Emma's Ballet Photoshoot

Well, Emma is nearly fully recovered from her tonsillectomy she had 2 weeks ago. It took until day 11 post op for her to be somewhat her normal active fun self again. Hallelujah! Up until then it was dreadful!!

On a more happier note though, since she has her energy back she was able to go to ballet again this week!! She missed last week's class due to the already mentioned horrible surgery. Here are a few pictures of her in her ballet giddy-up! We recently put her into a small ballet class with one of her other cousins. It was very affordable and we felt she was more than ready to do something on her own like ballet!! She LOVES it! I made these leg warmers (which I make to sell as well) for her and wanted to get some pictures of her in them! These turned out pretty cute- (by the way LIZ when you read this- please be proud that I have learned just a tad bit about photo shop and know that I doctored these pictures up a little. I know they aren't profession-al, but I did it none the less. What do you think- good? Bad? I like them so that's all that matters right? Just kidding. )

Hope you enjoy these of our sweet little girl!!

I give all the credit to Emma for choosing the above pose! Totally an Emma pose for sure!!

I love this little girl's legs. They are so cute!!
She thought the one above was super fun to do as well!! Can you notice she has lost weight from her surgery. I wish I could have known exactly how much, but it was for sure noticeable! I want my tonsils out! Come on!
I made her these leggings thinking they would be great to wear for dance during the winter months. I guess her teacher didn't approve. Emma handed them to me after dance telling me that her teacher told her to take them off at the beginning of class. Whoops! Oh, well that was a good thought. I hope her primary teachers won't make her take them off at church- because that's the only other place she wears them. I guess we will see on Sunday right? Funny.

September and part of October

I am finally documenting and posting some pictures as of late. Here are some fun one of the kiddos in action. September brought us a new school year- Emma's second year at preschool! She missed the cut off date to start kindergarten this year- which I was more than fine with. I don't want to send my child off quite yet if at all. I might do the whole home school thing!! Schools these days really bother me and it is very scary what is going on in school! That is another topic for another day though!

September also brought new ballet class, which you can see other pictures in a different post.
September brought Burke a new found discovery for a lot of fun things! He is all over the place and has a mind of his own and is very creative and VERY playful!! We love it! He is our little tease in our family for sure. Big sis doesn't like it so much, but he gets a good laugh out of his little pesterings (is that even a word)! Hope you enjoy the random pictures!

Oh, the end of September also brought "Cub-ub" (as Emma used to call him when she couldn't say his name before his mission) - Tyler's nephew Caleb home from Guatemala where he has been serving a mission for two years for our church! It was so fun to be at the airport with like 50 other people all anxious for his arrival! Fun!

This picture is the only one I have of Emma after her tonsillectomy from my camera. I took a few on my phone at the hospital. What a bad mom I am. I have taken so many pictures of Burke at the hospital over the years- and I really failed on this one. But, I felt bad even thinking about taking a picture of her when she was SOOO miserable! She actually looks pretty good in this picture- she was looking really bad for a few days. Her eyes sunk into her head and she got skinny and pale. It was so sad. So, I guess I am glad to see that the only picture I did get was of when she didn't look like she was on her death bed. There, I feel better already. Notice the PINK ice cream- must have for a girl who got her tonsils out!! She is also under a fort Grandma made for Burke when Emma was in surgery! He loved it. Then E took it over.

This one is so funny. He loves babies. He loves his boat that Tyler made him for his Peter Pan cake. Put them together and you get a fun boat ride! He was so proud of this! I love it.

And if you get to the end of this post and are still awake, then you will know that this is not Grandma's house, this is our house and yes we have moved back into it!! Yippe!! We are so excited and the kids love playing with all their old toys again and getting to be in our house again with our little family. This was just taken yesterday. They love to pack everything in baskets, bags, boxes or containers and lug it around the house. Pack rats for sure (Jenny). And speaking of Jenny- thank you for that cute table to liven up our entry way. I will be sad when you want it back someday. And let me know if you would rather us not use it anymore now that we are moved back in. Thanks again I love our fun entry!!

Surgery House, Sick House

It's about time I posted about our family and what we have been up to! There has been so much going on that I don't know where to start! Let's see, Burke had yet another surgery about three weeks ago. Yeah, can you believe it? He had sinus surgery to relieve his chronic sinusitis that he has had since February, and he got his tonsils and adenoids out!
His tonsils were so infected that they could have been the reason why he has been sick for so long, combined with his sinuses being so inflamed that there was no way for the infection in his sinuses to drain. This poor kid.

Recovery went okay. Some days were better than others. The first few days went really well, but then the scabs from the tonsils fell off and he had a few really miserable days with a big sore throat. About day 15 post op or so (last Tuesday) he spiked a temperature after I put him to bed. I measured the temp at 102.8! I don't think he has ever had that high of a temperature before! It came on so quickly and made his little heart race so fast. We were worried especially about his heart so we decided to take him into the ER.

When I walked into the ER I said frankly to the lady at the admitting desk. "This is Burke Johnson. He has a high fever and he has heart disease." She calmly and quickly asked his date of birth and had me sign something. Then again quickly and calmly she picked up a phone to contact the nurses in the back and said, "we have a 3 year old boy who has a high fever and his mom says he has heart disease." No more than 30 seconds later a lady came up to get me and we were back in the back getting check out. It was amazing. I had the ticket to get back into the ER quickly like never before. I could not believe their reaction. Professional, calm, and very quick. It was awesome. St. Luke's I commend you for how well you dealt with us in the ER that night. Thank you for caring for my child like I would want him to be dealt with.

So, we got admitted that night because after they ran some tests and took an x-ray. His white blood cell count was super high and they were concerned about what that meant. They wanted to keep him for 48 hrs to see if the cultures would grow anything or not. His fever never came back but they wanted to still keep him to watch him. By the middle of day two (not quite 48 hr yet though) Burke, in my eyes, was more than fine to be discharged. It took the rest of that afternoon to get all the doctors to agree to let him go. So, after 2 nights and two days we were released from the hospital. The next afternoon he was to go into the pediatrician to get the test results back. They came back negative! He must have caught some sort of virus that caused a random temperature. He is a little congested but is back to normal for the most part. He is his active crazy self again!!


Now onto Emma. She got her tonsils checked by the ENT due to her getting sick frequently enough. I thought too, since tonsils were infected in Burke, that probably they were the culprit in Emma's case. She enough her tonsils were infected and large as were her adenoids! Super fun.

She was due to have her tonsils/adenoids out on Oct. 1st. Burke was discharged from the hospital on Sept. 30 (Thursday) and Emma was to be at the Surgical center at 9 am on Friday morning. We just wanted to do our best to keep the ENT, the hospital and the pharmacy in business! It is our pleasure! You can thank us later.

Her surgery went very well and was quicker than expected. Her adenoids were huge and the tonsils were huge and very infected. Her tonsils were bigger than Burke's were. I got to see them- pretty gross. I got a picture on my phone but I don't know how to get them off my phone and onto the computer. So, sorry no pictures. We stayed in the post op recovery room for about an hour and then were released. Weird. No PICU admission like Burke. No oxygen required. No over night stay to make sure all is stable. This was totally different than Burke's surgeries. How nice it is to have a child who is healthy and does not require all the special medical needs. I am so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord.

Day one and two post op went great. Today though, day three post op, is a different story. She is hurting more today and won't take her pain meds. as well as the past few days. She is also not drinking as well. She is sleeping more today and resting more as well. Hopefully we can just get through this quickly. She is a trooper and reacted better the first few days post op better than we expected. Today though is more how we thought she would act- totally uncooperative! That's okay though. Things will get better. I feel so bad for her. I bet she is in so much pain. Having just been through this with Burke not long ago, her recovery is so different than his.

So, there you go. And update. Oh, I am sick again too. Sore throat and congestion. It is crazy how I usually get sick in a way that helps me be more empathetic to what the children are going through at the same exact time. Being a mama of two children who have both had surgery in the past two in a half weeks, and who have both been sick recently also, means that this mama is run down, exhausted and is running on little sleep. Happy days! But, we are alive and Burke is not in the hospital so we are grateful for our health, and to the Lord for watching over us through our tough time. He really has been there for us.

Stitches

One of the many reasons I have been M.I.A. from the blogging world lately is that I have started my own business called Stitches LLC!
Stitches is my sewing business where I sew and create a Bunch of different fun items for babies, children, teens and their mama's too! Go check it out at my new blog called of course... stitchesllc.blogspot.com and my ETSY site called Stitchesllc. I am really excited to begin this new and crazy journey!

Here is a LIST of the items I can sew and create, but is not limited to these:

*Holiday specialized pillowcases
*aprons (for kids, teens, and mamas)
*crayon rolls
*diaper/wipe clutches
*taggie blankets (Lovey's)
*soft toys for infants
*'bowtique' bows
*fabric hair pieces
*bibs
*burp rags
*washcloths
*paci clips
*car seat covers
*baby legs
*magnets
*blankets
*bow ties

Here is a preview of my first item I put up on my New Etsy Shop. Go check it out to order that one, or send me an email if you already have fabric in mind and I can custom order anything you wish! Thanks again! Hope you all have a Spooky Halloween too!

***Tell your friends! And stay tuned for some up coming Boutiques I will put my items in!

***I do custom orders as well! Just leave a comment or email me at lilcamper8@gmail.com!

8/28... or BUST!

I just got this picture emailed to me today while my brother and his 3 oldest kids were on their way by car to Washington DC for the 8/28 Restoring Honor Event! We wanted to go so bad to witness this historic event in person! I guess we will just listen to it tomorrow. Here are the details on glennbeck.com.

***Don't know what 8/28 is?***Well check it out here. You aint gonna want to miss this one. I'll be watching will you?

Peter Pan is "Free"

...also pronounced "Three"! On Saturday we celebrated Burke's 3rd birthday! I can't believe that we are celebrating his 3rd birthday!! It seems with all he has gone through he should be like 50 yrs old! We are so grateful for the Lord for sparing his life so many times throughout his life. The Lord is so merciful. He came here to earth to receive a body and to teach me and my family and those around him what this life is all about. He has taught us so much and still teaches us everyday. I am so blessed to have him come to our family. I am so grateful that he and Emma not only look so much alike but they act alike and they LOVE being siblings. I love it how she calls him "brother". I love it how he calls her "sister".

I love it how much he is enjoying his life with out oxygen and a feeding tube. I am grateful for the experience we had while he was on oxygen for he managed it so well and just went with the flow of having to be hooked up to a long cord for most of his life up until last December. I am grateful for that experience because now I appreciate Burke so much more now and appreciate not having to deal with the burden of the oxygen. I am grateful for how much I have learned through the experiences and trials we have gone through with Burke being born with Heart Disease.

I am grateful for all the doctors for loving and caring for Burke like he was their own. I am grateful for his surgeons and for how close to the Spirit they are while in surgery. I am ultimately grateful for the Lord's mercy in our lives.

Here are some of the pictures from Burke's fun day. He was happy the second he woke up! I just loved it! This birthday he actually knew what was going on and that made the day so much fun. It was his first birthday with out oxygen and with his heart fixed so we just played and had a great day. He even gave mommy a great present by taking a nap! The family in town came over to give him presents (which you guys didn't have to do) and to celebrate his life with us on that glorious day!! I just thank the Lord everyday for him and that his heart was able to get fixed.

Okay, I wasn't able to put captions on any of these pictures- it's acting funny or maybe it's just me. But you get the idea of how his day was. My parents wanted to get a bike for him and so I checked around for a long time on craigslist and at stores for good deals, we finally found one by calling Sam and Kathy and they had Graham's old bike that was in great condition that we got from them. Burke did great riding it the first time! Tyler's present to Burke was a wooden rubber band gun that Ty and Emma made together. It was a hit! He LOVED IT! Ty did a great job on it. You can tell in the picture where he has the purple birthday cape on looking at his cake that he is shooting Captain Hook (at point blank range) on the ship (that Tyler also made out of wood) on his cake. It was awesome! I think this birthday was the best ever for him!! It is so sad he is growing up! Enjoy the pictures. Thanks everyone who came to celebrate his life with us!! We love you all!

This last picture is so stinkin cute- he attached to this red heart balloon early in the morning and would NOT let it go! He was in the pool with it! I just love him.

Burke,

We love you so much little buddy! And I am grateful for you and your determination to keep going everyday even when you think you can't possibly go through one more surgery or procedure, or one more illness. You will get through this, I know that for a fact. Heavenly Father is with you everyday, every minute and every second of your life- never forget that. Never. You have been a fighter ever since you were born and you have NEVER given up and I commend you for that. You are truly and inspiration to me and everyone who hears of your story. You have been through 4 open heart surgeries (not counting the two times they opened you up with in a 24 hour period), 5 heart catheters (also surgeries), 1 tongue clipping surgery combined with ear tube surgery, and 1 last tongue clipping surgery just last month. You have been through more than most people have in their lives and you have stayed happy, and kept on eating and living despite all that.

I want you to know that your mama loves you, your daddy loves you, and your big sister Emma is the best big sister ever for you. I know for a fact with all my heart that she was sent here and supposed to be your big sister. She has been amazing help to me over the past few years and she is amazing to you and helps comfort you when you are sad or sick. She is the best and I want you to never forget that. She loves you so much. Your grandma's and grandpa's love you and all your 50 plus cousins on both sides love you as well.

Never keep going buddy. You amaze me and I can't wait to watch you grow up (slowly of course) and experience this wonderful life our Father in Heaven has created for us to experience. I love you with all my heart, "Lion Heart". Thank you for coming into this world "open- hearted".

Love always,

Mama

Talk Radio

Photo taken in March of 2010, My Dad with Emma and Burke

This post is for my dad. A Vietnam Veteran. A Patriotic man. An American. And Proud to be it.

Dad,

You will be proud of me. I know you will. I did something that you did ALL growing up. Every summer when we would mow lawns with you- ya, like every summer since I was 5- we listened to KFBK 1530 talk radio. Yep, I admit as a teenager I could care less about talk radio. Boy did I just dread listening to boring talk radio on caveman AM radio. I did learn from it though, and Paul Harvey (sp?) was funny, (it was Paul right?) I can just hear it loud and clear, because it was very, very loud blaring out of the old truck radio, "Now, for the rest of the story..." Classic. Just classic. That and classical music was the only two radio waves that seemed to ever come out of dad's truck radio.

Well Dad, I listened to talk radio for the first time, WILLINGLY, the other day. I turned on the radio and turned it to AM 580 in Idaho to listen to The Glenn Beck Talk Radio Show. I thought you would be proud that I saw the light of talk radio. Not all of it is good, of course. (Side note: like Dr. Laura- she is someone who is a supposedly a "professional" who gives advice to people on air who should NOT be allowed to give her "professional" advice any longer. She is AWFUL!! And I have tried to call in to talk with her personally because I think she is impatient, mean, and down right off base when it comes to dealing with very personal issues in real people's life.)

But I feel that all the times you made us listen to talk radio it mattered to you in your life at the time. Politics matter in your life. Saving and protecting marriage and our families as we know it matter in your life and mom's life when both of you helped in California to support Proposition 8. You stood on the side of the road and held signs to defend Proposition 8. You and mom stood for what you believed in then and will stand forever for what you believe in. Because it matters.

So, I thank you for showing me all those years to search for knowledge to better ourselves. It is education that we all should seek for. It is knowledge that I am seeking to better myself. We as Americans need to seek for education as well to help us dig ourselves out of the deep mess we have gotten ourselves into. It is our duty.

I now claim that I listen to talk radio. And I like it. Really like it.

Love your daughter,

Rachel

"Paul Harvey, g'day"!

SHHHH! Don't Tell!

SHHHHH!!! Here's a sneak peek at the fun we will have next weekend on Burke's 3rd Birthday!!! This is part of his present. I am going to make a holster for a wooden rubber band shooter that Tyler is making! We are so excited to give these homemade presents to Burke this birthday! I think he will love it, don't you? He asked for a Captain Hook/Peter Pan Cake where they are fighting on top of the cake. We will see Tyler's cake making skills put to the test on this one! More pictures to come on the big day! (back)
(front)
(back with mask to match)

Burke Health Update

Here is a health update on Burke. Short. Concise. And. To. The. Point. (Something I'm not very good at)!
Burke got off his 3 week dose of antibiotics for the H Flu last Thursday. By Monday morning he woke up with a flaming cold, congestion, cough, runny nose. BLAH! Which means that that certain antibiotic did not completely get rid of all the H Flu present in his body. We luckily had his 3 week post-op appointment with Dr. Beck who did his tongue clipping surgery and found the H Flu in his airways. She ordered a CT scan in her office of his sinuses. We went. Burke was a CHAMP! We went back up stairs for the results and she discovered his sinuses completely packed with infection! That means that this H Flu has attacked his sinuses and we have been treating it like it originally attacked his airways. It probably attacked his sinuses and the leakage has drained into his airways!

The solution: Another 3 week dose of a different antibiotic. Two different prescription steroid nasal sprays to help control inflammation in his sinuses. Still continuing the breathing treatments (two times a day) while wheezing continues in his upper airways. Will stop those when no wheezing is present. I have Mucinex on hand for "yucky junk" in his airways making him cough and gag. All those meds. are given daily not to mention the 3 heart medications he is currently still on for his heart.

There you have it. The shortest blog post I have ever typed regarding Burke's health.

Oh, did I mention Burke was also up for 4 hours in the middle of last night for WHO KNOWS WHY!?? Yeah, mama ain't so happy about that!


Here's little brother with the big sister. They are awesome and I love them so much.

Guns and Roses

My children are a lot alike. They look alike, their personalities are a lot alike, they are super strong willed and they are very bull headed. I wonder where they got those traits from? (yep from BOTH of us). They are independent, inquisitive and determined. Emma is a tom-boy. She loves being outside, she wears her cow boots and she is very active. She also plays with her boy cousins a lot mostly because the one she gets along the best lives right across the street. Her and her Weston play a ton together. Not so much lately because summer has been busy with vacations and things, but when they play together they have such a good time. They love to stay busy "working" for their play time. I just love it.E and B at G'ma's with their saggy bottom pj's and their "cow boots" on.

So, all up until Burke was old enough to walk and play I thought Emma was a lot like what raising a boy would be like. I loved it because I thought I was going to get out of the drama that comes with a little girl. Oh was I wrong, and in many ways! Burke is a BOY through and through. This kid was born with a natural sense of what little boys should grow up doing! He was more mellow as a baby but recently he has come into his own and is obsessed with "shooters" and swords and sticks that can become "shooters" and life cereal that when broken into pieces become "shooters"! I am not kidding! This kid was born to make the shooting sound. And he's good at it too. I can barely even do it.

This fetish came awhile ago, but really took on a life of its own when we moved back to Boise when Burke was playing with his four boy cousins across the street. Boy was he in BOY heaven! They had "shooters" and light sabers (I don't even know if that's the way that word is spelled) and fake swords and nerf guns and so on. He soon took some home back to grandmas and it was all over from there. I gave in a few weeks ago and bought him his first "shooter" because the ones he borrow from his cousins soon became damaged and broken. I brought him a cap gun. Hey, I did not buy him the caps though! Tyler said when I told him it was a fake cap gun he said, hey you didn't buy any caps, come on!! I think our two year old better not play with those until he is older. I am putting my foot down on that one! He loves it and he puts it in his pockets and in his Peter Pan costume pocket so he can shoot Captain Hook. Burke in his "Peter Pan Costume"! love it.

To sum it up. Emma is still a tom boy- which I love because I was a big tom boy when I was younger. Yet she still has her girlie girl side. She loves to cook, to put on my makeup including mascara- by herself, she loves to dress up and have tea parties, and sew, yes sew, and do all the little girlie things that little 4 years old's should do. Burke is boy through and through. Oh man it is in his blood and I love it!! Shooters, and monsters and bad guys and captain hook vs. Peter pan is all we hear about from him. He is black and white. Good guy bad guy. Good vs. Evil. I love it. Yet, there is a little sweet Burke still in there who will cuddle with his blanket. And love his baby that G&G Bates found that we left at their house way back in May! Yes, that is right my little boy plays with a baby doll. It is a cute cabbage patch baby that I got a DI. It cleaned up nicely in the washing machine and it has been his baby for over a year now. I love it because now more than ever, with his fetish with super boy things, he can still be sensitive and loving towards something when he otherwise would be shooting at everyone and everything in sight!

Just tonight when I was putting him down in his bed, he found his baby and said to it,"Ooh baby, I love you baby. I love you baby. It's okay baby, don't cry. Mom, baby was crying down here all alone. You should have come down and held my baby when he was crying." I guess we still need to work on the whole taking responsibility thing. Oh well.Burke and his cute little naked baby.

Emma and her cute little dressed baby.

I love my kids and their personalities different and alike even when they can be unreal and out- of- this- world- super- hard- to- handle. I still love them and I am grateful for who they are and their spirits and personalities that they came into this world with! I can't wait to add more little kids to our family and when the Lord sees that that needs to happen it will and I am just trusting in him that it will happen when it needs to. But until then, over here in our neck of the woods we will be continually fighting Captain Hook and singing made-up Smee and Captain Hook songs for bed time lullaby's. We will be continually overseeing the makeup application and the baby doll dressing and the sewing projects. We got the best of both worlds- the guns and the roses!

The picture above reminds me of two people. First, of Tyler of course. Any of his family would know that Ty lived in cow boy boots as a child. He would try on anyone's cow boot and he loved it. But then the second person it reminds me of is my older brother Dave. In high school Dave thought he was pretty cool and so did the girls. He was into himself so much that when he got out of the shower- which he did like 3 or 4 times a day because of sports- he would stand in front of the mirror and flex his muscles! I would always thought he was so funny to do that. He is so not like that anymore, but in high school he was all about how big his muscles looked! When I really looked at this picture I had to chuckle because I instantly thought of both Tyler and Dave. It's ironic too because they are both the same age. Funny.

Pictures of Emma posing. She was so cute that day wearing her new fourth of July bow that I made just the day before.

Emma and Evie her little cousin in Grandma J's dress ups. All the grandkids dress up when they come over to grandmas. There is a wide variety of dress ups for both boy and girls. And sometimes the boys even come out sporting the girl dresses with matching wigs- it's pretty fun to see their creativity at work!