A Very Merry (and White) Christmas

The 6 of us together this Christmas! Below will be a little update on what we've been up to around here the last few days, but I think Jared said it best: "Mom, today is Monday, right? Last week I didn't know what day it was and it felt like vacation. I think we should go back on vacation."

Miranda Joy got to celebrate her first Christmas and though she doesn't understand why we celebrate, she was ready for anything! She even sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" with Chelsea over and over again. Here she is with her "new face"; we are still trying to get used to her "new look." More than 10x now I've look at her first photos with us and truly miss her mole. She's beautiful without it too, but she seems like a completely different little girl. Her stitches are almost dissolved, the scabs around her eye are now completely gone (this photo was a couple days ago before they all fell off) and she has pink skin everywhere! Notice the shirt, too, please. I had wanted one of these for Chelsea and never found one in her size, but got one for MJ!

The annual Christmas play...
Jared was the Mayor's assistant. Chelsea played the Sheriff and Corey opted NOT to participate. He reminded us that for the Easter play he was the ONLY kid in it (they added a special part just for him and he sang a solo about how "God specializes in taking small sizes and making them possibilities"; referring to the 5 loaves and 2 fish). We couldn't argue with that and let him "help" instead. Miranda Joy was an angel in the Nativity scene. Notice baby Jesus? He's real! Thankfully MJ didn't poke and prod him too much! She sure was a happy angel, though! When it was her turn to say her lines nobody really knew what she said but what came out was funny - and of course she was ALL smiles.

Dear Santa...

Christmas Morning:

Baby, it's cold in here! We woke up to no heat and no power. We think around 4:30 am the power went out and by the time the kids got us up around 7am, it was a warm and cozy 67 degrees. It was still too dark for "quality" photos to be taken so we made the kids wait until the sun came up so we could see what we were doing. It's hard to be patient when there are gifts waiting with your name on them!

Ahh...the coffee. We had a special brew waiting for us, but without power, there is no coffee-maker. However, being the Eagle Scout he is, my darling husband found some camping gear, turned on his "bunson burner" and got some water boiling. Then he manually added the water to the filter...Presto! Coffee!

Here is MJ's sweet smile Christmas morning...scabs almost completely gone!

MJ acted like a pro when opening her gifts. She, of course, had to put on her dress-up clothes for the rest of the morning (and the next day and the next day). She very diligently played "cards" with her HSM cards Santa brought. When any of us entered the room, she would very seriously look at us and say "Don't touch, k? Miranda's cards."

Chelsea loved her "baby alive" and has taken some serious responsibility when it comes to her care. Jared got his funny skateboard (how do people ride those things?) and Corey loves his Iron Man action figures (yep, still into super-hero's).

We actually got a "surprised" photo with one of the kids this year (no, this is not a re-created moment; it's an original). And MJ got her very own "big girl" back-pack. HSM, of course!

Some SERIOUS Wii playing going on around here! The boys made it easier on us this year; they said they would rather have one "big" thing (meaning $expensive$) instead of lots of "smaller" items. And I can't believe I'm about to write this, but it's kind of fun. I can actually play some of the games (the sports one is the best in my opinion). Not too many buttons, triggers, arrows, angles and views to confuse me! Just move your arms and play! Finally, and "easy" game for the "gaming-challenged". Chelsea and MJ like it too. They like to box their brothers and wouldn't you know, Chelsea knocked out Jared the first time she played! Jared says dad was distracting him. MJ giggles when she's at the helm and though she hasn't a clue to what she's doing, she thinks she's winning. Quite funny! Kyle and I have even put the kids in bed (late of course) and headed down there ourselves! It's even funnier to play when you're tired!

Oh! We also discovered that you can tell how much time the Wii has been played and what games have been played. So...nobody can "fudge" when mom says "is your time up for the day?" Nice feature!

We had snow Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after. I don't know if it ever stopped? Might have slowed down for a couple hours before picking back up, though. The news reported our town had 16 inches + drifting. Boy, did we have drifting!

MJ loves the snow as long as her boots and mittens are snow-free. Walking in it is much easier this year for her! And going down the sledding hills she is all smiles and laughing.

Corey, on the other hand, had snow everywhere and I don't think he was too thrilled after a while. Jared doesn't believe in sleds anymore, and he and his snowboard are learning to do 360's.

All the other kids have "first Christmas photos" with mom and dad, and here would be Miranda Joy's. Santa brought the girls a doll-house this year (it only took us 2 1/2 hours to set it up)! The sweat shirt she put on when we woke up to chilly temperatures says "Hug Me". So we did!

Merry 1st Christmas Miranda Joy! You are just that...a true Joy!

Yes, We're Home! That was a close one!

Here is the smile we've all come to know and love. She's home and eating her favorite noodles!

Well, after Kyle posted that we'd be able to bring MJ home a day early, things went downhill fast. So fast that he didn't even know what happened until late Sunday morning. Long story short, one of about three reasons could have caused her fever. In Dr. speak, something with 17 letters and a hyphen described the most "likely" educated guess (yes, the on-call doctors had to guess on this one). The nurse came in later to clarify and talk to me about it in terms I could understand. Basically, when someone is in bed for a long period of time after anesthesia, the outer portion of their lungs can stick together. The weird part, though, is that she wasn't in surgery that long and she certainly wasn't in bed lying down! Regardless, as we gave her meds. every four hours, her fever only continued to rise. It took about 18 hours before it finally broke and went down .02 degrees. Phew! That mama bear Kyle mentioned made its appearance a total of 3 times during our stay, the second time regarding the Tylenol #3. IT DOESN'T HELP A FEVER AT ALL! I'd asked them to change the order on Friday for regular Tylenol if she needed pain meds (in addition to her Motrin PRN) but Mr. "Schmuck" said "oh, she'll likely have some pain and we don't want her to be without pain meds if her eye begins to hurt." He doesn't know MJ! When her fever spiked, he got a call about alternating Motrin and Tylenol every 4 hours and he felt that the Tylenol with codeine would work better then regular Tylenol. So, we had to do Motrin, wait four hours and do Tylenol #3, then wait four hours for Motrin again. I begged, but no! Once eight hours since her last dose of Motrin passed and Motrin could be given again, she instantly felt cooler to the touch. An hour later she did cool off. A charge nurse heard about my issue and said she too has seen regular Tylenol work better for fevers. AAIG! When Dr. "Schmuck" came in to check on her the next day I told him I refused to have her on narcotics any longer. Period! He reluctantly changed her order to regular Tylenol and after that, her fever dropped dramatically! In fact, her temp at discharge was lower than it had been on admission and at any other time during her stay by .6 degrees. Poor girl was freezing! (haha)

Here are two photos of her last night when she felt all better again. We played Princess checkers the "MJ way" and she entertained the nurses like she did all week. Her eye will be bruised for several weeks and go through the stages bruises go through - the rainbow of colors. We love that she has a face with no facial hair, so rainbow bruising sounds fantastic! She has seen her "owies" and just looks at them with a thoughtful smile. I showed her a "before" picture of her with the mole we first met her with. Then I showed her this smile and told her that the mole was all gone. She pointed to the first picture and said "all gone". Not sure what she understands, but someday I think she will be glad it's all behind her! I know we will be!

PS) Way back when we were reviewing MJ's file and before we officially signed her LOI, a specialist we discussed her nevus with asked us if we were sure we wanted "this one". She said she would recommend that we "not take her" and "wait for a better one". A better one? You've got to be kidding! All of our blog followers know how perfect she is for our family (duh...God made her just for us!). And though her nevus surgeries have been a little time consuming, we hardly consider it a special need! Furthermore, she is "special needs" no longer! 10 months after bringing her home, Miranda Joy is mole free! God blessed her through this whole process and her doctor has been amazing! Hopefully his "schmucks" will learn a thing or two by observing him! Thank you to our friends here and all over the world for your prayers and comments. And thank you for sharing her story with other families - some of whom are now signing their own LOI's for a little one with a nevus! How wonderful it will be for us to follow their journeys now!

Day 5 and a high fever

Well Sunday was another busy day around the home front. But it was Saturday night that was the cause for concern. After I left the hospital with the kids, Miranda spiked a fever up to 39.9 degrees Celsius (I think that is just shy of 104 F). They had to call the doctor 3 times during the night. Her heart rate also jumped to 180/minute. So, they had to keep her through Sunday. By morning, on Sunday, she was doing much better. However, when the Tylenol wore off, the temperature began to rise again. Towards the end of the day, she was holding the temp down.

So, on Day 6 (today, Monday), I await a call from Angie to know when I can bring them home.

Day 4 and no banana bandage

Here is the first look. We just finished up play practice and 2 back-to-back basketball games. Miranda has been up a lot today since her bandage has come off. Dr. Siddiqi removed the bandage and the other doctor assisted. Her eye is still sewn shut but the stitches will dissolve on their own in a couple more days. The purple skin will slowly fade back to a normal color in a few days. The doctor said the new skin has taken well enough that he is not worried. The good news is, she gets to come home tomorrow instead of Monday. Yeah!

As for the rest of the family today, Chelsea was such a great coach. She went 1 and 1 today. Corey's team played much better this week. They may have still lost, but the team passed the ball better and they attempted more shots than last week. Jared's team pulled out their second win of the season. Jared also got his first 3-pointer of the season today. He went 1 for 3 from behind the line. Jared also perfected his behind-the-back dribbling technique blowing by the defender several times while playing point guard today.

We are headed up to seem mom and Miranda, so I'll have more photos and progress upon our return this evening. Miranda can't wait to see the brothers and sister.

Day 3 and the Utah Jazz

Day 3 has had a lot of excitement. Miranda is up and moving around more and more and seems to have gotten her attitude back.

I got to visit again at lunch while Miranda was having her "usual", pizza. "Just put that on my tab please!"

While I was there, the Utah Jazz were paying a visit to Primary Children's Medical Center where Miranda is staying. Coach Jerry Sloan and center Mehmet Okur along with one of the Jazz Dancers stopped in to say hi and Merry Christmas. Miranda even got an autographed basketball. Her brothers are so jealous! After they left, Miranda put on her shoes and the basketball turned into a soccer ball for a few minutes.

The smaller pictures below were taken on Angie's cell phone and show Miranda in the playroom cooking. She also helped mama brush her teeth this morning and she is all smiles while talking to her brother Jared today.

The drainage tubes were supposed to be taken out at Noon today, so they came out on time around 5 pm, of course. The Doctor wasn't very gentle and he is scheduled to remove the bandage off of her eye tomorrow. Well, Angie decided that her surgeon, Dr. Siddiqi should be the one to remove it, so she put in a request to not let that first doctor return...ever!

Back on the home front, we have play practice in the morning, back-to-back basketball games at 1 pm and 2 pm (across town from each other), and then we will take a trip up to see Miranda. After our visit, a quick trip to the grocery store so that we will be able eat on Sunday! Good night everyone.

Chillin' in the Hospital - Day 2

Miranda did very well during her second day in the hospital. She had two midnight snacks throughout her first night. She took a couple of naps during the day and I got to have lunch with Angie and her. In the morning she went down to the play room and brought some toys back to her room. Here she is showing me how to rock out to the music mixer and eating lunc.









She is doing pretty good watching her HSM movies, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Sky High and Enchanted. Mom reads, kisses owies, takes her potty, helps her eat and takes naps herself.

Miranda did get a sort of sponge bath yesterday. The stood her up in a pan of water as the washed her from the belly down. She thought it was fun to stomp in the water and make bubbles. Occasionally she will taunt Angie and show her attitudinal side like kicking the kleenex box off the bed and asking mama for a tissue...laughing loudly. She also gets on her kick of "I do it" when eating sometimes.

I will have more photos to post tonight after my lunchtime visit. The kids will get to go up and see her tomorrow night - after our play practice and basketball games.

Surgery update

The surgery went well. Here are a couple of pictures before and after for those of you that want to jump right in and see the progress before reading about it.



















Miranda went into the OR around Noon today and was out of surgery at 3:30 pm. Angie went back to the recovery room around 4 pm and I got to go back when she was assigned to her main room around 4:30 pm. Miranda is doing really good and is flipping through channels on the TV. I guess I taught her well. :)

The doctor got 99% of the mole removed. There is one spot in the corner of her eye that the doctor did not want to remove because the sutures would have been on the inside of her eye. He said that he will be able to take care of that spot on her follow up surgery in about 6 months. That surgery will be to clean up some scarring and make things look all pretty.

As you can see from the photos, there are no bandages on her head that we were used to seeing. The yellow "banana-looking" bandage is called a bolster and it covers the skin that is grafted around her eye and on her eyelid. It is sutured to her skin so it stays in place and holds the new skin down. Her eyelid is also sewn shut to prevent her from opening her eye and dislodging the skin graft.

Now, here is the shocking part...the doctor wants to keep her in the hospital until Monday. Uhhh, hold on there Doc, Monday? You forgot to mention that part.

He doesn't want the bolster getting hit or knocked around. It needs to stay in place and undisturbed so the skin will "take".

Well, Angie only packed for one night so I'll be bringing up a suitcase tomorrow. I'll post another update tomorrow afternoon after my lunchtime visit to the hospital.

Doctor running late

Miranda was scheduled for 10:40 this morning, then a couple of minutes later Angie found out that the Doctor is running late and the little boy ahead of Miranda had not gone back yet. So, surgery is scheduled for 12:30 pm today.

More updates to come later.

Check-in 9:15am

Finally got a call tonight for MJ's surgery time. We check in at 9:15, and are guessing she's on the schedule for 10:30 or 11:00 am. If it's not too late once Kyle gets home, collects the other three children and gets them ready for bed, he'll post an update! Thanks for your prayers!

Thanksgiving...and Holiday Beginnings

What are the kids thankful for? You're looking at her! When we asked the older three kids what they were thankful for this season, all of them put "Miranda Joy" at the top of their list. How sweet is that? I'm pretty sure Santa was paying attention to those sweet comments, too! The parents here are thankful for the busy, silly, stressful, quiet and rambunctious times with all of them, but mostly that we are all together this holiday season!

We continue to be in awe of how well everyone has adjusted to having another sister; especially one who gets stared at, made fun of sometimes and takes their stuff out of their bedrooms. The older three are still protective of her, and are ready to "defend" her rather large "goose-egg" if needed. The most common phrase they use to tell people looking her way is "that's just a balloon by my sister's mole." (DUH? Shouldn't everyone know that?) We couldn't be more proud of how they have all dealt with Miranda Joy's expansions and surgeries this year.

Getting ready for Christmas...that was fun!
Jared, Corey and Chelsea are "pro's" at putting ornaments on the tree, and Miranda Joy was fascinated, to say the least. I couldn't get the ornaments out fast enough for her. She put ornament after ornament on and smiled so big each time she added one (of course, the one's she put on were all on the same branch). Good thing the "experts" were close by. They let their sister decorate in her own special way and when she turned around or left the room, they would separate the ornaments and put some a little higher.

Drum Roll Please...

Chelsea lost her first tooth. It had been fairly loose all of last week, but by Sunday night she wanted the tooth fairy to "bring me some money!" So, she worked until she pulled it out (and we had the video camera going, too! Shocking, I know!) Her brothers, one in particular, will wiggle a loose tooth but will NOT, under any circumstances, try to pull it out. Even if it's hanging there, dangling out of the mouth for a week and causes pain while eating! Yea...our boys aren't nearly as brave as their 5 year old sister! In fact, I'm pretty sure Miranda Joy deals with pain better then they do too. So, the saying around here is often "girls rule and boys drool".

Mole Removal: December 10th
This time next week Miranda Joy will be having the rest of her mole removed. We are, again, at the top of the cancellation list just in case Friday or Monday has a sudden opening (wouldn't that be great!). She is complaining of pain when she bumps her head or her chest and that is something she never does. It's time to have those balloons out for good!
So, now we pray for her to stay healthy!!! She can't get even a sniffle before then, or we are postponed until after the first of the year. So far, so healthy!