Christmas

Christmas was wonderful this year. The kids all had a fabulous time with family, friends, church and presents. It is one of my favorite times of the year, the smells, sights and smiles warm my heart no matter what else is going on in life. Despite times being tough the kids had more than enough and hopefully are starting to learn that there is more to Christmas than opening presents. Jocelyn really got excited this year about buying an Angel Tree gift and was really disappointed that she couldn't deliver it herself. Brinley of course didn't really understand what was going on but she was a trooper with the late nights, and groups of people.

I am reminded all the time of how much I am blessed. Bring on the New Year!

Good news!

Matt was offered a job Friday with Conely Corp. as their warehouse manager. He is excited and thinks this will be a good fit for him. I am so happy that he found something that he will like and we are both definitely breathing a sigh of relief. I can't thank all our friends and family enough for all the support and helping hands. I love you all.

Brinley 6 Months

Height 28" - 98%

Weight 18 lb. - 86%

Head 17" - 72%

Doctor's comment "She will be statuesque but not amazonian." Hmmm....

I have not posted in a while because I have not had many positive things to say.

Our family is in a financial crises right now like so many other Americans.

We have had tough times before and have always been able to work multiple jobs to make ends meet and occasionally get ahead. We have not always had a lot, but we have always had enough. It is embarrassing to be in a situation like we are now. Our income is zero. Matt and I have both been applying for jobs daily but we are of course competing with the thousands of others who are out of work. Matt did get a part time job at the U that will start in the next couple of weeks, not much but something. If it were not for our amazing family, friends and church I am not sure how we would be surviving at all. This has truly been a humbling experience and we are so grateful for all the help and support that we have received. Times like these definitely make you count your blessings and although we don't have any money, we do have our health and a house full of love and laughter.

I debated posting about our situation and finally decided that putting it in writing might help me let go of some of the fear and shame that I have been feeling, plus according to the news we are definitely not the only ones experiencing this. Hopefully my next post will be full of good news, for now we appreciate all the prayers and positive thoughts we can get.

Brinley 5 Months

It is getting harder to get a picture of her holding still! :)

Brinley - 4 months

26.5 inches - 98th percentile

15 lbs. - 76th percentile

head 16cm -- 37th percentile

Side note: Brin cut her first tooth October 6 and her second tooth October 9!

Labor Day Weekend

We went camping Labor Day weekend with our awesome friends and family.

Joss and Brin had their first boat rides (other than an air boat). Jocelyn loved it but Brinley wasn't too sure about the whole thing.

We went to Strawberry and it was nice during the day but so cold at night. I stayed with the girls the first night and we all froze so on Saturday night we came home and slept and then went back up the next morning.

All in all it was a really fun weekend!

Brinley - 3 months

Las Vegas

Our annual trip to Vegas was wonderful as always. We spent the days relaxing at the pool which the kids loved of course. We also went to the aquarium, saw V the Variety Show, and spent a couple nights walking the strip. It is a trip we look forward to every year!

Happenings

Joss and Kiera

So much has been going on in the last couple of weeks...

Matt got a new job working construction in Wyoming so he will be gone working out of state every Monday - Thursday. It pays a lot better and I am hoping he will like it a lot more than what he was doing!

Unfortunately this means that I have to single mom it for those days every week. The girls and I are adjusting although with throwing Destinee into the mix last week it has been an interesting and stressful week. We'll all make it work though and I think it will be better in the long run all around.

We are going to Vegas next week with my Mom which we are all excited about even if we are just going to sit by the pool most of the time!

Jocelyn starts school in a couple of weeks and we are both excited! I signed her up for soccer, dance and tumbling and she can't wait! My Aunt is going to watch Brinley for a bit after I drop Joss of at school and I am going to go to the gym and get my body back - woohoo!

Destinee

We have had Destinee (our first foster baby) back with us since last week. She is now 16 months old and full of personality.

Her Mom is back on drugs and pregnant again. They go to court next week where her mother will either be given another chance or her rights will be terminated. In Utah if your rights are terminated with one child they are terminated for all children that you have or may have. So if her rights are terminated with Destinee she will have to give up this new baby when it is born in 6 months.

The state wanted us to agree to be a permanent placement for Destinee. However, they also want us to agree to take the baby which I can not do with Brinley being so young. Jocelyn has also been a little overwhelmed with Brinley, Destinee, and Matt leaving to work in Wyoming. I am overwhelmed too at this point. So for all those reasons Destinee will be leaving us tomorrow to go either to her Aunt or to another foster family that will be willing and able to adopt her and her sibling. We love her and are so sad that she will not be staying with us!

Brinley - 2 months

Brinley's 2 month well child check...

Height 23 1/4" 82nd percentile

Weight 11 lbs. 6 oz. 68th percentile

Head 15" 31st percentile

Summer fun

I have not been posting frequently because I can't find the cord to get pictures from my camera to the computer. I finally got to Walmart to get the pictures put on a disk so here are a few things we have been doing this summer...

Cousins at the Zoo
















Sisters

Joss and Annie on July 4

Brin on July 4

At the Princess Festival

Fishing with Dad for the 1st time

Liberty Park

Brinley - 1 month

Another visit to Primary

We spent Tuesday night in the emergency room at Primary Children's Hospital. Jocelyn went to bed complaining about her stomach hurting and a half hour later was throwing up everywhere. When this continued every 15 minutes while she was doubled over in pain we decided it was time to go to the hospital.
We were there for 7 hours while they ran tests and gave her IV fluids since she was severely dehydrated -all this time she continued to throw up every 15 minutes. Finally at 4am, after ruling out appendicitis they gave her some anti-nausea medicine and that did the trick.
It is so heartbreaking to see your child in pain and not be able to do anything to make them feel better. She was such a trooper, not a tear was shed when they gave her the IV. The only thing my poor girl asked for the entire time was a drink of water which they refused to give her for some medical reason. I just wanted to cry for her.
She spent all day yesterday in bed which is so out of character for her! We did take her for a followup with our pediatrician who told us that she was still dehydrated but on the mend. Thankfully she drank enough last night to avoid another round of IV fluids today.
I have had enough of hospitals this month so hopefully from here on out everyone stays healthy!

Dance

Jocelyn took a tap/ballet class this year which she loved. The end of the year performance was a dance to Elvis' All Shook Up. It was super cute!

Pictures

Brin

Brin came home on Sunday afternoon :). We had strict instructions to take her to her pediatrician on Monday to make sure she was still hydrated and so that he could get a good starting weight on her. Her doctor said she looks great, she only lost 2 ounces from her birth weight which was good news. He decided against putting her on anything for reflux until we watch her for awhile.

Jocelyn loves having her here. Every time she cries Joss will run over and say "what are you doing to MY baby?!". She wants to help me do everything which is cute and she has had to pick out all the clothes we have dressed her in so far.

We are all just enjoying life right now which is just a wonderful feeling!

Baby Brinley

On Wednesday, June 1 I went to my regular doctor's appointment and found out that my blood pressure was extremely high. My doctor told me to go home, get Joss situated and get back to the hospital because Brinley was going to be arriving that night. Matt and I got everything ready, were at the hospital at 5 and Brinley Tyler was born at 7:30 pm. She was 20" long and weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. (the exact same as Jocelyn).

She seemed perfectly healthy and we had an easygoing first night until 5am when she refused to eat and started throwing up things reminiscent of the Exorcist. At first we were told she was fine, this was normal etc. and that they were taking her to the nursery for observation. That was then changed to the NICU at St. Mark's and then I was told that they were life flighting her to Primary Children's because things were more serious than they thought and St. Mark's wasn't equipped to run the kinds of tests that she needed.

The tests they have run so far have not shown anything that would require surgery and she finally started keeping food down so the IV and antibiotics have been removed. They are observing her to see if she can get enough calories on her own and then hopefully we can take her home.

It seems like every day they tell us that we should be able to take her home tomorrow or the next day and then something happens to push things back. It is the hardest thing not to have her home with us.

Jocelyn has just been amazing through this whole ordeal, she has rolled with the punches daily without acting out or getting upset. She is an incredible little girl and I am so proud of her.

We are so thankful for our amazing family, friends and church who have surrounded us in prayer and positive thoughts. We love you all.

No more binkies!

Yesterday Matt and I made Jocelyn put her all her binkies in a bag, give them a hug and throw them away. She was not "ready" and was not happy at all. She was on a mood roller coaster all day, alternating from bragging to people about not having binkies anymore to crying her eyes out.

Nap time was a sad occasion, she cried quietly while alternately sucking on each finger and parts of her arm trying to find a replacement. Bedtime was heartbreaking with hysterical crying and attempts at bargaining. She finally went to sleep and thankfully only woke up once crying for her binky.

Jocelyn also has a lovey, Hop Hop, that she has carried around forever. For some reason she has connected the two in her mind and so she has gotten rid of him too. Every time I tried to pass her Hop Hop for comfort she tossed him aside and said he had to go too.

Today we have not had any tears (although it is not nap time yet). Hopefully it will be a better day since I went to bed last night questioning our decision and definitely not feeling like parent of the year.

We did let Jocelyn pick out a big prize for getting rid of the binky, at first we thought we would be going hamster shopping today but thankfully she decided this was what she wanted...

Easter

Jocelyn loves all holidays but especially Easter. We have been having Easter Egg hunts around our house for months (ever since the decorations started coming out), she loves hiding them as well as finding the ones that Matt and I hide for her. She doesn't understand completely why we celebrate Easter but she loves all aspects of it, coloring eggs, the Easter bunny, candy, the hunt, dressing up for church, the egg tree she got to set up in her room and seeing the family at Grandma's Easter party.

Spring Break Trip

Great grand kids with Nano

Grand kids with Nano

Maddy and Joss holding their noses

At the city museum in St. Louis

City museum

5 generations

Making cake pops

Playing out front with Grandma Great

Sitting on a tank at the park

Part of a playground we found while stopped in Lymon Co.

Our trip out to St. Louis took 27 horrible hours. We drove through all kinds of weather, hail, snow fog, snow, rain - miserable. The return trip from Kansas was a much more humane 21 hours :). The kids were really good in the car, I think they handled it better than I did.

We had a good time visiting family in St. Louis, IL and Oswego, KS. It was wonderful to see everyone and the kids had a great time with their cousins.