December 30, 2007

• Paschall Christmas Letters...2005, 2006 and NEW 2007 ones

  As you all know, I am a dork, so in being a dork...here are my three christmas letters I have written since being a mother.  Enjoy!  Dont forget to read the posts below this one and comment when and where you will (BUT please comment- I live for them )

  The Year 2005 for Aaron Paschall’s Family

  In January, Kristen started having problems with her pregnancy.  Her right leg began to swell, making it hard to get around for her.  So on Jan. 27, Aaron drove Kristen up to Sioux Falls (an hour away) to be induced into labor.  The baby was at 35 weeks and tests had come back that while her lungs were developed enough, she too was having some health issues.  Aaron’s mom and Kristen’s parents begin their drive up to South Dakota for the birth.  On the 28^th (Kristen’s older brother John’s birthday) at 9:15 P.M.; Kivrin Elizabeth Paschall entered her parents’ life. 

  During the month of February, Kivrin had her first of a total of 5 surgeries; to unblock her bowels.  Meanwhile, her mother was rushed around the hospital getting her own tests done.  Apparently, Kristen had massive water retention (in her right leg, lungs, and around her heart).  In 24 hours, she last 20 lbs from just losing the extra water!!  Kivrin was then diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (to learn more contact Kristen).   Aaron’s dad came up for the weekend near the end of the month to see his granddaughter, who was still in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). 

  In March, Aaron and Kristen’s good friend and former roommate, Jarod, came up during his spring break to visit with them and met his goddaughter.   Kristen’s dad came back up and took his wife back, who had stayed to help out and drive Kristen up to see Kivrin, anywhere from 5-7 times a week. 

  Finally in April, after 74 days, Kivrin was released from the hospital with a central line IV in her chest as a precaution.  There were concerns about the function of her liver since she was still jaundiced after over two months.  Two weeks out, and she was back in the hospital due to a kidney inflection (and with one kidney, that’s not something you mess around with).  But thanks to the IV line, it was a few days in and then the meds could be given at home.  Once she was starting to feel better, Kivrin began to sleep through the night.  Her parents blessed her for this act of kindness on her part.

   May, brought the end of a long school year for Aaron.  He got a double ear infection during finals week- the only time in five years he went to a doctor for any illness.  It also brought Aaron’s dad back up with Nicole, her son, and Aaron and Kristen’s good friend, Kenny.  Kenny had already come up soon after the birth but wanted to come back up to see how his goddaughter was doing now that she was in the hands of her parents. 

  June brought the heat and Kristen’s dad and brother, Gene, who hasn’t seen Kristen in over two years.  Gene fell in love with his niece right away.  If he could have figured out a way to sneak her back to Colorado, he would have. 

  July, Kivrin had her final surgery to remove the IV line.  Kivrin had much improved and no one passing her by would have known she had been so ill.  Once the line was out, her parents made plans to go back to Colorado to visit family and show her off.  Kivrin was baptized on July 24^th at Kristen’s parents’ Church.     

  August- School’s back!  Besides starting school, Aaron and Kristen begin working on a show together; luckily the company didn’t mind Kivrin coming to rehearsal.  Kivrin also started rolling over and around the living room floor.  Too soon, she would be a moving baby.  The two cats looked nervous at this idea of a mobile creature. 

  September, came and went by so fast!    No crawling yet but Kivrin is working on staying sitting upright.  She also is giggling and smiling more and more.  Kristen and Aaron were spending their evenings in rehearsals.

  October brought a busy time for Aaron and Kristen, as their show went into full swing.  Kristen’s mother came out to baby-sit Kivrin while they were in techs and performances.  A good thing too, since they barely had any moments to spare for their happy babe!  Kivrin’s ability to sit upright unaided improved so much during this month!  For Halloween, Kivrin was Yoda, and all enjoyed her costume, but not as much as Kivrin enjoyed teething on her toy lightsaber! 

   In November the snow came with the cold.  Kivrin has enjoyed for several months pulling off her socks and doesn’t care about her chilly feet (don’t worry, her parents do care about cold toes).  Movement began late in the month- first Kivrin rolled into the kitchen and then started army crawling when we wouldn’t let her play in the cats’ water dish.  Now we have a mobile and determined child on our hands.  What fun! 

  As December starts, we are looking forward to this holiday season.  We have really learned a lot about ourselves, our child, and the medical world.  Aaron has started work on his next show, Story Theatre, which is his first full length play he is directing.  It opens in late March at USD. 

  We hope that the past year was a joyous one for you.  And pray that the next one is as well. 

  The Year 2006 for Aaron Paschall’s Family

  In January, we went down to Denver to have Kivrin’s first birthday party with family and friends.  It was nice seeing the family again since we hadn’t gone down for the holidays.  It was a short weekend trip.  Once we got back, Kivrin started pulling herself up to stand.  Also instead of just crawling a few feet, her range expanded to the whole house.  Aaron started his spring semester and prepared to do auditions for his first main stage show- Story Theatre.  

  For February, Aaron was real busy with rehearsals and school work.  Kivrin popped her first two teeth on the 3^rd- her front top teeth.  Normally the bottom ones come in.  Two weeks later she popped one of her bottom teeth in.  Yet it wasn’t till March that we could see anything but a toothless grin. 

  At the end of March, Aaron’s show went up and Aaron’s father, Bill and his oldest grandson, Jonathon came up for a week and to see it.  Kivrin followed her cousin everywhere.  We took both kids to the Sioux Falls Zoo and they had a great time!  Kivrin popped her 4^th and 5^th teeth during this month and now has 3 on top and 2 on bottom.   

  April, bought out the monkey in Kivrin.  She started climbing up onto the couch and other low furniture.  We also gave her her first hair cut due to her bangs always being in her face.  This month we’ve noticed that Kivrin’s cruising really took off and her crawling became too slow for her so hopefully not long till she takes her first few steps!

  For May and June, both Aaron and Kristen were hired for USD Playhouse first summer stock production.  Aaron was cast as Smudge in the musical review Forever Plaid!; Kristen was the stage manager.  They called on their siblings, Kristen’s mom, and close friend, to help baby sit Kivrin while they were busy working.   The show toured to Madison, SD and Sioux Falls, SD.  We had a blast doing the show and touring.  Though we missed Kivrin terribly.  Kivrin also decided to stand up without any help in the middle of the room while her mom was on the phone watching her do this.  Kristen was very glad she hadn’t missed this milestone and thought walking would be happening soon.   Kivrin, loving her baths and anything to do with water, discovered the public pool down the street and loved it so much her folks even bought a yard pool for her to play in.  Much pool fun was had this summer while it was hot! 

  In July, Forever Plaid closed and we made our way down to Kristen’s friend’s in Lincoln, NE for the 4^th of July.  After the 4^th, we then headed over to Denver to visit our families for a couple of weeks.   There, Kivrin discovered stairs and came up with her own way to go down them. 

  The end of August bought the return to classes for Aaron, his final semester had begun!  Other than that it was a quiet month. 

  At the start of September, Kivrin finally decided to take a few baby steps on her own!  Aaron was cast in the Vermillion Community Theatre Company’s production of The Fantastics as Bellamy, the father to the lead girl.  And was hired as a grad assistant to one of the professors, so his easy last semester was turning out to be a busy one!  The show went up in the last week of the month and Kivrin and Kristen went to their last tech.  It was a fun show.  Kivrin explored the house but did very well.    Kristen’s parents came up for half of a week and the timing couldn’t have been better as Kristen was hired as crew for a show up in Sioux Falls (Aida, touring show) and was very willing to watch their granddaughter.  They were not happy about the cold we all had and shared with Kristen’s mom. 

  October bought more walking from Kivrin, but she still preferred crawling.  Sadly, our cat number went from 2 to 1 due to Trinity showing too much aggression towards Kristen and we were not comfortable anymore with her being in the house.  She was put down on Oct. 30^th.  Penga, our remaining cat as been more hyper but remains a safe cat around Kivrin.  For Halloween Kivrin was Princess Leia minus the hair buns ‘cause she really doesn’t like hats on her head.  

  In November, our good friend Cassie came up for Thanksgiving and we took Kivrin to the Omaha Zoo and her first

  movie, Happy Feet.  She really likes dancing to music and does pretty well watching certain shows at home so we thought we try her at a movie theatre.  She did great!  Near the start of the movie there was lots of music and dancing penguins so it kept her attention.  Only during the slow middle and near the end did she get wiggly but manageable.  The movie was alright- the beginning was the best part. 

  As December rolls around, we are busy packing and Aaron is finishing up his degree.  He will graduate with a Masters in Arts: Theatre.  Our moving out day is the 14^th and I’m hoping to have these mailed out by then.   Our fathers and other family are coming up to help us move out and move us in with Aaron’s father and sister and her two sons.  Should be fun.  Kivrin has a cousin who is about six months younger than her and they will have a great time playing with each other.  I am planning on staying home to look after the kiddos while everyone else will be working. 

  This year was much calmer in comparison than last year’s, at least medical wise and for that we are thankful.  While more exciting as we watch Kivrin grow into her toddler hood. 

  Aaron and Kristen Paschall 2007 Christmas Letter

            What a year it has been!  I am not even sure where to begin.  We moved from South Dakota back to Colorado in December.  We had a lovely though busy holiday season with our families.  It was so nice to see them and also our friends as well. 

            Our wonder child decided a week before her 2^nd birthday that she could walk just like her younger cousin Logan.  So after over a YEAR of waiting for more than just 3-5 steps at a time, Kivrin is walking all the time (expect when she’s pretending to be an animal).  Now she has a shuffle run as well.  Kivrin has never been much of a talker; she started on ‘nanana’ and stayed there for the longest time.  We’ve had a lot of concern over this (mostly Kristen) but finally she started talking.  Lately, she’s been labeling all members of her family and while she doesn’t say a lot of her consonents very well, but we are all starting to understand her speech and the flow of her words.     She also using a mixture of baby sign language to help us understand her better.  She has over 60 words she says and she understands a lot more.  She enjoys singing, dancing, and generally anything to do with music.  Her singing has gotten cleared as she gains more words and sounds. 

            Over the summer, Kivrin was diagnosed with having Di George Syndrome (it has lots of names but we normally call it 22q11).  We have ruled out problems with her heart (a common problem with this syndrome) and are awaiting word back to rule out any problems with her immunity system but the doctors and us are very hopeful since if she did have any problems she would have been in the hospital more than she has been.  What this diagnosis means to us is it explains why Kiv still has the development delays and why her weight gain has lessened in the last couple of months.  Her doctors have put her on a drug to help her gain weight and since being on it in August, she has gained almost 4 lbs and still gaining.  Her current weight and height puts her at the 50% range on the growth chart- a first for Kivrin!      

         This summer, we started attending Applewood Baptist Church.  We’ve both been enjoying going to church again and felt the timing couldn’t have been more prefect for us.  We think Kiv does enjoy going to their preschool wing during service and Sunday school.  It’s a nice break for us and a good experience for her to be around other care givers.  Unfortunately, during the winter months, one of us stays home with Kiv to keep her exposure to colds down.

            Aaron has been busy with different jobs though out the year and is starting a new job as a security guard at the Denver Art Museum this month.  He was cast as Damis in Tartuffe up in Boulder, CO for November 2007.  He really enjoyed being back on the stage and acting.   He also is pursuing getting a temporary teaching license in teaching high school or middle school theatre.

            Kristen has been busy being a stay at home mom/aunt to Kivrin, and her nephews- Jonathan, 6 ½ years old and his brother Logan 2 ½ years old.  She has been to several Celtic concerts, plays (she saw the new Disney Musical- The Little Mermaid twice when it pre-showed in Denver), movies, and hung out with several friends- so she’s not feeling trapped in the house.  She has also helped with a few shows up in Fort Collins, CO and would be interested in doing more in theatre once Kivrin gets a bit older.  Kristen has really enjoyed being at home during the past few years though. 

            This year has gone by so fast it seems and we have been so blessed with what has happened during it!  We hope that your year has gone well and that the next one is better or improved. 

                                                                     Warm wishes and Love,

   

  Laters

  K

   

  Another POST below this one...please read both and comment- pretty please?

  • 11:42 pm
  • 8 Comments