Spring Break, Birthdays, Family and Fish

Grandma Easter  Aquarium Driving Annie Playing Games Lawson Laughing Sharks Candy Miranda Perudo Sea Turtles & Penguins Ice Cream Cake Steak & Salad Kids Crying Movies Easter Egg Hunt GPS Rocky Statue Mallory Independence Hall Flat Stanley Easter Bunny Kim Singing Buckwheat Pancakes & Pepperoni Rolls Lydia Kids Laughing Fun Derrel Soft Pretzels & Smoothies Progressive Rummy Brandon Apple Annie's Mandy Tour Guides Happy 30th Birthday Derrel Starting Perudo with 2 dice (instead of 5) Yummy Food Grant Jokes Dr. Horrible Liberty Bell Crazy Park Ranger with a "system" Spring flowers Target Kate Rain Nathan's Famous Spills & Messes Captain Hammer Amy Spring Break One Bathroom: 12 people Airport Delays Mexican Food "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do"

Bathroom, toilets and crawling

Well, with our tax return, we have decided to remodel the main bathroom in our house. It was REALLY outdated with an avacado green fiberglass bathtub and sink (if you want to see the tub, look at the picture of Grant in the tub below). The vinyl floor was speckled with gold. It was a sight to see! We have totally gutted it (these pictures don't show the sheetrock and floor boards ripped out). It's very exciting and we have a LOT of plans for it. I'll post after pictures when it's finished.

The next great news is that Kate is officially potty trained. It took 3 days and a 1 1/2 accidents (no poop accidents). If I had known it would be so quick and easy, I would have done it months ago. She is so excited to finally be able to go on the big girl potty. Yeah!! No more of these saggy DIAPERS for Kate!

Thirdly, our little boy is giGRANTic!! He is crawling and has been crawling for a few weeks now. This kid is HUGE! His hands are garGRANTuan. I LOVE it. He loves his big sisters. They make him laugh all of the time. He's adorable and has such a special place in our home. Here's a few pictures and videos of Grant. Just so you know, too, Grant just got his FIRST TOOTH. YEAH, what a fun age he's at!!!! Here's a few pictures and videos. Enjoy.

Kids, kids and more kids

Here's a post with lots of pictures and videos.  These kids are growing like weeds!  No one told me they were going to do that!  Grant had totally recovered and not once did his weight go down while he was sick.  He just keeps eating and eating and eating.  He is so happy and is almost crawling.  Kate is happy to be the oldest sibling at home while Lydia is away in Kindergarten.  She's a big help and is SLOWLY learning how to potty train (very very SLOWLY).  Lydia loves school and is learning so much.  She comes home with new knowledge every day.  We love listening to what she learns from her teachers and her classmates.  It's pretty colorful sometimes=) Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Shoes

Dear Shoes,

I am so excited that you have joined the dozens of other pairs of shoes in my closet.  I still have shoes from ten years ago sitting unworn and lonely.  But you. . . . you won't be that way!  Not if I have anything to do with it. . . . . for the sole reason I bought you was to get my body back into shape.  You are going to carry me through tough, unbearable workouts,  running around taking the kids (and husband) from one place to another, bringing lunch to Derrel, scenic strolls on the rail trail, cleaning my house or a puddle of throw up from one of the kids and maybe even mowing the lawn once or twice.  We'll go so many places.  It will be hard work but I'll make it worth your while.  

All I ask in return is that you cheer for me, keep me going, help me become a better, stronger person and achieve all the things I need to accomplish. You've got a large load on your hands, but we can do it together!  I hope that you can stay strong for the job ahead of you.  I promise I'll work hard if you do, too.  Thanks in advance for your support.  I won't let you down;)

Love,

me

Grant is HOME!

Sorry, I meant to post this a few days ago, but life is slowly getting back to it's normal self.  We are just so excited that Grant is home with us.  Derrel drove him home at about 9:15 on Tuesday morning and the home health person came at 10 am to show us (well, I guess just me) how to give Grant his antibiotics.  He'll be on them at home for at least 2 weeks.  I think he is thrilled to be home and out of the hospital.  It's like bringing home a new baby all over again!!!!  We are so grateful for our little boy and that he is on the mend.  Yea!  Merry Christmas to all and Happy Holidays.  Enjoy.

Our Christmas Wish

It's been our biggest Christmas wish for Grant to come home for Christmas.  Well, our wish is coming true.  The doctors said that he can come home tomorrow morning (Tuesday).  Yeah!!  We are truly excited and so elated that we get to spend Christmas Eve and morning in our own home.  We are so thankful.  We have to be home by 10 am because the home health team is coming to teach us how to give him his antibiotics.  We'll have to administer them through the PICC line (long-term IV) in his arm twice a day for a few weeks.  WOW, we are just thrilled.  Sure love you all, thanks for all the calls and prayers.  Grant is doing great and we are just so happy!

Livin' la viva hospital

We've learned a lot while staying in the hospital:

1. No privacy (in the PICU, there is a bathroom with a 1/4 inch gap in between the wall and the door and the wall with the door is actually just one big window). Sometimes, I would actually go out of the PICU to the public restroom to get a little more privacy.
2. No sleep (for some reason, the nurses take a rectal temp at midnight, take a blood sample out of his foot at 3 am and a chest x-ray at 4:30 am. And when he wakes up for these, they talk really loudly and think it's time to play with the baby-NOT THE CASE. So, he's up squealing between the temp taking and foot sticking!
3. It took a week to figure out that there was a volume on the alarm that beeped almost every time he moved (from the machine taking his vitals). I finally got consecutive hours of sleep with no beeping!
4. There is an office called Center for Quality Outcomes with a sign right next to it for the Smoking Booth.
5. Santa makes many appearances at the hospital!!!! The girls LOVED seeing Santa. Grant and the girls have been recipients of many many gifts, toys, books, crayons, stuffed animals, etc from many groups and people who are so kind to come in and visit the children at the hospital.
6. Cafeteria food is HIGHLY overrated. There is a salad bar that is somewhat healthy. No wonder people have to go to the hospital. It's the junk they eat.
7. It's really sad to watch a pregnant woman smoke, or see someone standing in their gown in front of the hospital that is dragging their IV fluids behind with one hand and holding a cigarette in the other.
8. I guess some people don't know the meaning of NO SMOKING BEYOND THIS POINT when they light up right outside of the hospital doors. Kinda frustrating.

Well, Grant continues to get stronger every day. He was transferred out of intensive care into the regular pediatric wing of the hospital today. That is great news for all of us. The doctors were able to take out his chest tube on Saturday and he continues to roll around and LOVES the new freedom of no stickers and tubes and wires attached to him. He is happier and we are happier especially with no gaps in the bathroom door! The doctors say we should hopefully be home before Christmas. We have no dates yet but maybe Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Here's hoping. At least we know we'll most definitely all be home for Christmas! What a blessing.

Goin' with the flow

Well, Grant was doing better yesterday and through the night. He's still in the PICU. The doctor came to check up on him and looked at his x-rays and said he was getting a little bit worse, again. Just a bit. So they will put more fluid (TPA) into his chest tube to see if he can drain anymore out of his lung. They were looking at him coming home on Saturday but now it's put back to at least Monday. All in all, he's doing OK, we're going with the flow, we are WELL taken care of between meals and care for the girls! Thanks to all! We love you all and will update you when there's more to tell. Here's a few more pictures of him in the hospital. Happy Holidays!

Grant's stats are on the right of the screen

Trying to be happy

So serious

Chest fluid, it may look yucky but the more the better:)

All tuckered out

Update on Grant

Just a little update on what is going on with our big G man. Since my last post, Grant just wasn't getting better, if anything he was getting worse. So our pediatrician transferred him over the the big hospital at the university here (we were in the smaller hospital). He had his first ride in an ambulance, something that even in my 29 years I still haven't done. Derrel rode with him and I met them at the hospital in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). And that's where we are right now and will be for a little while. Grant has had quite a few doctors working on him. A great pediatrician, Intensive Care Pediatrician (which happens to be in our ward), awesome residents and even an Infectious Disease Doctor. We've also been blessed with great nurses, too. Last night, they decided it was best if we drain the fluid from the pocket that formed outside of his lung (effusion) and the Intensive Care Doc did that for us. It was great to have a doctor there that could help administer a blessing before the procedure. At the same time, they performed a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to check if the bacteria had entered his spine (meningitis). The spinal tab wasn't clear and we still don't quite know if he has meningitis, but they are treating him as if he does have it. Better to be on the safe side. But for sure he does have Strep Pneumonia. All in all, he is improving, slowly but surely. Hopefully we will get Grant out of the hospital by Christmas so he can spend his first Christmas at home=). If not, we just want him to get well soon! We will get through this, I feel like we've been given similar trials before which makes this one just a little more bearable. Thanks to all who have helped with the girls, meals, thoughts and prayers. They are all so helpful and appreciated.

Right of Passage: Hospital Stay

Literally, our family just LOVES to visit the hospital. Almost every vacation, we have a hospital visit. Instead of site seeing, we visit the hospitals in varying cities across the nation: Rexburg, Provo, Liberty, Baltimore, we've seen it all. This time, it is our privilege to visit the hospital in our hometown. I should have known it was coming since the hospital here just opened up its brand new multimillion dollar section that we hadn't visited yet. It's for sure beautiful, if you can call a hospital beautiful. But in one of it's rooms is where our little Grant is. I brought him to the ER Sunday morning with a 105.2 degree temperature. After a few chest x-rays and some lab work, they quickly diagnosed him with bacterial pneumonia (yamonia-as Lydia calls it) and admitted him into the hospital. We've come to believe it's a right of passage for membership in the Derrel Walker family to stay in the hospital with pneumonia (which I have yet to do). Lydia and Kate both had RSV pneumonia and were hospitalized for 3-5 days, Kate only 3 months old and Lydia was 2. Derrel was in the hospital for almost 2 weeks in CA with horrible pneumonia (they almost took some of this lung out). I guess you could say we're getting used to this, it's not as shocking as it used to be. Here he is in all his chubby glory:

Grant's doing fairly well, I guess he had a pretty serious case of pneumonia. They gave him a heavy dose of antibiotics about 24 hours ago and they say it takes about that long to start really kicking in. I thought that he would be able to go home today but it's probably not going to be that soon, unfortunately. But he is well taken care and and Derrel is staying with him so I can get some much needed sleep. I slept 8 1/2 hours last night with NO interruptions (except the normal alarm clock that is supposed to wake Derrel up for seminary at 5 a.m.) I think I could be a somewhat normal person if I could sleep like that every night. Needless to say, it's been a while since I've had that kind of sleep. Grant is improving

Kate

I've been meaning to put a post up about Kate. She is now three and well into the three stage of life, if anyone knows what I mean=). She cries about everything but doesn't even realize it. Poor girl is just having a hard time. She is still cute as ever. Grandma and Grandpa Walker came to visit in the beginning of October and about 3 hours after they left, I gave Grant a haircut. I accidentally left the clippers and scissors out and went downstairs for a brief few minutes to do laundry. I came back and noticed a few clumps of hair all over the living room floor and realized she had CHOPPED her hair on the sides in the front. Luckily she only got up to her chin and no short bang action. I put the rest of her hair in a pony tail (it was really getting long-half way down her back when it was wet) and chopped her beautiful curly ponytail off. I was a little mad at first but the second I looked in her eyes, she started balling. I couldn't be mad, she was so sad for what she had done to her hair. The minute I finished cutting her ponytail off, she begged me to watch Rapunzel. Poor girl. I think the old sweet loving Kate was cut off with her long curly locks=). She can still be sweet but she's got A LOT of SPUNK!! And a new haircut to go with it! Check it out:

before:

during:

(look at how HORRIFIED she is)


after

Der Elizu

Lydia is really into writing on EVERYTHING right now. She writes notes to anyone and everyone she can think of. Sometimes we can't tell what she is writing but she's getting so good at spelling phonetically. I found this note she had written to a friend who recently moved away (interpretation below):

Dear Eliza,
Some day I'll visit you. Are you five or are you six?
I am in kindergarten. Are you in kindergarten or preschool?
The End
Love,
Lydia

Me love take you ice-cream
(The little phrase that goes with the picture on the bottom left).

I've been tagged

My friends Shilo and Mary tagged me so I will do both on one post. I'll keep it SMALL! Here it goes:

Shilo's Tag

8 TV Shows I Love:

1. I used to sometimes watch the show on TLC during the afternoon that tells about people's houses being haunted by spirits until I kept hearing noises in my own house. I don't watch it anymore=)
   
2. King of Queens
   
3. American Idol
   
4. College Football (especially WVU and UT, and I ESPECIALLY like to see BYU LOSE) Kira, don't let Aaron read this post=)
   
5. Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe
   
6. Everybody Loves Raymond
   
7. Um, there is this new show on Discovery Channel called Time Warp. It's COOL! They video record cool things like someone being punched and then show it in REALLY slow motion.
8. I really don't watch much TV, really.

8 Restaurants I Feast At:

1. Chili's (went there for my birthday)
   
2. Cheddars (LOVE the Monte Cristo)
   
3. Cheesecake Factory (but they don't have one very close)
   
4. Cracker Barrel (I really like restaurants that start with a C)
   
5. But I HATE Chick-Fil-A (sorry Jon, I don't like BYU and I DON'T like Chick-fil-a)
   
6. We LOVE Goodwood but it's not here=(
7. Cafe Rio (keeping with the "C" theme)
8. Panera

8 Things that Happened Today:

1. It's still pretty early
   
2. Ate birthday cheesecake for breakfast
   
3. Used my new egg hard boiler I bought myself (I LOVE hard boiled eggs and toast for breakfast)
   
4. I am in the process of updating my blog
   
5. Derrel took our old avacado fridge to the dump
   
6. Fed my kiddies
   
7. It's rainy and cold (I think I'll drink some hot chocolate to go with my cheesecake)
   
8. I'm still celebrating my birthday. . . . . I mean birth-week=)
   

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Reading Twilight (I got the first two books for my birthday)
   
2. Putting a post about Kate's haircut she gave herself and I had to take her to fix
   
3. Taking a temple trip soon=)
   
4. A nap
   
5. Tinkerbell coming out on DVD
   
6. Well, I'm looking forward to USING my new dining room table I got for my birthday, YEAH!!!!
   
7. The November Ensign - rereading the conference talks- Shilo you hit the nail right on the head with that one
   
8. Thanksgiving- Sister Amy and fam are coming into town
   

8 Things on my Wishlist:

1. To weigh 40 lbs less
2. Stop nursing, not that I don't enjoy it sometimes
3. New carpet
   
4. Redo my bathrooms
   
5. Redo my kitchen cabinets
6. Not to have a bunny anymore (does anyone want a sweet smelly cute bunny?)
7. To eat anything I want and be really healthy (I didn't say skinny)
8. My front porch to be redone (along with a lot of other stuff)
   

Mary's Tag

Four things I love about my husband
1. He is so easy to get along with, I LOVE it!
2. Derrel is SO selfless
3. He LOVES his icecream
4. He is such a hard worker (just like his Dad)
5. (just because I want to put one more) He's a SPECIMEN. That word says it all;)

4 movies you would watch more than once
1. Pride and Prejudice the old 8 hour one
2. Dan in Real Life
3. Napoleon Dynamite
4. Jungle Book

4 places I have been
1. Texas (it's a whole other country=)
2. Mexico
3. Russia
4. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

4 places I 'd like to go
1. I agree with Mary, I'd LOVE to go to Hawaii
2. Tahiti
3. Maine
4. Canadian Rockies

4 people who e-mail me regularly
1. Jen West
2. Emergency Essentials
3. Bath and Body Works
4. Deseret Book

4 things I look forward to in the next year
1. Winter being over (it hasn't even started yet)
2. Visiting family
3. Watching my kids grow and learn
4. Change

I'm also attaching the fourth picture from my fourth folder in my fourth folder:

left to right: Kate, cousin Esther, cousin McKayla
Doesn't Kate look like Grant?

For all the Husbands!

I thought this was hilarious!

Over the river and through the woods, grandma and grandpa come

Literally over the river and through the woods, Grandma and Grandpa Walker came to our house to visit. We had such a great time! Dad and Derrel got so much accomplished. We had a few projects unfinished projects. Some of them are still unfinished but well on their way. We finally have lights outside in our backyard!!!! Yeah, no more fidgeting for keys in pitch black darkness on the back porch. Even better, the lights are sensored so when someone walks up the stairs, the light turns on!!!! Yeah! The only problem is we have a hole in our sun room floor so they could wire the light outside. But it's WORTH it! Derrel's brother, Devin, blessed their new little baby boy, Lincoln, so we took a little trip over the Baltimore for that. It was great to see them and little Lincoln.
We also went to a little cabin at Blackwater Falls and stayed in a little 2 bedroom cabin. It was so beautiful. The trees were changing colors and there was even a deer outside of the cabin in the morning while we were making breakfast. We fed it good ol' white bread. Lydia named it POPCORN. It was a blast! Thanks for making the trip Grandma and Grandpa! We sure love you guys.