Weekend with Emily

Ryan and I drove down to Utah on Friday to see Emily. We couldn't believe how much Emily has changed in a just two weeks! We were not able to make it down the weekend before due to various reasons, and have only had our morning and nightly updates over the phone from the nurses. The nurses at the University Hospital have been nothing but nice and so helpful. We feel so grateful to them for taking care of Emily and keeping her so comfortable and happy. I was able to nurse Emily twice this weekend, and she did so good! She latched on and totally exceeded everyone's expectations! It was so great to be able to bond with her more and hold her whenever we wanted to... which was always! We also got to see our good friends, Alan and Cristi from California and have dinner with them Friday night in Provo. We stayed with them Friday and Saturday night and had a great time like always! Proud Daddy- these pictures are from Friday night, she weighed in at 3 lbs. 15 1/2 ounces

Saturday morning- this is Emily in her new BIG girl bed! She is now able to maintain her body temperature better so she has been in a crib for about a week now. Emily is still on oxygen but it is pretty much on the lowest setting you can go, so pretty soon she will be off of everything!
  We took turns holding Emily.... it was like we were two years old again, learning how to share, as we would "fight" over who had her the longest! haha! :)A little smile. She smiled a lot when we were talking to her. She also smiled when she was getting fed through the tube the breastmilk. Emily and Dad in a deep conversation about the meaning of life. Of course Emily wasn't in the mood for such a deep topic so early in the morning so she starting teasing dad. The teasing has already started...You can see from this picture how much she has grown with my hand over her head from the picture on the side of our blog with my hand on her head. She really liked it when I lightly moved my hand back and forth over her head softly touching her. Her eyes would roll back and she would shudder almost everytime. It was really cute.Emily looking around as we continued to talk with her.This was right before I got to nurse her. We were hanging out comparing hands waiting for the breastfeeding specialist to come in. I think Emily's got MY hands.Emily is getting her first bath! It was neat how we did her bath. We wrapped her up in a towel and kept her wrapped up tight just taking out an arm or leg washing it and putting it back in the towel. Right before her bath though, we weighed her and she was 4 lbs. 3 ounces!Emily after her bath! She smelled of shampoo, had clean fluffy hair, a new outift, and a little pink bow on top to complete the cuteness!Kisses for Emy!And this is what happens when Ryan gets ahold of the camera...What a goof!I told him I was going to post those pictures on the blog. His response, "Go Ahead!" Me laughing at him. He always makes me laugh!Emily stretching
Hasn't Emily grown so much!?

Who does Emily look more alike?

A. Madisen

B. Avery

Another Year.... Younger! :)

Ryan and I just wanted to wish Ryan's Mom a very Happy Birthday!!!

August 2008


Here's mom, Tammy playing a game with Madi. She always has so much energy! Where she gets it I have no idea, but would love to find out! It seems like every year she gets younger as we all get older! She will get down and play with the girls for hours. Tammy is such a great mom and grandma! Our trip to Hogle Zoo and afterwards eating at PF Changs!

May 30, 2009

Our beautiful Mom!

We love you MOM!!!

Madi "spills the juice"

On Tuesday I went grocery shopping and bought some V8 VEGETABLE juice and I can honestly say, I have never bought nor tried the stuff before. Prior to Tuesday, I have been buying the V8 Berry V-Fusion for several weeks, which is a mixture of fruits and vegetables. Pretty good stuff. In fact, I like it so much I recommend it to those of you needing more fruits and vegetables in your diet.

So, in my zest to eat better, I have been buying V8 Berry V-Fusion but I had a dollar off coupon, (I will have to talk about coupons on another day) for the V8 VEGETABLE juice. I figured they would taste pretty similar and since I liked the V8 Berry drink, I bought the V8 vegetable juice using my sweet, dollar off coupon! Pretty clever, eh?

Well, for lunch the next day I gave both girls cups of this thick orange-red stuff with their sandwiches. I went about my business cleaning up the kitchen and doing the last of the dishes while quietly watching them to see their reaction. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Madi take a drink and immediately thought, “Yessssss!” (like Kip, from Napoleon Dynamite). I was feeling like a pretty good mom at this point, (which is rare) feeding my kids’ good healthy food.

However, a few minutes later as I was busy making my own sandwich, Madi starts whispering, almost chanting to herself. At first, I didn't know what she was saying; as it was so soft, but as I listened closer this is what I heard:

“Oh no. I am not going to drink THAT anymore.... no..... I just can't drink THAT....anymore...Oh no…"

My first thought was, that is so funny! But why is she saying that? I am sure it tastes good. Should I ask her why she is saying that or just ignore it and tell her to drink her juice anyway?

She continued to whisper these chants to herself. After about a minute or so of quietly listening to her obvious unexpected agony over this V8 drink; that just kept getting more and more intense with each chant, almost as if she was doomed for sudden despair. "I'm not going to drink THAT....Oh no."

I tried acting like everything was fine, because at that moment I notice Avery picking up her cup to take a drink. But before I get to rejoice in my sneaky pursuit to give my girls, “juice” I am robbed, because as fast as she tastes it, she puts it down even faster. She then slides her cup across the table to get IT as far away from her as possible, like IT was some contagious disease. Oh and that look! The look on her face said it all. Pure disgust.

My initial thought, It can't really be THAT bad? …..Can it?

I decided to ask Madi.

"Madi, do you like your juice?”

To which she replied, “No. I don’t want that kind of juice. It’s yucky.”

Right away, almost as if I was a prosecutor trying to convince a jury of a crime, or maybe it was just the Newman side of me coming out, I tried persuading and challenging Madi that no, this is really good juice. I used every angle in my argument; it’s good for your body. It has antioxidants. It’s healthy. It gives you one serving of vegetables a day…blah, blah, blah….

Seriously. Like I could really persuade a four year old to drink something using arguments about the great benefits of vegetables??

So I tried another approach.

“Look. Mommy, is going drink some of this yummy juice too!” (Happy Face)

I went over and opened the cupboard and grabbed myself a BIG cup to prove…well, I don’t know, that I was going to drink A LOT? I proceeded to pour myself a whole cup full of “THAT” juice. Because of course as moms, we know everything that is good for us (Heavy sarcasm). How bad could it be? I looked over at Madi and Avery to make sure they were watching their “brave” (yeah, right. That’s why I made them try it first!) mom, before I plunged into the thick, slimy, orange-red substance.

Those that know me, know that I have thrown up a couple hundred times, during each pregnancy. I HATE throwing up. Who does, really?? Yet, after drinking “THAT” I wish…no, I was dying to throw it back up! (Why is it when you don’t want to throw up- you do, and when you want to, you can’t?)

I am sure my face resembled that of Avery’s. Pure Disgust. It was Yucky, just as Madi said.

I tried to not show my sudden agony though and casually tried spitting into the sink when I thought no one was watching. I felt so bad for wanting and making my kids drink “THAT” that I immediately threw it out and replaced it with apple juice.

To sum it up best, like the priest on Nacho, “this is the worst lunch [drink] I ever had.”

Redneck Hoe-down

Friday night, Christy and I went to a fellow PA student's 29th birthday party. To commemorate this blessed event, Dan Simon (the birthday boy) decided that he wanted to go back to his roots (Canadian hillbilly) and have a good ol' time with other PA students, their spouses, and friends from his ward.

So Christy and I broke out the clothes and stuff we usually wear around the house when we think we're alone and we gave each other marker tatoos and did some fun stuff with our hair and teeth. I think my wolf t-shirt is particularly smashing, while Christy's bangs are flippin' sweet. My wife looks so hot when she flashes her gums at the camera!

Here's Birthday boy, Dan, sporting a monster Dogg-the-bounty-hunter mullet and a mesh football jersey with hiking boots and tight levi shorts. It was a beautiful sight, let me tell you. He was born to have a mullet.

The others that came looked just as stunning with their tatoos, bruises, flannel, wife-beaters, car t-shirts, and rollers.

We played games, (Yes, that's a trailer tatoo on my neck that says "home.")

posed for pictures,

Dan Posing to show off his best feature: his mullet.

and ate lots of good finger food. (Me hanging out with Michelle Pain, a future PA. The future's looking pretty bright.)

Dan with his brothers Dave and SteveAnd Dan cranked his most beloved 80's butt rock anthems. It rocked.

All in all, this was an epic party that we will remember forever (good thing the tatoos wash off, though)

So what's going on with Emily?

In my last post about Emily, I failed to mention the results of her head ultrasound. It showed that the level 2 brain bleed was retracting or going away. Such great news, I can't believe I didn't mention it!! Also the PVL condition they thought she could develop that showed up in the second head ultrasound, is not even showing up on the third head ultrasound! There are no signs of it at all! What a miracle! For being born at 23 weeks Emily is doing great. We feel very blessed with all the progress she is making and can't wait to get her home! We know Ethan is helping her and cheering her on.

She is back on the CPAP but it is currently hooked up to the ventilator. The ventilator is on a low setting which will be weaned off in the next day or so to see if she can do all the breathing on her own. The ventilator gives her 10 breaths every minute and she makes up the rest on her own. So today they are weaning that down to 5 breaths and tomorrow they will try for the second time to see if she can do it all on her own!

Emily is now 2 months and 1 week old! She is also weighing in at a whopping 3 pounds, 2 ounces!!! She has almost tripled her weight!

Emily is still being fed through a tube every three hours and is getting 23 ml. of breast milk. I have been pumping at home every 3-5 hours and storing the milk in the freezer, till we can take it down to her on the weekends. Ryan got to hold her for Father's Day and was so excited. That was his second time holding her. We got pictures, but on a Kodak diposable flash camera, which we have to get developed. The battery on our digital camera died, (great timing, huh?) So we are in the process of ordering a new one. Sorry for no new pictures! Once she is off the CPAP, we will be able to hold her more often, but for now we only get to touch or look at her through her incubator. Also Ryan got to hear her little voice for the first time. She made a faint, barely above a whisper, cry while we were there the day before Father's day. It was a beautiful cry and so cute!

Often times when babies are born early they have problems with their eyesight. It's called, Retinopathy of prematurity or commonly known as ROP. "ROP is a potentially blinding eye disease primarily affecting premature infants weighing less than 2 pounds, 12 ounces. The disease spurs the growth of abnormal blood vessels in the eye, vessels that leak fluid and blood, and scar the nerve tissue inside the eye. This increases the risk of retinal detachment and severe vision loss in these infants, most born more than two months prematurely."

Emily has had two eye exams to see if her eyes are developing the way they should be. With the amount of oxygen being pumped into her during the last two months it can sometimes affect her eyes. There is a strong correlation between the two. So it's a fine balancing act, on maintaining the oxygen levels just right. Yet, even if oxygen levels remain steady and low, babies can develop eye problems anyway just from being born so early. They can have mild problems like wearing glasses, to severe problems like total blindness. Ryan and I feel very optimistic however, that Emily will be ok, and she will not be blind. Usually before babies even get to that point doctors can most often times prevent vision loss just by detecting and treating it early on by laser surgery or other means.

Emily may need glasses down the road, but so far the nurse practitioner/doctor is remaining positive about it too and says her eyes look pretty good for how early she was. Emily is developing a little bit of a ridge, which is a level one for ROP, and well, that whole thing in itself is complicated to even understand let alone try to explain. Sorry, but you get the idea....I hope.

Well that's the lastest news on our little miracle. We feel so blessed with the progress she is making, and we feel extremely grateful to have both of these little angels come to our family. Even though it was the hardest thing we have ever been through, we have learned and grown so much from Ethan and Emily. And we are, in so many ways, closer to the Lord and his love for us and we wouldn't trade that knowledge or experience for anything.

I wanted to say, Thank you again to everyone for being there for us. For all the cards, thoughts, messages, hugs, love, visits, flowers, donations, prayers, fasting for our family, meals, helping with the funeral, phone calls, and for your friendships. Thank you!!!

Weight Loss Goal

I got "premission" to exercise from my doctor two weeks ago. So I am really trying to get this weight off and just feel healthier all around. With Madisen and Avery the weight seemed to come off pretty quickly within a few days/weeks actually. I know, I know.... I am one of "those" girls. Well NOT anymore!! haha. This third pregnancy really got me. I think while being pregnant with Emily and Ethan I thought, "I can eat anything! Nothing will stick to me because there are two babies! It will ALL go to them." Well, I assure you that everything I ate STUCK to ME, not them. As you know the twins were only a little over two pounds together. Where did the rest of the 25 pounds go, you ask??

On my BUM.

See? Even the scale is "screaming" for Help...

I thought if I shared my weight goal to the whole world! (or at least to my peeps on my blog) it would be easier for me, (not saying you have to!) to lose this weight and get healthier. So now don't be bringing over any cupcakes, cakes, pies and especially cookies, cuz it won't be appreciated! Ok.... it will. But please don't. ;) I am making the commitment...tomorrow, or maybe Monday? haha!!! (No, really. I am serious about this. No jokes.) I need to follow through, this time. I want to do my body some good! WHOO-HOOO! So who's with me?!!! Anyone?

Hello?

.......ok. ;)

I am making this goal to lose this weight by November. I figure 4 months is a good enough time frame, to lose weight and get healthier. I know, I am being generous with myself. But if I try and do it in 1 or 2 months, I will probably fail. I just love chocolate chip cookies too much, ok?! :)

If anyone wants to do it with me, let me know!

The Latest on Emily!

I am sorry for the delay in updating you all on the "going on" around here... It's been a busy couple of weeks and I am just having a hard time writing much of anything right now to be honest. It's not that I am sad, I am doing pretty good and have tried to remain positive. Because really, that is how I feel. The Lord has really poured down an abundance of blessings on us and He really is aware of our needs and I know he loves us. It almost makes me cry half the time thinking about it. It's hard not to feel positive and happy. Yet, I think I just needed some time to myself lately and so the blogging has been at the bottom of the, "to do list".

Last Wednesday I got a ride down to Utah with my friend and neighbor, Pam, to go see Emily. Emily is now 2 pounds 13 ounces (as of yesterday.) Emily came off of the ventilator last Wednesday and it was so great to be able to be there with her. They put her on what's called a CPAP; which is a different kind of ventilation. It's called a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine which I understand was initially used by patients for treating sleep apnea at home, but is now widespread across intensive care units as a form of ventilation for infants. So going to the CPAP was a huge step. After almost 6 days on it, Emily was showing signs that she had an infection though. She stopped breathing for a time, so Monday night the nurses put her back on the ventilator. They say it's common for infants to just get tired of breathing on their own and need a little more help. And plus with signs of an infection somewhere,(which they are doing tests to find out where it's coming from) it makes it that much harder for her little body to work so hard at breathing right now. So she has been getting anti-biotics for the infection, a few IV's and a blood transfusion. She is just so tiny and needs to grow to get stronger! Yet, despite these little set-backs Emily is doing good and we still have high hopes that she will be ok and be a fun loving sweet-crazy little girl when she comes home with us!

This picture was taken June 6th the weekend before she got put on the CPAP. I got to hold her for the second time! I am so grateful for these precious moments.

I just think these pictures of her are so sweet.

Now these last two pictures are of Emily on the CPAP. I know, it's not the most flattering machine as the tubes going into her nose make her nose kind of stick up; it forces air into the nasal passageway, not to mention the tape across her nose to help hold the tubes in. And the tubes around her head are, I'm sure, most uncomfortable! But to be breathing on her own for 6 days, is a major step in the right direction! We are praying she will get over this infection soon, or whatever it is and that her little body will fully recover.

Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act

I was watching the Oprah Show today and she had a mother that lost her daughter to a online predator. The girl was 13 and was raped by a man who later went to jail, but before that happened this little girl was so depressed she killed herself. Oprah also had on her show, a young woman that had been kidnapped at the age of 13 and became a sex slave for four days by a guy she met online. If you didn't see this show and want to read about it you can go to Oprah.com. I have always been concerned about protecting kids online especially after hearing about so many kids falling prey to these monsters. One of the scariest things to me is when I see kids alone in their rooms with a computer or in a secluded area of the home with a computer online. It is even scary to me that parents give young kids cell phones with internet access. We are all entilted to our own opinion about this, but I really am passionate about protecting kids from the dangers of online predators and pornography.

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090220-tows-adam-walsh-act/2

If you would like to help with this please go to this site on Oprah (sorry I still haven't figured out how to do a link on my blog!), print off this letter, find your senator/congressman/woman address in your area, sign, and send it off. I sent it to both senators and house representative and it only took me 5 minutes!

Please protected our children!!!