Merry Christmas!!!

Yesterday was so much fun. The kids are old enough to feel the excitement of Christmas but young enough to still know of the magic of it. We woke early (to early really ) Kadrey was just to excited, Jaxon just wanted to keep on sleeping he said "we can open the presents later" as he refused to get out of bed:) silly boy. However, after he started to open the presents he got very excited. Kadrey informed me that she had a wonderful day, and got most of the things on her list. The things that she did not get she will just ask for again next year. I am really surprised that Santa is still so real in her mind and I wonder if she still believes it all or just pretends too. Dan was almost as ecxited for Jaxons new toys as Jaxon was (that is Jaxons gun that Dan is holding )He rolled his ankle the other day and even though he had to limp and his ankle is the size of a soft ball he had a fun day. We then spent sometime at grandma and grandpas house (were the kids got some more presents)and then came home in the evening and played jr. Yahtzee and Jr. monopoly (we had a lot of fun).

Oh and I have quick story....The other day after work I can home and there was a small present on our porch (I was sure that it was a book). I figured it was from my visiting teachers even though it was not addressed to anyone specific. I stuck it under the tree

and continued on with the day. Yesterday it was one of the last present to get opened and it was a book. "i heard the bells on Christmas morn". only it was not from my

visiting teachers or anyone else that is i

n our ward. It was from Early Intervention (the therapists that worked with Kourtney) The book was for our family and they just wanted us to know that they were thinking of us and Kourtney - so sweet huh.

Well, Merry Christmas everyone ( I know that Christmas is only a one day celebration but I hope everyone can feel the spirit of it always:)

It's almost Christmas!!!!!!

Yay!!! Its almost time :) I can feel it in the air... The kids are being extra cryie and fighting a lot. I am so tired of wrapping presents and I am glad it is almost done with. However, I am very excited to see the looks on the kids faces in the morning that it makes it all worth it. This is the first year that we have had presents under the tree before Christmas morning and they are pretty excited about that. So Yay! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas eve and a wonderful Christmas day!

More snow!!!!

Yesterday it snowed more!! We spent a good part of our evening out shoveling snow. oh, the Joy:) I almost always have an excuse as to why I can not go out and help Dan out, but this year there was no such excuse - so I was out there shoveling away:) Thats ok though - it is really good exerisice and it does the body good to be doing some physical labor. While shoveling we where creating huge piles of snow on the lawn. The kids thought this was really cool and were trying to decide what they could build with all of the snow....so, Dan being the wonderful, great father that he is told the kids he would help them make a cave.

They love it:)

While waiting they each built a snowman. For some reason Jax decided that he did not like the head of his and knocked it off - what a nut. :)

Snow

This morning it was snowing when we woke (the kids and me that is, Dan was just getting home from work) so we all dressed warm and went outside and began to shovel. Dan did most of the work because I am a wimp and can not shovel much at a time and the kids quickly gave up on the shoveling idea and began jumping and playing in the snow (silly kids). We even made sure that the dogs got more straw put into their house (because they need to stay warm also:). After all of that is was time for waffles and showers, later today we are going to Salt Lake for my families "Pie Party". Fun days! I hate being cold but we had a lot of fun today.

It's Christmas time!!!!!!!!

We got our tree up last weekend. The kids had a lot of fun decorating it - ornaments lined up in rows, candy canes bunched together and my favorite- a little angle ornament - right near the top:)

We went to the "Christmas Parade" downtown (nearly froze) it was fun to go to a winter parade. Not something we normally do but we really enjoyed it :) Why people felt the need to continue to move into the street to get closer is beyond me, it most be the candy that was being thrown but really I will just buy my kids some candy (that didn't land in horse poo before my kiddies caught it - gross). I would love just to be able to sit and enjoy it but that's hard to do when people are jumping in front of your nice little spot because they can not possibly find a spot anywhere else on the 500 blocks that the parade is (OK maybe not 500) going by. The street in front of the curb (in front of people already there) is really the most reasonable place, right?!? (maybe I am being sarcastic)

Really we did have fun:) Sorry No pictures - it was too dark outside to get any good ones.

sorry

I know that hearing music right when you come onto my blog is annoying especially when there are videos with sound. For now just remember to scroll to the bottom and "STOP" the playlist. I am working on not having this happen but really I cant figure these computer things out:) Thanks and sorry again!!!!!!!

Parent Teacher Conference!!!!!!

I actually think that they were last week - but sometimes I can not remember little things like the days :)

Jaxons-

He has improved so much over the past couple of months. He had a year of pre-school but still started school at a level a bit behind most of the kids. He scored very low on his first dibbles test (the teacher and I did discuss that and think he probably scored so low because of his speech). His test they gave right before PTC was really good and it shows that he is almost caught up to the rest of his class, he goes to speech therapy in school twice a week and was also just excepted into the Scottish Wright House for therapy once a week - I am pretty sure with the growing confidence he has with his speech he is more willing to share the things he knows with others (that is why his dibbles test was better, I think). He has a thirst to learn and wants to be able to read everything so he is working on it:) His teacher did mention one problem area he has and that is LISTENING - well, what can I say about that? He is Jaxon and has a hard time listening to me somedays:) but, he is doing really well and for that I am proud (and we are working on his listening skills).

Kadrey-

is doing well (of course :) her reading and math levels are above the class average which is very exciting for me (I don't think I have ever averaged above class in any subject). She stays on task pretty well and tries her best to do the job correctly. She likes to read (and do math, which I am sure will change at one point. Not many people like reading and math). She always does good on her spelling tests, we just need to work on the vocabulary. The one problem area she is having is LISTENING - only during "teaching time" - that what the teacher calls it. Well, truth be told I don't think you will find many kids that listen all the time. I personally think that her issue is more boredom then anything else - she is not a "wild child" and stays on task pretty well, even at home. In my opinion she is just "uninterested" in what he is teaching because she already knows those things. I think he has to teach to the average and if she is above that then I guess shes bored (but we are working on her listening skills)

All in all it went pretty good, and they both got a couple of new books for it :)

*my favorite saying for the kids is "do I speak chinese?" because sometimes they act like they have no idea what I am saying, or they just totally ignore me :) Oh, the joys!

But really they are great and we have fun.

Disneyland!

Kadreys hair

The other morning I was brushing Kadreys hair - she was crying from the tangles. We always put her hair up - well, always meaning since she came home with lice a couple of months ago. I was getting mad at her for crying and mad because the tangles were there. I decided that it was time to cut her hair. Now she is 7 years old and has never had a real hair cut, I mean she has had it trimmed but nothing major - until the other day. She was so excited to get it cut - me I was a bit nervous, I mean they cut off a bunch of her hair and it has always been long. However, she loves it and it really is cute. So even though it was sad it see it go ,it was good "moving on" moment for us. Plus she is so stinkin cute you cant help but love it :)

more Halloween (a week later:)

Ok, on the night that we went Trick - or - Treating Jaxon decided that he wanted to be a tiger again so I am sorry but no ninja pictures of him. However, he did make a cute ninja but he sure is a cute tiger too. Kadrey makes such an adorable witch huh ?!

We spent the evening with Dans sister Candi and her kids (our cousins) we had a lot of fun. Somehow the group picture is not on the computer so I can not share it with you but it was really fun to go out as a family and spend some time together. I hope you all had a nice Halloween also - oh and I am so excited for "the Holidays". Not really ready but excited for sure:)

Halloween week!!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful day today has turned out to be :)

I made a monster head cake for a lady I work with, now making cakes is not always my most favorite thing to do - however, I did enjoy making it for her, I was happy that she was so happy and excited about it.

The kids got to sleep over at Grandma and Grandpas house yesterday - they really had fun. We went trunk or treating yesterday at their ward.Jax was a nijia and Kadrey was a witch. We are going trick or treating tonight of course and if you really want to know i think that is just way to much candy for any kid but they have fun and really enjoy going - the best part about it is that because they already have candy they know that we wont be out for very long and areok with that. I just hope that we dont freeze out there.

After I dropped off the cake I stopped by Kourtneys grave to say Hi to her and I was totally shock to see her headstone there - done correctly and everything. (Thanks Dad for being the aggresive one and making sure it got done:).

So last week I decided that instead of carving pumpkins we would paint them - so we did :) It was really a lot of fun (well, the kids and I painted ours, Dan decided that he needed to play video games instead).

This one is for Kourtney

This is Jaxons The plain one is Dans

This one is Kadreys

This one is mine

I almost forgot....on Thursday the Kids went Trunk or Treating and Jaxon was a tiger Kadrey was still a witch and even though I dont have pictures they were totally cute . I will take pictures tonight and post them soon :)

Disneyland!

Oh we had so much fun last week. We where in Disneyland. I have a ton of pictures (but I still have not figured out how to put them on the computer) I will get them up sometime. My kids are fearless and went on every ride there. They loved loved the california screemin and even talked me into going on it 3 times - they went on it like 7 times - I am a big chicken and did not love that ride, however the Tower of Terror was a lot of fun. The walking I'm sure was enough to do about anyone in but we barely noticed because we have so much fun everyday :) well, maybe we noticed a little at the end of each day when our toes felt like they could fall off. We went with some friends of ours and it was so fun to have friends around and their kids and our kids got along really well for the most part.

Its really sad that coming back to the real world sucked. It is hard to get back into the swing of things and get our "normal" everyday underway. Really it was so much fun and nice to be able to be carefree and worryless for 6 days. We really had a BLAST and we are already planning our trip back again.

Kadreys cheering dance

Today was Kadreys big day. She finally got to perform that dance that she has been wanting to do for so long. The "camp" was all through June (the performance was cancelled due to weather) and again all through August. She was so stinkin cute. They danced at a half time for the football team that our city has, these little boys were like eight years old (so cute). Plus they cheered for the first half of the game.

We then spent the afternoon in the mountains at a campsite BBQing hamburgers and playing in the river and having fun, We went up with Grandma and Grandpa Montague - no one else in my family could make it, hopefully next time everyone can go. Fun day!

Monday is my first day of work now I have had the training but I am still very nervous, I mean I have spent the last 12 years of my life working in a bakery. Dan and Kadrey both start school on Monday (Jax starts on the 31). Its going to be a crazy week - fun and adventure filled but crazy none the less :) I hope that everyone has a good week.

Happy Birthday Baby!!!!

So, today has been a busy day. Kourtney would be one today so we went to her graveside and had a little balloon release for her, we also took her some flowers and I made "giant" cupcakes with hot pink frosting on them. I always thought that she would make it to her 1st birthday and it makes me sad that she didn't but I hope she knows that we love her and miss her - and that she is our super special girl.

LOVE YOU KOURTY

I had my official interview today for my new job. I start on Wed (I told Maceys I would the rest of this week, which I cant but i hope they understand). I am a bit nervous about it, I mean I have been working in a bakery for the last 12 years. Dan says not to worry because I know what I am doing that I was on this path once in my life and somehow took a wrong turn and ended up spending part of my life with Maceys - I hope he is right.

The job is called Americorp and the best I can figure for now is that it is tutoring kids, helping set up reading programs, recruiting parent volunteers and basically doing whatever the school need help with. It is full time and will pay for up to two years of college. I work school days but not holidays. I am nervous but excited.:)

Big days!!!!!

Jaxon (aka Jogee) had his birthday on Thursday. He is now a big five year old. He stayed the night at my parents house so that Dan could get some sleep while I was at work. The first thing on our agenda for that day was a dentist appt. for him. Not "Grandma's dentist" a new one (he is not a fan of the old dentist). The dentist decided that his tooth needed to be pulled out (that's right on his B-day he had a tooth pulled). We then took him mini golfing and he loved it. We had a lot of fun and even though it proved to be a bit frustrating at times we enjoyed it. For his b day we got Jogee a new bike - it is big and blue and has a kick stand (the most important things right :) He has been able to ride a bike without training wheels since the end of last summer and so we decided that it was time for an upgrade for him. Than we went to Chuck - a - rama and had dinner (Dans dad gave him a couple of gift certificates for his birthday, so we had a good dinner that night).

For work I had to make a cake for the Coke company. I had to make a 6 pack of can and the cake actually turned out OK. I mean for someone with no schooling or cake carving abilities and for cake not designed for that kind of thing and because I have no artistic ability I think I did pretty good. Kim and I also made a coke cup so from now on you can just call us "Chief Duff". Also I gave my two weeks notice to my work. I know it was a rather hasty decision but it is also a much needed change for me.

(again no pictures I still havent gotten that far in my learning of the computer sorry)

I'm back!!!!!!!

Hey, sorry I know it has been forever since I've done any kind of update - but I am going to do one today. However we have a new computer (that is part of the reason for no updates - our laptop died) so no pictures - sorry - plus I keep forgetting to take pictures of our "events".

So many things to tell about I am not even sure where to start.

We had a family reunion (for the Montague side). For one of the fun events we had me, Kadrey, Jaxon, Kali, and Bryan performed the Hannah Montana Hoedown Throw down. It was a lot of fun - I just hope that someone got pictures of it and that one day I will get to see them.

For mine and Dan's 8 year anniversary - 8 YEARS - we went to the Kenny Chesney concert. It was a lot of fun. We have never done anything other then dinner and a movie for our ann. so I was pretty excited. I hope that my future is filled with lots of concerts cause I loved it.

We had our first ever yard Sale this last weekend. It actually was not as horrible as I was lead to believe it would be, and we made pretty good on our sales , and I got a lot of space freed up in the house.

Dan turned 30 years old yesterday. Ha! ha! he is getting old huh? He really is not to happy about getting "older" but he will be fine, plus it is kinda fun to tease him about it.

And if you can believe it Jaxon will be 5 on Thursday. He is already almost 5 and he is starting Kindergarten at the end of the month. He is growing up so fast.

OK well now I hope you all feel more informed and know that I have not forgotten about you, life just gets crazy some days - you know?! -

I will do better at posting fun things and I will also figure out how to get some pictures onto my awesome computer so that I can share them you all, and I will try to be better at taking picture :)

Stadium of Fire

I hope that everyone had a great holiday. We sure did.
It started in the afternoon when we had a BBQ/picnic with part of our family that we don't get to see very often. We played soccer and played in a little creek and just had a fun time. The kids got to know their cousins better (well kinda cousins but the technicalities are very difficult so for the sake of understanding and simplicity that is what they are).



Later that day we were treated to THE STADIUM of FIRE it was so much fun. The headliner of the event was THE JONAS BROTHERS. Now I know that not everyone can be a fan of this group but we have a 7 year old girl and we loved it. It was so fun to be able to spend time with the kids at a place that we all loved so much. After the concert they had the biggest firework show (I mean it is called THE STADIUM of FIRE for a reason). We sang, we danced, and had a great time.

We hope that you all had a wonderful Holiday weekend too.

Tonsils

Kadrey got her tonsils out this morning. The surgery went really well (yah), and she is recovering pretty ok. She hates the taste of her pain med. and is very hungry (put it hurts too much to eat) but is "normal".

Her "cheer and dance" performance was cancelled this weekend because of the stupid rain. The lady in charged called me yesterday to tell me that they were having a "make-up" performance tomorrow. Kadrey cant go (because she just had surgery) so she has to miss out after all of her practicing.

Jax had a fun end of season T-ball game (yah, its over). He actually blasted the ball pretty good (that's what Dan told me since I was busy helping someone else on the team) he was very proud of his self.

oh life! somedays...

So, we have been taking Kadrey to the Doctors a lot lately. We are trying to get her annual winter night cough (that has now turned into an all day everyday cough) under control. She has been placed on lots of meds and she has breathing treatments - she has also had an x-ray done and blood drawn. It was decided today that her tonsils and adenoids need to come out ASAP. So next wednesday is the exciting day. 8 days away, should I be worried? Tonsillectomys are a very common thing - so no worries right? I gotta say I have been trying to be ok with this but am I?! I dont know. She also has "allergy induced asmia", getting to tonsils out should make a big improvement (not fix the problems totally but that is ok).

Kadrey is in the Washington Terrace "Cheer and Dance" camp. She has been practicing a lot and she gets to do her performance on Saturday. Dan says that I am competitive but I am not I just like her to try her best and I get really mad when I feel I she is not - that is not competitive.

Jaxon has his last T-ball game tomorrow. I am so glad. Helping 4-6 year old try and play T-ball and understand the concept of the game is really not that fun, and really little kids dont understand the concept of hurrying. But he had a lot of fun and really now that they are starting to understand it all its kind of sad that its about over.

Lindseys (my sister-in-law) parents have been so sweet. They bought our little Kourtney a bench - it is made of stone and is Noahs Arc, with a rainbow and animals and arcs for the feet of the bench. We took it up to the cemetery and put it right by Kourtys tree. We just love it. Thanks again Hunna and Linda we love you guys and are so grateful for you and all you have done for us.

Hi!!!! A poem for Kourtney

So, I know it has been forever since I have updated anything. My computer was having some problems and in the end to fix it they had to "clean-it off" totally. So I have not taken the time to sit down and figure out how to get my pictures back on to a program (I am sure that is not difficult at all, but I have been lazy I guess).

My friend wrote this beautiful poem (i guess you call it a poem - even though it does not rhyme).
I just wanted to take a second and share it with you guys - It is so lovely

The Master calls
to a precious daughter
Come home to me
your work is done
Your spirit was strong
when you body was weak
You touched so many
with your sweet spirit
You taught those around you
to love with all their heart
Treasure what matters the most
for this time is short
Reach inside themselves to find
more strength than they know
Service without a thought
willing to lend a helping hand
The precious daughter answers
I want to come but I can not leave them alone
The master smiles and answers
Sweet child they will not be alone
come home to me
We will watch over them together


Krystal Smith


Thank you Krystal, we love this.

T-ball

So I keep forgetting to take a picture of his team. Jax started T-ball on Monday - It is so cute, all the little kids hitting and catching the ball. And I know that as a mom we all think this but Jaxon is really pretty good. He has games twice a week so I will get hopefully get a picture :) and then I will share it with everybody.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to take a second and thank everyone for the love and support you have given my family over this last while. We are really so very grateful. We love you all and appreciate all you have done (and continue to do). Thank you all so much for being there and caring. Our Kourtney is terribly missed but also very loved - loved by more than just her mom and dad, thank you for sharing your love with her and with us.

For Kourtney

Kourtney Raine HowellWashington Terrace – Our sweet angel Kourtney was born August 17, 2008 in Ogden, Utah to parents Daniel Scott Fulton Howell and Kazia Lorraine Montague Howell. On April 18, 2009 she quietly passed away at home, cradled in the loving arms of her mother, returning to the loving embrace of her Heavenly Father.Kourtney leaves behind her loving parents and family; big sister Kadrey Ana Howell, age 6; big brother Jaxon Scott Howell, age 4; also adoring great-grandparents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.Kourtney’s brief stay with us was filled with difficult physical challenges which she endured gracefully with steadfast determination. She greatly blessed our lives with a wonderfully sweet and powerful spirit that was felt by all. We feel privileged to have had her with us these eight months. We miss her and mourn her passing, yet look forward with faith and hope to that day when we will be reunited together forever as a family.We express our thanks and gratitude to all of the people who gave Kourtney such tender care and attention, and to those who support and sustain us with their love, faith and prayers.Graveside services will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, 2009 at Myers Evergreen Memorial Park, 100 Monroe Blvd. Friends may call prior to the service at Myers Mortuary, 845 Washington Blvd, Ogden from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Our Angel Baby

Our sweet little baby left our home on Saturday to "return home" with her heavenly father. We are very saddened by this and even though we wish that she could have stayed with us a bit longer, we are happy that we got to have her here for a little while. Her life was filled with physical struggles and pain but also a lot of love and I know that the reason she was able to "hang-on"as long as she did was because she felt how much love was around her. She is our little angel baby and even though she is not with us now we know that in our hearts she always will be here. I am happy that she no longer hurts. I just wish I could be with her while she is playing, laughing, dancing, and smiling, but I am glad she gets to do those things, and I know that she will be taken care of by special angels until I am able to be with her again.

We miss her so very much and wish that her stay could have been longer. We are very proud that she picked our family to join and I just hope she knows that she is a very special very loved little girl.

Home yay!

Kourtney was able to come home on Sat (yay). She almost needed to stay, her heart rate and secretions started to act up before we were able to leave on Sat. but the Doc, Dan, and I talked about it and decided that problems like this were going to be "normal" for her and so we decided that it was something we were going to try and handle at home.

Everything is a bit crazy but we were able to have a good Easter and a fun visit from the Easter bunny. We actually did not color hard boiled eggs until Sunday afternoon - but that's ok because the E. bunny doesn't hide those eggs ( hard boiled eggs sitting out all night YUCK ) so we dyed them and then made deviled eggs YUMMY. I didn't get any picture of the baskets but they were cute and the kids were really excited. It was a fun day.

Having Kourt home is really nice and having our family together is great. There are some days that are difficult and after having her in the hospital for so long (where they take care of her and make sure that she gets everything she needs) it is almost like relearning everything again. Plus things are a bit more difficult and she is more "fragile" now then she was but we are doing it and so far everything is fine.

We had to get a new oxygen machine for Kourt before she was able to come home - our old one did not go up high enough for her new level required). Suddenly I hear this LOUD alarm so I jump out and grab my towel, I run into the living room where Dan already is. We just could not figure out where the sound was coming from. We thought it might be our fire alarm which is hooked up to the house alarm so we start messing with the buttons - but that only set off an alarm signal and then we had some lady speaking thru our alarm box asking if everything was ok. Dan finally figured out that it was the Oxygen and was able to just turn it off and then back on and it was ok (until it happened again later that day). I then had to reassure the alarm lady that it was just the oxygen machine and that everything was ok (and give her a code and reassure her again). We did get a new machine yesterday - even though we only had that problem twice and it was easily fix just by turning it off and then back on - I dont think that turning a machine off and back on is ever a good way to fix it.:)

Almost home!

So, Kourtney is still in the hospital but she is doing much better then she was last week, but not wonderful. The Docs have decided that tomorrow (maybe monday) is the day that she is coming home. Even though her "baseline" is not were it was before her stay (she breaths faster, requires much more oxygen, has more seizures, and is agitated more easily and takes longer to settle down) they feel that this is her new "baseline" and that there is not much more they can do for her here so she is getting to come home. This is her longest hospital stay (not counting the NICU of course) and even though I am saddened that she can not go further along in the healing process it will be nice to have her home.

My two older kids have been very patient and understanding of her need to be here and of my need to be with her. They have spent almost all of their time at my mom and dads house (one night at my brothers) and I am grateful that I have family so willing to help. I know that it is hard on them and that they miss our "normal" routine, and just being with me and their sister (and their dad - but his is always at work so not much can change from that stand point). I am very happy that soon we will get to return to our regular life and not have to spend everyday at the hospital. On the up side Dree and Jax love to take showers in the hospital room and they think it is fun to wear the masks and the Child Life Specialist are always so willing to bring then toys and drinks :)

round what?.......six I think.

Kourtney is back in the hospital. She has pneumonia. We ended up taking her into the ER yesterday morning because her oxygen levels were droping and her heart rate went up very high (221). I figured that they would run some test give her an antibiotic and then send us home - that's what usually happens, I was very wrong. And poor Kadrey was so worried about her yesterday before school but I told her that we would take her to the ER and Kourt would be home before Kadrey got home from school - k so wrong, my bad.

She is doing ok. Her doc tells me that she is doing a "smidge bit" better today then she was yesterday. Her heart rate and respiratory rate are both a little lower - ever thing else is about the same. She is a tough girl and if fighting her way through this. This by far is one of the biggest struggles she has faced yet. All I can do is pray that everything will be ok, and I have to believe that it will.

This is a picture of Kourt in the ER with her daddy. I never knew that you could email pictures to your computer from your phone - Thanks to Candi (Dans sister) we have learned this cool concept :) and were able to post this very precious picture.

Our night out (for a bit)

We have had a social worker that has come over a few times to help us figure out if their was anything we could do by way of find someone to help us watch Kourtney - there is 1 program available in our state and it has a waiting list that is 8 years long ( and they just had their funding cut so who know what happens next) It is just so frustrating to not be able to go anywhere with the family. It has always been that one of us has to stay home with Kourt while the other goes to the store or Chucky cheese (with the other two kids of course) or well you get the idea... Well she mentioned that our only real option was to ask some responsible young adults that we know if they would be willing to come to our house and learn all of the things that Kourtney needs. You see it is not really HARD to care for her only different and once it is learned it is really not that bad. So I thought I would ask a girl that was in Young Women's while I was a leader. She is just a sweet heart and always so willing to help out, she is so much fun and Dree and Jax both love her. She agreed to come and learn and spent a few days (a few hours each day) observing and then tonight Dan and I went to the mall with no kids. She stayed with Kourtney and then the other 2 went with Uncle Bubby and Aunt Lindsey ( and they had so much fun playing with Addi). It was amazing to be able to go out and even though it wasn't far or terribly exciting it was nice. Thank you Jessica for being so willing to help us out - you are wonderful.

Bowling

Jaxon's school went on a field trip this last week. They went bowling (Dan got to go with him). He had so much fun.I am glad that he was able to do something that he really does enjoy. The older two kids really do have to give up a lot of what they want to do, and it makes me happy when they are able to have a good time.

Some random pictures

I just love looking at pictures of the little ones, all the memories are great. I realize that you will have no memories of the pictures but I wanted to share them anyway - aren't they so cute?!

round two

So, I posted a while back about the kids and the fun dentist trip we took. We finally had our other appt. today. Now I know that we were supposed to do this a while ago but you know life just got kinda crazy for a while:
I am happy to announce that Jax had his cavity filled with a lot more cooperation on his part and a lot less frustration on the dentists. Kadrey had a harder time, her poor little teeth just really were not ready to come out (super long roots), and the numbing shots were almost more then she could handle. She really did not have that problem last time, but I can almost guarantee that she will no longer be happy to go to the dentist for any reason. But at least it is all taken care of now and she will have more room in her little mouth for all those teeth that want to grow in.

Kourtney has been doing better (no hospital trips lately). She has an ear infection and is a little congested, but she is hanging in there. Jaxon on the other hand has a sinus infection - that we cant get rid of because every time we give him his meds he throws them up- he also has infintigo (its a spotty, rashy thing on his face- the med for that is working- its a cream to rub in, nothing oral). Its seems that everyone in our house has been getting sick cold/flu and we just keep passing it around. Lucky for us it has not made its way to Kourtney (hopefully it never will), we try to stay away from her as best we can while we are feeling sick.

Todays news

Kourtney had her heart Echo today. It was determined that she has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (thats what my Bro. RW has). It means that her muscle is to thick and it is harder to pump the blood through the arteries. They say that it is not too bad yet, but will naturally progress as time goes by. No meds are needed yet, she will just have to be followed and they will later decide what to do. They feel that her heart condition kind of takes a back sit to the neurological problems right now. I was not really shocked by the finding but was blind sided by "You need to get tested also, even though you were tested while young the disease can show up at any age". and then we get to hear "you need to get your other two children tested, once a year until they are adults" and "we need to do some genetic testing and see how strong the gene is". Poor little girl, I hope that the bad news will stop coming. I guess all that I can do is hope for the best and pray for the strength to handle whatever we need to.

Parent Teacher Conference

The time has come, parent teacher conferences again. Kadrey is doing well, her teacher told me that over the past few months she has seemed to opened up and is more actively participating in class time. The thing that she is getting the lowest mark on is homework (oops). Its not that she doesnt understand it, we just forget to do it some days (ok lots of days) - life gets crazy, you know! Jaxon is also doing well - when did they start having PT conference in pre-school? His speech is not really improving and he doesn't seem to be understanding the whole letters and/or numbers concept - homework in preschool too?!? but he has wonderful social skills and is friends with everyone in his class. He is very good at sharing and likes to make sure that everyone is having a good time, he loves to make people laugh and his teacher tells me that he can adapt to any personality and age group, he brings happiness with him and on the days that he misses school (on days we have to go to salt lake for Kourtneys appt.) everyone asks about him. She says that social skills are one of the most important things to learn at this age. I am so proud of him and tonight while we were working on math homework he said he was having fun and he seemed to be understanding it. Plus, the book fair was buy one get one free so the kids really scored at that (yay)!)

and again

Sorry I really am not doing a very good job at keeping everybody updated. Kourtney was in the hospital again, she went in on Friday of last week and she came home on Thursday. She is just really having a hard time with her airway. I think that the main reason we keep ending up in the hospital is because when it comes down to it nobody really knows what to do. The doctors try and they do the best they can, but her syndrome is so rare and there really is no direct path to take. I think i have had my fill of the medical field for a while, the Doctors, nurses, and Respitory therapists are starting to drive me crazy. They found that she has an UTI (urinary tract infection) and so she had to have an ultra sound on her kidneys. Apparently she has gas in one of her kidneys (gas develops from infection) there is no way to treat it so they just fight the infection (with antibiotics) and then in 10 days they will do another ultrasound. They also gave her too much of her Vitamin D and that has been discontinued for at least 10 days - they have to draw blood to test this also- she was only supposed to get 200 units and they gave her 2000. I am just glad that happened with her Vit. and not one of her more powerful meds. She seems to be doing a lot better now and we can only hope that the pattern of hospital stays have come to a close (at least for a few weeks:)

Work Hard?!

You think you work hard? Well, this is one hard job. I don't think anyone works this hard, it just wore him right out.

Yay...my mini Tigerette

I am so proud of her. Kadrey did a little performance for a half time show at my old high school. She was a "mini tigerette" and it was so cute. She had practices for 2 nights and on the third night was her performance. A couple of years ago she was in a dance class and on the night of the pageant she totally frozen and she was the one in the group standing there crying while all the other girls tried their best to do the dance they had been working on for so long. Now I know that happened a long time ago but I could see it happening again, so I told her that all the people were there to watch all the girls and not just her and also the only time everyone would stare is if she was the one just standing there. She did her dance and it was so cute, she was really into it and seemed to be having a good time. She later told me that the reason she did the dance was because even though she was scared she didn't know which way she could run so she just had to do it.

She is the one kind of in the center, with the black long sleeve shirt and capris on.

Just a quick update

Just real quick I wanted to tell you that Kourtney is home again. She was able to come home on Sat. The joy was short lived after we were told that the Doctor could now hear a murmur in her heart that they have not heard before. So on Friday they did an echo, and an EKG - the results are not totally clear, but she has thickness and fluttering and her heart is working harder than normal (very possibly what my older brother has). She has to go back to PCMC for more testing (by a cardo. Doc and not just our pcp). They are doing it all outpatient (well that's the plan for now anyway) because she is attracted to all the elements at the hospital and her little body isn't great at fighting sickness. As upset as I was at first I have calmed (most of the time:) and I know that my baby is a very special spirit, and that Heavenly Father knows what he is doing, and I know she is loved by more then her imitate family. One day at a time right?!

Tongue

Kourtney has discovered her tongue. It has always been restrained. After they removed her "nam" (prosthetic palate) and replaced it with a more real and placed prosthetic she has found that it can come out of her month and now it always does. Everytime she coughs,or whines, or is board she sticks it out. It is one of the cutest things.

Booooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, she was home for a little while. Last night (after my exciting post) she decided that breathing with mucus was to hard and turned "chalky" and keep setting off her monitors.So after a mid of the night suction trip she was admitted into McKay Dee. So here we are back in the hospital (at least it is the one closer to our house).

Yay!!!!!!

We are finally home. It took a lot of pushing on our part but we finally did it. Kourt is doing ok, we have to take her to the RT clinic at least once a day to get suctioned out,but we are home.

Is it time yet?

Having to leave my older two children every night so that I can stay with my baby is awful. It is a time of day filled with tears and pleads. Dan brings them up nightly for an early dinner and some time together and then its home for them and a hospital bed for me - the drive is almost an hour (one way). They want so much for mom and Kourtney to come home, I want that too.

The doctors told us that maybe tomorrow would be the day, now they have been telling us that for days but we are very hopeful. She has greatly improved and we feel confident enough to bring her home. We are aware that she will require extra TLC and are more than ready to give it to her.

One of the best things about it is that I have a lot of free time so I can post more often, and I have also been figuring out some of that Facebook stuff (it really is way beyond me, but I am trying).