CRAZY

I woke up Saturday, June 11 about 5 am, Grady was fussy, which is pretty normal so I put his binki back in and went back to sleep. He didn't settle down so I finally went and picked him up. I could tell he was uncomfortable but didn't know what to do, I tried to feed him and he didn't want anything to do with eating. I got him to calm down but thought maybe he just wasn't feeling good. He finally ate really good at noon and since Mar was asleep and Garrick and Carl were at Grandpa's we laid down and went to sleep. He woke up about 45 min later and threw up all over the bed and everything. Needless to say that was the first of many puking sessions over the next twenty four hours with my cute boy. Carl came home Saturday night and we both figured Grady (who had spent the day sleeping anywhere I put him down and throwing up most everything he ate) had the flu.
Saturday night was a really long night I think we slept 1 hour all night. Carl headed to Church the next morning and the kids and I stayed home. Grady wasn't feeling any better so I asked Carl to see if someone would come and help give him a blessing. Our great friend Wade came and helped Carl. A couple hours later Carl and I both looked at Grady and realized that he didn't have the 24 hour flu and that we needed to talk to a Dr. I took him to the clinic and it turned out (after another puking session) that he was dehydrated and we needed to go up to McKay Dee and get him rehydrated. I promised the Doc that I would drive straight there, so I drove home and got Carl and the kids. My mom had already agreed to watch the kids and planned to meet us just off the freeway in Roy.
When we stopped I could smell that Grady'd pooped. I thought I'll hurry and change him, that was until I saw his diaper. It was bloody. (That was when I really started to freak out.) I told Carl to hurry. We went pretty fast, dropped the kids off and headed to the Hospital.
We had been pre-admitted so we went straight to peds and the great nurses and doctor saw us and had an IV going within probably 20 minutes. They took the diaper and the doc talked to us about what she thought it might be. Because of the diaper she ordered an x-ray and a ultrasound. I thought this doc was amazing she was very personal and took time to talk with us even though she was just finishing her shift. She could tell how freaked out I was and was really nice, before we went down to get the stuff done she pulled us aside and said, "I'm just going to warn you now so that you are prepped when you come back, if it is what I think it is, you can't be treated here and you'll have to go to Primary Childrens."
Yep, within another 1/2 hour we were on our way to Primary's, in an ambulance. Grady had Intussusception, it is a condition where the bowel slips inside itself causing a blockage. We were supposed to be pre-admitted to Primary's but they stopped us and had us go to the ER, where we waited and waited and waited and found out the kid in the triage next to us had been bitten by a rattle snake 2 times. We were lucky our friends Wade and Erin came and waited with us, I think we would have gone crazy without them (they are the best they stayed until 2:30am when we were settled in our room). After about 1 1/2-2 hours later they took us in to try Plan A: and air enema that would blow the bowel out of itself. Poor kid had a taped behind and I held his arms above his head so they could get him to hold still. Didn't work. Plan B: The surgeon was right there and he was really great told us they were prepping the OR and that he would be taking part of his bowel and his appendix while he was at it. (this is what he looked like right after surgery, really sad)
He was in surgery by 11:30 and we ended up in our room by 2ish. I don't think I've ever been that tired or worried ever. It was so sad to hear him fuss while he was drugged up and he didn't even know I was there. They took 7-8 inches of his small intestine and they took us up to the room. We had great nurses including our friend Laura Hoover, which was great, not only because she is a great nurse but also because she asked questions we didn't think to ask. It was also nice to catch up a little we hadn't talked in a long time. (Thanks Laura) They didn't let him eat at all until Wednesday and they had to make sure that he would keep everything down and also that he would poop. We found out that the Intussusception was caused by a Meckel's Diverticulum (thanks to Laura). It is a condition he has had from birth that is a little bulge in the intestine that can cause a weakness and in this case caused it to slip inside itself. He should be fine from here on out. But it was a rough go in the thick of it. It was a long week and we are really glad that he is okay and that we are home.

(This was the view I had of him most of the week.)



(This is what Grady looked like when we left, he had people wrapped around his finger)
I should give a shout out to a few people: My parents are amazing and kept our kids for the entire week and they loved it. Carl's mom was great to come and let us get some stuff done at home and sit with us on Monday. My sister Annita brought us food a few times and she also come to sit with Grady too. The great dr's and nurses (Laura you really are great, we loved Catherine too). Wade and Erin for coming and helping us keep our sanity during the surgery. Thanks everybody.

Boulder Mountain

So we went camping, we made a big plan with my parents, took 4-wheelers, we packed 80 times more stuff than we actually used. We had a great time. We camped at the Rosebud Campground near Lower Bowns because we didn't have to pack the wheelers up to go anywhere. We went on a bunch of rides, the first to the lake, which was a longer ride than we expected but turned out to be fun. Garrick had big plans to catch a fish, it was so windy and sandy, we didn't end up staying long but the kids loved it and Carl liked riding in the dunes. We took walks along Pleasant Creek and picked flowers to put in Marley's hair and found walking sticks and rocks. Garrick spent most of his time glued to one of my parents. My mom would walk his pace so he loved hiking with her and my dad would tell him about all of the plants and answer his 101 questions. Marley is such a girl and kind of did her own thing and loved to have Carl carry her in the Kelty pack. The trip seemed like it went too fast for me, I ended up with a blocked duct and Mastitis so Saturday was a wash, Carl and I ended up driving to Bicknell to the clinic. I missed both of the kids catching their first fish. My dad made Garrick a willow pole and he honestly dipped the pole in and out came the fish, apparently he was in seventh heaven. I was feeling a ton better by Sunday and so we ended up hiking Hickman Bridge and Calf Creek Falls. Calf Creek Falls is so pretty, but the hike is 6 miles round trip. It was a lot longer than we expected and we had a head wind on the way back. I have to give Garrick props, he walked all but like 3/4 of a mile of the way. Grady was such a trooper the whole time, he rode in our Ergo Baby pack (worth every penny we spent on it) he slept and looked around and even nursed good in a lot of random places, a park in Fruita and at Calf Creek Falls. I love that kid he was so good. Those winds we encountered at Calf Creek were micro-bursts and there were trees knocked down all over and our tent was almost down, so we headed home a day early. The kids cried and still ask to go back Boulder Mountain. That made it worth all of the work. I have such sweet kids and was glad that my parents were able to come along.



Grady was super hot when we go to Hickman Bridge, so we stripped him down and cooled him off.
If you look at the bottom of the picture you can see my dad doing what my dad has always done, taking pictures of plants



Garrick thought it was so cool that they crossed this log to walk on the other side of the river. My Dad loves that Garrick is so interested in plants.

ICKY

Icky officially graduated from The Red Apple Preschool. We are super proud of him. He is reading and already has big dreams (as we've mentioned before) of being a Rocket Scientist. He LOVED school, Miss Tonya, and his friends. He gained so much confidence and did so well at his graduation. He had two parts and every time it was his part he would tap the mike and then blow in it, then say his part, we were cracking up. He messed up a little on the second part but was really funny and he had the whole audience laughing. He was a whole head taller than the other kid he shared the parts with so he would crouch down so they could both talk into the mike. I could hear him singing on each song and I only caught him picking his nose once (is it just my kid? It is like an addiction, he does it even more when we tell him to stop.) He teared up when Miss Tonya talked about the year. He is so excited about Kindergarten and makes Marley so anxious to get started with school.

He was so cute, and I can't believe how big he is. For a 5 year old he is in the 91% for weight and the 96% for height. I don't notice it until he is around other kids his age.

Ick at his year end party.

Marley got to come to his party as well. I really hate blow up toys they freak me out. They had tons of fun but I was so worried about them the whole time.