Catch Up!

Life has been busy lately, and I am feeling the full effects of my first trimester. S o it has been a while since I posted! I'm strting to feel human again, though, so hopefully I can stay on top of my blog!

So in the past two weeks we have had: Hope Kids Christmas Party, Book Club, Adam's Birthday, visit to Grandma's, CHRISTMAS, Swallow Study, Synagis injection, and yucky colds!

The Christmas Party was great, the kids had a blast. I was exhausted, though! It was the day of the marathon Dr. appointments, so I was shot by the time we got there. They had pizza, drinks, hot cocoa, veggie trays, cake, and snacks (perfect for kids). Santa was there, and a magician was walking around doing tricks. The highlight (for Jonathan at least!) was "Marcus the Funny Man". He was a comedian (very little kid humor) that put on a great show for the kids. Jon couldn't stop laughing, he was practically rolling on the floor! All of the tables had different crafts set up for the kids to do, which Taylor loved. Upstairs, there was a photographer taking family portraits, and there was abother room full of toys for each hopekid to pickout and take home. It was a great night, but I was pooped!

I hosted book club this month, and we did a craft night instead of a book. It was great hanging out with the girls and making little fabric flowers. We played a little too long, though! I didn't get to bed until 2 am; it took a week for me to recover from it!

Adam's birthday was great; it was nice having time for just the two of us, and we took full advantage. We saw "TRON", went out to dinner, and saw "Christams Carol" at Hale Center Theater. Fun night, and I enjoyed getting a full nights sleep!

Asher had his Swallow Study done last Tuesday. It turns out Asher aspirates everytime he drinks his bottle. Beautiful! The speech pathologist was amazed that he has never had pneumonia with how much he is taking into his lungs. So, now we are thickening his bottles with simplythick (of course Primary Childrens is the only place that carries it!). I can tell it his helping, he doesn't spit up anymore, but he is still a noisy little guy. We'll see how it goes.

Christmas Eve we made toffee and took it to our neighbors. Then Tay had some fun taking pictures of us:

Later that night we had a surprise visit from Santa and Mrs. Clause (AKA Grandma and Grandpa James). The kids loved it. This was the only shot where John wasn't staring at him!

Christmas was great. I woke up at 5:30 am with Asher, and couldn't fall asleep because I was waiting for the kids to wake up. They finally did at 7 am, and they were so excited to see what Sant brought them!

Jon loves his bat cave!

And matchbox cars, of course, among other things.

Taylor got lots of games to play

And a build a bear set, Rapunzel, her horse, and more.

Asher has been a busy boy lately. He is crawling everywhere, and has now started trying to climb! He also pulls himself to sitting. He experienced the joy of synagis injections this week, and Taylor finally got her flu shot. Jon has been fighting a nasty cold, which he is starting to get over. But now Ash and I are getting it. Yuck.

Adam has been busy at work, and has been snowboarding 2-3 times a week.

Alright, time to help Ash. He is not enjoying being sick!

Cardiologist Appointment and Life Lately

Wow, things have been busy around here. Nothing new, really! First things first, Asher had a sedated echocardiogram yesterday. He had to start fasting at 8am (uuggh) for a 1:30 pm appointment. So, I was up at 7:30, got Taylor off to school, woke up Ash and fed him, got Jon ready for pre-school (Adam dropped him off and the went snowboarding. Lucky!), then I got ready and headed off to my appointment with my nurse-midwife.

After driving 30 minutes up to the U of U for my 10:20 appointment, I endured the pleasure of waiting 45 minutes with a hungry baby for my midwife, who was running late (of course!). And then the joy of a prenatal appointment with a 7 month old baby who just wants to crawl around and can't because the floor is super gross. Fun! Next up blood work, and then lunch. (It is now 12:15pm). Then, up to Primary for Ash's appointment. Chest xray was first up for him. Then we saw the cardiology nurse, then a gal from sedation came and talked to us. Then the waiting game began for the IV team to come and give Ash an IV. Not sure how long I waited for them, but Ash fell asleep in the meantime, and our 2:30 echo didn't start until after 3!

It took awhile to get Ash fully sedated. But he recovered really quickly! On the way to the recovery room, he was already rolling over in his crib. He downed a couple of bottles and then they let us go. But not home yet! Next we had to see his cardiologist to go over the echo. Everything looked great. Yay! There is a leak from his pulmonary valve (which is the one they placed in his last surgery, he wasn't born with one). However, his Dr. says that is typical with this type of surgery. His blood flow and heart function are great. It was so wonderful to see his oxygen saturation at 99%! Next he will do an MRI in 4-6 months. Dr. P is worried that there may be some narrowing of his branch pulmonary arteries, but the echo doesn't show that area, and an MRI would.

Asher also is going to have a swallow study done next week. Anyone who has been around Ash knows he is a very noisy breather, and it is much worse when he eats. And the spit up! So, his cardiologist thinks he could have some reflux or regurgitation going on, or a problem with his vocal chords. A swallow study should show exactly what is going on. It will be nice to get some answers! He is one noisy guy!

My midwife thinks I might be closer to 8 weeks pregnant rather than 10 weeks, which is alright with me! The further apart these two are, the better. So, I get to go for an ultrasound on the 4th of January, so we can figure out how far along I am. I feel like I'm living in Dr's offices! SO, that's the news for our family medically lately. Otherwise we've been having lots of fun!

Adam and I took Taylor to the Forgotten Carols on the 6th. She loved it! When one of the main vocalists sang his first song, Taylor said to me "Mom, he was born to sing...and so was I!". Really cute. She followed the story really well. After we left, she said she felt like Jesus was sitting next to her. Sweet.

Wednesday the 8th Taylor had her last day of Creative Dance. It was cute to see all of the little girls prance around. Right after class, we met Daddy for some Chinese food, and then went to a special performance of Mountain West Ballets "Nutcracker". It was their final dress rehearsal, and they let HopeKids Families come as their special guest. We were able to take pictures with some of the dancers at intermission, which Taylor loved.

Finally finished up Christmas decorating! Here is the paper wreath I made.

Here is our tree. You can't see it very well (miss my nice camera!), but there is a cute paper chain on it that Tay and I made a couple years ago.

Here is the railing in the entryway.

Stockings on the back of our chairs at the dining table. Our house is overrun with stockings! My sister in law gave us personalized ones for Christmas one year. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get these cute ones again, so the day after Christmas and bought some that kind of coordinated. But I wasn't thrilled with them, so then I went to Pottery Barn and bought more of the same ones (they were on sale!). Plus I already had some mismatched ones I collected over the years. So, now I have over 18 stockings! A bit much, I think.

You might think this outside my house. No, this is my fireplace in my dining room (love homes built in 1970!). After getting tired of the kids playing with my nice Nativity set, I decided to set it up in the little nooks on the fireplace. Now the kids can't touch it!

Anyway, that is us lately. Friday the kids are sleeping over at Grandma Cheryl's, and Adam and I get to have a night on the town for his birthday. Woo Hoo!

Elves!

I have a working camera now, but it's not my nice one. I haven't made it to the repair shop yet, so I'm just using a little point and shoot that I have. So don't judge the quality of my pics! We've been a bit busy the past couple of days. We had our church Christmas party last night. It was a lot of fun, and I ate a lot of good (but fattening!) food.

A startled Asher at the party. He was up waaay past his bedtime.

The kids at our church, being read a story. The kids really liked it! It was the calmest they were all night, otherwise they were all running around like wild little monkeys!

Asher nibbling on his crackers with Daddy. As long as Ash has a cracker, bottle, hand, toy in his mouth, he is a happy camper.

Today I took the kids to see Santa at Adam's work. It sure beats the mall! No line, easy to park, and you can take your own pictures without being hassled!

Jon was so excited when he saw Santa he went running straight for him! he can hardly contain himself here.

The kiddos. Tay told Santa she wants a puppy and a barbie. Fat chance on the puppy, but I think Santa can manage a barbie. Jon told Santa he wants a talking monster truck. He is consistent in his request, it is all I've heard about for a month! But at $50 (!!!) dollars, it is not likely. Hopefully he'll be happy with a firetruck!

After seeing Santa, we decided we should go visit his elves! Gardner Village has elves set up all throughout all of the shops, so we went to visit. At only (!) 40 degrees out, it was one of the better days all week to do it.

The kids loved running around spotting the elves. Ash is chewing on yet another cracker!

Taylor posing!

They set up an empty shop with a cute little elf scene inside. The elves inside were getting all of the toys ready to be sent out.

This elf is checking the naughty and nice list.

Taylor helping the elves hang lights. We haven't gotten ours up yet- All the snow took us by surprise!

This is a barber elf in the background, giving another elf a haircut.

Elves on a cute old carriage. I think I broke some rules letting the kids sit on it!

Elf musicians

Camping elves!

Elves selling Christmas trees

My monkeys!

An elf gingerbread house

The kids wished it was real cocoa

This one drew a crowd. The elves were animated, skating on the ice.

Elves playing on the chairs.

It was a fun day, but I'm exhausted after all of it. The fatigue part of pregnancy has kicked in! We came home, ate dinner, and the kids watch Rudolph while I straightened up the house. Now they are all in bed, and I get a little quiet time before Adam comes home. Yay!

Busy Times

Here is one of my latest pics of Jon- pre camera-death

Holy cow, it has been a long time since I last posted. Sorry! Life has been super busy around here. We had a great thanksgiving, and absolutely stuffed ourselves. I made some stellar mashed potatoes, I must say. Unfortunately, I over planned (what, 36 people wont eat 20 lbs of potatoes?) and brought home a crock pot full of them. We are officially sick of potatoes at my house. I finally used up the last of it last night; I got creative and turned it into potato cheese soup. Yummy!

While at my sister-in-law's house, Adam decided to get his back waxed. Yes, you read that right. My niece is just finishing beauty school, so Adam had her do it that night, while everyone was still there! Oh well. Now he knows how pleasant waxing is. Taylor also got her hair cut into a super cute bob. However, my camera decided to die on me, so I don't have any pics of it. But it is absolutely adorable. She wasn't so thrilled. That night, she woke up at 6 am, crying. When I asked her what was wrong, she said she was upset because we didn't ask how she wanted her hair, I just did what I wanted, and it was too short. Sad! I spent the whole next day convincing her how cute it was, and how it shows off her pretty face more. Now she thinks she needs all new clothes to go with her new hair!

We are getting into the Christmas spirit around here. I did all of my Christmas shopping in one day! Whew! The kids and I had fun the day before thanksgiving listening to carols and putting up the tree. I have the house partially decorated- I need to put the finishing touches on the garlands. I also got very ambitious one day, and made a cut wreath out of an old book. Very pottery barn-ish, though I jazzed mine up with glitter on the edges and a huge bow, to give more of a Holiday look. Once I get my camera working, I'll take some pics. Oh, and one night I put together a gingerbread house with the kids. It was almost a disaster, While we were decorating it the roof started sliding and one wall started caving in. But some emergency surgery saved it, and now almost all of the candy has already been eaten off of it!

Taylor is doing well in school and creative dance, though her class is almost done. Jon is thriving at pre-school. We have a busy Christmas season planned; Church Christmas party, Forgotten Carols, Nutcracker, Hopekids Christmas Party, Book Club, Hopekids Movie Day, Miracle on Third and Main (a play), not to mention Adam's Birthday and Christmas itself, plus doctor appointments (for Asher and myself) mixed in. Yikes! I better not lose my calendar!

Asher started his Synagis injections this week. It is a vaccine for RSV. He gets one shot in each leg, every month, for the next 5 months. Poor guy, as soon as I took off his clothes at the pediatricians, he knew something was up and started crying. But he is a trooper, and didn't cry too much after. Hopefully we can stay illness free this winter!

That's all for now. I have a quilt I need to get to. You should see my sewing table- it is an absolute mess of unfinished projects! What a joke. I'll post pics of life as soon as I get a functioning camera!

P.S. Jon is officially potty trained! Woo Hoo!