Moving Day

Okay, so I've been feeling guilty because I haven't told my best blogging friends that I'm moving tomorrow. I bought a town home in West Jordan, much closer to my work, and my sister. The most perfect place that I've always wanted to live. Seriously, everything about this place is perfect. It's 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, huge kitchen, big master bath, it's great. The living space is up above and the one car garage is underneath. It's going to be great once I'm all moved in and settled. However, there's a sad part to it, which I'll have to go into more later, I can't bring myself to talk about it much right now. Wish me luck.

Happy Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know I did. It's always such a great time to spend with family. I was quite spoiled by Santa. I got my Cricut (Yay), which came with a carrying case and an extra cartridge besides the one it already came with, plus Santa must've thought I was a really good girl and got me another extra cartridge. The cartridges are what has the shapes or fonts to tell the machine what to cut out. I've had so much fun playing with it the past few days. What a fun toy.

I got some great shirts, movies, and slippers from Matt's family. It definitely pays off to make a list, and send emails with specific links. That way I get just what I want. Hehe. I also got the 3rd season of Lost, just in time for us to watch it before the current season comes out. We've already watched 8 episodes, love the show. I'm looking forward to watching my Pirates 3, and Harry Potter dvds. Like I said, Santa sure thought I was a good girl this year.

1 More Day

Oh my goodness. I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas already. Why is it that as a kid Christmas takes forever and a day to get here, yet as an adult it just comes way too fast. Don't get me wrong, I love love love Christmas, but I swear it gets here earlier every year. I'm all ready with my gifties, so I don't need to put on my combat gear to head to the malls today. Yee Haw! We invited my parents over for Christmas morning tomorrow since all of us kids are married now and they'd be all alone. I love sharing our Christmas with them. Trying to figure out the timing of everything tomorrow since it's always chaos. Wake up by this time, have present done by this time, eat by this time, leave for Logan by this time, arrive at his parents by this time, take the kids back home by this time, drive back to our home by this time, go to my parents at this time, etc. etc. How exhausting. I'm really looking forward to finding out what's in the really big box by our tree with my name on it (Cricut?). Wish me luck. I'm hoping it snows tonight too, ya gotta have a white Christmas, at least by my standards. Merry Christmas!!!

Cricut

I've been coveting one of these bad boys for a long time. However, I had pretty much given up hope of ever receiving or buying one. Matt went with me one night to Roberts and comment, "Those Cricut things look neat." Needless to say I put this on my Christmas list, once again not really expecting it, but dreaming all the same. I figure hey, maybe if I'm a really good girl Santa will bring me one.

I think they're about $250 depending on where you look. You buy different cartridges for it, which are like $80, ouch. It cuts out letters and shapes for scrapbooking and cardmaking etc. The new and improved Expressions Cricut is much bigger and can take huge pieces of paper to cut things to fit on banners, walls, etc.

Oh Man!

Laura came home last night around 7pm. The kids were so excited to see her, and Garrett, 5 years old, kept asking if she was just there to visit and if she had to go back to the hospital tomorrow to get better.

This morning as Laura was in the shower, she called for Greg, in the bedroom. He came running in and she told him she felt like she was going to pass out. She put her arms around his neck and he held onto her as he sat her on the bathtub. He thought she'd feel better if she sat down. She told him, No, I'm really going to pass out. Luckily he was still holding on, her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted. He called the ambulance and they rushed her to the hospital once again. Poor little Ashlie, 2 1/2 years old, saw the ambulance come and take her mommy away, and was quite upset.

We don't have details yet on what happened. We do know it wasn't a stroke, whew! They're doing a CT Scan as of last I heard, so time will tell I guess.

UPDATE: What a day. Laura is back home again safe and sound. They said the hot water in the shower made her blood not flow as quickly to her brain and therefore caused her to faint. So nothing serious. What a relief. The doctor who looked at her chart said she's a miracle. She should have had a lot more damage to begin with such as blindness, deafness, paralysis, not being able to speak, etc. or even death. Many of the doctor's are surprised she even survived. How creepy is that?! There's definitely a lot to be thankful for! So glad to have her back home.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Good news! Laura will more than likely be coming home tonight. The doctor's will be sending her home on lots of medicines of course and Greg, her husband, will be giving her a shot in her stomach every 12 hours for her blood thinner. Yay! Not for the shot, for her coming home! I'm so excited. She can't be left alone, since she doesn't know how to do a lot of simple tasks, and in case of a seizure or any other such medical problems.

Yesterday, Greg was able to take her on a ride in her car for a little bit. She told us how strange it was with the lights turning red and you'd have to sit there for a long time. It's weird to think some of the things she doesn't know or has lost the ability to do. She won't be driving for a long time, which is strange to think. She'll be going to the hospital 4-5 times a week now they said to continue working with a speech therapist and an occupational therapist, continuing to learn to read, remember words, and relearning basic everyday tasks and such.

The doctor's say she's a very rare case. In that the stroke and ulcerated colidis are not related, and it's rare that they happened at the same time. We're so thankful that things have turned out as well as they have, and that she is continuing to progress more and more every day. Thanks again for all your prayers in our behalf!!

Laura's Progress

Laura is still improving a little day by day. She finally got moved out of the ICU last night into the regular part of the hospital. We're still not sure when she'll be able to come home, but for sure by Christmas. At the beginning she was blind in one eye due to the bleeding behind her eyes, and the doctor's told us they thought she would be blind permanently, but she has already gained most of her eye sight back. It's definitely a miracle.

She is seeming more like my Laura every day, not quite so child like as she was at the start. She practices daily with speech therapists and many others I can't think of right now. She's learning to read, by sounding out words and struggling with letters. Some pictures of objects she has to name she recognizes immediately, others she has to concentrate to remember how to say it. The doctor says she will have parts of her memory that she has completely lost and will have to relearn. But it is definitely hopeful as we see her progress each day. For example she didn't know what a knife was and had to relearn it's purpose. Her kid's got to visit her for the first time in 2 weeks yesterday. They were so excited to see Mommy, and brought her flowers and drawing pictures as gifts.

After many daily CT scans and other tests, we have found out she has ulcerated colidis. She has swelling in her brain, which caused the blood clot (1/2 inch thick and about 2 inches long) and then the stroke. This was all unrelated to the colidis, and will always wonder if it was due to a parasite. They say we will never know.

After she is released from the hospital she will be coming back 3-4 times a week to work with a speech and occupational therapist. Someone will have to be with her at all times for who knows how long, since she will not be able to do many things on her own. It's still surreal to think of everything that has happened in the past 2 1/2 weeks, but we are definitely thankful for all of the blessings, prayers, and fasting that has brought Laura to where she is today.

Jan Rocks!!

Okay, so this post is way overdue. I received my beautiful Lenox snowflake ornament from the wonderful Jan on Friday. The picture shown here isn't the exact one she sent me, I was having a hard time finding a picture of it, and of course my laptop is having issues letting me download my own pictures. Crazy! It is similar colors like this one, and it has the year dangling from the bottom. What a great remembrance. It seriously made my day to receive a fun package in the mail. Who doesn't love fun mail like that? This was such a fun idea, Jori, way to go! And Jan, thank you thank you thank you for such a gorgeous ornament. You're the best.