Christmastime!

December is such a festive, wonderful month! Mark took me to dinner and to see Life of Pi for our anniverasry (end of November). LOVED the movie (about equal to the book - I think that's a first). We went to Seattle and got to spend some much needed time bonding with my family.

For my birthday, we took Isaac out with us to dinner and bowling (and then desert too). We owed him a date night with us since his birthday (in September) so it was perfect! My fab (flubber) friend Katee wanted to make me dinner for my birthday, so I roped her into just having us over one night so we could enjoy each others' company along with the food. Received a DVD, books, a bracelet, lotion, a sweater, coat & tights from friends & loved ones. My moved-to-Twin Falls bestie cut my hair gratis for my birthday. I also gave myself the present of a gym membership and started going to a wonderful Yoga practice that my friend Allison leads there.

Our ward had a Relief Society (women's group) activity with lots of treats and a class on making traditional gingerbread houses. My sweet friend who taught the class brought my family homemade gingerbread cutouts to build two little homes. I got lazy about the frosting & decorations and tried to use what I had in the cupboard, but it was great fun.

All month I did a question/scripture-search advent calendar with the boys. It was approximately Charlie-level so I need to come up with something better next year. I also semi-planned 12 Days of Service in honor of the Savior, but what we ended up with was about four great days of thoughtful service, petering out as we got busier or moods (mainly mine) swung. I think it did change our attitude sometimes for the better as we were hustling and bustling - the reminder to be thinking of others.

Charlie had his final check-up at the surgeon's office. It was a very personally spiritual day for me, as several prayers were answered in succession. The public one I'll share is that Charlie does not need the chest brace! Perhaps it was the continued prayers of so many friends, but his body miraculously reversed the outward curve the sternum had begun to form and is now in a totally normal position.

Mark & I managed to sneak in another date night, this time with old pals Nate & Leslie. Had a great dinner and conversation at Matsy's. We realized we had never hung out without our kids before!
I spent an evening and an afternoon helping to wrap up special treats for all the children and teachers in the Primary. They turned out really cute! Our ward had a lovely Christmas party the week before the Big Day with a child-reinacted nativity and musical numbers. Mark & our friend Tim performed two traditional songs. Mark also sang with the ward choir on the Sunday before Christmas.

So many dear friends brought over a plate of treats or a thoughtful card, etc. Thank you! I managed to get a Christmas card out, but most of them probably arrived late. Every year it is such a delight to receive cards from distant friends and read the update on their lives. Some letters are done so creatively! Maybe some year I'll manage to include a letter with mine, but no promises. (I do already have a blog after all!)
Christmas Eve we skipped the option of caroling, as fun as that can be, to use my birthday certificate at Tucano's Brazilian Grill (the boys' first time) and check out the lights in downtown Caldwell.

While I had Isaac take this photo for me, David ran off behind and unbeknownst to Mark (who was looking for a garbage can) and I had a panic attack searching the crowd for him... Of course when I got back to the car everyone was in their seats buckled just waiting for me (Mark had seen David and somehow didn't cross paths with me). Maybe it was that adrenalin that kept me going til midnight wrapping presents!

Christmas morning with kids is such a joy! Though every year I struggle more with all things Christmasy-but-not-Christ-centered, including gifts, I have not pondered a better way for our family to celebrate (yet). We were so blessed this year, in so many ways. I know my sweet boys are very grateful for all that they have and all they received.

In the afternoon we headed to Mark's parents' home for dinner with them and two of his sisters and their families. Lots MORE fun, and more hymns too. Phew! This momma was ready for a few days of hibernating but family fun and obligations won out, as we went up to McCall with the extended-family gang for the rest of the week!

Active Autumn

I have narrowed it down to about 100 pictures I will use in an eventual series of posts on Charlie's accident and recovery, but I am going to wait a while to work on that. It is, as I'm sure you can imagine, an extremely emotional time to revisit and describe - plus I am waiting for a copy of all his medical records to make sure I get the details correct. Now we have him home and he is doing great so I thought I would keep up on the current events.

The evening before he came home (before I heard from Mark that that was even a possibility), my sweet friend Sarah offerred to have the other boys over for pumpkin carving. Isaac had basketball practice, so I took Samuel and David to Sarah's home to help with the carving (and help David eat his Krispy Kreme donut, too).

Sarah's kids are completely adorable, and smart and creative too. Love that bunch!

The next day at the hospital it was amazing to see the improvement Charlie had made in the two and half days I'd been away. He was running down the hall to get into the cafeteria before his cousin! In fact, though we lowered his mattress to the bottom bunk, this is where I found him his first morning home:

So you can imagine that even just one week later, he is about back to normal. We finally had a sunny day, so I did some yard work and had all the kids come outside too.

 

Thought this might be dangerous, but the surgeon okayed it (after the fact, heh).

Jumping in leaves is always a winner. Too bad we only found one rake so it took forever to make even that big a pile. I also got all my tulip bulbs planted in the front. Felt so good to be in the sun and not be thinking about anything health related!

The next day, Halloween, Charlie had his first follow-up appointments (a couple x-rays and a visit with his leading surgeon). It was really hard to get him out the door when he knew he was headed back to the hospital. I reassured him that he didn't have to go back upstairs to the pediatric floor and bribed him with anything he wanted afterwards but still it was one of those unfortunate buckle-the-child-in-forceably and then get-in-the-car-and-drive before they can unbuckle-and-hop-out situations. He requested we listen to our World Playground CD though, and after a song or two was pretty content. He held my hand all through the various admitting/waiting rooms and was nervous during his x-ray, but finally had some fun playing make-believe in the wait room of the surgeon's office, in the building across the way. He got a lot of Halloween trinkets and treats at each stop and we blew all the bubbles in his little bottle waiting for Dr. Reynolds, but he was happy.

After a successful check-up, it was time for a very late lunch. While eating his chicken nuggets (we had gone over 6 months without McDonalds but whataya gonna say?) Charlie requested we visit the zoo (one of the bribes offered earlier that morning). We were running late but again, how could I say no? The air was crisp but not cold and the zoo was almost deserted.

He was disappointed we missed the giraffe feeding time, and I was too since we've done it twice when I haven't had my camera with me! After going on all the slides a second time, we rushed home to get the brother's from Grandma's house. Once Mark was home, we headed to the movie theater (the first time for our entire family to go together) and watched Hotel Transylvania in 3D. (Also our first time seeing a 3D movie.) Charlie preferred watching the movie slightly blurry to wearing the glasses! The movie was in lieu of trick-or-treating. We love playing dress-up, but don't agree with many aspects of the actual holiday. Plus it wasn't until that afternoon's appointment that we got approval to have Charlie out in public again. We did have a little Halloween fun with a care package from Aunt Laura's family.

The next day we sadly had another appointment scheduled for Charlie, this time at Brownfield's Prosthetics & Orthodics, to look into a brace to correct the way his sternum is healing post-op. The practitioner had several concerns why Charlie may not be a great candidate so we talked through it, talked to Charlie about it, and scheduled another consult in four weeks. We had all the brothers with us this time - went to lunch together, then Costco, then a long-anticipated return to our local library and finally some playtime in the adjacent park.

 

You can see that we've been able to downsize to a regular bandaid over Charlie's trach. It is nearly healed over now.

We continue to be so grateful for our many miracles, most especially that Charlie has recovered so completely and life can begin to go back to (relatively) normal. Of course, that normalcy is greatly aided by the support of our friends and family: still praying for us, bringing meals, and offering their assistance. Thank you all so much.