Sunday, September 23, 2007

Kristi & John's visit








A perfect day! We met for 3 minutes in an elevator at the CHARGE conference and I tried my best to keep the doors open, travel up and down the elevator with them for a bit to get to know them better, so inspired was I by Kristi's post pregnancy bloom from Preston, born a week after Reu and her ability to be already back at work, oh, and with a lovely 4 year old daughter named Gracie with CHARGE to boot.

Visiting from north of Sacramento for a wedding in Santa Monica, Kristi & John devoted their Sunday morning when they really should've been nursing a hangover post a friend's wedding, in bed! Especially with the green light afforded to them away from the kids for the weekend.

After 10 weeks in the PICU, we finally dressed Reu for the occasion of their visit in the outfit from my brother Joe & Amanda, except with the back fastening outfit turned round for ease of access to the wires and feeding (g)tube.

Thank you, Kristi & John for sharing your precious couples time with us, for Reu's beautiful rabbit blankie & toy and for sharing your experiences with us. I'm not sure though that we'll take your advice of putting the Gtube vent in your mouth as a way to move Reu more easily, after hearing how the contents accidentally tilted back into your throat
You made us laugh, you astounded us with your challenges overcome. So glad we had time together today. You've been a great support on this blog and on the phone when things of late have been pretty bleak. Sorry for making you so late you had only a minute to spare in catching your flight back. I said don't trust me with times!

We had great plans too for the afternoon after they left, but full with such happiness from their visit, the great excitement at sharing Reuben with them and the energy emanating from shared journeys, we wanted nothing more than to spend the day with Reu. There was no longer any need to charge our batteries in the mountains as planned.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

how great to meet them would u pls give a trach update bout how the op goes plssssssssssssss i need need that lol

skeybunny said...

Catherine,

Thanks for putting a face to Kristi's name (I've read her posts on the list-serve several times).

Reuben's in my prayers today, for an uneventful procedure.

Hugs,
Sarah, Jeremy, and Evan

Kristi said...

Catherine,
You know I am a crier... so you can only imagine the tears that flowed as I smiled while reading this post! (With the exception of you tattling on us for the g-tube story! Ha!) What an HONOR to be included in your amazing blog. I just LOVE the picture of Reuben with his bunny silky in his hands! And the one of the two of you :-).
John and I so enjoyed visiting with all three of you and only wished it could have been longer. If not for missing our own children and needing to relieve Nana and Papa from two days of no sleep(!), we would have loved to miss our flight and keep talking!
Thank you for sharing your precious time with us, for allowing us into your lives and sharing your beautiful Reu. He's just amazing... so alert, so sweet and Catherine, the way he looks at you just melts my heart! (Jason looks at you the same way!)
We look forward to many more visits and shared journeys for years to come!
With love,
Kristi and John