Friday, April 25, 2008

P-Joe

Hello friends and family. We wanted to let you know that Beth’s Pappaw Wilson (also know as P-Joe by his great-grandchildren) passed away yesterday morning. Pappaw was a strong Christian man, and he loved his family. He lived a full life, including almost 61 happy years married to Mammaw! He was a very patriotic man, having served his country in WWII. But more than anything, he loved the Lord, and that fact was evident till his very last days in this world. Pappaw was having trouble remembering things during these last few months, but he could always quote the Scriptures by heart, and he always had a Bible story to tell anyone he met!

Please remember Beth’s family in prayer this weekend as we mourn this loss, but also celebrate that a good and faithful servant has gone home.

We love you P-Joe, and we know we’ll see you again someday!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Surgery is Over

Well, we made it! Surgery is over. Thank the Lord that he took care of Caroline (and Jon and I) all day.

We were worried about the beginning of the day, because Caroline could have no food or liquid until after surgery. Thankfully, she slept late, but it was still over a four hour wait until she could have the ‘happy juice’ (first level of anesthesia…we got some video of her being quite silly!). She was absolutely wonderful during this time! I guess the whole new experience of the hospital was enough to keep her mind off of her hunger. Jon and I just kept thinking of the parents all around the world that have to wait many more hours or even days to provide food for their little ones. It breaks our hearts.

Some of the highlights…Caroline and Daddy saw a bird building a nest in the courtyard while waiting and we all watched part of Happy Feet in Spanish. Then it was Caroline’s turn to go up…

It was, as promised, quite fast. The doctor explained to us that both ducts were completely clogged at the bottom. After surgery Caroline was almost shockingly swollen, and she was in a pretty bad fog because of the anesthesia. She cried a bunch, but finally Jon and I both sang to her, and then she fell asleep while I held her. When she woke up after about 45 min (when a nurse’s assistant tried to take her blood pressure), she was again in the fog. But this time, thirst prevailed and she drank an entire juice cup with fervor. She was a little happier then, and she was even able to feed herself some jello (yum!) and a couple of crackers. Before we knew it, the nurse said it was time for us to go. This felt a little weird to us, since after Caroline’s first two surgeries, we stayed several nights, and although she had infections, she was able to ‘recover’ from those first effects of surgery. So, we made our way home with a swollen, pitiful baby. She seemed thankful to be home, though, and played relatively well for the rest of the evening. Then, she slept for almost 13 hours!

Today has been a restful one for all three of us. I guess we didn’t realize how much that one day would take out of us! Caroline is almost her old self again, and her swelling has gone down almost completely.

Thank you so much for your prayers! Please continue to remember her recovery (there’s a very small chance that the ducts would re-clog). Love to you all!

-Beth

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Surgery Day

Just a reminder, please keep Caroline in your prayers on Friday (the 18th) as she has surgery to correct her clogged tear ducts. Again, this is a very minor procedure, but anytime there is anesthesia it’s a bit scary. We won’t know the time of the surgery until the evening before, so please remember her all day on Friday. Thank you! We’ll let you know how it goes...

-Beth

Caroline goes to the doctor

Caroline had her 18 month checkup this past Friday. She is a healthy girl and so smart! She’s just over 27 lbs, and she is 34.5 in. tall.

Cute story: Before going to the doc, we always read Corduroy Goes to the Doctor...we talk about what will happen during her appointment. One of the things she likes best from the book is when Corduroy says “aaah” so that the doctor can check his throat and mouth. She practices saying “aaah” too.

Well, as you can imagine, she was quite fussy while Dr. Shults actually examined her eyes and ears, and listened to her heart. She would not even say bye-bye to Dr. Shults, but instead gave her a solemn (slightly defiant) look as she walked out of the room. But as soon as the door closed, Caroline perked up and piped up, “Bye....Shults.......Aaaaaaaah”. She knew what she was doing all along! That little booger :) Thanks Corduroy.

-Beth

Friday, April 11, 2008

Pretending to Potty

Here is video we captured of Caroline back on March 29th:



hope you guys enjoy,

-jonathan

A good place for an accident (well kinda)

Here is a recounting of my experience on the way to the allergy doctor this past week:

...on my way in to the doc (it’s at Parkwest hospital), I was in a hurry, and when I pulled open the huge metal door in the parking garage, I slammed it into and over my toes. Ok, so I immediately doubled over in pain and was breathless, and saying oh my gosh oh my gosh over and over. There was nobody in sight, but I knew I had to get some help. I looked down at my foot (I was wearing flip-flops) and immediately started feeling so sick. This was really weird, cause I don’t get sick at the sight of blood, etc. I think it was the pain. Anyway, I made it in the door, and I thought, maybe I can get up to the doc’s office on the elevator and get help there. Well, I tried to look at the board that tells the floor number to go to, and blackness started to take over until all I could see was a small circle...so I quickly got down on the floor and sprawled out. This was so embarrassing! It was terrible at the time, but I am laughing as I write this. Nobody was there, and I looked at my toe again, and saw that it was huge and purple and a huge gash was oozing blood. By then, I was breaking out in a major sweat. So I’m thinking, at least I’m at a hospital...I’ll need stitches and I just knew it was broken. Well, finally along comes this delivery man, and he’s like, are you ok, can you call somebody, etc...well, I was about to black out still, so I couldn’t make the phone call to Jon. Then finally a bunch of people came out of the elevator...I was so embarrassed, but I couldn’t help it! One of the guys was a tech or whatever, wheeling somebody out in wheelchair. He was like, do you want me to call 911? And I’m thinking, we’re in a hospital! But I said, no please don’t call 911...so he came back after dropping his patient off and somehow got me into the wheelchair. I was still reeling and felt like I was going to hurl. Somehow during all of this, I managed to call Jon, and he headed over there. The tech guy got me up to the doc’s office, and they sat me in this big recliner (you sit in one anyway to get your allergies tested), and they started to treat my foot. Seriously embarrassing. Here I came in a big ol’ wheelchair all pale and pitiful and having to explain what just happened. But of course, the people were really nice and they got the wound cleaned up and they said they didn’t think it needed stitches. They got me an ice pack and elevated my foot and all of this. It was so ridiculous. So there I sat, getting my allergies tested with a big fat foot all covered in ice and bandages. I could hear them all out in the hall talking about it, like, did you see that toe, it looks bad, etc. It really is funny. As to whether or not it’s broken, we’re still not sure. But I’m able to walk, so I would think that means no. It looks a lot better today. It was mainly just the immediate reaction that was so bad...!!!!

Anyway, thought you might enjoy my humorous injury story. Maybe it will lighten up your day.

-beth

Thursday, April 3, 2008

here we go

Hello everyone! Beth here. I suppose eventually I had to succumb to blogging…Jonathan has been on my case about it for several months. So, as a compromise, we’ll share the family blog! Anyway, it will be a great opportunity to both catch up with you, our family and friends, and help you to catch up with us!



Right now things are pretty normal around here. Caroline is growing at a phenomenal rate, physically, intellectually, and emotionally! She has so many words, and she is starting to put sentences together. A couple of nights ago, she surprised us with this one: “Pappaw read it”. Of course, he had to do as she asked! Her first two-word combination was ‘bear roar’ back in late January. Also, she is so tall! She is definitely as tall as most 2-year-olds. More than half my height!!

In March, the month was full of celebrations. Easter and Caroline’s 18-month ‘birthday’ fell on the same day. We had fun hunting for eggs at a fantastic party hosted by my friend Karey. There were just a few kids, so Caroline was able to find plenty of eggs on her own. She really got into it! Cousins Catherine and Michael were there, and of course, friends Logan, Connor, and Riley. Fun times!

Oh, and Caroline is having eye surgery on April 18th to correct her clogged tear ducts. By all accounts, this is a very simple procedure. We will be in and out in just a few hours, and the surgery itself is supposedly only 5 minutes or so! Please do keep her in your prayers on that day. We’ll let you know how it goes…

Thanks for checking on us…we’ll post again soon!

-beth