Letter Shmetter;)I know that was a stupid title, but this year (to be brutally honest) I am struggling to even write a letter. Maybe it’s because I don’t want to have to remember or revisit this year? But in the Christmas spirit, and because I scrapbook our letter every year, I will, so here goes. (In all reality, this year wasn’t even bad, we just had a few really stressful times).
Jeff still continues to love motorcycles, he has one that runs, and two that he is working on. He has been customizing an older Yamaha. He is trying to teach himself to weld so that he can do the majority of customizing himself. He is also recruiting people to ride their motorcycles with him 15 hours to a custom bike rally in New Mexico this summer. He is still working at Orem rehabilitation, he has been there a year in September. Jeff’s twin brother Brad, moved to Utah in August from their home state of Virginia. He lives in Park City which is about an hour away. Of course Jeff loves finally having some family close by. Brad has been coming down about every other weekend and spending some time with our family. The kids absolutely adore him, they talk about “Uncle Bwadley” all the time. Jeff and I will be celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary in January. I look back at 7 years ago, and have to giggle at our relationship. I miss our innocence of our relationship, sure we “loved” each other and wanted to get married, but we had no idea what marriage and love was at that point. Our love and commitment has grown so much, that it’s kind of hard to take us seriously back then! We have had some hard times over this year, but have fought to find common ground and find our soul mate again. As we approach our seventh year, we are stronger than ever.
Me, Crystal, I have of course been busy being mommy to my two precious babies. It’s been a little weird to see the kids grow in their independence so much this year. They don’t need me like they use to. It’s rewarding too to see how far they have come, and know that they feel safe and secure as our little munchkins that they can grow and explore! I have still been working in my home salon, I am so glad I can still work, and be home with the kids. My clients and friends are so great about the kids coming in and getting in to everything. I have also been able to get out of the house a little, I just finished a cake decorating class, and have another one starting in January, I have so many creative juices flowing all the time, it’s nice to have somewhere to apply them. I have been scrap booking a lot, I am determined to catch up within the year. Another thing that I really love to do is blog. I have a lot of friends that I have met with kids similar to Noah, and it is therapy for me. It’s hard to talk about me when all I want to do is tell you what’s going on with the kids…
Noah is now four years old. I can’t believe that time has flown by that fast. Jeff and I always talk about how weird it is that we have a four year old, we still feel too young. Noah now wears his glasses all the time !!! Noah is in preschool again this year, its his last one before kindergarten next year! He goes 4 days a week for 2 hours a day. He was having a really hard time when I would leave the classroom after dropping him off, he would cry for 30-45 min every day, so his teacher told us that we should try the bus, and He has done amazing. You can see that he feels like such a big boy. He sits next to a little boy who lives in our neighborhood, and they talk the whole way. It is so precious to see his face when I get him off the bus after school. He always is so happy to see me, and we wait and watch the bus pull away and Noah says “see ya later alligator” and waves like crazy. Just writing about it brings tears to my eyes. I am such a lucky mommy. Noah is completely precious, he loves everyone, he has the sweetest spirit of anyone I have ever met in my life, he is independent and loves to be a “big boy”, and do things himself. He is incredibly patient and has more determination then 10 men. He inspires me every day to be a better more loving person! Noah had a really hard 4 months this year from June to September. He had a Baclofen pump placed in his abdomen, it worked amazing, then to our surprise it got infected and had to be removed. We were so bummed, but the worst was yet to come. The infection in the pump spread and got into his shunt. We were devastated, he had to have brain surgery to remove the shunt, just 2 days after having surgery to remove the pump…he had an external drain coming out of his head for a week, he had to lay flat for 2 days and then when he did get up they had to measure this lever system to be just the right height so the correct amount of spinal fluid would drain from his head…he was on very strong antibiotics to kill everything in his system, they made him feel sick and agitated. He was also put on oral baclofen to keep his muscles loose. About 8 days later he had to get a new shunt placed (another brain surgery) we were all devastated, Jeff and I cried in that hospital hallway harder then either of us have ever cried. Noah spent about 3 weeks in the hospital when we were finally discharged. Noah had a pic line (a more permanent IV) and I was required to give him 8 doses of antibiotics a day through his pic line, and we were also given his oral baclofen. We got home at about 4pm, Noah loved being back home and playing with his toys and watching his movies. Then just 7 short hours later, Noah started vomiting profusely and was nearly unconscious, we rushed him into the ER, they did everything they could think of to see what was wrong, everything came back normal. We would be in the hospital for a day and they would send us home….then Noah got sicker than I had ever seen him in my life, we rushed him in again and this time he was comatose. We had to drive with him out of his car seat because he was choking on his vomit, we should have called an ambulance, he was not responsive at all. In the ER, they preformed horrible tests even sticking a needle into his head to draw fluid from his brain, and he didn’t wake up. We were scared we were losing our son. I have never been that low in all my life. It was the worst feeling in the world thinking about trying to live a life with out our Noah. I couldn’t do it. They sent us to the ICU, Noah had about 15 people on his team, all in our room at once, it was so scary. His was only breathing at 4 breaths per minute. He finally woke up a little that night. He was completely irritable and not himself, we were worried that whatever was happening was causing long term damage. To make a long story a little shorter, Noah spent a month in the hospital, and we finally figured out that the Baclofen medication I was giving him at home had been labeled wrong, and he was getting 10 times his normal dose. He was basically being poisoned. Thank the Lord we finally figured it out when I saw the size dose a nurse was giving him at 4 in the morning, and asked her why the dose was so small. Noah is fully recovered now, it took about 2 months for him to get his nervous system under control, it was so bad he had to be on a drug that was kind of like a tranquilizer, it took the edge off and kept him from crying so much. As I sit her typing this letter, Barney is playing on the TV, the glow of the Christmas tree lights the room, Ava is sitting in daddies lap and Noah is playing with his alphabet toy, and I couldn’t be more thankful…We have our son and our daughter and for that I am so blessed. This year I have been more thankful and appreciative in all my life.
Ava is now two years old. She is such a joy! She is healthy and above average in everything except height J . She helps me with all my chores, she mimics everything I do. She loves to sing and dance all the time. She will meet eyes with you from across the room and all the sudden make a silly face and then let out a huge belly laugh! She hates to ride in carts at the store, instead she follows right behind me touching and commenting on everything along the way. She loves to paint and color. She rearranges my home décor on a daily basis, and I find random things stacked as tall as she can get them in silly places, so you can always tell which rooms she has been in. She loves to dress up and wear my shoes. Her voice is probably the cutest thing I have ever heard. She loves to say “sank you” “I yub you”, “sawwy” , “I ok”,“dat scared you”, typing them doesn’t do justice, it’s her voice that gets you, like a little angel! She is a major daddy’s girl, to the point that it almost hurts my feelings. She asks to call people everyday on the phone, her favorites include but are not limited to: grandma and papa (my parents) grandpa rock, re-run (grandpa rocks rotwiler) yaya and zane (my sister and her husband), gramma Harper (Jeff’s mom) and “uncle Bwad” (Jeff’s twin brother) We usually make at least 3 calls a day. I wish you could all just spend a day with our little Ava, she would light up your world. She is free spirited, wild, very loyal, sassy, spunky, snuggly, loves animals, helpful, loves her brother, is often in her own little world, singing and talking and giggling to herself. She is a complete character and everyone that knows her will giggle when they read this, because she is just a complete joy to everyone that knows her.
Well folks that’s all I can say about this year. Life is good and we are blessed. We just want to tell all of you that we love you and thank you for being in our life and part of our story. We hope you have a great holiday season and take some time to be thankful! Love to you all!
The Harper Family
1 comment:
Crystal, you have an amazing, adorable little family!
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