One year and counting

A year ago my little family went through one of the toughest times I've had in my life.  I thought it was appropriate to post the story to commemorate the year mark.

William before surgery at a moment where he felt good.

On August 21st at my niece, Lilly's, birthday party William started complaining that his head hurt I figured he bumped it and didn't think much else about it. The next day, Monday, he was still complaining so I gave him some Tylenol. That night we went down to my brother and sister in laws home. Jake's sister was there and asked if William could go for a sleep over for his birthday. (His birthday is September 3rd. but she was wanting to take him before the school year started) we said yes but I told her that he might be getting sick. She said it should be fine and he slept over. All was fine until the morning when he threw up twice. She brought him home to me and he was fine the rest of the day. Wednesday I took him to the doctor they said he probably just had a virus of some sort, but that if he continued to throw up, to bring him back in. Right after getting home he threw up again but was again fine for the rest of the day, Thursday as well. The whole week he had been complaining of headaches so I had been giving him Tylenol. By the end of the week I had to give him Tylenol and Motrin, but by Friday nothing was helping. He woke up at around 5:40 and was throwing up almost constantly. Jake stayed home from work and we took him in to the Doctors. Because he had no other flu symptoms, they wanted us to get an MRI done. We took him down to Utah Valley Medical Center, they discovered a cyst on his brain and also extra fluid and we were sent up to Primary Children's Medical Center. The main Neurosurgeon, Dr. Walker, was not there so they wanted us to wait until the next day so he could assess the problem.  The next day, Saturday, After Dr. Walker had taken a look, he scheduled William for another MRI, this time of his neck. Once that was done he finally knew exactly what was wrong and what needed to be done. William had what is called a chiari (pronounced key-are-ee). It is a malformation that just grows for who knows what reason. William's was located at the base of his head where his head and neck meet. It was blocking the passageway where the cerebrospinal fluid is supposed to exit.  The fluid couldn't leave his head so it was giving him pressure headaches which was causing him to vomit. They can not remove a chiari, so instead they remove a piece of bone (you have so much muscle in your neck that he'll never miss that small piece of bone) along with some tissue. This creates space for the fluid to go around the chiari letting the fluid drain and eventually the chiari will disappear. He also had to have an EVD (External Ventricular Drain). They make an incision on the top of his head, go through the skull and into his brain. It was placed there only until they could determine if he needed a permanent shunt.  His surgery was scheduled for the next day, Sunday. Saturday night was one of the longest nights of my life. I could not sleep, not only because I was terrified of what could happen, but also William was in so much pain. He was receiving Morphine as often as he could but it wasn't doing anything for him. I felt the most helpless I have ever felt. Sunday morning finally came and William was taken into surgery.  About 3 hours later we received the call that the surgery was finished and that everything had gone perfectly and that he shouldn't need a permanent shunt. However, we wouldn't find out for sure for about a week.
After the surgery when he was starting to come to he told us he wanted chocolate milk. He wasn't allowed anything but clear fluid until he could hold them down. I've never seen a kid drink chicken broth so fast! He wanted that chocolate milk, BAD!  Finally after keeping the chicken broth down for a little bit he got his chocolate milk, I think he drank 2. 
The first few days after surgery were rough. Its the most painful surgery that the neurosurgeon does. You could tell he felt awful, but slowly he stated feeling better and all he wanted to do was play. They have a big play room at the hospital and they also have stuff they can bring to your room.  Its an amazing hospital and we were so blessed that it was as close to us as it was.
We are so grateful that our little William is still with us and for the doctors and nurses who were able to help him.  Also for our family's that were there for us every step of the way!
I am thankful to my heavenly father for the comfort that was given to us and for William's recovery and for all that he has blessed us with.

They have dogs that come around that they let you give treats to. William LOVED this!

After almost a week of just sitting in a bed or wheelchair William needed a little bit of physical therapy

The only thing William told me he wanted for his birthday was a BBQ. 

We thought we were going to be at the hospital for his birthday, but once Dr. Walker found out he made things move along quicker and we were home the day before his birthday.
Now, a year later, William is doing wonderful he no longer has to go for check ups at the hospital. The chiari is gone and he hasn't had a headache since.
He has a large scar on the back of his neck and he remembers being at the hospital but his story is that he got hit by car. Maybe that's how felt. I'm just glad he doesn't remember much about it.

cute things said and done

I have been meaning to write down all the cute things that my children do and say (for a VERY long time) I am finally getting around to it. I am going to try my hardest to make "cute things said and done" a weekly routine. For now I am just going to write down all things I can remember from the time William and Jeffrey were born.  I will start with William

When I worked at Blue Ribbon Storage William used to say Hello and good bye to every customer.

William loves to make people laugh one time at IHOP he was purposely snorting. He had us all laughing so hard we almost didn't film it.  (the quality of the video is pretty bad, sorry, it was taken on an older phone)

 I didn't put dinner away one night, The next morning I walked out of my bedroom and William was on the counter eating broccoli.

William has always had a fascination with shoes he used to wear any shoes he could get his hands on

He used to always blow kisses

William used to scowled at people one time in church he sat and stared down a little old lady behind us.

When he was first leaning to talk he used to walk over to Penny (our dog) and say. "No, no,no" 

William's first full sentence was "momma why did penny eat my ball?"
penny had  chewed up  a little bouncy ball that belonged to him

I heard Jeffrey crying in the other room so I hurried in and asked William what happened  he told me he was training Jeff to fight ghosts. (Jeff was 9 months old)

Sang along to Lucy in the Sky with diamonds while watching Yellow submarine

Jeffrey used to cry every time we would put him in the car, one day, William yelled at Jeff and said "Jeff, Stop! just be happy like me!"

used to say causeb instead of because

says auballoon instead of balloon

his excuse for everything is "because I'm a boy!"

William likes to sit and Watch Simpsons. During the credits in one of the episodes there is a picture of Krusty the clown  passed out on the ground. William started laughing and said "Oh he's dead!"

The other night I told Jake that he needed to snuggle me once we went to bed. William put his hand on my leg and said I'll snuggle you momma!

William had to have a lot of IV's back in August while he was in the hospital. He called it being plugged in.

William got a 5 dollar bill for his birthday. I showed it to him and told him it was his. He looked at it for a minute and then pointed to Abe Lincoln and said "oh is that me?" 

William was snorting and I asked him if he was my little piggy  he said "no, but you and Jeff are cats". 


After William was potty trained and I would go to the bathroom he would say "Yay momma you did it! I'm so proud of you!" 

 William was talking about the pinata we had at his cousin kahlan's birthday party. My mom asked him what was inside the pinata. William thought about it for a minute then said "baby cats" 

while putting Jeffrey in the car after grocery shopping William climbed out of the grocery cart and onto the top of the car. After getting him down I asked him what he thought he was doing? He told me he was spider man.
  
William used to sleep with me when Jake worked Graveyard shifts I told William I was feeling sick one night and he rubbed my back until he fell asleep.


My friend Kati came over and William was taking pictures of all of us with his fake camera he took a picture of Kati and said that she looked just like Jesse (from toy story) He then took a picture of Jake and said he looked just like Buzz then he took a picture of me and said I looked just like Bulls eye. 


I asked William what his favorite color was. He told me it was brown so I said Brown? and he said yeah chocolate is brown.


He tells me almost everyday "momma you're so pretty!"


One day shortly after Jeff was born and William was potty training I had cleaned up messy underwear from william Jeffery pooped like 3 times that day then had a blow out so while I was cleaning Jeffrey up. I said "I live such a glamorous life" William  response was "yeah but it makes you happy!"

he used to say urgit urgit for the noise of a frog.

For a short while we lived with my mom while we were waiting to get into a home of our own. William has always HATED bed time and most nights he cries before falling to sleep. While we were at my moms he would cry for my mom or my sister Amelia to save him. 


he calls his cousins "My kids."


Told his cousin Max that if you put water up your nose it comes right back out. 

I had been explaining to William a few days earlier that Lilly, Max, Jeffrey and he were Grandma's grand kids so when all the cousins were at my moms house a little while later and grandma walked in the door he said "Grandma, we're your grandkids!"

Penny, our dog, was laying next to me asleep and William was petting her and playing with her ears and such at one point he pulled up her lip and said "wow! Penny's teeth are amazing!" 

We have some cheese puff balls and William calls them cotton balls.


That is just about all I can remember for William right now. so moving on to my sweet little Jeffrey

When I was pregnant with Jeff I used to feel him pushing against my stomach with his feet, when I would  touch them he would pull back really quickly. His feet are still really ticklish. 

Jeffrey laughs if anyone else is laughing including on tv


he growls at his older brother when he does something mean like take away a toy he was playing with


Jeff's first word was momma. i was sitting on the ground helping William do something and was  somewhat ignoring Jeffrey.  He was crying a little bit and he finally put his hand on my leg looked up at me and said "momma!"


He runs with his arms stick straight out behind his back

He always is sticking his tongue out

He LOVES snuggles almost anytime he sees a blanket he picks it up, brings it over to me and want me to snuggle him. 

He LOVES blankets. We didn't have A/C in our car for most of this summer but when we would go in the car he had to have his blanket!

He gives the best hugs and kisses! he wraps his little arms around your neck and squeezes so tight then opens his mouth and gives you a big wet kiss!  kinda gross but I love them. 

He is talking quite a bit and we have been working on nose, eyes ears and tongue. He woke up quite early one morning and I still wanted to sleep i brought him into my bed and hoped he would fall back asleep. instead he just poked my nose and said "nose"  until i finally got up

William will be attending preschool this year and we bought him and Jefferey a back pack Jeffrey insists on wearing it every time William does. The cutest part is William helping him put it on. 

William, Jeffrey and Daddy all love to wrestle. Very cute to watch.

When Jake comes home from work Jeffrey stamps his feet and says Da Da!