The Child First and Always

My friend Alecia made Mataya this onsie. She sewed a heart on it for her to wear to the hospital for her heart surgery. That is one DANG good friend! She is seriously so thoughtful. It brought me to tears.

Mataya getting her baby scrubs on. Those are the funniest scrubs I've ever seen! Cutest dolly!

Whoa Kody! 6:00AM might be too early for you!

My princess waiting for the doctor to come and get her. Pretty happy for 6:00AM.

Still smiling even though she is starving by now. She is still waiting to go back for the surgery.

This is about 7 hours after surgery. She is up and eating. Her poor eyes look super sleepy. She is still our happy little girl.

She didn't really pull at her IV or her leads. She was a good baby.

Tiny little IV.

Hanging with daddy and getting sleepy.

That little recliner is where I tried to sleep. It wasn't very comfortable but who am I kidding. I didn't really get much sleep.

Poor baby:(

Just rocking my dolly to sleep.

The title of this post is Primary Children's motto. Just reading it chokes me up. I am the biggest baby over everything. If you have never been to Primary Children's Medical Center you are lucky. However, it truly is an amazing place. The entire hospital is designed for children. They don't wheel you around in beds or wheel chairs. They have wagons and little cars stuffed with pillows so you can ride in style. The hospital is being repainted and they have quotes on the walls from little kids. There are toys everywhere and the waiting rooms have Xbox's, Nintendo Wii's, and Playstations for big kids. It is really all about making children feel safe and happy while they are there. It's seriously a place where angels do their work.

So we are home now from the hospital. It was sooo fast. The last post I did was yesterday, I just forgot to actually publish the post. I was so tired. Anyway, after surgery she couldn't move her legs for 6 hours. But she was sleeping most of the time. When she did wake she would cry or moan. At about 5:00 she really woke up and was starting to act a little bit like herself. She didn't sleep that well last night. She kept waking up and I would rock her back to sleep. I slept in the room with her which was nice. I was worried about her sleeping at night in a strange place. This morning at about 6:00 they took her down for a second chest xray. Then the doctor came and visited us. He said things looked great but he wanted to do an ultrasound of her heart before we left. So we did that and then they released us! It was awesome that we could get out of there. We have to see the cardiologist again on Thursday or Friday but she will be in St. George so we don't have to go back to Primary's until the end of the month. Yay! Thank you to everyone that prayed for us! I know our prayers were truly answered. I cannot ever repay everyone's kindness. My school friends totally rock! They got me this big basket full of treats to munch on while we were at the hospital. Alecia Ross made Mataya two onesies and a darling hair flower. My neighbors are making me dinner, and a million people called, texted, or left comments on this blog to let us know they were thinking of us. Our family members helped give Mataya and I a blessing before we went. Kody's aunt Sheila and uncle Don let us stay at their house on Thursday and fed us dinner. Sheila bought McKoy a toy and Mataya two outfits. My sister got Mataya and McKoy each a little bear to make them feel better. And she kept McKoy one night and Kody's family kept him the next. I am so blessed to have an amazing family and amazing friends. Thank you so much! I will never forget all of your kind words. It has meant more than you'll ever know. Thanks a million from Mataya, Kody and I!

Surgery Day

I am sitting at Primary Children's in Mataya's room. She is in and out of sleep. Kody is sleeping on the little cot in here. We drove up to Salt Lake last night and stayed at Kody's aunt's house. We got up at 3:00AM to feed Mataya because she could drink breast milk up until 3:30. Then my alarm went off at 4:30. We had to leave the house by 5:30 to get to the hospital by 6:00. When we got here they got us all checked in. Mataya got put in these little tiny scrubs. They are soooo cute. She weighed in at 12 lbs 7 oz. Then they started to prep her for surgery. They asked when she last ate and I told them 3:00am. They asked if it was formula and I said no that is was breast milk. Then I told them that I fortify my breast milk with a teaspoon of formula. Well apparently babies cannot drink formula past midnight the night before surgery. So because her breast milk had 1 teaspoon of formula in it, they had to push the surgery back an hour. That sucked because she was already hungry. So they took her into surgery at about 9:00ish. They said it would be about 3 hours. After about an hour and a half the doctor paged us. He came out of surgery and explained He had found that she had an additional defect that he went ahead and fixed. He put a stainless steel cork screw like thing into one of her holes in her heart. Then he put some other device into the other part where there was a defect. (If I explain it more I will get the facts wrong.) So they went back into surgery after explaining what they were doing. Anyway now her legs are bound together and she can't move for 6 hours. She is in and out of sleep right now. I will give a better update later.

Mataya's Update

People always post on their blogs their baby's stats from their doctor visits. So at Mataya's nine month appointment (in March) I thought I would post her stats. Then I got to the doctor and after the horrible visit I changed my mind. Her weight was still really low. So low that I cried. Then the very next day after her nine month well check we had to take her to the cardiologist. It was decided that if she didn't gain weight she would have to have heart surgery in April. So the cardiologist put her on yet ANOTHER medication to see if it would help her gain weight. I am still pumping out my breast milk four times a day and fortifying it with special formula to make it really high calorie milk. I take her in for weekly weight checks to monitor her very closely. She is now 10 months old. Her weight has gone up some since her 9 month well check. She is currently 12 pounds 2 ounces! Yay! (Sort of) YAY for her, but BOO when we compare her to other babies:( So right before Easter we were called by our cardiologist from Primary Children's and it was decided by a team of doctors up there, that she would have heart surgery on April 30th. That brings us up to date. This coming Friday my sweet little baby is going to have heart surgery to close up one of her three holes in her heart. They say it is a low risk surgery and that she probably won't be in the hospital very long. So we are praying that all will go well and that my pipsqueak little girl can get some pounds packed on her tiny little body. I will let everyone know how it goes.

She Wore An Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini!

Mataya's first swimming suit!

Two teeth! Woot woo! So beautiful! Tayzha and Mataya Easter was a great time! We colored eggs at my moms house. Then we did our regular family tradition. We went to Mesquite to swim and play. It was Mataya's first sleepover. (Besides our last trip to Primary Children's) The weather was much better than the snow that Cedar got. Tayzha is our best tender for bingo night. I almost won $100,00! Ok so I didn't almost, but I was only three away. Then it turned into two away, then one away. Then the pot went down to $300 and some little b$#%& won instead. I was so mad and as I left the bingo parlor my number had been sucked up into the machine to be called next! I almost won! But I lost $46 instead. My friend Malesha would completely understand my disappointment. Wouldn't you Malesha? McKoy and Mataya hanging together in the hotel room. Our redneck pool! When cousin Kobe went to see a man about a horse in the hot tub, the pool was shut down for some sterilization. Our family wasn't going to let a little poop ruin our fun, so we carried the pool furniture out to the lawn in the middle of the Oasis. What a bunch of hillbillies. The best part is that some old guy thought the chairs were just set out there on the lawn, and he came and took one of the chairs and laid out with us. We always get the party started! Can I get a woo woo?!

Mataya catching up on her reading. Is that The Huntin' Fool magazine? That girl has a lot to learn. I've got my work cut out for me.

Ahhh how darling! OK, that's enough cutsie stuff.

After Mesquite we went to Leeds for an egg hunt at Kody's grandparents. Good times! Then we went to St. George on Easter Sunday to my dad's house, and watched as my dad and Shelley gave my kids more presents than the actual Easter bunny did. We had an egg hunt there too. Then it was back to Cedar and over to Kody's parents for another basket. You can tell my kids aren't spoiled at all! I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Ahoy Matey!

We went to Pirate Island Pizza the last time we took Mataya to the doctor in St. George. We invited my dad to come eat lunch with us. He thought it was because we enjoy his company but really it was so my little sister could play with McKoy in the arcade, and my step mom could babysit Mataya! (Hey I'm no dummy)

I'm A Lover, Not A Fighter!

McKoy has started wrestling and is hilarious to watch! He is definitely a lover, not a fighter. He isn't aggressive at all! Kody has a hard time watching him because he wants him to be mean, and he just isn't. He never has been. He has always been sweet and loving. In the pictures he is wrestling our neighbor Easton Albrecht. He is a sweetheart too! I have to remind Kody that they are only 4 years old.

This is my sweet baby FINALLY starting to sit up on her own! And she just rolled over for the first time a few weeks ago. She is nine months! Anyway she doesn't totally have the sitting up thing down yet but we are getting there.

This is Milt's for Kody's 30th birthday! Wow he is old. I however am still a young spring chicken and always will be.(compared to him anyway)

Mataya looking surprised by the flash. Alecia Ross made that shirt! Isn't it so cute?

McKoy had to wear his wrestling clothes to dinner. I brought him clothes to change into but he and his dad insisted he didn't need to. Why do I even bother?

Baby JJ

So I never posted after Bresha had her baby. This is Jackson Kirby Judd born Jan. 2, 2010. He was 5 lbs 10 ounces. Bresha let me come in and be with her during the birth! The hospital has a new policy that only 4 people can come into the OB ward. (Not including dad) So I figured Janet and Kary would be 2 people and maybe Darrin's parents would be the other 2. But she let Steph and I in for the birth! I filmed while Steph took pictures. Don't worry it was all PG stuff. I am experienced in filming births (I filmed both of my sister's kids being born) so if you ever need a camera guy, I'm your girl. I keep it all PG so you can watch it later with your family. Anyway enough of me, advertising my skills. Baby JJ (that's what we call him) is beautiful! He is just like a little bird. He looks exactly like his daddy. It is so weird to see Bresha as a mom. She is awesome at it! I thought she would be a basket case when she took him home, but she is so calm about everything. Kody says just because I was a basket case doesn't mean everyone else is. I guess he is right. (Don't tell him I said that) Anyway last week Bresha moved to Salt Lake with out even getting my permission! Well, I miss her and baby JJ. I am certain he is missing me too!

Super Bowl Sunday!

Today is the super bowl! We love football at our house and we are going over to our neighbors in a little while. We not only love football but we love TV of any kind. We have a plethera of shows we watch religiously at our house. We watch Lost, which just started last week and is in its final season. We watch The Office, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and Survivor. And that is just on Thursday's. On Sunday's we watch Desperate Housewives, on Monday's and Tuesday's we watch Dancing with the Stars when it is on. Kody watches Heroes and this season I have been watching American Idol occasionally. I also tivo Ellen and Oprah daily along with Cold Case Files on A&E. Kody tivo's The Bone Collector. This is not a murder mystery show like you're thinking, it is actually a bow hunting show on the Outdoor Channel. (can anyone say STUPID?) He also records a bunch of other crap on the outdoor channel but they are not worth mentioning. We also pick up the occasional reality show like The Jersey Shore. You know good wholesome family entertainment. We have been watching a few new shows like Cougar Town with Courteney Cox lately as well. Anyway, the reason I am sharing this is because a few weeks ago we had a snow storm hit on a Thursday night. We were watching Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader waiting for our Thursday night line up to start when the satellite went out. We kind of just sat silently for a minute waiting to see what was going to happen. Kody looked at me and said, "It looks like there is snow out on the satellite." I nodded and waited for him to do something about it. He looked at me and said, "I'm not going out there. I guess we just won't watch TV tonight." I pondered this for a minute and thought there is no way I am sitting here all night staring at each other in silence. So I put on a hoodie and some boots and headed out with a broom to see if I could reach the satellite to brush off the snow. I walked through the snow to the side of the house in my boots and tried to reach the satellite with no such luck. I know you are wondering why I didn't get a ladder out and that would be because we don't own a ladder. Yes that is right, we have never owned a ladder in our seven years together. We used to borrow our neighbors, Randy and Malesha Hunter's ladder when we lived in Enoch. Now we borrow Steve and Martene Barker's ladder. Anyway without a ladder I got creative and came inside and got a stool from the kitchen. I trucked back outside in the blinding snow carrying a broom and a ladder. Well standing on the stool and reaching with the broom still wasn't high enough to reach the satellite. I looked around and there just happened to be a wheel barrel on the side of the house in a good location. Melted snow and rain had frozen into a large ice block inside the wheel barrel. So I put the stool on top of the ice block inside the wheel barrel and climbed on top. If I fell off I was going to land in the window well right beside me filled with 3 rakes left out from our sprinkler system. I carefully lifted the broom up and I could just barely reach the bottom of the satellite. So I carefully banged the satellite with the broom to knock off the packed snow and do you know what happened? It worked! All the snow fell off of the satellite-and landed on my head. Yes, a pile of snow fell right on top of my head neerly knocking me into the window well! So of course I am now madder than heck at my husband who is sitting inside by the fire place while I am outside risking my life so we can watch our Thursday shows! I come inside with the stool, soaking wet, and he doesn't even look up from the TV! Needless to say I gave him an earful before our 7:00 shows started! Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! (even if it is snowing)

Christmas/New Years!

This is our new years ever party! It was way fun. We played bingo and left, right, center. Kody won like $60 and I won $40. Chaaa Ching! Also we partied at Jeanette's a few days before Christmas and my aunt Jo won $51. There is a pic of her bathed in $1's!

This is Christmas day. Mataya has a dart on her head in one of the pictures. (Courtesy of McKoy) She is in a Hester jersey from her papa Don Don. What can we say? The Bears rock!

This is Mataya's room. I have been meaning to post this for a long time but I didn't know how to make these collages. Anyway my friend Alecia helped me figure it out. Then my friend Nicole helped me put it on my blog. Also Nicole helped me decorate Mataya's room. Thanks friend! PS I stole the saying on the wall from Alecia Ross. I am a mean friend and copied her when she said she was going to use it. So she gets the credit for the vinyl lettering. Thanks Alecia!

December Pictures

This is sweet Mataya at Primary Childrens when she was sedated. It was so sad trying to make her wake up when she was so out of it. (But Kody and I did think the meds would be great to use at night on both our children) JK-but not really. This is a picture on the wall at Primary Children's Hospital. When I saw it I just started to sob. Well , I had been crying all day but this picture made me cry harder. This is McKoy doing his homework on the blinds. Practicing his name isn't a crime is it? Miss Wendi would be so proud. Here is Mataya playing baby Jesus at our ward party. And here is McKoy playing the Indian at the ward party. If you are wondering about the Indian see the Christmas post for an explanation.