Happy Birthday, Kimball!

Last week Kimball celebrated his 5th birthday. He was so excited about his birthday. He told me he wanted scones for breakfast so I made him white chocolate cranberry scones which he loved. I love this picture of Kimball, he is looks so happy anticipating his scone!

Here is another great picture of him blowing out his candle.

After breakfast, we dropped Kimball off at preschool and I returned two hours later to bring birthday treats. Kimball originally told me that for his birthday cake he wanted a mint cake, but later said he wanted to take mint cupcakes to preschool since I don't like mint. I thought it was thoughtful of him to think of me. I was surprised when I showed up with cupcakes and about 1/3 of his classmates said they didn't like cupcakes. I wasn't going to waste the cupcakes if they weren't going to be appreciated so I gladly took home the extras to give to my family. Kimball seemed happy that I brought cupcakes to his class. I picked Kimball up early again from preschool so we could spend the afternoon together since Joseph had a meeting Thursday evening.

Kimball in front of the birthday banner. I can't believe how grown up Kimball looks in this picture. We love him and we are so glad he is in our family!

With most of his presents. More than half of his presents were Lego in some form, but Kimball didn't mind in the least. He also got some money and a bike.

For Kimball's birthday dinner he wanted black bean tortilla pie and a red, white and blue cake. I made a red velvet cake and then the layer of frosting between the cake layers was white and the outer frosting was blue with white chocolate chips to garnish the top. Kimball loved it and the cake was yummy if I do say so myself. I really liked the white chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Preschool

Last week was a big week for Kimball. He started preschool on Tuesday. He missed the kindergarten cut off by 23 days so we decided to put him in preschool to keep him out of trouble. He goes to preschool twice a week. The hours are 8:45 to 2:45, but last week I picked him up before the nap time because I don't really want him napping during the day. Kimball LOVES preschool. He was so excited to go back and he was disappointed that he had to wait a day. We are sad that he will only be in preschool 2 months before we move, but we figured it would still be a good opportunity for him to develop some social skills and learn to take instruction from adults who aren't his parents. His first two days he was rather reserved and quiet, but once he is comfortable in his class...watch out Miss Cami and Miss Megan!

Kimball was very excited to get a matching lunch bag and backpack that were Lego! He can't get enough Lego in his life.

Syracuse, New York

Most of you know already, but for those who don't...we are moving to Syracuse, NY. Joseph was offered a position last Friday and we accepted it. It will be a big change for our family, but we are excited about the opportunity. Joseph will start at the end of October or beginning of November. We hope to get all moved in before the snow flies...we will get a lot of snow in Syracuse. I have already bought some snow gear for the children. We have been busy this week getting our house ready to sell. I have painted and painted and painted. Joseph is refinishing our wood floor and will then start on tidying up the yard. We hope for a speedy sale, but then again, most people do.

Dream Big Read!

Dream Big Read! That was the theme for the summer reading program this year. I don't really enjoyed taking the kids each week to the library during the summer because it is so crowded, but they really looked forward to it. We set a goal to read 50 different books this summer. We usually read our books multiple times so if we were counting actual books read our count would have been much higher. The kids got a t-shirt at the start of the program and then each week they got a cheap little prize.

One week the kids did get cups which they love using. Another week for a door prize Kimball won a water bottle. Rebecah didn't care at the time, but throughout the next week as Rebecah saw Kimball drinking from it she started to get jealous. I was SO relieved when Rebecah won the door prize the following week and got a water bottle. They love them so much!

The grand finale of the reading program was a music concert with Brian and Terri Kinder. They travel throughout the state putting on concerts for children singing songs that they have written. At the end of the concert more door prizes were given out. Kimball really wanted a prize, but there were probably 200 kids at the concert. I was so surprised when his name was called with just 6 prizes to go. He won a Kinder CD that is the safety CD the Kinders have made with songs about child safety. I was glad that Kimball's prize was something that Rebecah can enjoy too since she didn't win a prize. I was also glad that Kimball's prize was age appropriate since so many of them were geared toward older children.

Here are the kids with some of their reading program loot. It was so hard to take these pictures since the kids are always moving!

Recovery Phase II: Two Weeks Later

I think I have made a lot of progress in the past two weeks since Joseph removed my stitches. I am able to fully extend my arm and then bend it up to my shoulder. I really had to work at this to stretch the muscles back out. If I keep my arm in the same position too long it is quite stiff when I change position. I stretch it every day to try to keep it moving. Joseph said the stiffness will probably last until the swelling goes away in my elbow which could take months.

My arm just after having the stitches removed.

Two weeks later. My arm is still ugly, but I think it looks much better. The first three fingers on my hand are slowly getting stronger. I was able to push the button on my stand mixer with my left hand on Monday, before that I was too weak and I had to use my right hand. I'll be happy when I'm finally strong enough to push the red button on Rebecah's car seat to release the bottom clasps. I can do my own ponytail now and put my shirts on normally again. I'm sure all of these accomplishments seem rather silly and insignificant to most of you, but they have been huge milestones for me. My last two fingers are still numb, still painful and still weak. At my post-op appointment, Dr. Allison said this could all last 6 months to a year. That feels like an eternity, but hopefully it all will get better. It is frustrating to be trying to spread my fingers apart and straining as hard as I can and my fingers hardly move. Patience, is what I'm learning in addition to other lessons.

Peaceful Moments

Often as a parent you hear a lot of fighting or noise and you just have to stop and enjoy the peaceful times. Here are a few peaceful moments from the last week:

Here is Kimball giving Rebecah a ride. Soon after these pictures Kimball got too tired and crashed so I was glad I got the pictures even though the lighting wasn't the best.

Rebecah and Kimball are getting better and better about playing together. Their favorite thing to do together is to make a "whole big mess" and play in it. I think it is their version of a fort because they get out all or most of our toys and then organize it like a house. Sometimes all of the toy food and blocks get dumped out and sometimes they don't. Here they are with their "whole big mess" as they call it.

Rebecah has pretty much given up naps. She will only nap on her terms so most days she doesn't. I can't really fight her on it too much since my left arm is still pretty weak and I can't pick her up easily, especially if she is struggling. This afternoon while we were reading stories Rebecah wandered into my room and crawled under the covers.

After I finished my last story, Kimball put his head down on the couch and fell asleep. He rarely naps, but has done so twice this week.

Recovery Phase I

Recovery was a little different that I anticipated. First off my time in the actual recovery room at the surgery center was much longer than anyone planned. The man having surgery after me left before I did. I just had a really hard time waking up from the anesthesia. So many of my memories from Thursday night are vague and when something springs to mind I have to ask Joseph if it really happened. It is really hard to lose hours of my life and know that I was "awake" but not aware. I got home Thursday night, Joseph got me settled and then he left me to pick up our children who were playing with friends. It just dawned on me now that I was left alone while Joseph did that. I'm glad I didn't have any problems! One thing I vaguely remember from the night of surgery was Joseph telling me that Dr. Allison had accidentally nicked my nerve somehow. I had to verify that the next day. It was true and it explained the numbness in my 4th and 5th fingers. This was a hard pill to swallow. Nerves take a long time to heal--they can heal at a rate of 1 inch per month--and with my nerve already severely damaged from being pinched for so long I knew having a nick wasn't a good thing. I hope eventually the numbness will get better, but no one knows. Joseph also said that my nerve was blue from being pinched so long. The blue color was from lack of blood flow and with time that should go back to a normal color. Normally they are white. The first few days home were a little rough because I was in pain. I tried not to take too much pain medicine because it made me sick and then I had to take pills for nausea. I did go to Sacrament Meeting the following Sunday and it was a big mistake because I felt awful the entire time! My first two weeks of recovery dealt with two kinds of pain, physical and then emotional. It was hard dealing with the physical pain, but I started feeling better about a week after surgery. The emotional pain is something I deal with every day. I'm mourning the loss of normal use of my fingers. Someday I hope they will be back to normal, but there is no guarantee. I can't focus on the long term or the permanent consequences of having numb fingers or I break down. My goal has been to focus on making it through today. About a week after surgery a new pain surfaced and that has made it even more difficult. I wasn't expecting to suffer from such intense nerve pain in my fingers and hand. It started about a week after surgery and stems from the nicked nerve. The only way I can explain the pain to someone is to say that it feels like half of my hand and my last two fingers have been burned and are sensitive to touch. When I am touched it burns and hurts so bad. Joseph said the only way to make this get better is to use my hand and rub it on things even though it hurts. I'm trying to use it as much as I can until I can't stand the burning anymore. I'm too young for this...I'm only 32! Some things I learned: I'm not very good at asking others for help. I felt helpless and I don't like feeling that way. I'm grateful that Joseph was so good to help me dress, shower, undress and do other things that I couldn't do for myself. Joseph had a light week at work so he was home in the mornings and worked in the afternoons. It was nice to have him home to help with breakfast and lunch each day. It is hard when Kimball is stronger than I am. I would try to open a jar of peanut butter to make lunch and have to have Kimball help me. Kimball has actually been a huge help through this entire ordeal. I'm so proud of him and I plan on rewarding him once I'm a little more able. I also gained a greater appreciation for my sister, Heather. I'm not saying that having numb and painful fingers is anywhere close to being a quadriplegic, but I can relate to some of her experiences. I understand better Heather's frustrations about not being able to do her own hair and makeup. It was very hard for me to have Joseph put my hair in a ponytail because he wasn't very good, although working as a team we got better. Joseph was happy with a lopsided ponytail, but I never was. I also can relate to Heather when she says that it hurts when people would touch her. If one of the kids grabs my hand it burns and I want to yank my hand away from them, but I try to show restraint. Besides, yanking would cause my arm to hurt in other places. Also, during surgery they tape your eyes shut to prevent "scratching" of the eyes. (I secretly think they would just be un-nerved to have someone staring blankly at them.) Anyway, the tape was so abrasive it caused the skin under my eyes to peel and my under eyes were blotchy for the first few days. Heather says the same thing happens to her. We both agree that a sleep mask would be much better! Things take so much longer when you don't have full use of your body. I tried to email everyday from my iPod touch, but it took so much longer to type messages. By the end of two weeks my little thumb got pretty good at tapping out emails, but I think how much patience Heather has to do all of her emails and blog posts with her voice activated program. Heather is a saint! Things I appreciated: I appreciated the 3 women from church who brought us dinner. Those three meals fed our family for 6 nights. I appreciated the phone calls and cards that people sent, as well as those who sent gifts. One wonderful person even sent a gift card to a pizza place since she wasn't able to help prepare food long distance. The gifts, cards, and phone calls always seemed to come on a day when I needed them most. Tender mercies from the Lord. I appreciated Rebecah coming up to me and asking if my left arm was my "sore arm" and then she would kiss me and say: "I kiss your sore arm." It was sweet. One of my sisters asked me last night if I thought I was better off before or after surgery. I would honestly say, setting aside all of the pain from the surgery and incision, that I was better off before surgery since the pain wasn't constant nerve pain and I didn't have numbness. Now that isn't to say I wouldn't have made the same decision. I basically had the choice of 1. surgery and those outcomes or 2. eventual paralysis of my two fingers and I didn't want that. As painful as it is to move them, I at least can.

My nasty fingers once they started peeling. What is worse is that my palm has now developed the same affliction and most likely my arm will follow since it wasn't washed for 2 weeks! Gross!

Joseph took my splint off a few days ago and removed the stitches. I'm amazed how stiff and weak I am. I guess I entered phase II of recovery because it will probably take another 2 weeks to work out the stiffness and pain. My "new and improved" arm. Stitches still in. Those are Dr. Allison's initials. They initial the limb that they are operating on to prevent mistakes-- like the wrong limb being worked on.

My arm with the stitches removed. I can't wait for my incision to start looking better because right now it's ugly! Now on to phase II of recovery. I might not post about this for a while since I'm just starting this new adventure, but for now I can say my muscles are weaker than I ever imagined they would be and I can barely push a quilting needle through a quilt.