Lil Bit of Everything These Days

Fabulously fantastic night teaching the girls about the Avengers and the Incredible Hulk.  Daddy makes the best snuggle pillow!

 Happy 4th of July!!  Clara Grace slept thru the entire fireworks show!! 

 Oh, my gosh!  Really, you're 12 already?!

 The kid made out with several additions to his movie collection ...

 ... and an air soft gun.

 Lora cleaned up her room and in the process, set up her dollhouse.

 She was so tuckered out after the show, tho. (and this should be up higher, but I have yet to figure out how to MOVE pictures!! =/ )

 Sleeping in Daddy ... always a perfect place.

We had such a great 4th, celebrating with our neighbor-family.  The awesome food and spectacular fireworks display are always so much fun.  

Pa-Pow!!

Joshua celebrated his 12th birthday.  I will be making his "big" cake next week -- a 4-layered Avengers cake.  Pretty excited because Uncle Michael will be home to celebrate with us.  I can't believe my little guy is already12.  Time goes so dang fast!

Our sweet little girl is growing, too.  At our last weigh in, she was 5pounds, 8.9 ounces.  Just amazing.

 

No matter how old they are, the girls in this house will always love to play dress up! =)  

Tonight's blog has nothing to do with dress up.  Just thought my girls were too cute not to share.  

We had a really great day in the Larison-Clark home.  A really, really great day!

Ema finally decided it was time to get off her duff and get  her IP (instructor's permit).  We only got a little lost trying to find the DMV. =/  Have you ever seen one of those "People of Wal-Mart" videos?  That's what the waiting room was like.  There was not enough anti-bacterial gel in Ema's purse to make me feel safe.  Em is usually a pretty cool cucumber.  This was not one of those times.  I thought she was going to break my van key she was fiddling with it so much!  Her poor cheeks were flaming red.  Of course, a good mom would have been offering words of encouragement.  I'm an evil mom.  I told her she better pass because I was never sitting with these crazy people again!  I also told her I would not feed her lunch if she didn't pass.  Good motivation, right?!  She is now the proud holder of a Kansas issued IP.  Farm permit to follow, fingers crossed.  See, my motivation worked! ;o)

Clara is still working on gaining weight.  We're making three weekly trips; two local & one to Topeka.  I am excited to share that our sweet Clara Grace has entered the world of a five-pounder!!  She weighed in today at 5pounds, 1.8ounces.  It has been so amazing watching her change.  She still isn't a "chubby" baby, but she's definitely starting to fill out.

Oh, yeah!  Mouth is on the mend.  All of my stitches fell out ahead of schedule; which totally freaked me out as I found them.  Swelling and bruising is almost all gone.  My lower jaw is still a little green and the inside is really nasty, but the DR said things look good and I'm healing nicely.  One more follow up in two weeks.  I must say, living life on ice cream and cookie dough hasn't been all that bad. =)

Just a little ouchie

On Wednesday, 20 June, I had surgery.  I had an AVM, arteriovenous malformation, that needed to be removed. (lots of stuff on Google)  This is the second time I have had to have this surgery.  The first time was almost 12 years ago and pretty traumatic.  To say I was scared, this time around, would be a total understatement.  However, I was putting faith in the fact that 1) I was dealing with American doctors, not German; 2)  The AVM was much smaller this time around; and 3) I had a new baby (and four other fabulous bigger babies) that needed me.  I didn't have the luxury of wimping out.

Surgery went well, according to the report Dr. Lane gave my mom.  There was a lot of scar tissue that came out with the AVM.  (glad I didn't have to see it)  They had to cut pretty far into my cheek in order to get to the "root" and tie things off.  Now, on to recovery.

My face is crazy swollen and tender everywhere.  The soft tissues in my mouth are also swollen.    I'm icing a lot for this first day and trying really, really hard to NOT take the pain meds -- something about needing to be coherent at home.  I resemble a boxer who lost a fight.  Sexy, right? =)

So now that I have made it through my first night of not being able to bend over to talk to sweet Clara Grace in her bed ... and not passing out when she bonked me with that little head of hers while we burped ... I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed the healing goes quickly.

Clara Grace

Since I'm still just playing with the whole concept of blogging, I'm going to to move quickly over the last few weeks! =)  


We welcomed an amazing little girl, Clara Grace Larison, into the world 11 May, 2012.  She blessed us weighing only 3 pounds 8 ounces and was just 16 inches long.  We spent 14 very long days in the NICU where our sweet girl continued to impress the doctors and nurses with her strong will and fighting spirit.  

Just a little over five weeks later, she weighs 4 pounds 8.8 ounces and is 18.5 inches long!  She is doing fantastic and is still just as spunky as she was in the hospital.  She was quite the hungry girl tonight and after her first 60mL bottle (about 2 ounces) she took another 20mL ... then 25mL ... and another 25mL for a total of over 4 ounces!  Not sure where she found room in her little belly. 


The brother and sisters are all completely in love with our girl.  She completes our family in a way none of us ever imagined possible. 

the life that is us ...

Mom always said, "Jen, it's supposed to be easy. If you're trying this hard, it's not the right thing." I never did understand what she was talking about ... until now.

I wake up more in love with Jason than I was when I fell asleep -- and if that isn't the most fantastic feeling, I don't know what is!! We giggle ... we tease ... we belly laugh. I never knew I could experience this kind of happiness. How did I get to be so lucky?