Aunts Uncles & Cousins – Page 2

Who needs sleep?

There’s a song by the Barenaked Ladies called “Who needs sleep?” Here’s a line from that song: “With all life has to offer, there’s so much to be enjoyed. But the pleasures of insomia are ones I can’t avoid.”

If you’ve been waiting for an update on the concert, I need to apologize. See, Patrick’s been having a hard time sleeping this week. It seems every few nights something goes wrong and wakes him up. First it was diaper rash. (When his prescription strength creams fail him, the result is massive skin breakdown that makes me want to cry just looking at it.) Then, I accidentally turned off his TPN pump and had to monitor glucose and hydration in the middle of the night. And my little happy-go-lucky optimist responds to these discomforts by trying to cheerfully play through them. So instead of being up crying, he’s up jumping and playing until I pinpoint the cause of discomfort and get him settled.

So – my good intentions of writing earlier in the week were thwarted by extreme exhaustion. And then a series of coincidences landed us in the hospital for about 36 hours.. not helping sleep, but helping to remind me not to procrastinate.

Here’s a rundown of the other events of the week.

Wednesday, Patrick had an appointment with his GI, Dr. Jackson. Patrick’s central line was a bit slow to heal this time around and was a bit weepy even 2 weeks after placement. So I asked the doctor to look just to make sure there was no infection there. Since we were looking for infection, he checked his temperature and it was 99.3. So – Patrick and I hung around for an extra couple hours in the hospital. Dr. Jackson came in and we took off his central line dressing so he could examine it up close and take a culture of any fluid that was there. It looked healthy, just healing, so I went ahead and put the dressing back on. Then we went down to the lab and had blood cultures drawn. Those cultures were all negative.

That night, I got that getting sick tickle in my throat and started to run low-grade fevers.. kind of like when you get a flu shot. Never sick, but not quite right. Since the cultures were clean, I said “Ok, he has a virus, too” and didn’t think more of it.

Friday, Brian came home early from work and since we’d all missed a lot of sleep, we all laid down for a nap. I got Patrick up to put on his afternoon TPN around 4. Only when I tried to draw ethanol out of his line, I just got air. Tried again, got air again. Finally, 3 syringes full of air later, I looked and found a hole in Patrick’s central line.

So away to the E.R. we went. They’ve implemented a new policy that sent us to the Rapid Treatment Unit (RTU) for the repair which, by the way, is WAY preferrable to the E.R. Many fewer bugs and much quicker, more attentive care. The RTU is set up to give basic medical care that takes 24 hours or less.

Well, part of any admission is to check a temperature and Patrick’s read about 100. They rechecked it rectally and it came up 99.8, so we could justify not automatically being admitted. I explained the viral symptoms, but they decided to check cultures anyway. Then they repaired the line and sent us on our way.

The next day, Patrick woke up feeling great! No fevers. So since it was memorial day weekend, we packed up and headed out to Tabiona – a small town in Eastern Utah – for a family reunion. He loved the car ride.. playing in the back seat, singing with the radio, napping, and even trying to figure out how to whistle. Had a great day with cousins, aunts and uncles.

That evening, we got home to find two messages on our answering machine. The blood cultures they’d drawn were showing a staph infection.

Now, in case you haven’t noticed this, I’ve spent a lot of time learning from infectious disease over the past year. And one thing they’ve taught me is that 1 in every 20 positive cultures is a “contaminant”.. that is, something that grew in the culture that didn’t come from the blood sample taken. And staph, although it lives on all of our skin and can get into central lines, usually isn’t one you pick up at home. It’s most often contracted in the ICU. Every positive “staph” culture Patrick has ever had has been a contaminant.

So – I called the doctor and made my case that Patrick wasn’t sick and that this was likely a contaminant. We decided to recheck the cultures on Sunday.

Well, Monday morning rolled around. For once, we were planning to be home for Brian’s day off and had a big to-do list.. And at 8 a.m. the phone rang. Sunday’s culture was positive for staph, too. Patrick’s still healthy, but we’d better go in.

So, just to be safe, that’s what we did. We got there at 9:30. Because it was a holiday, things took longer than usual.. but by early afternoon they’d drawn a new set of blood cultures and by 4:00 p.m. had started some antibiotics. Meanwhile, Patrick’s nurses got to run to try to take care of all of his basic daily needs.. a slow process when doctors have to write for them and pharmacy has to fill them before it can happen.

A quick soapbox moment. One of the most frustrating things about going into the hospital is how difficult it is to maintain the same quality of care and quality of life as at home. There are so many more steps, so many more people, and so many more lawsuit-prevention policies that it is exponentially more difficult to accomplish the same things that I do at home in the midst of daily life. In a short 36 hour stay, I think the nurses had to call the pharmacy at least 10 times about administration questions, late medications, and my ever-hated argument about whether or not they’ll let Patrick have his home TPN. (I usually lose this battle and they hang something with sugar, water and electrolytes but none of the good vitamins, minerals, and fats that he’s used to.) They started him out on a super high dose of antibiotics. (I won’t let that happen again. I’ve seen it done 3 times now with the same result and I’ll speak up next time.) And they accidentally ran his TPN at a 5% of it’s prescribed rate for the night. ( Thankfully, this only resulted in a grumpy, sleepless night as Patrick got hungrier and thirstier. They caught it in the morning and there was no other harm done.) I can’t really fault the nurses here. They work their tails off trying to get everything right within Patrick’s first 24 hours. The fact of the matter is that he’s a complex kid who has a lot of special care. For me it’s routine.. but in the hospital, it’s the exception. In fact, there are some things that require special permission every time because it doesn’t match hospital policy. Still, it’s frustrating to me to have to work so much harder to maintain the status quo. I much prefer to just do it myself at home. Ok. Getting off my soapbox now.

Yesterday morning, Dr. Jackson came on service. I ran into him at the nurse’s desk looking up info to find out why Patrick was in the hospital. We talked about the 4 sets of blood cultures that had been drawn. By then, the cultures drawn in the hospital Monday were still negative for infection. Looking back, it was looking more and more likely that we’d had two contaminants in a row. So Dr. Jackson said the words that we love him for saying so often: “I think you can do this at home. Would you like to go home?”

He helped sort out a few more questions and then set the wheels in motion for us to go home. Because they’d started Patrick on an extremely high dose of antibiotic, we had to stay till 4 to have them check his blood one more time to make sure that he’d been able to get it back out of his system. Brian got off work and up to the hospital by 5:30 p.m. and we made it home shortly after that.

Patrick will be on antibiotics for the next 2 days at least and then they’ll check cultures again to make sure that he doesn’t have a real infection. And then hopefully things can go back to our at-home normal again for a while.

Whatever happens, we’re resolved to made better use of this time at home. Procrastination isn’t really an option when you can’t tell where you’ll be hour to hour. I would hate to get the transplant call and leave my house in the condition it’s in right now.

And – I’ll be getting that blog entry about the concert up hopefully before the end of the day tomorrow.

Oh – the best news of all? With us healthy and at home, Patrick slept a blissful 11 hours last night! Which meant mom and dad got some sleep for once, too.

Mother’s Day

Patrick is feeling much, much better now. The infection has been well treated with the medicines he’s getting. He’s stable, happy, and playing. Doesn’t need monitors. Doesn’t need much attention at all, except giving his medications on time. There’s only one thing keeping us here. . .

Because this is the 2nd time in a very short time that Patrick’s had a yeast infection, they wanted to make good and sure that the bug is dead before they put a new line back in. Right now, Patrick has a good “deep line” in his leg. This means that it is in deep enough that they can draw labwork out of it and give better nutrition through it. However, it doesn’t go all the way to his heart, which means that it’s not as likely to get infected – but it’s also not really the safest for taking him home with. He’ll get a new central line on Tuesday and go home as soon as possible afterwards.

So, we spent Mother’s day in the hospital. It was a good day, though very quiet. We got to visit with both Brian’s mother and mine today. Patrick got to get all dressed up and go to church. (Best dressed patient in the hospital today, I’d bet.)

Being here has been a good opportunity for me to reflect on how grateful I am for the many different types of mothers who play a part in our lives. Mothering Patrick is not the kind of job I could do all by myself.

I’m grateful for a mother and mother-in-law who’ve been willing to step up and step in to learn how to provide Patrick’s medical care so that Brian and I can get the occasional night out or so that when I’m exhausted and at my wits end I have somewhere to turn. You may not know what a rare priviledge that is that you have given to us.

We are grateful for our mothers. You prepared us to be Patrick’s parents and you help us each day to do it. I don’t think it’s possible to count the number of prayers, meals, phone calls, visits, crazy projects, and more that you have offered for our little family.

I’m grateful for sisters and a sister-in-law who are also there to help lighten my load when I need it, to fill the fun aunt roles. They are helping to raise some spectacular children, Patrick’s cousins, and him as well.

I’m grateful this week for nurses and CNA’s who have taught me how to do this job, who’ve sat rocking Patrick in the dark so I can catch a few hours’ sleep, who listen when I need to cry or share in small, although sometimes icky, triumphs and who make my day every time we see them because of how much they love my child.

I’m grateful for Patrick’s birthmother. I have no doubt that she loves and is proud of Patrick. I am impressed by her strength. I’m grateful to his birth grandmothers who trusted in their children and loved Patrick. It’s not easy to support a son or daughter considering adoption when you know it means a grandchild will be far away. We are grateful for the love and trust and support they’ve shown in us. We also owe thanks to Patrick’s aunts who helped offer comfort when needed and still are lovingly watching over him. What a blessing it is that he was born into a family who loved him so much.

This mother’s day, thank you to all of you mothers who are there for us. You come in all shapes and sizes.. friends, neighbors, family, and more. I couldn’t do this without you.

A trip to the zoo

We took Patrick and his cousins (and their parents, and grandpa) to the zoo yesterday. The last time we were at the zoo, Patrick was far more interested in the enclosures than in the animals themselves.

This time, however, he started to take notice that there was something different there to see. In fact, in the giraffe house, he tried all he could to get me to hold him close enough to touch the giraffes. (This could be especially dangerous because one of Patrick’s favorite games is to bonk his head into things he likes).

As is often the case with Patrick, this zoo trip was a little more complicated than your average outing. Patrick’s temperature was a bit high yesterday, so I carried a thermometer around in my pocket to check it regularly.. With the children’s hospital less than 10 minutes from the zoo, we figured we’d see all we could, and then run quickly if he got into the danger zone.

On top of that, while putting Patrick into his stroller, I managed to snap the tubing for his lipids in half. Thankfully, the lipids are just his “cheeseburger”.. needed fats and calories, but optional enough that we could wait till we got home to fix it.

Thankfully, the fever hasn’t evolved into worse and the lipids were restored without incident. I’m sure Brian’s brother thinks that we always have this kind of complications whenever we go anywhere. And, I’ll admit, it happens more often to us that I’d like. But as frustrating as it may sometimes be, it really is worth all the extra work it takes to do these family things when we can.

I am thrilled that Patrick was able to enjoy the zoo. And that he picked my favorite zoo animal to try to pet.

Patrick’s 1st Birthday Party

Patrick had SUCH a good birthday! He could tell from the party preparations the night before that something good was going on. He watched me decorate his birthday cake… and then was too happy and excited to go to sleep.

He did, though, finally, and when he got up in the morning, he was again just HAPPY! It’s like he knew this was a big day.

Because Patrick’s birthday is on Halloween, we dressed up and invited guests to do the same. We chose a circus theme for the party. Patrick was dressed as a monkey. Brian was the ringmaster. I was a clown.

We spent the morning finishing things up for the party. He thought watching me hang streamers was great fun! (I used red and white streamers to create the feel of a circus tent in our living room.) About 1 we changed into costumes.. he loved my clown wig and played with it for most of the rest of the day.

Slowly the guests arrived. Because Brian and I have brothers, sisters and parents nearby, we knew there would be a lot of grown-ups… so we made all the circus activities self-serve. The adults helped the kids paint their faces and learned to make balloon animals for them. We had popcorn and animal crackers and caramel apples.

Of course, most everyone came in costume. Some carried on the circus theme… My dad came as a lion tamer, with my mom dressed as his lion. My brother was a magician.

Some of the friends and family who dressed up

Once everyone arrived, we sang Happy Birthday and Brian blew out Patrick’s candle. (Patrick was too confused about why everyone was singing and just kept watching me to see if it was OK.)

He’s not allowed sugar, so he couldn’t have cake, but he was given permission this week to have cheetos and hulless popcorn, so that’s what he munched on instead.

Daddy’s better than any boring old snack.

Then we opened presents. He got lots of new toys and some new clothes. He loved them all, but I think his favorite thing about the party was not the gifts, but the fact that all the people he loved best were there.

Patrick & “Papa”, Brian’s dad

Patrick and Grandpa, Emily’s Dad

The party wrapped up around 6. All the kids went home with hands full of balloons, balloon animals, caramel apples, and cracker jacks with faces all painted. I think everyone had a really good time!

That put us just on time for trick-or-treaters. Patrick didn’t go trick-or-treating this year… he’s too little and not allowed candy anyway. At first he liked seeing all the people who came to the door. Eventually he got tired and not too happy when people would ring the doorbell. Eventually I sat him on my lap and we read books until we were sure he was good and tired. Then, we turned off the porch light and put him in bed. He was exhausted, and so were we.We all crashed for the night.

Thanks to all who helped with Produce for Patrick

Last Saturday, friends, neighbors and family put together a produce stand in Patrick’s behalf.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all those who helped to make this event a HUGE success. Over $500 was raised in that day as generous people came to buy the fruits and veggies that had been donated. There was an amazing outpouring of generosity from loved ones and strangers alike in donations from 25 cents for a cup of lemonade to far more than the value of the fruits and veggies taken home.

Thanks to Tifanie who had this idea and spent countless hours talking to neighbors and picking fruits and veggies to make this stand a reality. Thanks to Kari, Amber, Jill, and others who gave time to help in gathering the donated harvest. Thanks especially to those who offered the surplus from their gardens and fruit trees.

Thanks to my friends and family who helped in the planning, setup, and manning of the stand, especially to Mom and Jill who’ve put so much work into pulling together our COTA campaign.

Thanks to Chris and Bella and the other kids who helped with the lemonade stand and tenaciously tried to sell a cup to anyone and everyone who arrived at the stand.

And finally thanks to those people who came out of their way to buy from our stand and to strangers who saw it driving by and stopped. We wondered going into this if anyone would stop and buy fruit from a stand that was only there for a day. We were overwhelmed by the response.

I’m hoping that some of the people who were there will share their experiences here on this blog. It was definitely a day to be remembered.

This little stand gave us hope and got us excited for what the days ahead. I can’t wait to see what other little miracles are in store.

Firsts

We’ve been a very busy little family lately. Patrick is 5 months old now. And in the time since I last posted, we’ve had a lot of firsts. So, here are some highlights.

First giggles
Patrick learned to laugh a while ago, but we didn’t get out and out chuckles until we discovered that the kid who used to scream his head off whenever he got undressed is ticklish and loves to have his clothes off. Dressing and especially weighing are now favorite games… but it’s best when daddy just picks him up without clothes on and tickles his back.

Today we learned that you can also get belly laughs if you squish his cheeks.

First fever
Well, it all started with a cold, that turned into croup. After a week and a half trying to fight it off, Patrick got his first fever. Fortunately, it didn’t go much higher than 100.4 (38 degrees Celsius) and so we were able to have blood cultures drawn at home and his fever was gone in a day. No infection, thankfully. Just a day at home with Mom holding Patrick and taking his temperature every half an hour to make sure it hadn’t hit the danger mark yet.

First necktie
My brother Steven got married at the end of March. Although we were crazy busy working on his wedding cake and pictures, I just couldn’t help taking the opportunity to make Patrick and Brian matching neckties. We bought a tie with a matching handkerchief. Patrick thought his tie was a great toy to hold and chew on.

Oh, and a disclaimer on this picture. Patrick hates bright lights of any kind and we had studio lights on. Someday we’ll get a family picture with him not crying.

First rollover
I set Patrick down and turned my back on him for just a minute. When I turned back, he was on his tummy looking up at me as if to say “Whoa, Mom! What do I do now?” So far no signs of him having any idea how he did this or how to do it again. But we’re having much more play time on the floor to encourage him.

First haircut
After weeks of trying, we finally got time to take Patrick to my Grandpa’s house for his first haircut. In my defense (for those of you who thought I should never cut it), his hair was in his eyes and under his chin. Patrick was ok with the whole haircut idea till we hit the ticklish spot behind his ears. Finally, though, he fell asleep and we were able to finish. It’s a nice short cut.. but we hope that means it can grow for a while again before it needs another cut.

First ER visit
Last Saturday night, I noticed some bleeding under the dressing for Patrick’s central line. The line had shifted and, on closer inspection, we found that it had been pulled. It didn’t pull out, but was far enough to worry us. So – we got to make our first trip to the ER.

We were probably quite the sight there because, unlike the other families, we weren’t panicked. Central line issues are just part of life with Patrick. We’ve been planning and practicing for this trip for a while.

We arrived at 10:30 p.m. and had a bit of a wait in the waiting room because we were definitely not the most urgent case there. They took some x-rays to see the position of the line and about 1 a.m. the surgeon who placed Patrick’s line came into the room. He had been called in for an emergency appendectomy, and stopped in to see Patrick while he was there. He looked at it and said that the line was in a good position and he didn’t think it needed to be replaced on an emergency basis. Instead, we were to put antibacterial ointment on it twice a day to prevent infection, which meant lots of dressing changes, and then get a second opinion on Monday.

We were amazed, but happy, and after teaching an E.R. nurse proper technique for dressing change (yes, us teaching her), we were sent home. We got home at 3:30 a.m., connected Patrick’s feeding tube, and slept in till 11:30 a.m.

First outpatient surgery
So that brings us to Monday. About a month and a half ago we started the battle of the granulation tissue. Patrick had a patch of it next to his stoma that just kept growing back, no matter what we did. We learned to use silver nitrate to treat it, but it just kept coming back. So – we decided that maybe it was doing no harm and we’d leave it as it was.

No sooner had we made that decision than I discovered that his g-tube was surrounded by granulation tissue. A visit with the nurse practitioner in the GI clinic taught me better technique for nitrate treatments and after 10 miserable days of treatments, his G-tube site was clear of it. However, the spot by his stoma was starting to make it hard to keep a bag on and his skin was getting sorer by the day. I tried my newly practiced skills, but the tissue just kept coming back

So, we called and scheduled an appointment to have it electrocauterized. This is a minor procedure, but it’s painful and so they put babies to under so they don’t have to suffer through it. The surgeon we saw in the E.R. told us to as for follow-up at our appointment on Monday. It was still looking sore and red and swollen and the surgeon didn’t like the look of it, so he decided it was best to change the central line.

This means that they took it out of one vein and put it into another one, coming out in a different place on his chest. Again, this is something we’d been warned about, so it wasn’t a complete shock. However, we were a bit nervous and, after an already long weekend, quite tired.

The surgery went well. Patrick woke up and was able to come off the ventilator in no time at all. He was, as always, a favorite with the nurses in post-op. Brian got to reconnect his TPN in post-op, which was kind of funny to do. Our nurse was fascinated with the different equipment. We got some curious looks as Brian drew up vitamins with syringes and injected them into the IV bags.

It’s a curious thing to be the old pro parents in the hospital. I often refer to myself as a “hospital mom”. We know the routine. We’re patient with the nurses, doctors, and other staff and, although we are concerned for Patrick, we are not scared or intimidated by our surroundings as we once used to be. It’s kind of odd to feel perfectly at home in a hospital… But makes all of this more bearable.

Patrick was sore and tired for a day and still whimpers if we move his not-quite-healed shoulder the wrong way… But overall he’s back to himself. As for Howie and myself, well, we’re slowly but surely catching up on our sleep and getting back to a normal routine. And preparing for the adventures ahead.

First steps to transplant
And that brings us to the last of the firsts for this entry. We have made the first steps towards transplant evaluation for Patrick. We have appointments for April 27th and 28th at Seattle Children’s Hospital to meet with the surgeon, gastrointerologist and just about anyone else who might have anything at all to do with Patrick’s transplant. Theevalution process is big, long, and very detailed. They want to make sure that Patrick needs and will benefit from a transplant, that he’s healthy enough to have one, and that his home life lends itself to as successful of a recovery as possible. This trip is the first step in that process, and we are excited to go and learn and start building relationships there.

Patrick still has a long way to grow. He’s almost halfway to the 10 kilo weight goal. (He weighs 10 lbs 11 oz.), and so we know this visit won’t end with him on a list. But it’s a start and a step in the right direction.

And so, those are the firsts we have to report for the time being. We’re looking forward to continuing to see him learn and grow. He is so good at using his hands now! And has just started to discover that he has feet. His spirit grows by leaps and bounds every day. Most of all, he amazes us with his incredible patience and optimism.

Sealing and blessing

As of 4:10 p.m. on February 13th, Patrick is officially a member of our eternal family!

We started out the weekend’s events with a little bit of humbling. Howie took the day off to help get the house ready and I was going nuts trying to take care of every little detail from ironing temple clothes to prepping food for the open house. But, a flat tire on the freeway ay 10:30 the night before we went to the temple was a good pull back into reality. Changing the tire was easy, but it revealed other bigger problems and we made it home on a prayer and half a rotor on the front passenger side. Boy did my priorities realign quickly, especially as I watched our car be taken away on a tow truck, just trusting that we’d get through the weekend all right anyway.

Howie’s family helped get the church set up for us to go the temple, and then his mom made it here just on time to watch Patrick while we got dressed to go. She drove us to the temple and we tried took a few pictures. Although it was sunny, the wind was bitter cold and Patrick was NOT happy so we didn’t stay too long.
My mom and dad met us at the temple. Mom was there to take care of Patrick in the nursery. (Including dressing him and reconnecting his IV’s). We left him there in capable hands and then went off to get dressed in white.

We met the sealer (this is the official title for the man who performs a sealing ceremony in the temple). Turns out he had been the community doctor in the town where my family grew up, so he knew my grandparents and dad, and some of my mom’s family, too.

They kept trying to start early… But my grandpa and some of my friends hadn’t made it there yet.. So we just made everyone wait. Our friend Tifanie was so excited that she couldn’t contain herself and ran over and gave me a hug… making everyone cry.

Finally everyone all of the guests had arrived and they went and got the man of the hour. My mom brought him in, dressed in a white tuxedo and wrapped in a white afghan she made just for the occasion. Brian and I knelt across the altar from each other, holding hands, and Brian’s mom brought Patrick and laid his little hand on ours. At first, he was a bit fussy, but we turned him around so his right hand would be on ours, and he caught my eye, and he settled down immediately. We watched each other’s eyes the whole time.

A sealing for a child is quite short… just a few lines said by the sealer that bind the child to his or her parents (in the eternal record) and then promise special blessings. Patrick seemed to soak up the entire experience, and then, completely content, went right to sleep as soon as it was over and I had him in my arms.

We celebrated and welcomed him into the family that evening with an open house at the church. I went smoothly (thanks in part to awesome family who helped with the food prep, set up, and clean up). There were enough people there that I couldn’t quite make it to talk to them all. Finally we wrapped up, cleaned up, and got home COMPLETELY exhausted! And with way, way, WAY too many leftovers. I think next open house I’m going with punch and cookies.

Saturday we got to recoup a bit as we visited with family, which was nice because we knew Sunday would be another big day. Patrick got to know his cousins and aunts and uncles a bit better.

Sunday morning Patrick could barely sleep. After his morning feeding, I sat in his room holding him and he just kept waking up and grinning at me. I swear he knew what was going on that day.

Because he had us up early, we were able to take our time getting ready. He spent a little time cuddled with his Daddy in the bed, and then we got him dressed and ready for church. Our ward has classes first, followed by sacrament meeting, so I went off to Primary with the children and Patrick went with Brian to his classes.

We snuck out a bit early to change Patrick into his white tux… and luck of all luck… found that his ostomy bag had started to leak. Luckily, by now Howie and I are a pretty smooth team and we were able to pull of a pretty amazing quick change in one of the classrooms and still make it to the chapel on time.

When the time came, Brian took Patrick to the front of the chapel. Brian is an Elder in our church, and his brothers, some of my brothers, our fathers, and my grandfather are also priesthood holders, and therefore could help with the ordinance. They surrounded Patrick, each with one hand holding him, and then Brian performed the blessing.

In a baby blessing, the child is given a name and then given personalized blessings. Among other things I remember from the blessing, Patrick was reminded of the love that brought him into our family – both our love and the love of his birthfamily. He blessed him with strength to face the difficult medical journey ahead. He reminded him that he was a child of miracles.

When they came back to sit beside me, Patrick was just glowing. His daddy held him and I could see the love that they had for each other. I also knew, as I looked at Patrick, that he understood all that had gone over the weekend and was happy about it. I really believe that, although he was adopted, the Lord promised He would waste no time in making sure that Patrick received these two very important ordinances.

Since then, well, I can’t quite get enough of my son. I don’t know what the future hold, though I’m sure there are rough times ahead. But I do know that I was blessed with a very special gift and a very important calling in this life when I was given the opportunity to be Patrick’s mom. And I will never forget the day he was sealed a part of our family forever.