President Hinckley

As you all know, President Hinckley passed away last night. Both of us were talking last night about how he was the Prophet of our generation. The Prophet that we remember during the most formidable years of our lives. He was such an amazing man and such an amazing leader. He will be greatly missed. We know that things will work out fine and we are really glad that now President Hinckley gets to reunite with his dear wife.

Ryan Coming Home...Twice!

I just finished my cereal and it is about ten in the morning. Grace is watching cartoons, Derek is watching some ESPN and Ryan is asleep. This best part of this day is that we all slept under the same roof last night. My family is all together again!!

We went to the hospital yesterday morning and the doctor told us that we would be able to take Ryan home that afternoon. There was a little panic on my part, but the doctor reassured me that everything would be fine. The social worker helped me set-up home health and I rushed home to make sure everything was perfect for Ryan's first trip home and to pick up the car seat.

After he had finished his medication Derek and I got him dressed (he looked so cute in his outfit and it makes him look so little) and we went home. I picked Grace up from my friend, Ang, and came home to a photo shoot. Derek has taken so many pictures of Ryan which is very good because if I was in charge of the camera we wouldn't have any pictures. Derek went back to work (he has re-arranged his work schedule a million times because our plans of bringing Ryan home has changed a lot) and I put Ryan in his crib for a nap. After a few minutes he made some noise and went in to check on him. There was blood on his crib sheets. I hurried and picked him up and found that it was coming from his IV in his head. My mind stopped working, so I took a few deep breaths. After a few phone calls Grace, Ryan and I loaded into the car. Grace went back to Ang's house. She is just one of the angel's in this story.

Ryan and I went to the Emergency Room and Derek met us there. The nurse checked him and decided that his IV had come out. We went into the waiting room, which is half of the experience in an ER. We decided to have Derek pick Grace up and play with her at home and I would stay with Ryan. We went into an exam room and were met by several doctors, a nurse and a nursing student came in (not the most reassuring picture to a worried mother). After about 45 minutes one of the doctors was able to put a new IV into his arm. She used to work at Primary Children's Hospital. The doctors and nurses are a few more of the angels. They made the IV in his arm so stable it will not come out until we remove it. The IVs that he has had in his head have never been very stable because of all his hair. We then made our second trip home from the hospital that day.

The nurse came over to our house last night and I knew that she was going to be an angel because she had the most beautiful red hair. She taught me how to administer the medication and what times Ryan needs to have his meds. She helped me give him his first dose.

I gave him his second set of meds this morning at 7 and it went smooth. This morning I am feeling a little tired, but am also feeling so much gratitude and relief. I am grateful that Grace has been so patient with the circus she has been living with, I am grateful to Derek who has been a strength and a calming influence to all our family. I am also very grateful to my mother for all the times I have called her in a hysterical state and the time that she has taken to comfort me. I am very grateful for Derek's parents who have watched Grace many of these past days and have been a comfort as well. Thanks to everyone for the kinds notes and flowers and cookies and meals. We are grateful for all the prayers that have been offered on our behalf. I have felt a comfort and strength that I know comes only from our Heavenly Father. We are truly blessed.

Ryan should be completely finished with his medication on Saturday night. I am glad that he is home! We love you all!!!

Ryan is here!

It has been a bit of a roller coaster weekend, to say the least. Ryan Geoffrey Cullimore was born on Friday, January 18th at 7:11pm. He weighed in at 7lbs. 13 oz. and 19 1/4 inches long. He has lots of red hair, we cannot believe how much thick hair he has. On Saturday night when they were doing the usual lab workups they discovered he had a fever. His temp had risen to a concerning level. They have been running all sorts of tests on him and the blood results are showing he has an infection. They are unsure at this point the extent or nature of the infection, but they are concerned enough that they decided that they needed to to a spinal tap. They tried to do a spinal tap yesterday (on Sunday), but were unable to get any spinal fluid. They are trying again on Tuesday, January 22nd. They are testing to hopefully rule out meningitis. Melinda has been discharged from the hospital, but they are saying that Ryan will likely have to stay for 7 days at least. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated. I wanted to send some pictures along real quick. Melinda has been staying in a side guest room at the hospital for a couple of nights and I have been back and forth and running errands, etc. She will be moved out of the guest room on Tuesday evening, so we will both be doing a lot of running back and forth and trying to keep Grace's life as normal as possible.

The new family of 4, Grace approves!

This was taken on Monday, January 21st. You can see the IV and other contraptions installed on the back of poor Ryan's head. He has two different IV's and blood taps on his head and another one on his forehead. We feel so bad!

Mommy and Ryan

Ryan Geoffrey Cullimore

A good shot of the red hair. The nurses were so impressed and one even asked to walk him around to show off his beautiful hair to the other nurses. Grace is so cute in the background, always has to be near her little bro!

Grace giving Ryan a little kiss

We have gotten lots of calls and messages of love and support, we are so grateful to have so much support. We will do our best to keep everyone informed, but hopefully he will continue to improve and can come home very soon. We love you all!

No Baby Yet!!!

Ryan is out to prove that he controls the universe. At least mine. Derek and I went to the doctor yesterday and we scheduled an induction for Monday, January 21. If the hospital isn't swamped and if Ryan cooperates we should have a baby on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I still wouldn't mind if he decided to come earlier.

The Countdown Is On...

...the only problem is we don't know how many days to include on the countdown. Grace was born 10 days early and I hit 37 weeks on Monday, so ... we will see when little Ryan decides to show himself. Grace is so excited for him to come. We attended a Super Siblings class at St Marks (the hospital where we are having Ryan) and Grace loved it. She will be such a good big sister. Someday we will have a house big enough that they can each have their own room (hopefully), but for now they are going to be roommates. We spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks getting situated for his arrival and made a lot of progress. Derek was so much help, especially with all of the heavy lifting and a lot of the physical stuff. It is great that we have so many clothes for him already, Grace loved helping me sort through everything a couple of days ago, she is such a good helper! We will let all of you know when there is news! I had a check-up today and everything is looking good! Love ya!

Grace loves wearing this funny visor from preschool all around the house, too!

Here is the pile of clothes for Ryan

Ryan's crib (we have since cleaned the stuff out of it and from around it :))

Every night after prayers Grace gives hugs and kisses to mommy and daddy. She also always kisses Ryan (mommy's tummy) and says "Good night Ryan, I love you! Have good dreams about babies!"

Grace Loves Christmas!

We had a really good Christmas and we hope all of you did as well. Derek had a lot of time off and it was great to spend so much time together as a family. I feel like not only did we have a good holiday and celebrate it together a lot as a family, but also got a lot of things ready for Baby Ryan to arrive. As you can tell Grace is really shy in front of the camera...NOT!!! She is so cute and loves to pose and make funny expressions, etc. Here are some pictures of her on Christmas Eve, she loved showing off her festive Santa hat!

This is our mantle with the stockings hung by the fireplace. You can also see the clock that I made a while back.

Grace is excited for Santa to come!

-Here is our Christmas tree-

-Here is an ornament Grace made at preschool, she is quite proud of it-

Not quite sure what she is looking at, but she is so funny!

Christmas morning Grace came screaming in our room that it was Christmas morning! It was such a fun way to wake up. She was jumping off the walls and it makes Christmas even that much more fun. She is at such a fun age and is equally excited for her little brother to make his entrance into the world. She was excited that the glass of milk was empty that Santa drank out of and that the caramel apple was gone. Hmmm...yummy treat for Santa!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (a little late)! Hope you all had a good holiday season!