Giving back

This past week has been a whirlwind of craziness. So many big things happening at once. The luncheon for Molly at the NICU of Primary Children's went great. I was worried that there wouldn't be enough food, but once I got everything in one spot it was plenty. I didn't really get to talk to any families or staff, which was good and bad. There was one grandpa in the hall as things were getting set up. His granddaughter was born on the 17th with gastrochisis(one of the leading causes of short gut in babies), and was having surgery while I was there. Talk about memories coming back. Different cause, but same time line for everything. I've thought about them a lot since then, and pray the surgery went well and his little granddaughter didn't lose too much intestine.

In talking the with NICU parent coordinator I realized how grateful I am that everything with Molly happened last year. This year is looking like it's going to be NASTY. In a 50 bed NICU, they only had one bed available, then they were going to start diverting babies to other hospitals. When Molly was there I don't think it was ever more than half full. The RSV lockdown started all over the state on the 14th in response to how bad things are already. It makes me so thankful last year wasn't as bad and the kids were able to meet Molly at least once before she came home.

Molly's birthday celebration was fun. She understood more than I thought she would. Her cake was a big flop though. The cake itself actually tasted pretty good, which surprised me. The frosting was a different story altogether. It was possibly one of the nastiest things I've tasted in a long time. When it came time to sing and blow out the candle, Molly attacked the cupcake too fast for any pictures or singing. BUT, all she did was destroy it and smash it with her fingers. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with the actual tasting. Apparently she follows her fellow short gutters in not liking sweets. So the two months of me prepping her to tolerate it really didn't matter in the end. Silly girl. :)

With Thanksgiving this week we celebrated the one year mark of being able to hold Molly. AND everyone was healthy enough that we went to my in-laws house with the entire family for dinner. The kids were so excited to play with cousins, and Molly tried turkey and mashed potatoes and loved them. A few hours later several of my teenage nieces kept telling me she needed her diaper changed, but I let them know it was just gas. I have a feeling lots of air fresheners will be at future Thanksgiving meals.

We also took pictures of the entire family for the first time in eight years. Sarah screamed bloody murder almost the whole time, while Molly was happy as could be and just started yelling to fit in. It was pretty funny. I can't wait to see how the pictures turn out though.

The other thing that's been taking all my time is making a scrapbook for our family for 2010. It's taken a LOT of hours, but has actually been really therapeutic for me. I'm also realizing just how much fun our family managed to squeeze into a bad year. So instead of looking at the next few months with dread, I'm actually getting excited.

Now weight wise, things are crappy. Ok, not weight wise, but size wise. I did pretty well on Thanksgiving day, as most of the dishes aren't really tempting to me. However, exercise has become really sporadic and my core is showing it in a major way. I really need to refocus my efforts there. Although I did to the turkey trot in Eagle Mountain, which is 3.7 miles and it didn't seem hard at all. In fact, I told Adam that next year the whole family is doing it together, whether they like it or not.

With most of our Christmas shopping done, I'm going to try and work on different ways to give back over the holidays. We are going to do a gift for the NICU babies on Christmas morning, but that's about all I really have planned so far. So if you hear of any fun or personal ways that we can get involved in some service over the next two or three months, let me know.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!