Finished Product

I finally finished my quilt! It was been a work in progress for quite a while. I started gathering the fabric while Ben was deployed (all the way back in 2008). And then I just kept putting it off. I'd work on it a little bit, and then put it off again. I finally finished it though! It's nothing too special. Just blocks sewn together, and tied with multi-colored yarn. I used a king size sheet for the back. I didn't have a frame or anything to tie it on so there are wrinkles and uneven spots, and by no means is it perfect. But I love it. It's big enough that we don't have to steal the covers from each other at night, and Kaylin loves the bright colors and grabbing the yarn. It was pretty easy and really didn't take that long once I sat down and did it. It was just a matter of finding the motivation to sit down and do it. But it's done now! And perhaps I'll do another one of these days....

Final Surgery?!

Ben had his surgery last Friday, January 27th. I meant to update this sooner, but things have been a little crazy. We had to be up at the hospital at 530 am. Yuck! He was the first case, which was nice. But like everything else when it comes to his medical care, nothing can go as planned. The plan was to just go in, move the leads back down into place, and be done. Hahaha! They spent an hour just trying to get the leads, which they couldn't. So they ended up taking the whole unit out (leads and battery pack), replacing one of the leads, and then putting them all back in. So what was supposed to be an hour surgery, actually ended up being three hours. The good news is he didn't stop breathing this time! But he was in a lot more pain. They gave him about double the local anesthetic they usually use and he was still hurting. On the upside though, because he wasn't so out of it, they were able to get the leads in a really good spot. As the doctor was saying at his follow up appointment the other day, he has a very small window where he gets the coverage he needs. Even a tiny bit higher or lower, he doesn't get the same relief. So they got the leads positioned, and he's getting great coverage now. The pain isn't completely gone, but it's better than it was even after the last surgery. He's still hurting, but most of the pain is just the post-op pain right now. We are now working on getting him off the narcotics. He's been taking dilaudid and morphine since before Christmas, so we are slowly cutting back on them. No one wants to be on that stuff anyway, and in the long run they can actually make the pain worse because the body just needs more of it. So we are getting away from those, and then we'll start working on getting him off all the other pills he's on. He takes like 7 different pills right now. It's going to be a long slow process because some of them have some nasty withdrawal side effects, but we'll do what it takes.
So all in all things are starting to look up a little bit. The big thing now is just making sure he takes it easy for the next little while and takes the time to heal so the leads don't move again. We are looking at starting the whole med board process in March. We could probably start it a bit sooner, but we're going to wait a little bit so that we can take some leave and go home for a bit. Because once the process starts, we won't be able to take leave. And it's definitely time for a vacation. And as long as the commander approves Ben's leave, we'll be home for about 3 weeks in March. Yay!

4 1/2 Month Stats

Kaylin had her 4 month appointment this past week. She's getting big! She is in the 50th percentile for her weight at 14 lbs 6 oz, and in the 87th percentile for her height at 26"! Holy cow! I can't believe how big she is getting. It's just crazy!

Some of the things she's up to at 4 months...

She is starting to sit up on her own. She does pretty good with a little support, but is still kinda wobbly when she tries sitting by herself.

She's getting better with tummy time. It's cute when she gets mad though. She'll put her face down on the bed or whatever she's laying on and just scream at it. We're still working on rolling over though. She'll get over on her side then scoot her bum and legs over then roll back onto her back. And ta da! She's facing a different way!

We also got her one of the bouncy seat activity centers. She loves it! She can turn herself in it and has figured out what all the toys do. And it's all fun and games until she gets mad because she can't pull the toys off. Darn daddy putting them on right! She also loves the Boise State monkey that Grandma and Grandpa sent her for Christmas.

She loves anything she can put in her mouth. Her teeth haven't broken through yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

She has started showing a lot of interest in what mommy and daddy are eating and drinking. She loves trying to get mom's drink! We've started giving her rice cereal, maybe once every couple days. She loves it! She'll eat a little bit, but then get tired of it and want to nurse anyway. Not that I'm in a huge hurry to stop nursing. :)

She is sleeping through the night pretty well. She'll go down between 10 and 11, wake up to eat between 3 and 4 and fall right back asleep, then will usually sleep until between 8 and 9. Naps during the day can be a bit tricky. She'll take a couple half hour naps in the late morning and early afternoon, then usually a bit longer one in the afternoon. She's actually asleep right now, which is why I'm actually getting the chance to finish this. :)

She loves her puppies. She'll sit there screaming and crying, turn around and see Smokey and Misty and she'll be all smiles again. Before she was born I always worried about how the dogs would act around her (because they aren't huge fans of kids), and I still worry sometimes, but we've never had any issues. They let her pet them, and they give her kisses in return. They'll even lay on the floor next to her. Hopefully it stays that way as she gets bigger and moves around more...

We really can't go anywhere without someone telling us how cute, adorable, pretty, etc. she is. And it's all true! She is such a doll. Her smile and giggle makes me melt. As much as the screaming and crying stresses me out at times, she's still a sweetheart. I love that girl!

I Love This Little Girl!

Just wanted to share a few of my favorite pics of my favorite little girl :)

Christmas and Other Stuff

I feel like such a slacker when it came to Christmas this year. It's usually my favorite holiday, but I was just having a hard time. We didn't get to go home like we were hoping, so I was really bummed about that. I didn't send out Christmas cards or gifts to friends like I have in the past. We didn't get our extended family's presents sent out until Christmas Eve. Money has been tight so we didn't do much in the way of gifts, which isn't a huge deal. We did get Kaylin a few toys, which she loves, mostly because I would have felt like a horrible mother if we hadn't gotten her anything for her first Christmas. Not that she'll remember it, but I will. I really didn't even take any pictures of her first Christmas. I snapped a few of her playing with the connecting rings we got her, but that's about it. We did go to church where they had a nice Christmas program. It was mostly music with a few scripture readings in between. It was nice though. And I did call and talk to my mom, which is always great. But overall, it was just a pretty quite holiday around our place.
Ben isn't doing so great. His pain is back up in the 8-9/10 range. We made a trip to the ER the week before Christmas. Not that they could do anything, but he needed something for the pain. All they did was give him some stronger pain meds then sent us home. We got in touch with his pain doctor a couple days later (he had been on leave back in the states), and were able to get in to see him. He increased some of his regular meds and then put him on dilaudid and morphine instead of the roxicet. It's really not helping. He still really hurts. He was supposed to have surgery this past Friday to fix his stimulator leads, but they had to cancel it and reschedule it for the 27th. I guess the case before him had stopped breathing after receiving propothol (like Ben did last time), but they were having trouble reviving this guy. I'm really starting to think the anesthesiologists here don't know what they are doing... So needless to say, he's still hurting. His dr is supposed to call tomorrow and we'll go see him sometime this week. Probably Wednesday, since that's when his follow up appointment was supposed to be. Hopefully we can figure something out. It shouldn't take this long to get him into surgery. By the time it happens, he'll have been in pain for over 2 months again. It's ridiculous! It's stupid how long it takes to get anything done. That's enough ranting though. As you can tell, it's a bit of a touchy subject right now. So other than hurting, he's doing alright.
Kaylin is doing good. I can't believe she'll be 4 months later this week. Her 4 month appt isn't until the 25th though, so I don't have any exact stats right now. But she is getting big, and is such a character. She's been sleeping great at night. Once or twice a week she'll wake up between 3 and 4, but other than that she's been sleeping a good 7-8 hours at night. Which is wonderful! She's been pretty moody lately. Crying and screaming a lot. I think it might be the teething. She drools every where and thinks everything has to go in her mouth. Or it could just be that I'm so worn out that it just feels like she cries a lot. So other than that, she's doing great. We still love her to pieces and her smile still melts my heart, even when she's driving me crazy.
As for me, I'm doing my best to hang in there. Some days are better than others. I really could just use a break from it all. Doesn't look like that will happen any time soon though. I've been working on my photography class. I finally got my first unit pictures taken and mailed in. I wasn't super happy with them, but I have to work with what I have. They highly recommend using a DSLR camera, and I just can't afford one yet. I've been working on selling what Mary Kay product I have left, but it's been kinda slow. But anyway, the first project is done and turned in. My goal is to finish the course by the end of the year. I don't plan on it taking that long, but that's what I'm working on. I also had to have an ingrown toenail removed. OUCH! It had gotten infected and just wasn't pretty. They ended up removing the whole toenail. That wasn't fun. There was one part of the toe that didn't want to numb up very well, so I still felt a little. But I did survive. And although it's ugly now, it is feeling better for the most part. Still a bit sensitive on the top where the nail used to be, but other than that it's alright. All in all though, I'm doing alright though. Really can't complain too much.
So that's the extent of the excitement around here. Which really isn't much right now. It's the same ol' same ol' day in and day out. Sometimes that's just how it goes though. :)

Family Pictures 2011

We had family pictures taken back before Christmas. I posted all of them on facebook, but wanted to put some of my favorites up here.

This one is my favorite!

Out of all the pictures we took, this is the only one she looked grumpy in.

I love her face in this one... Priceless!

Another Month Gone

Well another month has gone by. And a crazy month it was. We still haven't made it home (obviously), but are still hoping to soon. If things work out we'll be home for Christmas, but I can't make any promises yet. We'll know more in the next few days.
Anyway, like I said, November was kinda crazy. We spent a lot of time fighting with the Army about Ben's convalescent leave. His doctor extended it from 28 to 60 days, but apparently Army Regs say it can't be more than 30 with out the General's approval. We thought we had it figured out, but then it really wasn't and it was just a mess. And to make it worse, his first day back in uniform he rolled his ankle which caused him to twist his back which caused both his leads to move. So now not only do they not hit where they need to, they cause pain in other areas if he turns his spinal cord stimulator on. Guess who is always hurting and having surgery again... Surgery is scheduled for January 6th to go in and adjust the leads. Silly me for thinking we were done with surgeries. Needless to say they haven't started the med board yet. They'll have to wait until he is recovered from his next surgery, so we're looking at March before they get started. Which means it will probably be next November/December before we are done with the Army. That can be seen as good and bad. It's more paychecks, but longer that we have to put up with all the stupid stuff. It's a bit frustrating, but what do you do?!
We celebrated our 6th anniversary on the 21st. We went to lunch at Chili's and then to see Breaking Dawn (the new Twilight movie). It started out good. But as soon as they brought our lunch out Kaylin decided to scream and would not settle down. So we didn't get to eat lunch together. One of us ate while they other tried to calm her down, and then we switched. She was better during the movie. I fed her before it started and she slept through the whole thing. And that was about the extent of our celebrating. Nothing super special, which is alright.
Thanksgiving wasn't very exciting either. The battallion provided a "dinner" (which was really a lunch) which was just alright. It didn't have the same feel as when you eat with family and friends. The day over all was a bit depressing to be honest. We had been hoping to be home, but that didn't work out. And we don't really have any friends here to get together with. That's been one of the hardest things about living here. Things have been so crazy since we moved here that we really havn't gotten to know anyone well enough to hang out with and invite over for holidays and such. But that's another story. So anyway, yeah. Thanksgiving wasn't too special. We had lunch there then went to Wal-Mart. Super exciting, I know.
Kaylin continues to do well and grow. She's getting tall and is over 13 lbs now. She loves to talk and has the cutest giggle. I can't help but smile and laugh when she starts laughing. It's one of those things that just makes everything better, even when I'm having the crappiest of days. She is starting to get a couple teeth. It seems really early to me, but it could just be that I'm not ready for my baby to be that big yet. So she's been a bit cranky from that. We found out Friday that she also has Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. We noticed a rash on the soles of her feet earlier in the week and it wasn't going away. So we stopped by Pede's to schedule an appointment, but they just squeezed her in right then and there. I have no idea where she got it from. She doesn't go to daycare or anything and we don't leave the house all that often. But the doctor says pretty much every kid gets it by the age of 2. And she's just got a real mild case. She really hasn't had a fever. And if she has, we've been treating it with the tylenol we've been giving her for her teeth. She's been eating just fine for the most part. Yesterday and today she's gone a bit longer in between feedings, but still eats well. She still has plenty of wet diapers so we don't have to worry too much about her being dehydrated. So all in all we don't have to be too concerned and just have to wait for it to run it's course. Since it's a virus we can't really treat it. Only treat the symptoms. It typically only lasts 7-10 days, and it's been almost a week, so she should be about over it. It has made her more cranky though. She will start crying and screaming for no apparent reason, and be near impossible to console. It's wearing me out honestly. She may scream when I hold her, but she screams even more when Dad tries to hold her. She has been very much a momma's girl lately. She won't cuddle with daddy when she's tired. But as soon as mommy has her she'll be out. And I better not even think about putting her down if she's asleep. She does fine at night about sleeping in her own bed, but likes to be held during the day. So between taking care of her, taking care of a hurting daddy, and trying to keep the house in one piece, I'm starting to wear down. Ben does what he can to help out, but even that is limited because of how bad he hurts. Hence why I could really use a vacation. Everyone seems to think that living in Hawaii is a vacation. Try living my life for a little while and you'll see it's no vacation. But we make the best of it and continue to push on. I don't know how I make it through each day, but I do.
So although it was a crazy month, it is another one that we survived. I have so much to be thankful for. I've been blessed with a wonderful husband who does everything in his power to provide for us. I have an amazing daughter who even when she is spitting up and peeing all over everything still makes me smile and melts my heart. I have awesome parent's who I can call at any time I need, even if for no other reason than to just talk so I don't go crazy. I live in Hawaii, which is absolutely beautiful and awesome. We have an awesome ward family at church, who not only brought us meals for a week and a half after Kaylin was born, but also another week after Ben's last surgery and they are ready to do it again after his next one. We have our health, for the most part anyway. And just overall, very blessed.