Summer Fun...Finally (WARNING! Lots of Pictures)

This is all of us at the Angels game. These pictures are all backwards. Sorry. Kary and Koy at the game. Our Fam The boys Those ladies sitting behind Kody were hilarious. They were trying to talk to Koy but he couldn't understand them. We laughed the whole time!

McKoy with his prized ball!

Kody giving the ball to McKoy.

We went to the game early to watch batting practice.

Eating at Joe's Crab Shack. (No I did not eat that little guy but Kody and Kary sure did)

Mataya just kicking back on vacation.

McKoy didn't want to wear the bib because he said it was for babies.

Feeding our faces.

More feeding our faces. Eating at a cute little 50's diner at Huntington Beach.

Summer Lovin'

McKoy digging for shells.

I love this pic. Kody is holding Mataya and Kary and Koy are going for a dip.

McKoy got buried in the sand.

This picture is so cute! Grandma and Grandpa with the kids. PS Kody is getting scorched in the background.

Waiting in line at Disneyland. This is a cute picture of my boys.

Taya having a crack while we wait for the guys to get off Space Mountain.

Chip n Dale's tree house. Not the strippers the OTHER Chip n Dale's. This was a family trip!

Having lunch at the Hungry Bear in Disneyland.

McKoy saying Hi!

This was in Toon Town.

How cute is this picture? Just hanging with Mickey and Minnie!

We went to California for a family vacation last week. It was a blast! Kody's parents went with us too. We stayed at the Fairfield Marriot right across the street from Disneyland. We went to the beach the first day. Kody got totally fried! His front and back were lobster red. I got a little burned on my legs too. The next day we walked across the street to Disneyland. It only cost us $6.00 to get in thanks to my dad and Shelley. They gave us Disney gift cards for Christmas. They were going to come with us but my dad had to be out of town the weekend we ended up going:( Anyway, Disneyland was so fun! McKoy loved it! It was his first time. Mataya was super good too. I was nervous she was going to give me trouble but she just hung out in her stroller. The last day we moved to a new place. Kary and Janet got a condo at their time share. It was soooo nice! (Thanks guys) Then that night we went to an Angels game. We arrived early to watch batting practice. A ball was hit and Kody and another guy went after it at the same time. Neither of them got it and it fell into the field. The guy wanted to fight Kody over it. He said some stuff and caused a scene that made some of the players look. So when another ball was hit into center field one of the players turned and tossed it up to Kody. The player then said to the guy trying to fight, "That's what you get punk!" So Kody gave the ball to McKoy who said, "Dad, what do I do?" Then Koy turns and throws the ball back onto the field! It was so funny! Everyone in the stands started laughing. Well the player got it and threw it back up to Kody. So all was fine. The next day we drove home. We got stuck in traffic for an hour and half! It was horrible. I had to go to the bathroom pretty bad. By the time we were able to get off the freeway I had to go really bad and so did McKoy. So Kody pulls over at a gas station in Baker. It was 109 degrees and I could see the line to the bathroom was all the way outside. So we drove across the street to a different gas station. Koy and I go running in and there's a line at this one too! The person at the front saw that McKoy couldn't hold it so she let us go first. He went and then he waited while I went because I didn't want the people to think we butted in line for me. So I'm sitting there and McKoy leans on the bathroom door and it falls open. There are about 5 people looking at me on the pot! I can't shut the door because in order to do that I would have to stand up. So someone in line comes and shuts the door while I'm scolding my son. I'm so embarrassed that I rushed as fast as I could to get out of there. So I come out of the bathroom and Kody is holding Mataya getting some treats. We walked around for a little bit then we got back in the car to go eat. When we got to Dairy Queen I went to get out of the car and Kody grabs the back of my pants. I turned to see what he was doing and he had toilet paper in his hand. Then he said there's more! And he pulls out about two feet of toilet paper from my pants! I was in such a rush to get the H out of the bathroom that I somehow got a bunch of toilet paper stuck down my pants! The best part is I walked around the gas station in front of all sorts of people with it hanging out the back! AND that is how the trip ended.

Mataya Turns One

Happy Birthday!

Alecia Ross made that darling birthday hat! She taught me how to iron on the number one on her onsie. Then her mom sewed it on and sewed some ruffles on the bum. Baby Halle loaned us the matching leg warmers. Thanks so much guys!

Say cheese!

Having some cake.

Too much birthday! Mataya having a happy day. Papa Kary and Mataya.

3 days old

The day she was born. It hurts me to see her face like that. Her lips were bleeding:(

Her poor eyes were bruised and swollen shut. I didn't see her eyes for a few days

So my baby girl turned one yesterday. I have mixed feelings about it. I prayed so hard for her to be here. I know there are people out there that have struggled with infertility way beyond anything I can imagine. But I wanted a baby soooo bad. I wanted to nurse a baby, rock one to sleep, change their diaper, feed them baby food. I wanted it all. (Yes I wanted to change diapers.) McKoy had grown out of diapers and I couldn't wait to have them again. So after Mataya was born I wanted her to stay a little baby. I didn't want her to get big. I loved nursing her. I loved how snugly she was. I wanted to have ten more babies after having her. Well I have changed my mind. Mataya has been really tough on me. Her birth was tough on me. Her many, many, doctor visits have been tough on me. Her surgery has been tough on me. Needless to say I am ready for her to gain weight so I can stop worrying so much about her. But I want her to stay a baby too. I have mixed feelings. Anyway, regardless of how I feel she turned one yesterday. I am sooooo blessed to be her mommy. All 13 pounds 4 ounces of her. (That was her weight on her birthday) I went all out on McKoy's first birthday. I had a huge party with a million presents. But that was 4 birthday parties ago. I am a little tired now. So we just had family over for cake and ice cream. Kody and I didn't even buy her anything. She'll never know. I buy her stuff all the time anyway, right? Of course all the grandparents bought her stuff and aunts, cousins, and friends. We only got one toy! Isn't that amazing! I hate toys! We have a million! And she is only one! So anyway I feel like this isn't that sentimental of a post for my baby girl's bday. I love her guts. She is the queen bee of this house. She is soooo fiesty. I have fear for when she gets older. Anyway- Happy Birthday Taya Ju!

Summer is Here!!!

Jeeez it's been awhile since I updated. So much has happened in the last month. Mataya is doing well. She decided not to sleep through the night after her surgery which almost made me check into the psych ward. It's getting better but not 100%. She sleeps well some nights and horrible others. It's like a newborn again! She lost a little weight after surgery but has put it back on and is now...wait for it...13 lbs 5 oz! How awesome is that? We are pretty excited. That was just at yesterdays weight check. I take her in weekly-yes weekly-and she is doing great. She is on a new medication yet again, that makes her constipated so that isn't fun, but otherwise we are looking forward to her first birthday next Tuesday! McKoy finished up his first year of preschool at the Purple Pumpkin Preschool. He will miss all his little friends and of course Miss Wendi. He is playing T-Ball which is hilarious. Kody is helping Tyler Albrecht coach the team and his cousin Taylor is on it, along with his BFF's Stockton and Easton. He is also doing summer swim lessons with Kysa Ross one of his other little friends. He is super busy jumping on the tramp and riding his bike with all the neighbor kids. I finished another year of first grade. Summer is so exciting but I will miss my class. I had some really cute kids this year. The last few weeks of school were really hard for me. I was super stressed out with Mataya and school was so busy. I made myself sick with stress but I made it through and now I am sooooooooooo loving being at home. We are going to do some fun stuff this summer. McKoy has never been to Disneyland so we are going to go on a family trip. It will be so fun. Hopefully Mataya will be nice and sleep when we are out of town. I will update next week after Mataya's first birthday.

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.