Stress Reliever

We dressed up for all of 20 minutes to celebrate Pioneer Day. But the girls thought it was fun. We took Mom to the zoo and found a new place where we could feed the Lorakeets. The girls thought it was fun and wanted to hold them like the baby chickens at Peters brothers house. The birds thought Moms hair was the perfect perch. Marie kept reaching for all the birds in the tree but never saw the ones a foot away from her. Thanks for coming to help and entertain us Mom. I love you. Peter is about the same as he was when we left Missouri. He is going to physical therapy 3 times a week and will see a neurosurgeon soon. So hopefully things will start to improve more quickly.

Easton's Blessing

Sherry found James' blessing outfit for Easton to wear.  It fits him really well, it's just funny for our fourth son to get the outfit instead of the first.  We sure are glad to pass it on though.  James, Grandpa Bird, Uncle Isaac, President Turner, and a friend Bro. Nichols were in the circle.  It was a very special blessing.
This makes me think of the song "Fathers Are So Special . . . with a very special love."

Easton is our biggest baby which is probably a good thing.  With his crazy, rowdy, older siblings he will have to hold his own.  It's neat to see how similar each baby is and yet how different.  Each spirit is so special and individual, but as far as looks, they've all got MCKAY stamped in their genes.

It is such an amazing blessing to have a family.  Knowing we are sealed for eternity makes every day more full of joy.  We love you! 

A CAST!!

Those stinking monkeybars!!  We must have forgotten to feed Addie her banana because she wasn't very monkey like.  She fell on her wrist on Sat.  It wasn't feeling any better on Tues. so we took her in.  It was a small crunched area on the outside of her wrist.  That was 2 weeks ago.  All they had was white casts, a little disappointing for Addie.  So her artist mother used it like a canvas.  She loves it and is excited to show it to everyone.  She let her family and some of her friends sign the back.  Today she went to get it checked with James and came home with just a little brace.  The doc said it was healed enough to let her swim and that way she wouldn't miss out on too much summer.  I think that was the easiest and shortest cast and am thankful for a healthy happy family.  She said "Now she has something fun for show and tell next school year."

Hospital Peter

You can get a photo play-by-play of the water baseball game on Peter's sister Katie's blog at http://deargoodness.blogspot.com She got a shot of Peter on the ground just after the fall. These pictures were taken after the first couple days. You can see how much Lily had been missing and worried about her Daddy. You can just see the facial slackness and eye problems in these pics.
His blood thinness is finally in the correct range. It just needs to stay there and he will be able to be released. I can't wait to get back to my own house, but I am so glad this happened by his family instead of in Kentucky.

We made it back from vacation in colorado. We had a great time. The highlight was floating down the Arkansas River. We found a rafting company that would take Bowen even though he is only 4 (they said the youngest age was 5), but since he wasn't scared of water and fit in the life jacket they took us. We did a 14 mile float over a lot of rapids. At one point Bowen - who was dressed as a giant banana in his yellow wet suit- said "Now this is what I call white water rafting, let's get this show on the road!". He said this as we were going through the 'shark tooth' rapids, it was so rough our paddles would not reach the water! Brendan and Brice had a blast too. Brice had a wet suit on too and looked like a skinny little walking stick - he was funny.

We had lots of fun and are now dreading going back to work.

Easton Arwell McKay

Yippee!  He's here!!!         8lbs. 6oz.     20 in.     A healthy, happy baby.

Easton was breach when I went to my last appointment.  He had been head down and dropped for over a week.  So it was a surprise to us all that he decided to be a gymnist and flip around.  The doctor sent me right over to labor and delivery for an ultrasound to confirm his position and an attempt to turn him.  The turning attempt was put off a few times for other mothers who were in more emergency situations.  By the time we were ready to try I was in labor.  The turning didn't go well when there was only 4 minutes between contractions.  Blood pressure and heart beat dropped so we headed to a c-section.  All went well, it just wasn't what I was planning on.  I had to be doubly dosed with the epidural to be numb which made the next day or two miserable.  That stuff just stays in my system and I couldn't get out of bed for what seemed like forever.  Thankfully much better today so I can enjoy being a mommy again!

Broken Lily

This is Lily in the recovery room right after surgery. Her hair was a huge rat nest after several days of sweaty fevers and laying on her back. Peter was her constant companion. He snuggled and consoled her, carried her to the potty and combed all the tangles out without any pain. Such a good daddy.

Coming home from the hospital the first time, with still a broken arm, Lily lay in my lap on the floor. She was wearing a diaper and told me she needed to go potty. Since we were still 10 min from home and she was in lots of pain I told her to go in her diaper. The next thing I knew I was feeling awfully warm. I was sure that everything would be soaked. But when we got out of the car Lily and the floor were dry the only thing wet was my bum and Lily's diaper was a little damp. Peter is certain that I just peed my pants and blamed it on Lily.

This is her home from the hospital still broken. She was in lots of pain and was very sleepy.



This is Lily in the hospital bed after a very long night in 2 ER's waiting for some kind of results. Her arm is in a plaster splint wrapped in ace wrap. The other hand has an IV and the board is just keeping it secure.

Lily 3 days after surgery was feeling much like herself and getting rather wiggly. I am very surprised how fast after the surgery and the pain was under control she was back to normal. She was very brave and so sweet during this whole process. I wish she had not gone through any of the ER ordeals but we did get a very good surgeon and her arm is now on the mend.

This was Lily painting her bird house 2 days before the accident. Hopefully after all the long weeks of casts and trauma this cute little arm will be seen again.

Lily broke 2 pieces off the end of the humorous bone in her right elbow. This caused the radius and ulna to detach and separate the whole joint. Because of so much manipulation in the ER the broken pieces had rotated making a difficult surgery even harder. The surgeon was able to find the broken pieces by using live xray and a 2 inch incision over the joint. The pieces were put back on and the whole joint was put back together and held in place with 2 pins. She is now in a partial cast wrapped with ace bandage wrap that she is to wear for 4 weeks. She will then go back to the hospital (as long as all looks well) and be put to sleep again to remove the pins and stitches. Then they will tell us what to expect after that. It has defiantly been an eventful month.