Jacob's Baptism

Jacob was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints last Saturday, March 6, 2010. He was able to have Grandma and Grandpa Burke and Grandma Brown and her husband, Paul visit. Aunt Kristin and cousin Emily drove down from Washington D.C. as well. Our friends, the Gardners, and our neighbors, the Pegrams, came as well. It was a special day for Jacob. We gave him new scriptures with a camouflage scripture case (I knew he would love the case!).

Update on Emma

Emma is home resting now after her knee surgery. The surgery itself took about an hour and a half longer than we expected. So after waiting 3 hours and still hearing nothing Dusty and I were very anxious and concerned. But the doctor finally came out and told us that everything had gone well. We still had to wait another hour for them to let us go back and see her. When they finally took us back we had to wait in the room where she would be staying, but she was still not there. They finally wheeled her back and all I wanted to do was hold her (of course I couldn't though).

That night turned out to be a rough one for Emma. They had been giving her morphine, but her last dose of it caused a rash up her arm and they were concerned that her i.v. had gone bad or that she was having an allergic reaction the the morphine. So they decided to switch her to oral drugs, Motrin and Tylenol with codeine. About 10 PM, right after she had fallen asleep, they told us they were moving us to a new room. This left us with a new nurse who asked the same old questions all over again and who thought they needed to poke and prod.

This began our night from HELL. Emma cried all night long. We couldn't get her to take her medicine because she was so upset that she hurt. I was finally able to help her do it, but this was after the nurse had bribed her with a stuffed animal. We ended up with 4 new stuffed animals from this night. Emma wouldn't eat or drink either. She had a bad cough from the tube they had put down her throat and she kept coughing which she said made her leg hurt. About every 2 hours she would wake up crying and we would start the process over again with medicine and trying to get her to drink. When morning came and the housekeeping lady came in to refill our stock of paper towels I let her know what I thought about needing more towels. Dusty was supposed to go back to work that day, but without even knowing what kind of night we had, he felt like he needed to come and help with Emma and he took the day off. When he showed up around 8:30 AM we were both sleeping.

We got Emma to eat some breakfast and got her resting. And then the blasted physical therapist came in. They expected Emma to get up and walk with a walker. The walker is so cute and is a miniature of what they give old people, but at the time when the therapist was telling Emma to walk and Emma was screaming at her I did not think it to be a cute little walker at all.

Our doctor visited and decided that it was best for us to take Emma home where she would be more comfortable and bothered much less. We finally got out of the hospital about 2. We got Emma settled on the couch, her new permanent home, and she actually fell asleep. Dusty and I also laid down and slept for a bit.

That night Emma cried more and more. We couldn't get her to eat or drink anything but knew that we had to in order for her to take her medicine. I finally got her to drink some juice and Dusty got her to eat a piece of bread. I was a wreck at this point and left to get Lex and Jake from the church and to pick up a prescription. While at the church I called our home teacher and asked him to come help give another blessing. I didn't get home in time for the blessing. What I did get home in time for was the vomiting. That's right. Poor Emma was so nauseous. Somehow we got her cleaned up without hurting her and got her to drink, take her medicine, and fall asleep. She actually slept fairly well and only got me up a couple times (just like old times).

Today was a much better day. She asked to eat food today. She has been pulling herself up to sit and has been playing with her toys today. She also had me bring the laptop over and she playing for a long while on the computer. She seems to be feeling a bit better but won't even think about standing or walking. I also got her to let me carry her to the bathroom but she was not happy about it. We go visit the doc tomorrow and he is going to fit her with her knee brace. I don't know what kind of brace or what to expect. All I know is that for the next little while we will be carrying her. The doctor says that she will want to start walking within about a week.

Our ward has been very good to take care of us and watch over us. They have brought in meals and so many people have called to check up on us. I am so grateful for every one's help, prayers, and support to our family as we go through this rough time. Please continue to pray for Emma and our family.

Knee Surgery

Emma is having knee surgery today on both knees. She is having plates put in both of her knees and soft-tissue surgery on her left patella. Please have a prayer in your hearts for her.

Baptism

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Jacob!!!

Jacob is 8 years old today. He was born on the night of the closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT. Because of the Olympics there was super tight security at the hospital and everyone had to show i.d. to get in. We got a special Olympic blanket that has the Olympic logo on it. I have saved it for him to have as a keepsake when he is older. I gave birth to him naturally with no medicine. It was hard, but it was something that I wanted to do. We named him Jacob Paul. 'Paul' is after my grandfather, whose middle name was also Paul. The name 'Jacob' is from the Book of Mormon. We had the hardest time picking out a boy name. Finally, I pulled out the Book of Mormon and started listing every boy name. We finally decided on 'Jacob' as his first name. I remember when we found out we were having a boy. Dusty and I had made a bet. I said girl and Dust said boy and we bet that the person who was wrong had to make brownies for the other one. So, I made brownies that night to celebrate our little boy soon to be born.

Jacob is a lot like his dad. He is usually quiet, but when he does speak he is funny, funny. He defenitely has his Dad's sense of humor (thank goodness). He wants to do good and be good and tries really hard to be a good brother. He was my cuddler when he was little and has since grown out of it. I guess I could try but he would probably look at me like an alien for doing it now. I cherish those times when I held him and cuddled him. I want so much for him and want to make his life good. I pray that Dusty and I can raise him to be a righteous man.

Enough sappy stuff.

He had a party on Saturday and we went to the planetarium and saw a neat show. Today I took donughts to his class and tonight we are going to Chuck-E-Cheeses...yay!! This year we bought him a new bike for his birthday. We were sick of his cheap Wal-Mart bike breaking all the time so we got him a really nice one in his favorite color, orange.

Next week he will be baptised. Both sets of grandparents are flying out for it and Dusty's sister is driving down from D.C. We feel very grateful that our families are coming all this way to support Jacob.

So here are a couple pics of Jacob. He is my boy. I love you Jacob.

Love,

Mom

Snow Days

We have been having fun playing in the snow here in North Carolina. We didn't think it got this cold here. Anyhow, my post is below all the pictures. Blogger is giving me problems and it won't let me move any of the pictures to where I want. So you get to see all the pictures first and then you can read about it.

Enjoy.

The weather here is quite chilly! It started snowing Friday night and when we woke up Saturday morning the entire neighborhood was covered in...WHITE. Our kids had spent the night at the Gardner's house, so Dusty and I got ready and headed up to their house. The Gardner's and their neighbors all live on a circle with hills for driveways. So you can imagine the fun that we had sledding down the drives. We were able to go all the way down the circle to the intersecting road. And of course, no one was driving so it was perfect. After we were frozen solid and could no longer feel our toes or fingers we went inside and had soup and played board games. We had a great time hanging out with our friends.

Today, church was cancelled. So we stayed at home by the fireplace and stayed warm.

Tomorrow, school is cancelled. Now I think they are going overboard here, but that is just me being cooped up in the house for 3 days with everyone. So what do I know? I know that if this were Nebraska we would have bucked up and gone to church and to school. But alas, it is not Nebraska. I guess they don't get much snow here so I will let them make a big deal of it. And hey, I got to stay in my p.j.'s all day today. Love that.

Dusty left this afternoon to go on a business trip all week. He's driving to South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, and one other state (I forgot which one). I hope I survive.

Life

~Entire family (except Jacob) had stomach flu at the same time. Lasted 5 days. Was nasty and horrible.

~Outrageous amounts of laundry to do because of previous entry.

~Yesterday was the first time in 5 days that I wore a bra, did my makeup, or left the house.

~Computer had virus for first 2 weeks of year. Now fixed thanks to a kind person in our ward.

~Behind on Relief Society stuff due to previous entry.

~Blew out rear passenger side tire when I took a turn to sharp and hit a drain grate in the curb.

~Had to pay $130 for a new tire.

~Got told I needed 2 new tires.

~Thank goodness for an emergency fund!!

~Am now paranoid about getting sick again.

~Thankful for good health and good friends who took care of us.

~Quit school.

~Went off Pepsi (woohoo for me)!!!

~Planning Jacob's baptism in March.

~My kids are growing up way too fast.

~Walking at least a mile every day with my hubby.

~Tired but happy.