Hospital visit update

So we took Mataya up to Primary Children's on Monday for her sedated echocardiogram. The appointment went really well. They chose not to do surgery on her heart yet. They are going to put her on some medication to see if she can gain more weight. The meds are supposed to help her lungs work more efficiently so she doesn't burn as many calories just eating and breathing. It is not going to fix the holes in her heart. It is more like a band aide. In January we will see the cardiologist again and she will re-evaluate the situation. We thought one of the holes had closed up after she was born, but it turns out there are still 3 holes. And I thought she was 11 pounds because that is what they told me down at Dixie. They didn't have a scale for babies in the cardiology department so they had me hold her and stand on the scale, and then stand on it without her, to get her weight. (Obviously not very accurate)I guess her weight is 9 pounds 9 ounces:( I swear I feed her tons! Anyway I have to mix my breast milk with formula when I am giving her the bottle to try and fatten her up. This is like Creatine for babies. I'll let you know if it works.

Merry Christmas!

Finally I am updating!

A few people have been getting after me for not updating! I'm not going to mention names TALIA! Anyway, I took Mataya to the cardiologist on Thursday for her appointment. She was born with 3 holes in her heart. One of them closed up by the time she was two months old, but she still has two. Anyway, they want us to take Mataya up to Primary Children's Hospital on Monday so they can sedate her and do an echocardiogram. They are thinking that the holes are causing her not to be able to gain weight. She is only eleven pounds now and she is 6 1/2 months old. Even though she was born early, they still want her gaining more weight. Also her heart is enlarged from working so hard. So we hope that the appointment will go well. Now for an update on our family for the last month. When Kody and I first got married he informed me we will never have a fake tree. He said we will always go and cut one down. So the first year we cut one down off the mountain and brought it home. We decorated it in our first ghetto apartment. Pretty soon Shad Rollo came over and made fun of it, and said it looked like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. So the next year we were in search of a really good one. Well we found a good one but Kody set the saw down in the snow and lost it. We couldn't cut it down because he couldn't remember where he set the saw. So we drove back to town and bought a tree at Albertson's. The next year we made sure not to lose the saw. This time Kody and Shad went together to cut down trees and I stayed home because I was pregnant. They got back and hauled the tree into the house. When I got up to put the lights on the tree I could see the tree was glistening all over like it was wet. However this was not water, it was sap. Sap that was dripping all over my carpet. So Kody tried to get the tree out of the house without making too big of a mess. Needless to say, sap got all over my wall and we couldn't get it off, and eventually painted over it. So up to Albertson's again to buy a tree. So every year has been one thing after another. Well last year I was pregnant and we moved into our new house on December 19th. I didn't want to get a tree because I was sick and didn't want to do the work. So Kody and McKoy went up to Ace and bought a pre lit (fake) tree. The lights on it were colored and it was only $25. We were only going to use it that year, and get a real one the next year. So that brings me to this year, Christmas 2009. This year Kody set out to cut another tree down because my decorations don't go with colored lights and he loves real trees. He almost killed our son when he slid down Summit mountain in our truck trying to cut down the perfect tree. He brings home this enormous tree like Clark Griswold. When he goes to put it in our house it is way too big. So he tries to cut it down but the tree trunk splits into two as it goes up. So when he cuts it smaller, it brakes into two separate pieces and looks like crap. So at 8:00 that night, I have finally had all I can take of this tree circus, and I go up to Home Depot and buy a beautiful pre lit (fake) tree with white lights. Then we try to watch a movie by our tree, on our new nintendo Wii Kody bought because our xbox broke only to discover that the Wii doesn't play DVD's which is the reason we bought the thing in the first place. PS they will not let you return opened Wii's:) So Merry Christmas to me and my bone head husband. Now I would like for you to picture the movie Four Christmas's, when Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn dress up as Mary and Joseph in the church Christmas play. Now picture that, being Kody and Kenzie, and baby Jesus being played by Mataya in our ward Christmas play. That is exactly what happened last Saturday night. It didn't go down exactly like Four Christmas's but it was still pretty funny seeing Kody play Joseph. McKoy wanted to be the Indian. I know you didn't know there was an Indian present at Jesus' birth, but McKoy insisted there was. Next, picture the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation when Clark goes ballistic because he didn't get his Christmas bonus. That was how the employees of the Iron County School District felt this year when we learned we weren't getting our Christmas bonus. It has been a pretty eventful month for us and will probably only get crazier. Anyway, in the words of Clark Griswold, "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, kiss my #%*, kiss his #%*, kiss your #%*, Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Halloween

OK- so everyone posted their Halloween pictures so I felt like I should too. McKoy was a ninja and Mataya was a bear. She wore McKoy's bear costume from when he was a baby. They looked identical. It is so weird. Anyway as most of you know, McKoy loves pirates. However, he was a pirate last year so he chose something else that also uses a sword. That is how he came to be a ninja. I dressed up on Friday for our Halloween carnival but luckily we didn't get any pics of me as a witch. Kody says I don't even need a costume. Sarcastic ha ha.

Now that's a sandwich!

If you work at Iron Springs Elementary then you know about Bonita's sandwiches. Bonita Turnbaugh teaches second grade and every day at lunch all of us fellow teachers covet her sandwiches. I am not even a huge sandwich person but she somehow makes them look so good. She picks the best bread and loads it up with layers of meat and cheese. (I feel like Joey on Friends) Anyway the rest of us teachers always try to get her to make us one but only the few and lucky have had the experience. She made one for a certain someone who shall remain nameless after a certain elective surgery. But that is it. That is the only person who had ever had the experience until now. I ran into Bonita this summer when my baby was still in the hospital and she said she would make me a sandwich because I was so sad. Well it finally happened. And not only did she make me a sandwich but she brought me chips and an apple to go with it. Well I had to savour the moment so here I am in the faculty room eating my sandwich. Thanks Bonita! (PS she made me another one the next week because she loves me so much. Put that in your pipe and smoke it fellow ISE faculty:)

Beautiful Baby!

These are the pictures we had taken of Mataya when she was a few weeks old. They were all taken in my house! She was only 4 pounds at the time. I loved all of them and wanted to buy them all! The lady that took the pictures said a disc was included when you bought the pictures, but she never got it to me. The pictures came in August, but I just received the disc today. So here are a few of my favorites. I'll put all of them in a slide show so everyone can see how beautiful they are.:) This is in my entry way. I have a table there, and when the photographer came in, she asked if we could put Mataya in the little dish. It turned out amazing.

This one is in my living room. I almost gave this table to mom that very morning! She didn't have her truck so she said she would get it later. I am glad I had it because it is so precious!

This was taken in my bathroom! It is my favorite. She looks so small and sweet.

Kody likes this one the best. It was also taken in my bathroom. She still has some bruising on her eyes from her traumatic birth.

What a sweet baby! I could stare at these pictures all day!

Baby Love!

McKoy can't stand to take a picture without cheesing it! Mataya just looks at him like he's crazy!

Granny Ju Ju after giving Mataya a bath.

My mom giving Mataya a bath after a messy poop.

Kody is loving on Mataya, trying to make her smile.

Happy Birthday to me!

I turned 27 but my uncle Brent thought it would be funny to put 72 on the cake.

We celebrated Boose's (Maddox) birthday too. His is two days before mine.

Grandpa Bud holding Mataya.

Jaxi looks so darling as usual. Her mother always has her looking perfect. (Way to go Tal)

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago. My awesome neighbors picked up lunch and we got together with our kids. I tended Kim's kids because Gracie was sick. We had lunch and then later that night Koy had a soccer game. After the game we came back to our house for cake and ice cream with the fam. My neighbor later said, "You had quite the crowd last night." Little does she know that is just a regular night with my family. We get together about once or twice a month for someone's birthday. There are about 25 to 30 of us depending on if Talia is in town with her kids. Plus my in-laws came that night. It is pretty loud when we all get together but a lot of fun. We do it so often it doesn't seem like a big deal, but I guess if you don't live close to your family it seems like a lot. Anyway, it was a good time!

McKoy's First Day of Preschool!

Yesterday was McKoy's first day of preschool! He was so excited! He woke me up with his backpack on over his pajamas and said he was ready for school! It was too cute. When we pulled up to the preschool I took my seat belt off and McKoy said, "Mom you don't have to walk me in!" He is already too cool for his own mother. Anyway he had a great day with Miss Wendi and the other kids. I also held it together as my baby boy went to his first day of school.

Labor Day Fun!

We went to Sandhollow with our neighbors the Albrecht's for Labor Day. It was way fun! Kody, Tyler, and I wake boarded. We decided we might be too old to kill ourselves doing water sports. I think I might have broke my throat! I don't know if you can brake your throat but mine sure is sore to the touch after a bad wreck in the water! Then we decided to tube because we weren't hurt enough from wake boarding. I think Tyler was trying to get me back for letting my dog pee on his lawn because he was anything but gentle. And of course I forced McKoy to have fun even though he didn't want to. Good times!

Soccer Star!

McKoy is playing soccer with his cousin Taylor. If you haven't ever been to a soccer game played by 4 year olds, you are missing out! Taylor is hilarious! He is so serious and loves the game. He is really good and scores a lot of goals. McKoy is chasing after the ball but is easily distracted by the ice cream truck that drives by. It is so cute!

Our Newest Arrival!

After trying for a baby for a couple of years (we lost 3), and doing 2 intrauterine inseminations, we found out we were having a girl! The pregnancy was risky so I was seeing the doc quite often. I saw the neonatologist in St. George as well as had weekly NST's. Our sweet Mataya was born 5 weeks early on June 8th. She was posterior with a brow presentation. (Translation: she was face up with her head tipped back) She got completely beat up coming out and her little face was totally bruised. She was 4 pounds 2 ounces and 17 inches long. She had to stay at the hospital for 14 days. (That place is a very pricey babysitter) But she is doing well now. She is eating and gaining weight. Her bruising is gone and she has become a real baby. (Meaning she doesn't sleep all the time) McKoy loves her of course. Anyone that knows him, knows he loves babies! I am staying home with her for a little while. I am doing the Family Medical Leave Act and I don't have to go back to work until Nov.9th. I love my first graders but I also love my kids and I want to be with them as much as I can.

I am a blogger! (Yeah right)

My best cousin Talia helped me get a blog going. I have been wanting to join all you blogger folks but I didn't know how. Anyway I am going to try to keep up with the rest of the computer nerds of the world. (Mostly I'm the nerd because I'm computer illiterate.)