Avery's Update

Avery saw her eye specialist yesterday and everything looked really good. Her vision was 20/30. She still has not developed any cataracts, and everything inside her eye looked really good. The doctor was really happy with her progress and said that he will see her again in a year. He said that it is still a possibility that she will need cataract surgery later. All in all it was very good news. She is our little miracle!

For those who do not know the story, it is not for the faint of heart. If eye things make you squeamish, don't read this story! Two years ago, I turned around to see Hallie playing with a very large screwdriver. I told Hallie to put the screwdriver down, she threw it instead. On the way down, it grazed Avery in the eye. I rushed her to the ER. By the time we saw a doctor, her iris, which is very spongy by the way, was coming out of her eye. Several doctors came parading through the room asking if they could see her, because they had never seen this kind of injury before, that was very comforting.

We saw an eye doctor a few hours later, and the prognosis was not good. She would have emergency surgery that night to stitch up her eye. They would push as much of the iris back in and then stitch it up. He told us best case scenario she would keep her eye but have little, to no vision in that eye, and would have to wear a contact(all I could think, was how on earth do you put a contact on a 2 year old?). Worst case scenario, she would lose her eye. It was very scary waiting with her to go into surgery. She looked so tiny in the huge surgical bed. The surgery went well and then we stayed in the hospital for a few days to watch for infection. She was such an angel in the hospital, being that she was two years old and had to stay in the bed at all times.

Hallie is still really sensitive about this story. Those of you who know her, know that she would not hurt a fly. She felt and still feels really bad about this. It about broke my heart talking to her while I was in the hospital, she just kept saying "mommy, I am so sorry, I didn't mean it." Her Auntie Emily was taking care of she and Hayden so Nick and I could be with Avery. Emily told us that Hallie just kept praying for forgiveness and saying that she was so sorry that she hurt Avery. She cried every day that Avery was in the hospital.

After a few days in the hospital they sent us home. She had to wear this patch at all times and have 3 kinds of drops in her eye 4 times a day. She went in for another surgery about a month later. News was not very good at this surgery. The doctor said she was developing a lazy eye and that several cataracts were forming. Most likely she would be facing cornea replacement surgery. She was totally free of infection, which was very good news.
After surgery, they sent us to see a new specialist. Her visions was 20/65, which he was very concerned about. He started her on some new therapy and replaced her patch with these glasses, which she was very excited about. Her eye was very sensitive to light, she sometimes had to wear sunglasses in the house. When she went outside she had to wear sunglasses and still cover her eye with her hand. After a month her vision improved to 20/40, which was fabulous news.

Four months after her injury she had her final surgery to remove the stitches. Things went very well at this surgery. The next week at her follow up appointment her vision was 20/30. Her eye was tracking very well and responding well to light. The doctor said that it was a miracle that her eye was doing so well. It was an answer to so many prayers. People all over the country were fasting and praying for her. To us it is proof that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and that miracles happen today.

My New Pet Peeve

You know what is so annoying? When people bring their dog to the park and then act annoyed that your child wants to pet or look at or touch your dog. I am not talking about a large grassy park that dogs would frequent, this was more like a small playground type park, you know the kind that usually are full of children and are for children. This particular person was just sitting on the bench right in front of the playground, not walking his dogs around or anything. He had a beautiful husky and a husky puppy. What kid is not going to be tempted by that?

I asked him if Hayden could pet his dog and he pretty much said no. Hallie tried to ask him a few questions about his dog, and he just didn't even answer her. After this I just tried to steer the kids away from him, but Hayden would not be deterred. She just wanted to play with the puppy. If you don't want kids to look at your dogs, don't bring them to a children's park full of children. Enough said.

Avery

I haven't posted much about Avery. Maybe that is because she is my easiest kid and the least likely to be in trouble. Most of the time she is very pleasant and does what she is supposed to. She is such a delight in our family. Here is a bit of what she has been up to lately.

The other night I put the kids to bed and then I was busy running around cleaning things up. Nick was at a meeting and when he got home, he found her like this. This is the hallway outside her bedroom. So silly!

Here she is looking fashionable in my sunglasses and her dress up dress.


Avery shares a room with Jaxton. It was a struggle to come up with some kind of design that would accommodate a boy and a girl. When I was pregnant I found this cute bedding that has a lot of yellow in it and I thought it would match our baby bedding pretty well. She was really disappointed because she wanted a red room, I told her maybe someday. We bought paint for their room last Memorial Day, but have not had the time/desire to paint their room. We finally had time to paint their room this last week. Avery loves it and is so excited for people to come over so she can show them her new room.

These pictures are not the greatest because the room is too bright, but you can kind of get the picture.
We did two walls yellow and two walls blue. I think it turned out pretty cute!

It is nice that they share a room because they have such a special relationship. She loves him and plays with him and talks to him and he loves her back! She doesn't like to share him and she usually is the one who is holding him. She takes really good care of him. It is really sweet to see her take such loving care of him.

Help!

I know this is a vain and self-indulgent posting, but I have had a long day of doing end of year bookkeeping and taxes for the business, while still taking care of four kids, so I need to think about something totally non-crucial and unimportant. . . so how about my hair?

I am constantly annoyed, frustrated and bugged by my hair. I get very bored with it and I am always wanting to do something different with it. It is driving me CRAZY right now. I have been growing it out for the last 2 years and it has been so hard, but now I am not sure why I am growing it out.

This is kind of how my hair is looking now(although this is right after it got done, so it probably doesn't look this good on a day to day basis). I think it is getting too long. I have a long face and the long hair is starting to make my chin look so long. You can't really tell in this picture but you can in this one:When I do my hair straight, I am starting to look like a drowned rat. So I am wondering if I should cut more bangs in again, kind of like this:

Although I had a really hard time with these bangs, getting them to blend with the rest of my hair. Now I am kind of wondering if I should just cut it all off.

Another self portrait. . .that seems to be the only pictures there are of me. This is the shortest that my hair has been. I think it is maybe a little too short. Nick loves it though.This is the same style but a bit longer.

This is about the same length, but straight(it is the same shirt too)

I like my hair here.

I don't know what to do. It has taken me sooo long to grow it out. There are advantages to having long hair, like I can put it in a ponytail, although I almost never do. And when it is short, you have to have it styled all of the time. You can't just wash it and let it air dry. Plus, when it is
short, I have to cut it all of the time(yes I cut my own hair, don't ask me why). And I can't wear it curly like this:


Plus, sometimes when it was short it ended up looking like this with a big lump on the side of my head, too much ratting, I guess:

Plus if I cut it all off and then want it long again, I will have to endure these ugly phases again, ugh: So my blogging friends, I need your help. Should I stick with the long hair that I have been growing out forever, or is it time for a change?

Our Funny Little Boy

Jaxton is so funny. In so many ways he seems like he can't wait to be grown up and moving around like his big sisters. He loves to watch them and kicks his little legs when they are running around and entertaining him. But in other ways, he refuses to grow up at all. He just rolled over for the first time yesterday. Whenever you put him laying on his back, he just stays there. I have known he was strong enough to roll over for a long time, but he just wouldn't. He rolled over one time yesterday, but he won't do it again.

He also is refusing to eat solid foods. Here is a little video of our first attempt about a month ago.

The videos of Hallie's first meal are serene and quiet, poor Jaxton, most of the video isn't even him. He has a lot to compete with. Sometimes things are a bit chaotic at our house.

I have tried feeding him when things are a bit more quiet and calm and things have not improved. He acts like I am trying to feed him acid. He gags and then spits it out. Oh well, I am sure someday he will be interested!

The time has gone by so fast. I can't believe he is six months old today! It seems like I was just pregnant with him. I was so excited for Hallie to do everything and I was in such a hurry for her to grow up. Now I see how fast the time goes and it is so sad.

When Hallie was little I was talking with my mom and telling her about something naughty Hallie had done. She told me when we were all little, she was having a really bad day and so she called my grandma to complain to her. After she was done telling all of her woes, my grandma said to her, "Honey, these are the best days of your life, enjoy them!" My mom was crushed by this news. She thought, "this is as good as it gets, it all goes down hill from here?" Mom said to me, it is true. They were the best days of my life, I just didn't realize it at the time. As my kids are getting older, I totally see that it is true. You never get this opportunity to have little kids again, and the time just seems to go faster and faster.

Happy half birthday Jaxton!

I'm Back!

I am so far behind on blogging I don't know where to begin! We had Christmas, our Anniversary, New Years and everyone has been sick. Needless to say, this is going to be a long post!

Starting with Christmas. We spent the Sunday night before Christmas with Nick's family, we exchanged gifts and had dinner and then our family stayed the night at Nick's mom. We don't have any pictures because our camera stopped working, so you will just have to take our word for it that it was a great time.

Christmas Eve morning we got up and headed to my parents house. It was a great time. It was the first time the whole family had been together in two years, and it may be the last time for a while. My sister Natalie and her family are moving to Sydney, Australia this week, so that makes family get together's a little bit difficult.


Christmas Eve started out with my dad giving us the family shirt. He always gets all of the girls matching shirts to wear. For the boys he buys the most ridiculous shirt he can find. This is a picture of Nick's. In case you can't tell, it is skulls wearing gangster hats and gold chains. It is a pretty nice shirt, but not quite as good as last years, which was just a big picture of Tupac, with a "diamond studded" (rhinestones) do rag on. My dad even bought himself matching jeans with a huge picture of Tupac screen printed on the leg.

We spent a good part of Christmas Eve at Rollertown. It was a good time, except the kids hated it, except Hallie. I was so proud of her, she kept trying to roller skate, unsuccessfully. She spent most of the time on the ground, but she kept trying for the whole three hours we were there. I also have no pictures of this event because our camera was choosing not to work again.

Here we all are lining up Christmas morning. Hopefully my sisters don't kill me for posting a picture of them without makeup, sorry guys, I am in there too.

Santa brought all of the girls this doll house to share. It has been a huge hit! Avery also got a Barbie car, 2 Ken dolls and a ton of new Barbie clothes. I must admit I am a bit jealous, it is an awesome set up. I always wanted all of that stuff. I have already spent a lot of time in there playing with them and dressing the Barbie's all up.

All Hallie wanted for Christmas was an IPod. I kept telling her there was no way she was getting one, since I don't even have one. After all of the presents were opened, I had one little package hidden in my pocket. I asked her if she got everything that she wanted and she said yes. I asked her if she was sad that she didn't get an IPod, and she said yes, but that it was okay. I pulled out the package and gave it to her, it's not an IPod, it's just an MP3 player, but I did load it up with Hannah Montana songs. She was so excited. She said, "all of my dreams came true!"

The girls had fun playing with their cousin Laine.

All of the grand kids with grandpa.

All of the men of the family, who are saints for putting up with all of us girls. Luckily my sister Kristine is getting married in March, yay, one more man to help them not be so outnumbered.

All of the women of the family.

5 beautiful girls!

Thanks to my mom and dad for making it such a nice Christmas. My parents stayed at a hotel so that we could have their room. Our kids go to bed so early that we would be spending a lot of time in a hotel room instead of with the family if we had stayed at a hotel. My mom made three fabulous dinners and let her house look like a bomb had blown off. It was such a good time and so great to all be together again.

Happy Anniversary!

December 30th was our 9th Anniversary. Look at how young we are! By the time we could finally afford to purchase some of our wedding pictures, we could no longer find our photographer. So all we have is our proofs, so sad.

We were so lucky. It was a sunny 60 degrees the day of our wedding, which is so warm for December in Utah.

As I was looking through our album I noticed how nice my fingernails are. My sister Natalie and I spent forever putting on about 10 coats of polish to come up with that custom purple color. I think it is really classy!


Everyone told us not to get married in December. They said we would never get to celebrate our anniversary and it would just get lumped in with Christmas. They were all right! We haven't been able to do anything great for our anniversary, but that is okay with us. We were students, so we got married during our winter break. We get to celebrate other times throughout the year!

This year's anniversary was no different, actually I think it was the worst on record. It fell on a Sunday, Avery was sick, so Nick went to the first two hours of church and then I went to the third because I was subbing in Sunbeams, yay! Then after church, Nick had to work, he worked until about 10:00 pm. While he was at work, I was doing lovely things like, holding crying children, folding laundry, which Avery threw up all over as soon as I was finished folding, so I then had to rewash it all, and cleaning the carpets that were stained by said throw up. So much fun all in one day!

This is a picture I took tonight because I couldn't find any recent pictures of us (Nick is holding poor little, sick Jaxton and I had to shove stuff off of the couch to sit down). So many things have happened in the last nine years. Four kids, two dogs, two cats, 6 moves across 3 states. Even though we had a crappy anniversary, we have a great life and a great marriage. It is great to still be able to make each other laugh and still enjoy one another's company so much. Nick is a great dad and a great husband and I wouldn't want to be on this crazy journey with anyone else. I know it is corny to say, but we really are best friends. Love you babe!

New Years!

We spent New Years Eve at our house. Poor little Avery was so sick all day, we almost canceled our plans. She was as pale as a ghost. But we had some friends over for games and yummy food. Our friends brought their Wii. It was so much fun and it would be so fun to have one of our own, maybe next year! It was such a workout. We bowled, boxed and played a trivia game.

Here we are playing. I had such a hard time using the controller. During the trivia game I kept buzzing in when I didn't know the answer by accident. I think my final score was -1800. Go me!

Then we played Pictionary. The girls team won, as usual, all though, the boys say we cheated. Poor sports!

Sick!

So last but not least, everyone in our house has been sick, except me. We have had the stomach flu, colds and now we are on coughs. Poor little Jaxton couldn't hardly breathe last night because his chest is so full of phlegm, he started coughing and couldn't catch his breath, it scared me to death!

I have had many sleepless nights taking care of everyone, but I am still alive. That is why it has taken me so long to get this all posted. I finally have a little time because Nick is finally all better so he can help me out. Hayden and Jax are the only ones that are still sick, Hayden is feeling better, but she is still not 100%. Jaxton feels awful and looks miserable. He sounds like a little kitty purring. Hopefully I can manage to stay well and everyone else too!