Boy meets World

Luke Newel Day arrived last week, born at the University Hospital as scheduled, only a week and a half early.  He was 8 lbs, 5 oz, 20 inches long.  Mark was sure to wear blue so he wouldn't get confused about our family's loyalty.  (Mark considered wearing his favorite "Saturday is a Special Day" T shirt since Luke is our "Saturday" for our week of Days, but then Mark realized that he always wears that shirt when our kids come and he has too many hospital pictures of it anyway.
I don't have time to add many pictures now since they are mostly still on Mark's phone.

Luke has a heart defect that we have known about since June.  The general term for what he's got is "Hypoplastic Right Heart", which basically means that his right ventricle, the one that pumps blood to the lungs, didn't develop. He had his first heart surgery on Friday, a procedure called the BT Shunt where they put a little rubbery straw in to get some extra blood flow going to his lungs.  They did open his chest but not his heart, so technically it was not open-heart surgery.  Before surgery, while on meds to keep the little extra routes open to his lungs that usually close up on a baby after birth, he was doing well, not on oxygen, etc., and I was even able to practice breastfeeding him a few times as long as my milk wasn't in because they needed to limit how much was in his stomach.  (I guess if your belly is full, all your blood goes there and it messes up what they were monitoring.  Think of how sleepy you are after Thanksgiving dinner.)

His surgery went really well--the surgeon said it would take 2-5 hours and it only took around 2.  The Doc was really pleased with how everything went.  This surgery should last him 4-6 months until he outgrows his shunt and needs a more major procedure.  Then there will be a third major operation when he is age 2-4.  The second and third procedure kind of bypass the right ventricle and recirculate the blood so that the left ventricle does all the pumping.  His right ventricle will just be ignored for the rest of his life and his oxygen levels will probably not be fabulous for the rest of his life either, (kind of a silly thing to say with the way the medical field progresses...) but he probably won't really notice it.  (The doc said it will probably stay at 75-85 % oxygen saturation the way healthy folk are at about 95% or higher.)  To put it in lay terms, the doc said if he plays soccer he'll be the goalie.  Mark said, "That's ok, I'm a baseball guy."  The doc says baseball will be just fine.  Outcomes are really good for these surgeries; they've been doing them since the 70's and the people who got them back then are still around and doing well.

Yesterday when we went to visit, two days into post-op, he passed a big milestone and was breathing well enough on his own to get his breathing tube out.  He was also very awake and alert, so we had to take some video to show the kids.  I know the tubes and stuff look scary, but mostly they are monitors with the exception of the chest tube that drains his wound.  He's not even on a catheter or oxygen.  (I know this is probably not very nice of me, but it helps me to not be scared when I walk down the hall and see the other babies.  Luke looks pretty hardy compared to a lot of them.)

Mark and I still feel really good about everything.  I missed most of church yesterday but I guess there was a lesson about trials.  Mark made a comment about the topic of why do bad things happen to good people.  He said that so often when we talk about trials we forget to notice that there is always so much good going on even in the midst of the hard stuff--so many things to be joyful about that I think the Lord gives us to kind of compensate.  We feel pretty joyful right now and every day has really actually been a good day.

Thanks again for all of the love, prayers, and concern.

Playdate

Today as we watched Cooper get on the bus, some of the other moms were talking about setting a playdate up for their sons.  Macy, showing herself to be such the little woman, joined right into the conversation with an emphatic, "Well, I'm going to have a playdate with My Mommy!"

First we finished our lunch.  Then we each got a rag and cleaned the garage dust off of baby Luke's crib.  Then we washed the bathroom sink.  (She handwashed the soapdish for me.) Then she scrubbed the floor (about half a tile's worth) with her rag while I polished the faucet with Comet.  Then she got to stand on the counter and spray the mirror with glass cleaner and we washed it together.  We brushed out the toilet bowl together and I emptied the trashes while she threw the rags in the hamper.  Oh, and we were sure to sing the "Sweet Nightingale" song from Cinderella while we worked.

We had a piece of chocolate peanut butter fudge.

She completely whomped me at Princess Memory, and I was even trying to win.  I swear there were like, 800 cards in that deck and she knew exactly where every one was.  There is definitely something to that short term memory loss as you age thing.  She helped me pick up the mess and I awarded her with a mini-Almond Joy from my stash.  She pulled one out for me, too, to help me feel better.

We found out that our minnow in the fishtank that the boys caught in a nearby pond a couple months ago was definitely a girl because there are several baby minnows swimming in the bowl now.  Go figure.  And we can't keep a dumb goldfish from Walmart alive for 24 hours.

She watched Max and Ruby in my room while I conked out on the bed.  You can tell I am so pregnant to be able to sleep through that.  I guess it wasn't Transformers or Spider Man or something--much more placid.

She lotioned the top of one of my feet without being asked (she loves getting into my lotion--like I'm going to argue if that's what she's going to do with it!) but didn't get farther because the kids came home.

Thanks for the great date, Mace!

Macy Takes Charge

Macy is having a smooth transition to being the only child for part of the day.  This morning I heard her playing in her room, then shrieking.  "Aah, aaah!  A spider!  I better get a kleenex."
She tore into my bedroom, grabbed a kleenex, held it out in front of her like a spear or something, and ran back to her room at top speed with the slightly misquoted battle cry, "Take Chaaarrrgggeee!"

She took a little too much charge left to her own devices in the bathroom the other day.  We were cleaning up dinner and heard a terrible crash coming from the bathroom, accompanied by Macy's screams and wails.  I had to take a picture because this is the first major Macy solo disaster (usually she is just the accomplice) that I can even think of.  Yes, she stood on the toilet seat, lifted the lid off the tank, and lost control of it (good grief, I'm shocked that she could even lift that beast...) and it crashed to the floor, breaking into several pieces.  When I asked her why she would do that, she said, "I wanted to see where the blue was coming from."  Well, I guess you can't fault a kid for that.  Leslie later came to me in tears and said that it was all her fault because she had shown Macy a few days earlier where the toilet bowl cleaner was coming from--Macy just wanted to see it by herself this time, I guess.  Leslie isn't in trouble, either.  I wish I had had a big sister to teach me where the blue stuff comes from.

Lucky for us you can buy just the lid to a toilet tank, so we won't need to replace the whole thing.  We're just glad Macy didn't break her foot or something.

Cooper started Kindergarten last week and is totally loving it.  He was particularly concerned that I not cry when he got on the bus for the first time, so I was careful to wear sunglasses, just in case.  Ha.

Boston had a fun birthday.  I don't know many kids his age who ask for a bike, a bow and arrow, and beef jerky.  All of his gifts have already been much enjoyed by all.  The bow and arrow particularly reminded me of my dad shooting our nerf bow and arrow at us little tykes as we streaked out of the tub on Saturday night.  If I recall, I'm pretty sure those suction cups stick to wet skin.

As far as Lucky Luke and I go, I just got an induction date two days after Dad's birthday, so we'll keep everyone posted.  It'll be a couple weeks unless baby gets impatient.  We took a tour of where I will be delivering and where Luke will be spending the first little while (hopefully as short a stay as possible).  The doctors keep changing his diagnosis--in fact, at my visit on Friday the two cardiologists were in open disagreement about what they were seeing on Luke's echocardiogram.  One thinks it's worse, definitely needs surgery at three days old, one thinks it's slightly better, probably skipping surgery until 4-6 months.  They won't be able to decide for sure until he is actually born and they can monitor his oxygen levels and take an echo without me being in the way.  So, they said to plan for the surgery just because it would be easier to cancel than to have to suddenly plan for it.  I'm not worried that they won't be able to figure things out, mostly just not looking forward to not having my kids all be under the same roof and an hour apart from each other.  I'm glad that my momma is coming down to play with my kids.  They'll be so excited I don't think they'll miss me much.

All in all, Mark and I feel good about the whole thing. (I even managed to stare down my kind-hearted OB today, dry-eyed and steely-smiled, when he expressed his sympathy again for the "stressful" pregnancy I've had.  The truth was I wanted to thank him for catching the defect on the ultrasound in the first place and probably saving the baby's life, but that would have just led to crying, and crying gives me contractions.  Maybe I'll send him a card someday.)

Heavenly Father has a really great plan for our family, for our baby, (and for you, too, in case you were wondering.)  I was feeling apprehensive last week, wishing that I would be able to have the same fabulous experience I had when Macy was born and I just felt so filled up with peace and joy and gratitude.  I was reading in my journal about my feelings at the time and really feel like I received some assurance, particularly from this statement I had written down.  "Serenity is a permanence of joy."--Pres. James E. Faust.  The great thing is, all the things I already have so much joy about in this life ARE permanent.  I just need to remember them and the serenity that I'm sure I'll be thirsting for in a few weeks will come.

Trust the plan.

It's the most wonderful time...of the year.

 You may remember a commercial from a few years ago that remains my all-time favorite.  That boisterous Christmas song, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is playing in the background while a slightly overweight Dad is skipping down the aisle of Office Max (or some other office supply store), pushing a cart and gleefully throwing school supplies into the basket.  Two kids, dripping with preteen attitude, drudge behind him, scowling, their chins to their chests, not wanting summer to end.

I laugh every time I think of that.  Although my kids were very good this summer, and worked really hard and played really hard, I always love September and the start of the school year.  I was not as happy as the Dad in the commercial (in fact, I cried when Leslie and Boston got on the bus--it's just so BIG and although I know, as Macy pointed out to me on our walk back to the house, "Don't worry Mom, they'll come back", I also know they won't stay little!) I was still very excited for them to start their new classes, learn new things and make new friends.  I'm also really excited to try out my new schedule of having two of my kids gone ALL day, with only Cooper and Macy (and soon baby Luke) home with me.  Cooper, of course, is only putting in half the day at home, he will be starting kindergarten this week.  Macy gets to be my happy little shadow and both of us are thrilled about it.  In fact, the second day of school Cooper kind of moped around all bored during the afternoon with no Boston to play with while Macy sat enthralled on her bed while the two of us went through boxes of clothes that were too big for her, looking for her new set of fall/winter stuff.
Cooper will be happy when he gets to go to school, too, and the two of them play very well together in the mornings without a third to stir things up.

We've already had some good times together; this week I took the two of them on a picnic (with LUNCHABLES!) to a park by the river and then we threw sticks off the bridge.  There was a cool breeze coming off the lake--the first one I've noticed since, oh, April, and my skin was just cheering for fall to hurry up.  It was glorious.  We also made a batch of homemade carmels this week to go with some new crop apples we got from the Farmer's Market.  (Canning is sort of out for me this year, so we're just trying to enjoy the harvest fresh.)

As far as the cooking of this baby goes, things are moving right along.  You might say my thermometer has popped (that's code for having an outie instead of an innie) and I am taking the third-trimester contractions one day at a time.  Other than that, I feel really good.  (Oh, one funny side-effect I am not used to is that I get super dried out sinuses and throat at night, and have to keep TWO glasses of water by the bed.  All night I dream that I am so thirsty--and I am always a vivid dreamer when pregnant.  Last night I dreamt I was snow skiing and kept having to stop and try to eat the snow to wet my mouth, but it only made me choke.)

The doctors are going to induce me sometime probably between 37 and 39 weeks, depending on how I'm measuring at 36 weeks.  If I wanted to I could probably even choose my birthday, Dad's birthday, or Darcy's birthday.  Am accepting bribes--it won't be my birthday unless my water breaks or something.
The cardiologist is still predicting that Luke won't need his first surgery and will be able to come home from the hospital after a few days of observation--mostly checking his oxygen and his heart, to see if anything closes up that shouldn't.  We meet with him again this week and are hoping that everything is the same. We also get to have our tour of the adjacent hospitals we will be using (one for me, one for baby) this week and I am excited to see how everything should go.

Boston's first day of first grade.  He had a last minute wardrobe change after I tipped over a tub of homemade syrup all over his shirt at breakfast.

Cooper is wishing he didn't have to wait a week to ride the bus.

Leslie's first day of sixth grade.

Good thing Macy didn't care that we made her walk to the bus stop in her jammies.

The three musketeers still manage to have some play time.  I was finishing up Luke's baby comforter and the kids took some trimmed off strips of batting and turned them into kangaroo tails.  Boston taped them onto the back of everyone's shorts with scotch tape.  Pretty funny.

Ice cream is the glue.

Sometimes it feels like ice cream is the glue that helps us keep it all together.  (Or brownies, cake, popsicles, cookies, cupcakes, donuts...what else yummy have we had this summer?)  I need to send in this shot to the BYU creamery so they can use it to advertise.  Like they need to advertise...

PS.  Cooper is finally starting to get a few freckles and looks SOOO much like Mark did at his age.

At the beginning of the summer, I took some time with the kids one morning and we worked on a huge table-sized poster of brainstorming what kind of things we wanted to do this summer.  I am happy to announce that we have been able to accomplish/enjoy almost all of the things we could think of.  This even includes the not-as-fun ideas I brainstormed, such as Boston learning to tie his shoes--this week one of his jobs has been tying Mark's shoes onto his feet five times, and sometimes he has done ten just because he is proud of himself.  One notable exception to our summer poster accomplishments has been our lack of a camping trip due to 3rd Trimester.  We did have a backyard campout planned with some friends for the dads and kids, but of course that night it stormed and Mark vetoed my big plan to fix my boring-pregnant-mom-guilt.  I tried to compensate this week by telling the kids if they worked hard on their morning chores I would set up the two-man tent for them to play with all afternoon.  It worked like a charm....until the boys got to having a little too much fun and figured out that without the stakes in, they could run inside of it and roll it all over the lawn, like running in a barrel.  They snapped a pole and amen to that tent.

Here is a partial report of some of those awesome summer goals we've been able to do the last few weeks, probably in very scrambled order because I am not as smart as the computer.

Mom and Dad made a surprise visit to come down and play while they picked up their "Braaand Neeew Caaarrr!"
One day Papa took us out to Chuck-A-Rama for lunch and was appalled to learn on the following drive to the Bingham Copper Mine that the delicious but slightly funny tasting pot roast he'd had was turkey, not beef. He about died, both from missing out on beef at CHUCK a-rama and from the professional insult.  (He's a rancher.)  I was perfectly happy with the fish, myself.

 We have made a few visits to our favorite summertime evening hangout, the splashpark.
What the kids did:  Played in the water, ALWAYS remembering to walk and not run.
What I did:  Sat in the lawn chair and ate subs, fruit and cheetos.

Leslie doesn't like cheetos, crazy girl.  This time I was a good mom and remembered the Pringles.

What the kids did:  Rode bikes with Papa and Grandma by the Jordan river.
What Mark did:  Spend HOURS into the double digits trying to master his nemesis, the flat bike tire.  He hates working on bikes (because they are always flat) but was such a trouper to get them all in working order and the right size before for our company came, including Macy's bike trailer.  Everything worked like a charm and the kids were so excited.  (Yesterday Cooper's new back tire, complete with protective tape and whatever that foam stuff is, went flat. I thought Mark was going to cry.)
What I did:  Enjoyed an empty house and took some naps.

I guess the kids also got to throw rocks into the river.  I don't even think that was on our poster!  Good thing they remembered.  Thanks for the pictures, Mom.

What the kids did:  Played hard on the waterslides at Seven Peaks.
What I did:  Waited at the bottom of the slide in a plastic chair for Mark, Mom, and the kids to come down the slides. Dad helped with the spectating because of his bad knee, but he did manage to get a few slides in.
What I also did:  Basked in the knowledge of "getting my money's worth" on our pass-of-all-passes and didn'tt worry too much about having to pay full admission as a non-functional beached whale.

 What I did:  Insisted on a trip to Krispy Kreme on the way home from the water park so I could have a little fun as well.  I don't think anyone minded.  Thanks for the donuts, Dad!
What I also did:  Made everyone wear a hat for the picture.  Aren't they cute!

 What Mark did:  Drove us up the canyon all the way to Cascade Springs.
What the kids did:  Hiked all the way to the bottom of the springs, enjoying the beautiful scenery, the crazy Snow White trees, and the fish they spotted.  Then they hiked back up the hill to the van.
What I did:  Hiked quite comfortably, thank you, to the bottom of the springs, enjoying the beautiful children, and sat with Macy under the pavillion at the bottom of the springs until Mark and the kids came to pick us up in the van.

 What Mark did:  Decided it was too beautiful of a Saturday to just go home after our drive through the canyon, so he took us the long way to make a stop at BYU.
What the kids did:  Enjoyed their fabulous ice cream.  With their whole face.
What I did:  (Besides devouring my ice cream) Cleaned up children and marched everyone through BYU's art museum.  The kids were much more interested than I expected and in a happy coincidence, one of the summer exhibits was a series of gorgeous photos of the canyon where we had just been!  It was fun for the kids to recognize the places they had just seen.

 Cooper taking a shot at the crazy sculpture animals outside the museum.

 What Mark and my Dad did:  Took the kids "shooting" at Cabela's.  I don't think my kids would have let Dad leave without this traditional outing.
What I did:  Went through baby boy clothes with mom.  Thanks Rach and Brooke!  I think this baby will only need diapers.  (We counted something like, 18 blankets.  Crazy.)

The boys are happily waiting the arrival of Curly.  Apparently they are Larry and Moe.

 Boston is a good fish spotter.

 I think this tree was also featured in a photo at the museum.  We have an eye for this type of thing!

 What Boston did:  Finally produce a loose tooth.  Even though he is oldish for his grade, I think he was the only one in his class who hadn't lost one yet.

 He also provided some much needed entertainment by making a huge tearful drama out of the whole thing.  Usually he is such a tough guy but he did NOT like my insisting that it was time for the dang thing to come out.

 What Mark and I did:  Laugh our faces off and come up with lots of fun, creative ways that he could choose to pull the tooth.  We also tried bribery with treats and computer time.  This backfired a little, (okay, a lot) when I jokingly said that Cooper could have those things if he pulled Boston's tooth.  Cooper took me seriously and was extremely upset that Boston wouldn't even open his mouth for him.  Then we had two howling children.  Of course, this didn't really dampen the laughing off of the faces of the two horrible parents.

What I did:  Finally convince Boston to open his mouth and let me have a try with my nice, soft, tiny Mommy fingers after Mark's big Dad hands didn't work out too well.  Boston was a little concerned about my fingernails so I had to show him the washcloth I could use (I didn't use it.)  It took me half a second.  

 What Boston did:  Screamed, laughed, put his tooth in a baggy, and declared in all sincerity, "I wasn't even scared!"  Then he had the gall to ask if he could play a computer game since he had pulled out his tooth.  Wha?  I told him no and that I should get to have treats and play a computer game.
I think he and Cooper got to share a computer game.  Later.

 What the boys did:  Took swimming lessons.  I put them in the same level but they were in different age groups.  They both passed their levels.  Cooper surprised me by doing just as well as Boston (actually, better the first few days...I told Mark it was like watching Michael Phelps and the Titanic in turn) even though he had never had lessons before.  He was such a fish even in this second level and didn't seem to mind getting water in his eyes or mouth (it seemed like his mouth was always open while swimming--pretty funny to watch).  Boston took a few days to ease back into it but by the second week he was doing really well and swimming a long way across the pool before needing to stop for air.

Leslie is getting so tall.  She might match mom someday soon and pass me up.

 What I did:  Enjoy a visit from one of my dearest friends, Debbie.  We met when Leslie and her daughter Elizabeth were babies together, and ever since then we have been able to compare notes about being moms.  She is a little more expert than I am, however, and although you would never guess it in a million years, she is farther along than I am by about a month, and expecting her SEVENTH.

 What the boys did:  Worked hard getting the thistles out of our mostly empty garden, TOGETHER.  I assigned this job to Boston, but Cooper piped up, "Can't I help, Mom?  I want to weed the same place as Boston."  Boston was touched and gave Cooper a big hug.  Uncle Duke showed them what to do and they filled up the wagon and the dump truck with thistles.
What I did:  Peeked through the window and my gorgeous Russian sage to take a few pictures of this adorable team.

 Every girl needs a napping with Dad picture.  Awww.