Halloween

Why is it so hard to get pictures of your kids in their Halloween costumes. At least for me it is. These are the only good ones I took. Lynnlee's picture is her weekly picture I took with the moose. Oh well, maybe next year I'll get a picture of them in their costumes together and smiling. Ha!

James liked his airplane except that he couldn't see his feet which made it hard to walk down stairs and up curbs. Cute costume idea but not the most functional. He wore it Friday for trick-or-treating on main street but it didn't last very long on Saturday night because it took him so long to go from house to house going up and down porch steps. It was fun to try though. Thanks Ali for your help! If we ever make another we now know to make it smaller.

Simplify

Simplify. That is my theme for this month. Since we are mostly home bound with Lynnlee I only go out if completely necessary. It has been nice.

Last year we each carved pumpkins. This year we simplified. We bought one pumpkin and let James paint it however he wanted. Marshall also helped. Excuse the fact that James is only wearing underwear. We didn't want him to get paint all over his clothes and we didn't think to put an old t-shirt on him.

Happy Halloween!

p.s. Grandmas and Grandpas are amazing! My Mom and Dad watched James and Lynnlee overnight so Marshall and I could get away for our anniversary. James and Lynnlee were both angels for my parents. The few nights leading up to staying at my parent's, Lynnlee and James had both been sleeping horrible. They slept the whole night for my parents and since they've been back home they have been sleeping much better. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Cornbellys

We've been taking it easy since Lynnlee came home from the hospital but one thing I wanted to do before Halloween was go to Cornbellys at Thanksgiving Point.

Lynnlee's doctor said to avoid being around large groups indoors but its perfectly ok to take her outside to get fresh air. So we went to Cornbellys last week before the cold weather hit.

It was so much fun. We went with our friends the Greers. There are so many fun things to do there! I definitely recommend it!

This is the jumping pillow. If only I had one of these in my backyard.

On Wednesday, out of nowhere, James started saying he wanted to go on a "choo choo ride." He asked that whole day and all day Thursday. I was glad we had plans to go to Cornbellys that night so he wouldn't have to keep asking. The Cow Train hit the spot.

And if the cow train wasn't enough we road an even bigger train: The Grain Train.

Oktoberfest

Marshall is amazing! He ran the Oktoberfest 10k last weekend and took 1st place in his age division and 3rd place overall. That's without training! He ran it in 40:46. Good job Lovest!

5 Years

Happy 5th Anniversary Lovest!

7 months

Lynnlee is 7 months old today. She's almost been home from the hospital for a week. She's doing great. She was on 1 liter of oxygen when she left the hospital but we are slowing weaning her off.
She's recovered so quickly. She's our little miracle baby. Besides the oxygen you can't even tell she had open heart surgery.

James has had a cold this past week and I had a little bit of a cold too. Thankfully she has stayed healthy through it all.

Home

We were happy to have good news from Lynnlee's doctors this morning. She gets to come home! I can't wait. She hasn't been sleeping too well here with all the noise and interruptions so I think it will be good for her to be home so she can get more sleep.

Before her surgery I asked her cardiologist how long Lynnlee's hospital stay would be. She said anywhere from one week to one month. I'm so glad she gets to go home in just under a weeks time. I know its because of all the prayers in her behalf. Thank you so much!

Tuesday with Lynnlee

I wrote the last update earlier this morning but Lynnlee's doctors have been in to see her since then. So here's more to the update. They aren't too concerned about the low grade fever she had last night. She hasn't had a fever since then so hopefully it was related to teething. She has been drooling like crazy, but you never know. She got her first tooth in a few weeks ago but I think she's getting one in next to it.

Her doctors said she might be able to go home tomorrow is everything goes well today and through the night. I really hope we get to come home tomorrow!

Here is today's picture.

Tuesday

Today is Tuesday. I was too tired to write an update yesterday. Yesterday was a good day for Lynnlee because she moved out of the CICU and up to the surgical floor. She had an echocardiogram in the morning while she was still in the CICU. It showed some decreased heart functioning but the surgeon reassured me that this is normal after having open heart surgery. They started her on some medicine that should help her heart function improve over time.

She was moved to the surgical floor yesterday afternoon. The surgeon said we can go home when Lynnlee's oxygen can be weaned to 1/2 liter. I guess that can be a couple of days so we just have to see how she does. Right now she's on 1 liter of oxygen. She's really close. We've tried to turn it down but she doesn't tolerate it too well.

She had a low grade fever through the night. Hopefully it's just teething or something and not an infection. That could keep her in the hospital longer. I'm ready to be home and I think she is too.

We'll see how today goes. Hopefully I'll get another update out later today.

Post-Op Day 3

We had so much fun with Lynnlee today. She was more like herself. She was smiling, laughing and playing with toys. She's even sitting up better than before her surgery. Who would have thought she would have enough strength for that?! I just love her so much. She's one tough cookie.

She is still in the CICU. She will have an echocardiogram tomorrow (Monday) morning and then she will move to the surgical floor, hopefully!

My parents brought James to see Lynnlee. He was so excited to see her and us. He sat in her crib with her and played with toys. Lynnlee was happy to see him too.

We wanted to give James some one-on-one time so my parents stayed with Lynnlee and we took James for a walk. James asked where Lynnlee was a couple of times. It's cute to see that he knows who she is and wants her around.

Lynnlee's pictures

Here are pictures from today. Since she can't wear clothes, just her diaper, my Mom brought a cute pink bow to put in her hair to make her more girly.

Post-Op Day 2

Lynnlee's condition is always improving and she's healing so fast. When I got to the hospital in the morning she was getting morphine every 2 hours because otherwise she was uncomfortable and irritable like she was in pain. By the time we left the hospital she hadn't had it for 4 hours and she was sleeping like a baby:)

Through the night they continued to wean her oxygen and she handled it really well.

This morning the surgeon took out her chest tubes and some other lines. I got to feed her some pedialyte a little while after that. She got so excited just at the site of the bottle. It was so funny. She was kicking her legs and kept kicking them the whole time I fed her. If I even tried to move the bottle she would grunt. She went 2 1/2 days without eatting I don't blame her for being hungry!

If she keeps eating well and tolerating the lower oxygen then she'll get to move out of the CICU and up to the surgical floor. I'll post some pictures tonight.

Post Op- Day 1

We spent yesterday afternoon with Lynnlee in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). She was on the ventilator and connected to lots of IVs, chest tubes, foley catheter, monitors, etc. They told us she had been doing a lot of breathing on her own so they wanted to take her off the ventilator. They just wanted her to wake up a little more before taking her off. We were going to stay there late so we could be there when they took her off but we were so tired. All the stress had caught up with me and so I just wanted to get some sleep. The nurses and doctors take such great care of her that I knew I didn't have to worry if I left. My Aunt is letting us stay at her house (She's only a few minutes away!) so we left a little earlier than planned and were able to get a good sleep! The hospital called and woke us at 11:00 last night and said she was off the ventilator and breathing on her own. We were happy to hear the good news, even if it meant waking us up.

Today she is doing just as well. They have taken out some of her IVs and her foley catheter. They are still keeping her mildly sedated so she doesn't try ripping out any other tubes. She seems very comfortable.

She doesn't get to eat yet but hopefully soon. She's on a high amount of oxygen. Once she is weaned to a lower amount they will let her eat.

Thank you for your prayers. All the doctors tell us they are impressed with how well she is doing. We know it is because of everyone's prayers!

Post Surgery

We got to the hospital at 7:00 this morning. Lynnlee was pretty happy considering she hadn't had any milk for 8 hours. They took her back at 8:30. We were nervous but also felt peace. The nurse gave us updates through the whole surgery. The surgeon just came and talked to us and he said everything went very well! We will be headed to the cardiac intensive care unit to see her in just a minute. Thank you for all of your prayers!

Lynnlee's Surgery

Lynnlee is having open heart surgery tomorrow. It wasn't scheduled until the 21st of October but we found out yesterday that they moved it to tomorrow. She had a test a few weeks ago that indicated she needs surgery sooner so that is why they changed it. The name of the surgery is The Glenn. Click on it for more information if you are interested. I will post daily updates while she is in the hospital.

Idaho Falls

We spent the weekend in Idaho Falls. We attended a funeral and celebration of life for my good friend's husband. It's hard when a person passes away at such a young age and unexpectedly. I'm so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and eternal families! There was an amazing feeling of peace and comfort at his funeral. My heart has been broken since finding out this sad news but I've been so grateful to feel peace knowing Heavenly Father is watching over his family. My friend has been so strong through this trial and she is an amazing example!

Saturday we had a picnic before priesthood meeting at a park near the falls. The falls are so beautiful and we were hoping to get some fun pictures with the kids but they weren't in the mood for pictures.
While Marshall was at Priesthood meeting I pushed James and Lynnlee in the stroller on a path around the falls. It was so beautiful. James loved feeding the geese.

James and Lynnlee were really good on the trip.

James brought some toys and had fun playing in the hotel room.

We headed back home this afternoon. James and Lynnlee slept most the way home. We enjoyed listening to conference. I thought the talks were great!