Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, Thanksgiving has been very different at our house. Typically, we are with family, but this year we made the decision to stay at home since Hallie's medical expenses are so high and we have to travel a lot to get to her doctors. I wasn't really looking forward to it, to be honest. We were going to have dinner with some good friends, but they had a last minute change of plans, so it was just us. Derrick and I debated all the week before-- do we cook, or go out to eat? Honestly, by the time I bought everything, we could have gone out to eat, but then I wouldn't have had leftovers. I am still making meals with turkey!

I made Derrick promise that he would at least get out of his pj's and pretend that it was a nice holiday. He actually took Carson to play football that morning with our ward at church. Carson was the only kid that insisted on playing and even took his own flags. I guess the rest of the kids were playing soccer, but he wanted nothing to do with that. I wish I could say that I got to sleep in, but unfortunately, Tucker came and crawled in bed with me soon after the other boys left and Hallie started screaming that she had pooped all over her bed and could I come and clean it up?

That just started a not so fabulous morning. I had made a layered jello salad, starting the day before and for some reason, one of the layers didn't set up, so the whole thing turned to slosh. Derrick came back from football and in years past, he has always brought a newspaper home with him, so I didn't think to remind him. I guess I should have because he didn't grab one. We weren't planning on going shopping, but it is a tradition on Thanksgiving to pore over the ads. So, out Derrick went again. It was about 10:30 this time and he had to go to 6 stores before he found one. Plus, he forgot his cell phone, so he couldn't even call me to tell me how hard it was to find one, so by the time he got home, he was so cross!

I had rolls going, turkey in the oven, green bean casserole ready to cook, so we took a break to read the ads. There wasn't anything that we couldn't live without, although Radio Shack had a cell phone for $9.99 and I have been needing a new one since I couldn't hear people talk unless they were on speaker phone. I had been trying to hold out for one with internet capabilities, since when I am at the doctor and hospital, I am pretty isolated from the world. Derrick put aside his orneriness and went out to get it for me. I think he likes it better than I do-- a phone is a phone, right?

Anyways, I think that was the turning point of the day for us. We finished getting dinner ready, and sat down to eat. Carson was sure he didn't like turkey, Hallie was sure she didn't like potatoes, Tucker was sure we were trying to starve him, but Derrick and I really enjoyed dinner. Although, poor Carson asked me halfway through where the stuffing was. Oops! It was still in the box. Thanksgiving is a lot of work when it is just your own little family and your kids are all pretty young to be much help!

After dinner, we all took naps, which was fabulous. Afterwards, we played games and watched a few movies I had gotten at Red Box. In all, it was very different than what we were used to. It was kind of a hard holiday since last year my grandpa got spinal meningitis on Thanksgiving and the kids and I ended up racing back to Utah to see him before he passed away. He ended up hanging on for several months, but I think that in a way, our quiet Thanksgiving gave Derrick and I the opportunity to really reflect on our blessings, to see the Lord's hand in our lives. I look back at the blessing my grandfather was in my life and that is what we chose to focus on. If we ever have to stay here for Thanksgiving again, I might beg, cry, or plead, or all 3 to get family to come out to us, but for this year we enjoyed the peace and came out of it more prepared to face what may lay ahead of us.

Red Letter Day!

So today has been full of great news from beginning to end! We received an email from Make a Wish this morning saying that Hallie has been approved for a wish, contingent upon her doctor signing the authorization form. We are so excited! She tells me she wants to go to Disney. She doesn't really care which one, but from what I have been told, Make a Wish has a complex at Disney World where we will be given a suite, they will stock our refrigerator, the characters she wants to meet will come there to see her. If we want to go to the beach, they will get us a car, put gas in it and pack us a picnic lunch. They are also well equipped to deal with all of the medical needs of their guests, which is extremely nice! I just got an email from her doctor saying that she had signed the form and we are good to go. Make a Wish will send out a couple of volunteers next week to talk to Hallie and start making plans. We are extremely excited! Now I just need to keep Carson from convincing her that her wish should be for a Nintendo DS!

My mother-in-law called today as well and told me that she has been working with a security guard from her work that also happens to be a security guard for the Cincinnati Bengals. They have been trying to get the team to donate some memorabilia that we can auction off to pay for some of Hallie's bills. Last night, he saw the clip of Hallie on the news and it really touched his heart. When he heard that we were coming out there to see the doctors, he got really excited. He is going to give us 10 tickets to the game for sure. Then he is concerned about Hallie being out in the cold and being exposed to everyone's germs, so he is going to try and get a box suite for us to use. If that doesn't work, he said he can always put us in the broadcast booth. Can you just picture it now-- "Ladies and Gentlemen (Carson I hate you! Hallie quit poking me!) What an experience that would be! He is also going to try and get us all access passes so that we can go on the field and meet the team after the game.

I can't tell who is more excited about what. Hallie is thrilled about Disney. It is all she has talked about all day long. Derrick is excited about the Bengals and is hoping all of it comes through. Carson is thrilled about all of it, but it's not fair that Hallie gets her wish and he doesn't get his. I've tried to explain to him that he benefits from it too, but he is getting stuck on the fact that he doesn't get his wish. What a child! I am just so excited that my family is excited. It is so nice to have gotten so much good news. I had been watching Grey's Anatomy today and it had a kid on there that had short gut syndrome, same as Hallie. Watching them portray his problems and the treatments for it, hit really close to home. Biggest difference was that his family had $25 million dollars to donate to the hospital and we so do not! Anyways, it was just really nice to get good news for a change and such excited news at that!

Hallie update

The last few weeks have been very busy as we have decided how to move forward with getting help for Hallie and trying to make it happen. We are going to Stanford on Monday. She has an appointment with the nurse practitioner there and she will guide us as to which doctor will be the best fit for Hallie. In essence, they work as a team and will all be working together to figure Miss Hallie out. We are very happy that they were able to get us in, in such a short time frame!

We have also contacted Cincinnati Children's hospital and they have doctor that specializes in motility issues. He was voted among America's Best in 2008. In the few short conversations with their department, we have gotten more direction and hope than we have had for a long time. They are still waiting on getting Hallie's medical records before they will schedule her appointment, but it looks like her appointment out there will be December 7. The plan is to be there for a few weeks so that we can do testing and any follow up. We were supposed to head out there for Christmas, but we will be moving our trip up to accomodate the doctor and make sure that we can get any tests done while we are out there. After she has been seen out there, Dr. Kaul will consult with her Stanford doctors and hopefully we will be able to utilize his expertise at a little closer location!

Hallie will also be going in for a biopsy as soon as I can get it scheduled. They want to test her for Hirchspring's Disease, which is where part of the large intestine does not have any nerves. I thought she was tested for this when she was a baby, but when I had them go back through her medical records, they couldn't find any evidence of it. The longer this goes undiagnosed, the more life threatening it becomes, so we are anxious to get this done and rule it out.

It has been really hard to try to figure out how best to help Hallie. There are so many programs out there and we truly feel like we have been led to these doctors for a reason. I have questioned many times whether we were making the right decisions for her and whether we truly need to take her all the way back to Cincinnati for help. Interestingly, I contacted her pediatrician today about other things and she told me how pleased she is with the direciton we are going. She said that the severity of her bowel disease is very uncommon and we need to seek out the best in the nation to give her the best chance. She said the two programs we have selected are among the very best for her issues in the nation. It was very nice to get some positive validation from a doctor for once, not just feel like I am fighting tooth and nail to get her the help she needs!

Happy Halloween

Just to warn you, I am probably going to be killed for posting these pictures of Derrick. He specifically warned me that I wasn't supposed to use them on the web-- no facebook, no blog, no email. What a party pooper! If her doesn't want his picture taken, then get behind the camera, not in front of it! So, if who haven't heard from me for awhile, tell the police to look to Derrick first!

Flag Football

Carson has been playing flag football since the middle of September. He is on the Chicago Bears and his daddy is his coach. It's been really fun to see how much he has improved since last year. I think Derrick was ready to kill him last year because he didn't even really have the fundamentals of catching or running with the ball down. He discovered a group of boys at recess that play football and he has fallen in love with the sport. This year he is so much more coordinated and so much better at the game. It makes it really fun to watch him. Last night he did really well defensively, pulling a lot of the other team's flags. He scored one touch down and had another called back (flag guarding, but honestly it wasn't-- the other kid grabbed Carson's arm and pulled it down by the flag before Carson shook him off). He also scored on the point after attempt.

Football has been really good for Carson. It has given him a good outlet for all of his energy. It has also allowed him to be the center of attention in our family. Hallie has a way of being the focus, but with football, it is all about Carson. As hard as it is to make sure he is to games and practices 3x a week, it has been a good thing for Carson, so I will be looking to put him in basketball for the winter. If anyone knows of any good basektball programs in Sparks that take 2nd graders, let me know.

Carson loves this picture-- he thinks it makes him look really fast!

And what is football without Tucker thinking that he is part of the team? He has to wear Carson's flags from last year every game and tries to escape onto the field all of the time-- put him in coach! Luckily, Carson and his team all adore Tucker and think it is great fun

And this is Hallie at the games. Normally, she doesn't fall aslep, but this was a rough day and we didn't get a nap in, so she slept through the whole game.

Fall Fun!

Nature walk

When Derrick isn't working the weekends (doesn't happen often right now) we are trying to do more fun things as a family. A few weeks ago, we took the kids on a nature walk. They loved it and were so proud of themselves for walking the whole way! Tucker loved walking too, although we ended up carrying him off and on...

Visit from Cass

Derrick had to go to New Orleans for work the first part of October. He was gone for almost 2 weeks. I was really struggling at the time, and wondered how in the world I would be able to manage 3 kids on my own, when one of them is Hallie. She counts for about 10. Just before he left, Derrick told me he had gotten an email about a special airfare to Salt Lake and wanted to know if I wanted to take the kids there for the weekend to break up his being gone. That was extremely realistic, financially or logistically. We have pretty much decided that we will not be traveling unless it is medically benificial to Hallie. I was kind of bummed until I got this idea that my sister had the day off of school, so maybe she could come out. It took a day to figure out the details, but Cassity was able to come for a few days and spend time with us. We had a great time and it really helped me out. It broke Derrick's trip up so that I only had a few days before and after her visit. Most of all it was great to just spend one on one time with her. Where she was born 14 years after me, she and I haven't had a lot of time to develop a relationship on an adult level. I loved getting to talk to her after my kids went to bed and to hear all about her life and for her to listen to me about my life. I knew that having a sister was going to be great one day! I've loved having a baby sister, but I am really enjoying getting to know her on an adult level. Thanks for coming out Cass!