Family Camp 2018

We have got to go camping with our awesome Chapel Hill family three times now- in 2012, 2013, and 2015.  We were really hoping to go again this year, but with Macy's heart surgery, we had to cancel our reservation.  Our dear friends took Kaleb and Noé along with them, so our family was still represented.  There were lots of families this year (Stiles, Clarks, Wildes, Martins, Zapatas, Elliotts, Wrights, Montminys, Svensons, Albers, Craigs, Williams, and Mejias).  I hope we can join them all next year!

Alessandra shared these awesome pictures with me!

Warm Socks

We got a new water table for our deck, so the kids can cool off and splash each other!  Of course, they got soaked.

Ali came inside and said she was freezing.  I told her to go upstairs and put some warm clothes on.  She came back down wearing socks, 3 socks to be exact.  One on her foot and two on her hands.  Silly goose!

June the 4th be with you!

Forget about May the 4th being Star Wars day, this year we celebrated on June 4th...

Leonard's birthday!

He and I went on a date to see the new Han Solo movie, and we both thought it was great!

We stopped at Nando's to pick up some yummy peri-peri chicken to bring home for dinner.

The kids wanted to celebrate with him too!

The first birthday this year with all 9 of us home, woo hoo!

The Martins brought over some yummy mint brownies, mmm mmm!

Both sets of parents spoiled him with birthday cards and lots of money.  We got him a card too and...

a new Ticket to Ride game (since ours got destroyed) and he went on a little online shopping spree at Costco.  He ordered us a barbecue, exercise trampoline, and walkie-talkies.

Happy Birthday Leonard!  I hope you have a fabulous year!!

Visiting Ministers

During our Stake Conference weekend, our Stake President, Terry Nemeth asked to meet with our family in our home.

He brought with him Elder Carl B. Cook, a General Authority serving in the Presidency of the Seventy.

It was wonderful having these men of God in our home, asking about our family's welfare.  At the end of our visit they asked if they could do anything for us.  Leonard asked Elder Cook if he could offer a prayer.  It was very humbling to have him pray in our behalf.  I am humbled by ALL of the many people that have prayed on our behalf this past year.  I have truly felt buoyed up by it!

Hospital Days

When Macy was born she spent 18 days in the NICU (Gavin was our first child to spend time in the NICU after he was born).  A month after Macy came home she got sick and spent another 8 days in the hospital.  After her heart surgery she spent 6 days in the PICU (Noé was our first child to spend time in the PICU when she had encephalitis. - Macy is our first child to have spent time in both the NICU and PICU).  When she left the PICU she went upstairs to the regular recovery ward for another 5 days.  So this hospital stay was 11 days long- 1 for the surgery and 10 days recovering.  She's spent a total of 37 days of her short life in the hospital.  She received wonderful care, but I really hope she never has to spend the night there again!

Leonard and/or I put daily updates on Facebook, and I will share them here:

Day 1

(of recovery, surgery day counts as Day 0)

Her tongue is pretty much the only thing she can move right now....

(They kept her entirely sedated again this day.)

Day 2

And all is (almost) right with the world....

Macy is doing very well. No more pace maker (as of yesterday morning), no more breathing machine (as of this morning), heart meds stopped, sedatives and morphine infusion stopped, and most of all, being held by Mommy.

She's recovering quicker than anticipated and they hope she will move out of intensive care tomorrow.

Yeah, she's still a rock star.

Macy was finally awake and the nurse wanted to see if she could take a bottle, so Daddy gave it a shot.  She wasn't really interested, but it was so nice to see her little eyes open again!

Day 3

Two steps forward, one step back. Macy's right lung collapsed last night so she was put on this bipap machine and given more morphine to relax. She's responding well to it, but will spend another day in the ICU. We're so grateful for all the many prayers that have been offered on her behalf. We would be so appreciative if you could continue to keep her in your prayers.  Leonard thinks she's getting ready to rule the galaxy with him .

Day 4

Macy had a much better day!! She's still on the cpap machine, but she's finally "awake". Tuesday and Wednesday she was completely sedated. On Thursday, when she opened her eyes she still seemed totally drugged. Friday, when she was awake she just seemed miserable and in distress. Today, she seemed much more calm- although she wants that machine off her face! We were able to make lots of good eye contact, sing her songs, and tell her stories. I've got to hold her the past 3 days, but it's hard with her still attached to so many things. Hopefully, soon we'll move upstairs and I'll get to nurse her again!

Day 5

Macy had another great day! Her chest tube was removed as well as her cpap! She is still getting a little oxygen from her nasal prongs, but that's so much better than her Darth Vader mask. Now she just has her feeding tube and one more IV left to get rid of. She also got to visit with her brothers and sisters and Mommy got to snuggle her lots and lots!

Day 6

Macy had a great day again. She left the ICU and I got to nurse her for the first time since her surgery.

Day 7

Last night was my first slumber party with Macy.  She had a pretty good night, just woke up 4 times to eat (pre-op I had to wake her up to eat in the night). Today was pretty rough. Lots of poking, prodding, and tears. She's finally settled down and looks so dang cute chilling in her bed!

Day 8

After yesterday's misery, Macy had a fantastic day today. She got sweet snuggles with Auntie Niki and Auntie Catherine, and they brought her a super cute banner.

She has 3 goals to go home: 1- Get weened off the oxygen. 2- Be able to cough strongly enough so she doesn't need anymore suctioning. 3- Eat enough so she doesn't lose weight. She's cruising along, but we'll still be here a little while.

Day 9

Macy is working hard to reach her goals. She gained weight this morning after being breastfed exclusively for over 36 hours. She's been coughing to clear her lungs and hasn't been suctioned since Tuesday afternoon. AND she hasn't been on oxygen since 4:00 this morning. Her heart rate and oxygen sats did dip a few times in the night last night, so they're keeping her again tonight to watch her. Hopefully, all will go well and we'll get to go home tomorrow!

Day 10

Macy got to come home today!  We are so happy to be home with our family, and they're so happy we're home with them! Thank you everyone for all of your prayers, love, and support!

Exclamation Point!

Since we missed the cake walk at the Family Fun Night the night before, we got this yummy lemon cake to celebrate Macy's homecoming- woo hoo!

Spring Concert

I'm so glad Kaleb was able to continue his music after moving back to Canada.  Unfortunately, his spring concert fell while I was still in the hospital with Macy.  Luckily, Len was able to go and cheer him on, while Noé held down the fort at home with the 4 kiddos.  His concert also fell on the evening of the Elementary School's Family Fun Night, so we had to miss that this year.  I hope next year we can all go to cheer him on at his concert AND all go to the FFN!

Night at the Oscars

Noé and her darling friends Navy and Alessandra went to their school's awards ceremony- the Oscars.  They got all dressed up and looked so cute posing together! 

The above photos were taken by Kaleb with Alessandra's camera.

I was still in the hospital with Macy, but I sent the good camera home with Leonard to take some pictures of the girls.  He captured this sweet one...

Well, I edited the above photo as this is the shot he really caught.  I love cute little photo-bombin' Ali and Len's shadow in it!