The Blair Family: February 2009

Saturday, February 28, 2009

ABQ

The babies and I are flying out with my mom next week. Can't talk about the sad part...what we are leaving. The babies were making a shirt for cole with my Mom's help and Shailee decided to make a road map to Albuquerque so he wouldn't get lost when he's ready to come after graduation.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Up and down

New twist, my case was presented to a pannel of doctors and turns out there is one more step to ruling out the t-cell lymphoma. I'm going to have a CT scan done and then I can return to being a mysterious allergy case if that turns out clear.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Diagnosis

Frustration, Relief, Anger, Joy...What a rollercoaster. Good news is that the doctors have ruled out T-cell lymphoma, bad news is there is nothing left to rule out. So I here I am in all my inflamed glory for better or worse I am still a medical mystery. "A mysterious woman", that makes me sound cool. Cole suggested that I may have something that has not yet been discovered in which case I may get to have it named after me and then do I get some kind of royalties from that? Maybe it's actually some kind of super power,"Itch girl to the rescue" Maybe I can make money as an attraction in the circus, " and here we have the human allergy" At any rate I can take solice in knowing that Heavenly Father knows and if there is some way or means of me knowing or being healed He can make it known and He can make it happen. In the mean time I'm just counting my blessings which are as numerous as the red splotches on my skin.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Family in the Archives

Missing the ability to post current pictures right now I pulled these up. My Mom and Dad

My Older Brother Jeremiah the Lawyer

My older Brother David the Police Officer

My Little sister the Hair stylist

My sister-in-law Tiffany with my nephew Ashton and Shailee

Here is Baby Shailee with my Dad.

Cole, Me, Shailee, with Coles Uncle Steve and Aunt Jo

Coles Dad, older brother Justin, our sister-in-law melissa, and our sweet baby nephew Julian

sister-in-law Carrie, nephew Wendell, and Shailee

Cole's little brother Trent, Our nephew Julian, Grandpa Blair, and Shailee

Friday, February 20, 2009

blessings not in any order

Cole being my heroe and all the unseen sacrifices he is making
Shailee and Hyrum's giggles
Hyrum "snuggling" me as I pass in and out of sleep
A Dr. who is "the man"
Shailee and her mature spirit and calm questions
Lisa, lisa, lisa, my mother-in-law who came to save us all and has
Good food, good meds, and good sleep
Getting my second surgery at record breaking speed
My Mom who has unshakable faith and love
All the prayers, all the prayers
A new "fight" song from my sister
Peace even when I don't know everything I want to
People who have their own problems but are looking out for me and my family anyway
Music that brings the spirit
My Dad's I-pod and listening to "Angel Voices" before surgery
Knowing that I can trust my Heavenly Father, even though it's hard not knowing
Happy babies, clean laundry, and clean dishes because of Lisa and Cole
General Conference on audio at LDS.org
My own home
Quiet
Phone calls and text messages
Carrie's knowledge and research so I won't go crazy from not knowing
Kristen Barker, Mary Rhodes, Katie Davis, Jenny Bright, And all the friends I will continue to add to this list who have just been there
Love, love, love

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Baby Dr.

Shailee: Why was Dad crying?
Me: The Doctors just haven't figured out why Mom's sick and that makes him worry. But Heavenly Father is in charge and He will take care of us. Worrying is for Mom's and Dad's though and not for babies. You and Hyrum can just say prayers instead of worrying.
Shailee: Maybe you need a nurse or a different kind of Dr.
Hyrum: Baby Dr.
Shailee: Yah, Hyrum and I will be your baby Doctors and take care of you until you're better.

My Baby Doctors then proceeded to poke and prod me much the way the adult kind do. Oh sweet, sweet babies. They are my joy.

Waiting

I thought I had life all figured out. I thought I could take on anything. I thought I was patient and calm and optimistic. I guess I've been a little prideful. Because now I know, I don't have all the answers and spending time on my knees cannot be just a going-through-the-motions thing anymore. I think I was praying as an afterthought..."I can handle this by myself Father in Heaven, but just in case..." No more of those prayers. And I am not patient or as calm as I thought. And I am much much more selfish than I want to be. And it feels good to say that. So here is to a new chapter of my life where I will really pray and really listen hopefully. And here is to all the refining to come, I hope it is thorough.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Home

Well, I'm home with a probable diagnosis coming up later this week and I'm feeling very hopeful and optimistic. I know my Father in Heaven knows me, my needs, my limits etc. and it will all be ok. Thank you for all the prayers, visits, love I'm feeling them.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Rest and Relaxation

I'm taking a little vacation at the local hospital. My body seems to be at war with itself these days and I'm hoping to find some peaceful ground here. It is a blessing to be so well taken care of by friends and family. I'm feeling the tender mercies of our Father in Heaven. Everything feels a bit more precious in these situations, I think my children are angels and my husband is a Saint.

Don't really want to focus too much on this I'm ready to be done with it all but I guess if I don't talk about the trial I really can't explain the blessings coming from it. I've been having skin issues, inflamation, infection. They have called it dermititis, cellulitis, skin disorders among other things. This is my second trip to the hospital. I've seen allergist, dermatoligist, internists etc. Done alot of tests for autoimmune disease, thyroid problems, virus, and bacterial infection, allergies, food intolerance....No answers so far. A few more theories to explore. I feel optimistic most of the time. This thing messes with my sleeping and that gets hard because it in turn messes with everything else. I guess that's the gist of it going on a little over two years now.

And now the blessing...feeling the love, cherishing things more including my husband my children, days free of discomfort, Every time I get to excersize, becoming closer to my Savior and feeling his tender mercies, Family, Friends, long talks late at night, visits from friends and family, talking to my babies on the phone,pictures from my babies, knowing that some day I will have a perfected body and it's ok if it's not in this life, knowing that nothing can take away the possability of joy in the real things, knowing that my life thus far has been rich and full so I can trust my Father in Heaven that it will continue to be, love, love, love.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Coles Family at the MTC

new haircut, new car

The car will be pretty again next week.

Too much winter...

Seems like it has been snowing for weeks. At first it was new and exciting but finally I think the kids started longing for something else. The other day they found the simming things I had packed away in the closet and, pretending the living room floor was the pool, they enjoyed swimming for an hour. Our imaginations are powerful tools.

Shailee and Hyrum with some of our neighbor friends enjoying the snow.

Shailee at the local ice skating rink

Hyrum with our snowman

Hyrum with our friend Lucy at the iceskating rink.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Out with the olde in with the new

Probably a pretty common new year title but I'm posting this in February because our computer is finally functioning again. Hurray. We have been kept a little humble these past few months it feels like. No computer, no car (twice)...but we have really felt the blessings of loving friends and family. Here is the story, pictures to come maybe(our disk drive still isn't working)...While returning Cole's younger brother to the airport in Columbus, OH we hit a deer and totalled our cute little volvo wagon. When I saw our car in the shop all disheveled I felt as though I were looking at a dead pet. So many memories in that piece of metal. It was sad. But we moved on because we had to and found a beautiful Kia Sedona mini van. We enjoyed the luxuriously spacious interior and shiny exterior for about four days before I was rear ended by an Expedition while stopped at a red light. This added a new feature, rear air conditioning, actually we already had that. Well, it's just a car and we were probably getting too prideful about it anyway. The van will be fine, but so much for checking the carfax report before purchasing it to make sure it was a clean vehicle. The kids still think it's great and I do to. Hyrum especially loves it.
I also got a new haircut which was kind of exhilerating because I cut off ten inches. I'll post pictures when I can.
Cole started his final semester of Radiology school! He has held up amazingly well and I'm quite proud of him.
We are surviving and enjoying life for the most part.

BABIES

updates on the things they do.

07-28-11

It is about time I started blogging again. Had a sweet moment with my babies yesterday. We got out a big piece of butcher paper, taped it to the floor and used markers to make a map of "our land". It was Hyrum's land initially so Shailee was really sweet to let him direct things and she made sure to ask permission before adding trees to his forest etc. They got really into it. When Coops woke up from his nap I thought the game would be over, but they encouraged him and told him what a great job he was doing making algae in their ocean with a green marker. "He keeps picking exactly the right colors," they told me excitedly. Coops felt very pleased with himself. Every few minutes they would run into the kitchen where I was cleaning dishes to give me the update on the map. Places like, "Kamodo River" and "Monkey Forest" and "Lava Mountains" appeared. They were literally jumping up and down and squealing with excitement about what they would create next.

A couple months ago Hyrum and his good friend were playing at the park when they decided to climb a tree. Their first attempts failed and we overheard them saying, " We're just not strong enough!" They proceeded to do push ups....then they ran back to the tree to try again.

Coops tried rollerskating today. He laughed when he fell down and was so determined to get out on the floor with the other kids that even though he couldn't skate there he started dragging his skate-clad feet behind him in an army crawl position to get onto the skate floor. A very determined little guy!

02-05-09
Last night I had a little tender moment with Shailee and Hyrum. While going through the bedtime routine we started talking about prayer and what we should pray for that night. Shailee suggested that we pray for a friends baby who is having health problems and Hyrum unprompted suggested we pray for Uncle Trent on his mission. Then they both suggested we pray for Cole. It was such a good feeling to know that they are learning the power of prayer and the meaning of it when I still have so much to learn myself.
After our prayer Shailee asked if we could talk about bodies and how they work which is one of her big interests. So we had a discussion about the cardiovascular system. She asked questions, I answered. It was pretty fun. She is so insightful and curious and it sparks new desire in me to learn and gain knowledge.
I've had some fun moments with Hyrum this week too. While Shailee is at preschool I get to see a new side of him because he usually follows her around mimicking her every move. It's fun to see what he thinks up on his own. Today he asked me to do some yoga with him. We have a yoga poster on the kids wall. He picked the poses he wanted to try and then asked me to show him how. He was so cute. He also asked me to read him some books. He loves books, library time, and reading as much as Shailee does. He has also begun to be very energetic . Jumping, tackling, wrestling, kicking, all things athletic. He also loves to help in the kitchen. If he hears me cooking he is at my side asking to stir and help. I think this is partly because he has a very healthy appetite and loves all different kinds of foods...spicy, healthy, sugary, anything edible he is willing to try it and usually likes it.
11-29-08
Today Shailee and i were irritating eachother and she said she was going to go find a new Mom. I told her I would miss her and she said she would miss her dad and that she was taking Hyrum with her because she would miss him too much. But later when I was putting the kids to bed she said she loved me and that she was sorry for being mean.

Hyrum is talking a lot now and sometimes I like to interview him. Today I was asking him about our family. "Do you have a Mom?" and I went down the list of family members. He said yes that he had a dad and a siser and grandmas, but when I asked him about Grandpas he said "no" as if I had asked him a silly question. So apparently we need to communicate more with the Grandpas.

11-12-08
Shailee is a verocious reader who will someday correct all my spelling and gramatical errors I'm sure. She doesn't actually read the words yet but she peruses books for hours on end. She also loves to listen to books on CD or we sit and read books out loud. Some of the books we love are....
Hey Wake Up- by Sandra Boynton
(she has this one memorized)
The entire Magic Tree House Collection
Book one of A Series of Unfortunate Events
Some of the Disney Fairy Collection
The Henry and Mudge books by Cynthia Rylant
The Olivia books
Eloise books (although I think she is very naughty)
Raold Dahl books
Babybug magazines

10-06-08
Hyrum's new words
"Rooooooar"
"Hello"
"A dat say" (what does that say) he was asking cole as they watched the World Series.
"Ruiz" (the Phillies catcher)
"I do it" or "A Me" pointing to himself sternly
"I don't know"

09-14-08
Hyrum is talking up a storm all of the sudden. He was refusing to say a lot of things except with sign language now it seems he adds three or more words a day to his vocabulary. "Wim!" for swim ,"A ome" for at home. Anyway it's fun to be suprised by his new words every day.
Shailee is loving preschool. Her favorite part is playing in the kitchen right now and the dress ups. She comes home with lovely finger paintings every time.
07-07-08
We spent today at home. We pulled the babies mattresses out into the living room and I got my excercise done while they occupied themselves jumping off couches and running around. Later we painted. I commented on Shailee's painting which was full of warm red and pink and yellow colors. "Those are pretty colors,"I said. My medically minded daughter replied, "It's blood, a picture of blood." Coming from another child this might sound morbid, but Shailee finds "blood and inside parts" and all functions of the body very interesting.
Before we painted I told Shailee that she and Hyrum had to be dressed. Hyrum was running around completely clothing free. Shailee proceeded to dress him dry diaper and all. I was pretty impressed. The diaper was put on correctly and his clothes matched and he just laid there patiently while she got him dressed. Their dialogue went something like this...
"Hyrum, Bud, do you want to paint?"
A nod from Hyrum
"Then you have to come get your clothes on, good boy. Just lay down while I put your britches on, put your legs down, good job"
It just can't be recorded how cute it is to hear Shailee talking to Hyrum as a tiny little mother and him listening so obediently to her commands.
06-13-08
Hyrum has, overnight it seems, turned into this little boy instead of a baby. He likes to tackle Shailee and me and Cole and anyone else he is familiar enough with. This is unfortunate for Shailee when she is sleeping. I've started putting up the baby gate on the kids room for her protection. Hyrum usually wakes up in our bed (this is something I wish to change, but am too lazy so far) and then goes looking for Shailee because he is lonely. She does the same thing if she is first up.

A confession not really about the babies
Today we made up some "responsability charts" for Hyrum and Shailee. I took pictures of them doing some of these responsable things and made them into laminated cards wich they switch from the "to do's" pocket to the "all done" pocket throughout the day as they complete them. Our house seems to breed clutter. Why is this! I can't seem to keep any flat surface clean for 24 hrs at a time. Not to mention that I'm terrible at doing the dishes. We always have clean clothes but they are usually in the dryer or in massive piles on the couch. So my theory is that if the kids feel more responsable for their things, I might get more of my responsabilities taken care of. I really want to be robbed by a kind-hearted theif who wants all our toys and old clothes and all the clutter from the shove-and-shut drawer in the kitchen.

05-05-08
My younger brothers like to play this video game called guitar hero. It involves "playing" rock music with an electronic guitar. I've found Shailee dancing to the music several times and, wow, I don't know where she gets it but she knows how to dance to rock music. This worries me just a little.
Hyrum has warmed up to my family a lot more than last time we were here, although he still won't voluntarily stray from my sight. I was once in the market with the Getchers and Ethan and Shailee were running around and all the sudden I panicked, "where's Hyrum?" He was in my arms. That is how second nature it is for me to be holding the cute little clinger. I know someday I will truly miss how much he feels he needs me right now, but I will be happy for him when he finds a little more independance.
04-09-08
Shailee often astounds us with the things she says. Sometimes they are just simple things, but sometimes it doesn't feel like she is just 31/2. more on that later.
03-17-08
The other day shailee was teasing hyrum. I was doing dishes and he ran behind my legs for protection but shailee was still poking him. He was screaming at her and she was sweetly singing, "Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too..." Apparently the message of that song was not sinking in.

We put our vaccuum to sleep now. Hyrum was so obsessed with it that after vaccuuming twice a day for weeks I had to come up with a plan. So we lay the vaccuum down and hyrum gives it a blanket and we only wake it up once a day now.

02-11-08
Shailee has a world of imaginary creatures that follow us around. A lion named Brookie Cookie, tonight she is at home having a movie night with her mom and dad. There is also a bear who's parents decided not to name him and then left on vacation so he is staying with us. Shailee says the bear does not miss his parents. A frog who's house is far far away. We have to make sure and buckle these guys in the car when they come with us and I've been told that I need to let them in the front door when they knock.
Hyrum is growing in his ability to communicate with us which is a lot of fun. He is using signs like "more" and "finished" and he throws his diaper in the trash when we ask him to after he's been changed unless he gets destracted on the way to the garbage, by a ball or a puppy usually. He also throws a lot of other things away that don't need to be thrown away. He's defending himself against Shailee's tyrany now wich is good for both of them.
02-17-08
Yesterday Shailee turned on a kickboxing dvd and started working out and Hyrum joined her. Now Hyrum is walking around punching the air and making grunting noises, it's pretty cute. Hyrum has been repeating some words too like "backpack" and he learned how to say "ball" which he is pretty excited about.
02-22-08
Today at playgroup Shailee and her friend Ethan got in an argument about who was stronger. It got pretty heated and once they were seperated Shailee flexed her muscles and said, "Heavenly Father just made me stronger."I don't know where this idea of competition came from or why they both felt so adament about it. By the way, Ethan and Shailee once "got married" while they were playing. He decided the first thing to do after that was have prayer and scripture study and then kiss, but upon the attempted kiss Shailee pushed him over. Ethan is a fabulous young man and we would make no protests to this match, but apparently he has his work cut out for him if they ever do decide to marry twenty years from now.
02-26-08
Hyrum had his 15mo check up today and got some immunizations. It was sad because he was all relaxed and trusting (he is at peace with the world when he is in nothing but his diaper) and then we laid him down and he knew something was up. He screamed pretty loud for about 10 seconds and then he was fine. I destracted him by saying, "Let's put your stompers on!" That's what we call his shoes and he gets so excited about putting them on. All we have to say to make him happy these days is, "where are your stompers?" or "Let's find a ball."
Hyrum also gets really happy about the vaccuum. Either he is a neat freak like his father or he likes the sound. It probably has more to do with the fact that Shailee sometimes likes to run trying to dodge the vaccuum when I turn it on. She laughs really hard about this game. Hyrum used to be terrified about the vaccuum but after watching Shailee he plays this game to. He frequently pulls me over to it and points, "Uh, uh?" hopeing that the floor needs a cleaning.
And now some tragic news, Shailee has taken up sucking her thumb. We allowed her to keep her binky for three years(mistake #1) to avoid this exact happening. What do we do now? She has been rid of the bink for almost six months but that would be better on her teeth right? and how do you take away a thumb? I do not underestimate her cleverness and this may become yet another thing she will outsmart me on or I could just give in. Uhhgg. I'm not impressed with my parenting skills.
Round #2 who is stronger, Shailee or Ethan. We had to pry them apart again on monday. It's so funny because they play together extremely well except for this one current argument which gets so heated. Ethan was practically in tears with frustration and happy to concede that they were both the strongest but my too strongly willed daughter was taunting him and refusing to back down until I explained to her that she could lose a friend this way and she decided she like Ethan more than being, "the strongest".