Wolverine baby continues to astound us

So Ivy's home health nurse, Nancy, came to our house yesterday to weigh her and check on things. Ivy weighs 8 lbs 9.5 oz now, which means she gained 6.5 ounces in one week, that is excellent weight gain! The most amazing thing is that she hasn't used her NG tube (feeding tube in her nose) for about a week, she hasn't needed it. She now takes all her feeds by bottle, even at night. So Nancy and I came to the conclusion that she doesn't need her NG tube anymore, except for taking her meds. It is pretty sad to leave an annoying tube in someones nose just for the convenience of giving them medication twice a day, so Nancy showed me a trick on giving them to her orally, told me to try it Monday night and Tuesday morning, and if she didn't spit up, the tube could come out!! Well it's Tuesday morning, and guess what, no spit up!! The tube is out and I am so happy!! We can see her beautiful face again!! She is doing so much better than anyone expected, and we are so pleased with her progress. She seems just like a normal baby now, not like she spent 7 weeks in the hospital and had 3 surgeries. You certainly can't tell from looking at her (with clothes on). We are so proud of you Ivy, keep up the good work.

Growing fat, growing up, and growing gray

This friday will be 4 weeks since Ivy was released from the hospital, and she is doing very well. Last week the doc increased her feed amount to help her gain more weight, and it is working out, on Monday she weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz. We have a Home Health nurse, Nancy, coming over once a week to weigh her and check in on anything we need or are concerned about. We also have a Home Health physical therapist, Libby, who comes to make sure everything is developing as it should. They both said on their first visits that she looks better in person than she does on paper, which makes me feel good about her progress. Her scars are all healing up nicely, we no longer have to change the dressing on her belly scar, since the wound is closed and healed and there isn't a dressing anymore, and her chest scar looks excellent (for a scar spanning the entire length of her chest). We are currently applying for several government assistence programs to help pay for all the medical costs, (her hospital stay alone was over $300,000 not including any doctors, surgeons or anyone else, just the stay!). Of course, we have insurance but even with that we are still responsible for a significant stack of cash!! Here are some nice pics of Ivy getting big and fat, and looking adorable as usual.

Our sweet boys are growing up! We had a haircutting party a little while ago, and they didn't even cry!! They both look so much older with less hair, especially Dex, he looks like a little boy, not a baby anymore. They are both so helpful with everything (most of the time). They still fight over things a lot, but it is getting better. Dex is saying more words everyday, his favorites include: Mine, No, Mama, and remote. He still can't say Corbin or Ivy, so he calls corbin "in" and Ivy "I", so cute. Corbin got a cute little apron from Stacy for Christmas this year and he loves to wear it while we make lunch or other things, he looks so cute in it. Funny story, Scott loves jello so he bought some the other day and told Corbin that the two of them would make it, but then he forgot. So the next day Corbin brings me the jello and says, "Lets make jello." I said, "But that is a daddy project, I'm Mommy." So he says, "No, Mom's can make jello, Dad's mom made jello in Salt Lake!!" He's so funny.

a>Corbin is definately my child, eh!
And now for growing gray, that's right, I have some gray hair coming in! Thanks Ivy! I will come right out and say, it is from stress!! With no time to myself, the constant need to feed, bath, or comfort someone, and trying to keep my breastmilk from drying up its a wonder it didn't come in white! And after all that my breastmilk dried up anyway (imagine powdy lip, and chin quiver here). It's just not the same as breastfeeding, and it makes me sick to think how much money we will have to spend on formula........but what can you do.

Feeling the Pressure

Well, it's been a week since Ivy was released from the hospital, and we are loving having her with us 24/7. Everyone tells you that having 3 kids is a lot different than just having 2, and man are they right!! For the most part things are going well. The boys are happy to be home, and sleeping on schedule once again (hooray!), and Ivy basically sleeps through the night. During the day things aren't quite as smooth. My days feel consumed by Ivy's eating needs. It takes so much more time to bottle feed than breast feed. I don't know why people who choose to bottle feed decide to do that. Maybe I am just lazy! She has a pretty strict eating schedule consisting of 57 mL (just under 2 oz) of breastmilk mixed with pregestimil every three hours. I first feed her with a bottle and on average she will drink anywhere from 20-40 mL at a time, the rest goes into the feeding tube that goes into her nose and down to her stomach. I am also still pumping, which feels like the most unrewarding job ever! My milk supply is rapidly dropping as it becomes harder and harder to find time to pump with three needy kids following me around all day. I am down to once at night and once in the morning, very sad! I am trying to work in one more in the middle of the day to build it up a little more, but it is so hard while Scott is at work. Anyway, other than that things are going well, and we are loving having all our kids together. The boys just love their new sister, they are constantly bugging her by kissing her, rubbing her head, endlessly trying to stuff her paci in her mouth, even if she is sleeping or doesn't want it. They are really cute and sweet. Life is good.

Back in Boise

Hooray, we're home! Our house wasn't burned down, vandalised or robbed while we were away! We left Ross and Marde's house yesterday around 2:00, and both Corbin and Ivy did very well all the way home. Dexter stayed with grandma for an extra day and will be flying up with her tonight. We got home just after 8:00 and Corbin didn't stop talking about how all our stuff was still there and working, until we put him in bed around 10:30. He was so cute with Ivy, telling her where her room was, and where the bathroom was, even though, he said, "she is a baby and goes poop in her diaper still." He kept comparing things to his grandma's house too, like how daylight savings happened while we were gone, so our clocks all said 9 instead of 8, he's like, "at grandma's house the clocks say 8:00, but at our house they say 9:00. Grandma's clocks are loud, but our clocks are quiet." Etc. etc......he just went on like that. It was cute, and fun, and we are very happy to be home. We really appreciate Ross and Marde for letting us stay with them for exactly 2 months (Oct. 28-Dec. 28), and not getting frustrated because the house was always messy, and there was constant noise. They always watched our kids, fed them meals, gave them baths, and much much more, they really went beyond the call of duty. We know there are not enough thank you's for all they did for us, and we can never really pay them back, but hopefully they know how much we appreciate and love them for it. Thanks guys, we love you!!

Finally home....sorta

Today was the BIG DAY, we finally talked the doctors into letting us take sweet little Ivy home with us after 7 long weeks in the hospital. We are staying with Scott's mom for a few more days, and will drive home to Boise on Sunday, as long as the road has opened up again. We are so thankful that she is finally healthy enough for us to take her home. We were blessed with wonderful doctors who were very careful, and at times, I thought, a little too cautious. They wanted to make sure everything was perfect. She still has a feeding tube in her nose, but she is drinking from a bottle for about 40% of regular feeds, the rest goes in the tube. They were also a little concerned about her incision from her latest surgery being a little infected, but it is under control, I just have to change the dressing twice a day, no big deal. It's a little strange having her with us, and we have to be very careful to avoid sick people or places with big crowds because she is so susceptible to RSV. We are going to be stuck home for quite some time without even being able to go to church! But we are looking forward to at least being home after being away for so long. I can't believe it is finally happening!! Thanks to everyone who helped us out during these long weeks, especially both our moms for all the babysitting, and to Russell for being patient and allowing Scott to focus more on our family issues than work! We love you all............Hooray, home!

Christmas Letter 2008

Now I know pretty much everybody has received our christmas letter (poem) already, but I thought it would be fun for those of you who haven't, plus I thought I would add some photos to illustrate what I was trying to say.

This year has been a year of change,
For this Brunson crew,
Some things were good, others strange,
But almost everything is new.

First off, of course, we moved away,
We’re Idahoans now,
We’re near a farm, but it’s okay,
We LOVE the smell of cow!

We’re enjoying our house and backyard too,
The boys’ just love it so,
There are parks real close, and a pool,
Lots of places for us to go.

We went on a cruise back in the spring,
Don’t worry, company paid,
Our little boys, who we didn’t bring,
Were at Grandma’s where they played.

And those sweet boys whom we love and need,
Are amazing you will see,
Corbin’s is four and can already read,
Next comes geometry!

Dexter’s a monkey, crazy and loud,
In March he just turned one,
On top of a table he stands so proud,
‘Til he falls and bites his tongue.

And I’m sure you know, just weeks ago,
We had a baby girl,
Beautiful Ivy has put on quite a show,
And taken us for a whirl.

Her heart needs work, but she’s doing fine,
In her hospital bed,
Whenever we see her, her eyes just shine,
As we kiss her cute little head.

We’re thankful for the gospel, we’ve been so blessed,
Our families and friends helped too,
Without you we’d be a lot more stressed,
So thanks to all of you!

And Merry Christmas everyone,
Find reason to be of good cheer,
We hope you have a lot of fun,
But we can’t wait until next year!

Sweet Stacy

Corbin and Stacy January '07

This weekend we were saddened by the sudden loss of Scott's sister, Stacy. She was so dear to us, as we have had the pleasure of having her stay with us on several occasions while we were still living in Utah. She was certainly one of our Heavenly Fathers most special beings and we are blessed to have known her. It makes me sad to think that our kids probably will not remember her, but we know that they will get the chance to meet her again in heaven. We will miss you Stacy, we can't wait to see, speak and run with you in heaven. We love you!