T and A

Ok everyone take your mind out of the gutter. Friday little Jakie had his tonsils out. After waiting for 50 mins in the waiting room we were finally called back to pre op. I think the nurses got the vibe that I was hacked. Their lame excuses were not good excuses. Anyway... Once we got back into pre op things went pretty fast. He was not real sure about what was about to happen as these strangers were wheeling him away without Mom & Dad. They did let him take his deedee and his Julius back with him. The OR suite was just on the other side of the doors so I could see him going in and Dr Bryan came out to ask any last minute questions. I was hanging in there until Dr Bryan walked away and they shut the doors. Wham. It hit me. The flood of emotions from April 2nd came rushing back. The rational side of me absolutely knew this was routine but the Mom side of me had that band aid ripped right off. I know nothing was going to happen but the fear was still there. When Ryan was having all his surgeries they just wheeled him from the NICU into surgery. On top of that he was a newborn that was sedated so he had no clue. Not so much with a three year old. Once we got in the waiting room within about 10 mins they were calling us back to talk to the Dr. That was way fast. We had to wait just about another 10 mins and they called us back to see Jake. We walked with him from the recovery room to his little post op bed. Poor baby. He was trying hard to cry but it hurt. It was sad and humorous all at the same time. And I cried again. The flood gates opened for the memory bank and the last time I held a child after surgery came to my mind. For all of the heartache I went through I know this was the right decision. Last night Doug went to check on the boys before bed and he had to walk over and put his hand on Jake's back to make sure he was breathing. Yeah! No more snoring!! Now on to his birthday. I can't believe my baby is going to be 4 next week. Man how time flies!
Take care,
Raye

Getting ready

Only Mom can make it better

Jake stylin' ride out of the surgery center

Chhhh Changes

Wow what a week. We started with the sad news that Doug's Gram passed unexpectedly. When Doug was a kid he spent summers in El Paso with his Gram and Gramp. He told me he always enjoyed going to see them. Especially Gram's Poppy Seed bread she would make for breakfast. I got the opportunity to meet her last year when she came and visited Doug's cousin who lives, or lived, in the area. I actually got to meet the whole gang. It was great to meet another part of Doug's family. We made it work for Doug to go to El Paso for the service and was a pall bearer. I wish the boys and I could have gone but that was just not workable. Well Gram had a dog named Pepper and they weren't sure who was going to be able to take her. We have been thinking of getting a dog and two attempts in the past failed so we must have been destined to take Pepper. So far so good. She is very sweet and the boys love her. Now she just needs some bling for her collar. It was great to welcome her this weekend. Especially since today would have been my Dad's 82nd birthday. Wow. 82. I miss him so much but he has a very important job right now. I hope everyone has a great week. Jake is having his tonsils out on Friday so I will let everyone know how he does.
Take care,
Raye

Running around

Sweet girl

Look at that face

Holy Snow

How fun the snow is. Until you have to drive in it. We have had something like 8 inches of real snow. Not sleet or ice but snow. It is really cool. The boys have seen more snow in their short lives than I did growing up. It is so fun to watch their faces when they wake up and see the snow. I took these pictures here at the office today. They are letting us leave early so I hope to post more of the boys and a snowman!!

Take care!
Raye

Happy Birthday Doug!

The last of the Harrison birthdays for the moment. Doug turned the big 39 on Friday. Thank goodness Jake's birthday is in March. Having four of us in two weeks time is crazy. I remember when Ryan was born everyone was like can you give us a break here. I tried to arrange to give Doug a great day off which worked for the most part. But work ended up making him do something. But all in all he said he had a great day. He and I ate lunch together at his fav fish taco place. Believe it or not he did not have fish tacos that day. We finished the day by having dinner at Pizza Hut. We love the Pizza Hut in Roanoke. They have great service and the pizza are hot. Everyone got along and everything so it was a great weekend.

Take care!
Raye

The Birthday Boy and his crew

Happy Birthday William!

Oh my goodness. My big guy is 8 years old now. Where did the time go? I vividly remember being in labor and then ending up with a C-Section after 13 hours of labor. I was terrified at the idea of a c-section but he knew he was not supposed to be born that way. It ended up the cord was wrapped around his neck. He was lodged in my hip and didn't want to move any lower. Everyone and their dog was there with us. Thank goodness. What a gift to have my family and my friends at the hospital for the birth of my first child. Actually the first child in the group. William was such a wonderful baby, toddler, preschooler, schooler, you name it. Watch. He will be hell as a teenager. That will be just our luck. I asked William how he thought his birthday weekend went and he said "Awesome!". We went to McDonald's on Friday night, his actual birthday, with Grace and Tanner. And then on Saturday his buddy from school went with us to Going Bonkers. And boy did they go Bonkers. I am so glad he enjoyed. I love you my big guy. Mommy's first little one.

Take care!
Raye

Bakugan Craziness

Birthday Boy!

Going Bonkers

Helping Hands for Haiti

Reprinted from my friend Emily's blog.
Stepping Stones:a path to healing after the loss of a child

Healing Hands for Haiti

I have been following the news from Haiti but haven't been sure what to do to help. The stories of loss and tragedy are terrible. And then like a light in the darkness, I found out about this project: Healing Hands for Haiti, and in particular, the Utah Hospital Task Force.

A friend of mine from church is friends with the girl, Erin, who walked in to offer her services in 'social network marketing' and then 6 hours later left the offices finding herself appointed as the new press secretary and scheduled to leave on Friday on a plane to Haiti.

They have organized a team to fly down Friday with the anticipation to send future teams as resources allow. The team is comprised of volunteer medical and construction personnel, including previous LDS missionaries to Haiti to act as translators. It is not an LDS (Mormon) organized group although a great number of them are members of the LDS church.

I've been obsessed with following her activity as she gets ready to leave. Her personal blog can be found here

I know many of you have already donated in other ways to Haiti. Thank you. Let me just do my little part and pass along this request from Erin: (I particularly love the fact that the airplane will be filled with orphans on the return trip.)

The Utah Hospital Task Force will deploy Thursday to Haiti to help the victims of the devastating earthquake just a few weeks ago. The team of 150 volunteers of doctors, nurses, translators and other professionals are going to Haiti to help rescue the displaced, homeless, and sick children. Many orphanages were destroyed in the earthquake on January 13, 2010. Another after shock this past week has created an even more desperate situation. Stories of toddlers wandering alone in the streets, children found sleeping alone in abandoned and dangerous buildings, and more heartbreaking, horrible tales continue to come out of Haiti daily. The Utah Hospital Task Force, along with Healing Hands for Haiti (an existing charitable organization) will be working to quickly provide medical care for the children, rebuild their orphanages, and when possible, bring them safely to the United States.

The Utah Hospital Task Force airplane will deliver the volunteers to Haiti on Thursday night, and will quickly be filled with orphans who will fly to Utah to meet their waiting adoptive families. Please help us bring more children back to safety and to loving homes with your donation today.

The Utah Hospital Task Force volunteers will be living within the Healing Hands for Haiti medical compound in tents during their stay. (The medical compound buildings were destroyed in the earthquake.) The volunteers will also be living with and helping serve the children from two nearby destroyed orphanages. Living conditions will be primitive and resources scarce, but the volunteers are happy to serve. But donations are desperately needed to help keep the operations safe and effective.

Please visit http://HealingHandsforHaiti.org and click on the donate PayPal button. To ensure that your donation is used for this mission, please click “special instructions to seller” on PayPal and write “Utah Hospital Task Force” in the box.

To follow the experiences of the task force in Haiti please visit http://utahhospitaltaskforce.org. You can also follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/uhtf and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/UtahHospitalTaskForce.

Thank you for your support and donations!

Happy Heavenly Birthday

Mommy, Please don't cry...
We have lots of parties here.
With Streamers and hats,
And the best chocolate cake ever!

What a great day yesterday. Normally we celebrate Ryan's birthday with just Doug, the kids and myself but we decide to open it up since it would have been a milestone birthday.Doug and I decided back on what would have been his first birthday to make that day a happy day. We celebrate the time we had with him. There are plenty of other days in the year to be sad and think about his passing. We decided to do a balloon release on his birthday this year when we usually do that in April. In the throws of grief it is hard to appreciate what you had and not dwell on what is lost. As time goes by the heartache gets replaced with joy just a little at a time. I am not saying the heartache will ever disappear but it lessens with allowing the love we felt and still feel to overtake our hearts. Like the quote from Mommy Please Don't Cry states above I bet that Ryan and his buddies Parker and Gabriel are having a great party. I have a feeling Grandpa Bill and Opa are letting them get away with way too much fun. May your hearts always be filled with the love you share or have shared and not the grief you have experienced.
((hugs)),
Raye