Marty Gets Online....

Oh Marty, Marty, Marty.... Last night he found Ryan's credit card and his computer. He was able to get online and had over $500 in candy in his online shopping cart at Candy Warehouse when he was caught red handed by Taylor! Thankfully, he wasn't able to place that HUGE candy order before he was caught- I'm not really sure what we would do with that much candy! My guess is Marty had big plans that were spoiled. I think from now on we will lock the computers and hide the credit cards!!! On to the pictures---

Marty Builds a Bed

Last night Taylor tucked Marty back into the box that he came in. I have a feeling that Marty didn't appreciate being put back into that box after he had a long trip being shipped in it. Marty came up with a solution and built himself a bed! He made a mess building it that Taylor had to clean up but now he has a nice elf sized and elf decorated bed. He even made himself a cushioned mattress and Rudolph bedspread- I think only an elf could get away with having a bed wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper!!

The Return of Marty the Elf

Taylor (and the girls) have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Marty the Elf for at least a month now. Taylor has written Santa numerous letters begging, pleading and even negotiating for Marty's return. Santa responded and let Taylor know that Marty was still finishing his chores. (Apparently Marty is a technology elf and there has been a high demand for video games, consoles and iPod products!)

After all the begging and pleading, Marty has FINALLY (in the words of Taylor) returned to our home. Leave it to Marty to appear in style.... He was delivered in a box that appeared to be shipped via North Pole Mail. How the mailman managed to hang it in our kitchen light, I will never know. When Taylor pulled the string at the bottom of the package, out dropped Marty with a sign stating, "I'm Back!!" and numerous elf sized green and red balloons.

I will try to keep up on all of Marty's adventures at our house this Christmas Season- just remember that I am still working nights and cut me a little slack.

On to the pictures....

von Willebrand's Disease

It has been a VERY long year for health issues in our family. Nothing overly major but enough little things that started to add up and finally lead to a diagnosis of von Willebrand's Disease. So, I am sure you're asking yourself- What exactly is vWD??? To answer the question, it is a bleeding disorder that is a cousin to hemophilia. The type we have is not nearly as serious as hemophilia- but some types of vWD can be that serious. If you want more info, this is a good explanation: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001571/

This diagnosis explains soooooo many things in our family.
-The fact that both my mom and I had hysterectomies in our early 30's
-Excessive bleeding that occurred with the birth of each of the kids (my own and my siblings)
-The bleeding gums that are always there when the dentists lectures about flossing and I am always saying- but I do floss!
-the easy bruising that makes us look like we beat each other when really I just hit the wall too hard
-The fact that both of my girls had a second surgery for their tonsils to stop bleeding that occurred
-The excess bleeding with the "girly stuff" that growing up I thought was "normal",  I was so wrong!
-The fact that I am considered a "bleeder" when I get shots, cut my finger or anything else minor

Our type of vWD will just take a bit more planning whenever there are medical things done that may cause bleeding. An example you say.... I cracked a tooth eating BBQ last week (fun, huh?!?) and needed a root canal to fix the crack because it went all the way to the root. Weeellll.... in order to prevent any possible complications with the vWD, I had to take a medication before the procedure and then I had to continue taking that med plus a second one for the following 3 days. I know ugh, right?!? Especially since the 1st med makes one feel as if they have a slight case of the achy flu. Another example- I am scheduled to have a pretty minor surgery next month that is an out patient thing with an easy recovery. Now, I'm going to have to stay overnight in the hospital, get a PICC line for meds, take IV von Willebrands factor before the surgery and then have home health come out to run more IV von Willebrands factor for the 4 days following the surgery. All I can say is that I am very thankful that we have reached the out of pocket max on our insurance for the year and everything will be completely covered.

The other thing that I have to be thankful for is that I have relatively healthy kids. All of the testing that has occurred was done at Primary Children's Hospital in the Hematology clinic. This is the same clinic where kids with Leukemia are treated and get their chemo because leukemia is a blood disorder. It was hard to have my kids in a clinic where there were sooo many sick kids and mine seemed perfectly fine with gorgeous heads of hair. I do think that it gave my kids a different view on their disease and an appreciation for how healthy they are and how easy their disease is to control.

The other thing that thing I have thought of numerous times through this year is the what a huge blessing changing jobs has been- not just because I love, love, love working with the moms and babies but because a fellow nurse told me about Dr. Lundell in Spanish Fork. He is truly an amazing doctor that has now helped my girls, me, my mom and other family members. He was also the first one to suggest that maybe we should look at von Willbrands as a possible cause for the issues that were going on. I never would have pursued the diagnosis without his help and prodding and I am very thankful for that. It's amazing how many little things the Lord has His hands in to make small changes that can have a huge impact on our lives. I am very grateful for that influence and the help it has given us. Here's to hoping that next year will have a lot less medical tests and issues.

All About Taylor

Taylor is the Super Star in his Kindergarten class this week. Here is his All About Me poster that we made. We love Taylor so much and he is always our super star! He is always making me laugh and brings so much love to our family.

The rest of our vacation....

I really did mean to post everyday of our vacation but I'm a slacker and we were having too much fun to post. The last two days at Disneyland were great. The kids had a blast seeing villains that we have never seen before and riding the rides. We met up with Ryan's sister and her family for our final day. I think the girls loved having their little cousin along and seeing Disneyland through her eyes.

It's always a little sad for us when we are finished and have to leave Disneyland behind. The girls even shed a few tears on our last walk down main street. I guess that means we are doing something right if they love it so much that even when their feet hurt and they're exhausted they want to stay forever! No worries though, we will be back again soon... but not nearly soon enough!

On to the pictures from the last two days.

Halloween Suprise!!

We took Ryan and Taylor to PCH Grill this morning for their birthdays. The kids had a great time dancing with the characters and eating all they wanted. Then Jake showed up in the hotel and brought a special treat for the kids... tickets to Mickey's Halloween Party!! It was a great day but my feet are tired.... On to the pictures.