BABY UPDATE

Every week that I go to the Perinatologist he would say to expect to schedule a transfusion for the following week. I don't know why, but this baby has finally decided to cooperate and every week we could put it off until the following week. At my appointment this Wednesday, he said we probably won't have to do another one at all! That is incredible. If the baby shows signs of being anemic we will probably just deliver the baby instead of messing around with transfusions. I'm sure that the latest we will have a this baby is mid October. But nothing has gone as planned with this pregnancy so who knows what will happen! I am looking forward to not having dr. appointments all of the time! I have at least 3 a week. My kids are even sick of it. Hallie is excited because I don't have any appointments today! What an exciting day. Anyway, I thought that was great news because it was not fun doing the first transfusion! Now I just hope this baby cooperates with me after she is born because I don't know that I can handle having two stubborn girls!

LIL' MEG

At the beginning of the year Meg had a seizure. She was fine, but it was a little scary. Well, the other night Meg had what we thought was another seizure. Mark realized she wasn't breathing so we started rubbing her and trying to stimulate her so she would breathe. Finally he had to blow air into her lungs to get her breathing again. We thought she'd be fine in a while, but it took her an hour before she was able to try to move. She couldn't keep her balance and couldn't really move. The next day Mark took her to the vet and found out she had an infection. He said it could be spinal meningitis and so we went ahead and treated her for it without knowing for sure so we wouldn't have to do a spinal tap. He also said that she could be suffering from some kind of trauma because she was having neurological issues. The worst case scenario is that it was a stroke! He gave her steroids in case it was trauma to reduce the risk of blood on the brain and swelling. It was pretty scary. We weren't sure she was going to be okay because of the amount of time she went without oxygen. She seems to be getting better though. I think she did have a seizure and just wasn't going to come out of it, but she did because we got her breathing again. Bo was playing with her so maybe something he did or something we did while trying to revive her hurt her neck. That's why she couldn't move. She is slowly getting better and becoming her old self again. I don't know what I would do if we lost Meg! She is irreplaceable to me. She is the dog that made me into a weird dog person who buys clothes and accessories for their pets! Anyway, I'm glad that it wasn't a stroke or something more serious. Hopefully Meg will be with us for a long time.

SHOPPING

The other day I was getting groceries and I kept running into this lady who was driving me crazy! Her shopping cart was piled full of stuff and it was not organized in the slightest bit. She would grab something and toss it into her cart. Where ever it would land, that's where it stayed. Then I ended up in the checkout stand behind her. I just sat there and stared at her cart. It was such a mess! I looked at mine. All of the dairy was together neatly, all of the boxes were stacked nicely, all of the like items were together and orderly. I couldn't stand looking at that lady's cart anymore, so I looked next to me. There I saw yet another shopping cart piled high carelessly. Then I looked behind me. Same thing!! Then I watched everyone else and I saw only one lady who had things somewhat organized. So I thought to myself, "I must be some kind of weirdo because I'm the only one with an organized shopping cart!" Then the crazy lady in front of me started putting her groceries on the conveyor belt. She just tossed everything up there in a haphazard manner. Her meat was on top of tortillas, her fruit was on top of her meat, and her bread was squished somewhere in there. I couldn't stand to watch! After actually paying attention to how other people fill their carts, I can't help but wonder if someone else out there is just like me when it comes to shopping or if I'm the only weirdo!

FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

Hallie's first day of preschool was yesterday. She had a great time. As soon as we got to the car she was like "Aren't you going to ask me 'How was school today'?". She was so excited about what she did. I asked her about the new friends she made and she couldn't remember names, but they were all boys. I don't know about Hallie! It's the same things at church. Hallie is nice to girls, but as soon as a boy comes along that she likes, they are best friends! She just doesn't make friends with girls as easy as boys. Hopefully as she gets older she'll just be one of the boys instead of boy crazy! Anyway, school is good because it is giving the kids a break from one another and it also makes it easier to spend some one on one time with each of them.

AIRPLANES

I'm sure that everyone has heard that the I.F. airport's main runway will be closed for about a month for new upgrades being done to it. Now all of the planes are flying right over my house! How irritating. It's usually helicopters and small planes, but now even the smaller jets are right above us. Yesterday I saw an airplane shadow on the ground bigger than my car! It's almost scary having planes so close. All I can think about is all of the stories on the news of airplanes crashing into houses. Well, if that happens at least we could buy a new house! Anyway, I'm so tired of hearing airplanes every 10 minutes. This is going to be a long month.

ASHER

Asher is silly. Very rarely do you get a smile out of him. More than half of our pics of him are like this one. No smile, just a silly face. He has two loose teeth right now and he's already lost two other ones. Asher is growing up way too fast! He picked up teasing from Mark and now he has to tease Hallie all of the time. He tries to be sneaky so we can't tell he's teasing, but he doesn't realize he has a smart Mom! Plus Hallie is a tattle tale. I just have to brag for a minute about how smart Asher is. His brain is like a little sponge and he is so eager to learn. He could recite the alphabet by himself before he was 2. He could recognize letters in preschool and not many other kids could. As soon as I taught him to count to 100, he never forgot and kept counting. He loves to write and is actually pretty good at penmanship. His kindergarten teacher is way impressed. I taught him the basics of reading and now he is actually pretty good at reading! He surprises me everyday. I am so proud of his learning accomplishments and he is such a special boy. He really adds a lot of great things to our family. He is so sweet and tender-hearted. My Patriarchal Blessing tells me the importance of my kids and I can totally see that in Asher. We are so blessed to have him as part of our family!

ALL ABOUT MY HUSBAND

1- Where did you meet?
Kelly Canyon. He was a ski lift operator and I was snowboarding. I had Kolton with me and Mark had to ask every time I got on his lift if Kolton was my son. Later Mark told me he thought I was a granola. Me? Granola? Seriously? Anyway, he thought I was riding his ski lift to see him and to his disappointment, I was only riding it because I was with Kolton and it was Skiiers Lane, the easiest run at Kelly's!

2- How long did you date before you were married?
6 months

3- How long have you been married for?
7 years

4- What does he do that surprises you?
He always comes home with new recreational vehicles. It's not too much of a surprise because he talks to me before he buys anything, but I never realize that he is serious about it that day!

5- What's your favorite feature about him?
His eyes.

6- What's your favorite quality about him?
He is hard working and I know that the kids and I mean the world to him. Plus he has a sense of humor.

7- Does he have a nickname for you? What is it?
Just recently he has decided to call me Heath. I think it started out as a joke more than anything.

8- What's his favorite color?
Blue.

9- What's his favorite food?
Anything that's home cooking country comfort food.

10-What is his favorite sport?
UFC/MMA

11- Who said I love you first?
He did.

12- When and where was your fist kiss?
Our first date in his parents living room.

13-What's your favorite thing to do as a couple?
It has changed since we have had kids, but anything together is fun.

14-Do you have kids?
Yes. Asher, Hallie, and one on the way.

15- What's a hidden talent that he has?
He is a self-proclaimed professional singer. He sings to everything and knows almost every song!

16- How old is he?
30. He claims to be 29, but really, he's 30.

17- What's his favorite type of music?
Hard Rock, Rap, Country. Pretty much anything. For some weird reason, he has been listening to the oldies lately. Strange.

18- What do you admire most about him?
His willingness to help those in need. He is also very outgoing, it's as though he has never met a stranger!

19-What's his favorite past time?
Snowmobiling, 4 wheeling with Asher, anything to get away from every day life.

20- Do you think he is going to read this?
Eventually

HALLIE

Hallie is so funny! I think she always finds a way to make people laugh, even if she's being serious. The other day Mark had the kids and was in Rigby. He has an uncle Max who lives up there so he said, "Should we stop by and see Max?" Hallie replied, "Who? MAX-ican?" Mark told me what she said and I couldn't stop laughing! Those little comments of hers are just hilarious. Today she was riding her bike and got mad because she was having trouble with it. She jumped off, hit her seat, and said, "Bike, COME ON!" Her expression was just so funny. And she has to know everything. You can't give her fluffy little answers to her questions. The most recent question that won't go away is "Mom, how is your baby going to come out?" I tell her it will just be born, so she asks if I'm going to have a c-section. I tell her "No, it is just going to be born." and that answer is not good enough. How do you tell a 4 year old how babies are born? Mark told her the stork would bring it to us. Then she asks "How is the stork machine going to help get the baby out?" He had to explain it is not a machine, but a bird. He explained how storks deliver babies and Hallie said, "NO! The baby is in Mom's belly! How is it going to get out?". I still don't have an answer for her. I know everyone else has experienced those fun little moments with Hallie. Even though she was such a pain as a baby, we definitely couldn't live with out her!

KINDERGARTEN

Asher's first day of school was today. I can't believe it! It was only an hour and I got to go with him, but it is still sad. Tomorrow I'll probably cry after I drop him off at school. But Asher is so excited that it makes it hard to be sad! At least 1/4 of his class is hispanic and they don't speak English! I told Asher that if he talks to them enough he could learn Spanish. Ha ha! He said he doesn't want to learn Spanish. We know two kids in his class, so that might make it funner for him. He misses his preschool teacher, but he'll be just fine in Kindergarten.
Hallie starts preschool next week. She is looking forward to that! We are sad that summer is over, but I think my kids are ready for school.

BLOOD TRANSFUSION

Well, as most of you know, I had to get a blood transfusion for the baby last week in SLC. Thank you everyone who worried so much. I know there was no way for anyone to help at the time, but thank you for all of your prayers and concerns and offers of helping us out for these next few weeks, months, or however long it will end up being! Overall, it was a scary experience because the antigen M is a milder antigen and usually isn't a cause for concern. I have expected things to be fine this entire time, now I'm not so sure! Now I know that even if the doctors say "rarely" or "5 % chance" or anything else, I should be prepared to be that rare case! I know that everything will turn out fine, it is just a matter of getting to that point where everything is fine. I know that everyone's prayers for me were heard and answered. A prayer seems like a small way to help out, but I can't begin tell you how much it really did help. I've seen and experienced what a simple prayer can do, and once again, THANK YOU! Now I just have to get ready for this baby in case she decides to come early!