New Year's Eve

Tonight's a big night!! We leave 2008 and enter 2009. This is the part where we usually exclaim, "Wow, I can't believe it's already been a whole year!"

But not this time.

2008 has been a crazy year...certainly one to be remembered...never one I want to repeat, but definitely one I will forever remember. It's hard for us to believe it's only been one year. It feels more like it's been 10 years!! There is so much that has happened.

My feelings in 2008 were: life was busy, my focus divided, my body so tired, my mind so bombarded...desperate for simplicity.

Why?

In just one year we had our mail forwarded to three different locations:

1. forwarded from our house in Indiana to Mike's parents' (December '07 to June '08)
   
2. forwarded from Mike's parents' to our apartment (June to December)
   
3. forwarded from our apartment back to Mike's parents' (December to present)
   
4. and when we move out of the Taj we will once again have our mail forwarded to that new address.

In just one year Cayman had 7 surgeries.

In just one year Mike got a new job, lost that job, and got another new job.

In just one year we owed over $15,000 in medical bills and travel expenses. God was very faithful. Our community pulled together and helped us out tremendously!! We are still deeply humbled and appreciative!! "Thank you, Thank you!!"

We have high hopes that 2009 will be a year of: fewer moves, fewer Dr. appointments, financial stability, and new friendships.

I leave you with a list of our 2008 memories:

January ~ We had moved in with Mike's parents a week before Christmas and we were still getting settled in. Mike had started his new job. We switched my medical care and made our first trip to Ann Arbor. I was 7 months pregnant.

February ~ I created this blog.

March ~ Cayman was born; had 2 surgeries; spent 3 weeks in the NICU.

April ~ We drove Cayman 1260 miles (round trip) to Duke University for a stem cell infusion. Cayman saw the Naturopath for the 1st time, and she had a shunt revision. Mike and I celebrated 4 years of marriage!

May ~ Cayman had another shunt revision. We accepted an offer on our house in Indiana.

June ~ We closed on our house. We moved into an apartment. Cayman had 2 shunt revisions. Aunt Betty passed away.

July ~ Cayman got her G-tube out. Mike started coaching middle school football with his brother.

August ~ My dog passed away. Cayman's benefit. Mike lost his job.

September ~ A trip to the Zoo.

October ~ Cayman had surgery to fix her Vascular Ring. I made my 1st breast milk donation to the milk bank (up to date: approx. a total of 4,100 ounces I've donated).

November ~ Mike had several job interviews. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

December ~ Mike started a new job. We moved into the Taj and remain searching for a place to live. Lots of Christmas celebrations with our families.

We pray for a very happy and safe New Year for you all!!

God bless,

Kristen

Welcome to the Taj

The Stamm's
formally invite you
on a tour of the duplex
A.K.A "The Taj"

The front lawn is adorned by beautiful pipes, gas pipes specifically so no smoking is allowed on this tour. The peaceful ringing sound of the pipes will send chills up your spine much like nails applied to a chalk board.

Through the front door of the duplex you immediately enter the cozy living room completely decked out with faded curtains and dusty blinds. The ceiling and wall cracks give hours of entertaining eye-ball architecture to gaze upon.Pass through the living room to enter the kitchen. Watch your step. The floor makes a gradual slope up to help trim those thunder thighs before reaching the refrigerator.If you have been desiring to work on your balancing act, the stairs up to the two bedrooms are perfect for you. Their slight forward slant are sure to strengthen your agility.
At the top of the stairs is the luxurious bathroom that is sure to accommodate at least one half of a person. The highlighted feature of the bathroom is the direct view of the front door you have while sitting on the toilet. You can rest assure if someone opens the front door you will provide entertainment for all those that are passing by.
You have your pick between two quaint bedrooms that will send you running for your warm long john's. To help you settle in, there are two dressers. To make sure you don't strain any muscles opening the drawers, they have been conveniently removed from their tracks so they just fall open effortlessly.Well, that completes our wonderful tour of the Taj. Thank you for stopping by.

***We make lots of jokes about the Taj, but on a more serious note, we are extremely grateful for this place. It's been a blessing to have a place to stay for free until we can make further arrangements for an apartment or a house. It may not feel like home but at least we are all together. Mike's new employer has been making this transition for us as easy as possible.

***The offer we put in on a house was not accepted. So our hunt continues.

***It's Mad Libs time!!! Thanks for playing! It was fun!

Uncle Tyson:

The front lawn is adorned by tremendous pipes, gas pipes specifically so no smoking is allowed on this tour. The spooky sound of the pipes will send chills up your spine much like nails applied to a chalk board.

Through the front door of the duplex you immediately enter the sexy living room completely decked out with faded curtains and dusty blinds. The ceiling and ear lobe cracks give hours of entertaining eye-ball architecture to gaze upon.

Pass through the living room to enter the kitchen. Watch your hot girls. The floor makes a gradual slope up to help trim those soft thighs before reaching the refrigerator.

If you desire to work on your balancing act, the stairs up to the two bedrooms are perfect for you. Their slight dirty slant is sure to strengthen your agility.

At the top of the stairs is the warm bathroom that is sure to accommodate at least one half of a pillow. The highlighted feature of the bathroom is the direct view of the front door you have while sitting on the life raft. You can rest assure, if someone opens the front door you will provide entertainment for all those that are passing by.

You have your pick between two ridiculous bedrooms that will send you rapping for your warm long john's. To help you settle in, there are two dressers. To make sure you don't whip any muscles opening the drawers, they have been conveniently removed from their tracks so they scream open effortlessly.

Well, that completes our sweet tour of the Taj. Thank you for stopping by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monica:

The front lawn is adorned by fuzzy pipes, gas pipes specifically so no smoking is allowed on this tour. The loopy sound of the pipes will send chills up your spine much like nails applied to a chalk board.

Through the front door of the duplex you immediately enter the yellow living room completely decked out with faded curtains and dusty blinds. The ceiling and paw cracks give hours of entertaining eye-ball architecture to gaze upon.

Pass through the living room to enter the kitchen. Watch your leaves. The floor makes a gradual slope up to help trim those yummy thighs before reaching the refrigerator.

If you desire to work on your balancing act, the stairs up to the two bedrooms are perfect for you. Their slight pretty slant is sure to strengthen your agility.

At the top of the stairs is the bright bathroom that is sure to accommodate at least one half of a cereal. The highlighted feature of the bathroom is the direct view of the front door you have while sitting on the foot stool. You can rest assure, if someone opens the front door you will provide entertainment for all those that are passing by.

You have your pick between two cold bedrooms that will send you gesturing for your warm long john's. To help you settle in, there are two dressers. To make sure you don't eat any muscles opening the drawers, they have been conveniently removed from their tracks so they wave open effortlessly.

Well, that completes our clean tour of the Taj. Thank you for stopping by.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tiffany:

The front lawn is adorned by gross pipes, gas pipes specifically so no smoking is allowed on this tour. The smelly sound of the pipes will send chills up your spine much like nails applied to a chalk board.

Through the front door of the duplex you immediately enter the used living room completely decked out with faded curtains and dusty blinds. The ceiling and hand cracks give hours of entertaining eye-ball architecture to gaze upon.

Pass through the living room to enter the kitchen. Watch your foot. The floor makes a gradual slope up to help trim those dirty thighs before reaching the refrigerator.

If you desire to work on your balancing act, the stairs up to the two bedrooms are perfect for you. Their slight clean slant is sure to strengthen your agility.

At the top of the stairs is the happy bathroom that is sure to accommodate at least one half of a baby. The highlighted feature of the bathroom is the direct view of the front door you have while sitting on the toilet. You can rest assure, if someone opens the front door you will provide entertainment for all those that are passing by.

You have your pick between two angry bedrooms that will send you running for your warm long john's. To help you settle in, there are two dressers. To make sure you don't walk any muscles opening the drawers, they have been conveniently removed from their tracks so they lift open effortlessly.

Well, that completes our red tour of the Taj. Thank you for stopping by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sherri: (I’m not sure what happened to the beginning part of your story. You finished strong though. :))

The front lawn is adorned by (adjective) pipes, gas pipes specifically so no smoking is allowed on this tour. The (adjective) sound of the pipes will send chills up your spine much like nails applied to a chalk board.

Through the front door of the duplex you immediately enter the (adjective) living room completely decked out with faded curtains and dusty blinds. The ceiling and (noun) cracks give hours of entertaining eye-ball architecture to gaze upon.

Pass through the living room to enter the kitchen. Watch your (noun). The floor makes a gradual slope up to help trim those moldy thighs before reaching the refrigerator.

If you desire to work on your balancing act, the stairs up to the two bedrooms are perfect for you. Their slight crusty slant is sure to strengthen your agility.

At the top of the stairs is the greasy bathroom that is sure to accommodate at least one half of a wire hanger. The highlighted feature of the bathroom is the direct view of the front door you have while sitting on the bucket. You can rest assure, if someone opens the front door you will provide entertainment for all those that are passing by.

You have your pick between two squeaky bedrooms that will send you tickling for your warm long john's. To help you settle in, there are two dressers. To make sure you don't pounce any muscles opening the drawers, they have been conveniently removed from their tracks so they trip open effortlessly.

Well, that completes our scratchy tour of the Taj. Thank you for stopping by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aunt Sam:

The front lawn is adorned by shiny pipes, gas pipes specifically so no smoking is allowed on this tour. The golden sound of the pipes will send chills up your spine much like nails applied to a chalk board.

Through the front door of the duplex you immediately enter the dingy living room completely decked out with faded curtains and dusty blinds. The ceiling and lamp cracks give hours of entertaining eye-ball architecture to gaze upon.

Pass through the living room to enter the kitchen. Watch your love seat. The floor makes a gradual slope up to help trim those chilly thighs before reaching the refrigerator.

If you desire to work on your balancing act, the stairs up to the two bedrooms are perfect for you. Their slight yummy slant is sure to strengthen your agility.

At the top of the stairs is the lovely bathroom that is sure to accommodate at least one half of an Uncle Tyson. The highlighted feature of the bathroom is the direct view of the front door you have while sitting on the Santa’s lap. You can rest assure, if someone opens the front door you will provide entertainment for all those that are passing by.

You have your pick between two round bedrooms that will send you yawning for your warm long john's. To help you settle in, there are two dressers. To make sure you don't laugh any muscles opening the drawers, they have been conveniently removed from their tracks so they frolic open effortlessly.

Well, that completes our speedy tour of the Taj. Thank you for stopping by.

Christmas Pictures

Our Christmas celebrations were fun! It's not over yet though. We'll be celebrating with Mike's immediate family tonight and tomorrow, and then mine on Sunday! We are quite the party animals!!

Christmas Eve (with Mike's extended side)

The Great Grandchildren

5 pounds of Dum Dum suckers!!

We had a lot of fun...here's the mess to prove it!

It's always a fun, dramatic moment getting everyone arranged for the family picture.

And then there's a silly one.

Christmas Day (with my extended side)

Cayman still likes those raw green beans.

Here's Julie demonstrating how to properly blow your nose...in the kitchen nonetheless.

It's a sour apple sucker. "How does it taste Cayman?"...

Merry Christmas

Have a Merry Christmas,

Mike, Kristen, and Cayman

Christmas Eve

The morning: Mike cooked us breakfast.

The afternoon: last minute gift wrapping.

The evening: celebrate Christmas with Mike's family.

Story hour

Remember when I wrote in this post:

I'm sure I'll have interesting stories to blog about our stay at the duplex.

Here's a story I thought I would share with you even though it reveals the dramatic side of me.

My first morning at the Taj, I woke up very early, mostly because I did not sleep well but also because I needed to pump (yep, I'm still doing that!). It was a very cold, windy day. With the wind chill it was 10 degrees below zero ("shut up Tammi...I know what you are thinking!!").

I was sitting on the love seat listening to the eerie sounds of the wind blowing in the dark outdoors. The unfamiliar sounds of the duplex echoed the creepiness of the winter storm. The lights flickered twice. I sat very still, holding my breath, hoping the power was not about to go out. I let out a sigh, relieved that the lights stopped flickering and remained on. Everything was OK.

Suddenly there was a muffled voice coming from the kitchen. I froze! Once again I held my breath and deeply concentrated on the voice. The wind continued to violently blow outside making the words spoken from the kitchen hard to detect. I could make out that it was a recording. I quickly scanned my memory of what electronics were in the kitchen. The microwave...The stove...Refrigerator. That's it! The wind quieted just enough so I could hear the recorded voice from the kitchen say...

self-destruct

My fight or flight defense completely shut down and I froze, too scared to move. I hollered for Mike, who was still asleep in bed. His foot hit each step down the stairs very heavy and with a concerned tone asked, "What's wrong?!"

I quickly explained it to him...

dark

windy

lights flickering

voice

self-destruct

Mike calmly took a deep breath in, raised his eyebrows, gave me a silly grin, and led me into the kitchen. He walked over to the edge of the counter where the telephone sat. He pulled the power cord out of the wall, plugged it back in, and said "Listen. Is this what you heard?"

I stood there for a few seconds waiting. Nothing happened.

All of a sudden the same recorded voice played...

Press the review key to set up self instructions.

Ohhh...so it was "self instructions" not "self destruction".

Hehehehehehehehehehe

Make a Snowflake

A favorite childhood memory of mine is cutting out paper snowflakes. Every winter I made like a zillion snowflakes and strung them all over my bedroom ceiling.

Imagine my delight when I found this website.

If you want to look up my snowflake the # is:

7586649

If you make a flake I would love it if you left me a comment with your flake's number so I can look yours up.

***hint: to look up a flake click on "find a flake", then copy & paste the flake number into the appropriate box and click "search". The snowflake will fall from the sky marked by a yellow arrow. Put the cursor over top the tiny white dot the arrow is pointing to and you'll be able to view the flake. Some of the snowflakes are simply amazing!!

Mad Libs

My wonderful friend Jen Owens requested a looksy of our current place of residency. I thought I would make a fun game of it first.

I have created my own Mad Libs.

Mike can't imagine that there is anyone out that has managed to live their whole life without playing a Mad Libs, but just in case there is, here's how it works:

Mad Libs is a fun party game. The object of the game is to produce a humorous story by using word substitutions.

To play, simply fill in the blanks with a word for each adlib indicated.

Leave me a comment or email me your words at:

kris_lmt@yahoo.com

by 9 a.m. December 26th.

I will put your words into my own Mad Lib Story and post it. When complete the story will be funny, crazy, ridiculous or just plain dumb. You can never tell till the story is read back. Nevertheless, this is going to be FUN!

"The Taj"

adjective...................
adjective...................
adjective...................
noun ..................
noun...................
adjective...................
adjective...................
adjective...................
noun...................
something to sit on...................
adjective...................
verb ending in "ing"...................
verb...................
verb...................
adjective...................

***We put an offer in on a house this evening. We'll see what happens.

Cayman in a Drawer

See her knees bent? She did not fit in the drawer very well so the next night we moved her into the pack-n-play.
Now she's sleeping in bed with us. The upstairs of the duplex seems to be heated by one vent and that is in the bathroom. The room was getting too cold at night for her so we put Cayman in bed with us. She has slept very comfortably. I wish I could say the same for Mommy and Daddy. Sharing a full size bed with a sprawled out baby gets difficult but it's fun!! She gets so excited when we lay her down between us.

The Taj

It's been two days and two nights living in the duplex. I am not exactly loving it.
We have learned that the duplex has a nickname. It's referred to as "The Taj", short for the Taj mahal that is. It's a joke of course. As lovely and elaborate the Taj mahal is, the duplex is equally unlovely. There are pictures of the Taj mahal hanging in every room. Someone has a good sense of humor. I'm glad the pictures are there. They make me smile.

It is difficult for me to settle in and adjust to a temporary living situation and not having my stuff easily assessable has me feeling frustrated.

The best part about living in "The Taj" is the 15 second walk it is for Mike to get to work. He has eaten lunch with us everyday.

Cayman is fully adjusted to our new place. As soon as I got her toys out she was happy and has not seemed to notice the change. Ordinarily when we are in a new place she becomes very quiet and gets a glazed over look on her face. I'm sure she was wondering what her parents were thinking the first night when we put her in a drawer to sleep. We didn't bring her crib. Yesterday evening we picked up Grandma Sue's pack-n-play and Cayman slept much better in it than the drawer.

We've been searching out our options here from house hunting to apartment renting. There's several different directions we could go. With lots of prayer and the help of our "Pro/Con" lists we hope to to decide which is the best and right choice for us.

All Over the Place

There's so many things I could write about but since I don't have a lot of time these days I'll just pick a couple....

Cayman had her last Speech Therapy appointment this week. She has taken off with eating. She gets so excited over certain foods that I can barely spoon them neatly into her mouth because she is bouncing in her high chair unable to contain her excitement. It's quite cute!!

Cayman has a new hand brace to support her thumb. You might remember this one. That one wasn't working very well for her anymore. Over time she developed a skin reaction to it. The O.T. molded this one for her now. Cayman wears it only at night. I think it looks terribly uncomfortable but Cayman doesn't seem to mind it. We're grateful for that.

I think it was nearly a month ago Cayman met with an orthopedic surgeon regarding her thumbs. If you missed the details about Cayman's thumbs you can read about it here. She had a set of X-rays done on her arms and hands. It turned up good news. The left thumb joint appears normal. The doctor that read the 1st set of x-rays when she was born thought the joint had not completely formed. The theory now is the lack of mobility in her left thumb is neurological caused from the pressure her brain was under from the hydrocephalus. The hope is through these braces and exercises she will someday gain use of her left thumb. Far as the extra bone on her right thumb, it does not seem to be causing a problem. Cayman has learned to pick up toys without that extra bump getting in her way. Removing that extra bone is an elective surgery, so it may or may not happen. For now, it's fine. The orthopedic surgeon Cayman saw is a partner to my orthopedic surgeon (Dr. Munk) I had when I broke my back when I was 12 years old.

This is Dr. Munk. I do not even begin to know how to express what a treat it was for me to see Dr. Munk and for him to meet Cayman. He is a terrific person. If he wasn't close to retiring I would have him be Cayman's doctor.

Seeing Dr. Munk that day brought back so many memories of when I was just 12 years old...

25 days in the hospital...

in a back brace for over a year...

in rehab for nearly 2 years...

I always had a strong notion that God had a purpose for it all. I envisioned that someday there would be a little girl in the hospital and I would be able to help her because of my experience. Chills came over me as the thought occured to me that perhaps that little girl is my own daughter.

It's almost poetic isn't it?

Mike's 1st Day of Work

Our apartment felt so strange with Mike gone all day. It's never stayed so clean for so long....HA, just kidding Mike.

Since the end of August Mike has been home everyday with us. I could hardly wait for him to walk through the door I missed him so much! He really enjoyed his first day. He even has his own office. I'm hoping he will allow me to add some homey touches to it. I've already been thinking about what pictures to get printed and framed for his desk.

Mike checked out the company's duplex that we are going to move into. He took a video of the place so I could see where we are going to live. Do you remember when I said small? Well think small, then think smaller than that and you have it pictured correctly! That doesn't disappointment me as much as not having a dishwasher or washer and dryer. I'll be roughing it for awhile. It does have the internet though. I'm sure I'll have interesting stories to blog about our stay at the duplex.

The Lastest

Mike starts his new job on Monday. Preferably, we would like to be moved before then but the process is taking longer than we would like. Hopefully it will not be much longer though. The 1 1/2 hour commute for Mike will be a killer and we would like to eliminate it as soon as possible. There's always so much to arrange when relocating. We had an apartment picked out but a better option was offered to us. The company owns a duplex that they offer to their new employees that are relocating. They will allow us to stay there free up to 6 months! Pretty cool huh! Mike's going to check it out on his first day at work. I think it's a very small place but "free" kind of makes up for that and it's furnished which is good and bad for us. That's bad because we will have to put all of our stuff in storage, but that's also good because we won't have to pack it up again when we move out of the duplex.

Mike's new employer is going to hire a moving company to come in, pack our stuff in boxes, load the truck, drive the truck, and unload the truck. Amazing huh?!?! I can't even fathom it!!! If I can get past the weird feeling of having other people touch my stuff and let go of some of my anal-retentive ways I think this move won't be too stressful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cayman has hit another peak in development:

• She's eating much better. She's very picky though. Right now her favorites are peaches, carrots, and fruit roll ups.
• Her hand strength and grasp precision has greatly improved. When she drops a toy she searches for it and picks it up. Her hands have finally gotten bigger where she is able to hold more toys. It was very difficult for awhile to find toys light enough and small enough for her petite hands to hold onto.
• She's tracking objects at a further distance.
• She babbles a lot!!
• And "talks" with lots of expressions in her face and eyes.
  
• She recognizes emotions. Sometimes when Mike and I are talking and we laugh, she'll start to laugh too. And most always if we look at her and smile she'll smile back.
• She gets very quiet around people she is not familiar with.
  

9 Months Old