The agenda for the day

Joaquin has decided that the best place to spend the day is here. Snuggled with his mama. I couldn't agree with him more.

The dirty dishes, unfolded laundry and dust can all just be quiet.

I am most supremely blessed.

Been a little busy.....

I wish I had had the energy to blog throughout Joaquin's NICU stay, but I didn't. Oh well. I am picking up where we are now. At home.

Joaquin--2 days old and a movie star!!

We arrived early Friday morning, as Dan had given consent for Joaquin to be featured in a documentary for the hospital about the equipment and technology that was being used on him to hopefully save his life.

My milk was starting to come in, and moms know what a precarious hormonal stage that is, so I cried the whole way through the filming, having to listen in cold, clinical terms, of just how sick my baby was. I knew how sick he was, but having strangers talk about it felt cruel.

His doctor was featured in the documentary. She saw me out of the corner of her eye and stopped in the middle to touch my knee. She came and sat with me afterward. She gave me understanding and encouragement during her extremely hectic day. These doctors and nurses are some of the most caring people that I have ever witnessed in action. Dr. Carvallo is hoping that eventually I will understand that there was truly nothing I could have done to prevent this. That I did the best I could with the information that I had. I think that complete acceptance of this may take years.

Joaquin's second day on ECMO was a typical one, according to his technician. Lots of adjusting of pressures, medications and dosages. Mostly an uneventful day with his body and mind fully at rest. His brain ultrasound showed no brain bleeding. That is the riskiest thing about ECMO therapy, so I hold my breath everyday when the test is performed.

The updates I got by phone were positive in the evening, and I actually rested a little bit easier. I think my heart needs to heal as much as my body, if not more. Having that little bundle out of my belly and all the way in the hospital isn't comprehensible to me, yet it's happening.

Joaquin Danilo has arrived!

At 11:46 AM on Wednesday, August 26, 2009, Joaquin Danilo was born. He immediately coded, needed intubation and was helicoptered to the NICU at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

He was 9lbs 40z, and we aren't sure about his length because his medical team can't move him right now. (He's long!)

Grandma Crusher stayed the night at PCH with him, while they poked, prodded and tried to stabilize him. He just wasn't able to be stabilized. It became clear that his best chance was with an ECMO procedure and machine. (Heart/Lung Bypass Machine) The machine gives his very sick heart and lungs the rest they need to hopefully heal themselves.

Early Thursday morning, Joaquin underwent the procedure to place the cannula in his neck to be connected to the ECMO machine. The doctors were pleased with his labs after being connected.

I was able to leave Mercy Gilbert and go to PCH early Thursday afternoon. Danilo had been scheduled to fly to Afghanistan on Thursday evening, but instead was allowed to fly to Phoenix to be with Joaquin for 14 days. He was there when I arrived at the hospital.

Words cannot describe the emotions of seeing my baby like that. The fact that he would die without the equipment was very overwhelming. We stayed at the hospital as long as I could, but I needed rest. I was nearly delirious from stress and lack of sleep.

Six days......

Six days until we find out if this precious baby is a boy or a girl! I am so jazzed about baby girl clothes this time. I can't stand how cute they all are!! I really, really, really think Baby is a girl! (Dan thinks Baby is a boy!)

Come on, Ainsley! :) (Her name if she's a girl!)

Good day

A longtime friend of Dan's side of the family was in town today. Dan hadn't seen him in 18 years, and I had never met him, so this was a big deal!

Elias is just a lovely man and we had a great lunch at Picasso's with him, Doris, Adri, Emile and Maleah. (His daughter, Natalie, who passed away at the age of 11 in 1995 is who our Faith Natalie is named after.)

He and his wife, Christine, live in Texas now. Elias works for the government and takes him all over the world. He is former military. Pictures to follow tomorrow...

Good Mail Days....

and Will Ferrell put me in a GREAT mood! (Everyone needs a little Will Ferrell now and then.) The dreary, rainy day was brightened when my UPS man brought two HUGE packages today! One was a bunch of discounted flip flops and shoes from Target.com. And when I say "discounted", I mean, each pair cost under five dollars. I *think* I had about ten pairs of shoes in there. I will not be buying shoes or flipflops for a long time.

The second box was my School Years Kit from Creating Keepsakes! I can hardly wait to tear into that this weekend and re-scrap some layouts using the new stuff! I bought a kit for each child, it's going to be wonderful!

Hubby didn't feel that great today, and took another sick-day. We had to go to the library to print out tax forms, and stopped at Starbucks for rainy-day coffees. I filed our taxes online! Yippeee! We took the kids to their Atrium classes, putzed around Target together, and I ran into Trader Joe's on the way home. A very productive day!

While we were in Target, I asked Hubby how long it had been since we shopped "just the two of us" like we have been this past week or so. He looked at me blankly. He couldn't remember either!! It's so nice to have some "together time". It made me feel like a newly married couple all over again.

Ambitious Child

"When I grown up, can I pick what I want to be?" asked Emilio.
"Yes", I replied. "You sure can!"

"Well, I will be an artist on *Fursdays*, *IckDonalds on *Mondays*, um...I do drill on the weekends. I will do UPS too. Hey! What *is* drill?"

"Drill is when you are a soldier and you prepare for deployments to Iraq." I said.

"Oh, nevermind. I will go to the kind of drill where you work in an office."

I love that boy. He is too cute.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Beautiful flowers delivered this morning from my wonderful husband!
Beautiful card made at school by my wonderful son!

I love Valentine's Day! I hope everyone is having as nice a day as I am!

The best weather...

is when I can wear flipflops with my jeans.

It's glorious outside! Dan took a day off from work after a looooooooong weekend doing army work. Puppies went to the groomer's. We went grocery shopping. I took a nap. The house is a pit. Life is good. (Back to the old grind tomorrow for both of us!)

The odd scratching in my throat and the fact that I have no appetite has me concerned that my long run with no illness is coming to a tragic end. Time shall tell.

Huh?

Emilio: "What can I eat for breakfast?"
Me: There is cold cereal.
Emilio: "Noooo.....I want something that involves *chewing*...."

A Revelation

When ones dryer is broken, it becomes clear that one owns too many clothes. Downsizing is in order. The end.

Emilio's PhotoShoot....featuring me!

Emilio wanted to take pictures today. It's time the time of year to switch to my darker shade of foundation. Holy pale face, Batman!

Modern Conveniences, or lack thereof...

The dryer isn't working properly. Yesterday, it started getting really *HOT* and I smelled a burning odor. The repair guy came today, part will be in on Monday.

That leaves *THREE* days of laundry to do (well, more than that if you count all of the back-laundry) to do with no dryer. It's amazing how I took for granted my clothes dryer. (And my clothes washer for that matter.) I am hanging small loads of clothes, but towels are another matter.

How did mothers manage when they had to drag the wash to the creek? And wash it against rocks? I can barely handle hanging out clothes instead of throwing them in the dryer. I am a woosie.

Decisions, decisions..

I purchased this armoire-type thing when we first moved in. It matched all of our old furniture, but none of the new. I am trying to decide whether or not to put it in the boy's room or sell it at the yard sale. Leaning towards selling it....................

Things are looking up around here!!

This is the new diningroom set. It's counter-height wood with black stain. (You can see the wood beneath peeking through in places, which I love). I plan to get a matching floor lap for the other side of the window where our library book basket is sitting. Oh, *and* some new table linens to protect the wood from jumping cats.

Happy day!

Bus Rider

My big boy rides the bus home from morning kindergarten now. He is so proud of himself, and thinks that riding is SO FUN. He discovered today, that on Fridays, Miss Maria gives each child a candy as they get off of the bus!

His only complaint is that his stop is the last, and for the last minutes of the ride, he is all by himself. Today, he told me that he quietly sung "For The Longest Time" and kicked the seat in front of him to pass the time.

Whatever works, right?

(Faith also rides home now, which has revolutionized my life. I am not spending most of the day in the van, and seem to be accomplishing things here at home! FREE AMY!!)

What a weekend....

The army needed some people to represent the unit in Vegas for some change of command. Dan and Bryan were practically falling over themselves to go. They drove up there in vans, had a rehearsal for the ceremony.....AND THEN HIT THE STRIP! Dan (nor I) had ever been to Vegas, so this was pretty exciting. While there, RANDY COUTURE walked by them. They immediately turned into teenaged groupies and sort of followed him and saw him get on an elevator. He called me, all breathless with excitement. It was really cute to see a grown man get so giddy.

He took lots of pictures on his phone and was generally amazed at how cool that place is. I can't wait to go with him someday!

Here on the homefront, the weekend felt LONG. (How did I manage by myself for years at a time when I can't seem to go two days now?) We had to drive him an hour to Bryan's place Friday night (and an hour home). Yesterday, we hit the library and In N Out burger for lunch. I rented a PPV movie, Hairspray, for the kids in the evening. In between all of that, we spent about an hour on the trampoline out back. I wanted to listen to my new MP3 player!

Today, we got Starbucks on the way to mass and then went grocery shopping after. I am SO TIRED of being nagged. Especially Emilio. He did redeem himself by announcing just now that his yogurt was, "..DELIGHTFUL!!"

Taking a breather before hitting the dishes and laundry. Dan will be back late tonight, but at least he will be here! When he got back from this last deployment in April, I wasn't used to sharing the bed, and couldn't sleep. *NOW* I can't sleep when he is gone. So glad he's only gone for two nights and two days this time and not a year and a half!

Puppies love Christmas, too!