her breath.)

At about 7pm Maren was admitted, but instead of going to the heart floor, we went up to Neurology. The neurology rooms look identical to the HKU rooms (aka, Maren's second home.) When we got to the room, Maren wiggled out of my arms, jumped up on the couch and started to roll around out it, laughing out loud. My jaw hit the floor and when I turned to look at the two nurses with us, I noticed theirs did too. I hope she doesn't make herself too comfortable. I don't want to be here forever.

We had a pretty restful night. We just finished an EEG which should give us an idea of why she had the seizure and then hopefully we'll get to go home. I'm not holding my breath, though. (Perhaps not the best choice of words.)

Thanks, Mom and Anna, for putting on the show last night. Thanks, everyone for coming. I hope you enjoyed it!

Thank You and Farewell

2010-08-15T19:23:00.007-04:00

My mom is hosting an open house for me, Randy, Henry and Maren next Sunday, August 22nd from 4-6pm to thank everyone for the love and support they have given us over these last few years. It's really informal. If you like food and hanging out, please stop by. We'd love to see everyone before we take off. If you want to come and don't know where my mom lives, send me an e-mail or give me a call.

With that out of the way... Maren had her last visit at Children's on Friday. (I'm crossing my fingers and toes that I didn't just jinx us by writing that statement.) It went really well. We didn't do anything. She looked too good to shoot an x-ray or do an echo, so the only thing we did was lab work and listen to her heart. (I haven't heard anything about the lab results yet, but I'm assuming they're okay. "No news is good news," right? I'll e-mail Dr. D tomorrow.) At the end of the visit Dr. Donofrio asked Maren for a hug and Maren walked right up to her with big open arms. I got a hug before leaving too and for just a moment I flashed back almost three years when Maren was placed on ECMO. Dr. Donofrio hugged me then, too. It sounds terrible to say, but although I hoped she would, I really didn't think Maren would live-- and look at her now!

Henry Stories

2010-08-10T19:31:00.003-04:00

I've got to write these down before I forget...

1. While Maren was in the hospital, Henry was picked up by his Aunt Ronda to hang out with his other aunt and cousins down in North Carolina. (Thanks again, guys. That was awesome!) Here's an e-mail I got from Ranie with two Henry stories:

We were in the car & my kids were talking about how they really want a pet, etc (the same conversation we have every single day).
Henry: When we move to Michigan, I'm getting a dog.
Me: Awesome! What kind?
Henry: A canine.
Me: Oh....what color?
Henry: Labrador.

2. The next day Gracie was crying because the boys were running outside & she couldn't keep up.
Gracie: I hate running!
Henry: Why do you hate running?
Gracie: Because I fall when I run.
Henry: Well, I have control of my body.

Here are a few from us...

3. Randy and I took the kids to the pool on Saturday. Henry was longingly looking over at the diving board and asked, "Can I do that?" I laughed and jokingly said, "If you can swim from one end of the pool to the other without putting your feet on the bottom, you can jump off the diving board." I'll be darned, he did it! (By the way, he's never had a swimming lesson his his life.)

Two minutes later Henry was standing on the end of the diving board looking down into the pool. He looked over at me and Randy and just shook his head no. After he came down I asked if he wanted me to go first. That gave him the confidence he needed. We both went this time-- first me, showing my awesome body to the world, then Henry in all his glory. One, two, three, four bounces and then in he went. It took him about 45 seconds to doggy paddle over to the ladder. Even still, I was proud of him... even if it was just jumping off a diving board.

4. Tonight I asked Henry if he wanted to play with Brynne, one of his friends, one more time before we left for Michigan. He casually said, "Oh, sure. She sure is going to miss me when I'm gone." Nice, Henry.

5. A few weeks ago my mom was reading a post my sister-in-law had made on her facebook account. When her youngest learned how to float on his back in the pool, he showed his mom and said, "Look Mom! I'm floating like a piece of trash!"

I was telling Randy about one night while he was bathing Maren and Henry was brushing his teeth. Randy, Maren and I all laughed but Henry didn't seem amused. After he was done brushing his teeth, Henry walked by me and under his breath grumbled, "I can float like a piece of trash." I guess he failed to see the humor in it.

YAY FOR MIRACLES!

2010-08-05T07:38:00.002-04:00

This is huge...

Maren's little friend, Caelen is home after a six month struggle in the hospital! Yay for miracles! Thank you, everyone, for your prayers on their behalf.

Another miracle... Maren had another follow up on Monday and is doing AWESOME! Her lungs are crystal clear and all of her tests that were sent out looking for protein issues, aka PLE, are completely normal. When Dr. Donofrio told us she said, "Would you please delete that PLE post from your blog!" It was Dr. D's hunch that what looked like PLE was really just a fluke. Yay for flukes, boo for Maren doing crazy stuff!

We take Maren back in on the 13th for for a visit with Dr. Donofrio. We'll do an echo at that time and if all looks good, it will be our last visit at CNMC. It is very much a bitter-sweet time for our family. We have been so blessed over these last few years. We hate to leave all of the doctors and nurses that know us so well, but at the same time, it will be so nice to move on with our lives.

Home

2010-07-23T14:23:00.005-04:00

Maren's home. We actually came home on Wednesday. I apologize for not posting right away. I've had a slew of emotions running through me and I'm just not sure how to put them into words. Here's a shot:

When Maren was first diagnosed, before she was even born back in New Mexico, I pleaded with God to let her stay with us-- even if it were for just a little while. I knew she belonged to Him and that if she was taken, we'd be together for eternity, but I wanted her now. I wanted Henry to know his little sister now. I begged for her to come and stay and then prayed for the faith necessary to cope if that could not be.

I would bet that the parents of children with life threatening health problems offer similar prayers. I don't know why some kids live and others die. I don't know why some sick kids heal quickly and others take what seems like an eternity to get better and come home. I don't know why some kids heal completely, and others are faced with life-long challenges.

This I do know: I know that God lives and that He hears and answers every prayer. God has a plan. Because of this we may not always receive the answer we hope for, but we will be given what is in our eternal best interest.

I am happy and humbled that Maren is home. I thank God every time I look at her; every time she throws her head back and laughs when Henry pretends to fall in an attempt to get that very reaction; every time she sits on the counter and "helps" to prepare a meal; every time she rounds her mouth and says, "oh" to let me know she wants to watch a show.

I pray that we can keep her home. She had a follow-up at Children's on Friday. The great news is that her albumin levels actually increased a little, which makes the PLE issue seem like more of a non-issue. We're still waiting for one of the tests to come back. We go back in a week. If her albumin remains normal and the test is negative, we can pretty much assume that her protein issue was a fluke as hoped.

Less-than-great news is that her lungs are still wet, although she's getting large doses of Lasix 3x/day. We added a second diuretic to her drug regiment and we hope that the combination will keep her collection of fluid at bay.

Thank you everyone for your prayers. I really don't know how we could do this, especially the worst of it (which has passed... hopefully) without you.

From Annoyed to Concerned...

2010-07-19T14:11:00.003-04:00

Um... so now I'm wishing our problem was constipation. Maren is pooping like a champ. (Thanks for your prayers.) The problem is, her belly is still mucho grande. The protein in her blood is low (why that makes her belly big, I don't know) and we're tyring to figure out why. Labs will be drawn and poop and urine samples will be sent out to diagnose Maren's problem. The hope is that this is a fluke-- her Albumin is low, so we'll give her some more through an IV and Maren will go home. The fear is that the problem is more complicated-- Protein-Losing Enteropathy.

With each doctor that walks into Maren's room, I become more concerned. Their messages range from, "It may be nothing. Let's not worry until the labs come back," to "PLE isn't the end of the world."

Anyone's knees sore yet? To be honest, I'm not sure what to ask anyone to pray for. I don't really understand, and I really don't think the doctors understand 100%. I'm certain that God gets it. Please pray that Maren will get well and that she'll come home soon.

How'd you do on your SAT?

2010-07-17T09:41:00.003-04:00

I didn't do great. Partly because I went out the night before and was on my way to the HFS-tival when I finished, but mostly because I don't do well on standardized tests. However, this question I would have nailed:

Terrifying is to heart surgery as annoying as hell is to _____________.

I don't even need multiple choices. It's CONSTIPATION! Did I mention that Maren is constipated? Like multiple adult-size doses of Miralax and two Fleet enemas haven't touched her- constipated. Yeah, that rock-o-poo inside her gut laughs at our attempts to dislodge it.

Ugh. The weird/good thing is that she is pooping. Apparently her new poop is very smart. Instead of getting stuck behind the aforementioned mound of crap inside of her, it politely squeezes by, making it's way out to Maren's diaper. I'm guessing this is what allows Maren to maintain her very busy schedule of eating 18 meals a day. I'm not kidding. I have never seen a kid eat so much. She'll eat until it's hard to breathe! Needless to say, we are very proud.

Maren, for the most part, is happy despite her constipation. She's smiling, laughing, talking, signing... she's pretty much normal Maren. Her heart is still in great shape. Her puffiness is gone. We've switched over to IV Lasix and she's peeing like a machine. Now we need her to maintain on PO Lasix and we can check that off on our list of issues. She's not walking yet and has shown zero interest in it. That is definitely not helping her situation in the poo department.

It sounds like the next plan is to give Maren doses of Miralax that you would be given to a very large man. After that, the subject of "colon cleansing" has come up. I asked and then wished I hadn't, so I'll leave that to your imagination or google if you're curious. Hopefully it won't come to that.

So, I hate to ask, but in all seriousness, please pray for Maren to poop. Although she's feeling well, it's hard to see her belly so swollen. Near the end of the day it's even shiney it's streched out so much. I think walking would be a good thing to pray for, too. Thank you.

Round 2

2010-07-15T14:55:00.002-04:00

We're back in the hospital. Bummer. Maren's constipation got the better of her last night. She woke up about 4am with a gigantic belly that was tight as a drum, breathing and grunting that made me uncomfortable just watching, and a very, very puffy face. (Her puffiness isn't related to the constipation, but just one more reason to bring her in.) She was just asking for an ER visit. Goody.

We were happy to learn that her heart looks great, her lungs don't look too bad, and pretty much all of her discomfort is due to her constipation. So, we get to hang out here until she poops. While we wait, we'll play with her diuretics to see if we can find a good balance to keep her lungs dry w/o completely drying her out.

Maren's not very happy about being back (can't say that Randy and are thrilled either,) but if we had our choice of being in the hospital for constipation or heart issues, poop would win every time! We are counting our blessings, for sure.

Can you believe it?

2010-07-14T19:52:00.002-04:00

Randy and I brought Maren home yesterday! Rachel (the Nurse Practitioner) came in yesterday morning and said that we'd probably be going home that day but I didn't really believe her until she came back with a little packet of home care instructions. Can you believe it? Two weeks!

Maren has made it clear that although she's home, a full recovery is still a little ways down the road. She's very sore. When I asked her to sit up in her crib this morning, she couldn't but she did keep herself up when I sat her down in front of the TV-- an improvement from yesterday. She's not ready to walk, not even ready to try, but I'm sure we'll get there soon.

Our biggest concern right now is her constipation. I have never seen her belly so swollen and tight as it was tonight. I feel so bad for her. It's hard to tell what hurts more-- her sore chest or her bloated belly. There isn't much we can do about it except wait for the laxatives to do their thing. I hate seeing her not feeling well :(

On a good note, she's eating like a horse! We were told to expect a poor appetite for the next few weeks, but apparently Maren didn't get that memo. She's even eating healthy stuff-- apples and bananas. Considering she follows Randy's general rule of not eating anything that was grown from the ground or a tree, that's pretty impressive. Now if we can just get some of that good food to come out the other end, we'll be in business!

Please keep our little friend, Caelen, in your prayers. He was transferred to the Heart and Kidney Unit a short while ago, after spending months in the CICU. He's been able to avoid returning to the CICU after being diagnosed with the flu. Please remember him along with his mom and dad.

Sodium's up!

2010-07-11T12:39:00.004-04:00

Thank you everyone for your prayers. At its lowest point, Maren's sodium was 120. (From my own research, low-normal is around 136.) Yesterday it was 125 and today it was 126. Yay! We are moving in the right direction.

When the doctors asked if I thought I could get her to eat some salty foods I sarcastically thought to myself, "Yeah, I think I can find a few." As soon as she started eating and keeping down her regular diet of Dintey Moore, Ramen Noodles, and sesame sticks we were in business. I'm sure the pedialyte played a part, too.

There's more good news: Maren's chest tubes are coming out today. I really wish there was a less painful way to get these things out, and as much as I dread the actual moment they do come out, I know she'll feel so much better once they're gone. She can hardly move they've been bothering her so much:(

I don't want to jinx it, but the the "H" word has come up a few times. If Maren can keep the fluids off her lungs after her tubes are gone, we could be home within the next few days! So, if you're not sick of praying for the Robinsons, please pray that Maren will be able to keep the fluid off her lungs after her tubes are gone.

Thanks everyone!

Heart and Kidney Unit

2010-07-10T19:44:00.003-04:00

Maren graduated to the HKU yesterday. Hooray! Now the trick is staying here. Her sodium levels are "critically" low. She's been prescribed sodium supplements that taste like ca-rap. She's supposed to get them 4x/day and they are 15ml each. Yeah, right. I gave her a little bit of one and she gagged immediately. Thankfully she began eating a little again today so we're praying that between the pretzel rods, sesame sticks and pedialyte she'll avoid the CICU.

She also continues to be very scared and out of sorts. "ICU Phychosis" has come up in conversation a few times with doctors and nurses. I looked it up on the internet last night and Maren fits the description. It's very sad and very scary to see her the way she is, but even in the just the past 24 hours, since she moved to a much less stimulating environment, we've seen improvement.

Her heart is still great. Her oxygen stays in the mid 90's. The only other time I've seen her so pink was right after she was born! Randy and I are so very grateful for that.

Our prayers now are that Maren will be able to eat the foods that will give her body the nutrition it needs-- specifically sodium. We are also praying that she will feel the comfort of the Holy Ghost and others who love her so that she will not be so scared.

Thank you, everyone!

And we're down...

2010-07-08T10:22:00.002-04:00

If you're gonna be "down" in the CICU, this is the way to do it. Maren's heart stuff has remained stable-- awesome, really-- but now we're struggling with dehydration. She was doing pretty well with keeping fluids down the other day (not so much with food) but it all went down hill after giving her pain meds. Oxycodone is not Maren's friend. Although it knocked her out and helped her feel better in regards to being sore after heart surgery, it made her barf up everything little bit of anything we could get into her. Her a-line, and central line were pulled earlier this week because of risk of clots and infection, and sadly all of her peripheral IVs have pooped out on us. Even sadder (is that a word?), she has not one vein left to give up for an IV. EVERYTHING is gone. Poor thing. We are trying are best to keep her hydrated. So far so good this morning. She had a sippy cup of water, a juice box and an entire popsicle. Besides the occasional brain freeze from eating the popsicle, we haven't had any issues.

I think worse than the dehydration (which I'm pretty sure will turn around) is Maren's fear of anyone who comes in the room. Fear doesn't even really do it justice-- sheer terror is probably a better choice of words. Somewhere between having one of her chest tubes yanked from her body and countless failed attempts to place an IV, Maren reached her breaking point. All of those things were necessary, but really too bad :( Poor thing. Hopefully she's young enough to forget it all in time.

I will take all of this over unstable heart issues ANY DAY, but still your prayers for our little girl are still very much appreciated :)

Please pray for Maren's little friend Caelen. He was doing well enough to get bumped from the CICU today, but had a pretty rough night. He's got another pleural effusion building. Please pray for that strong little guy that his doctors will know how to take care of him and that fluid will find come off his lungs.

Thanks for reading.

She smiled at me!

2010-07-06T13:01:00.007-04:00

One week after surgery and we got our first smile. I came in this morning and peered through the closed glass door of her room. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was awake. I smiled and waved to her through the glass like a big idiot. Her eyes lit up and I walked in. I told told her how pretty she was and she smiled at me. It melts my heart.

Maren continues to do well. The plan is to take out one of her chest tubes today because nothing has come out of it for 24 hours. They will also take out her arterial line. Once those are gone, we'll be able to hold her :) Needless to say I am completely floored!

We're a little concerned that she hasn't pooped yet. So that would be a week w/o doing a #2. (Can you imagine?) She's drinking quite a bit, but throwing a lot of that up, too. I brought in some Italian Ice and she liked that a lot. We're supposed to give her ANYTHING to avoid the feeding tube, so it's time to bring out the big guns-- pepperoni, hotdogs, hamburgers, dinty moore. Hopefully she'll want to start eating soon.

shhhhh... maren's doing really well...

2010-07-04T17:14:00.004-04:00

I didn't post yesterday because I was freaking out too much. After Maren was extubated, she was having a hard time breathing... so it seemed to me, anyway. She was pulling pretty hard and at times she was even flaring her little nostrils. It broke my heart! I was told several times that she was okay-- all of her numbers and labs were good-- but it still killed me to watch, so I didn't. When I wasn't walking around the hospital in tears, I was in the room, sitting in the corner where I couldn't see her.

Randy stayed with her last night and when I came in this afternoon, things were looking good. In fact, I'm afraid to say it too loud, but Maren's doing awesome! She's breathing much easier today. Her heart has been awesome-- rate, blood pressure, blood gasses, etc. She even woke up and is asking for juice :) She keeps making the sign for more, but we need to take it slow. She's asking for food, too. I keep giving her things off her bed to hold on to, hoping it will distract her, and she keeps trying to eat them-- things like those pink mouth washers, and her little suction cup thing that they use to pat her back and chest to help clear her lungs-- bless her heart :(

Right now we are struggling with her potassium levels. They're very low from peeing so much. She had this issue after her last surgery. They've discontinued her lasix/diuril drip and put her on a K-sparing diuretic, so hopefully that will be resolved soon.

Thanks for reading; thanks for all your prayers; thanks friends and family for all the visits and cards; and thank you, awesome nurses and doctors for taking care of our sweet little girl and her paranoid and crazy mom!

Keep keeping our fingers crossed that we'll have more good news tomorrow :)

What's Missing?

2010-07-02T16:03:00.004-04:00

An awesome night has turned into an awesome day. See ya bye, breathing tube!

Good Night

2010-07-02T06:13:00.005-04:00

You know that episode of The Office when Oscar is trying to explain to Michael what a surplus is? Michael doesn't understand at first so he asks Oscar to explain it to him like he was a 5-yr-old. Oscar then compares their office surplus to a lemonade stand. If anyone can find that clip on the Internet somewhere, pass it along. FUNNY.

Mary found it. CLICK HERE

Anyway, that's how I feel about Maren's heart. The doctors can't dumb it down enough for me to understand, but this I do understand: "She had a great night."

When I walked into Maren's room this morning, that is just what I heard. She didn't need any extra fluid over night. She's like -500 on her ins and outs (she's peeing lots), her blood pressure and heart rate have been real stable, she's coming down on her dopamine, her vent is turned down as far as it can go, and she's moving around a lot more.

Thanking God and keeping fingers crossed that she keeps on this path!

Roller Coaster

2010-07-01T21:25:00.006-04:00

Up and down, up and down. Maren's resting after a busy, busy day. She had a really good night last night. She peed a ton (thanks for your prayers) and everything else was pretty quiet. Once morning hit, though, she was acting up again. She's continued to pee well, but she spiked a fever. She also had weird stuff going on with her heart. A few times throughout the day her rate would jump up to 180-190, stay there for a while and then come back down to normal. When this happened her blood pressure would drop really low. Her doctors aren't sure why, but after playing around with her meds for a little while, she has settled down. We haven't seen any big changes in her blood pressure or heart rate for the last few hours.

We learned today that Maren's fenestration closed on its own. I don't understand Maren's heart enough to explain very well, but basically it's a small opening, left open on purpose, to help Maren adjust to her new heart. This is probably why she's had a rockier than normal recovery, but doctors want to wait it out and see if she can tolerate it being closed before rushing her into the cath lab to pop it back open.

So that's what we're doing-- waiting for Maren's body to get used to all this extra blood going to her lungs. We'll know this is happening when her heart rate and blood pressure are stable. In the mean time, we've painted our fingernails and our toes (something Maren would never let me do while she's awake.)

Thanks everyone for all your prayers for our family, and especially our sweet Maren. Thanks for all of the support. I'm running out of ways to say it, but we really, really, appreciate all of the love that we feel from all our family and friends out there. Thank you!!!

Here are a few pics:

Pretty fingers...

Pretty toes...

Pretty girl...

Maren is being Maren...

2010-06-30T15:12:00.003-04:00

Maren is doing her thing. Right after I posted last night, things got a little hairy. I still don't understand my daughter's heart condition so I can't say exactly what was going on, but I know it involved very low blood pressure and a room full of doctors with concerned looks on their faces. It really was scary. The events following Maren's Norwood began to replay in my mind. After a few tense moments, a pace maker and a steady stream of nitric oxide flowing through her breathing tube, Maren was stable and continued to have a good night.

Their are no plans to take her off the vent just yet. Her blood pressure is still all over the place. She's getting lots of extra fluid, but she's not peeing so great. She's doing well on relatively small amounts of pain meds, which is good. Her oxygen perfusion is generally good, but has had some ups and downs. Her chest tubes were draining a ton last night but have been more moderate today.

There is concern that her fenestration is too small. There has been some talk about possibly having to go to the cath lab to have the fenestration opened up a little more, but so far we're holding steady with meds and fluids.

Overall we're doing okay. Things could be better, but most definitely could be worse. Thank you everyone for your prayers and constant concern. If you're not all prayed-out, please pray that Maren will pee, that her blood pressure will stabilize, and that the doctors and nurses will know how to help her.
Thanks!

So far so good...

2010-06-29T16:02:00.002-04:00

It's been a busy day! We got here at 6 this morning to get Maren registered. At about 7:30 (when Maren was scheduled for surgery) we were told that it would be a while longer. Maren did amazingly well! She only asked to eat a couple of times near the end of our wait and it broke my heart to tell her she couldn't eat, but she made it-- thanks to the Wonder Pets and the Wii that was set up in the surgical play room.

They gave her an oral medication before taking her from us to help her be calm-- versed, I think-- and she was flying high! We got some video of her acting loopy-- laughing at anything from me blowing my nose to Randy telling knock-knock jokes. It was kind of fun to watch.

At 10:15 we handed her over to an old friend of mine, Theresa, who happened to be working today, and they took her back to get ready. The procedure began at 11:28, she was put on bypass at 1:07 and then came off at 2:07. Dr. Jonas came to speak with us a little while later and said everything went as planned and everything appeared to be good. He reminded us more than once that the next couple of days are very critical, which put that knot right back into my gut.

We're still waiting to see our sweet Maren Jane. It shouldn't be long, now.

We are so happy to be over the surgery hurdle and pray that the rest of her course goes as smoothly. Thanks everyone who joined with Randy and me in our fast. Thanks for you prayers, your thoughts, your calls, messages... everything! They really do mean a lot!!! Please keep praying that the next few days will go smoothly, and that the doctors and nurses will be able to keep up with all of Maren's shenanigans.

We'll update when we have more.

Summer Vay Cay

2010-06-22T20:18:00.011-04:00

Being the jerk mom that I am, I was kinda dreading summer vacation. It really has been great having Henry home. He's such a fun kid. Is it lame to say he's one of my best friends? Well, call me lame 'cause seriously, I like him a lot. Side note-- today we were coming out of Safeway and I put my arm around Henry, gave him a little squeeze and said, "Henry, you're my favorite boy." Henry was kinda annoyed and said, "Mom, I'm your only boy!" He's getting too smart.

Maren decided to get a crappy cold over the weekend that looks like it's going to spread itself out over the entire week so we've been laying kinda low the past couple of days, but we managed to squeeze a few things in before then:

Maren playing in the filthy pool from last summer. (I'm lucky all she's got is a cold.)

Hanging out in the yard.

Inflatable pool time-- Maren was much more into it than Henry.

Fishing at Pine Lake, Wheaton Regional Park.

Maren didn't care much for this. She sat back on her blanket, eating snacks and watching her stories on the iPod.

Change

2010-06-22T20:06:00.001-04:00

Randy and I always joke that our kids got a combination of our worst traits. I am a worrier. I always have been-- especially when it comes to change. That trait must be hereditary because I sometimes think Henry's worse than me!

Henry's last day of school was Wednesday. When Maren and I arrived to pick him up, I could already see the tears welling up in his eyes. He kept it together until he was safely behind the car's tinted windows and then cried out, "Mom, I already miss it!" The flood gates were opened. Poor guy! He almost had me in tears!

Later that night when I was kissing him goodnight he asked, "Mom, am I going to live with you forever?" When I told him he'd leave when he was ready for college and a mission, the tears started all over again. I told him when he was old enough to start thinking about college and a mission, he wouldn't want to live with us. That didn't help at all. I told him not to worry-- afterall, I was 31 and I lived with my mom! That didn't help much either. Finally I resorted to lying: "Henry, I'll go to college with you. Dad will go with you on your mission if you want." No more tears. Henry rolled over and slept through the night.

Occasionally I find myself dreaming of the day all the kids are grown and gone from the house. But when I really sit back and think about it, I know it's gonna be me, not Henry, who's crying like a baby.

One Week

2010-06-22T12:43:00.004-04:00

Maren will have her Fontan operation one week from today. The reality of this fact didn't sink in until a few days ago. My emotions are up and down, up and down all day long. It's like being pregnant times a billion! At my best, I imagine setting up house in Michigan with all of this behind us. At my lowest I think about how Randy and I would tell Henry if the worst were to happen. As soon as those thoughts come I try to push them away, but they never completely go. They are like a dark cloud forever floating in the back of my mind.

My faith in God is the thing that keeps me going. I am absolutely certain that God lives and that He loves me, as He does each of His children. I know, without a doubt, that life is eternal. I know that God has a plan and I will trust Him and accept His will, even if I don't understand or can't see past the present. I know that one day Maren will die, and so will I, and Randy, and Henry, and Sam (he's coming-- not now, but sometime), but I also know that our family is eternal. We will be together forever.

I hope I don't sound like I'm burying Maren. I'm not. We've got big plans for her! This is just me letting go of what I don't want inside.

Michigan IHOPs

2010-06-11T19:52:00.004-04:00

Mom and Bill treated us to a night out at IHOP. (Thanks again, guys!) We were just finishing up when Henry reached over to grab his glass of water to take one last swig before we took off. I guess his fingers were all slippery from the sausage and bacon he devoured, sans fork, because the glass slipped right out of his hands, caught the edge of his plate, and shattered into about a million pieces.

Nobody really got hurt. Henry got an almost microscopic cut on his foot. He was more embarrassed than anything. On the way home, I was sitting in the back with Henry and, trying to cheer him up a bit, told him, "You know, Henry, they have IHOPs in Michigan." (p.s.-Henry's favorite place to eat in the world is IHOP and we're moving to the great state of MI after Maren's Fontan operation. Henry's excited about the move because Randy and I have been telling him how awesome MI is, even though I've never been there and Randy has spent a whopping 2 weeks of his 35 years.)

Henry's somber reply: "I hope they have plastic cups."

Me too, Henry. Me too.

June 29

2010-05-26T11:59:00.003-04:00

I just got off the phone with Dr. Jonas' secretary. Maren's fontan is scheduled for June 29th. I'm sick... partly because I'm scared out of my mind and partly because I'm so anxious/excited to have this surgery behind us. Now I've got to find a project to work on for the next 4 weeks to keep my mind occupied. Any suggestions?

Beatboxing Henry

2010-05-23T20:45:00.003-04:00

Every once in a while I'll find Henry watching The Fresh Beat Band on Nickelodeon. It's about the gayest show I can think of. There's this one kid, Twist, who does the turn table, raps, and beat boxes. Yeah.

So the other day Henry was "beat boxing" like this dork on the show. I tried to ignore it, but after 5 minutes I couldn't stand it any longer. I told him to stop. Henry asked, "What? Why?"

I laughed and said, "Because you sound ridiculous!"

Henry's reply: "What!? I've been practicing all morning!"

I haven't heard him do it since. He'll thank me someday.

11 Years

2010-05-22T20:03:00.020-04:00

Randy and I were married 11 years ago today. To celebrate we took the kids to the temple and walked around a bit. (I know. Sounds totally lame, but when you've got a two-year-old with a craptastic heart who has extreme separation anxiety and tends to pass out when she cries really hard, finding a babysitter is kinda hard. You learn to work with what you've got.) It was actually a lot of fun walking around, taking pictures with the kids in the same spots Randy and I were photographed an hour after tying the knot. Some pictures from our trip are at the end of this post.

I have to say, the best part was walking into the Visitor Center. How can you not feel the spirit when you walk into that place? I don't think Maren's ever been. We walked through the front door and of course, the Christus is bam, right there. Maren put her hands out in front of her and made a beeline for it. She just looked up and smiled and cooed at it for a minute. So sweet.

So, back to our anniversary, I laid in bed this morning thinking back on how we met. I won't go into the details, (I know I've written them down before) but one story came to mind that made me laugh out loud. I'm afraid if I don't write it down I'll forget.

One night Randy came over to pick me up to go over this his place. We ran into each other on campus and he asked if I'd come over to watch a movie and have pizza. (We'd probably been out on a few dates by then.) As we were leaving my apartment, my roommate handed me a couple of cookies. 30 seconds or so later, I told Randy I wasn't in the mood for cookies, but took them because I didn't want to be rude. After a few seconds, Randy held his hand out with a grin on his face. I totally thought he wanted to hold my hand, so I reached out and grabbed his hand. Randy chuckled and said, "I wanted the cookies, but I'll take a hand!" That was the first time we held hands.

When we got to Randy's apartment, (across the parking lot at Aspen Village) there was nobody else there. I found out later that Randy kicked all of his roommates out for the night. (Smooth, Randy.) We sat, ate pizza, and watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off. At the end of the movie, I found out why Randy had me over. It was D.T.R. time. To be honest, I don't remember what we said, (I have it written down somewhere and now I want to go find it) but I do remember making it clear that I was into going slow. So after our conversation, Randy leaned in to kiss me on the cheek at the same time I went to kiss him on the lips. (It was like the opposite of being cheeked.) A mildly panicked Randy apologized, and nervously explained he was going for my cheek. I laughed and kissed him again. That was our first kiss.

I love you, Randy!

2010-05-22T19:59:00.005-04:00

I saw this on the news one morning last week:

Later that morning, Maren asked to go for a walk, so we went-- out the back door, down the hill on the side of the house and onto Hammonton Road. 30 seconds into our walk, I looked up and noticed a small dog in the middle of the road about 50 yards from us. I watched it for a second, hoping Maren wouldn't notice it because she has a MAJOR dog phobia.

As I got a better look, I realized it wasn't a small dog, but a fox. Just as I realized what it was, he saw us. We stared at each other for a minute and then it took a step towards us. I had a flashback to the video I saw earlier on the news and then one to that scene in To Kill a Mockingbird where Jem came across that rabid dog and Atticus had to go out and shoot it. The last thing I needed was to be attacked by a rabid fox!

I panicked-- I swore out loud, scooped Maren up and then booked it up the street. (Maren immediately covered her ears. Certain words elicit that response from her.) At the same time the fox crouched down in his "holy crap" stance, then bolted into the neighbor's yard and into the trees. We both scared the crap out of each other.

I don't know how I survived those months on the cattle ranch in White Signal, NM (aka BFE)!

Yay!

2010-05-12T20:49:00.004-04:00

(this is the same message posted on care pages)

We're home and I am still in total disbelief! Maren's cath went amazingly well. We got there at 7am and by 8:15 we had Maren back on the table. The anesthesiologists let me hold Maren while she was "gassed." It was hard to watch, but not nearly as hard as handing her off to someone while awake. So, thank you for that, Anesthesia Team!

Dr. Kanter was in the cath lab today and he told us the entire process would be about 3 hours. We were very surprised when, after only an hour and a half, Nicole came out and told us they were done. Dr. Kanter came out soon after and explained the good news. No ballooning needed, no coiling, pressures were good (not great, but good) and the best news-- he was "100% confident" that Maren could have her Fontan.

It gets even better! We went to "Recovery" instead of the CICU. This was a completely new experience for us. Maren had a hard time waking up from anesthesia, but it didn't stop us from walking out at 4:00. We were home by dinner!

We missed Dr. D at the hospital but by the time we got home, she had e-mailed us. Paperwork has been submitted for surgery. I'll post the date when we have it.

Thank you everyone for your support and prayers! Randy and I couldn't be happier!

My Mom

2010-05-09T19:46:00.010-04:00

My mom is awesome. Here are a few reasons why (in no particular order):

1. She makes me laugh. This morning I read her comments in response to my last blog entry. At 8:41am she wrote, "Rant away. We love you. We are hear every step of the way." At 8:43am she wrote, "I actually meant here. But then--I hear it good as well. Talk to me!" And then at 8:44am she wrote, "Shit! Can't talk or spell today."

2. My mom is really, really good. I think it was in seminary one day that we were talking about what it meant to have your calling and election made sure. I seriously wondered if my mom was in that elite club. I even asked her. She just gave me a hug and a kiss, laughed, and said, "No."

3. She has the greatest faith of anyone I personally know. I will never forget sitting in our living room across from Bishop Fox when he told us, "Your father has died." Of course as as seven-year-old I was devastated. But only now, as a mother of two, do I begin to understand the amount of faith it must have required for my sweet mother to go on to raise (really, really, well, I might add) her seven children on her own.

4. My mom taught me how to fish. Okay, I don't recall ever catching anything bigger than a little sunfish, but I can put a worm on a hook, cast a line, and reel that little SOB sunfish in! Really, the coolest part about those fishing lessons was sitting under the same tree at Pine Lake in Wheaton Regional Park with Mom and James waiting for those little sunfish to bite.

5. This goes along with #s 2 and 3, but when my mom was a kid, her family, although members of the church, did not attend church. When my mom was 10 years old, a friend invited her to primary. She liked Primary enough, but really enjoyed Young Women's (or whatever it was called back then.) She began to do her Personal Progress and consequently began to attend Sacrament Meeting. She'd walk to church alone each week. When she was old enough, she told her dad she was going on a mission. Grandpa was okay with it (not thrilled, but okay) until Mom got her call to France. He told my mom she couldn't go. My mom told her dad when the farewell was and that she'd like him to speak. Her dad didn't speak to her for weeks. The silence broke when he showed up that final Sunday morning for Mom's farewell. Mom said he gave a really good talk and saw her off.

Shortly before mom was to return home from France, she received a letter from her mom. Grandma and grandpa had begun taking temple prep classes and would soon be sealed in the temple. My mom was sealed to her mom and dad for time and all eternity soon after her homecoming.

6. My mom can cook, but she's not too proud to admit it when she's messed up. One night my mom called us all into the kitchen so she could dish up dinner. Sweet and Sour Chicken was on the menu. My mom made up the recipe. I'm not sure what all was in it, but one of the ingredients was apple-cider vinegar because white vinegar was not in the cupboard. One-by-one, after our plates were loaded, we returned back to our seats in the family room in front of the TV. (We weren't big on tables.) The whispers started before my mom came out. When my mom finally did emerge from the kitchen, one brave soul commented on how the food tasted really weird. My mom's reply, "Just eat it!" Two seconds later my mom took a bite off her plate, dropped the fork and said, "This tastes like shit. Let's go to McDonald's."

7. My mom made my wedding dress. Yeah.

8. When I was a kid, before leaving the house each morning for the bus, my mom would tell all of us, "Remember who you are." Those words still echo in my mind on a daily basis. Mom never let us forget that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father and we are to act as such. Now, as a mother, I repeat those same words to Henry as he jumps out of the van and on to school. I think of my mom every time I do.

Now, a few of my favorite quotes/mom stories:

"Doughnuts? I haven't had doughnuts for weeks!" (Right after she burped)

"I just keep getting fatter and fatter. Pretty soon I will just float away."

New Years Eve. Mom tap dancing with Sister Lorz. (Mom's profile picture on FB)

"...You screw her good and you screw her hard!" (I think that was directed towards Ben after he made Emma run out of the room, crying. For the record, Ben made fun of everyone equally. Some were just more sensitive. Also for the record, mom was not always up on her slang.)

"MaryBeth, your ass is not made of brass!"

Alright, that's all for now. I'm about to pee in my pants. Mom, I love you. Happy Mother's Day. (Don, Kath, Ben, MBD, Emma, James and any old WOW alum out there-- feel free to add your memories:)

My Whiney Rant

2010-05-08T20:52:00.002-04:00

Maren's cath is scheduled for Wednesday this week. I am a complete mess. I don't know that I have ever wanted a day to come and never come at the same time so badly. The cath will give us answers and that is the only positive thing I can think of.

The day's gonna go like this:

We'll wake up, pretty much in the middle of the night, to take Maren to the hospital. At first she'll be excited. (She loves any excuse to not sleep.) About half way there she'll make a "W" with her chubby little hand and tap it on her mouth, asking for water, but all we'll be able to offer her is her binky. Then she'll tell us she's hungry, and again, her binky will be her best offer.

Once we get there, we'll wait and then they'll come in to take her away. I'll bite my lip, holding back tears, trying not to look too concerned so as not to upset Maren any more than she already is. She'll slip out of my view and that is when I'll burst into tears.

Randy and I will sit in the waiting room and pull out the fifth season of Scrubs we just bought off of Amazon for this special occasion. Our hearts will stop every time we here "Code Blue" announced over the hospital intercom while we wait for a rush of doctors to fly by us. When they don't come, we'll go back to watching our show.

A cath lab nurse will come out every so often to give us updates on Maren, probably right as we're laughing out loud at JD or Turk's wacky antics. The nurse will give us a curious look, thinking we're weirdos for kicking back, watching our stories while our kid is unconscious and strapped down to a table in the next room, but Randy and I will brush it off. The cath nurse thinking we're freaks is a small price to pay to drown our anxiety in a ridiculous parody of hospital life.

After several episodes of Scrubs, the cath doctor will come out. One of two things will happen next: 1) we’ll be told that Maren's heart function is improved and surgery is a good option for her. That's the "good" news-- open heart surgery. 2) We'll be told that Maren is not a good candidate for surgery. That's the bad news. We take Maren home, start planning our move to Michigan, and begin to wonder what will come first-- improved heart function and surgery or heart failure and transplant.

Sigh. I realize how pathetic this sounds, but I feel better just writing it down.

"Come play with me forever." (Spoken in a British accent.)

2010-05-01T20:18:00.002-04:00

Spring Break 2010 at Virginia Beach

2010-04-07T21:03:00.021-04:00

We spent Easter weekend with the Seversikes down at Virginia Beach. It was a ton of fun. Here a bunch of pictures, but first-- a little story:

Easter morning Gracie, Tommy, and Henry were playing at the table. They had made several little people with Play-Doh, who had just discovered a new land. Henry, waving one of his Play-Doh people in the air exclaimed, "Yay! A beautiful new land where everyone is happy and everyone wants to be our friends!"

One of Gracie's Play-Doh people replied, "I don't want to be your friend."

There was an awkward, 5-second pause and Henry's guy yelled out, "Let's kill 'er!"

So much for Utopia.

PICS:

THE VIEW FROM OUR DIGS

BUILDING SAND CASTLES

THE COUSINS SANS ROBBY

OOPS

OUR KIDS WERE THE ONLY CRAZIES OUT THERE IN THE FA-REEZING COLD WATER

PRE-BEDTIME EGG HUNT

BEACH BEAUTY

I AM NOT ABOVE GIVING MY KIDS CHOCOLATE TO SHUT THEM UP ON LONG ROAD TRIPS...

...BUT I GUESS EVERYONE HAS THEIR LIMITS.

"Anybody want a peanut?"

2010-02-28T20:53:00.000-05:00

This happened a while ago, and I can't remember why I didn't record it earlier, but here it is now:

One weekend when Ranie and Burl were visiting, we all busted out the church doors to head home from the three-hour block. On the way to the car and while we were all getting settled in, Tommy quoted what may be the best two lines of The Princess Bride over and over again, all the while cracking himself up:

Bald guy: "No more rhymes now, I mean it!"
Andre the Giant guy: "Anybody want a peanut?!"

It's better if you see it:

So after everyone got situated in the car there were a few seconds of quiet. And then Henry broke the silence. In a low, timid voice we hear, "Um, Tommy? Do you still have those peanuts?"

Poor Henry.

What Maren Really Thinks

2010-02-27T19:50:00.000-05:00

The other day Maren had a comprehensive language assessment with her speech therapist. I was happy with how well she did overall, but she did struggle a bit with the pictures. Renee had a flip chart with 3 or 4 pictures printed on each page. She'd hold it up and then ask a question to see if Maren could isolate a single image. It seemed like whenever a new page popped up, Maren would zero in on something she was really interested in, like a baby, and that's all she could think about. So, if she was asked a question and the baby was the right answer, she did awesome. Otherwise, she failed.

She does the same thing with everyday stuff. Here's an example:

We have a collage of pictures from the short time that we lived in New Mexico hanging up on the wall in our kitchen. A few of the pictures are of the horses that would come up and graze on the grass in our small little fenced in yard, as well as any flowers or plants that had been recently planted-- grr. Here's one of them:

A little background: Maren is completely enthralled by animals as long as they are two dimensional. I still can't walk up mom's driveway without Maren smacking me in the face at the sight of Pinto-- the three legged feral cat I brought home from the animal hospital that one summer. (Smacking people in the face is what Maren does when she gets freaked out. Yes, it's annoying as hell, and yes I've tried everything I can think of to make her stop. So far the the only thing that works is pinning her fat little arms down so she physically can't hit me, but sometimes she catches me off guard. Oh, and Pinto didn't have three legs when I first brought her home and I didn't know she was a feral biatch, but that's a story for another time.)

Back to my original story-- so Randy walks in the door from work and scooped up Maren. He was showing Maren the collage and asking her to point out the people in the pictures: "Where's Mommy? Where's Henry?" Maren picked out me and Henry without much trouble. Randy continued and asked, "Where's Daddy?" Maren stuck her chubby little finger in the air and planted it right on the backside of the horse. Randy laughed, turned around and said, "She pointed to the horse's ass!"

Well, depending on the day, perhaps she wasn't too far off.

Sick Day

2010-02-26T15:06:00.000-05:00

Maren woke up with a little cold yesterday. It wasn't bad. I actually thought she was just a little stuffy from the M&Ms I gave her the day before-- thanks milk allergy (sarcastically) and Maren H. (sincerely)!

Anyway, by late morning it was clear that Maren's symptoms were not a reaction to dairy. She had a full-blown, steady-stream-of-snot-running-out-her-nose, feeling-like-crap, cold. Boo.

So, after a sleepless night I called the school to tell them that Henry was not coming in because I didn't feel like driving in 45 minutes of traffic with Miss Crabby Pants in the back seat.

So here we are, 3:00 PM, not showered, still in PJs, TV about to overheat. And yes--Maren is on my lap to spare you of the visual image of me not even putting on a bra yet today. That being said, enjoy the mental image.

FEB. 23 IS NATIONAL PANCAKE DAY!

2010-02-22T20:18:00.000-05:00

Show up at any IHOP and get a TOTALLY FREE short stack of super delicious pancakes. And, if you feel like it, make a donation to the Children's Miracle Network-- a non-profit organization that raises funds for more than 170 children’s hospitals-- one of which happens to be Children's National Medical Center in Washington DC, where Maren got her "kick-ass scar" down the front of her chest and where her cousin, Aren, had the bone marrow transplant that saved his life.

Thanks, IHOP! Tomorrow we will remember our friends at Children's whilst stuffing our faces with the best pancakes ever!

Not sure where your IHOP is? Click here.

Please Pray for Caelen

2010-02-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

One of Maren's little heart buddies needs your prayers. Caelen Gorman has a heart like Maren's. He is just a little guy, only about 6-7 months old, and went back to the hospital on February 2nd to have his second open heart operation-- the Glenn.

The Glenn is supposed to be the "easy" one of the three-stage procedure, but for Caelen it has been anything but. He was extubated a few days after surgery but was recently placed back on the ventilator. Doctors think that Caelen's phrenic nerve (the thing that makes the diaphram go) has been temporarily paralyzed. The nerve will repair itself, it just takes time.

Please pray for Caelen that his little body will heal and that he will be able to go home soon with him mom and dad. Also, please pray for Katye and Martin as they try to be strong each day to support and patiently wait for their son to heal. Lastly, please pray for Caelen's doctors and nurses that they will know how to best treat Caelen.

If you are interested in following Caelen's journey, Katye has been very good at updating Caelen's carepage. Just click on the link and type in "CaelenGorman" in the search box at the upper right corner of the page. You then will be prompted to sign in to access the page, or to create an account. It's free and easy to access.

Thanks everyone!

Blizzard

2010-02-08T21:42:00.001-05:00

I was a little doubtful that this sucka would be as big as they were saying. Um... it was pretty bad. Check out the pics:

Randy and Henry ventured out Saturday morning to before the storm had finished...

with nothing to show for it except these pictures. Blockbuster was closed. Slackers.

NOAA Building, Silver Spring

After it was all over...

Balls

2010-02-08T21:11:00.000-05:00

I've never really been sympathetic when it comes to not making it to the bathroom in time-- especially when you've been doing it for over 3 years. Seriously, how hard is it to recognize the fact that you have to pee, stop what you're doing and walk to the stupid toilet?!

After Henry's most recent accident, after getting really mad, I sat him down and explained that when his bladder feels full he needs to get up and go pee. Henry looked at me kind of confused and asked, "What's a bladder?"

I told him it was like a little ball inside of him that filled up with pee and that he needed to go potty to let the pee out before it got too full. Henry put his hands down the front of his pants and asked, "Like these balls?"

I guess my choice of words to describe what a bladder is could have been better. And just for the record, I'm not a big fan of that term in that context... unless it's in Spanish-- "pelotas"-- which is what we use in our family. (Oh, and "testicles" is gross, too.)

Look Who's Walking!

2010-02-02T21:01:00.000-05:00

Seriously, can you believe it?

New Random Pics...

2010-01-23T19:44:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

It's an OT thing.

Uh, I think you've got a little on your shirt, Maren.

Maren's awesome new walker:

Saturday Morning Cartoons:

Making cookies for FHE:

Basketball Pics:

Bedtime Fun:

Randy's First Blog Post: Milestones

2010-01-22T20:45:00.000-05:00

Because Randy's too embarrassed to start his own blog (he says blogging is "gay"), he wrote up an entry and then e-mailed it to me to post on my blog :) Here it goes:

Milestones

I’m a guest blogger today, I suppose. Something happened the other day, and after much….ahem, “encouragement” from Sarah, I decided to write it down.

Henry is at an age that involves a lot of milestones. First day at school; first book read (first real interest in reading); first crush (scary); and of course, there’s what occurred on Sunday:

Henry approached me and asked me to play “Guns” (cops and robbers) with him.

Me: Okay.

Henry: Okay daddy, you chase me.

Me: Why?

Henry: I killed somebody.

Me: Who?

Henry: Yer mom.

Yes, the all-important first “yer mom” joke is a pivotal point in every child’s life, and we couldn’t be more proud of our little boy.

Happy Birthday, Dr. King!

2010-01-18T12:21:00.000-05:00

When I was in elementary school, I loved talking about Martin Luther King, Jr. What an awesome guy! I remember getting chills listening to, reading, or reciting his "I Have A Dream" speech. After elementary school I still thought MLK was awesome, but all of the discussions became too political and definitely not as fun or interesting. Boo.

Last week I was so excited when I sat down to help Henry with his homework and one of the assignments was: Tell someone in your home about Martin Luther King, Jr. I sat back, anxious to hear Henry's perspective on this great leader. When I asked Henry why MLK was an important guy, all he said was, "I don't know. He liked animals?"

Ugh. So we talked a little about MLK. When we were done, I told Henry that the country celebrates his birthday every year and that is why he didn't have to go to school on Monday. He really liked that part and said, "We should bake him a cake! We should write, 'Happy Birthday. Sorry you died.'"

I kinda laughed, but then thought-- yeah, really. I'm sorry, too.

Freakin' Funny

2010-01-15T18:58:00.001-05:00

Ever checked out Fail Blog? It's kind of like SNL. Most things are "'eh," but every once in a long while you get a gem like this:

Warning:

2010-01-06T14:03:00.000-05:00

This is what happens in our house when you refuse to take a nap:

Take that, Maren!

First You Cry, Then You Laugh, Then You Cry Some More

2010-01-04T19:24:00.001-05:00

... At least that's what you do when you're a Dillingham. Near this day, in the evening 5 years ago MaryBeth, Katharine and I left a funeral home and drove to a crowded Coldstone Creamery. (Emma, I'm sorry you missed out on this one. Boo for untimely births! You were with us in spirit :).

If I remember correctly we ordered the largest sundae on the menu containing the most chocolate, along with three spoons. Although we were surrounded by a throng of lighthearted high school and college-aged students we felt alone while we ate, remembered Lily, cried, laughed, cried some more, and then laughed some more.

Randy and I cried last night as we read Mary’s latest blog entry, and then re-read Lily’s eulogy. If you feel like having a good cry, I invite you take a look at both. And then if you feel like it, in true Dillingham fashion, dry your eyes while trying to find some humor in this:

The other day I placed an order on www.justflowers.com (aka the place from which I will never, ever order flowers again) to have them deliver a bouquet to MaryBeth and Rick to let them know we were thinking of them. After I placed the order I got nervous and called their customer service to make sure the date for delivery was clear. “It has to be there on Sunday,” I told the lady on the other end. She told me that Sunday was not possible, as florist shops in Podunk Sierra Vista, AZ are not open on Sunday. However she guaranteed the flowers would be delivered on Saturday. Whatever—it’s a day early , but now I can say I kept the Sabbath Day Holy.

Well, I learned today—Monday—that the flowers were never delivered. Meanwhile, the card I used had been charged. Grrrr. I called the place and very politely told the woman on the other end that I had been charged for a bouquet of “Guaranteed to Arrive on Saturday” flowers that were never delivered. I was placed on hold. After listening to Barry White’s “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe” twice—sandwiched between two and a half of Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why,” the woman came back and apologized that the florist had misplaced the order and would like to make it up to me by delivering the flowers first thing Tuesday morning with a complimentary box of chocolates.

I was dumbfounded. Here’s how the conversation went from there:

Me: You guys screwed up a flower delivery for the 5 year anniversary of my sister’s two-year-old daughter’s death, and you want to make it right with a box of chocolates? No. I want a refund.

Lady: We can also include a letter of apology with the delivery and give you a $5 credit on your account to use towards your next order with us.

Me: You’re serious? Okay, I don’t mean to be rude, but frankly, I will NEVER order flowers from you guys again. I want a refund.

Lady: I’m sorry to hear that. I can offer you a $5 cash refund and have the flowers and chocolate delivered tomorrow.

(Have you ever seen the movie Tommy Boy? Remember when Chris Farley and David Spade need to get on a plane back to Sandusky or wherever and that spacey flight attendant is oblivious to the fact that her lame attempts to help are completely ridiculous? “Hi. I’m earth. Have we met?” Oh my gosh! )

Me: If you refund me half the cost, I’ll go for it.

Lady: The most I can give you back is $10.

(Here’s where my cheapskatiness and unhealthy relationship with food starts to steer me to the dark side. I seriously had to think about this.)

Me: So you’ll credit my card $10 and guarantee the flowers and box of chocolates be delivered first thing in the morning with a letter of apology?

Lady: Yes.

(Short pause)

Lady: Ma’am?

Me: I’m thinking.

Lady: Take your time.

(I was seriously torn—stick to my principles, make the lady refund the full amount and mail Mary and Rick a gift card to Best Buy; or sell out-- take the $10 (cereal’s on sale at Safeway this week) and get free chocolate (who doesn’t appreciate free chocolate?)

Me: (a few seconds later) Okay. I’ll do it.

Okay, I gotta go. Safeway closes at 10.

Harpers, sorry it's late, but I hope you enjoy your flowers and chocolate. We love you Rick, MaryBeth, Aren, Lily and Tanya!

Thank you, Jesus!

2009-12-24T21:09:00.001-05:00

(This picture as nothing to do with the post other than it was taken around Christams time 2 years ago. But, it's hysterical. Henry and his cousin, Camryn)

So Henry and I are driving home from my mom's house tonight and he is talking non-stop about Santa Claus. I don't have a huge problem with it (we do stockings, threaten our children that the big guy won't bring them presents if they don't stop doing whatever annoying thing they are doing, take pictures on his lap, etc.) but it's a little bothersome to me that Santa Claus kinda trumps Jesus around Christmas time.

So, after a 10 minute conversation about how Santa gets into people's houses, how he avoids getting caught by the police (thank you whatever Santa Claus movie we watched for free the other day on Comcast On Demand with Tim Allen), and how Santa Clause lives at the North Pole with his wife and the polar bears, I asked Henry, "Why do we celebrate Christmas?"

He aswered correctly when he said, "Because it's Jesus' birthday."

I dug a little deaper-- "Why is Jesus so important? What has he given us?"

Here's Henry's reply: "Love, the gospel, the church, prostitutes, families..."

"Wait, what? What does he give us?" (I wanted to make sure I heard him correctly."

"Love, the gospel, the church, protitutes..."

Yup-- that's what I heard! I was kind of going for all the things he said, eternal life, repentance, a good example-- pretty much anything other than prostitutes. It took me a minute but I'm pretty sure his tired little mind was mixing the words "prophets" and "scriptures" into one, very incorrect and inappropriate answer. We've got to work on that before Church on Sunday.

Holy Freakin' Snow!

2009-12-20T19:33:00.000-05:00

So I think we got like between 16 and 20-some inches around here. Good times.

This is looking out from our balcony sometime on Saturday. You can kind of see the train down there. They were still going at that point:

Cabin fever forces the kids to spend a little quality time in the hallway. (You're welcome, those who share the 11th floor with us!)

Today we broke out of the house to hang out with Mom and Bill. Here's what their place looked like:

SLEDDING. I always forget how much fun sledding is!

Tomorrow we'll scope out some hills near us. Montgomery County Schools have already announced that they'll be closed as well as the Federal Government. Yee Haw!

Sorry Ladies...

2009-12-07T11:03:00.000-05:00

I apologize if this is a disappointment to all the stellar moms out there, but I'll tell you what-- I've had several nominations for "Mother of the Year" over the past 12 months, but what happened yesterday pretty much puts the award in my hand.

I will spare everyone the details and just say that Maren is okay after falling down a flight of stairs at my mom's. I probably can't say it's the scariest thing I've ever been through when it comes to Maren, but I've decided that with kids, ranking their "finest" moments doesn't provide much comfort. ECMO after open heart surgery, turning purple and passing out for a second because she's crying so hard, or tumbling down the stairs-- scary is scary.

Check out the giant goose egg left courtesy of said fall:

Actually, this is nothing. This is about 4 hours after the incident. She looked so bad, I decided not to show the 5-minute-post picture. To give you an idea, though-- have you ever seen those stickers that people put on their cars that have half of a baseball, hockey puck, tennis ball, etc. stuck to their windshield? The sticker is made to look like the ball slammed into the windshield and got lodged halfway. Yeah, I could have painted Maren's lump white and it would have looked like one of those golf ball stickers stuck to her forehead. Yikes!

Henry's reaction 30 minutes after the fall, when he first realized something was awry:

"She fell down the stairs?" (short pause) "She looks like an alien."

And then he walked out of the room. Thanks, Henry.

My Rant

2009-12-02T10:05:00.000-05:00

"Tired" is not a good look. You wouldn't walk up to someone and tell them they look fat or ugly. So why do people feel it's okay to walk up and tell someone they look tired? Even if it's true-- you're tired-- what good does it do to point it out? Is the person who brought it up going to whip out a bed and tuck you in so you can catch up on your sleep? No! The only thing it does is make you aware of the fact that you apparently look like crap.

On the flip side, if someone's tag is sticking out of their shirt and you tell them as you fix it-- that's okay. Or, if someone has a booger and you offer a tissue-- fine. If you can fix it-- bring it up. If you can't-- keep your mouth shut.

The other day Maren and I were picking up a few things at Trader Joes. It was pretty cold outside and unfortunately, with the colder weather setting it, Maren's color changes a little-- sometimes a lot. So we're at the checkout and the hippie checker yells out (referring to Maren,) "Wow! You've either been crying really hard (thanks clogged tear duct) or... you're not breathing." Then she turns to me and says, "Is she breathing?"

I thought, "No. My baby is struggling to breath and on the way to the ER I thought I'd stop in to buy some snackies to keep me busy at the hospital. She's not THAT blue! And she's eating and smiling. Uh, yeah-- I'm pretty sure she's breathing." But I just said, "She's a heart baby," and the issue was dropped.

For the next hour or so I tried to decide whether I was offended by this random lady who felt it necessary to bring my attention to the fact that my baby was a little blue OR if I was upset with the reality that was thrown in my face that I sometimes forget-- my kid is blue because she has half a heart.

I concluded it was a little of both, but I got over it quickly. I'm sure it won't be the last time someone makes a stupid comment about Maren. And, Maren may have half-a-heart, but she's very cute and doing awesome! (Screw you, hippie chick from TJ's!)

Lookin' For a Deal?

2009-11-23T19:32:00.001-05:00

I just got this coupon in my e-mail. Whoa, Mama! 40% off AND free shipping on any regular-priced item from This is the Place Bookstore's online site. (It's an LDS bookstore.) Enter coupon code 40THANKS at check out. It's only good from November 23-25, so get to it! Happy shopping!

The Office is Funny

2009-11-16T12:32:00.000-05:00

If you find the phrase "dumb ass" offensive, this clip is not for you. For all the rest, enjoy:

Swine Flu Hysteria!

2009-10-29T22:31:00.000-04:00

Check out this "Day in Photos" from The Washinton Post website today. (click on link, wait about 5 seconds to load, then click on photo #15.) Yes, I may look bothered, but the 2+ hour wait really wasn't that bad thanks to a half-a-bag of chocolate chips and an entire bag of Cheetos from Trader Joes! See if you can find Henry-- he's behind Super Man.

Oh, and Henry was among the lucky 1000 who actually got vaccinated. Two down and two to go! (Maren got hers last week:)

Jack-o-Lantern Fun

2009-10-18T20:05:00.000-04:00

Tonight for FHE we made Jack-o-Lanterns. Well, first we read Daniel 3-- the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego chillin' in the fire. (I love it when when God sticks it to the bad guys!) Anyway, here are some pictures:

Scooping out the guts:

Henry working on his (while I wait for him to cut off a finger or poke out an eye):

Randy down to business:

They turned out great!

My Sweet Henry

2009-10-08T13:28:00.003-04:00

Randy came home on Saturday night after working in New Mexico for a couple of weeks. Home alone with two kids wasn't too bad, but I did have my moments. One night after a particularly long day, I put the kids to bed early-- 6:30; lights out; no crying; see ya, bye!

A half hour later I realized I forgot to give Maren her meds. Crap! I knew she was still awake, but when I walked in with the syringe, I saw that she was close to sweet, sweet sleep. She sat up and I gave her the enalapril, then patted her on the head and walked out. She screamed, and screamed, and screamed. Ugh.

After a couple of minutes I went back in and went through the whole bedtime routine a second time, hoping she'd go to sleep without issues. No go. I went to put her in the crib and we had screaming all over again. Ugh.

I grabbed Maren from her crib, sat down on Henry's bed (he was lying down but still very much awake)and began to sing to her. I didn't even get through the first verse of "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," when I stopped and said out loud, "I don't want to do this."

Henry popped up and in all seriousness said, "Mom, I'll put her to bed."

"Henry, you can't put her to bed," I replied.

"Yes I can. I'll just sing I Am a Child of God until she stops crying."

I paused for a minute-- thinking about how sad it was that I was actually contemplating letting my 6-year-old put my 2-year-old to bed because I was done being a mom for the day. I decided it wasn't sad enough to not take Henry up on his offer and asked, "Really?"

Henry shrugged his shoulders and casually said, "Yeah."

I got up, put screaming Maren into her crib and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind me. Five seconds later, through the baby monitor, I heard Maren's screams with Henry's singing in the background. It only took a minute before Henry took center stage and the only thing I could hear besides his version of "I Am a Child of God" was Maren's binky-sucking. The singing continued for another minute, and then it was silent.

Thanks Henry, I owe you one. Seriously, I love that kid.

Maren's Got BO?

2009-10-08T13:27:00.003-04:00

Poor Henry had to start wearing deoderant last year. Seriously, have you ever heard of a 5-year-old wearing deoderant out of necessity? Anyway, one day we were on the elevator and a guy got on with us. He was S-T-I-N-K-Y. After he got off I jokingly asked Henry, "Did you put on deoderant this morning?"

Henry got nervous, did the sniff-test and then said, "I think it's Maren."

I'm sure.

Man Teeth

2009-10-08T13:26:00.001-04:00

Henry lost his first tooth about a month or so ago. At his last dentist visit the hygienist told him that his "man teeth" were getting ready to come so his baby teeth would fall out soon.

Henry strutted around the house for a few weeks talking about his "man teeth" until that stupid baby tooth started to wiggle. For a week all we heard from Henry was, (cry, cry, cry) "My mouth hurts!" (cry, cry, cry) "I can't eat my hamburger!" (cry, cry, cry) "Is it going to bleed?!"

Randy and I begged him to let us pluck that think out of his head, but every time we offered, he cried even more. Ugh.

Then, one morning we were outside. Maren, Maren's physical therapist and me were working with Maren when Henry walks up and asks, "Mom, can you hold this?"

I looked up, held out my hand and Henry put his tiny tooth in it. Maren's therapist yelled out, "What is that?!"

I asked, "Henry, is that your tooth?"

Henry casually said, "Yeah. I just pulled it out," as he walked away-- back to whatever he was doing.

Talk about anticlimactic!

The next morning was almost as painful as the the preceding week. Henry woke up and came in to show Randy and I the dollar the Tooth Fairy had left him. He was excited, but confused. "Why did she give me a dollar?"

"It was for your tooth," I told him.

"Why does she want my tooth?" He asked.

"She just likes to collect teeth, I guess."

"Well, what is she going to do with all the teeth?"

Jeese Louise, Henry! A person can only make up so many lies in one conversation. Why do you even care? Just take your dollar and run!

For the Kids, People...

2009-09-24T13:27:00.001-04:00

Today from 5-8 Cold Stone Creamery is giving out free ice cream. Just show up, get your ice cream and if you'd like, make a donation to "Make-A-Wish." YUMMMMMM!

Crisscross Applesauce

2009-09-08T23:00:00.000-04:00

Henry attended summer school for the month of July. He did pretty well after overcoming a few hurdles at the beginning. The biggest one was "Crisscross Applesauce." Apparently, when the kids were getting a little out of control, the teacher would yell out, "Crisscross Applesauce!" and the kids would have to sit down on the floor-- Indian style.

For the first several days all Henry would talk about was how this hurt his legs. Poor Henry would cross his chubby little legs through the pain to avoid a confrontation with Ms. Johnston.

Finally, after a week of whining, I asked Henry if he'd like me to talk to his teacher. Henry said yes and so Monday morning I walked Henry into school and did just that while he sat down in line waiting for school to begin. I explained to Ms. Johnston that I realized it was a silly thing, but that Crisscross Applesauce hurt Henry's legs and asked if it were possible to excuse him from crossing his legs.

Just as I was finishing my sentence, Ms. Johnston and I looked down the hall at Henry who was sitting-- Indian Style-- in line, laughing and playing with the kids on either side of him. Thanks, Henry, for backing me up on this one.

Back to School

2009-08-26T16:26:00.000-04:00

School starts on Monday. I'm not counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds or anything. (See countdown clock to the right.) Why write an essay on how this makes me feel when this says it all?

Henry, I love you, but SEE YOU SUCKA!

Happy 2nd Birthday Maren!

2009-08-24T16:27:00.000-04:00

Maren is two years old today. Henry could not wait to get Maren from her crib this morning. He got up about a half hour before Maren and he asked if we could get her from her crib about 20 times within that period. It was cute, (borderline annoying after the 10th time) but I was kinda surprised that he was as excited as he was about his little sister's birthday. And then I figured it out.

At about seven o'clock Henry busts through the their bedroom door yelling, "Happy Birthday Maren!" A second later he storms out of the room with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face and yells out, "She doesn't look 2! She's not even big!" Poor guy. He was fully expecting to find Maren transformed into a walking, talking two-year-old.

Well, she's not walking at all and not talking much, but we for sure are not complaining. Rather we are counting our blessings as we look back and remember this past year with our sweet girl. Happy Birthday Maren Jane!

Here's a video of our little birthday celebration Sunday night. (Don't be jealous of my awesome singing-- especially when my voice cracks whilst attempting to hit that high note.)

Maren Likes to Eat

2009-08-18T20:11:00.001-04:00

Who would have thought that Maren-- the baby who gagged at the site of most foods when she first came home-- LOVES her food? Seriously, this girl can EAT! Another thing-- (this doesn't have anything to do with food but...) Maren pulled herself to a stand earlier tonight! I couldn't believe it. Yay Maren!

Raiding the snack cupboard.

Whoa.

She won't eat it if I cut if off the cob.

Chilli. Yes, the aftermath diapers were unpleasant for both her and me.

Little bit of sugar to wash down those jalapenos!

Maren likey.

Spaghetti.

That's right. Steak.

Funny...

2009-08-18T19:51:00.001-04:00

Expensive Tomatoes

2009-08-18T19:12:00.000-04:00

A gardener I am not. This is my harvest from two tomato plants this year. Wait, Henry ate one. There's actually one more growing on one of the plants out on the balcony, but I'm tyring to decide if it's worth 2 gallons of water a day for the next couple of weeks. Screw it-- next year I'm getting the Topsy Turvy. (By the way-- you can buy this thing way cheaper ANYWHERE other than this website.)