Christmas Card 2011

Christmas Letter 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! I hope you and yours are having a Merry Christmas as well.

Here is a recap of our 2011 year.

• Mark has continued to serve as our bishop. I’ve often been asked about how I feel about it. I don’t mind it at all. He has not only done well in this calling, but he has prioritized us, his family, before the calling. What more could a girl ask for?
• Mark has also continued to serve in the community as a small claims judge. He is making a reputation for fairness and trust. He starts each session with a light-hearted question that everyone in the room must answer. These questions could be anything from “What is your favorite cookie” to “What is your favorite holiday movie”. The court staff look forward to his time on the bench.
• Zachary is my favorite two-year-old boy. I can’t help but be a proud mama. He knows the whole alphabet: he can say it by himself and he recognizes all the letters, both upper and lower case. He can count to 12 by himself and is learning up to 20. He knows colors and shapes—including diamonds, pentagons, and hexagons. Yes, I’m proud.
• Zachary did have us concerned for a while regarding his language skills. When he turned two, he wasn’t even putting two-word sentences together. In the past three months his language skills have exploded. We are so glad he is talking and describing things now. In fact, there are some days I have wondered if he is trying, as a two-year-old, to wear my name out.
• We also discovered—the hard way—that Zachary has allergies. This has changed our lives. But, it also explains why he never liked peanut butter sandwiches.
• Emma Pearl was born in April. She is now eight-months-old. She’s little. And, she has been to the doctor more times in the past eight months than I have in the past ten years. Emma was born with a genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis (NF1). She was also born with an airway problem, unrelated to the NF1, called laryngomalacia.
• Emma’s first surgery was when she was six weeks old. She had her airway opened up. Emma’s second surgery, tomorrow, December 21, will be to put a feeding tube (g-tube) directly into her stomach from the outside. For quite a few months, Emma has had a feeding tube (ng-tube) going into her nose, down her throat, and into her tummy. She just has had such a problem growing that we’ve had to literally force-feed her.
• Emma is the most beautiful baby girl. Sometimes I just stare at her and drink her beauty in. Am I vain? Well, I guess so. And when she gives a real smile? Wow.
• Me? Well, I have been taking children to doctor’s appointments. Unfortunately, Mark was almost correct when he said, “If you didn’t have doctor’s appointments, you wouldn’t have a social life.”
• I have also been serving as the fourth Sunday Relief Society teacher. That’s the Ensign teacher. I love it! I also love serving as the ward sacrament meeting bulletin creator. I try to put a joke in the program each week—just for kicks and giggles.

I pulled out our Christmas decorations on December 1. I love that I have four nativity sets. As I looked around our living room, it made me feel grateful that my Christmas decorating focuses on the Savior. I want to teach my children that Christmas truly is about the Savior. I want my friends to know that I have a testimony of the Plan of Happiness. I want to share the joy of knowing Jesus Christ.

This year has been hard on the nerves. But, it has been great for my testimony. With all our trials, the phrase “Look Up!” has repeatedly been on my mind. Heavenly Father loves us. He loves you. He has been mindful of us and He wants us to be mindful of Him.

May you have peace, joy, and happiness this Holiday Season and throughout the 2012 year!

Love, The Hales

Emma Is 8 Months

Emma is eight months old today. She has been a ton of work. But I am incredibly grateful for her. Some people say they can feel a person's spirit. I can't always. But I can feel Emma's. (Unless I am feeding/fighting her.) Emma is sweet, calm, beautiful--that is what her spirit feels like to me.

She learned to control her sitting this week. She can sit for ten or more minutes at a time. I am so proud of her.

On the other hand, she reminds me of Bambi on the ice when it comes to trying to get her up on her hands and knees. Crawling may still be a while.

This December she will have been under general anesthesia three times. The first time was to do an MRI on her abdomen. (Everything was normal.) The second time was to do a scope on her stomach and upper intestines. (Everything was normal.) We also spent a whole day with an "impedance" probe to find out about reflux. (I will blog more later.) The third time will be in one week when Emma gets a g-tube placed.

Emma is still hanging out in size 3-6 month clothes. We are definitely getting good use of them.

Oh, and I am a rock star: I have pumped for Emma this whole time. I am quitting soon. Soon.

What do you like about the day?

Every night I ask Zach what he liked about the day.  I have always listed things he did that day and he would say, "yeah."  But last night, when I asked him, "What did you like about this day?" he immediately said, "hot cereal," which he ate for breakfast.  I was shocked and asked, "what else did you like?"  He then said "beans." I kept asking him and he kept saying, "black beans," "red beans," "cookie," Herbie," "Black Herbie," and "White Herbie."

I was so proud of him.

Cuddle Bunnies

So, our bedtime routine is lovely. We change diapers and put pajamas on. Then we read a story. Then we sing a few fun songs followed by some nice Primary songs. Then we say family prayer.

Mark finishes with Zachary. He tucks Zach in and talks about the day. Finally Mark either sings another song or tells another story. I love listening.

While they are doing that, I put Emma's nasal cannula on and start getting her night bag of milk ready.

When Zachary was a baby, I used to nurse him one last time and then hold him and rock him for a while. Emma does not like me to rock her. She is not a cuddle bunny the same way Zachary is. It kind of makes me sad. But I do love our face-to-face time getting ready for bed, she's my lovey bunny.

I love my babies, my cuddle bunnies or whatever you want to call them.

Emma Loves Rattles

Zachary never appreciated rattles. He never "found" his hands or feet.

But Emma, well, she loves rattles. Anything that she can get to make noise, that is joy. I love it.

She also still studies her hands and grabs her feet. I love watching her lay on her back and hold her hands or stick her feet in the air.

She is so stinking cute!

Zachary Really Counts

I was surprised tonight to find that Zachary can really count. To TEN. My dad called and Zachary wanted to talk to him. I told Zachary to count, thinking he would just count to three. No, Zachary counted to ten! I asked him to do it again. He did!

He needs help with five, but he pretty much has it all. And I didn't even know.

Appointments Scheduled

This morning I was able to schedule two more appointments for Emma. One is a scope to visually see how much damage Emma's reflux is causing. Concurrently they will do a 24-hour probe on Emma's pH levels to see how severe her reflux is. Doc said with older kids he could send them home with the probe. But Emma is so small and has breathing problems so we will be at the hospital the whole time.

Depending on the results, Emma will either have minor surgery to put a g-tube in her belly or a more invasive surgery to place the g-tube AND do a Nissen fundaplication. If we only have to do the g-tube, we have that surgery scheduled. If we have to do the Nissen, we will have to talk to a surgeon.more