The Handleys!

Quick Update

2012-02-02T15:52:00.000-08:00

Surgery went well yesterday, but Ava has had more pain than usual so we are going to stay another night. Later in the afternoon today she began playing with some little cars and talking to herself in her usual playful way, so we are happy that she is feeling more like herself. She is sleeping peacefully now so that is always a good thing in the hospital.

Surgery #12 CHOP

2012-02-01T09:14:00.000-08:00

We skipped the post on surgery #11. That was the one on her lip at Hopkins and was not a pleasant experience at all. We are glad to be done with that one! Surgery# 12 is today at 11:00 am to expand the right and replace the left VEPTR as well as have ear tubes placed. We wanted to give Ava a little reward in advance, so we let her watch Caillou when she woke up this morning. We try to limit her Caillou watching for many reasons (can drive me crazy), but since she has such a love for the show, we couldn't withhold. Ava has done really well this time around with trying to be a good sport about surgery related things. On Monday we came up to Philadelphia for pre-op stuff and though some tears were shed, I noticed a big difference with Ava's willingness to try to go along with it all. I found if I explained things beforehand, she seemed to have more of a determination to be brave, although you can't blame the crying when the actual needle pokes. She has continued to have an amazing attitude that I have a lot to learn from!

Ava is a silly billy. Here she is just hanging out in her crib being a silly billy.

There really isn't alot of variety with this whole process, which can make these posts rather dry and repetitive. I guess the hospital is not the most exciting thing to write about, but I do feel that Ava deserves some kind of tribute every time she goes through this. I was thinking about it this morning and I think I would feel scared to do just one of these surgeries, but Ava has had to do it over and over and will continue to. It is all she has ever known, but that doesn't make it less invasive or frightening for her. I am beginning to see how this process really is going to shape Ava's character for life. I am so proud of who she is and who she will be.

I think we will have a ton of these pictures by the end of it all. Blue hospital chair, sterile room, beautiful dozy little girl on giggle juice, and two anxious parents.

We will update when Ava is out of surgery.

Going Home

2011-09-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today has gone so incredibly well and they decided we can go home! Ava stood for the first time earlier and is even walking now. At first she was a little wobbly, but she is getting the hang of it. Dr Campbell wants us to come back in 4 months because she is growing so much, so I guess we will be back soon. CHOP is beginning to feel like our second home in a strange kind of way. We are so relieved it's gone so well, and now she just has to heal. Here are some pictures from the day.

Relief

2011-09-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well, everything went very well today. I have to thank Heavenly Father and all those who prayed for Ava and kept her in your thoughts. Dr. Campbell is a great surgeon and CHOP is a great hospital, but I have to say I felt something today that compels me to give thanks to Heavenly Father for orchestrating all these things to work out and to all of the people who helped draw down the power of Heaven on Ava's behalf. There are always so many risks and difficulties involved with surgery and I don't understand how it all works, why sometimes things work out better than others, but I can't deny the feeling I had today that Ava has been blessed and so have we.

Here are some pictures from the day. Ava had her post surgery moments of being groggy and a little wincing from time to time, but it's pretty amazing, she hasn't seemed to experience much pain and everything has gone so smoothly I can hardly believe it. I would have to say this is the best it's ever gone post-op. Dr. Campbell said it all went smoothly also. If we are lucky, Ava might go home tomorrow. Most of these pictures were taken early in the day when she wasn't feeling as well, but tonight she was crawling around her crib and making her stuffed animals dance.

The big day-Surgery # 10

2011-09-27T06:01:00.000-07:00

Today is Ava's expansion/partial replacement of right VEPTR surgery. I can't say it's getting easier at this point to let Ava go into surgery. It always pulls at our hearts to let our sweet Ava go into surgery. Ava is a little angel. She gets upset and screams and cries when she is afraid of something a nurse has to do, but I can't even say what a good sport she is about mostly everything. It makes me tear up just writing about it. This morning as we drove to the surgery, it was around 5:30 am and definitely too early for Ava to be awake, but she was just humming and talking sweetly in her car seat as she looked out the window. I couldn't help but feel we were riding in the car with an angel. She is getting older and i think she has more stress about the surgeries than ever before, but she really is so patient and forgiving. Of course I'm her mom and definitely biased, but we just love this little girl!

I don't think I mentioned it yet, but Dr. Campbell had said at her last surgery in June that we could wait 6 months until her next surgery. At her follow up appointment early this September however, he took a look at her x-rays and said, "this girl is growing like a weed!" He said she needed surgery soon, and here we are, back in a little less than 4 months for another one. I am so glad she is growing well. We do have the G-tube to thank a lot for that. A lot of these kids struggle to gain weight because of burning so many calories from breathing so fast and other issues, and although it is my great desire to be rid of the G-tube, for now it's really helping our little girl. Today Dr Campbell is expanding the Veptr's in her back and replacing a part of her right one which will cause her to be a little more sore than a typical expansion. They started the actual surgery at 9:00 and a nurse came in just now at 10:00 to tell us they are finishing up! That was super fast! We will keep updating as time permits.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVA!

2011-08-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

Two years old! I can't believe it! We were planning to go to a petting zoo this morning for Ava's Birthday, but with it being rainy and not knowing exactly when mean old hurricane Irene was coming, it all put a damper on our plans. Grandma and Grandpa Smith are also away right now in Alaska so we weren't planning on having the full Birthday celebration with cake and everything until they get back anyway. It just felt a little funny; being such a great day to celebrate such a great girl and not having more going on. I felt bad that I hadn't planned better, but at the last minute we decided to buy a little cake mix and have cupcakes and dinner with the Brownings. It was nice. Ava was happy to play with her cousins and I think she felt like it was a special day even though we didn't do a lot. She did get some great gifts from Grandparents and was VERY happy about that(thank you Grandparents)! Elijah and Ivy made a cute sign for Ava to see when she came upstairs and that made it feel more special and official! I guess I just had more of an expectation of what this birthday should mean or be because last year Ava had just had her cleft palate repair and had to wear no-no's on her arms. I imagined all these perfect scenarios of how it was going to be, things I would make, and how it would make up for last year, and in the end it wasn't like any of those I imagined, but Ava was happy. I think I'm learning that it really doesn't take much and things don't need to be perfect; in fact they really shouldn't be. Adults get these funny ideas in their heads of what it means to be happy, and then kids remind you how it really is. I have so much to say about Ava, how well she is doing, how much she has come alive in the last while and how she is such a bright star in our lives. Morgan and I couldn't feel luckier to be the parents of Ava. I will write more this next week as well as post a slideshow of Ava's first 2 years. Here are a few pictures from the fun evening we had with Ava and the Brownings.

We went in on this kitchen with my parents and Ava absolutely loves it! I do too and don't mind it being in our family room because it's so cute. We probably won't leave it in the middle of the room but it's very pleasant and just the perfect size for Ava.

Goodnight little frog!

Resting

2011-06-02T06:13:00.000-07:00

Ava sleeps peacefully now. Surgery went well yesterday, but it was a little harder on Ava than last time because Dr Campbell had to replace part of the rod and it makes her a little more sore than just a regular expansion. This morning she is still pretty out of it and not her normal self quite yet, but she shows small signs every once and a while that she will come around soon. Dr Campbell said he stretched her out quite a bit and showed us the x ray which looks better than before. Morgan and I tried sharing one of the small chairs to sleep on last night and couldn't ever get comfortable so we are a bit groggy today, but other than that we are happy Ava is okay.

Back to Philadelphia-Surgery # 9

2011-06-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

We're back to Philadelphia for Ava's 2nd expansion surgery. Things are going very well. Ava is still in surgery now but every so often they give us updates to let us know how it's going, and so far so good. Ava has been doing very well lately and even began walking a couple weeks ago! We couldn't be happier with her progress and will keep updating!

Something new

2011-04-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

Good things do happen. Morgan got a job! We found out in March and it's taken me this long to write about it. Its for a Landscape Architecture firm in Columbia/Clarksville Maryland. We couldn't believe it worked out. It was one of the jobs he was most interested in and it happens to be pretty close to my parents house in Maryland. We move next week! Its so soon and not quite real to me yet. We will say goodbye to Logan which will be sad in some ways, but we are glad to be moving on. It will be weird leaving Utah behind for good. We are so used to coming back all the time. It's this world thats always there. It's a place that feels very protected from the rest of the world, very innocent and safe and has a character you won't find anywhere else. I will miss that, and family and friends that are still here. We are excited to go back east to be near my family and all the loveliness of Maryland too though. Oh Life!

So far so good

2011-02-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

Surgery went very well yesterday. Dr. Campbell expanded both rods and bent one of them to help straighten her back a little more. He seems very pleased with Ava's progress and it is quite possible that we could go home today, if not tomorrow. Ava is still a little out of it and uncomfortable, but every now and then she shines through it all.

Surgery # 8

2011-02-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

My mind is kind of blank right now as we wait for Ava's surgery to be over. Whenever Ava is in surgery, this kind of happens to me. I don't really feel worried, I actually feel glad that she is finally here and we are getting it done with, but this whole experience can be pretty draining. She wasn't too happy when we got here and they had to draw blood. I didn't realize how strong she has gotten until they tried to take her blood and she fought like crazy. My least favorite part was when morgan, me, and the nurse had to hold her down, but eventually they got it. After they left, she fell asleep and woke up in a much better mood. We took a little video of the sweet pea before they took her away.

Untitled from Morgan Handley on Vimeo.

Cruising and crawling

2011-02-12T20:50:00.000-08:00

Ava has been doing great. Since the beginning of January, she began walking around the room (while holding on to things) and a few weeks ago she even started crawling! We never thought she would crawl because of her back, but she decided one day that she wanted to give it a try and just took off. Everyday she makes her rounds; from the chair to the couch to the bookshelf to the desk to the fridge and down the wall to the bathroom where she always tries to get to the toilet, but that is where she is stopped by me, mean mom. These last 4 months without any surgeries has felt like we have been on vacation, but soon it must end. We fly out east for her first expansion surgery this next week. It seems it is about time for her VEPTR to be expanded because she hasn't been able to keep her food down as well lately. This is Morgan's final semester and we have a lot to think about. We are looking for jobs (especially ones with good benefits), trying to sell our house, we have Ava's surgery, Alyssa is getting married in April (very exciting), and it seems like there are a lot of other details that I won't bother to mention, but it is craziness!

She is really good at getting all the magnets off but not back on

Playing hide and seek

Best of last month

2010-11-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

This last month was difficult but there has been a lot of good too. We made it through the second VEPTR! I don't know if I mentioned this, but Ava was sick right before we were supposed to fly out to Philadelphia and the stress was running high. It was a great blessing that she got better just in time for her surgery. It went so much better than we could have imagined. She was a lot stronger than the first time and everything went smoothly and quickly. Our families have really shown their love for us by sacrificing their time and energy to help however they could. Morgan's professors were all very understanding and didn't demand much from him while we were gone. Things are slowly beginning to normalize. We are so happy about that.

Linda has been so great to come up to Logan to help with Ava on the weekends, so we have been able to get out a lot more than we used to. Thank you Linda! We are so grateful for giving us a much needed break. Morgan took me on a date to take pictures in the canyon. Pretty cool.

Our final follow up with Doctor Campbell after Ava's surgery. We will be back in February for expansions.

We got to spend more time with my wonderful parents. They were amazing and stuck by us through Ava's surgery. The hospital is not the most comfortable place to hang out day in and day out, but they did it. During this very difficult year with Ava they have done so much to make things more comfortable for us and we thank them with all our hearts!

Ava has been a lot happier. She is healing well and only has a couple weeks left before she is considered completely healed. She has been coming alive more and more every day.

Going Home

2010-10-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

We are going home today! Yay! More later.

Staying Put

2010-10-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

Ava continues to do very well. Some of the doctors in the PICU were saying that Ava could probably go home tomorrow, but then Doctor Campbell seemed to think that was kind of crazy. He seemed to think that Ava should stay around longer, so we aren't sure when we will be leaving. The only bad thing was that Ava had a fever, but they don't seem too worried about that at this point. She is pretty happy, but it's hard to have her laying around all day in the same spot. Grandma and Grandpa Smith spent a good amount of time with her while we went back to the Ronald Mcdonald House to do laundry and relax a little. We both got to hold Ava, which was wonderful and she seemed to love it, but then got a little sore so we had to put her back. At this point Doctor Campbell said her expansions will be every 4 months and that he would like to do them at least the next couple of times. We are happy that things remain calm and uneventful. We will continue to give updates.

Surprisingly good

2010-10-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

We have been amazed at how fast Ava seems to be recovering! She was taken off oxygen today and kept her saturation up in the 98% range. That is a remarkable saturation for so soon after surgery. They took two IV's out and she only has one left. She didn't have to be on any heavy narcotics all day long, though they might give her some for the night since the night is the worst time for pain. She waved, pointed, clapped, said mama, and watched baby einstein. She absolutely loves baby einstein, especially on-the-go. We were indulgent and let her watch it 2 times. If everything goes as well as today she could possibly leave this weekend. We hope she does! We will be happy to leave the hospital. Thanks to all who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers. Ava has a lot of love around her which makes the weight of these things not so heavy.

We made it

2010-10-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

Everything went perfectly today. They were able to do the surgery in a much shorter amount of time than last time. Ava was so brave and did amazingly. It's true that she didn't have a choice, but she handles all the stress, pain, and trauma with such grace. Really, for a baby she is handling all of this incredibly well. She has been pretty awake, considering it's the same day as her surgery. Sometimes she gets really uncomfortable and it's so hard to deal with, but then she will try to clap her hands or suck on one of those sponge lollipops. Will write more tomorrow, so tired tonight.

Big day tomorrow

2010-10-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

Today went well at CHOP. Dr. Campbell was so warm and kind to us. He said that Ava is looking good and seemed optimistic about her. He is so calm that it makes us feel a little better about everything. I think we are ready for tomorrow, as ready as we will ever be.

VEPTR #2

2010-10-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

After a flight to Denver, St. Louis, and then Philadelphia, we finally made it last night. I haven't really said much about this surgery, probably because it stresses us out to think about it. We have done it before, but we also know what to expect and knowing that is stressful. We hope with everything, that this will be what Ava needs. She has been struggling a lot, even though the first VEPTR did help. The second VEPTR on her right side is supposed to balance things out more but not necessarily make as big of a difference as the first. She needs it to make a difference though. She really needs help to breathe better and not throw up all the time. We are going to CHOP tomorrow for all of the Pre-Op stuff, and then her surgery will be on Tuesday. Morgan and I have been really worn out from it all. We need all the prayers and hope possible sent this way.

Cute little bug began standing again recently

Teaching Ava to knit a couple days ago

Home now

2010-09-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

We got home last night after being in the hospital for 6 days. Ava had to come home on oxygen and will have to be on it until she can get her breathing under control. It doesn't make sense to me why she still needs it now, but we know that her oxygen drops low when she gets upset or has to work harder for anything. We will keep her on it until she can keep her oxygen saturation levels up all the time. She is happy though, and waving to everyone she meets, plus she says mama pretty clearly now and I love it!

Oh Ava!

2010-09-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are again. The Hospital. We got back to Utah on Monday, but Ava had an accident so we are at Primary Children's now. I took her to the doctor's on Thursday morning and the doctor said it would be okay to take Ava out more, so that is what I did. And, that is where it all began. I decided to take Ava to a fabric store and put her in the stroller. We were having a grand old time looking at fabrics and letting Ava feel the different textures. After a little while I heard her gagging, so I ran over to her and picked her up quickly so she wouldn't throw up. As I pulled her out, her stroller fell over and her legs got caught under the tray on the front of the stroller. All of this this jolted her body in a very unnatural way. This happened in a matter of seconds but it felt like forever. She screamed inconsolably for about 15 minutes and I got her out of the store but she was really fussy. I thought for sure something terrible happened to the VEPTR, so I called the doctor and we had it set up to get x-rays the next morning. In the middle of the night though, we woke up to her throwing up and breathing unbelievably fast so we decided to take her to the ER at Primary Children's. They said the VEPTR looked okay but couldn't figure out what was wrong at first and eventually discovered that she had fractured both of her legs. The worst part is that her breathing got worse and worse and her lung started to collapse a little, so they have her in the Intensive Care Unit trying to sort it out. She is on high flow oxygen and has to wear splints until they can put casts on her legs on Wednesday. She had a much better day today and was happy a lot but still breathing fast and very heavy. This is all so crazy! Unbelievable! I feel so horrible. We are hoping that she will begin to breathe better on her own, but for now it is kind of a mystery.

Ava clapping and in good spirits

Happy Birthday Ava !

2010-08-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a long year with this little one, but we can't imagine a sweeter baby. Ava has really been through it, but teaches us so much about resilience and pure love. She is fairly quiet but constantly studying people and I know she picks up on more than we realize most of the time. She is always ready for a good joke and makes it very rewarding to joke with her because of the laughs and head shakes you get in return. She loves books! You think she wouldn't care if you read her the same books over and over, but she is always ready for a new book! She gets the idea after a while and is ready to move on! Especially Eric Carle. She has a beautiful way of moving her hands. She likes to make them dance, even with a wave. Music really calms her, there is such a light in her eyes when she hears a good song. She loves stuffed animals that are very large. She likes to pick them up and carry them around even though they are the same size as her or bigger. She is very patient. Sometimes it takes us a long time to get everything ready for a feeding, and most of the time she just sits there calmly, just waiting. She really connects to you when you look at her. She stares right into your soul. Sometimes I don't know what to make of Ava; she can be a mystery. There is so much more to her than what I understand and I am excited to get to know her more. I never get tired of Ava even though I get tired from all that I have to do for her. Morgan calls her his littlle doll, and she really is. You have to meet her and spend some time with her and then you will know and see just how great she is!

Morgan made a delicious white cake with cream cheese frosting and I decorated it. Ava is still not aloud to put her hands in her mouth, but we let her play in the cake, and she loved it! I gave her a little ice cream on the tip of her tongue and she seemed to really enjoy it. We had a party with Grandma and Grandpa Smith, Natalie and her cute kids, Allison and sweet carriemarie, Susan, and us. Ava was a little shy of all the people, but enjoyed herself when cake time came around.

I made Ava a black apple doll for her birthday. I got the idea from Rachelle a long time ago and always wanted to make one. I like how she turned out, and Ava really liked her too!

Grandma Smith bought some balloons for the party, and Ava had never seen balloons before. She was entertained for quite some time playing with the string.

Ava had a great birthday! Thanks to all who came to her party and put so much into it to make it special. Thank you to those who could not be here, but would if you could, and all your love and thoughtfulness!

Feeling Better

2010-08-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

No smiles quite yet, but we got pretty close. Ava started reaching for her feet again, so I think things are looking up. She has to wear arm bands called no-no's. They prevent her from bending her arms to put her hands or any objects in her mouth. She doesn't seem to mind them too much now, but she is supposed to wear these for 3-4 weeks! Oh my. What is to become of us? One day Ava will be free. My mom hung out with me in the hospital room all day while Morgan went home for a much deserved rest. Things went well, but Johns Hopkins facilities are so cramped! We are stuck in a small space with 4 other babies who scream and cry at random and wake my poor baby up. I'm not crazy about this hospital right now, though the surgeon who operated on her is very respected and experienced so it makes it all worth it. Here are some pictures of her right after the surgery last night. You can see how much better she is doing now.

Totally exhausted and traumatized but so beautiful

Cleft Palate Repair

2010-08-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

This will be a short update since it is so late, but everything went well today. Ava's mouth is very sore right now and the bleeding hasn't stopped yet. She was coughing up a lot of blood earlier and it scared us a little, but she is stable now. Johns Hopkins only allows one parent in the PICU at night, so Morgan is there with her now. I am so grateful to him because the first night after surgery is the worst, and sometimes it is more than I can bear; especially being alone with nurses that aren't very attentive. We are so glad that things went smoothly, we love our little gal.

Update

2010-08-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up to this view in our backyard. So beautiful. It makes me feel like we live in a fairy-tale land. I tried to show Ava but she got distracted by a stuffed animal on the windowsill. I think she couldn't see that far away. How many deer do you see?

Ava has been quite flexible lately. I think she is experimenting with what she can do while being stuck in one place all the time. Tomorrow will be the end of the official 6 week healing time since her surgery. Her muscles have been really weak and she hasn't shown an interest in crawling or standing against things. Her legs usually just collapse, but she has just started using the jumper again which might help her gain some strength back.

Tomorrow is the big day for her cleft palate repair. The surgery will be at 3:15 in the afternoon. We are excited for it, but tired of putting Ava through yet another traumatic ordeal. This is her 6th surgery in her first year of life. Next week is her birthday and I hope she will be feeling much better. Ava you are amazing! We couldn't ask for a better baby.

Somewhere In Between

2010-08-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

Ava has been eating a lot more by mouth since her surgery!

So here we are. Trying to find the balance in things. Trying to make sense of what has happened and what still needs to happen and everything in between. Since day one of Ava's life we have been told by doctor after doctor to be careful with germs. At the beginning we were under strict orders not to expose Ava to anything for the first 3 months. Then, our ENT said to wait through the whole winter and not leave the house unless necessary. Spring came, but all of the issues with her spine and lungs crept up and the Pulmonologist and Orthopedic Specialists said to be just as careful. We thought after this last surgery, that we could loosen up more, but we spoke to 3 different pulmonologists and the message was still pretty clear; don't relax quite yet. But when? We don't know. Her lungs are still small. A lot of it is common sense but still hard; wash your hands before you touch her, don't let sick people near her, if you go anywhere public don't let people come closer than 3 feet. I really don't think they realize how hard this is. You have to treat people like they have the plague. You feel paranoid all the time and can't relax in public. You can't let Ava touch germy things; pretty much you can't really live life. Thats how it has been for 11 months now. AHHH! We have decided we need to find our own way to live and still be responsible "good" parents. It's difficult but we have attempted a few brief outings in the last week and it felt good. We especially need to keep her well for her upcoming surgery in 3 weeks. Ava is doing so much better now though. She seems a lot happier! I can't wait until we don't have to worry if she gets sick. What a liberating day.

What a difference VEPTR makes

2010-07-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

Before and After

Here are Ava's X-rays. Before surgery, a lot of things were scrunched in a small space and are now more opened up. It also really helped the scoliosis and her ribs aren't so close together. When she gets her second Veptr on the other side it should help even more. She is doing well at home, but it is a little hard to get used to the guidelines they gave us for her holding and moving her. We aren't supposed to let her crawl or put any pressure on her arms for another month. That will be tough since she started doing those things before surgery. Tomorrow Morgan and I are going to take off her bandages for good and give her a bath, so I'm a bit nervous about that.

Home at last

2010-07-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

After being gone for 3 weeks, we are finally home! I am so tired so will post more tomorrow. We are all doing well and made it home safe and sound. Time to get our lives back in order.

New Baby

2010-07-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

Day 12

Ava has been a little energizer bunny. For some reason she decided she doesn't need to sleep anymore. Morgan and I are loosing our minds a little bit. I think it's the combination of being stuck at the hospital, attached to machines, etc. But, they are talking about letting Ava go home tomorrow! They are pretty sure she won't need BiPAP for home. They say it's not uncommon to need a little help with BiPAP after the VEPTR because there can be some areas of collapse in the lungs, causing the lungs to not efficiently expel the carbon dioxide. Her levels have gone back to normal which is so great. I can't tell you how cute Ava has been in the last few days, but she is like a new baby in some ways. For one thing, she is taller because her spine is more straight, but she is also more smiley and alive in general. She also doesn't seem to be struggling to breathe as much. When she cries and gets really upset, she doesn't turn dusky. I can't believe it. It's amazing.

Go to Sleep!

2010-07-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

Day 11

Ava woke up at 5:30 this morning and didn't go to sleep until 10:30 p.m. (17 hours) .We tried everything all day and she was just wired. They say it is withdrawal. She didn't have BiPAP all day as a test run to see how she would do without it. She did great. She was so cute all day, but had to be held the whole time, because she would throw a fit. They told us to keep her pretty calm for her test run, so crying it out wasn't really an option. That was challenging. We will see what the Docs say tomorrow. She may be going home pretty soon! Goodnight.

Even Better

2010-07-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

Day 10

Today was the first day Ava smiled and laughed. She was much more herself today. She got to have 3 breaks from the BiPAP and loved every minute of it. She still has to have it, but her carbon dioxide levels have gone down to a very good level. We are so grateful for that. We will have to see if she can keep her levels down without the mask, if not than she will have to have it at night. She was a lot more active today(compared to laying around in bed) She sat up quite a bit, and even stood up when leaning against me. We have to be careful not to push her to hard because she is still very weak and shaky. Her pain seems to be pretty much under control now. She is still on tylenol and one other medication, but she hasn't had to have morphine since thursday. She might be having a little withdrawal from it, but nothing too extreme. We are planning on posting her x-rays soon, to show how much the VEPTR has changed her. It will take around 6 weeks for her to get back to normal, but in the mean time she will have to get her cleft palate repaired. Poor girl. So many surgeries in such a short time! One day she will catch up, but she is doing so well developmentally for all of the setbacks. She was talking a lot more tonight and we were all having a grand time. I'm so glad things are looking up.

Better

2010-07-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

Day 9

It's been a better day. Ava is still on BiPAP, but has resigned herself to it. She is not happy about it, but not fighting it either. The carbon dioxide levels continue to come down and they gave her a break (called sprinting) for 1 hour today. She really seemed to love the break and her oxygen was fine without it, but they put it back on because she needs it to lower her carbon dioxide levels. My parents came back up and brought our guitar, so we have been enjoying playing for her. It really humanizes the hospital room. She was very cuddly when she got her mask off for that hour, and it was great to hold her. The BiPAP is a good thing because it puts pressure into her lungs and helps expand them, but we hope she won't need it permanently. If she did, she would need it only at night. Morgan and I are doing fine. I think we are keeping our sanity fairly intact.

Our little Scuba Diver

2010-07-15T17:22:00.000-07:00

Day 8

Okay, so she is not happy in this picture, but the good news is that she can sit up by herself! That is a big milestone after surgery. Unfortunately she has to wear this bulky mask for who knows how long. She has been doing better today and her carbon dioxide levels have gone down, but they are still not where they should be. Ava isn't quite herself today. For a large part of the day she was awake but in a daze. There was one point where I was drawing next to her and I showed her the picture and she grabbed my colored pencil and hit it against the paper making a lot of marks. It was very cute and I was proud. Ava doesn't get the best sleep because people are always coming and going in the PICU, but we try to make her comfortable. Morgan and I were saying today what a stupor our minds get into when we hang out in this hospital all day. The days all run together and we always seem busy but there really aren't that many different things we do. Mainly standing by Ava's bedside helping her to calm, or taking care of business. We found out from Doctor Campbell that we need to come back in 3-4 months for the second VEPTR, so that's a little sooner than we thought, and right in the middle of the semester. Thinking about real life is hard right now. School is very important, but not as important as this. It's a great balancing act indeed.

Not crazy about BiPAP

2010-07-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

Day 7

All day long I felt like crying. In fact I did. I am tired of all this! Can I say that? Well I am. I have had it. No more, thank you very much. Ava has had a rough day, the nurses were very unfeeling and unhelpful, and more problems keep popping up. I will spare the details, but will just say that Ava is having an even harder time getting oxygen than before her surgery. They say it might be because of pain and post surgery, but it could be longer term. They have put her on bipap because her carbon dioxide levels are high, but she really doesn't like it. We are doing what is best for her, but I still can't help feel like we are torturing her in some way. Irrational as that may be. I dream of the day when our blogs won't be so heavy. I know I need to be more optimistic. I know it's just not helpful to focus on the negative. Where your focus is, determines your reality. It determines your whole experience. There is just so much pain pulling me back to the negative, so it's very hard. Let me try to be positive for a moment and see what it does: I have a wonderful husband who helps me with everything (even washing my pumps), I have a beautiful daughter who is so pure and loving, we were able to get this surgery done from the man who invented it, we have good insurance, we have so many friends and family who care and have been very supportive, the Ronald Mcdonald house lets us stay here for practically free (and it is in a beautiful old mansion), Morgan and I have our health( we never realized what that meant until now), we have everything we need and more, and we know what the purpose of life is. As hard as that is to accept. I have really struggled feeling close to Heavenly Father for a long time, and with all of this pain we have experienced with Ava, I sometimes feel like I don't know what anything really is. Like everything is nothing, if that makes any sense, But, in my more true moments, the moments I really come to myself, I know there is something much bigger than me and even bigger than all pain. I would be ungrateful to not say that. Heavenly Father is doing more for our family than we know. But, it is intensely difficult to move forward and we will keep going. We don't have another option. I just let my thoughts go. It felt good. Goodnight.

It's been a long day

2010-07-13T20:27:00.000-07:00

Day 6

Today was a mixture of good and bad. Ava is doing very well, but has her moments; boy does she have her moments. She gave us quite a scare today. At some point after we tried to sit her up and put her back down, a lot of loose congestion from intubation came up and she started gagging. She started turning dusky and quickly turned blue and her oxygen rapidly went down from 100 to 9. Her little body turned limp and she almost passed out. It was the worst I have ever seen her. Our nurse was there, but was a little frozen about the whole thing, so I ran into the halls yelling HELP! A lot of nurses came and they got some good oxygen going and suctioned her mouth. She recovered but was very traumatized. We were all traumatized. They also changed Ava's dressings on her back for the first time and so we got to see what her back looks like since surgery. It's not pretty, but the wounds are healing very well and have no signs of infection. Her kyphosis (hunch back) looks so much better! It's not completely where it needs to be, but is very improved from this single surgery. We are so glad about that. She still has this bizarre rash all over her body from the antibiotic they gave her after surgery and her liver levels are still high, but they have gone down since yesterday. The main concern with this reaction is that she may not tolerate many antibiotics in the future. She has had them before, but they say this could be the first sign of her body building a hypersensitivity to them. On a good note, we got to hold her today! She seemed very happy to be held and was being so darn cute. She has started making ma-ma sounds. I love that of course. I think she will have a better day tomorrow because she had some really good moments today.

Big Baby! She really has gotten taller from the surgery. It's not uncommon for her to be playing with the oxygen.

Papa and Ava. He loves his little doll.

Moving Forward

2010-07-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

Day 5

We go through this stuff way too fast

Today was pretty much the same as yesterday, except that we were informed this morning that Ava had developed Hepatitis. It's always something new. However, it is not as bad as it sounds. Apparently, hepatitis simply means inflammation of the liver, it's the cause of the inflammation that makes it serious. In Ava's case, she was just reacting badly to some medication or rash (no one knows for sure), but she is not contagious and it should go away in the next few days with the help of a steroid and Vitamin K. She was up a little more today, and her personality continues to come out to the delight of all around. Today she waved at the nurse and started making cute little vocal sounds. She also was playing very roughly with her air tube. We were able to go out with Lindsay's parents to see Eclipse and to eat at Bobby's Burger Palace (The famous Bobby Flay of Food Network) and it was awesome! Being a burger connoisseur myself I can honestly say it was the best burger I have ever had, and the milkshakes were very impressive.

Another day

2010-07-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

Day 4

I had a picture of Ava to post but thought better of it. In the photo she looked in pretty sad shape; a swollen/puffy body covered in a weird rash, squinty eyes, and a big foam pad taped to her back. Not to mention about 20 wires and tubes flowing out from her chaotically. All in all she is doing better but it is hard to see because she is sleeping most of the day still (heavily medicated of course). One cute thing was earlier she woke up for about 15 minutes and interacted with us. Her eyes are almost swollen shut but she was waiving at us and clapping, even though her little fingers were swollen like sausages. It's kind of weird to have Ava so zonked out. We miss her and her delightful personality, but I am all for the sleeping as opposed to her feeling the pain. She has been having a hard time keeping her food down, so they are giving her very minimal amounts for now. Tomorrow is another day. Here are some pictures of the hospital, I think it is beautiful.

The main atrium

Looking out of our window

Sleep

2010-07-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

Day 3

For the most part, Ava has been sleeping the whole day. She had a blood transfusion today and that seemed to help her. She was so pale and has a little coloring back. The nurses are pretty impressed with Ava. They say she is a superstar because there is such a strain on her body right now and she is compensating for most of the deficiencies completely on her own without any extra support. She breathes harder and faster to do this, but she does it and the nurses are very amazed. We are glad she is sleeping, it is better for her not to be awake during so much pain. A little earlier she woke up and her mouth was so dry, so we gave her water soaked on little sponge lollipops and she loved it.

Rough Day

2010-07-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

Day 2

Sleeping after a Hard Morning

Well, last night went alright. Ava was waking up for short lengths of time throughout the night, but going back to sleep rather quickly after some minor fussing. However, this morning things got a lot worse. She started moaning and crying out in pain and it was obvious that she was suffering a lot. She was breathing very hard and fast and was not able to fall asleep because of the pain. They upped her dosages of morphine a couple of times and started another pain killer. They also gave her a nasal cannula with high flow oxygen to try and assist her breathing so she wouldn't have to work so hard. Both solutions seemed to help and she fell asleep for the rest of the day. The first couple of days after surgery are always the worst. Overall she seems to be recovering alright.

After the Storm

2010-07-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

Day 1

Everything went extremely well today. We feel so grateful. We have no doubt that there was divine intervention, and that all of the prayers and fasting and love from everyone has helped this miracle to be. They only placed one of the VEPTRs instead of two, because the time that she was under anesthesia was getting to be too long for her little body. She also didn't have a lot of muscle and skin on the one side of her ribs to work with, so Dr. Campbell wants to put it in later when she has a little more meat on her. He didn't seem too concerned about this for now and said that we definitely have the hardest part out of the way. He actually was able to expand the rib cage today, which allows for more lung expansion, but said that we have to wait for the lungs to grow and the muscles to strengthen before we will notice a lot of change. So many things can go wrong with this procedure, but none of them did, so we are very fortunate. She has been in a lot of pain and discomfort in the moments when she wakes up, but the medication is helping somewhat. The hardest part is that we can't pick her up because of the soreness in her back, so it's overwhelming to watch her suffer and not be able to comfort her in the way she is used to. The first few days are rough, but hopefully she will be feeling better soon. She may even be ready to go home in a week, but we will see. We can't believe how supportive everyone has been. Thank you. We love you all.

Waiting Room

2010-07-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

Right now we are in the waiting room. We got here at 7:15 this morning and she is in the OR, but they are still trying to get a central line in her. When they get that taken care of, they will start the surgery which will take about 5-6 hours. So we will be here for quite a while. We walked to the hospital this morning from the Ronald Mcdonald house and the weather was beautiful. That is our favorite way to get to the hospital because we walk through the University of Pennsylvania campus pretty much the whole way here. The campus has very old buildings and walkways covered with trees. Ava was very happy. She was making a lot of cute sounds and pleasantly looking around at everything. Last night Grandma and Grandpa Smith drove here and Grandma Linda has been here since Monday, so Ava was more excited than we have ever seen her. She had 5 adults standing around her clapping and cheering her on as she performed her little tricks and sounds and baby things. It was pretty much a We love you Ava party. I have never seen her so happy. She was squealing so loud and laughing and smiling from ear to ear. It was a great night and I felt a lot of peace about today.

Ava's New Friend

2010-07-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

Ava waiving at Ronald McDonald (HD)

And so begins VEPTR

2010-07-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Looking to the future

Ava in her Pack n Play at Ronald McDonald House in Philly

July 8th. That's the day Ava gets VEPTR. It will probably be the most intense surgery out of a series of surgeries over the next 14 years of her life. Dr. Campbell called last week to let us know that a day opened up that he could do this surgery. It was a miracle because they have been booked for quite some time and there was no assurance that we could get it any time soon. He said he was concerned about her based on the last time he saw her and wanted to move more quickly. They are going to attach vertical titanium ribs to both sides of her rib cage in hopes that it will straighten out the spine and give her more lung capacity. These ribs will be expanded every 4-6 months until her spine is done growing, so we are committed. Let me just say, Ava is a real trooper. She goes along with everything and still continues to smile. We on the other hand, are the ones that can barely stand it. We had no idea at the beginning that what we thought was just "scoliosis", could be so life threatening. It is wonderful to us that there is something that can be done. We are going to update our blog regularly during her stay at CHOP, so stay tuned until then.

We wanted to show pictures of her back pre-surgery

Cute Pixie

A more extreme view of her back and chest

Always an adventure at CHOP

2010-06-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I mentioned that last time we came to Children's hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), we were only there to see Dr. Campbell in Orthopedics, but Ava got Pneumonia and had to be admitted for several days. Well, yesterday she came to CHOP for an MRI and it was going to be a fairly simple matter, but things got crazy really fast. They had planned to give her a mask of Oxygen while she was under anesthesia but her breathing was worrying the anesthesiologist and he intubated her (breathing tube in the airway). She has been intubated before, but somehow this time it was worse and as soon as she woke up she started gagging, coughing up blood and turning blue. They were concerned about this so they admitted her to the pulmonology department for overnight observation. Ava has been having alot of these dusky/gagging episodes lately especially when in the carseat, but the intubation really enhanced it. The doctors are all concerned but think that the spine/rib surgery will help her. It was a good thing for the doctors to witness theses episodes because it made them take things more seriously and hopefully move things along faster. The issue is just when and what are they going to do. They think alot of it is that she struggles to breathe anyway because of a limited lung capacity, so when anything makes her have to work harder (crying hard or throwing up), she gets dusky and looses oxygen. It's quite a predicament. Supposedly all the doctors got together and talked about Ava on Friday, so we are anxiously waiting for their call on Monday to hear what the plan is. CHOP is a great hospital and we are glad to be near enough to go there.

A cute little video of Ava when she is feeling much better!

What we are up to

2010-06-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since the last post about Ava. In December she went through the whole jaw distraction process which took about 2 months from start to finish but she was only in the hospital for 5 days. They taught us how to extend her jaw by turning these little screws for 11 days, then she had to have consolidation bars put in and we waited for about 7 weeks for her jaw to set. In february they removed the bars and cut her tongue free from her lip where they had previously sewn it. It was difficult to say the least, but now that part of our lives is over. Thank goodness! Unfortunately in the middle of all the craziness of the jaw surgery, we found out that Ava had scoliosis. They couldn't tell us the extent of it at first because of everything that was going on with her other issues, so we had to wait. That was hard. Eventually we met with Shriners (which is an orthopedic specialty hospital) and they said she also had kyphosis which is a forward hunch, and a concave rib cage on her right side. They said with her complexity of airway/breathing issues, they didn't think that they could help her but that a doctor at Primary Children's might be able to. We had to wait again for an appointment with him, and he told us about a specialized procedure called Veptr, where they attach titanium ribs to her ribs to straighten out the spine. He said that she was too young to know exactly what was needed and that we should come back in 3 months. So we waited again...but in the mean time, Ava stopped eating half of what she needed to gain weight. For the next 3 months our focus shifted to her eating, which was one of the worst experiences to date. She began loosing weight and would just not eat much. We tried everything! So many feeding specialists, different GI doctors, a barium swallow test where they had to force barium down her to see it through an x-ray, we tried different bottles, I stopped eating dairy, we tried 5 different reflux medications, feeding her all day long, and we even tried a nasal feeding tube. We didn't have alot of success and Ava stayed around 12 lbs for 4 months. In April Ava ended up getting the G-tube surgery (tube in her belly) so we could supplement her feedings that way. We were scared at first, but it has been a huge relief and she is gaining weight now. We ended up going back to the orthopedic doctor at Primary children's and he said her spine didn't look good. He said the kyphosis is pretty severe and that her rib cage is also too small for her body. He said that there are things that can be done but that it is complicated especially with her being as young as she is. He thought it would be a good idea for us to get an second opinion at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia with the doctor who pioneered VEPTR, so we scheduled an appointment with him and waited agian. We felt good about coming to Maryland for the summer, so that is where we have been since the beginning of May (Morgan got an internship in D.C. which we will tell you about later). We went to the appointment in Philadelphia and found out that we needed to come back for further testing to determine the best course of action for her surgery. So that is where we are now! We had to wait a whole month for these tests, but now we have done genetic testing, met with a pulmonologist, and are planning to do a Dynamic Lung MRI on Tuesday. That test is going to be very extensive and give the doctors the best idea of exactly what is going on with Ava and what she really needs. She has to go under anesthesia for that which is always a little scary, but we are excited to get the results so we can move on to surgery. We also have to coordinate a cleft palate repair this summer at Johns Hopkins which is tricky because we really don't know when they will be able to do the spine surgery. Anyway, it's been a busy time for us, but we are doing alright considering it all.

Surgery

2009-12-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

Ava was born with a condition called Pierre Robin. The biggest problem with this condition is that the airway is blocked causing feeding and especially breathing problems. This came as a total shock to us when she was born and since then we have learned alot. We had to do a surgery when she was 9 days old called a tongue lip adhesion, in hopes that this would clear her airway, but in the last month we have found that this didn't help very much. After finding this out, the doctor put her on oxygen when she sleeps, but ultimately decided that she needed another surgery. Tomorrow she is going to have what is called a mandibular (jaw) distraction to pull her lower jaw out. The whole process will take about 2 months and will be difficult for us to see her go through, but in the end will help her breathe better and solve other problems. We love this little girl so much and want to brag about her; she is such a good baby, so good natured and happy overall even with all the things she has gone through. We are nervous for tomorrow but are excited for her to get the help she needs. We love you Ava!

We love this expression

Such a friendly girl

Anyway

2009-10-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well, things are continually interesting (and wonderful for us). Especially since I got a cold this week and Lindsay was more or less solo for many things. She did a great job but is now questioning her sanity, with little sleep and not leaving the house for the whole week. We had a wonderful visit from Alyssa, she cooked for us! It's also nice to have an extra set of hands to help with Ava. Overall she is eating a little more, sometimes surprising us with a extra big feeding. We had our first family outing last Sunday and we went up Logan Canyon for a little fresh air. Ava slept for awhile allowing us to get deep into the canyon but then woke up and started throwing a grand old fit. She cried the whole way back so we didn't pull off until we got to campus. She was pretty exhausted by then but at least she got some sunshine and wind.

We haven't gotten a picture of her smile yet but this looks like there's potential

Our first outing out of the house (for something other than doctors visits)

We found that Ava sleeps best in a "big girl" bed.

Visiting with the Grandparents

Auntie Alyssa with her newest niece

More Pictures of Ava

2009-10-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

This little one is our main focus these days. Things seem to be getting a little better, she is feeding well and and getting bigger, slowly.

Ava Elise Handley

2009-09-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well, as most of you know, our sweet daughter Ava was born on August 27, 2009 at 2:16 p.m. Unfortunately she had some complications and she had to be flown down to Primary children's hospital in Salt Lake. Instead of doing the normal 48 hour postpartum stay at the Logan hospital we left the next morning to go down there. Lindsay never had a chance to recover as we drove to the hospital every day from her grandmas house. Ava was in the newborn intensive care unit (N.I.C.U.) where she was having a hard time breathing and later had a surgery to try and open her airway more. Needless to say it was very hard for all three of us. After 23 days of her being there, we were able to bring her home last Saturday night (Sept. 19, 2009), the day before her due date. Now we are home with her and trying to have a more normal newborn experience. She seems to be doing pretty well, our main goal right now is to help her gain weight which she seems to be doing slowly. She has to feed out of a special bottle which is sometimes a struggle but she is doing better, Lindsay is getting to be quite a pro at it. We have loved getting to know her better; she is a true joy to have around.

Life in MD

2009-06-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

We are getting a little more into our Maryland groove, I am putting in my hours at Coverstar and Lindsay has set up a room to sew and do crafts. Of course it is a bit different than the past two summers with Lindsay being pregnant (26 week now). I can definitely feel strong kicks from our little baby! We got another ultrasound and saw her full profile and her sucking her thumb which was very cute. We even saw her pulling her thumb out of her mouth and back in again, it sure is neat to have such advanced technology to see things like that. We got some pictures but didn't get them in digital form so we will have to scan them before we can post them. We are working our way through our baby name book and have a few names picked out as hopefuls but haven't decided on anything for sure yet. Lindsay has started sewing baby things and has made some great looking burp cloths. Stay tuned for more pictures of stuff she makes!

Lindsay is getting bigger every week!

Looking at baby names!

This is where I spend most of my waking hours in the summer (Not literally in the truck).

Here's Lindsay after we went to the National Arboretum, it was cool but too big for one day.

Some more baby

2009-05-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

In the last post we forgot to mention that we are having a girl! It was such an exciting day when we found out. It seemed like we waited for that ultrasound for way too long even though it was just a little after 19 weeks. It's hard to explain how cool it was to actually see her. It was amazing to be able to see that she actually exists and can move and has all of her own parts. I was so sick until about 17 weeks and only had that as proof that I really was pregnant, so to be able to see her was a happy experience indeed. Morgan and I can't wait to see her again, maybe at 32 weeks. We know that other people's ultrasound pictures are never quite as interesting as your own, but here are a few if you can figure out what is going on:

Her face. Kind of blurry and she still has a lot of growing to do, but this is her profile.

Her head is facing downward, you can see her spine and her leg bent at the top.

This is how we know she is a girl. It's a little intrusive (sorry baby) but still cute to me! (Looking from below her).

The only thing we have gotten so far is her crib. Morgan did a great job of putting it together before we left Logan. It is hard to not be able to be there and get everything ready, but I'm getting ideas and planning things out.

I like these Martha Stewart tissue paper pom pom balls and want to hang them in her room. I definitely want to use the pinks, but they also come in white, so I might do a mixture. Morgan is going to repaint her room since it is more of a mature tan color right now, but I'm still deciding on the color. Silver sage from restoration hardware always pulls me in. Several rooms in our house are painted that color, but I think it's so pretty and calming. I think it might be nice with bright decorations such as the pom pom balls.

These are crib sheets that i like all by Dwell.

I have really liked sashiko for a long time and have experimented with it a little, but i decided that I want to make a baby quilt with sashiko squares like these. I haven't designed the layout of the quilt or decided on the entire color scheme, but most likely the stitching will be in white and i will either use some of the traditional geometric sashiko patterns, or I will design those too. I am very excited for this, but it's going to be a big project!

Pregnancy pics

2009-05-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we are back in Maryland and I am working at Coverstar. It's nice to be done with another year of school. One exciting thing is that I found out yesterday that I made it into the Landscape Architecture program. I still have two more years but at least that is certain now. The big news in our lives right now for anyone who doesn't know already is that Lindsay is pregnant! She is 22 weeks along and showing more everyday. Here are some cute pictures of her.

Back to the Blog!

2008-07-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

Well, after some serious time away from our blog I decided to push myself back into it. For a while I forgot we even had one until I heard complaints, and then the procrastination was about being overwhelmed with all that there was to catch up on, but I decided it didn't matter. This post will be random and not at all inclusive.

Morgan and I had a great day together on this particular day and took some pics. We had a picnic and all was well. Perfect food, perfect weather, perfect company.

The fourth of July.

Mom serving breakfast at our Ward's yearly 4th of July party.

Dad, Alyssa, and baby Elijah.

Allison, my friend from growing up, got married recently. Here are some pictures from the day. She seemed very happy.

My Parents took Morgan and I to a Nationals game. I don't know if I have ever been to a major league game before, but we had very close seats and it was a fun experience. I think I can enjoy this kind of thing every so often.

I went to Germany for a study abroad program and here are a few pictures and or highlights from my brief trip there:

This is the building I stayed in on the top floor. It had a beautiful view of the town of Steele.

This is the cathedral in Steele, which was really just a stone's throw away. I took this picture from my balcony. It was very much like a dream, but not quite because Morgan wasn't there.

Another view from a different window.

This is the outdoor market/grocery store that was right next door. They sold the most delicious yogurt by a company called movenpick of switzerland.

Squinty-eyed me in kettwig. Not the best picture, but the only picture of me in Germany so I thought I'd include it. I liked this town. It was one of the quaintest, yet bustling towns I went to. I had several people come up to me and speak German in a friendly manner, but I had to tell them I was no good at it. Oh those friendly old folk, they did recommend some good ice cream, and I was able to understand....somewhat.

A place I liked in Kettwig.

This is near the city center of Essen. Essen is a clean and pleasant city to be in. Pretty chill and layed back and 5 different H&M stores within walking distance. I liked the whole feel of it. Even though you were in a city, you didn't feel rushed.

We went to this artist's studio. Her name is Doro Hulder. As you can tell she likes bright colors. She was very friendly and obliging.

Dusseldorf.

At the K21 Museum.

I was rather fond of these photographs of water towers.

Overall, good things to see and experience but better to come home and be with Morgan.

St. Patricks Day party

2008-03-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

Since my birthday was on a school day (March 17th) Lindsay and Chester threw a little party for me and we ate Mississippi Mud cake. This has been my birthday cake of choice for over ten years. However I will probably switch to something else from now on as it is too rich for Lindsay.

This and that

2008-03-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

We thought we should get our semesterly post in. This is a couch that Lindsay made out of cardboard for her 3-D design class. We are having a good semester but Lindsay is super busy with projects like this. She is having fun though! This last week we had spring break and got the whole week off! We celebrated our anniversary early (March 25th) since we will be in school on that day. We just stayed around here and went out to eat and shopping!

Christmas and new Semester

2008-01-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

Trip to Maryland

Christmas Party!! (stressful but turned out well)

We hope that everyone had a good holiday and is enjoying 2008. Here are some picutres from Christmas and our trip to Maryland. We had a lot of fun hanging out at home, shopping, and playing board games. We got to see the Everetts the day we got home we didn't take them to Logan (as we had origianally planned) because it was supposed to snow a lot. It didn't snow the next day but did on Sunday and didn't stop for most of the week. That is how we built the bear. Lindsay and I are both enjoying our new majors, Art and Landscape architecture. Lindsay is thinking of going to Germany this summer for study abroad which seems really cool but I will miss her so much. It will be for five weeks and not for the whole summer so it is not going to be as bad as it could be (I coudn't survive if she went for more, it would be like going on a mission all over again).

Rock-star Lindsay

2007-11-12T23:37:00.000-08:00

Since we are expecting Logan to get a lot colder, we are trying to find warmer clothing than we have. In Logan we don't have Gap or B.R. so we are getting to know our local Old Navy (which is nicer on the pocket book). Lindsay found this great shirt (pictured), and I thought she looked cool playing the guitar. I am trying to get her to write some more songs, doesn't that sound nice?

Bike-rides

2007-11-12T23:27:00.000-08:00

The weather has been unusually warm this fall which has given us the opportunity to ride bikes more. We love riding around Logan because everything is so close; Michaels, Cafe Rio, Walmart, Kohls, Kmart, Home Depot, Chilis, Ross, D.I. just to name a few. When we took this video it was a little colder than normal but we still had fun. (The reason the clip is so short is because I was unaware it was on the video setting and was trying to take a picture).

Donald Murlin O'niones 83!

2007-10-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

We made a quick trip down to Provo last night (Oct. 29) to have a little birthday breakfast for Don. It was a fun trip!

Welcome and good-bye

2007-10-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

Before Alyssa left we took a picture of her with the welcome poster that Lindsay made for her.

Five pumpkins

2007-10-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

While Alyssa was here we enjoyed the old tradition of carving pumpkins. I (Morgan) was having a hard time with the gooey insides but Lindsay didn't mind (see picture). Can you guess who's is who's!?!?!?!

Picnic at Old Main

2007-10-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

First entry

2007-10-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! We finally decided to start a blog. Alyssa is visiting right now and these are pictures of a picnic we went on. We tried to lift each other up in the picnic blanket but couldn't do it very well. This is on USU campus looking over Logan.