Snow in September?

The day started out clear and cool. By 9am it had dropped 10 degrees. Then the rain came. And it got colder and colder. By 3pm it was snowing! Caleb was so excited. I was sure it wouldn't stick. But by 4pm Caleb and Brandon had their snow clothes on and were having a snowball fight and jumping on a snow covered trampoline! Ok, so it wasn't much of a snow ball fight. But, to Caleb, it was great because he was out there playing with daddy!

Mountainland Apple Farm

Today Caleb's preschool class took a field trip to Mountainland Apple Farm. We took a hayride to the orchards and we all got to pick a couple of apples. Let me say that was THE best golden delicious apple I have EVER had in my entire life! The kids and I ate those things down to the cores! Then we took a hayride back to the barn and they gave us all applesauce donuts (no, the applesauce doesn't mean they're healthy, unfortunately) and coloring books. It was a lot of fun!

Rainy Day

Yesterday was cold and rainy so we decided to bundle up and go out to play. We got on snow boots (so their feet wouldn't get too wet) and our coats, hats and mittins and went out side to jump in puddles. The kids had so much fun! They were soaked up to their knees! Brynley kept running up ahead saying "noer one" (another one). We made it about a half hour before we got too cold.Then we came inside and had hot chocolate and toast. It was a fun afternoon!

10 days out

Look at my boy! He's looking so much better! He's acting totally normal again too. Do you see that faint purple line above his upper lip? (click on the picture to enlarge.) That's his top incision. It's so tiny. Then his other incision is underneath his lip. Not much else to say right now. Our lives have totally gone back to normal. Now, we're just waiting to see how much smaller his lip will be compared to before. I don't know how long that will take though.

5 Days Out

Nothing really new today. We replaced one of his Lortab's with an Ibuprofin and he seemed ok with that so tomorrow we'll do one Lortab and two Ibuprofin. We had a "rest day" today and watched lots of movies and went over to my parents. We talked to Aunt Kelly and Uncle Roger today on Uncle Dane's webcam and he thought that was really cool. Other than that, same old, same old.

4 Days Post-op

I think it's looking a bit better. What do you think? The bruising is definately going down some. Caleb actually threw up this morning all over the place. I think he didn't have enough food in his tummy when he took the Lortab.

We were pretty active today. We went to a ward chili cook-off for lunch where we all, including Caleb, had our share of desserts. Yum... Then this afternoon we went up to my Grandma's (great bonk bah, as Brynley calls her) where they were having carraige rides, a petting zoo, games and fish feeding. The kids loved feeding the fish. They would splash our legs as they swam up to eat the bread. It was fun.



The end of the day left Caleb with a lot of energy. Probobly from the desserts at the lunch and the cotton candy and m&m's at Great Grandma's. He was yelling a lot, both in play and in anger. Because of his yelling, his bleeding increased a bit. I think it was because of the yelling b/c he was bleeding from the corner of his mouth... I don't know. I told him that tomorrow we were going to rest and watch lots of movies. Hopefully he'll be able to relax tomorrow and the bleeding will go down. Thanks for all your comments and support. I'll continue to keep you updated!

72 Hours Post-op

Caleb is doing a lot better today. I think the bruising is starting to go down a little. It's hard to tell... His personality is back in full force though, that's for sure. Along with a little extra naughtiness, too. I've read that's normal after a surgery though. Where I can see the most recovery is in his eyes. Look at his eyes in all of the pictures and it's amazing how much they change each day.

We went bowling today with Jackson and Makell to get out of the house. Caleb had fun and Brynley LOVED it! She's never been and she laughed every time she pushed the ball down the ramp thing. She was the best cheerleader too, saying "Yay!" and clapping after each person bowled. My kids are pretty good bowlers, I must say. Caleb bowled 90 and Brynley beat everyone with a score of 104. Better than I can bowl. That's about it. I may not post another picture until sunday. We'll see. But I'll keep you posted of any changed.

48 Hours Post-op

Caleb is feeling better today. He would run and play if I would let him. He is taking his medicine a lot better. He'll whine for a minute but then give up and just take it. He can smile and laugh but he still can't use a straw or a sippy cup. He has been drinking out of a medicine syringe which he thinks is really fun. He played with Jackson and Makell today and I think that really lifted his spirits. He has also gotten so many get well gifts that he feels like it's Christmas. Thank you all so much for your gifts and prayers. They have made a huge difference. He ate a couple peanut butter sandwiches today so that's better than the ice cream fest of yesterday. The thing that makes me the most sad is that I'm not sure he understands that it is going to get better. I wonder if he thinks that he will always look like this now. I tell him all the time that it will get better and better everyday now but I don't know if he gets it. I know we'll see more and more progress everyday.

24 hours Post Op

Here are some pictures of Caleb today. These pictures make me sad... I really wish he didn't have to go through this... He has been acting really good until his medicine starts wearing off. I made the mistake of letting it go too long this morning and he was a basketcase. He is taking it a little better each time. The swelling has gotten really bad, as you can see. There is a lot of dried blood that I can't get off. I'm not supposed to get it wet until tomorrow and it would hurt him to try and pick it off. So, tomorrow we'll start working on cleaning that up. I hope he lets me... He hasn't been near as lethargic as I thought he'd be today. I planned on just watching movies all day but we didn't even sit through one. He was up playing all day. Well, that's my update for today! I'll post everyday for a while to track his recovery. Thanks for the support and comments!

The Surgery Report

Caleb's surgery went just as planned this morning. We checked in a little before 6am. After we registered they took us into a room where a nurse did a basic check up on him. This is where he got his hospital jammies and his blue wristband, which he was so excited about.


Then they took us to the pre-op room where there were tons of toys. He was a little out of control because there were quite a few other kids and a whole lot of toys. Then the doctors came out and met with us and told us what would be happening.

Then it was time to say "see ya later" to mom and dad. They put caleb in a wagon and started wheeling him away. He got a little nervous and hopped out and clung to me. But we saw a car that he wanted to drive into the OR so that took his mind off of us while he left.

I didn't cry up until this point. But I did lose it a little as we walked away from him. I wasn't so much worried about how the actual surgery would go. I was worried that he was scared and crying or something without any familiar faces with him. The surgery went as planned. Dr. Motoki made two incisions. One is along the outside of his lip line and one is along the inside so he could take the extra lymph tissue out of each side of the muscle without affecting the muscle. Here's a picture of him before he woke up from the general anesthesia.

He had a really hard time coming out of the anesthesia. It took him a couple hours before he could stay awake.




He also couldn't keep anything down, not even water. Everything we tried to give him (root beer slushie, popcicle, water) he threw up. Then he was afraid of throwing up so he didn't want to drink anything else. Caleb said, "Stop making me eat stuff! It makes me throw up and I can't throw up!" Poor kid. But the anesthesiologist wouldn't let us leave until he could keep down some liquid. We were there for 4 1/2 hours after surgery. That was a very long 4 1/2 hours for all of us.

Finally, as the anesthesia began to wear off, he was able to keep some sprite down and we were able to go home. He got to ride to the car in a wheel chair. He got to choose between a wheel chair and a wagon.


The car ride home consisted of a lot of crying. At first it was because he was in pain because the pain meds from surgery had worn off. So, we pulled over and got him a frosty so he'd have something on his stomach and I gave him some pain meds. About 20 minutes later he had to go potty. Really bad, apparantly. We pulled off and the bathrooms at the gas station we chose were out of order so he peed in the bushes. About 20 min later he threw up all over. Then he went to sleep. It was an eventful hour.

He is feeling a bit better now. Convincing him to take his pain medicine and antibiotic was quite the chore. He hates medicine. After about 20 min of breaks and spitting it out I finally got it down him. And we have to do this for three more days! Ah! His lip is getting more and more swollen by the minute. They said it would do that for a couple days and then get better. All in all, it went about as well as can be expected. I will keep you all updated on his recovery. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

An early morning...

The hospital called today and surgery is scheduled tomorrow morning for 7:30am. This is really good because we will be first. The dr won't be tired and they shouldn't be off schedule. This also means that we have to be there at 6am. And we have to leave our house at 4:45. It's 8:00. I took two tylenol pm's an hour and a half ago. I can't think straight... I better go to bed... zzzzzzzzzzzz.

Caleb's pre-surgery class

Last night Caleb and I went on a special date. We drove up to Primary Children's for a pre-surgery class. It was awesome. They showed us a cute video about all the different things that will happen next week (on tuesday). Then they took the kids to one side of the room and the parents to another area. They explained all the pre and post op instructions and registration type stuff to us while the kids got to see things like IV's, stethoscopes and other stuff. The let the kids smell different smells that they can give them in masks to make them fall asleep (the anesthesia). Then the kids each got a "hospital buddy" and some dr gear and they got to play with all the equipment. Yes, as you can see from the pictures Caleb chose the only African American buddy in the pile. Hey, but that's ok. I just thought it was funny. We named him Jamal. Caleb loves Jamal and has taken him everywhere with us today.



After the playing they took us on a tour of the out patient area and all the rooms they'd be visiting. Primary's is so amazing in how great they are for the kids. The have a huge play room to wait in before surgery; they let the kids choose if they want to ride in a big wagon, a wheel chair or their bed when they go off to surgery; they have lots of fish tanks and pictures painted on the ceilings and everything.

Going there also really put things into perspective. There was a little boy in the class that had no arms and no legs. Caleb said, "He has no feet. How come he has no hands or feet?" I said, "He was just born like that." He said "Was I born like that?" I said, "No, but you were born with a puffy lip. We were all born with different special things about us." There was also a girl with no ear. It was all closed shut. Makes me realize we don't have it so bad. Anyway, I am really glad we went to to the class. I think it helped a lot. After the class we went to Mc Donalds and had dinner and played. It was a great date!

Our trip to the "beach"

Yesterday we went to our local "beach", Spanish Oaks Reservoir. It was... well... it was ok. Definately not a white sand, caribbean beach. Not even a dirty, cold CA beach. It was, well, just a reservoir in Spanish Fork, UT. Three sides of which were cement and one side was a "beach". The sand, or rocks, I should say, were so rough my feet were hurting by the end of the day (or hour that we stayed there). But enough complaining about our local beach, the kids had fun once they realized they could play in the sand. They made slides that went from the sand into the water. They were basically sliding around on their bums in the flat sand saying "Weee!" It was quite a sight. I think we'll probobly visit this beach again and I will for sure remember the sand toys next time!