My Hope and Stay: December 2011

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! It has been a precious Christmas season this year, filled with so many moments of happiness and truly--wonderstruck awe. It started the day after Thanksgiving, which officially is the earliest I've ever commenced decorating, but James Gerald was eager to decorate his gingerbread house, oh...pretty much since Halloween. I'm not sure why they sell gingerbread houses so early, but it was great motivation for several weeks! In early December, Santa sent one of his elves to live at our house. He was dutifully named "Wiley," and provided even more motivation since, after all, he returned to the North Pole each night to talk to Santa about the goings-on at the Murphy home. He only skipped his charge for a couple nights when Grandmom stayed in the room in which he was hiding--he didn't want to "freak her out." I don't believe any children will be reading this, so I guess I can admit that we simply forgot to help Wiley find a new spot one evening...Grandmom came to spend the night and served as a convenient and rational explanation as to why Wiley didn't move...but then he had to stay there until Grandmom left! I wish I would've requested an elf from Santa years ago when my friend Katy first told me about them...Wiley has added so many moments of pure childlike wonder.

A whole new generation of Murphy hunters has been confirmed. James took Mini bird hunting a few weeks ago and despite his caring heart for animals, JG apparently was able to separate the two entities. Genetics won out in a HUGE way. Mini was over the moon about the entire experience...so was Daddy for that matter!

James Gerald had his Christmas party at school. Another gingerbread house was painstakingly created, plus, the candy selection was much more fun this time! They sang two songs and rocked out for the parents...unfortunately my camera card filled up half way through the first of two songs, so I'm going to have to get a copy of my son doing what can only be described as heavy-metal-guitar-thrashing-legs-in-the-air jumps! Oh yeah he did. And I have no idea where he gets that from...truly.

Audrey continues to progess. It's amazing how many things changed in the week following my last post. She battled a cold for about two weeks and it thankfully avoided her lungs. She was not a happy camper and we said a lot of prayers that we could manage it successfully at home rather than necessitating a hospital stay. Audrey has begun to crawl--she's really just at the beginning stages of crawling and not actually technically crawling. She gets on all fours and bobs or manages this inch-worm motion on her tummy. I know that she knows the potential for crawling and she's trying so hard to master it. She sits, twists, gets on all fours, plops to her tummy, rolls to her back, bends to sit up and starts all over again. She's relentless in so many of her pursuits...always has been! ;-) She also is beginning to say her first words! Much to my pleasure, her favorite word is "booka-booka." I think she just likes saying it, but it is what she says for her favorite pasttime of books. She is grabbing, pushing, pulling, and making this sound that makes everyone pay notice...sort of her version of "hey!" Her hands are starting to move in a way that tells me she likely has a few new signs in the near future. Just tonight she did a lot with her hands to join in "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." ;-) She accomplishes so much week to week. Just tonight she started doing the goal that her occupational therapist set for her about a week and a half ago. That seems to be her timeline. She has therapy every week, but we alternate physical therapy and occupational therapy. At each two week mark, she tends to be mastering the goals that were set a month prior, just starting to "get" the goals that were set two weeks ago, and she leaves every appointment with a new goal to add to the list.

She has some tests on Tuesday for her GI/feeding. She'll have a swallowing test, which will tell us what consistency of food/liquid is safe for her swallow without the risk of aspiration into her lungs. The last one she had was in July and at that point, she hadn't had anything to eat/drink in four months. Needless to say, we're expecting the go-ahead for something other than "honey thick." She'll also have an "upper GI" test which will tell us at what volume her stomach might reflux. I think it gives us additional information, but I'm just not sure what that is. On Wednesday, we have a consultation with the pediatric surgeon for a G-tube. Three months ago I told her GI doctor that I believed my acceptable threshold was 6 more months of the tube in order to avoid surgery. Just recently he "guesstimated" another 6 months. Of course, that is an educated projection based on experience, but by no means a guarantee. Right now, Audrey only eats about 30 from actual food. Of her 825 calories total, she has a long way to go. She's growing and gaining weight, though! She weighed in at 20 pounds, 7 ounces last Friday! But she's having a really hard time with the NG tube. As much as we don't like the idea of surgery, we really believe that she'll do better without the NG tube...more progress, faster. And the g-tube is not permanent. That's a whole other subject, but I think it's fair to say we are going into the meeting "pro-G-tube."

The highlight of the season was our visit with Santa. Thanks to friends Janice and Gary, we were able to have a "private session" with Santa Claus. Every year since JG was born, they have invited us to their home on Christmas Eve for a special visit with Santa. They invite their grandchildren as well as the neighborhood kids. Santa brings a special "early" present for each child, we sing songs and he does magic tricks and hands out candy canes. I have to tell you, as a mom, these moments continue to make the all-time "Best Moments" list and definitely the favorite photos list! This year, they extended to us an even more precious opportunity...since Audrey really shouldn't/can't be in a group of people at this time of year, I had set out to have Kori (Audrey's nurse) work for a few hours on Christmas Eve this year. When Janice called and told us that Santa was confirmed for 30 minutes prior to everyone else's arrival, I didn't know what to say! This was the best Christmas ever! As you can imagine, JG didn't waste any time familiarizing himself to Santa this year. Audrey on the other hand, needed a little time to inspect and observe. Santa's glasses peeked her curiosity and we successfully redirected her attention to the little pompom at the end of his hat. At one point, JG was on one knee chattering Santa's ear off, and Audrey was on the other knee tugging at his head/hat. It was a priceless moment...I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so much. I love my kids <3

Santa wrote JG a letter this year and told him that he was leaving an extra present this year (Santa usually only brings one present other than little stocking stuffers) because he knew that JG had been an extremely helpful and responsible boy this year. In consideration of all the changes and challenges, JG's efforts were especially noteworthy. He wrote to JG that he would overlook sneaking the peanut butter candies over the past two weeks (Wiley told on him, but to JG's credit, he didn't steal anymore after being informed that they weren't healthy peanut butter on the inside). Santa also explained that he wasn't giving anyone in the Murphy family any rocks this year since they had all worked so hard through the changes and challenges to love each other and help each other all year long. And...despite JG's sincere request for rocks, Santa assured him that he could find some rocks in the backyard for his turtle habitat. I suppose Daddy was the only one who really lost out on that deal since JG had offered to buy his rocks from him for a quarter a piece.

My family never ceases to amaze me. We all are very grateful this holiday season for the birth of our Savior, whose life made all of these precious moments on Earth possible. We have the most sincere thanks to all of our friends and family who have supported us this past year. Thank you for your words of encouragement, helping hands, thoughtful gifts and earnest prayers. Life is good, God is good, and we have so many blessings in life that make all the challenges worthwhile.

We wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a bountiful new year! I hope you enjoy the pictures!