MaShay's Wedding

Highlights of the trip:

-Seeing Lori and the weeest half of her family. Anabelle and Lance had a great time paling around together. Whenever I see her playing with cousins I feel sad that we are so far away. And whenever I see Lori I feel sad that we aren't neighbors. Hmph.
-We drove from Mesquite to Salt Lake with no movie or form of entertainment and we were scared for this part of the trip. But the girls did fantastic both ways. I liked the idea of good old fashioned entertainment-looking out the window, singing, counting toes, and the like.
-Staying with Aunt Jeanne. Love to see her family and love to hang out at her house. And the way my laundry smells when I do it there.
-Temple session with Reynolds fam-one of the best temple experiences yet. There's something about being there with your family that leaves you feeling more grounded and on track. Such a sweet experience. Lots of happy grateful tears.
-Sledding with Jeff's fam. I forgot how great sledding is. I loved that hour that I got to play with Katelyn and Cody. We also got together with Michelle's fam and I got to see my grown up nieces with cars nicer than mine and jobs and boyfriends.
-We went out to lunch with my dear old friend Millie, whose husband opened his own restaurant in Orem. It is absolutely delicious. It is called Pizzeria 712 and it is fresh, creative, and wildly scrumptious. I was very impressed and excited about it.
-We got to see my parents at their new digs in Mesquite, Nevada. I have to pounce on every chance my kids have to see them.
-Seeing MaShay look so stinkin in love. She is so the smitten kitten. Which is fitting because Jason is a very cool cat.
-Introducing Anabelle to the snow. It refreshes me to watch her explore something for the first time. I wish I still looked at snow the way I saw her look at it-eyes full of wonder and awe, voice full of excitment.
-Seeing lots of family (especially Cedar and Beaner who have now officially made the Reynolds family blog)and eating at Los Hermanos and Cafe Rio. We love to be out west and see the majesty of the mountains and feel the love of our families.

Aint nothin better than naked chubby giggles

Bored out of my mind

Last night both girls were sitting on my bed, Lila with some baby puff snacks, Anabelle with some crackers. Anabelle likes Lila's puffs better so she kept asking if she could have those instead. Finally I told her no more, to save them for Lila. She was sitting with her baby snowman recently given her by Grandad, and she said that snowman needed to have one. So she feeds one to snowman in a high pitched voice, taking time to lift up the carrot nose and make the chewing noises and everything. Then with lightening quick speed the puff flys from snowman, to her mouth and she plays it cool like nothing happened. I watched her do this a few times but didn't say anything because it was entertaining me. So I gave her a pile of ten and Lila a pile of ten and told her not to eat Lila's when hers were gone. Then I walked into the closet and hung up a shirt. When I came out all 20 puffies were history. Lila was staring at Anabelle who was quickly trying to swallow. She said, "They're all in my mouth". I asked her why she ate all of Lila's puffs. She said she needed to give Lila a little bit more. I hang another shirt up. And this is what I find:

Lila's 7th EEG

Yesterday we spent what will hopefully be the last day in Neurology Clinic 5. When we got to the room the technician saw us and said "Oh hey guys! How have you been?" I told her if we have to go back there one more time I'm going to have to put her on my Christmas card list. Which means I would first have to make a Christmas card list. But, lucky for me, that won't be necessary since her EEG was completely normal. Her neurologist said that his medical conclusion is that the seizures were caused by the drug Reglan, given her for the reflux she didn't even test positive for. I felt both hugely relieved and a teensy bit frustrated. Relieved for obvious reasons, and irritated that she went through such an ordeal because some doctor was too busy to hang out at her bin for longer than 3 minutes to see what I was talking about all those weeks. Too busy or too arrogant or too apathetic, take your pick. I don't care which one, but I do want to take our paperwork from yesterday over to the other hospital, and show Dr. Fancy Pants that parents do know some stuff and that indeed reflux is not the bottom line of all pediatric medicine. Grrrrrr. But Yea! Lila is slightly behind in meeting a few milestones so I have been concerned that there were some repercussions from all the seizures. Dr. Valero said that is normal, especially considering how much time she spent in the NICU and even time thereafter not being healthy. When he walked in and looked at her he was beaming, and he said he hardly recognized her she looks so good. It's those Alabama thighs I think. Anabelle and I played for a while in the Children's Harbor and she won a stuffed pig to give to Lila. While I was waiting to talk to the Dr. about the results I told her that I needed to talk to the Dr. about very important things and that I needed her to be quiet and not to interrupt me. She agreed. And she did well. For a few minutes. But then she realized that she desperately needed square crackers. So she asked me for them 11 times in a row. I kept trying to quiet her. When the Dr. left, I told her that I didn't appreciate her interupting me after I had asked her to be quiet. She listened, thought about it for a minute, then said," Well- I didn't like it when you kept saying 'shhhhh,shhhhh,shhhhhh' to me!" I hope we can always talk this openly with each other. In short- it was a very happy ending to a very rough beginning.

I also felt so grateful for all the donations and volunteers that strive to make it a fun place to be and to try to ease the stress and anxiety. Having now had two babies in the NICU, I have both times felt gladdened by a hand made beanie or name tag or quilt and I cherish those items and keep them as rememberances of compassion and service. I decided that I am going to get in on that and give back. You probably shouldn't look for me to glue a heart to end of my nose and prance around with a kazoo, but I'm pretty sure I could take up knitting.

Utah- Part 1

With bags packed and by the door, we decided last week before leaving for Utah to let Anabelle sleep until the last minute because we know there's no way she's gonna sleep on the plane. With just enough time left to dress and feed her, Braden walks into her room to the smell of vomit and I hear him asking her if she's okay and if her stomach hurts. Turns out she puked her guts out sometime in the night and then slept in it. Teach me to let her sleep with a 'Dry Clean Only' blanket. She excitedly yells, "We're riding a plane! We're going to Utah!". Okey Dokey, it was just something she ate I guess- quick bath and stick her in the car. About 15,000 feet in the air Anabelle curls up on my lap and falls asleep. Braden and I look at each other and give the silent thumbs up. Then Lila falls asleep and we look at each other and nod our heads smiling, Braden mouths, "Our kids are awesome" to me, and I agree and pinch myself to make sure this moment is real. A package of peanuts later Anabelle is erupting like a volcano (no seriously- it was shooting straight up in the air and it just kept coming). As soon as I catch a wiff of it I start gagging and heaving. I can't help it- it is an automatic response. And what does Braden do? He takes out his Dad voice and his Dad finger and he begins shaking it at me and threatening me and ordering me that I am not allowed to throw up. Those were his exact words- "not allowed". So Anabelle and all our stuff is covered in puke, I am heaving and trying to gain composure and Braden is laying the smack down on me that I had better hold on to my breakfast. He warns the passengers behind us but sadly, a little too late. Some guys nice Italian shoes will forever be tainted with Monday nights dinner. The stewardess comes and disassembles Anabelles seat, we strip her down naked,(which she loves), and she asks if she can have some cookies. After a scrubbing of the chair and seatbelts, and a mist of air freshner we settle down to a nude Anabelle happily sipping ginger ale. Then Lila is chewing on some baby puffs and chokes on one. Then she pukes all over Braden. We walked off the plane with a garbage bag full of dirty laundry and a naked toddler. My sister Lori picked us up and after about an hour in her new minivan, Anabelle puked in there too. At least this time we had access to clean clothes. And I should fairly state that when I say "we" I really mean Braden because I have nothing whatsoever to do with the clean up of such filth and disgust. And so it continued through the week. Still a good trip. More pics and tales to come.