Sunday, November 28, 2010

Waiting.....

He has been waiting,
 and waiting
and waiting
for the perfect weather for playing in the snow!
 Yesterday we finally had a break in our constant string of wind and snow so we headed out to play!

This is really what Jack has been waiting for!

Brookie too!
 She was all smiles at first, but when they returned from their ride her smile was gone!

I got tired of pulling the kids around on foot, so Vince stepped in and saved me. 
Don't worry Mom, they were going so slow that I walked along side them :)
 Jack's job was to hold on to Brooke, he is such sport and didn't  complain once!

 Although the look on his face says otherwise.

We are loving all this snow!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Neck-Braced-Brookie

She has decided not to let a little necklace get in the way of her adventures.



She still copies everything her brother does


She thought this reindeer was real and wanted a ride.  Too bad the reindeer didn't survive.

Occasionally I catch her resting her cheeks on the brace and she gets the cutest little chipmunk face.

She wants to play rough, and I am sure she is tired of me telling her "Slow down, get up, get down from there don't run", and the most commonly used, "No JUMPING"!

She still has a little mischief up her sleeve. I fear she is bottling it and will soon explode!

She still has her sense of humor....Santa headband for a belt?

And she still manages to make me laugh.  How can this not make you smile?

When she sees herself in the mirror, she will touch her brace and say "My Pitty".  Makes me cry every time. 
How does it not bother her?
I am not even wearing it and it drives me nuts!

A neck brace doesn't slow these two monkeys down one bit!
 Jack has bee having a hard time with all the attention Brooke has been getting, so as a treat for him, we put up CHRISTMAS!

Oh who am I kidding, it was a treat for me too!
 For some crazy reason I decided to buy the biggest tree available this year, and it hits our ceiling.  No room for a star.  Perhaps I will tie that in to the "no room in the Inn" or something.

Buddy the Elf has even showed up from the North Pole to monitor us all.  He returns home to Santa after we go to bed every night and reports our behavior. Then he returns in the morning and hides a new spot. This morning he was in the tree.  Jack spotted him and said, "Mom, I have never seen this before."
I had high hopes that Buddy would help my kids be nice to each other.  

Ha ha ha.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Pretty Necklace


Thursday night at 7pm:
I was making cookies and cleaning up dinner.
Vince was in the shower.
Brooke and Jack were in the booster seats at the bar eating cookies.

Jack pushed his barstool away from the table to get down when he was done, like always.  Brooke is strapped into her booster seat and sometimes will push herself away from the counter as well to signal to me that I need to come and get her out.  Well, she pushed her chair away from the table and it got stuck on something on the floor, and the next thing I saw will haunt me forever.

I was at the sink facing the kids in their chairs.  As the barstool begin to tip over backwards, I could see the fear in her eyes as she fell. I tried to reach over the bar to grab her, but I wasn't even close. I heard a large crash and ran around the bar to find her still strapped in her chair, lying on the floor, with her head up against the rock fireplace that divides our family room and kitchen.
She was screaming hysterically, and so was I.
(they gave her a kitty in the ER and she LOVED it)

 All I could think of was to get her out of that chair and get her to Vince.  I ran her into the bathroom where Vince was in the shower and I couldn't even tell him what happened I was so crazy. Brooke was screaming uncontrollably. He jumped out and brought some sanity to the situation.
He kept saying "She'll be fine, did she just fall?" and I still couldn't even talk. It didn't take him long once coming in to the kitchen to see the overturned barstool and know what happened.
She wasn't even bleeding.
The next thing I knew, she went limp in my arms.
My screaming got a lot louder.
We scooped up Jack who was in shorts and an undershirt, no shoes.
Vince threw on some clothes, no socks, shampoo in his hair and we jumped in the car to drive to the ER.  As we were pulling out, I saw the Bishop,  a Dr., pulling out of his driveway and started screaming at Vince to flag him down.
As he came to my window, I had Brooke limp in my arms and I couldn't get the words out to tell him what had happened. He said to go straight the ER and he would call and let them know we were on our way!
We had no money, no phones and I was definitely lacking in sanity.
On the way to the ER she opened her eyes a few times but they would just roll back in her head. 
We got to the ER (it seemed like it took us an hour to make the 20 minute drive) and she starting throwing up when I got her out of the car. I had completely lost it by now.

(This is how we slept the first night)
A few CT Scans and MRI's later we found that she had a skull fracture at the back of her head close to the neck and a severe concussion. Vince's brother found out what had happened through the Bishop and brought us a phone and picked up Jack. He saved us that night. We had a rough night, but the next morning she started to act like herself again and even smiled.

We called the neckbrace her pretty necklace from the start, and luckily for us, she is very gullible, and never once tried to take it off.

 She kept her bucket close  by because she was still throwing up a little bit.

 Oh how she hated this thing on her foot!

And oddly enough, her port didn't even bother her.

She never slept in the crib, but sure enjoyed playing in it.

We were able to come home Friday afternoon and I was so excited to change me and Brooke out of our puke covered clothing!
 Notice the new high chair?  Jack doesn't know it, but his is on the way!
It was so scary and I definitely learned some lessons through this whole ordeal.
1-Barstools should be thrown in the garbage
2-I don't handle stressful situations involving injuries well at all! In fact I nearly threw up from all my hyperventilating.
3- Brooke is so tough!
4- I will kiss my babies a plethora of times every day!

 She was fitted for her new neckbrace today and she will wear it for 2 weeks.  We have a follow up appointment at Primary Children's then and hopefully she won't have to wear it anymore after we meet with their Neurosurgeon.    Her new brace is pretty intense.




We love her so much and we are so blessed that there haven't been any serious complications from the accident. She requires constant supervision for the next 2 weeks, so I am sure I will be very busy for the next few weeks.

Thanks for all you who helped us out and sent prayers our way!  You have done so much!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

SNOW!

 Every morning for the past week Jack wakes up and asks if it snowed.  His wish finally came true! 
For family night we decided to shovel the driveway.

Poor Brooke couldn't figure out how to hold her shovel with gloves on. She hated them!


I love this picture!
 I took the picture above and realized that she didn't have any gloves on.....
 She had placed them ever so gingerly on the bumper of the car.

We were really excited to finally get some snow!  I am sure the excitement will wear off in a few days and we will wish it was all gone.

There is nothing cuter than little kids in snow clothes. Nothing.

BTW- I helped too. Don't think that I put my kids to work and was inside watching Project Runway and sipping hot chocolate. That would never happen.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween

We packed up the kids and headed to Utah for Halloween! Here are some highlights from the weekend!

THE KIDS
 Even busy Abby came home from Provo for a little visit!

THE MESS
 My parents are in the midst of a little remodel. Ahem, a HUGE remodel. Vince brought along his tools to help with some projects.  Good luck Mom and Dad, hopefully you have a house again by next Halloween!

 THE PARTY!
My mother would never let a little saw dust and only 1 working potty interrupt her Halloween festivities.
She found one room in her house that still had carpet and hosted a fabulous party!

The Byrams

 We are still not quite sure what Mom and Dad were. 

The kids!

The Behunins!

 TRICK OR TREAT!
It rained, it poured, it blew. 
But the kids still had a great time!