where to begin?

Well, it feels like a million things have happened since our last update. Firstly, Bryce is completely recovered and doing great. Hooray! And I did take some new pictures of the kids.

The month of May was so busy it seemed to have ended as soon as it began. We finally upgraded to a bigger car which is thrilling for Daddy (ok, I admit I really like it too). We celebrated Mother’s Day and my birthday together. We stayed home! Which was different for us. But is was nice, just the same. The day after Mother’s Day I turned 30. I hear good things about the 30’s so I welcomed it and felt so loved to hear birthday wishes from more family members then it seems like ever before. For me, that was better than any present I could ever receive. Of course I began to suspect something that day. No, not a present from Jared. Something else. The next morning we took a trip to the pharmacy after taking Hope to Joy School and shocking to us confirmed that we were pregnant. So, on to feeling the challenges that come with the blessing. We always say that we aren’t going to tell anyone until I am 3 months along and then one of us or both of us spill the beans within a day or two. I had gone shopping with Linda and Hope and after having to hold in the news all night long (Jared made me promise not to tell her) I just decided I have to tell someone! As soon as I tell one person Jared gets on the phone and calls all his family and so instantly everyone knows! It’s amazing to me that when you think you can’t do something, inevitably it seems for me, that thing absolutely happens and you are forced to just do it. You just have to muster up your faith, how ever much you can, go to the Savior in prayer and go forward. I did not think this would be me. I thought I was going to plan everything, space the kids to my liking, be under complete control, and now I feel like I just strap in and try to do my best whatever comes. Mostly I mess things up, but I always keep trying.

At the end of May our beautiful Hope graduated from our little preschool. I was glad to see that fun chapter close and happy to do it, but looking forward to a trained teacher next year. In June I headed to the Doctor for the first visit and to see the heartbeat. That is always a special experience. And after some convincing on my part, then wavering on both our parts, we actually took a family trip. That is big for us. We do it maybe once a year and typically its disastrous. But we have been wanting to see Grandma Forman in SLC on her mission and just decided to finally do it.

It was great! Of course Bryce refused to cooperate several times and we did miss Ethan who stayed at home, but it was so much fun and for the first time the kids had the chance to bond with Grandma.

After the trip we came home to our little Ethan who was happy to see us! He is a Grandpa’s boy, but is so happy to be with our family again.

On to what we have anticipated for a long time……boating with Grandpa and Grandma Christensen.

We didn’t catch a fish, but had the best time testing out Grandpa’s new boat.

And then to end the Month of June, Bryce turned 3! He had a party with the Christensen side to enjoy his first pinata and then woke up his birthday morning to a room full of balloons. He was able to sneak away with Grandpa and Grandma Forman to go see the new Cars movie and has loved every card, present, and call to wish him a good day. What a big boy!

Bryce Update

Thursday and Friday little Brycie was confined to the bed. He woke up in the night crying that Hope was hitting him. We think he was just in pain and dreaming. He has slept by us at night so I could give medicine, water, and soothe. By Saturday he could sit up pretty well. Saturday night he started to walk. It looked like a mix of a 100 year old man/I was riding a horse too long sort of walk. Then today he got up and started walking again. Said he no longer needed medicine. He goes pretty slow and still walks like he just got off a horse, but he is doing great! His smile and joyful nature has reappeared and we are so thankful!

Oh my little boy……….

About a year ago we were referred to a specialist for something our pediatrician noticed with Bryce. We saw the specialist and decided to wait to see if time corrected things. By January the Doctor recommended surgery and after attempting to talk us out of it, postponing once, praying that everything would suddenly fix itself the day, TODAY,  finally came to have the surgery and fix a few things. I had reluctantly made the appointment a few months ago. I knew it was coming. I just wished it didn’t need to come. It isn’t that I felt he would die. I just truly abhor seeing the kids in pain and terrified. Bryce was a trooper. Mommy at any moment was ready to open the flood gates and burst into uncontrollable tears, but encouraged by our two year old I held back every time I felt my eyes well up. Mary and Tyler were in town visiting this week and offered to help us by spending the night and taking care of Ethan and Hope while Jared and I woke Bryce up and went the Hospital at 5:45am. We waited. Filled out papers. Waited. Bryce asked, “Mommy, where are we going?” “Mommy, what are we doing here?” I just kissed his little forehead and said we needed to see the Doctor. We were called back to take vitals and do surgery prep. We met with nurses and waited. We met with the Anesthesiologist and waited. We met with the specialist/surgeon and waited. When the nurse said they were looking for the wagon to put him in I secretly felt a tinge of relief to hold him just two more minutes. I just didn’t want him to feel abandoned because I couldn’t be with him the whole time. After all that waiting the wagon appeared and I felt suddenly willing to do more waiting. We placed him in the wagon with blankets gently placed on top. I kissed his head and told him he was such a big boy and we watched him disappear. I took a mental tape recording of him in that wagon, and it chokes me inside to recall the scene. I wished I could find a closet, scoop him up and hide. But I had resolved that this had to happen and I just had to suck it up, as my sister Heidi likes to say. We walked back to the waiting room. Jared kept looking at me and smiling. He thinks I lack faith. I just lack the ability to watch a child….anyone’s child suffer. We waited and waited some more. Lucky for us the Royal wedding is tomorrow and there is a lot of news coverage to watch on TV. I don’t know what other surgeries were happening for the other family members in the room but everyone’s surgery seemed to go quickly but ours. 7:45am. 8:30am. 9:15am. We were called to the front. Perhaps the surgery is over I thought! The news was that it was taking longer then expected, only halfway through, but it was going well. We waited, waited, and waited. People who had arrived after us were taking their surgery patients home.  By 10:30 I was fidgety and beginning to wring my hands. A check with the front desk staff yielded the information that he was still in surgery for another 20 minutes or so. Three hours of surgery and the Doctor emerged with a smile. I smiled. She said it went “textbook perfect”. There were a few issues inside to fix that were time consuming but it was perfectly successful. We still couldn’t see him but this was great news! Almost surprisingly we were sent back to the waiting room for more………drumroll please…..waiting! Finally he was wheeled into recovery and awake. When our eyes met he started to whimper. I couldn’t hold back a few tears seeing him with cords, taping, and sutures. How did I ever think I could be in the medical profession!?!? We told him what a big boy he had been and through his whimpers he chokingly whispered “yah”. I gave him a scratch and calmed him down. He drank some water and quickly dozed back into sleep.  The nurse said he was the star patient. He is home now, confined to his back and in pain to sit up and unable to yet stand. He’ll be moving around soon, but needs a few weeks to fully recover. Bless his little heart. How grateful I am to all the family members who put his name in at the temple and added him to their prayers. I can’t help but feel the spirit to think of our family all kneeling in prayer in their respective homes and loving Bryce enough to add him to their prayers. As if I could reach out and touch it I have felt the spirit so strongly from our loved ones faith and prayers. There is no greater blessing on Earth than to have a loving family. As for Bryce now……we will give prayers of Gratitude, and as for recovery….it’ll come soon….probably with some more waiting. 

Bryce pre-surgery.

Bryce post-surgery.

Happy Easter

We had a lovely Easter Celebration this year. Every member of both the Christensen family was able to be together on Saturday. And every member of the Forman family was able to be together on Sunday. We let the kids pick out Easter baskets that we forgot to bring to both Easter Egg Hunts! Half way to both Grandparents houses Hope suddenly exclaimed, “We forgot our Easter baskets!” Way to go Mommy! But more importantly we were able to be together and talk to the kids about our Savior and his amazing gifts to us. How blessed we are!

This time I did bring a camera to both family celebrations but only got pictures of the Christensen one. I guess I didn’t quite have enough stamina to pull it out by the end of Sunday. Holidays as a parent is amazingly exhausting!

6 years together!

Happy Anniversary Mommy and Daddy! This year we were so blessed to have Grandma Christensen (the Grandma with the sea shells as Hope likes to say) come and stay with the kids overnight Thursday so we could do a quick getaway in San Fran. It was…….it is hard to think of the most correct word to describe it………..relaxing, fun, adventurous, reviving, yummy…….awesome! We had a great time. The hotel was nice. We walked probably close to 5 miles over the city that night for dinner, sights, smells, dessert, candy, and just to be able to hold hands. Mommy is a big fan of hand holding. Then after a pretty good nights sleep (turns out the garbage trucks in San Fran run at night and woke me up at 3:30am with the beeping and clanging of the business……). In my half sleep/half irritation I thought that it was construction outside and vowed out loud that I was going to call the front desk right away and demand that half our cost for the one night be refunded to have to be woken up by ruckus! Then I laid back down and went right back to sleep until 7:30am. Not bad. That is sleeping in for us! Friday we toured Filoli estate and Gardens south of San Fran. It was heavenly. I LOVE estates and gardens. And the Gardens were gorgeous. I could have stayed there forever. As soon as afternoon hit we were in our car heading home feeling revived and ready to be with our sweet children again. All thanks to our beloved “Grandma with the sea shells” the kids enjoyed us being gone, had fun, and welcomed us back with smiles, hugs and kisses.

Sampling the delectables…….

Filoli! Built 1917.

The ballroom. The fireplace was at least 6 feet tall and made of Machevelli Marble. The long walls on the sides of the ballroom were murals of Ireland where the owner’s daughter lived. The father was unable to travel to visit her due to strokes so he enlisted an artist to paint her home and land on each side of the room so that he could feel close to her.

Thousands of tulips, flowers, and plants all over the estate. It was one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever been to. Now I am just thinking of how and when we can go back!

Happy 70th Grandma Cox!

With Dean and Linda gone to Hawaii for Grandma Cox’s birthday we invited her up for dinner. Rachel made a yummy German Chocolate cake and we had a nice dinner to celebrate Grandma’s 70th birthday. Hope really wanted to play a game for the party. She suggested that we play “Pin the tail on the Donkey”. I said we might want to do a different game that would be easier for Grandpa so she suggested “Musical chairs”. Grandma and Grandpa got a good laugh over the kids enthusiasm. And the lesser of evils for Grandpa seemed to be pin the tail on the donkey so we did that after dinner. Everyone took a turn, including Grandpa! The kids helped blow out the birthday candles, and Savannah isn’t pictured but she helped from across the table. After being fed countless times by Grandma it was great to give her a turn to relax. We all love our Grandma Cox and are so grateful for her care and compassion for everyone she meets!

Museum Day

Early in March we went to the Train Museum with our friends, the Gilberts. Turns out that the kids all got in free because they were all under the age of five. Which was a bonus. Jamie took the pictures of the kids since, per usual, Mommy forgot the camera. We had so much fun that day. We toured the museum, chased Ethan all over the place, had a picnic outside, and even hit a French Fry place in Old Sacramento. It was such a great day. The boys were in Heaven and could have stayed forever upstairs with the Thomas Train tables. Bryce typically doesn’t let Ethan touch his beloved Thomas trains so when we got upstairs and Ethan saw trains available and no older Brother around he quickly grabbed one in each hand and ran around just elated that he was able to hold a train. It was delightful.