miracle

Ron the PT ended up letting us have a break over the weekend from the hydotherapy treatments.  But we had to be in first thing this morning to see him before we went to see Dr. Maloff the plastic surgeon at 9:15.  It was a busy morning.

Let me just begin by saying that prayer and fasting and priesthood blessings really work.

Evelyn's hand looked pretty amazing today after the long weekend.  There have been some big improvements made.

Dr. Maloff  was so impressed with how the debridement was going (thanks Ron!).  And he couldn't believe how much better it looked from one week ago.  He didn't even mention the words 'skin graft' during the whole appointment today.  Yay!

For the next week and a half, Dr. Maloff is having us continue to visit Ron for debridement, BUT she only needs to go in every other day.  We will visit Dr. Maloff  again a week from this Wednesday for further evaluation.

Until then, Evelyn is doing well.  We have learned a trick.  We put a peanut butter M&M in her mouth if she doesn't cry while her hand is in the whirlpool.  This is helping a lot.  Once the hand is out of the water, then Ron works on it with wet swabs, tweezers and scissors.  This is where I have to hold her hand really, really still.  She doesn't like it one bit, but she cooperates.   I have been so amazed at how brave she has been and how she always says "thank you, Ron" when he is done.

We have felt of your prayers and we thank you.  This act alone has strengthened us.  We have also felt of our Heavenly Father's love for us.  He is so mindful of each one of us.  And for this I am so grateful.

Day 6 of this adventure....

The whirlpool debridement treatments are becoming more difficult for Evelyn.  The nerves are growing back, so there is more pain.  Ron her PT is having to cut away the dead material from the wound as she cries and cries.  She doesn't even like the whirlpool part anymore.  I'm having to physically hold her hand down in the water.  It's no longer a fun bubbly bath for her hand  (Bill even uploaded the movie "UP" to his iPod so she would have a distraction today.  It didn't work.)

We knew it was going to be hard this week.  And it has.  I was SO looking forward to tomorrow because I thought these treatments would only be through Friday, But Ron told us today that he was pretty sure we would at least have to do Saturday too.  So it's going to be a long weekend before we get to go back on Monday morning to see the surgeon.

So, to get my mind off of what's to come, here are some pictures of happier moments from this past weekend.  We put a big mitten over her bandaged hand, I found an oversized coat for her, and Porter took her out on the deck so she could play in the falling snow:

catchin' snowflakes on her face

wanting to explore

snowball, midflight, heading straight for Porter's face

Porter is THE BEST big brother to this little girl

manicure....?

I really wish :)

The whirlpool therapy went well today.  Ron, her PT was awesome.  He was so impressed with how brave she was and how much she talked his ear off.  He said most toddlers scream their heads off.

She didn't cry once.

Evelyn got to put her hand in a big silver tub with lots of jetted water and bubbles.  She thought it was great!  After that, Ron swabbed the wound to clean it out a little which she didn't like.  He said that today he would only swab it because if he did any more, she would not want to come back ever again...and we have to do this all week so we're easing her into it.  Baby steps.

Tomorrow he will need to use scissors.

I can look at the wound now.  A little.  It's looking better.  Kind of.  I still hide my eyes when it gets worked on and I DON'T THINK that's gonna change.

And I'm okay with that.

We're being brave around here....and I think we deserve some chocolate.

Evelyn's hand

We met with the plastic surgeon today.

As of right now, she will be going to physical therapy everyday this week for 'whirlpool debridement' of the wound.  This entails allowing the swirling movement of water to debride or remove the dead tissues from her fingers.  There will also be some physical picking or scraping of the wound in areas that need special attention.  Not fun.  The good thing about this is that she will be re-bandaged everyday by someone who knows what they are doing.  This will also reduce greatly the possibility of infection (which we don't want).

The whirlpool treatment will help the wound fully reveal itself.  There is a possibility of needing skin grafts which is another story in and of itself.  I will update on that if we have to cross that road.  The wounds are in a hard place, i.e., knuckles, etc.

We meet with the doctor again, one week from today.  He will further evaluate the wound then.

Evelyn did well at the doctor today.  She was a little apprehensive of the doctor (she did say "cheese" when he took pictures of her hand :), but completely LOVED her nurse Rosie.  Rosie was able to help Evelyn have the courage not to cry and pull back on her hand while they were working on it.  

Please keep Evelyn in your prayers.  It's going to be a long week.

How is she?

Well, when she was able to wear great-grandma's earrings to church this morning, she was happy.

But honestly...she's been quite a bit of grump mixed in with a little bit of happy, which has been a big shift from our happy, spunky, social butterfly of a girl.

She doesn't want anyone to touch her owie.  We had to put a short sleeved dress on her for church (in this snowstorm, nonetheless) so that it was easier to get her hand through a sleeve. (She's very conscientious and careful with her bandaged hand.)  I debated bringing her to church at all, and ended up bringing her home right after the sacrament because of a major meltdown.

We told her she gets to meet her new doctor tomorrow (the plastic surgeon) and that he will help fix her fingers, and she says "No.  No doctor."  The novelty has worn off.

But at the same time, she has been an extremely brave little girl, who has respected her bandages and melted the hearts of many physicians and nurses this weekend with her wit, her conversation and big blue eyes.

I, myself have not been so brave.  I'm having some issues that I need to work through.  I get physically sick when I think about what happened, or think about the wound, OR see the wound.  I have to put my head down and hide my eyes whenever the doctor looks at it.  And I'm still not getting much sleep because it's all I think about. When are they going to scrub it?   Is she going to need skin grafts?  Will she have full mobility?  

I need to buck-up.  It's going to take some time for her hand to heal...with lots of re-dressing the wound; which I am going to need to do.  I have to do this!  Bill's going to give me a priesthood blessing after Porter's court of honor tonight.  (He's receiving 4 merit badges!!!)

We can do this Evelyn.

You might just need to help pull mommy through. 

sleepless...

It's midnight.

And the only reason I am up writing is because I can't even begin to sleep.

My little one is in bed next to me.  She's sleeping with me tonight.

It's been a rough night:

She caught her hand in our treadmill while it was moving.  Can I say, guilt?

We ran her to the urgent care a couple blocks from our house, after having our wonderful neighbor (a nurse) look at it.  The urgent care sent us to the ER.

She has deep, full-thickness friction burns on her middle and ring finger, right hand.

We go back to the hospital on Saturday morning to re-dress the wounds, and then we will be meeting with a plastic surgeon Monday to see what things need to be done.

My stomach is in knots.  I feel horrible.  Worse than horrible.

Sleep my little one.

She's been waiting for well over a month now...

...patiently?  I wouldn't go that far.

It all started when she watched her Grandpa blow out his birthday candles the first part of November.

And it's been escalating ever since.

"Mommy?  Mommy can I have birthday cake?"


"Mommy, I blow out candles on birthday cake?"

This happens multiple times in my day.  When she talks to people on the phone, she wants to talk to them about birthday cake.  (Uncle Andy even went so far as to make a pit stop to drop off some chocolate cake for her on his way from Provo to Rexburg).

Well, last night after a nice dinner with my parents, Evelyn reached an exciting climax of her short 2 year life.  And, oh how exciting it was!

It had been 9 and a half years since I had celebrated the two-year birthday of a child.

I'd forgotten just what a riot it is.

Happy birthday my little one.  Thanks for reminding me how exciting life can be.

She opens doors...

...my life just got a little bit more complicated.

An outing

hats

Bill came home from work last night just in time to eat dinner. He had had a bad day.

After dinner, as he sat on the couch, his little Evelyn came up to him and said, "Daddy wear hat."

Bill said, "You want dad to wear a hat?"

"Yes," she said. "I wear hat."

And so he grabbed her hand and they walked down the hall together as Bill said, "What hats should we wear?"

Well a moment later they emerged wearing hats. And Evelyn said, "Bye, bye Mommy!"

Bill looked at me with the 'what should I do?' expression.

And I told him that he had better at least take her for a walk.

And so, they left.

And I wasn't far behind, running out the front door to see if I could get some shots of them in their hats, on their walk:

Stopping for some conversation.

(*Notice my HOT honey who has been working hard at eating right and exercising so he can be fit and trim.)

"Can daddy have some kisses?"

"Schmooooooooch."

"Oh, I love your hugs. Dad neeeeeeeds your hugs."

(What is it about little children and their ability to sense when you are having a bad day?)

"Hey dad, look at mom over there taking pictures of us from the front porch with her telefoto lens."

She found herself a treasure...

...in the box that is ready to go to the D.I.

She was entertaining herself while I was getting ready for church - and Bill called, "Grab the camera!"

She knew just what to do.

Oh, why do they grow up so fast?!

mi familia

Bill and I have two awesome kids.

One of which got all of my genes, and the other got Bill's.

Through and through.

I've often been told that my kindergarten picture looks like Porter. With pigtails:

And just recently, we have been amazed at the uncanny resemblance that Evelyn has with her pa:

And it wasn't until yesterday, when I was getting ready for church and printing off a copy of this picture for my lesson, that it hit me like a ton of bricks. This is our most recent family picture taken a couple of weeks ago by my sister in my parents backyard. Bill and I are each holding the offspring that looks like us. And for some reason, to me, in this picture, the similarities are striking:

Hey Porter, you may have inherited your mother's genes, but at least my pigtails didn't come along with the package :).

A few favorite moments

From our family's last hurrah this summer to Island Park and Yellowstone National Park:

The 30+ year old tent trailer of Bill's childhood that he inherited this year. Many hours of elbow grease have been put into restoring it in time for our many camping adventures this summer. And I must say, well worth it...already countless memories made.

Pool at Biscuit Basin.

(Bill and Porter watched a young man jump the fence, walk out onto the fragile crust and stick his finger in the water to see just how hot it was.)

Yeah.

Makeshift sulfur mask.

GREAT socks.

Very,

very,

relaxed and contemplative.

5 bear sightings on one of the days we were there....this is one of 3 that we were able to see.

Going for a canoe ride ... in the back of the pickup.

Mud bath.

This masculine beast was the perfect photo-op.

Got to spend one of our days in Yellowstone with my parents. Here we are visiting the fantastic visitor's center/museum at Canyon Village that we love to go to - highly recommended.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

My mom and dad.

The best parents (and chauffeurs) one could ever ask for.

Watching his dad take a picture of the grizzly bear. (I'm thinking he looks rather mysterious and handsome in this picture :) --notice the many survival bracelets he's sportin'...he learned to make them at Scout camp and has made a bajillion of them. Grandma is even wearing hers, but I didn't get a picture.

BUT, there was one little critter out and about that the tourists photographed as much as

the bison,

the geysers,

the bears,

the elk,

and the waterfalls:

She even grabbed the attention of some black-leather clad, weather worn bikers and managed to melt them into a puddle of mush.