Several years ago, we discovered these wonderful gingerbread houses kit. It comes with four houses and it’s worth every penny for the kids to each have their own house to decorate. So, it’s obviously become a big tradition and the kids have reminded me every year. Here are our creations from this previous year!
Yes. One of the houses had catastrophe. I don”t think that hairbrush was involved though.
Mine is the decorative one in the front. Mark did the one in background….that looks like it’s been in a blizzard.
One of the main things we learned for next year, is to assemble the houses the night BEFORE the decorating. There were lots of tears and frustration trying to put them together.
I know it’s a new year but we’re still a little over a month behind and slowly catching up! Let’s pretend that we’re still back in 2018.
Our trip to the Christmas tree farm was, as always, full of lots of laughter. This time, though, we broke the record for the fastest selection of a tree. It was beautiful and just barely made it to Christmas day!
The kids have enjoyed checking their growth to the Christmas tree over the years. This farm has been our go-to farm for several years now and each time it has always been very memorable.
Mark secured it tightly to keep it from tipping over. It was lopsided but we all have really enjoyed it.
The week after we returned to California, we eased back in to our normal routine. That afforded us the opportunity to head to the zoo. It was just what we needed too! The weather was perfect and Mark was able to meet us there late in the afternoon.
Zoe had to make a Voltron V and then a silly face. Teenagers!
This MRI was really uneventful it was basically just to check and make sure she was peachy keen to head back home. We praise God that she got a good report and afterwards, we headed towards the airport and we were back home by Thanksgiving evening!
Emmie in her goofy state after anesthesia.
Next up for Moyamoya, we wait about six more months and return back to California for an MRI and angiogram adn to meet with her doctor. That MRI will tell us whether the surgery was a success.
She sees her neurologist at the beginning of January and will see her ophthalmologist and orthopedic doctor in the near future as well. And on and on it goes with our super hero.
Emmie had a joyful heart until we got to the back and distraction got hard. She was the bravest four year old I have ever met. They did a great job of getting her through quickly.
Once she went back for surgery, Mark and I had to wait. Her last surgery took over eight hours and we had several people to distract us. This time, it was just us…which, I supposed, meant we got into a lot of mischief.
Reading comments on silly posts had Mark and I both in tears. That picture is Mark crying in laughter. At that point, Emmie was done with surgery and we were waiting to see her in the PICU waiting room. I suppose it was a lot of nervous laughter being released. The other picture is Mark’s impersonation of the kids at a touch screen.
Nothing at all beats holding this sweet girls hand and seeing her snuggle with her daddy.
After we got in good snuggles, I headed back to RMH and met our friends to get Tobin. The next day, Mark and I swapped up. Emmie had such a hard time the day after surgery. But soon after I got there, they started taking IVs out (she had four total) and she started to perk up. I got to see more of my Emmie when we looked at pictures of her friends and our family on Instagram and then “shopped” for clothes on Zulily. And, I got to hold her.
Holding my babies in my arms is the best thing ever.
Mark got some Tobin snuggles in too.
Child Life came in with a bunch of fun things which brought our Emmie girl into some big smiles!
Out of Emmie’s window was a little garden. I peeked out one time and saw a hummingbird. If you look closely, it’s hanging out to the left of the plant.
By the second morning, I was able to braid her matted hair and play princesses. And then she got to leave the hospital! She was so glad to be out!
The resilience and joy in Emmie’s heart is overwhelming. She is so strong and has such a sweet smile despite all she has been through. God has taught me a lot through her but more than anything, when I look at her, I can always see God’s hand of protection and guidance.
On our free day, we headed down to Monterey. We were blessed to have friends who had just happened to move there this past summer. Not only that but when they knew Tobin was coming, they were willing to watch him on surgery day. Then when we realized we had to be at the hospital at the crack of dawn, they offered to watch him overnight! I think they enjoyed their time with a baby in the house again. But boy, i sure did miss him.
We spent our day sightseeing and playing and visiting. It was a great birthday indeed.
We drove out to Big Sur. It was a very harrowing drive for me (big bridges and driving on the edge of a cliff were quite terrifying for me). The view was astounding though!
On the way down from Big Sur, we stopped at a beach and stuck our feet in the Pacific Ocean. It was ice cold but Emmie couldn’t get enough of the water! Tobin enjoyed it too.
We drove over to Dennis the Menace Playground. It was huge and the kids played and played! After that, we headed to Fisherman’s Wharf. I was thrilled that we saw several sea lions and even a couple of otters out in the bay! Such a fun treat. I could have watched them all day.
We left Tobin that evening after he nursed and then headed back to Stanford. It was time for us to focus on surgery day.
So, on a free night in California, Mark tells me we have to go eat at In-and-Out Burger and that the Android statues for each operating system were on display at the Googleplex. Lo, and behold, Googleplex (Google’s headquarters) were right near an In-and-Out Burger. So, off we went with a slight eye roll from me.
But then, we got there. They had all the statues in a back lot. But they all looked so cool! And, yes, even I got excited on the Nerd Tour.
Emmie fell asleep on the way to the statues and was not in the mood for pictures or giant statues.
The day after we landed in California, we headed to meet Dr. Steinberg and then Emmie went for her eleventh MRI and as an added bonus, an angiogram. The angiogram helped the doctors to see just where her occlusion was and to make sure they knew which arteries they were going for for the bypass. It also helped ot make sure she didn’t have any more areas of concern and to make sure she continued to show no signs of a stroke or TIA. Praise God! She didn’t show any issues. The angiogram showed that just the middle left cerebral artery was occluded and pretty much at 100%. There were still signs of collateral vessels and Dr. Steinberg told us that the collateral vessels were what was keeping her alive. It’s our understanding that the moyamoya vessels are really weak and eventually stop working which is what leads to a lot of people having strokes or TIAs.
This was a hard MRI for mama. They wouldn’t allow anyone but a parent back with her. Emmie chose Mark and I got to stay with Tobin. It broke my heart but she did wonderful with daddy.
Tobin was able to sleep while we waited on Ems to get done. And then mama was able to go get her girl.
Emmie was still sleeping off the anesthesia when I got to her in recovery. Because of the angiogram, she had to keep her leg straight for four hours. So, we had to stay for awhile in the Short Stay Unit. Anyway, I took her hand when I got to her and she wouldn’t let go. She squeezed it every time I moved. Then her nurse said, “I have a popsicle for a little girl once we see some eyeballs.” Emmie smiled the biggest smile and finally opened her eyes.
After I took the picture above, she told me to show it to everyone. I think she was super proud to be able to have not one but three popsicles! (Note: Emmie’s Horner syndrome tends to show up pretty strong after anesthesia and gradually gets better. That’s why it looks like she’s winking 🙂 .)
She loved the Short Stay Unit because she had her own personal tv/movie channel. She gets really goofy coming off of anesthesia and I have a few doozy stories that I just had to write down so I don’t forget.
–I eventually had to keep my hand on her leg because she kept wiggling it. At one point, she looked at me in all seriousness, “Mama, there’s something on my leg!”
“Yes,” I told her. “It’s my hand. You won’t keep your leg straight so I have it there to remind you.”
“Oh.”
–At another point, she wanted to argue with me that she had her undies on. They placed the angiogram at her groin and I knew for a fact she didn’t have any on because they handed them to me. But she was insistent that they were on because they were when she left and her daddy had told her they were.
–Last one: Emmie had had nothing to eat since the night before and I can only imagine was starving. The way their meal system works, is that a patient can choose anything they want and they can get as much as they want as long as it fits on a tray. The patient can also order every thirty minutes. Well, once we found that out, Emmie looked at the menu and announced, “I want EVERYTHING!” She was starving and ate so well once she could get some food.
While Mama and Daddy prayed and fretted for our super hero and her super siblings, Emmie was plotting and planning for her first plane ride. I’m grateful she had this “fun” distraction for the tough week and half that laid ahead.
As soon as we were seated she began, “Are we flying? Are we flying? Hey daddy! Are we flying yet?” She must have asked us at least twenty times.
Tobin did good. He slept for a couple of the hours going and the whole way back. We were hoping to get him a seat but we got our tickets so late that another ticket would have been terribly expensive. So, he rode in our laps and it worked out fine.
Emmie managed naps at take off and landings.
She also made sure she knew what to do in case of an emergency.
We were so grateful to be able to have our tickets provided by Miracle Flights. This organization was great to work with and Southwest was a great airline to fly with.
