Another year... come and gone!

The Petersen Family... We will be welcoming a new baby Petersen in March! Baby boy McLeod, we can't wait to meet him!

Another year with him= pure joy!

Laynie loves her little Lady Bug softy! She just snuggles it and rubs it all over her face and sucks on it to go to sleep. It is sooooooooo adorable!

A kiss for the New Year!!!

*********For your viewing enjoyment*********

Time is going by faster and faster every year! This year has been one crazy year. Although it has by far been the hardest year of my life, it has also been a great year! We welcomed a new child into our family- it doesn't get much more exciting than that! We went on a few little vacations, Trevor got a promotion at work, we bought a new car, Drake became a big boy, and we made so many new memories!

I was thinking the other day about the future for Laynie and how rough it is going to be for her and all of us. She still has so many surgeries ahead of her! Then, I decided it doesn't do any good to think about the hard times ahead. Instead, I started thinking about the wonderful things we have to look forward to this year.....

It just puts a huge smile on my face to think about the day she can get off of oxygen. I am beyond excited to think about the day that she can get rid of her trach. I don't know when that will be, but it could be in 2011, and I am so ecstatic for that day! I look forward to hearing more sounds come out of her trach. The little whimpers that I sometimes hear seriously melt my heart. I can't wait to hear her laugh or even cry! I hope she will be able to hear my voice too, maybe with medical help?!?! I am excited for the day that she can eat again from her mouth and possibly get her g-tube removed. I look forward to watching both of my kids grow and learn new things. For Drake to get potty trained, learn how to count, play like a wild man, and to learn how to communicate even better... and for Laynie to sit up, laugh, and crawl. I can't wait for my kids to be able to play and interact together! I also look forward to going on some dates with my hubby and going on a family vacation!!!

I think I have a lot to look forward to in 2011. I have a feeling this is going to be an AWESOME year!

Happy 2011!!!

Ho, Ho, Ho... Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas was wonderful this year... just like it always is. We spent time with our family, ate delicious food, watched the kids play, and relaxed. We usually go back and forth a bunch of times during Christmas Eve and Christmas to split the time with our families, but some people in my family were sick, so we basically had to stay clear from them! We all had such a wonderful Christmas and Laynie did so well being away from home. We are so thankful for our families who have helped us so much these past few months, and we are so thankful for Jesus Christ and the gift He gave us all!!! Thank you everyone for all the wonderful gifts, delicious food, memories, and fun times!

It is so fun to have a girl. She looked adorable in her Christmas dress!

Laynie giving Grandma Maureen big smiles :)
Yummy

Laynie LOVES lights so she had her own Christmas light show on her bouncer!

Drake has been saying he wanted a BLUE CAR from Santa for Christmas for weeks now. He was so excited when he found this on Christmas morning!!! He sits in it for hours! He loves to drive it downstairs, but we take out the battery when it is upstairs because he is quite a wreckless driver.

Drake was not interested in opening gifts at all. I basically had to force him to help me open them. I'm not complaining! I'm sure I will wish for this when he gets a little older and wants everything. The only thing he was really interested in was candy. He had a whole couch full of presents on Christmas morning and the first thing he ran to was his Tic Tacs (favorite candy).

My new double stroller! I used it today at Laynie's appointments in Salt Lake. She fit in one seat and all her gear fit in the other. Looks like I need a triple stroller to fit Drake! haha. I love my new stroller!

Drake also loves his new train set from Papa and Grandma. He loves trains!

She is smiling so much now! I love it!!! It is so rewarding to get some interaction back from her finally!

The Streett's came over for a visit and we got to meet Logan! Such a cutie!!!

Stockton and Drake... this is Drake's new "CHEESE" face. It looks like he is glaring. I think every kid has a funny smile for awhile, I guess it could be worse!

Drake also got a new potty and undies from Santa. It's time to start potty training. I can't even believe I am to that point in parenthood. He is getting so old!

Laynie's Blessing

Trevor gave Laynie a name and a blessing on Sunday. We blessed her at our house with some family! He did such an AMAZING job. Laynie was such a doll all day and LOVED wearing her dress. She couldn't stop touching it. She sure looked like a little princess! We were going to bless her in October, but then craziness happened, and so we decided to wait until she was healthier and we had more family in town. It turned out perfect!!!

Trevor is such an amazing father. He is so good with Drake and Laynie and loves them both so much!!!

Such a HANDSOME big brother

Thank you family for all your love and support!

This week...

We are getting all ready for Christmas... We have been shopping, making Christmas crafts, and making goodies!

Drake made this ornament and hung it on the tree. He was very proud of himself!!!
Yummy!!!

Drake and Papa Leo

And the BEST news of the week (or of the year) is that Laynie's VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect/ hole in her heart) has CLOSED!!!! We saw the Cardiologist last month and she thought it was a medium sized hole rather than a small hole (she thought it was small before) and if it didn't close by the time she was 6 months old then she would probably need heart surgery. Well, we saw her again on Wednesday and it closed, and we are soooooooooo happy!!! She still has one other hole, but it is very small and it is unlikely that it will need to be repaired. This little girl has been changing so much in the last week. She has been so much happier! She is smiling so much more and is getting really chunky. I think she is finally staring to enjoy life!!!

4 months old

Laynie is 4 months old today! She is such a little piece of heaven in our home. We all love her so much! She loves to sit in her bouncer, look at mobiles, sleep, kick her legs, and look at the ceiling fan. She hates to be messed with, held, touched etc... I don't blame her though! I would put all her stats on here, but she hasn't had her check-up yet. She was almost 10 pounds (9lbs 10oz) when we were at the hospital last week, so she should be just about 10 lbs now! Pretty sure she isn't on the charts, but she is slowly gaining at her own rate!

I know I've said this so many times, but sometimes when I look at her I have to fight tears because I feel how special of a spirit she is. I believe that Heavenly Father sends extrordinary spirits to children that have so many challenges. Laynie agreed to come here knowing what she was facing and that alone is so incredible to me. I really look up to her so much! That is why I feel so special and honored to have been chosen to be her mom.

I look forward to see her accomplishments over the next four months. Just and FYI: I know every child grows and develops at their own rate, but I read a study done on 20 children with CHARGE syndrome and the average age for them to hold up their own head was 5 months (she is doing pretty good at this), to crawl is 14 months, and to walk is 33 months. It's nice to have an idea about what to expect, but who knows... everyone is so different! Only time will tell!

SaNtA...

I was talking to Drake and telling him all about Santa Clause. I told him that if he was a good boy, Santa would bring him presents on Christmas. I asked him what he wanted, and he said...

1) Deodorant
2) Bubbles
3) Blue car

Santa actually already had #3 on his list, but he hasn't gotten #1 and #2 yet. It is so fun that Drake is starting to understand a tiny bit about Christmas. It makes Christmas much more fun with little ones around.

Surgery and randomness...

Our little angel got surgery on Tuesday the 7th. She had her prosthesis put in to start correcting her cleft. It gets tightened every other week, and it slowly brings her palate closer together. She also got tubes in her ears, a gastrostomy tube, and a nissen fundoplication. The g-tube makes it so her feeding tube is in her stomach and she can recieve her food in bolus (meals) rather than continuously getting fed. It makes it much nicer not to have a tube down her throat and it is more for long-term purposes. The nissen fundoplication is a procedure where they wrap part of her stomach around her esophagus to make a one way valve so she can't reflux. Since her foods are now going into her stomach, rather than her jejunem, they were afraid she would reflux and then aspirate.

Before her surgery. Bye bye tube... I was so excited to be able to see both cheeks and be able to squeeze and kiss them both!

Drake is such a sweetheart. He is still a little unsure of Laynie, but if he does get curious he says "Hi Laynie" in the sweetest voice and I can tell he really does care a lot about her.

Another thing we had to say bye bye to this week was Laynie's binki! We are all pretty upset about it- it was the one thing that really comforted her a lot. She can't have it because it might mess with her prosthesis.

She loves lights. She really loves to look at the T.V. and the Christmas tree. Don't laugh at our tree- every year I say I am going to buy a new one and this time I am serious. Next year we will have a big beautiful tree.

Laynie was in surgery for 4 hours. It was such a long wait!!! Everything went great! She was absolutely miserable the day after surgery, but after that she started feeling better.

This picture shows part of her prosthesis. There is also something on the roof of her mouth, but this is the chain that gets tightened. Her mouth is a little yucky looking here, but you can sort of see it. She also has to wear arm restraints so she doesn't mess with the prosthesis.

Here is a picture of her tummy. The tube can come off when she isn't eating. Then it just looks like a little button on her stomach. It's kind of hard to see everything with all the wires, bandages, and tubes.

Little Laynie is such a strong little girl. She has gone through 100 times more than I have gone through in my entire life and she is not even 4 months old yet. I feel like she has to be one very special girl to be given these challenges in life. It is so hard see your baby go through so much, but she has been amazingly strong and patient through everything. I just love her more and more every day!

We got to come home on Friday. It is always so wonderful to come home, but I am so thankful that we have such an amazing hospital in Salt Lake. Her next surgery is scheduled for February. That will be the lip and nose repair. I just LOVE Laynie the way she is and I dread the day that her lip will get closed. I can't imagine her any other way and I don't want her to change. I know it is the best thing for her to get it done, but it will be such a bitter sweet moment! I guess I have two more months to enjoy her face the way it is!

This little boy makes me smile from ear to ear. He is so funny and totally owns my heart! I missed him so much this week. He stayed with Grandma Debbie and had a total vacation. He just loves her and I know he had a great week. Thank you mom for being the best mother and grandma in the world!

Trevor got our Christmas lights up today! It is now beginning to look a lot like Christmas at this house. I love it... it is the BEST time of the year!