Burns and scars

Well, I realize it has been quite a while since I have updated my blog. Life has been an up and down rollercoaster since Christmas. More like since last October when my little Stockton burned his hands severely on our fireplace. He hands didn’t heal like we had hoped and the scar tissue formed a very thick scar in the middle of his palm on the right hand and one further down on his hand on the left.

The scar on his right hand

  The scar on his left hand

These scars are very thick and they started to pull his little fingers inward. We went to see a plastic surgeon in Idaho Falls in February to see what our next step was. He told us that skin grafts would be needed on both of his hands. He told us it wasn’t an immediate thing, but he would need them within the year. I was very torn and upset as to what to do. I got a lot of advice and opinions from different people. We got a second opinion with pretty much the same outcome. Then I had a conversation with my sister-in-law that brought a new perspective. We talked about getting another opinion from a pediatric plastic surgeon who specializes in hands. Jeremy and I talked it over and felt like we should take Stockton down to Primary Children’s Hospital. So we got a recommendation and headed to Utah to see what could be done.

We went to see Dr. Eleazar Ley in Riverton, UT. He was very optimistic about Stockton’s hands he didn’t think he needed skin grafts. He said he would do a procedure called a Z-plasty where they make little zigzag incisions to break up the scar tissue. We left feeling very hopeful and I was so relieved that he wouldn’t need a skin graft. So we made the appointment for the surgery on Mar.21, 2012.

During this process I have felt very sad about his little hands. I realize that he will always have scars, but all I want is for him to be able to have the full use of his hands.

Reese turns 3!

The months of November and December flew by! The holidays were great, but it’s nice to be past all the stress that come with them. Our little Reese turned 3 on the 23rd of December. She wanted a Strawberry Shortcake cake and I couldn’t think of anything cute so we actually had angel food cake and strawberries for her cake. I got a little ‘Strawberry Shortcake’ swimming pool and stuck it on top of the cake. In my head it looked better then how it really turned out. It was kindof lame….

She didn’t seem to care. She was just excited to blow out her candles :) I had my parents over for dinner on the 22nd. We had baked potato soup and rolls. It was fun to visit and watch her open her gifts:

She got a Strawberry Shortcake blanket

New clothes

 

A fun coloring book

And…..A Strawberry Shortcake doll- Can you tell she is totally obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake? Haha!

The next night we had a christmas party with the Clayson Clan. I made some sugar cookie bars and we put candles on those to let her blow them out.

She also got some fun gifts from the Clayson side.

   

I remember very vividly the day she was born. I had had a doctor’s appointment the day before and I was dilated to a 4, but wasn’t feeling any contractions. Jeremy and I went to Walmart to buy our food for the Christmas festivities. The morning she was born my contractions started about 9:00. I was doing dishes getting ready to start my baking for the Clayson Christmas party we were supposed to go to that night. My contractions started getting harder and I called Jeremy at noon to tell him to get his work done because I thought I was in labor.
I never knew when to go to the hospital, but by 12:30 my contractions were close enough and hard enough that I called Jeremy and told him we needed to go. We got to the hospital about 1:30. and I had my IV and epidural by 1:50. They checked me when I got there and I was dilated to a 7 and 75% effaced. The anesthesiologist came in his snow boots because there had been a huge snow storm. Reese was born at 4:04 p.m. She was 6 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 1/2 in. long. I don’t think my labor and delivery could have gone better. I only pushed about 4 times and she was here.
Later that night someone smashed the window in the Yukon and stole our portable DVD player and Jeremy and Reese ended up being on the news. She is such a sweet little girl and we are so happy to have her in our family! The perfect and cutest little Christmas package we could ask for…

Thanksgiving

The month of November has flown by and especially this year I often found myself counting my blessings and being very grateful for the things that I have. A few things come immediately to mind. The first being Stockton’s hands- I am so grateful that those burns weren’t any worse than they were. He is healing now although we have now noticed that his little palms are starting to fuse together and he can’t stretch his palm out all the way. I have been rubbing them with melaleuca lotion and oil trying to stretch them. I am constantly reminded that the burns weren’t on his face or a large part of his body, and that humbles me. We are thankful to have this sweet boy in our home.

 

I am so thankful to have this little girl with us today. She has been a tough little thing these last few months. In my very first post on this blog she had been in the hospital for several days with pneumonia. It was a scary thing for me to have her there. It was pretty severe and I am so thankful that she was able to gain strength and recover. She tends to get sick a lot during the winter months, but it is comforting to know that Jeremy holds the priesthood and can give her a blessing any time she needs one. We love her little spirit.

I am also grateful for my little Piper. She can be a handful at times, but she is such a fun little girl full of her own personality and opinions.

I am told that she acts just like I did when I was her age and for that Mom, “I am sorry”! Hahaha! But for as much trouble as she can get into she can be equally sweet and helpful. She either keeps me laughing or crying, but I wouldn’t change her for the world!

My dear Brooklyn, how grown up she is becoming! She has turned into such a good helper with her brother and sisters (when I can catch her in the right mood!)

She is very fashionable and loves to go shopping. I love while I am making dinner she sits down and we visit about her day at school and she does her homework and reads to me. Our family wouldn’t be the same without Brooklyn. I am so thankful for her.

I am also thankful for a good husband who works hard to provide for us so that I can stay home with our children. I am thankful for the little things: Being able to give them a bath, reading with them, snuggling with them on the couch when they are sick (that usually happens all winter long). Being able to color with them and having them help me make cookies. 

As I sit and ponder the last month I still feel very teary about how blessed we have been. I am so thankful to be able to live by both our families who have helped us numerous times. Just feeling pretty grateful for everything I have…..

Now on to the festivities! I got to go have a little feast at the Kindergarten with Piper. It was so fun!

Piper and her teacher- Mrs. Harshbarger  

Mom and Piper

The day before thanksgiving we went to Corinne’s house (Jeremy’s sister) to have lunch and do a couple of holiday crafts. The kids made little snowmen ornaments out of foam, snowflake ornaments out of pasta and painted circle ornaments. They turned out pretty cute! 

The kids had a fun time doing the crafts and playing with cousins. Thanks Donna for planning the crafts!

We had a good time and all the girls came-except for Elisha (Jeremy’s sister that lives in Pittsburgh) and her girls. We missed you guys! It was a fun afternoon with lots of food visitng.

For the actual turkey feast we went to Shelley with my family. There was so much yummy food, and of course the infamous Under the Sea salad that is present for every Thanksgiving. Or as my brothers call it-‘Under the Swamp Salad’. We had so much fun visiting, eating, and eating, and eating. Then we planned what stores we were going to hit on Black Friday. We decided not to go at midnight so we got up and were at the mall by 6 o’clock in the morning and it worked out good. We had fun shopping and being together. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving full of gratitude!

Stockton’s 1st Birthday

I cannot believe that my baby boy is 1! His birthday is the 1st of November. The last year has gone by so fast. I love when my kids’ birthdays roll around just because on that day I always find myself remembering what it was like the day they were born and the little details surrounding their birth. The day I had Stockton it was a beautiful Fall day. It was so nice in fact that I had on capris and flip flops. I went to my doctor’s appointment on Monday morning. I had been dilated to a 3 for a couple of weeks. I had had false labor a couple of times and just kept waiting for him to make his appearance (even though his wasn’t due until the 15th). They checked my progress and the doctor asked if I wanted to go to the hospital- I was dilated to a 6!. I hadn’t had any painful contractions or anything and I was so excited. Jeremy had stayed home to get some work done just in case I was going to have him that day. So I called him up and made arrangements for the other kids and made a quick stop at a computer place (to get a part for Jeremy) and I was off to the hospital. I got there around 11:00 and got hooked up. Jeremy got there shortly after, The doc came and broke my water at noon and Stockton was born at 3:26 in the afternoon. He was 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 21.5 in. long. They took him to the NICU right away because he was having problems breathing, but everything turned out fine.

And now he is a little one year old who is busy exploring everything around him- especially now that he has the use of his hands back.:)

We made him a Cars “cake” for his birthday except it wasn’t cake-we made carmelitos instead-yum. Brooklyn and Piper helped put the stuff on. I think it turned out pretty cute:

Piper colored the flags and Brooklyn made the road. They did a pretty good job and they were excited to do it!

We had both sets of grandparents over to have dinner with us. We had homemade chicken noodle soup with rolls, spinach salad with candied pecans, and pomegranite avacado dip. It was so yummy! Afterwards we sang to him, opened presents, and had dessert. Here are some pictures from the party:

Grandma and Grandpa Clayson gave him a Thomas the Train flashlight. It was so cute that it got taken and used by Piper that night.

  We gave him a cute little giraffe that came with 3 little balls and a car that you let slide down the front. It was pretty cute. We also gave him a Fisher Price board book about the zoo and a pair of pajamas. Grandma and Grandpa Jensen gave him ‘Cars 2’ the movie. My girls were pretty excited about that one- they hadn’t seen it yet.

He wanted the toys on top!   He loved the dessert Grandma was feeding him!

We sure love this sweet little boy and we are so grateful he is in our family!

Halloween Fun

Now that the holidays are right around the corner things have gotten CRAZY!!! But, I did want to post some pictures of the Halloween festivities even though I am a little late. It seems like we celebrate for half the month! We went to my sister Linday’s house to celebrate my brother, Mark’s, birthday and to decorate sugar cookies.

Reese and Megan

 

Brooklyn and Austin

It is a fun tradition to decorate cookies and we always have fun piling on the candy!

Later in the week we went to Idaho Falls to Melaleuca where Mark works. They always decorate their office really cute for Halloween. The kids got to dress up in their costumes and they walk around and get candy from all the employees. This year for Halloween Brooklyn was a purple butterfly, Piper was Repunzel, Reese was Strawberry Shortcake, and Stockton was a boxer/frog(depending on the day):).They love to dress up!

Brooklyn

Piper

Reese

Stockton (the boxer)   Uncle Mark was dressed as a Zombie

Grandma Jensen put on her annual Bowling Halloween party and the kids were so excited. They look forward to this every year! I love the bowling party because we get to catch up with cousins and family. Here are some fun pictures from that party.

Stockton loves Uncle Mark

All the men chillin’

Stockton and Michelle

My cousin Melanie with her girls Emily and Clara with my little Reese. Fun Cousins!

  Cousins-Reese and Megan, such sweet little friends

Aunt Michelle with Ryan, Kyle, Brooklyn and Austin

Rachel, Hallie, Emily, and Piper- the 4 little Repunzels

My kids with Great Grandma Jensen- We love the bowling party!

The kids also had parties and school with a carnival. They had a ball….:   Face Painting

The parade

Some kids in Piper’s class

Ava and Piper coloring in Mrs. Ochoa’s class

Pinatas in Mrs. Johnson’s class

Ayesha and Brooklyn waiting to hit the pinata

Brooklyn’s turn

Brooklyn in the parade

The is Brooklyn’s teacher and she had a baby a few months ago. She dressed as a kangaroo for the parade. She looked really cute!

Reese, Piper and Sophie after the kindergarten parade

On Halloween we took the kids to the Trunk or Treat down town so they could get some more candy- just what they needed.:) They had a ball…they love Halloween. In fact, we talk about what they are going to be all year long!

Such cuties!