Story to help understand Ponderings

At eight months old Embree had, had a cough for almost a month and no medication was working and it just got worse. We had been to several doctors and still couldn't figure out what was going on. The last doctor finally said we should get x-rays and see if maybe it was pertussis (whooping cough). He was able to set up an appointment to get the x-rays right then. Embree didn't like them at all and it took Jace, two nurses and I to hold her down so they could get the x-ray. Well it took a day to get the results and when they arrived our lives changed. Jace had just gone to work at his parents restaurant and I had just got Embree out of a bath when the doctor called. All I remember is my grandma (who we were living with at the time) coming into the bathroom and telling me the doctor is on the phone and he said it was an emergency. When I got to the phone all i remember is hearing it is a tumor between her heart and lungs and it looks cancerous you need to get her to primary children's asap. The doctor said he had already called the hospital and told them we were on our way and he had a folder of the x-rays for us to pick up to take as well.

All I remember was calling Jace and balling, I guess that was all I had to do and he was on his way home. I tried to call my family and none of them were home but my brother, and once I heard his voice I started balling again, which caused him to find my parents and he rushed over to help. My dad was able to give us all blessings before we left to help and then It took us only 30 minutes to get on the road to the hospital and we never could have done it without the help of all of our family. It took us seven hours to get to the hospital because of construction. Luckily Embree slept the entire way there. When we arrived at the hospital they rushed us back and did tests on Embree and took more x-rays. At the hospital they are able to work with the kids more to get better x-rays. After what felt like days, the doctor finally came in with the results. NO TUMOR AND NO CANCER! We breathed a sigh of relief but then he said, "but there is something that has us concerned." Her Thymus which was supposed to look like a sail on a sail boat, was very enlarged and mishapped, looking more like a giant pair. He told us the only treatment for that was time and it should adjust itself and shrink as she gets older.

Well after that which was about 11om we were able to go home, Embree was so exhausted and because of the adrenaline Jace and I were wide awake. We were going to stay with family if we needed to that night but decided that all we wanted to help us relax was to go home so we drove all the way back that night. After this ordeal, we thought that our only problems were going to be dealt around her thymus but all of a sudden she stopped everything. before all of this she was eating everything, sitting, rolling around, and was rocking on her knees. After all of this though she stopped everything, she just layed there and stopped eating. Well with a lot of help from physical therapists and occupational therapist and doctors it took her till she was two before she crawled and a few months later when she walked. She has also been very small being in the negative 15% for both height and weight up until a year and a half ago when she finally started eating and her thymus finally started shrinking. We had her looked at and x-rayed by about every doctor in primary children's to try to figure out why she stopped everything and finally found that it was caused by massive phobias created because of the ordeal that we had. The one problem she never had was speech, she talked full sentences at one years old.

Well through a lot of work and effort to get over these phobias, yes she is six now, she is finally 100% potty trained, she is eating a lot more then crackers which was her only diet for almost two years and pedia sure with that, she now loves every fruit, corn, peas, and carrots in the vegetables, almost every kind of carb you can think of (pasta, breads, crackers), almost all the dairy items, but she is still a self proclaimed vegetarian, she will have nothing to do with meat at all. But this all only started when she was four and a half years old. She was still only wearing 24 month old clothes and at times could fit into 2t and 3t outfits but not many. When she started to eat she has grown a ton! She is now at a positive 25% for weight and height for her age and is almost as tall as any other six year old out there. If you were to look at her now you would never know that she has gone through any ordeal and ever had any problems (other then eating). We love her to death and are grateful and blessed everyday by the gift of life she has brought with her.

Memories

Well, I am pondering the happenings of six years ago. I question myself, am I really that old, where did the time go, and have I been the best that I could be? These questions all fall on the subject of our sweetheart and light of our lives, Embree Anne Thompson.

At exactly 1:17am today our little baby will be six years old! Wow, how time flies! I still feel like it was yesterday when we went into the hospital, and through all the complications and misgivings we were blessed with this beautiful child. From the moment we saw her, we were changed for the better. She has had many hard times in her life that have challenged her physically, mentally and emotionally; and yet she has turned out to be a sweet, loving, fun little girl.

She is turning six and is already calling herself old, her comment to me this morning was"mom, it is hard being old, you have to do a lot of things and that makes me tired. It is hard being old, so hard!" If she is old and is only six what does that make the rest of us I wonder? She loves school and can't wait till she is home and able to do her homework! For Christmas all she wanted was crayons and a case that had crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors, and glue so that she could do her homework. We just hope this love of homework last through the rest of her life.

She is the life of our little family and the joy of our lives. We can't believe that she will be six, but have enjoyed every minute that she has been with us, and look forward to the future with her. We LOVE you Embree!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Clean and Spring!

This week has been pretty slow! It has been nice though to be able to go out and walk and not have to be in snow clothes to do it. We have been aching to go out side and open our windows and air out the house for a long time and now we can finally do it. To top it all it has bee 3 weeks and we can now WASH THE DOG!!! She is a hundred percent healed and crazy to boot, and we are so grateful that we can now clean her up! I know that she has been waiting for this day since she had the surgery because she hates to be dirty and keeps giving us the look of disgust and wow does she stink! We are so excited, I don't know if it is a good thing to be so excited but we are in this house! Clean dog, Clean house, Spring and General Conference how could life get better! (I know it can but right now it feels pretty great)



(this is Embree all dressed up in her halloween costume! She loves to play dress up and dance all day! Since the weather has changed she is even more excited to dress up and dance! Yeah!)

Embree Pictures

Embree got a camera with the money she got from her birthday. She has loved it, she is still learning to use it but she has gotten some really good shots here are some:

Kia

Our dog has been a big issue in our house in the last 2 weeks. (actually for a lot longer but nothing like these pas 2 weeks!) She has been going to obedience school and has been doing really good, we had to miss a class last week because it was time to get her spayed. Well our little crazy girl was a sweet heart so excited to go into the vet, wired I know but that is what she did. The surgery went really good and the vet came out when we went to pick her up to tell us she was the sweetest dogs he has worked with in a while which made us feel some hope. Well the first few days were wonderful, she was so calm and instead of malling Embree she would follow her and sleep where ever embree stopped. Well it came to the day that I had to leave the house and not watch her like a hawk (she is a licker and has found ways around the cone of shame) I had to leave for about 2 hours with Embree and Jace. When we got home, (we were planning on not coming home at that time we were going to go to a cheep movie but decided we needed to check on her first) Jace went into the house to get some things so we could just leave after I checked on Kia. We keep her in her kennel in the garage while we are gone, I walked in a got a happy reception from her and went to check on her I didn't see anything different but then she got out and ran outside. Jace caught her and I looked at her stomach. WOW!!! she had pulled every stitch out and he cut was wide open to see inside her. Time went so fast then, we got her immediately into the car calling the vet and anyone else to see what we needed to do. We got to the vet and luckily she hadn't eaten since noon that day they took her in and fixed her and we got her back the next morning. We thought we might get our calm dog again but no she has been wild and crazy this whole time. We thought everything was over with the drama and then wednesday we look at the wound again (she has worn the cone of shame 24/7 and has tube socks on her back feet and the feet tied together as well, a real sight) it was massively infected luckily we were able to take care of it our selves. So this has been a great adventure that I would have really enjoyed not having.

Embree and Sidney playing dress-up

These 2 are the best of friends and love to get together and play for hours. This was early in January I know I am late in getting it up but oh well. They danced for almost 2 hours straight and even while watching Little Mermaid they danced. They are destined to be great dancers!

sorry again

Well it has been a while again since my last post. Since then I have taken my last praxis and came out thinking that I just failed it, but guess what I didn't!!! YEAH!!! That was such a great blessing, not only are those tests expensive, they are a pain and if I didn't pass I was told that they wouldn't let me teach biology because I substituted so many on my biology classes for upper-division classes instead of the pre-rec classes so if I didn't pass I would have to go back to school and take the pre-rec classes in order to retake the test. So we are very glad that I passed. Now I am a certified teacher Ha ha ha ha! Wow it took a long time but it will be worth it. Now I just need a job, but I guess I need to start looking to do that and I just want a break for right now, so we will see. Other then that we have been busy playing. Jace is in school full time and works 2 jobs full time so we don't see him all that often but are cheering him on so that he can get done with school as well. Embree and I have been kayaking (thanks to a great friend!!!) several times this summer and loved it, we have played outside in sprinklers, and recently to Rigby Lake (which is awesome now it is cleaned up!) and spending lots of time between rexburg and St. Anthony libraries. We plan to go to our cabin, swim lots, go to Lagoon and just have a blast for the rest of the summer!!! This weather around here has been so wired that planning things takes alot of consideration, so we have had to compromise a lot. Well we hope all is well with everyone, we love you all!