Timothy had his Ostamey let down surgery on October 21st.  This was the last surgery to finally make him poop like a normal boy, through his bum whole. We had to start his bowel prep on Sunday morning which included only clear liquids and miralax for a full day before his surgery to clean out his colon. This was so much easier than our past experiences since Timothy would now take a sippy cup! Go Timothy! Before we always had to check him in on Sunday and place an NG tube to get the liquids in since breast milk doesn't count as a liquid here.

He had the surgery on Monday morning, had a bowel movement the same day, which was two days ahead of schedule. I never thought I would ever be so excited to change a poppy diaper! Started to nurse again on Wed morning and then allowed to come home on Thursday afternoon.  Two days ahead of schedule, which is typical for Timothy. I guys he doesn't like the Hospital very much! Me either baby! Aaron stayed with friends of ours from church until Daniel could come pick him up after work. We are so grateful for all the support we had from our friends during this surgery! Our family has been their to help with all of our other surgeries this year but my Mom just had breast reconstruction from her battle with breast cancer several years ago so she was unable to help this go around and my sister Desna went out to help her. Our other grandparents each took precious days off and flue out to help with other surgeries. I feel like we have now really exhausted all of our help since we have needed the help of ALL OUR family, friends, neighbors and everyone else. You will never know how grateful I am for each person that was willing to take their precious time to help us!  Thank you!!
All in all it was a very smooth hospital stay until we made it home which is also typical with Timothy's recoveries. The next day after he came home he started to bite me while nursing. After several times of being bit very hard, I decided enough was enough and I guess he was weaning himself since he only wanted the sippy cup. I would pump and then giving it to him in a sippy which was fine but time consuming. Then on Sunday morning, his Birthday, he only wanted to be spoon feed. He would take baby foods or liquids on the spoon and that was all. So I spoon feed him the whole day literally! I was worried about constipation with his new incisions so I was willing to do whatever I had to do to keep him well hydrated and of course I didn't want to go back to the hospital to do that. I called my sister Lindsey who brought up the point that Timothy has done this after most of his surgeries. He just doesn't want to eat very much! She was right, there was a trend. I was also noticing him pulling at his ears and then cry so I knew he was probably getting a ear infection from not moving a lot at the hospital BUT OF COURSE it was Sunday and we would have to wait to see a doctor tomorrow. So in the mean time I worked all day to get 15 oz of fluids into him on his Birthday, while my amazing husband took care of Aaron and made an amazing lamb dinner and cute monkey birthday cake to celebrate Timothy's birth! It's ironic that his first birthday was so much like his whole year! Recovering from surgery!

On Monday morning he started taking a sippy again and after a doctor visit and some amoxicillion he was able to start taking his sippy cup more.

While Timothy was in the hospital I was able to read a book called, "Heaven Is Here" by Stephanie Nielson. This book was given to me by Amber, my sister in law. She gave it to me within a few months of Timothy's birth. I read the back cover and knew there was no way I could read this right now or maybe even ever. It would just be to sad for me and at the time it would have been.  At that time I was still morning the loss of a dream. A dream of a perfectly "normal" family with children who would all grow up and raise their own children and Daniel and I would be able to travel together and serve on many church missions together. I now know that those things will still happen but a little differently than I had thought. I can't imagine my life now without our Timothy. Timothy has brought so much depth into our family! He really is what life is all about I'm realizing and this book helped me see that clearer than I had before.

I decided to read it after Elder Holland mentioned Stephanie's story in General Conference, which was just a few weeks before Timothy's surgery. I'm so glad that Amber thought of me and I decided to read it. This book reminded me of how faith, family, love and hope can sustain us in our hardest trials! It has also encouraged me to start blogging again. After reading her story I realized that so many people want to know our family story with Timothy. I know I haven't done a good job of even telling our closest family members what we have learned in that past year.   I'm hoping I can convey that as I record our past year experiences.