Macy's Broken Arm

Monday morning we headed up to a cabin in Sundance to spend a couple of days with Ty's family. Tuesday evening, the kids were all heading to the kitchen to make Gingerbread Houses and Macy tripped over the vacuum cord that was still plugged in and fell on the wood floor. I guess everyone just thought it was another kid falling down and didn't really pay attention until she stood up and her arm was crooked. We headed down the canyon around 5:30 PM. It had snowed all day and there was 2 feet of snow on the ground. It was a pretty intense drive. Well, to make a long story short, she ended up having surgery Tuesday morning and had to stay in the hospital for 24 hours. Her Ulna broke and punctured her skin on the top of her arm and she dislocated her elbow. The surgery was a little more difficult than the surgeon had hoped, but ended up good and he expects everything to heal well. I stayed with her in the hospital all day yesterday, we got home around 8:30 PM last night. I hadn't seen Corbin for 12 hours!!! She kept throwing up at the hospital, so we were worried if she would be able to come home, but finally held her dinner down. She had to stay in the hospital for 24 hours because I guess when the bone is exposed, the risk of infection is so great they keep them on antiobiotics for 24 -48 hours. Luckily her poke hole was small enough that he wasn't too worried about infection and let us go home after 24 hours. If we had to stay 48 hours, we wouldn't be coming home until tonight, Christmas Eve! She still has to be on antiobiotics for a week. She's been amazing, no tears, no complaining the entire time. Everyone at the hospital was amazed at how brave and strong she was. Merry Christmas to us!!!!

Visiting Santa

Today was Kinsie's last performance with Manila Magic at University Mall. She has sung in the school chorus every year and loves it. This year she even talked her best friends into joining. I can't believe that next year is Jr. High!

Kinsie is on the far right. To the left of her are her best friends.So after the annual performance, it's tradition to head to the PretzelMaker for soft pretzels. Then onto see Santa.

Corbin & Santa

Macy & Santa
Brigham & Santa

Kinsie & Kamryn did not want to sit on Santa's lap. But I told them that they had to at least be in a picture with their sister and brothers.

The whole thing went surprisingly well. I was a bit concerned venturing out with 5 kids, but we all enjoyed spending the afternoon together, and the girls love to help with Corbin. It definately got me in the Christmas spirit, that is until I realized there are only 15 days til Christmas! Agh!

Chubby Baby

So, since his first day in this world, Corbin has eaten like he is starving and will never get another meal in his life. The nurses at the hospital thought it was so funny and laughed at how quickly he polished off his bottle. By the time he left the hospital he had gained 5 oz. Where most babies have actually lost weight. On Tuesday, I took him in for his 2 week check and he has gained a pound and a 1/2! My Pediatrician said that they hope for babies to be back up to their birth weight at their 2 week appointment. Look at those cheeks! Ty says that he has definitely been inducted as a member of the clean plate club! (bottle club in this case!)

Corbin Tyran Robbins

We officially decided on a name, Corbin Tyran Robbins. Fun coincidence is that his initials are CTR. Corbin is doing great, we are thoroughly enjoying him. When the girls are home, I feel like I don't even get to see him, they hold him and feed him and take care of him. It's pretty cute and pretty great! He still struggles with his tummy, but it's getting better every day. In Louisiana, he was up every night for 3 or 4 hours, just being fussy in the middle of the night. Since we've been home his fussy times tend to be no longer than a couple of hours and they haven't been in the middle of the night. So I actually feel like I'm getting some rest. Plus it helps that since he is being bottle fed, Ty likes to do at least 1 feeding each night. Plus everyone let's me sleep in, in the mornings, so I'm doing pretty well actually. It helps too that I'm being spoiled rotten by all my neighbors. We've had dinner brought in pretty much every night, with leftovers, so I'm covered for lunch too!

There's no picture with Brigham. Well, he hasn't shown a whole lot of interest, plus he threw up the other night. So we are keeping him away. I'll tell you, this whole experience has definitely been more emotionally and mentally exhausting, but it sure is nice to not be so physically exhausted. I actually came home and got my Christmas all up Friday and Saturday. The kids finished the tree decorating yesterday and we are done!

We're Home!!!!!

Nana.

Excited Aunt Cami.

Big sister Kamryn.
The whole group (except Aunt Cami who was taking the picture).

Baby and I made it home today! I'm so happy! I think we are all so happy!

Other Cell Phone Pics

More cell phone pictures. Here is baby all ready to leave the hospital in his car seat.

And baby sleeping in the hospital, man he is a cutie!

Other Kids

Ty sent me some pictures from his cell phone that are really cute. Here is Brigham sitting in front of the cougar outside Lavell Edwards Stadium. Pretty cute, eh?

We knew we would be in Louisiana for Kinsie's 12th Birthday so we started the celebrations ahead of time. This picture is from when Ty and I took her to Tepanyaki for her Birthday dinner. I can't believe she is 12! She's so excited about Young Women's. She has her first activity tomorrow night. I'm really excited for her!

Baby's First Bath

Today, I gave the baby his first bath. I also took these other cute pictures.

Today has been a really good day. He hasn't been fussy hardly at all. We also had some really great awake time. He seemed like he was recognizing my voice and kept reaching for my face. He was so wide awake and just looking around, I wished there was a way to freeze that moment in time and record it for my memory. He is so cute and I am thoroughly enjoying my time with him. I miss my other kids so much and wish I was home with Ty and them, but I also know that it seems like forever right now, but in the whole scheme of things it really isn't that long. So I am trying to enjoy each moment I have with just me and him.

PS No, he still doesn't have a name, every name we come up with doesn't seem to fit. We keep thinking it will come. It's also one of those things that Ty & I just haven't really had the time to sit down and have a heart to heart about it, but we will, eventually.

Go Cougars!!!

We might be far away, but we are still cheering for our Cougars!

New Pictures

I took these pictures tonight. He's been really a good baby so far. He eats like he's starving and it's his last meal. It's actually quite funny. The nurses all commented about it. He gulps up the whole bottle in a couple minutes flat. He's starting to slow down a little and I hope that continues because he does urp a lot of it up. (I think because he gulps it down so fast). Ty is a fast eater, so I told him he gets it from his dad. Today was a good day and we're hoping tonight is a little better than last.

New Addition to the Robbins Family

Well it's been a crazy week. Quick overview: Arrived in Shreveport around 4:00 AM on Tuesday, November 24th. Went to our hotel and slept a few hours, headed over to the hospital around 8:00 AM. Met Toccara, our sweet birthmom. Baby was born at 10:31 AM. He weighed 7 lbs 0 oz. and was 19 inches long. He has a lot of tight curly black hair. Spent all day Tuesday at the hospital, mostly with Toccara. She didn't have anyone come to stay with her and we didn't want her to be left alone, so we spent the majority of our time with her. What a sweet girl, we really grew to like her and it seemed she felt the same about us. Wednesday, November 25th (our Kinsie's 12th birthday) she signed the paperwork at noon. Ty and I were on pins and needles, but everything went really smoothly. Thursday, November 26th (Thanksgiving Day) Toccara and baby were discharged from the hospital around noon. It wasn't until that moment that I truly felt like he was ours. I started to choke up a bit as we left the hospital as I felt such gratitude and love that he was ours, but also gratitude and love for Toccara, as well as heartache for her. What an emotional experience! For those 2 days we were with Toccara, we really didn't get to hold or love on the baby, because we were always with her and we didn't want to make it harder on her than it already was. We went to our hotel with the baby (who is still unnamed! The names we were thinking of don't seem to fit!) and spent a couple of hours with him. I ran next door to Cracker Barrell and got Thanksgiving dinner to go. We enjoyed that time, but it was hard to see Ty go. So now it's just me and baby for the next week or so. Last night was tough, but today has been really good. I have enjoyed him so much and it's funny cuz I think he looks like our other kids. I've been able to Skype with my parents in Israel, so they got to see him. I also Skyped with our kids while they were at Ty's parent's home for Thanksgiving. It was really good for me to see them and I think they were happy to see the baby. We are doing well and are so grateful to everyone who has been praying for us!

Adoption Update - It's a GOOD one!

Exciting news! We got a call yesterday that the birthmom we sent our profile to a while back, called and wanted us to be her baby's family. This morning we had a conference call with her and it went really well. She is soft spoken, but is very confident in her decision. She called our agency when she was 11 weeks pregnant. She's known since the beginning that she was going to give this baby up for adoption. She is due December 4, but is scheduled to be induced Tuesday, November 24th in Shreveport, Louisiana. An interesting fact is that her first 3 kids are girls and her 4th is a boy, who was born the exact same day as our Brigham. So this little boy will fit into our family exactly where he was in her family. We are so excited, but are going a little crazy trying to figure out flights, hotels, paying the agency, and figuring out who will watch the kids while I'm gone 7-10 days. I'll miss Kinsie's 12th Birthday and Thanksgiving. Kinsie seems a little sad, but okay because of the excitement of getting a little brother. So I guess things could change if she goes into labor before she is scheduled to be induced and then there is always that chance that once the baby is born, she decides she wants to raise it herself. But for now, we are getting things in line and preparing for bringing a baby boy home in a few weeks.

Fall Break San Diego/Borrego Trip

Our kids had Fall Break last week and so we decided to go to Borrego Springs and San Diego. We had a great trip, but the best part for me was the fact that I did it! Over the past 2 years as my health declined, we never even thought about a big trip like this. We went to Disneyland with Ty's family a year and 1/2 ago and we rented one of those scooter wheelchairs for me and I crashed for a couple weeks after we got home. This time, no scooter for me, I walked and sat and came home tired for a couple of days, but wouldn't consider it crashing. So, we are so excited about this progress! (If you know anyone struggling, please get them in contact with me. This hormone therapy has truly been life saving for me!)

So we started out on Tuesday night and drove to St. George, then left Wednesday morning for the 7 hour drive to Borrego Springs. We love visiting Ty's grandparents in Borrego. When you are there you feel like you are staying at a free resort. My kids have a hard time believing Ty's grandparents can live in a place where the closest fast food restaurant is hours away and there's no Wal-mart or Target anywhere either. Unfortunately we were only able to stay for a day & 1/2. Ty's grandma was having knee replacement surgery on Friday morning. So we left BorregoThursday evening for the hour and 45 minute drive to San Diego. But it was enough time to visit Papa at his cement plant and ride in the back hoe

to do lots of swimming in Mimi & Papa's pool,

and eat at the yummy local taco shop. We had a great time! Thanks Mimi & Papa!

Then it was off to Sea World. It's been about 5 years since we went to Sea World last. Macy was 2 and got a Shamu stuffed animal, she named it Shampoo. Pretty cute. Brigham wasn't feeling great all day at Sea World, but we still had lots of fun!

Ty and the girls on Atlantis (above).
Kristen and the girls on Atlantis (below).

Watching one of the shows.

Ty & the girls on Waterfall Rapids.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Carlsbad to spend some time at the beach. The whole morning it was foggy. I was bummed because the kids don't get to see the ocean very often and we never once could see more than about 100 yards out. But the kids still had lots of fun, starting out a little nervous and cautious and by the end, I was hollering at them to not go out so far. Macy found some sea shells, Kamryn had fun burying herself in the sand, Kinsie had the most fun jumping the waves and Brigham had fun borrowing the 8 month pregnant lady in a string bikini's daughter's shovel and bucket. She highly recommended a local fish and chips place and we agreed as we enjoyed our fish or shrimp and chips. Yum!

That evening BYU was playing SDSU in San Diego. This is quite the stadium. We actually had gotten 3 seats from our brother-in-law and then bought 3 seats from a scalper (sp?) and basically just walked in, found 6 seats together and sat down. The stadium is so big, no one ever came by and told us we were in their seats.

At the end of the game, we were able to give high fives to quite a lot of the players.

All in all a very successful trip!