Mom Strength

I had to face one of my biggest fears yesterday.

When Elsie fell, The color left her face and her whole body went limp. Her little cries were almost worse than if she had been screaming. They were slow, quiet and sad. I could almost feel the pain she was in. Something was not right. 

We called 911 but since the hospital was less than 2 minutes away, we just told them we were on our way. I sat in back with Elsie. Her eyes were continually wanting to droop shut, but I just kept singing to her and couldn't let her fall asleep. 

Once in the ER they began assessing her. We didn't know if it was her head, her neck, her back.... 

She was just so sullen, floppy, dazed, sad. Nothing like the energetic baby we knew and loved.

They decided to do a CT scan to check her head and neck. Watching the doctors wheel her away from us was awful. 10 minutes. Thats how long they said she would be gone. It turned into 35 minutes that felt like years.

When they brought her back, they had strapped her to a board and her head and neck were strapped and braced so she couldn't move. My heart was thumping so hard I was sure everyone could hear it. 

They said it was just precautionary and we should have the CT results soon.

While we were waiting, I just sat there next to Elsie and sang all her favorite songs. She would look over at me with her eyes, since she couldn't turn her head, and then start to doze again. 

I was amazed at how calm I stayed. I could only imagine how scared she was feeling. I needed to stay there with her, holding her hand, telling her it was okay.

Chase kept checking the monitors. Her heart and oxygen remained strong.

Results from the scan came back and they believed there was a fracture in her skull just above her neck. They decided to ambulance us to Primary Children's so she could be there with specialists if need be.

Once we arrive at the children's hospital they immediately took her of off the board and checked her neck and back. With the doctors approval I got to hold her. 

She buried her face into my chest and then looked up at me and smiled. The first smile since she fell. My heart melted. She was beginning to resemble the talkative busy body she is. Chase and I were ecstatic.

It was now 1:00 in the morning and we were all exhausted.

The doctor confirmed the fracture in her skull and gave us the good news that there was no further damage, no internal bleeding, and she would make a full recovery. I literally felt the weight lift off my chest. Chase's sigh of relief said he felt it too.

The next part was just a waiting game to be sure she could eat and hold it down. She only threw up once and at 3:00 am they said we could go home.

I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am for modern medicine and for the power of the priesthood. Our little bug is already so much better and continuing to improve. I am also grateful for the strength that I was blessed with through all of this. I was able to remain calm and collected though the entire process. I could talk to her and sing to her and calm her down when she would begin to cry. 

Thank you all for the prayers and kind words. You're seriously the greatest.

Oh this girl has my heart and I am so grateful she is okay.

Being a Mom

10 things I've learned since becoming a mom:

1. The whole posting tons of pictures of your babe everyday...  I get it. I refrain, but I get it.

2. Going to the bathroom alone is a treat. Going in a public place if you don't have the stroller.... forget about it. 

3. Life really does revolve around your kids.

4. You get to do everything all over again. Run through the sprinklers, watch cartoons... you have an excuse now.

5. Me time is not just looked forward to, its essential. For everyone's sanity.

6. The things you find yourself doing, like wiping a snotty nose with your hands and wiping it on your jeans (ew!?), licking baby food off off little fingers so it doesn't get everywhere, and singing songs all through the store just to keep em smiling.

7. The faces and sounds that you make just to get a giggle. And in public no less!?

8. Clothes shopping for baby is wayyy more fun once they get past the baby sizes and into toddler.

9. Every cute toy or stuffed animal I see, I want to buy for her. I now understand how kids get so many flippin toys!

10. No matter where you go or what you have to do, you have a mini shadow best friend. You can go to lunch alone, but not be alone!! boooya.

New life so far.

We have been in Utah for 17 days now. It feels like we've been here forever. Its weird that we aren't leaving. This is home now. Well once we find house it will be official. We are currently living in the mother-in-law suit at my Aunt and Uncle's house. But we don't have any of our things, besides some clothes, and not to mention our dogs! They are stuck in Arizona till we can have a place to keep them up here. The weather up here is wonderful. It's been raining almost everyday and in the evenings you can open all your doors and windows and let the cool breeze rush in. In July!! Utah you've been good to us so far. Keep it up!

Before our little family of three headed up to Utah, we took family pictures with both sides of our family. We miss them already and can't wait for them to come visit!

Bitter Sweet

Rosie: 3 months, Josie: 2.5 years, Evie: 7 weeks, Elsie: 7 months

the cutest little friends already

Bittersweet, thats really the best way to describe how I feel about us moving to Utah. For the past few months, Chase has been going through multiple interviews at a medical device company in Salt Lake City, C.R. Bard. They contacted him saying they found his resume in their database from a job he had applied for a while back. Because of his work with a chinese ultrasound company, he was an ideal candidate. Bard had recently decided to expand their product line into Asia and Europe and were looking for a group of people to head this new team. The process took a long time, and it was realllly hard not to get our hopes up. But things continued to progress and last week they offered Chase the job. 

On one hand I wanted to jump up and down and scream and laugh and cheer that we FINALLY found a job. Then on the other I wanted to sit in the corner and cry thinking about leaving our friends and family here in Arizona. The heat on the other hand... Let me just say adios to that. I won't miss you one little bit. But in all honesty, I'm excited. I'm excited to start this new chapter in our lives. Taking this leap of faith that this is where we need to be! It will be fun to make new friends, in a new city, in a new house. All new and different. Change is something we struggle with, and I have no doubt that somedays will be so hard. But I have a feeling this is going to be a great adventure for our little family. And I'm so blessed to have them to share it with.

The Sun is Up

So I've been making a lot of wall art lately. Mostly for myself and for Elsie's room, but I also made a couple that I would like to share with you all! This print is an 8x10 and is perfect for any room in the house. And who doesn't love some good inspiration from the ohh so lovely Paul McCartney? You can click on the picture to download or you can also click HERE. Enjoy!