We are home!

We are home and Taycee is doing well. There was no final consensus on what was wrong. They were going to do a spinal tap but since she was awake and happy they decided not to. We are keeping a super close watch on her to make sure her symptoms don't return and as long as they don't we can keep her at home. I have to take her in for a follow up appointment next week just to make sure everything still looks normal.
Thanks to everyone for you prayers and support. I have had so many calls and texts of concern and love I haven't been able to return them all. Please don't think I am ignoring you, I just lost track of who I did and didn't call back.

I do have lots of pictures from Christmas... I am hoping to get them posted in the next few days.

Thats all for now

Taycee's Hospital Stay

Hello to friends and family, I thought this would be the easiest way to tell the Taycee story. Monday night while in St George Taycee was walking and took a spill. She slid head first into the couch and hit her head pretty good. She cried for a bit and then threw up about 10 minutes later. After that she seemed fine, we checked her pupils and they didn't seem dilated she was acting normal and happy. The next day she was extra sleepy and threw up a couple of times. We decided she must have the flu and kept a close eye on her. That night she threw up pretty violently for a 1 year old but again seemed fine afterwards. Wednesday we drove home from St George and she slept most of the way. When we got home she was fussy and threw up again, she seemed extra fussy afterwards and we had a hard time getting her to sleep. She fell asleep around 9 pm that night. The next morning when I got up she was still sleeping which was very strange because she is always up at 7. I went in and checked on her and she seemed fine. I started into the regular day activities and she continued to sleep. I went in at 10 then 11 then 12 but couldn't seem to rouse her. I started to worry that maybe she had more than the flu. At 1 I forced her to get up and tried to feed her some cereal. She was extremely lethargic and fell asleep in her high chair while I was feeding her. I decided to call the doctor and see what he recommended. After explaining her symptoms he told me I need to take her to Primary Childrens for a Head Scan because he was worried about head trauma. I called Chris who headed home and started to get myself and Taycee ready. Luckily we have great family and Chris's sister Lisa was able to come and watch Kaden who was taking a nap.
We got to the ER about 2 oclock and the testing began. We talked to about 6 different doctors had blood work done, urine collected, a Head CT and abdominal x-rays. Everything came back mostly normal she was a bit dehydrated and a bit constipated but nothing that explained the extreme lethargic behavior. Even through all this testing and poking she slept. We figure she was awake about 2 hours the entire day. When she was awake she was fussy and groggy. She wouldn't smile and she just laid limp in our laps. It was so sad. By the time they were done testing it was 8 oclock and they decided to admit her to watch her overnight.
It was a long night with lots of different tests and nurses. They had to wake her up every 2 hours to make sure she would wake up. They gave her an enema and so we spent the night changing a lot of dirty diapers. All of the doctors had different theories about what it was. They mostly agreed on neuro encephalitis which is basically a virus in the brain that they hoped would pass on its own. About 7:30 this morning Taycee woke up and smiled at us. It was the most reassuring thing I had seen or heard all night. She has been fairly responsive this morning and even ate a little pancake. She is still under observation and needs to be checked out by several doctors but if she continues to stay awake and be our sweet happy girl we can go home tonight.

Thank you so much for all of your love and support. We have been overwhelmed with love and phone calls of concern.

Hopefully a few more hours and we will be in the clear.

Christmas

WOW it has been such a crazy week. I guess Christmas week is always a crazy week but I feel like this year has been especially crazy! Christmas started out up in good ole' Brigham City Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma Halladays house with the annual Christmas Eve party. I made Chris wear the matching pajamas I made and he did with surprisingly little whining. I am guessing because he knew the work and stress that went in to them so he didn't dare refuse. Christmas morning was magical just like it should be. Our kids were up at 5:30 but we weren't meeting for presents upstairs til 7:30 so we spent the first 2 hours of Christmas morning in the bedroom watching Christmas cartoons. When we finally made it upstairs Kaden was super exciting. He kept shouting "Christmas!" and pointing at everything. We were disgustingly spoiled and our kids now have enough new toys to fill whole room. Kaden's favorite toy was a 99 cent mic from target that echoes when you talk in it. Go figure.

Saturday we packed up all of the Christmas goods and made our way down to St George. After a quick stop at home for some unpacking/packing we gassed up the car and made the 4 hour drive down arriving about 9 oclock where we were again spoiled with Christmas gifts. We spent the next 4 days playing and being appropriately lazy.

We are now at home recuperating and trying to find places for all the fun new things. Thanks to both families for such a fun Christmas.

We made it!

There were definitely times I wasn't sure we would get to this point, but we did! Chris finished his first semester of Grad School last Thursday. It was a long hard semester. Some nights I didn't see Chris at all. He worked so hard and did very well I am so proud of him. To celebrate we sent the kids to grandma Claytons and spent the entire week together. Every couple who is going through something like grad school needs this. It reminded us that we really are still totally in love with each other and beneath the titles of "mom, dad, student, homemaker, research assistant, yw leader, and elders quorum counselor." there is us... Jill and Chris.... and we still know how to laugh and tease and have fun and relax and just enjoy each other.

We attended Jennys graduation up in Idaho on Friday and Saturday. We graduated from BYU-I in the nursing program. We are so proud of her she has done such a great job. We went to her pinning ceremony on Friday night and as I was walking in a little old man in front of me opened the door... well that little old man was Elder Richard D. Scott. I was slightly stunned and stammered a Thank You. He was there all alone with no bodyguards or anything it was just him me my mom and Chris. We stood there for about a minute talking then he went on his way. He was the speaker that night and gave a beautiful address to the graduating nurses.

I can't believe Christmas is 4 days away. I love this time of year. I love the smells and the love and the feeling that Christmas brings. I am very impatient when it comes to giving gifts however and I have a hard time not giving them away as soon as I buy them. I have had my shopping done for weeks now and it will be a huge relief to have them opened. :D

Lastest Kaden News:

Kaden ran out of the tub a few days ago and into the living room where he spread his legs and started to pee. Why??? I have no clue. He was reprimanded and hopefully won't try that again.

Thursday morning Kaden came to me and asked "where's grampa" I said "he's at work" he said "can I hold him?"

Thursday night when I told Kaden he was going to grandmas house he started jumping up and down in circles saying "yes, yes, yes"

Kaden sings the abc song off of super why... actually he mumbles it while I sing. But at the end he always breaks out into lots of clapping!

Kaden things everything is amazing. When you open a window "ooh amasins" when he sees a bird "ooh amasins" when he sees a toy he likes "ooh amasins" he is easily amazed.

Taycee news:

She is the princess of the home and has us all wrapped around her fingers.

She is walking really well now.

She copies me when I call for Kaden.

She LOVES to dance and shake her head.

I think that is all for now from the Clayton Home

Hope you all have a VERY MERRY!!

Ode to the special stocking

One of these stockings is not like the other, one of these stockings just doesn't belong....

Now look at this picture... can you see which stocking is slight different than the others... besides the fabric ( HINT... It is standing up on its own. )

Yes it's true. This special stocking stands up by itself. Magic? You may ask... no my friends... Heat and Bond.

The story goes something like this... I had never made stockings. It was late. I was with Katherine Kaye Rothe. She is the sewing expert so you never question her. She was helping me with my first stocking. Did I mention it was really late? I was reading through my pattern and it called for interfacing on the inside of the stockings. Kathy said she had some and would go get it so I didn't have to buy any. She came up with a big roll of white looking stuff and began to measure and unroll the amount I would need for my 4 stockings. I was slightly confused at how it was suppose to work so she offered to put it on one stocking to show me. She cut it out with the pattern and material and proceeded to iron it on. Once she had ironed it on she started peeling off the back and then it dawned on her that interfacing does not peel off. She had just applied a sheet of Heat and Bond to the back of the stocking and now needed to iron another piece of material to the other side.

To make a long story short... this special stocking is made of 4 pieces of material and 2 sheets of Heat and Bond. It crackles when you move it and stands all by itself. It will be able to hold almost anything without tearing or wearing. It was cause for a lot of laughing. Like I said... it was late.

Lesson of the story. Heat and Bond and fusible interfacing are VERY different materials with VERY different results.

I DID IT!

This is a very common phrase out of Kaden's mouth. Whenever he does something he thinks is cool or something he think we will like he very excitedly shouts "I DID IT". Today I feel like shouting the same thing. I DID IT! A few weeks ago I decided that we needed to have matching Christmas jammies. Now this is a hard feat for a family that ranges from

6'7" to 31 inches. I quickly came to the conclusion if I wanted them all to be exactly the same I would have to make them. This presented a few new problems. 1. I hadn't really sewn anything since jr. high and 2. I didn't have a sewing machine. You know the saying "where there's a will there's a way"... well.....

Through a series of very fortunate events I am now a very proud owner of my very first sewing machine. ( Thanks Kathy and Chris) It was suppose to be a Christmas present but I got it a couple weeks early.

Lucky for me Chris's aunt Kathy is an amazing seamstress and was willing to encourage and coax me along with my first pair ( Taycee's) and I did the rest all by myself. :) I am proud. I know you are not suppose to be proud... but I am.

I also decided it was time for our family to have matching Christmas Stockings. I looked online for some but couldn't find anything I loved that wouldn't cost me my first born child, so... I decided to make those too.

I know it is not Christmas material but when I saw these prints i decided I liked them better than the typical snowmen and santas. :)

So it has been a very productive week and I have done a LOT of sewing. But I think I like it, it makes my back hurt a little bit but it is rewarding to create something useful.

xoxo- me

Life

Life is funny. Life is always changing. Life can be hard. Life can be easy. Life makes you cry. Life make you laugh. Life stresses you out and life touches your heart. I heard a song on the radio the other day and the words went like this:

Got a call last night from an old friend’s wife
Said I hate to bother you
Johnny Ray fell off the wagon

He’s been gone all afternoon

I know my buddy so I drove to Skully’s

And found him at the bar

I say hey man, what’s going on

He said I don’t know where to start

Sarah’s old car’s about to fall apart

And the washer quit last week

We had to put momma in the nursing home

And the baby’s cutting teeth

I didn’t get much work this week

And I got bills to pay

I said I know this ain’t what you wanna hear

But it's what I'm gonna say

Sounds like life to me it ain’t no fantasy

It’s just a common case of everyday reality

Man I know it’s tough but you gotta suck it up

To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy

It sounds like life to me

So what's been going around in the Clayton home?.... Life.

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Chris is in his final weeks of his first real semester of graduate school and it is kicking our butts. Most days the kids are up after he leaves and back to bed before he is home. I am getting a small taste of how it is to be a single mom and I have a new respect for those moms. However Chris is doing well in school, he is such a smart guy and I am very very proud of him. I try to be supportive and independent (I dont need no stinkin husband) and most of the time I do pretty well. Other times not so much (Have we met before? You look vaugely familiar). It helps to remember that Chris is just as stressed and would be home in a heartbeat if he could.

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We put up the Christmas Tree a few weeks ago. Kaden loves it. He loved hanging up the ornaments and insists that the Christmas tree be plugged in at all times. If he comes out and it is not plugged in he says "OH NO broken... what are we gonna do mommy?..... what happened?" Then once it is plugged back in he says "oooh pretty" he always points to the star at the top and exclaims "look at the star!!" He makes the tree seem so much more exciting then it is. Taycee also loves the tree. She loves to pull off the ornaments and shake the branches. The ornaments have now been moved up to the top of the tree and the bottom half is bare.

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Thanksgiving was great. Good times, great food, fabulous company. It is always so nice to have a small break with family where the alarm clocks aren't going off at all hours of the morning and deadlines don't have to be met. It was appropriately unplanned and lazy. We had two turkeys, 10 pies and lots and lots of leftovers. I love the Clayton family so much and am always sad when the time comes to go back home.

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While in St George I decided to try my hand at some pictures since we never got 1 year pictures of Taycee. Unfortunately the day we decided to do it the weather was cold and windy. So we got a few... but not many, I did get quite a few not looking at the camera not smiling pictures though. Taycee has a new found fascination with dancing. She shimmys her chest and shakes her head. For some reason every time I told her to smile she danced.. go figure.

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We took the kids to see Santa for the first time this year. Kaden thought it was great, he ran up and gave Santa a big hug. Santa sat him on his lap and asked him what he wanted and Kaden gave him a blank stare. I think Santa thought Kaden was a little older than he is. He is the size of a 4 year old but he is still only 2.... and a bit behind in speech still. I wanted to snap a picture of both kids with Santa and so I sat Taycee down in his lap. She did NOT like this idea at all and immediately started to scream. I took a picture anyway... I know... great mom. I love Santas face in the picture.

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I am DONE with all my Christmas shopping and better yet I did it for LESS than the amount we budgeted. Small pat on the back for me.

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I've been on a small quest lately to find a sense of accomplishment and importance. I've heard from the time I was little that being a mom is one of the most important things you can do in this life. And I honestly do believe that. What they don't tell you is that a lot of the time you feel forgotten, unimportant, and unaccomplished.. at least I do. Maybe I am the only one who feels that way. I read through my friends blogs and most of what I read is about how happy they are to be a mom. How much fun it is for them and how great their life is... always. Don't get me wrong I love my children more than words can say. I love their sweet hugs and I even love the slobbery kisses I usually have to wipe off. But I do miss the feeling of success and accomplishment that came from my job. Mundane tasks like dishes and counter tops that I literally do 3 or more times a day just don't seem to give those same feelings. I asked my mom if she ever felt like this and she basically said there are always bad days but when you are 45 and the kids are gone and you can call them on the phone and hear about their life and you can sleep in and watch corny Hallmark videos and sit and stare at your Christmas tree life is pretty great. So I guess the message is hold out til 45 and then there is peace. :D 20 more years to go.
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I did my first family photo shoot for a friends family and I think they turned out pretty cute. :) If any one else is looking for some family pics before they send out Christmas Cards let me know! Here is a small sample

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Chris woke up last night and said "you'll go when I say you can" then he leaned over to me and pointed to the side of the bed and whispered "I see them sneakers, I see them sneakin. do you see em sneakers" I stifled a laugh and said "yeah" he then said "where are they goin" I said "I don't know where are they going?" he then looked at me with a mixture of confusion and disgust and said "I don't know, its just a movie". Hahaha I love him.