Brynlee's 4th Surgery

On Friday, May 24th, at barely 3 years old, Brynlee had your 4th surgery for her cleft palate repair. We drove up to Salt Lake Thursday and brought along with us Grandma Felecia, so she could take care of Cason while we focused on Brynlee. We got up there in the afternoon, checked into our hotel room at the Hampton Inn (its really fancy but they give us a discount because of Brynlee), got some food, and took a dip in the pool. Both of the kids LOVE the water, and it was nice to relieve some stress before tomorrow. We got to bed early and prepped for the long weekend ahead of us, starting with no food or drink after midnight.

 

 

That morning Felecia dropped off Russ, myself, and Brynlee at the hospital and she stayed at the room with Cason. As soon as we walked up to the hospital, Brynlee knew what was going on, and she wanted us to carry her. We checked in, did all the paperwork, the nurses made sure she was ready for surgery, and before we knew we were in the waiting room for her to be taken back. By far the hardest part of the process for me is handing off our sweet little girl to the doctors and staff. I feel like this part doesn't get any easier the more surgeries she has.

We stayed in a different waiting room, waiting to hear news that the surgery is done and Brynlee is waiting for us in the recovery room. Your dad would not leave the room for a second, worried that the moment he does, you would be ready. I went downstairs and got us some breakfast.

Soon enough, we got the page that the surgery was done and we met up with our surgeon, Dr. Warnock. He told us that he felt that everything went really well (a good sign, but not too reassuring, considering every surgeon says the same thing). I met you in the recovery room (they only let one parent in). You were just waking up, definitely groggy, and beginning to feel the pain associated with the surgery. We had a very nice nurse attending to you. He gave you pain and nausea meds right away, and that made you more comfortable. Soon, you drifted back to sleep, snoring as you did (from all the inflammation).

As soon as you were stable, we wheeled you upstairs to your room where you stayed for another day. Grandma Felecia and Cason, Grandma Trina, Great Grandma and Grandpa Sillitoe, Bruce, Laura, Shaun, Tysa, and Logan all came to visit you while you were in the hospital. You got presents, lots of ice cream and chocolate milk, and rides around the floor in a wagon with Cason. We enjoyed looking and all the pretty paintings and decorations. You were miserable, but did really well.

 

 

It has been 3 months since your surgery and I am so happy to say you are doing really well (finally!). You never get food up your nose anymore, and rarely any fluid, which is a HUGE success! I don't know if you learned how to control it, or your mouth has just had time to heal, or both, but we are so happy and looking forward to some time with no surgeries!

Pearson Family Trailride & Labor Day Weekend

This last Saturday, we met up with the Pearson's at the Ranch for a family trail ride to Panaca. Russ was excited to ride with his dad who hasn't ridden his dirt bike (except for just helping his kids at races) for 20 years! Tuffy, Maggie, Axel, and the Zerkle's all rode with them. Brynlee was just excited to see Grandpa and Malcolm. Russ took her on a little ride before they all left, and, thanks to her dad, was all decked out in her pink helmet and pink goggles.

 

For the first half, Axel and I drove the trucks and pitted them. Then, Russ traded with Axel so he could go for a ride, and we headed to state line where we were supposed to meet up with them for the next pit. On our way there, it started to storm and there were some major dark clouds forming. Just as we were about to state line, there was a huge crack, and lightning stuck literally 10 feet away from Russ' truck. Our vehicles shook, I could see a huge plume of dust come up from where the lightning stuck, and I was more terrified than I think I have ever been in my life! I wanted to get out and see if it made one of those glass things on the movie Sweet Home Alabama, but I could not get up the nerve to get out of the truck!

We headed to state line and started looking for the mine we were supposed to meet everyone at. It didn't take us very long to realize that we were in the wrong spot. So we left and headed up the road to try and find everyone. As we were going up this road, out of nowhere, a river of water was heading straight towards us. We hurried and backed up our truck and got the heck out of there! In the process, we had to cross flooded roads to get back to the highway. Russ walked through the water to make sure it wasn't too deep to drive through, and I followed him in the truck.

At this point we were getting really worried about everyone, because it was pouring rain where we were supposed to meet up with them, and we were still a half an hour away. It ended up, they had left and headed back to the ranch after we didn't show up. We drove around for a while searching for them. We eventually got cell service and found out that they were alive, not hypothermic, and had made it home. The day definitely didn't end up like we had planned it, but it was actually really fun. I am grateful to have family so close that we can do fun things like this with.

On Sunday night after church, we went to Pioche, got some chili cheese fries and funnel cake, watched the night parade, and ended it off with fireworks (which both kids slept through).

We finished the Labor Day weekend on Monday going to St. George for school clothes and Cason's birthday presents and watched the movie Planes. It was a busy and fun weekend full of good memories!

Introduction

I think I have about 5 journals on my bookshelf that I’ve started in an attempt to keep a better record of this time in my life.  All of which have maybe 3 pages written in them before I have given up.  Sitting down and hand writing a journal has never been a strong suit of mine, but has always been a goal.  My poor little brain has I think the worst possible memory a person can have, so I know for a fact that if I don’t write down the things that are happening now, that I will absolutely forget them down the road.  And there are so many things I don’t want to forget!

This blog will be a record of our family.  Our day-to-day lives, our children, our marriage, the little things.  Things that will most likely be of no interest to anyone but myself!  But things nonetheless that I love and make me smile and that one day I would like to look back on and remember.