Cora's Surgery Day

Today was the day I have been dreading for months....the day we had to take Corbie to Primary Children's to have her "Corbietoe" fixed! AAHHH!! It needed to be done. For those of you who may not remember, she was born with a "double-wide" big toe on her right foot. Sh had an extra bone in there and some extra muscles that were pulling all of her other toes over crooked. We wanted to have it fixed before she really started trying to walk, so now was the best time. Here are some pictures of her pre-surgery toe that I took last night:

Her surgery was this morning. Preston took the day off of work and stayed with Arden and Dax. We had to stop feeding Corbie after her bottle last night and could only give her clear liquids this morning before we left for the hospital. She usually eats a pretty big breakfast so I was worried that she would be screaming for food all morning, but she did GREAT! Here we are in the waiting room prior to the surgery:

I thought it was funny that they gave everyone in the waiting room a buzzer that lights up when it is your turn, exactly like the ones they give out at restaurants. Corbie had a great time playing with the buzzer and the other toys in the waiting room, and it seemed like no time at all until our buzzer was blinking. We went back to a pre-op room and her surgeon, the anesthesiologist and a blur of nurses all sticking things in Corbie's ears, mouth, etc. paraded through. Then I had to change Corbie into her hospital gown, and the moment I was dreading was coming ever closer. Here is my brave girl right before the long walk down the hall to the operating room:


Of course I couldn't go into the OR with Corbie, so when we got to the doors I had to hand my little baby girl off to the doctor and wave goodbye as she disappeared around the corner. She was so brave and only cried a little (that I could hear). I tried really hard to follow her example and I only cried a little too. I got a hold of myself and headed to the parents' waiting room. The surgery lasted less than two hours, but I think time somehow slowed down in there and it seemed like FOREVER. Finally the doctor came in and told me that the surgery had gone perfectly! HOORAY! I was so relieved and grateful, but I was still worried about how Corbie would do coming out of the anesthesia. They took me to the recovery room, and here is what I found:


It was hard to see here there hooked up to so many machines and not be able to scoop her up and hold her. The nurse there was a little worried that Corbie's temperature was a little low and she was slow to wake up. The nurse was shaking her and pinching her a little to try and get her to open her eyes, but she was pretty out of it. She finally opened her eyes for a few seconds, but she was totally glazed over and didn't focus on my face. But apparently it was enough, because soon we headed over to the post-op area to wait for her to finish waking up. She just slept and slept for the first 45 minutes or so, but the sweet nurses were monitoring her and kept assuring me that everything was fine (I must have looked a little stressed out). She finally started to come around. Here she is after she woke up a little:

She looked around and then found my face and smiled. I begged to hold and and the nurses said it would be fine. It was kind of tricky to get her out of the bed while she was still hooked up to her monitors because of all of the cords and cables, but the nurses helped. She looked at me and smiled for a little longer, and then drifted back off to sleep. Soon it was time to check her vital signs again, and she woke up when I was putting her back in the bed so the nurses could do that more easily. She was awake for good after that, but she still didn't cry very much at all.
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Before we could leave I had to get Corbie to drink a little big of glucose water, which took me another half an hour or so. By the time she had finally finished enough water, she was WIDE awake and curiously fiddling with the tubes and her IV. When she started trying to pull the IV out so she could get a better look at it, I called the nurses over. They FINALLY agreed to let go home (after a quick stop by the pharmacy for some serious pain meds, of course!).
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We can't really see Corbie's toe yet because they put a big cast over it. It was really the only way to keep her toe safe. She would have completely ripped off any soft bandages and probably pulled out her stitches by now if they weren't protected by the cast. But, hey, at least it is pink!

She has been doing pretty good this evening, but I am not sure how much of that is due to the pain medication. We will have to see how things go tonight and tomorrow.
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Overall, I am incredibly happy. Today went as well as I could possibly have imagined. The surgery went well, and Corbie doesn't seem to have been too traumatized by it at all. Hopefully our luck will hold and she will be able to heal quickly and easily! She has to keep her cast on for three weeks or so, and then we can get our first look at the new and improved Corbietoe. We will keep you posted on how things are going.
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Thanks everyone for your help and support!!!

Teeth are HARD (in more ways than one)!

Oh those little baby teeth are soooooooo cute! But holy cow it sure is hard getting them here! Corbie has had her bottom two teeth for a few weeks, and now she is finally getting her top two front teeth. Let's just say she has been juuuuuust a teeny bit grouchy about the whole thing. I hope they are as cute as her bottom teeth!!!

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Poor little Corbie has to have surgery on her toe next week, and I am stressing about it to say the least. We are lucky to have Primary Childrens hospital so close to us, and I am thankful that it is just an outpatient procedure and that she won't have to stay overnight. However, she does have to go under general anesthesia, which makes me very nervous. Hopefully everything will go smoothly! Wish us luck!

Things are funnier when I am tired...

Preston was out of town this whole week, and by Wednesday I was getting tired...I wrote this post then but didn't get around to posting it until today:

Today started out pretty good. Dax woke up earlier than usual this morning (...no, that isn’t the good part). I brought him back to my room hoping he could watch an episode or two of Shaun the Sheep and that I could get a little more time in bed with my eyes closed. Amazingly, Dax just snuggled with me and soon went back to sleep. It was HEAVEN! Not only did I get to stay in bed a little longer, but I got to get in lots of Daxton snuggles. But all too soon Arden and Corbie were up and it was on with the day.

After a hectic but ordinary breakfast came bath time. Corbie isn’t quite ready for the big tub, so she sits by me while I wash the other two in the big tub, and then I wash her in the baby tub by the sink while the other two play in the big tub. Daxton has been on a throwing things kick lately, and after I got Corbie in her tub Dax started throwing the bath toys around. I told him if he threw one more toy that he would have to get out of the tub. He LOVES the playing in the bathtub, so I thought this would get his attention. However, he immediately threw a boat across the tub, missing Arden’s head by millimeters. I heaved a big sigh, grabbed Dax's dinosaur towel and got the boy out of the tub. The floor was pretty wet due to the fact that Corbie has discovered the joys of splashing. That girl can swamp a bathroom in no time flat. Anyway, I was worried Dax would slip on the wet floor, so I set him down in the hall outside the bathroom door while I got Corbie out of the tub. He immediately stood up, took off his towel, yelled “PEE-PEE!” and proceeded to pee on the carpet. Joy. I had a wet slippery baby in my hands so all I could do was yell for him to STOP! He stopped peeing, smiled at me and ran to Corbie’s room. I quickly wrapped Corbie in her towel and followed Dax, fearful of what I would see when I found him. Sure enough, he was standing in Cora's room, finishing up his pee on the carpet in front of her rocking chair. Huge smile on his face.

Let’s just say the whole day has been like that. Some other highlights:

• Arden emptying an entire box of Kleenexes into her garbage can, one by one, while I was trying to get Corbie down for a nap. She called it her "tissue mountain."
• Daxton throwing anything he could get his hands on down the stairs ALL day (it was a fun game the kids played at my sister’s house last weekend. Having a HARD time convincing Dax it doesn’t work at our house).
• Arden coming down the stairs COMPLETELY BUCK NEKKID and holding her Tinkerbell costume….in the middle of a playdate with 5 other kids and 2 other moms watching. Nice. (I don’t know why she thinks Tinkerbell doesn’t wear panties, but every time she puts on her Tinkerbell costume lately, she wants to go commando. I am pretty sure that all pixies are required to wear underwear, what with the flying overhead and all. There would probably be complaints if pixies went around panty-less. Anyway.....)
• Arden getting mud all over the floor in Daxton’s room because she was “helping” me water the plants. Such good intentions, such messy results.
• Corbie almost eating a huge spiderman sticker the Daxton stuck to her shirt. I had to pry it out of the back of her mouth with Corbie screeching like it was the best thing she had ever eaten and why oh why would I take it away?

By the evening I was pretty worn out. While cleaning up, Daxton found the lid to one of our hand sanitizers. He put it in his mouth and squeezed with his teeth, and I swear that lid flew 20 feet and hit the opposite wall. It also made a lovely popping sound as it left his mouth. Immediately Daxton, Arden and I started giggling uncontrollably. For some reason I found it hilarious. He did it again and again and I think he may have found his talent in life. He could hit Arden square in the chest when she was standing at least 10 feet away. Side-splitting entertainment. Only after the initial buzz had worn off a little did I think of getting the video camera to document this important moment for posterity. By the time I got out the camera, some of the thrill was gone, but here is a small idea of what I am talking about:

Is this funny, or am I just completely losing my mind? Probably a little of both.

Luckily, Preston got back early this morning and I am looking forward to getting more sleep tonight. Hopefully my brain will start functioning normally soon.

Also, GO AWAY HAZE!!!

Nursery is a No-Go.

Today was Daxton's first solo mission in nursery, and it did not go well. I took him down as usual and he seemed okay, but said a quiet little "Ahh-din?" to himself as we were walking down the hall. That is when I knew we might be in trouble. I tried to act confident and tell him how much fun he was going to have in nursery with all the friends and TOYS! I brought him into the nursery room and he took a look around, looked me in the eyes and said (you guessed it): "AH-DIN? AH-DIN!" I had been trying to explain to him for a few days that Arden wasn't going to come to nursery with him anymore, but apparently it didn't sink in. I told him Arden was in her sunbeams class, and I found him some animal toys. I stayed a minute or two until he was engrossed in making the animal sounds for each one. I gave him a quick squeeze and told him I would be back to get him in a little while, and headed for the door.

My escape went well, all seemed quiet. I stealthily looked through the window at him, and I could see him looking around with his brow furrowed. I quickly ducked when he started to look my way, but I wasn't quick enough. Our eyes met one split-second before I could move, and that is when heard the crying start. One of the nursery leaders scooped him up and started reading him a book. He seemed to be quieting down, so I tore myself away and headed up to class. I was too worried about him to really pay attention, so I decided after about 10 minutes that I better go and check on him again. It was a good thing I did, because one of the nursery leaders met me halfway down the hall with a very distraught little Dax. Poor baby! I held him for a minute until he calmed down, and then we headed back into nursery. He was perfectly fine...as long as he was wrapped around me or sitting in my lap or on my foot. Once I went across the room to get him a tissue and he totally freaked out. Even if I tried to stand a few feet away from him he would start to cry. Even though he was in physical contact with me nearly the whole time, he kept saying "Mom? Mom? Mom?" every few seconds to make double sure I was still there.

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Eventually I gave up and brought him to class with me for a while, because I don't want him to get used to me staying in nursery with him and expect me to do it every week. He kept hugging me and saying "hug" like he was so grateful I hadn't left him again. On one hand, I love Daxton hugs and hadn't had so many in such a short time for a while. On the other hand, my hopes for getting him back down weren't looking good. After a while, Preston took him back down for a around the snack time and Dax was a lot less clingy with him, but still looked up every so often to make sure he was still in the room. Total failure!

I guess we will just keep trying and hopefully one of these weeks he will feel comfortable again. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, please leave a comment!

Since there are of course no pictures to go along with the nursery incident, here are some cute ones of Corbie for you...she is a really good army crawler, but hasn't quite figured out how to keep her tummy off the ground.

Sunbeans!!!

This last week was Arden's very first week in her Sunbeams class at church!

She has been dying to be a "sunbean" for months now. I think that she has been even more excited to graduate from nursery since Daxton started attending nursery with her a few weeks ago. It was great for Dax to have Arden in nursery with him for the first few weeks. She did a great job helping Daxton feel comfortable, especially that first hard week. But Daxton follows her around like a shadow and I think she likes to have a little time away from him once in a while. (The fact that Daxton tackled her and made her hit her head on a toy the second week he was in nursery also might have something to do with her desire for some time apart).

Daxton loves his big sister so much. The first word out of his mouth nearly every morning as I lift him out of his crib is "AHH-DIN?" I am a little worried about how he is going to handle going to nursery without her. (he had a cold last Sunday so we will have to wait until this week to find out).

I have also been wondering about how Dax is going to handle all of the coloring that goes on in nursery without Arden there making sure he doesn't eat the crayons. Every time we color, Dax tries to sneak the crayons into his mouth. He isn't very sneaky...he usually takes a long look at the crayon and then looks up at me with a sneaky little smile on his face to see if I am watching right before he tries to take a bite. Today I thought that I would just let him bite the crayon and hopefully get it out of his system (the label says "non-toxic, right?). Here is his reaction:

Those crayons don't taste so good after all, do they?

Top Ten of the Last Decade

Happy New Year Everyone! I can't believe it has really been ten years since the year 2000! I remember spending New Years Eve that year at home with some friends and watching as the new century came across the world. I was relieved that nothing horrible happened after of all of the Y2K hype. But I remember feeling just a teeny bit disappointed that absolutely nothing weird happened at all. (I didn't want any nuclear plants to blow up, but maybe it would have been nice if all of the slot machines in Vegas started cashing out or if everyone suddenly had free cable or something like that.)

I have been thinking about how much my life has changed in the last 10 years. Things have not exactly gone as I had planned during the last decade and there have been some hard times, but the good has definitely outweighed the bad. Here are my top 10 favorite things that happened during the last 10 years:

10. Making the decision to adopt. It may sound weird, but this was a great day for me. After years and years of trying this, trying that, getting this tested, getting that tested, taking this drug, taking that drug, trying this procedure....you get the picture. There was just so much uncertainty and I felt like I had no control over my own life. When we finally knew that adoption was right for us, it was so amazing to finally have a plan that we felt good about.

9. Traveling! I travelled a lot this decade both for work and for fun. Some favorite places include New York, Boston, Alaska, Hawaii, Turks & Caicos islands, Seattle, Cancun, San Francisco, and of course Disneyland/world. I have become a hotel snob during the last decade, but I am trying to get better.

8. Passing the CPA exam. The CPA exam was a horrible, 2-day long test with four grueling parts. I studied a lot, and was hoping to pass it all on my first try (my boss at my internship during college had taken it six times and still not passed it all). I was so excited when I got my test results and I passed all four parts! I did a little happy dance. I told Preston that I was going to start signing everything (checks, letters, emails, etc.) as "Chrystie Zaugg, CPA." Of course I have never signed anything like that, but I COULD if I wanted to.

7. My first (and hopefully not my last) trip to Europe! Preston and I went to England and France and had a great time sightseeing, going to plays and museums, and of course, eating a lot of food. Some favorites were Stonehedge, Bath, and of course Paris, but I liked London most of all.

6. Getting my first real, professional, post-college job! I was able to get a job with one of the "Big Four" accounting firms in Salt Lake City right out of college. It was really competitive market, so I felt really lucky to be hired by the firm I really wanted to work for, PricewaterhouseCoopers. I worked there for four years. I learned a LOT and it was an intense, but good experience.

5. Buying our first real house! We did a lot of the work on the house ourselves, and sometimes it seemed like it would never be done. When we moved in, we had practically no furniture and a TON of empty rooms. We have nearly filled it up now! I love our house and we hope to be able to stay here for years and years to come.

4. Graduating with my Master's Degree in 2001! I was soooo glad to be finally done with school, and more importantly, done with homework FOREVER. (until my kids have to do homework, that is).

#3, #2, and #1: My three adorable kids! I have three of the most beautiful children on Earth. They have changed everything. They are my world. They are my sunshine and they are my rain. They make me laugh, they bring me unbelieveable happiness, and they occasionally drive me a little insane. I am so lucky to be able to be their mother, and I thank God every day for them. None of the other things that have happened in the last 10 years can even come close.

It has been an amazing 10 years, and I can't wait to see what the next 10 years will bring. By January 1, 2020, Arden will be a TEENAGER.

Yikes.