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Saturday, July 14, 2012

Browns leave

We were so sad to say "good-bye" to our senior pastor, Jon Brown, and his family at the end of June. He took a call to a church in Holland. We are glad we were able to be with them for the past 10 months and already miss them a lot. Their girls were so great with Hazel and Jude and we laughed a lot whenever we were together. God bless them on their new endeavor!

Seattle Children's

I know this is old news now, but wanted to write a little more about Hazel's hospital day. Here she is waiting for her consultation. She loved playing with these toys. At this point, we had no idea she'd have surgery that night and be staying the night.

As we met with the doctor and he looked at her infection, he decided that surgery that day would be best (we agreed). Since she had eaten 2 crackers on the way to the hospital and had a couple of sips of water, she could not have the surgery for at least 6 hours. Poor girl. She didn't get lunch (other than the 2 crackers) and didn't end up having surgery until 8:30 at night.
She was admitted around 3:00 and immediately put in isolation since we didn't know what the infection was. That means she, Noel, Nona, and I were in a room for over 5 hours with no food, drink, or toys (other than the couple I brought). She did AMAZING during that time. Noel and I took turns leaving the room to get water and stuff so that we didn't remind her of her hunger or thirst. She didn't take a nap the whole day and didn't have surgery until 2 hours after her normal bedtime. I left around 7:30 to take Nona home and relieve Jude's babysitter. As the anesthesiologist took Hazel from Noel, she completely lost it. She was absolutely terrified in addition to being tired and hungry. The surgery was about 30 minutes and Noel was able to join her about 30 minutes after she woke up (during which time Noel could here her crying through the door, which was absolutely heartbreaking). She slept off and on throughout the night, but needed a lot of comfort and help repositioning from Noel. She had an IV and lots of monitors. She woke up about 3 AM and wanted some milk and crackers. She ate 1 cracker and held 2 more in her hands. She fell asleep holding them and slept til 6. Then she woke up and promptly ate them. Silly Hazel.
She's trying to figure out all the cords on her. Luckily she didn't have to stay on the monitors after she woke up and could walk around.
Noel told her to say, "Good morning, Mommy!", so here she is waving to me, which is her way to say good morning/hello (I was on my way back down with Nona after another babysitter came to stay with Jude). Jude wasn't allowed to come since Hazel was in isolation.
She soon fell back to sleep on Noel and slept for another hour and a half or so. She was so tired.
Shortly after I arrived, she was discharged. Here we are on our way out. She immediately fell asleep in the car and slept the whole way home (2 and 1/2 hours). Ever since her surgery, she was been incredibly clingy. It was very difficult to get her to go in her bed her first night home. She was just grasping me around the neck, which she had never done before. She is still doing this from time to time, but the fear she had of someone looking at her infection site seems to be going away.

Our overall experience at Seattle Children's was great and we are SO glad to be done with this infection. Her surgery site is healing great and hopefully some of her trauma will diminish with time.

Random Hazel

Hazel really cracks me up. I was changing Nona's diaper in our room one day and Jude and Hazel were in there with me. They were getting into lots of things they weren't supposed to (what's new) and I ended up giving Jude a timeout warning. After telling Jude that he was going to get a timeout if he didn't stop, Hazel marched out of the room and went and put herself in timeout. Hilarious. She gets what timeout is, but doesn't get it when Jude gets one and she doesn't. If Jude is ever in timeout, she joins him. And at the end, she always says she's sorry even though it was Jude who was in trouble. She gets plenty of her own timeouts too (sometimes many in a row). It's not only Jude who gets in trouble. :)

Hazel really loves her sunglasses. She is shirtless here because she was so fearful of me touching her infected cyst that she wouldn't let me put a shirt on her. So, she wore pants and sunglasses for much of the day.

Beach

Noel took Jude and Hazel to the "beach" the a few weeks ago. It was supposed to be time for me to get stuff done, but Nona had her own idea and was in need of my attention the whole time they were gone. Oh well. That's the way it goes these days.
Cuties.
Looking for rocks.
Hazel LOVES rocks. She picks them up wherever we go. I found a large one in the diaper bag after this outing.

Nona's baptism

Nona was baptized at the end of May. Noel did the baptism and it was a very special day for us as a family. In addition to the baptism, we took Hazel and Jude to church for the first time!!!! They made it through flu/RSV season with no major illnesses and can now be exposed to crowds and other children. What a milestone! The church surprised us with a cake for all 3 kids. It was a momentous and emotional day for us.

Before the baptism, Noel and I shared the story of Hazel and Jude with our new church family. In a few minute summary, we shared what they had been through and the many miracles of healing they have experienced. What a story of hope!

We did the baptism at the first service, but told the story at both services. Jude was zonked for the second service. Thankfully, Pastor Jon was able to take him from Noel.
After the baptism, we shared the meaning of Nona's name: Ninth. It may not sound like much, but it signifies how grateful we were to make it to the 9th month of pregnancy this time. It means the world to us.
Hazel filling up on some milk before the service.
Jude doing what he does best: playing with the cupboards.

Off we go!
I am in love with her dress!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Nona

Here's a few recent pictures of Nona. She's getting so big! I hope to catch up a bit on the blog soon.

 She's scared of Walmart. So am I.
How cute is she?