Kai's birth 7/8/09

Somehow we though to take a picture while I was in labor between contractions.

^Pre-baby

^ Post baby. The euphoria of a new baby! Welcome baby boy still waiting for a name!

^Meet daddy!

^SO much brighter than in mommy's belly! Look at all that hair!

^Family of 4!!

^Meet big sis Sarah!

^Happy, proud daddy! Still rested. :)

^ The child that made us want another. :)

^Chillin' in the hospital

^Proud mama :)

^ Keeping warm

^Pretty excited Sarah. Hasn't realized yet we're taking him home. :)

^ Since I got a new baby... so did Sarah. :)

^But then SHE wanted to be the baby. :) Nice.

^ Our last day we decided on Kai Edward for baby boy's name. Bye bye somewhat luxurious hospital life where we've waited on by nurses.

Heading home to brave life with 2 kids. :) One for each of us. Not outnumbered yet! Wish us luck!

7/11-22 At home

Some cute pics of our kids the first couple weeks after Kai's birth.

Sleepy boy!

^China dress and piggies.

^We're all tired around here.

^ Little chicken legs

^ Little bundle

^Their look changes so much over the first couple months.

^Since we moved from our apartment that had a pool to a house without a pool, we decided Sarah needed something. She loves it!

7/18 Sarah singin'

This is the beginnings of what we hear A LOT of. We love it! She is adorable!

Sarah's rendition of "I Am a Child of God" at 23 months.

7/24-28 Kai in NICU

Mom came in town to help out with the addition of Kai and it ended up being the perfect week! I knew something was wrong when my baby who I'd really never heard cry suddenly changed his demeanor. Kai was 16 days old when he got a fever that started at 100.6. After a couple hours of no appetite and extreme whimpering discomfort, his fever went up so I called the pediatrician who advised to take Kai to the emergency room. I DREADED the idea knowing that blood work, urine samples, x-rays and a spinal tap would be the minimum required to start testing. :( After much crying and doubt I headed to the ER with my 2 week old baby boy where Ed met me shortly after getting done with his case.

Day 1: It didn't take long to get taken back. Kai was immediately being monitored and like I dreaded, having tests taken non-stop. Whether it's good for them or not, NO mom(parent) wants to see their baby go through that. So they began with x-rays and then on to drawing Kai's blood. While the doctor looked away the needle slipped out so they had to poke Kai's heel for the rest. Pay a little bit better attention so you don't have to poke my baby more than necessary!! Seriously!! Taking blood was followed by a catheter to get a urine sample, and that's not the end! While I held a binky in Kai's mouth a nurse held Kai in a ball while the the ER Dr. tried a spinal tap 10 TIMES!!!! No joke. I kept questioning the amount of times I saw the needle going into my baby's spine, but like I know what they are looking for or doing??!! You think they know what they are doing...I have some ill feelings toward that ER Dr. that used my baby for a pin cushion. Trying to get some practice??? Come to find out they are only supposed to get 2 tries and the neonatologist should have been the one to try. After 10 tries of an unsuccessful spinal they admitted Kai to the NICU for a minimum of 3 days. :( All of the testing is required to rule out what could be a serious bacterial infection. I know I should be more gracious and thankful for the medical world, but somehow the experience seemed so premature. Obviously a fever for a newborn is a serious matter, but an experience I would never wish for anyone to go through. (You can not WASH YOUR HANDS enough with a newborn). My poor poor baby boy!!! Kai was given an IV and started on antibiotics in case tests came back positive for a bacterial infection (could be deadly). If it turned out to be a viral infection (flu, etc.) it would be less serious and just have to run it's course.

^These pics are so sad. Kai with monitors galore, an IV and completely exhausted and sore I'm sure. My forearms were SO sore from the stress of holding Kai through all the test and trying to get him to eat. I stayed at the hospital every night to nurse him. Ed stayed the first night as well. We were so exhausted and all cried out! Ed gave Kai a blessing which made us feel better.

Day 2:

^Thank goodness for Mom who was able to care for Sarah during the ordeal. They had a great time.

^Sarah was able to come in and visit Kai one time. I didn't know whether smiling was appropriate or not but...

^Kai's fever got up to the 102's. Tests kept coming back negative.

Ed and I trying to depict the boredom of a hospital and how tired we both were. We look hammered!!

Day 3:

^ Gave us a scare. Kai's bilirubin count was at about 16 where it should be around 1! He does look yellow! We were hoping it wasn't a serious liver disease or birth defect. We were happy when labs came back the next day and the count had dropped. Nurses kept saying Kai was cranky. I would be cranky too if I was in an oober-bright freezing cold room with a new nurse poking and prodding me every 8 hours at shift change. I'm sure the 10-try spinal tap caused some soreness too.

^ A grandma who came hoping to hold her grandson a lot unfortunately only got one day with him before he got sick.

^ It was nice to have my mama for support for a few days.

Day 4:

^All tests came back not showing anything serious. Just waiting for fever to leave. Looking a little better.

Day 5:

^Finally get to take our baby home!! Kai still had a small fever, but something we could manage from home.

We had so much love and support through this. Child care help, meals, etc, etc. We are so grateful for all the prayers on our behalf from family and friends. Thanks for helping us through this!!

7/31-dinn with friends

^Earlier in the day- daddy with his 2 kiddos. :)

Each month we have a couples dinner with some friends. Having Julia and Jona in town was a perfect reason to get together. Always good food and good company. :)

^Kaylynn & Brook

^Julia & The Nixons

^Jona & The Bakers

^ And us! We left the kids for a night out. Very important!

Revisit the past

Last week I cut some bangs. I haven't had them since high school and I felt like a change. Loving them so far! :) Thought I'd share a picture.

^My blonde twin Morghan

While Ed spoke at a conference in Tahoe, the kids and I headed to Reno to spend the night at Duke and Morghan's.

Look a little closer

Are you ever eating breakfast and you notice a darker piece of cereal amidst the rest and check just to make sure it's just a piece of overcooked flake or whatever? I'm really happy I did this today. I had taken one bite of cereal and then noticed this...

...a little closer and this is what you see.

Yes my friends, that would be a dead spider in my cereal!!!! Any of you who know me really well, know that spiders are probably my worst phobia. Just looking at this picture gives me the willies!! Do I throw the rest of the box away? Or just scout my cereal every time I pour a bowl in the future? Pretty sure I'll be examining all my food for bugs! Nightmare come true!!

OCD

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and behind due to the fact that I think I'm a little OCD when it comes to cleaning. It's starting to be a problem especially with a newborn. I almost can't function if everything isn't in it's place. Sure my house gets messy, but before I feel like I can move on to doing anything else-scrapbooking, blogging, reading, sometimes caring for my kids, etc- I have to have everything picked up or I get grumpy. Just ask Ed. He's baffled at what is upsetting me most times. Really? A clean house is that crucial to my happiness? TV, email and food are the only other things that stay at the top of the list. It was great when the season ended to all the spring tv shows. I was much more productive. Isn't that sad. My priorities... Anyone else this way?

JUNE catch up

June was much busier than it needed to be. :) We moved from our apartment to renting a house (which we LOVE- pics to come as soon as we're completely settled). Note: Moving 8 months prego is not a good idea! :) Ed had a busy work month, I had a ton of hair appointments before I took some time off, Ed took a quick trip with one of his friend for a weekend, and here are some pics from other times in the month:

^ Sarah loves music! She sings almost any song she's heard me sing, she loves going to the music store with Ed (taking up guitar), and loves to play on piano's and drums. What kid doesn't like to make noise I guess? :)

Some pictures Ed took of Sarah that are adorable- while I got a weekend getaway with some girlfriends (see below) before baby boy arrived.

Slumber Party with Kristen and Maren in San Fran for the night!

^Plenty of shopping. Not much for me and my belly.

^Pretty sure I'd gained weight. :)

^ What great friends

^Had to take some silly shots in the hotel! ^Lindsey

^Maren

^Kristen

We did an overnight camp trip.

^Laytons, Harmans, Drummonds and Shafers

Duke and Morghan moved to Reno (much closer than Denver) so they came down for a weekend to have lunch and hang out. Happy Bday Morghan!

^37 weeks prego picture. Not as cool posted months later. :)

The bad and the ugly

Much to catch up on as usual, but I thought I'd post about some bad and ugly stuff since it's usually about the good. :)

Life is crazy! Sarah is approaching her 2nd birthday and has decided to do it with a bang. I'd like to give her a break since we have had so much change in the last month, vacations, company, no routine per say, however, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go crazy if the whining and tantrums don't stop!! She has developed this high pitched scream and decided her means of communication will be whining and repeating herself 1 million times. Yes 1 million! No more listening... this girl has her own agenda. Is this normal? Is this a phase? How to stop the whining? Ideas please?! Im getting less and less patient. Who's in control here? Who is the parent and decides the rules? She thinks she should. Wish us luck on this new phase. We need it!! Big time!!