Sigh.

I'm still getting requests for a picture of Mike and me. I already posted one, but evidently that isn't enough. Here's another one:

I don't know why people gather around, roll out the red carpet, and take pictures of us wherever we go. It's kind of annoying, really.

Kaitlyn is getting the distractor off!

We finally have a date! It comes off next Wednesday, February 18, at 2:30!!!!! Yippeee!! I'm thrilled, but I can only imagine how Kaitlyn feels. She's been such a trooper during this whole ordeal and has almost never complained. I'm so proud of her.

This is a picture of her hula hooping at her best friend's birthday party:

And a more realistic picture of her hula hooping:



Poor thing has her mother's coordination.

Ashton's Battle Wounds

Ashton had his first fight! Unfortunately, it looks like he lost, but since I don't have pictures of the other kid I don't know for sure. Here's how he looked when he got home from school last night:

Too bad it isn't Halloween because he kind of looks like a tiger.

Wasting time instead of working on Kaitlyn's baptism dress

I know I'm procrastinating when I'm updating my blog rather than working on K's dress. Not that I don't like blogging, but that I tend to procrastinate doing it.

So here are a few pictures of my progress:



This is a closeup of the pattern. If you look carefully you can see little pearl bead thingies on it.

This picture gives a better idea of what it will end up looking like:



I am crocheting an overskirt and sewing the dress part. I was going to crochet the whole thing but decided it would be prettier if it had a shiny skirt thing under it (not to mention that I became much too lazy to finish the entire dress). I'm weaving ribbon down through the holes and tying them into bows at the bottom.

It is, however, a crapshoot as to whether or not Kaitlyn will even get baptized. We understand that she probably doesn't need to be baptized. She is a smart, inquisitive girl and definitely understands the difference between right and wrong. She is capable of making a wrong choice, but so is a 4 year old, and 4 year olds aren't accountable for their wrong choices. I'm still trying to work this all out in my head, but there is a difference between making a wrong choice and actually sinning. The question is whether or not Kaitlyn is capable of sin.

Even if she is never capable of sinning, there are other reasons for being baptized (none of them necessary, of course). The first is to follow the example of Jesus. He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, even though he had never committed a sin. The second is to covenant to be obedient to Heavenly Father. Even if you can't commit sin, you can still promise to live the best life you can, and a little extra "oomph" to your promise can't be a bad thing.

So for all these reasons I would like Kaitlyn to be baptized. The question, however, is if SHE wants to be baptized.

We've talked to her about it over and over, but lately she's been saying she doesn't want to be baptized because she doesn't have any sins on her and never will. Hmmm. Quite possibly true, but what about all the other reasons? She says she already promises to follow Heavenly Father, so she stil doesn't need to be baptized. As for her being baptized to follow the example of Jesus, she doesn't have a good argument for that. But the fact is, if she doesn't want to be baptized, we can't and shouldn't force her.

So for now I'm making the dress in hopes she'll use it at her baptism, but if she doesn't, it'll just be a white Easter dress. An expensive, frustrating, pain-in-the-rear-end Easter dress.

Christmas 2009

Christmas was a blast. This is the first year the kids have really understood what was going on, and they thought carefully about what they would ask for from Santa. Kaitlyn asked for Bumblee (the Transformer), then wondered if she could only ask for one thing or if she could ask for more. I thought that was so sweet, since most kids ask for tons of stuff (I know I did!). I told her she could ask for more, so she asked for boxing gloves and a hunting game for her game cube. So let me recap. My 7 year old girl asked for a Transformer, boxing gloves, and a shooting, killing animals game. So very sweet. We had to explain that Santa may be able to bring a game and may even bring a new game system (Mom asked for a Wii), but that hunting games were only for older kids so he may not bring one to a 7 year old. Fortunately, Santa did bring the Wii and even brought a few games, so she wasn't too disappointed that she didn't get a hunting game.

Pictures:

Ashton's request, on the other hand, wasn't quite as straightforward. He asked Santa for "way way wogs." I said, "Way way wogs?" and he said, "No, way way wogs." I guess you can't argue with a 4 year old. So after trying out several combinations of the L, R, and W sounds I came up with... are you ready for it... RAILWAY LOGS!!! Great. I figured out what he was asking for, but then I had to figure out what it was. But thanks to that magical invention Google, and lots and lots of luck, we figured out it was a Lincoln Logs train set thing. Yippeeee!!!

Back to Google to try to find it. There were several different sets and one was only $25. Yay! Could luck be on my side?

Nope. Turns out that ALL the Lincoln Logs train sets except for one that cost $200 (yes, that's two hundred dollars) had been DISCONTINUED. Really. I looked on eBay and found one that had been discontinued, but the price of the set plus shipping was $90. Santa really can't afford $90 presents (the Wii came from the golf tournament - long story) so we were panicking a little bit. I told my friends to be on the lookout, and believe it or not one of my friends found one at Sam's Club (thanks, Melinda!). So I rushed over there and... du du du duhhhhhhhhhhh... I got it! Whew. Crisis averted.

Pictures:

And with the killer radio controlled Hummer he got from Grandma and Grandpa Roach:

One of the best things about Christmas was that my dad came and stayed with us for a week! The kids had so much fun playing with him and it was nice to have him around.

So that was our Christmas. It was a blast, but I'm oh so glad it's over.

Kaitlyn's surgery

We finally had Kaitlyn's face surgery done. She did great (as always) and is wearing the LeFort device without complaint (usually). The surgery was December 15 and she spent 4 days at the hospital. She got tons of stuffed animals and other assorted goodies, and had lots of visitors. The hospital treated her very well. She is such an amazing little trooper and we're so proud of her! Here are a few pictures:

This is before they hooked up the distractor



This is after they hooked up the distractor



And a side view



As you can see, she's still her happy, smiling self. This kid is stronger than anyone I've ever met.

The procedure is going well. We turn the screws to advance the distractor twice a day, and she's doing even better than the surgeon thought she would. We see him again on Tuesday and he'll decide if we can stop turning the screws at that time. If we can, she'll need to wear the device another two weeks to prevent "rebounding," but she can have it taken off after that. Yippeee!! We were originally told it may take as long as 4 months for the entire procedure, but now it may be done in as little as 6 weeks. What a huge blessing!

I'm back!

After an extended absence, I'm back! We've had a few crazy months.

First, I had surgery in mid-August to remove scar tissue from the surgery when I had the tumor removed (long story for another day). They basically had to saw me in half to do it, so I had a pretty lengthy recovery.

Then the power cord for the computer broke and I didn't want to spend $120 for a new one so we were without a computer for a couple months. I finally decided to look on eBay and found one for $20, so we have computer access once again! Long live eBay.

And last Monday Kaitlyn had surgery to correct the midface deficiency. It was a pretty involved process, so I'll have to give details another day. I don't have any pictures transferred to my computer yet, so when I get them I'll post an email update.

Be back soon!