Our crazy journey

In this crazy journey called life we have many ups and downs. I love the ups and appreciate the downs. (ok not all the time) This spring/summer has had both. The ups have been fantastic, a new baby girl, surgery went well, Darren is working consistently selling. He moved from San Jose, CA to Las Cruces, NM. There has been better success there and he has been doing great. The downs include, a death, being away from my amazing hubby, and surgery for my baby girl. Yet the blessings that come from the downs are usually pretty great. Presley looks amazing, Darren has a job, and grandpa is with his sweetheart. Plus, there are always lessons learned. I won't go into all that. I just wanted to express my gratitude for my life, trials and all.
So here is a little bit about our summer. My sister in law, Lori came to Utah from Albuquerque to visit for a few weeks. Her visit included Seven Peaks, swimming, lots of barbeques, 2 family reunions, and a funeral. Darren and his brother Aaron and wife Vivian, drove from Las Cruces for the funeral of Darren's grandpa. I was glad I got an extra weekend with him and turns out they stayed a little bit longer and were able to make it to a reunion. Aaron and Darren went back to Las Cruces while Vivian stayed with me and we would meet up with the boys the next week. We followed Lori to Lake Heron in NM where we met up with her hubby Cameron and camped there for the weekend with their trailer and some of their friends who brought jet skis. Lets just say that was a BLAST!! Then we headed back to Albuquerque for a few days with Lori and then made our way to Las Cruces. We have been here for almost a week now and I can't even tell you how nice it is to be with Darren for a period of time longer than a weekend. We are headed back to Utah next weekend to bless Presley.
Darren is extending his time selling this summer. So instead of coming back in August, he will be selling until October. He is hoping to be moved to Albuquerque for the rest of the summer. If that is the case then we will join him there as soon as he gets there and stay with him until he finished out in October.
Okay, so this is kind of a long post and with no pictures. But since I am borrowing my BIL and SIL computer I don't have any pictures to load, I will be posting a lot of the pictures next week when I am home. I hope everyone is having as great a summer as I am!!

Presley Picture Update

Here are a few pictures of Presley since her surgery. I really can't believe how great she looks. I just can't get over it.
This is a few days after surgery
One week after surgery
Two weeks after surgery
Today she got the arm braces and the bow taken off. She looks even better. I will post those pictures soon. We are so blessed to live in a day with modern medicine. She is doing great and eating like a champ. Pictures to come soon.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy

I can't believe my little boy turned two today. We just love this guy so much. He makes me laugh everyday with the things he says and does.We had a little BBQ at the house for him and had so much fun. Thank you everyone for coming and making this a special day.
The cake grandma and grandpa Burrup brought
Blowing out the candles
Jolly green giant
Jace and Beckham were being sneaky and climbed onto the counter to get more cake.. little stinkers.

Surgery

This little girl had surgery yesterday. The hardest day ever. She did amazing. It looks fantastic. Dr. Warnock is a miracle worker I tell you.

Here is a little of what happened. Sunday night:
Packed our bag with absolutely everything we would need.
Midnight: No more formula
3:30 am: No more breastmilk
4:30: Pedialite
Let me just say that I didn't get much sleep that night. Not because of Presley but because of all the emotions.
5:00 am: left for the hospital
6:00 am: We registered her and gave all of our medical history
6:45 am: The nurse came to get us to weigh and measure her. We were taken back to a waiting room where we dressed her in her gown (which drown her by the way). The surgeon came in and told us the procedure would be about 3 hours and to answer any questions.
7:15 am: The anesthesiologist came in and told us the would put her under first with gas and then start an IV. He answered any questions. He was seriously so so nice and that calmed my nerves a little. Just a little though. Then he took us back to the OR. That is where we had to part. I think I did pretty good. I held it together until I left the room. I broke down and just let Darren hold me for a little bit until I could calm down.
Throughout surgery I would lose it for a minute and then settle back down. Luckily Darren's stepmom, Julie came and sat with us. That was a huge help. It definitely kept my mind off of things.
9:15 am: The nurse calls from the OR and informs us that everything is going great but she isn't sure how much longer it would be.
9:30 am: My dad came by and told me that he was able to go into the OR and see her. He said she was doing great and that it would probably be about a half hour longer.
10:00 am: Dr. Warnock came and told us that things went really smoothly and he was really happy with the outcome. Like a said, a miracle worker.
10:15 am: I was called back into recovery. At this point only one parent was aloud back there. After about 15 minutes we were able to go to her room and meet up with Darren. She came out of the anesthesia really really well. A lot of babies scream and cry and she really just slept.
This is what I saw when I went back to recovery

It just about broke my heart to see her like that. She is pretty swollen and will be for a few weeks. She is doing so well and is recovering great. All of the nurses were fantastic. It is such a blessing to be so close to Primary Childrens. We had to stay overnight which is standard for her procedure. A long night for me with all of the monitors beeping and what not. We had Darren's dad and his wife Julie come by and my mom and dad brought our kids over to see her. They did really well with seeing her, I thought they might be alarmed by everything, but they weren't.
She has what is called a Logan Bow around her mouth. That pretty much squishes her face together so when she cries or yawns or anything it keeps all of the tension off of her stitches. She has to have it on anywhere from 4-6 weeks depending on how she heals. She also has braces on her arms to prevent her from touching her face, specifically her mouth. She will probably have to wear those for 4-6 weeks as well. Here are just a few pictures from the hospital.
The braces are awful. She does ok with them, but is has to be frustrating not being able to move your arms. So So Sad.
Proud papa. I don't know how I would have gotten through it without him.
Brinley is such an amazing sister, She couldn't wait to hold her.Oh how I love this girl
We just want to thank everybody for your prayers on our behalf. We know they were heard and are so grateful to all of you!

California

So this weekend we went to California to see my cousin get home from his mission from Spain. We had such a blast with everyone! We got there on Wednesday night and stayed until yesterday. It was so good to see him and hear him speak. He did a fantastic job! We stayed with my uncle who has kids that are the same age as mine. They had so much fun playing with all of their cousins. Plus, my aunt has a dog and the kids couldn't have been happier. Not to mention the pool that she has as well. The weather was perfect and we were able to spend most of the time outside. I was also able to see my great grandparents and get a five generation picture. They probably won't be around much longer so I was glad we had that opportunity. The only bad part was that I was in the same state as Darren and didn't even get to see him, he was six hours away. We were going to take the LONG way home to see him but Presley had Dr.'s appointments this week to prep for surgery on the 14. All in all it was a great trip. the kids all did great for such a long drive. Thank goodness.

The kids with their great great grandparents

Five generations all together... amazing

Grandma Jackman with Brinley and her cousin Taylor

Brinley swimming

Beckham Swimming


Seriously, the cutest little girl ever!

Beckham and his cousin Jordan

Make a Wish

Yesterday was a great day for two reasons
#1 it was my birthday. Although it could have been a lot better with my hubby here, it was still a good day. The big 25!
#2 I was able to go to the make a wish foundation for this little guy...



I used to babysit this awesome little man from the time he was two until he didn't need a babysitter anymore. Even then I was able to to the overnight babysitting thing when his parents went out of town. He LOVES country music and his wish was to go to Nashville to the Grand Ole Opry. Love it. They left today and I hope they have a great time. I love this family so much and wish the best for each of them. Have fun Dev!!

A day in the life of me...

..with three kids and no hubby. That's right, Darren is gone for the summer selling security with his brother in California. Real estate is so slow right now that we needed some sort of income and decided on this. He has been gone since Tuesday and has been doing pretty well. The selling season doesn't actually start until the 27 so until then everything else is just bonus. Ok, so three kids with no hubs. Actually not nearly as bad as I imagined. I had every scenerio playing out in my head. The kids so far have been great. Only one melt down from a little boy with no nap. Presley is seriously the best baby and I hope I don't jinx myself for saying that. She has only ever cried when she is hungry. She is a silent observer. She just looks around at everything and takes it all in. Brinley loves to help me with everything, from diaper changing to bathing. A lot of people have asked if Presley can nurse and what not. She also has a cleft palate and from what I can tell is pretty extensive. We visit our surgeon next week for an evaluation and what we will do. I tried to nurse at the hospital but there was no way she could latch on. So.... I pump. She uses a special bottle with a nipple called a pigeon nipple. It is actually pretty cool, the top of the nipple is a harder plastic so it acts as the roof of her mouth and gives her something to push against when she is sucking. The bottom of the nipple is a soft plastic and easy for her to suck on. Pretty amazing the things they have come up with to make everything easier. The kids love her and have been really good with her. I take a nap when Beckham goes down and put a movie on for Brinley. Luckily I can get that nap in, it helps a lot. It's amazing what the energy difference is between your first baby and your third baby. I remember when Brinley made a noise in the night, I was up at the speed of lightening. With this one, I am a bit slower. I get up, its just at a more lazy pace. I have appreciated everybody's willingness to help me and promise if the time comes I need one of you, I will call. Even though it has been hard to have Darren gone, things have been really good and I am enjoying all the time I can with my little ones. Here are some random pictures. One of them is of Presley's first bath. She LOVED it. She was so relaxed. I love having a new little baby. Enjoy!