Daphne's Blessing

We FINALLY blessed Daphne last Sunday. We were waiting until we got into our new house, and then Trevor's mom was out of town so we finally were able to do it! She looked as sweet as can be! I was planning on having her wear Laynie's blessing outfit but I saw this outfit in her closet and I couldn't resisit trying it on her. One of Trevor's cousins actually made it and gave it to Laynie when she was a baby. After I put it on Daphne I just couldn't resist how cute she was in her bonnet so she ended up wearing it for her blessing:)

Her daddy did a wonderful job on the blessing!!! He always does!

 Dale, Jordan, Blake, Trevor, Daphne, Jake Denning, and Bishop Davies

I can't get over those chubby cheeks and that bonnet:)

We served soup and rolls and some yummy treats afterwards! Thank you everyone who came to support out little sweetie on her special day!

Happy Birthday Trevor

Happy Birthday to my awesome husband who I have been madly in love with for 12 years!!!! He is a keeper for sure and I am so lucky to have him as my partner in this crazy life.

He is such a great dad to our kids and plays so much with them. They all LOVE him and look forward to the minute he gets home so he can play whatever they want with them!

A guy that wears his baby in a pack on his stomach is a keeper for sure!

My family sometimes calls him "Vanilla T" because he likes to bust some moves to Vanilla Ice! Ice, Ice, Baby!!!

There is not a thing in the world he won't do for all of us!!!!

This one time he wasted a WHOLE bunch of money on a game at Blast Off trying to win an ipad. I plan on keeping him out of Las Vegas!

This #1 Broncos fan finally got to go to his first Broncos game! He sure had a good time!

He is the "fun parent" and does things like camp in the backyard with Drake!

He is a really great soccer coach and fan for Drake during all his sports! He is still active and good at every sport he does.

He is quite handsome:)

He's always up for a good time and we always have fun together!

 

One of his most important jobs is sleeping next to this angel 2 nights a week. Not every guy knows how to work a ventilator, feeding pump, suction machine, oxygen concentrator, and pulse oximeter. And get up to empty the ventilator circuit every 2 hours and wake up to suction sometimes as much as 10+ times a night..... then wake up and go to work the next day..... without EVER complaining. That alone shows the deep love he has for his family.

We love you so much Trevor. We hope you have a very Happy Birthday!!!!!! Thanks for being the best husband and daddy in the whole wide world! xoxoxo

Laynie goes to PRESCHOOL!!!

This has been a day I have been dreading for a long time. I feel like school is the start of her realizing she is different and it is also a place for other kids to be mean to her. I just want to protect her forever and once she goes to school she is out of my care. It has been scary for me! The BEST thing that has helped me feel more comfortable is that her home nurse Holly gets to be her school nurse too. This is something I am soooooo happy about because she has been working with Laynie since she was 8 months old and Laynie loves her. A LOT of meetings and A LOT of people have been involved in Laynie going to school. She is going to a developmental preschool at a regular elementary school. Along with nurse Holly, she also has an interpreter that will be with her at all times! I am very happy about this. He is a really nice guy and he just follows her around and signs everything. I really hope this helps her pick up a lot more signs.
So I wasn't so sure how her first day would go after the morning got off to a bad start. She was NOT happy about taking this picture.....

I went the first day with her and once we got there she hung on to my leg for a second, but then quickly became comfortable and made herself at home. Her class has 5 students total.

She was SOOOOOO happy the whole time. She fit right in and made friends with the cutest little twin girls. She was proud and excited to be in class. She would pay attention to the interpreter sometimes and other times would want nothing to do with watching him.

The guy is her interpreter and the lady is nurse Holly.

The teachers and aides were so impressed with her. They kept commenting how well she was doing and how smart she is. The principal and the secretary even came outside to watch her at recess because they couldn't believe her. haha
When people hear of Laynie and they see her mile long list of challenges...
Deaf, has a trach, doesn't eat by mouth, has a feeding tube, non-verbal, balance issues, 14 surgeries ect.. they basically think of her as VERY low-functioning, but obviously that is NOT the case. She blows them away with her SMARTS, DETERMINATION, AND CUTENESS!!!

There were many times that I had to hide my face in my phone to hide my happy tears. I am just so happy for her. She is so excited to go to school and LOVES it.

It is pretty weird to be home without her here though. My mind is wired to always be on Laynie alert. I always know where she is what she is doing and I am always listening for her to cough or silently cry. It is strange, and I'm not sure I like the feeling. BUT.... I am so happy for Laynie!!!

CHARGE on Laynie Bug. You are AWESOME!!!

Daphne 5 months

5 months old.... next month she will be a half of a year:( so sad! She is getting much better. It seems like her colicky days are over. HALLELUJA!!!!! Now, she is just really bad in her car seat and napping, but other than that she is happy and smiley all the time. I love it!

She loves to grab her toes and she puts everything in her mouth. She knows her mom and dad and loves us both and we LOVE that!

We have been trying rice cereal and she is NOT a fan.

We love you sooooo much adorable baby girl!!!! xoxo

Halloween and the stomach ache mystery

We had a fun Halloween party at the Denning's house a couple of weeks before Halloween. We all had a great time with our friends:)

On Halloween we went to watch Drake in his school parade. We went trick or treating in our old neighborhood with the Denning's. There was a spook alley that a neighbor put on and it was pretty cute. I really hate those types of things. Not going to lie, my heart was beating a bit fast but I figured if my kids could do it, then I could do it:) Drake said he did not like it though. haha

Here we have a grandma, Minnie Mouse, Optimus Prime, a cute kitty, and a ninja turtle...

The day after Halloween (Saturday) Drake complained of a stomach ache. I immediately thought he ate too much candy and told him he couldn't eat anymore. Saturday night he was very restless and didn't really sleep much after 1am. Sunday he still had stomach ache. It wasn't bad in the morning but by the evening he was in a lot of pain again. He was waking up every 30 minutes all night long crying and in a lot of pain. Monday was the same way. He woke up feeling ok but by the afternoon he was hysterical. We were unable to calm him down and we were starting to get really worried so we took him to the doctor. They ordered some blood work and an ultrasound. The doctor was worried it was appendicitis and so were we. He did pretty good with the blood draw and ultrasound and everything came back normal. They said it might be something called mesenteric lymphadenitis. It's where the lymph nodes by the intestine and near the appendix because inflamed and cause very similar symptoms as appendicitis. It is more common in kids and it just goes away by itself. The next day he was fine but had another bad night. Then finally on Wednesday he felt good all day and has been fine ever since. We don't really know what was wrong, but we are very glad he is feeling better!!!!

Fall shenanigans

Trevor got to go to a Denver Broncos game a few weeks ago with his dad and brothers. The Broncos are "his team" so he was in heaven. He had the best time and is already talking about going next year again!!!

Drake had a small cavity filled and his sister was so concerned about him. It was pretty sweet! He was brave and did great!

I tried to put curlers in Laynie hair the other day just for fun. She wasn't so happy about it and she ended up ripping out about half of the small amount of hair she already has:(
I'm not sure why her hair is so thin but she doesn't have much to lose!

It didn't even faze her when she ripped out 3 separate huge pieces of hair. When I say that girl is tough, I mean it. Her pain tolerance is not like a typical child!!!


I found it a little too much fun to dress my girls alike. And Laynie was pretty happy about it too! From now on, every outfit I buy will be matchy matchy! I LOVE it:)
And I say this all the time, but I LOVE how much Laynie loves her sister. She ADORES her!

Sometimes it's fun to laugh at your baby:)

Drake was the star student last week at school. We made a poster all about him and he felt pretty special!

I went to his school to help him present his poster and to hand out treats. The class took turns asking him questions and he answered. It was pretty cute and he sure felt awesome!

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be teaching my baby and 4 year old to eat at the same time. I found myself super happy that Laynie was actually trying food and super sad that she can't eat. Most of time Laynie's challenges are so normal to me and I don't think twice about it, but sometimes it just hits me like a ton of bricks! I really think Daphne will be a good motivator for Laynie in her eating though!