Christmas memories!

Christmas is less than a week away and before we know it the madness will be gone. Don't get me wrong; I love everything about Christmas. I love the happy lights, the shiny presents, the anticipation factor, and the heart warming scents of the season.

As this is my sons second Christmas, we are getting closer to the times of his exciting, life long, Christmas memories in-the-making. I can remember the endless Christmas Eve nights watching the clock; time never goes as slow as it did on childhood Christmas Eves. We waited all day Christmas Eve to be able to open our traditional "one present before Christmas." That one present always made us more anxious to open the rest. My dad use to take away all of our alarm clocks so we couldn't set them for 2 am. Hee hee. Somehow Gavin always found a way to get up in the wee hours of the morning. He was always the first to riffle through the wondrous gifts Santa had left us in the living room. I remember him tip-toeing into my room and whispering, "London.... London...." as I stirred he would jump as if I were blowing our cover in a bank robber, "SSSSHHHHH! LONDON!!! Santa came. Come see!" We would tip-toe into the living room and adjust the Christmas candy that Skyler and Liberty received appropriately. Somehow Santa always left us more than he left Skyler and Liberty. After going through everything we would eventually go get our younger siblings. After about the 20th time one of us went in to our parents room to tell them one of the glorious items Santa left us, Mom and Dad would get up and let us open our gifts under the tree (one at a time, always youngest to oldest). Then Mom would make cherry crapes (Aunt Courtney's recipe). We spent most of the day in our PJ's and usually went out to Grandma Messerly's house for more presents and Christmas dinner.

Our Christmas's are a lot different now. Everyone is older and we've all kind of moved past the old traditions, but I can't help but miss them. We are all going to be back together this Christmas Eve at Gavin's home for a family Christmas party. I'm getting that excited feel all over again; I can't wait to watch my son and little niece rip into their gifts. It is time for us to make traditions for our own family. I can't wait to see the look on Kelson's face when he can see and feel the magic of Christmas. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Kelson was helping me wrap presents this morning.

He got a little tangled up.

He was not happy when I took the ribbon away.

Family Pictures!

We FINALLY got family pictures today! Here they are!

Christmas is Coming!

Snow in Saint George and Bertha!

It snowed in Saint George last night. Justin and I couldn't help but build a Snow Girl (at 10:30pm might I add). We named her "Bertha." Bertha was a little messy, covered in leaves, but she was packed, strong, and firm. :)

She sported a pink, American Eagle, hoody and a vintage broomstick.

With her stone eyes and carrot nose she was so perfect we decided that she needed a snow kitty of her own. This our friend Bertha!

Starting our own holliday cheer!

I made some Corn Flake Wreath treats for our neighbors. They were a big hit and helped to get me in the Christmas mood.

These are our stockings...

Merry Chistmas and Happy New Years to Everyone!

Love,

London, Justin, and Kelson

Kelson's Cataract Surgery Update

Getting Kelson's eye surgery has been quite the journey but we finally succeeded.

Sunday, Novemer 30th, 2008 we headed back up north, after Justin got off work, for another attempt at Kelson's cataract surgery. We got to my Grandma Brown's house in Ogden at about 10 and headed straight to bed. Bright and early Monday morning we headed back down to the Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City. We checked in at 6:30 am. Our poor boy couldn't have a bottle or anything to eat but he was such a champ. While we were waiting to get him checked out (to see if he could even get the surgery) he was rampaging the lobby; tearing magazines off side tables, jumping on and off of the chairs, and running up and down the halls as mommy and daddy fought to keep up. He had way more energy than anyone else there that early in the morning. Eventually the Doctor cleared him for surgery.. THANK HEAVENS! I was so worried that he might have another ear infection because he had had a cough the week before.

They took us back into his surgery recovery room. We changed him into the littlest hospital gown I've ever seen. The doctors and surgeons came in to explain what would be happening. Around 8 am they finally took him back. We got to walk him back to the room but couldn't go in. The hardest thing was to let him go with the doctors. I was shaking while we walked away from him and Justin had some "tough man" tears down his cheeks.

We waited.... waited.... and waited until about 10am. The surgeon finally came out to the lobby and told us we could go back and get him. When we walked back into the recovery room there were doctors everywhere and a nurse trying to hold him and give him oxygen. He was so scared, lost and confused he just screamed and screamed. The doctors were talking to us but I just wanted my baby. I held him close and tried feeding him a bottle of apple juice. It took a while for him to come out of it but he finally calmed down.

We got out of there at 11am and went back to grandma's. After a short nap he was just right back to normal. He was so happy and busy. I was amazed at how fast he got over it. Now we just have to give him eyedrops every 4 hours and an ointment at bedtime in his eye. He has a little patch to keep over his eye for a week so he doesn't scratch at it too. He was so brave and is such a big boy.

Later that night he was getting restless so we decided to go back to Salt Lake City and go to the Clark Planetarium. We walked around and played with the display's for a while. We also went to the Hansen Dome and watched a Christmas movie. Kelson loved it!

Overall, it was a successful trip but we are happy to be home now.

CLARK PLANETARIUM

Kelson's Cataract Surgery

Almost everyone is aware that Kelson was born with cataracts in his little eyes. When he was 3 months old we took him to Dr. Dries at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. Dr. Dries assured us that the little buggers weren't affecting his vision at that point and that surgery was not needed.

Around his first birthday we started noticing that it was getting harder for him to see the food on his highchair tray. I called Dr. Dries and got an appointment for October 27th. As soon as the doctor saw Kelson he said, "He is going to need surgery in the right eye for sure." My heart broke as I kept imagining some doctor cutting into my baby's eye. I started sobbing while the doctor told us that it would be ok and better in the long run.

Dr. Dries told us about our options; they could remove the cataracts and leave his original lenses but he would have to wear thick "coke bottle" glasses or contacts, the other option was that they could remove his lense and put in an implant interocular lense. The problem with the interocular lense is that there is a 50/50 chance that his eye will develop scar tissue and have to go through another surgery. However, the doctor recomended the lenses.

We talked about the options the whole way home and finally came to the decision that the doctor knows best and we will do the implants.

The surgery was scheduled for November 10th so we packed up and headed back up there. We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 am and Kelson could not have a bottle or anything to eat. While we were getting registered for surgery the Physician Assistant was checking him out and discovered an ear infection. The doctor, surgeon and anesthesiologist all thought it would compromise the surgery and didn't want to take any risks so they sent us home. It was so aggravating that we had driven clear up there for nothing but I'm glad that they are so careful.

The whole trip wasn't a waste thought, we ended up going to hogle zoo. We had so much fun. I'm sure that the other parents at the zoo thought that Justin and I were idiots because we were so excited about the appearance of Curious George, and had to take the oppurtunity to get a picture with him. We had a blast!

So now... the surgery is scheduled for December 1st. I am taking Kelson to his pediatritian next week to just check on him and make sure all is well for surgery.

We love Curious George!

Introducing the Glover-Brown Family

***INTRODUCING THE GLOVER-BROWN FAMILY***
Well hello. I'm not sure how this works. I'm pretty new to the blog scene, so I will give you a little background on our family. My name is London. I grew up all over Southern Utah (Cedar, Newcastle, and Parowan). I am a CNA and despite the exhaustion factor I absolutley love it. My family is the utmost important thing in my life. I am a very strong and determined woman. Justin is from Kanab. He works in the manufacturing industry and seems to be excelling quickly. He is an excellent father and a great provider for our family. Kelson is our little boy. He is our pride and joy. He is one year old and is ALL boy. He never EVER stops going, but he keeps life amazing. Justin and I met on the 24th of July 2007. We have been engaged since Christmas Eve 2007. We will be having a big wedding when the time is right. We have 2 kittys, Spock and Douney. We live in Saint George and are hoping to buy a house soon.

Since we're a little behind I will show you some pictures from our begining....

Justin & I.... Way Back When

October 26th, 2007 at exactly 11 am our lives changed forever. Kelson came into the world to open arms. He weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Mommy and Daddy had no ideawe could love something as much as we love Kelson.

Kelson got SO big SO fast... He still changes everyday. This is Kelson at 3 months old.

Kelson started standing up when he was 5 months old.

No matter how big he gets, he'll always be mommy's little angel boy.

He started crawling at 6 months and hasn't slowed down since.

Kelson's First Birthday

On Kelson's first birthday we had a party at Grandma Brown's house. Lots of People came to celebrate with us; Grandma Brown, Grandma and Grandpa Glover, Cousin MKinzy, Uncle Gavin, Uncle Skyler, Aunt Libby, Great-Grandma Messerly, and Katie. He was spoiled rotten and he knew that everything was all about him.

We had a potato bar for luch.

He got TONS of presents!

DID YOU SEE ALL THE STUFF I GOT DADDY?

Grandpa Brown bought his cakes... too much!!!

He liked it a little too much.

SO MESSY!!!