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!

Thanksgiving week

We had a GREAT week. We spent the week playing in the snow, eating with family, watching movies, a hospital visit, and being lazy!!! My computer won't let me arrange my pictures so these are in no particular order............

This is one of my favorite pictures ever because.............. Drake LOVES his tag on his blanky. He asks for it all the time and will not go to bed without it. I found Laynie sleeping holding on to her tag. So precious!!!!

Jordan and Trevor spent two full days on the couch- watching football and movies! Drake sure loves it when "Uncle Dordan" comes over!

We got so much snow this week. Thankfully, we didn't have to travel for the Holiday! These guys had fun playing in it though.

This little feeding tube of Laynie's has caused us quite the problems. It got clogged about 2 weeks ago and they put a special enzyme in it that unclogged it. It got clogged again on Thanksgiving. Since no one was open and it has to replaced in x-ray (because it is an NJ tube- in her jejunum) we had to go to the E.R. They tried to unclog it for 4 hours. Seriously, we were trying to push stuff through it the entire time and it wouldn't budge. I tried to get them to just replace it because it is only supposed to last a month or two and she has had it for 1 1/2 months. They wouldn't!!! Ahhhh, made me so mad because I'm sure it will just get clogged over and over again. They just didn't feel comfortable replacing here- so next time we are in Salt Lake we will get it replaced. We got out of the hospital and drove straight to my mom's house and they were just sitting down to eat so we made it just in time!

Drake loves to HELP! He is such a hard worker!

Trevor's work got cancelled on Tuesday! It was a dream come true... A snow day from work. I was so excited that he got to spend the day with us!

The amazing cook! I need to learn from her terribly bad!

Drake went to Grandma and Grandpa Petersen's while we went to the hospital and we missed their dinner, so we went over to pick him up to go to my mom's house and he was sleeping with papa, so we left him there. We didn't see him all day on Thanksgiving. I was excited to see him when he came home!

Crazy cousins!
I sure love this guy! Oh, and another highlight.... I got to go shopping at midnight on Thanksgiving. My first time to Walmart in 2 months! I used to go about twice a week. It was so fun to start out the Christmas season!!!

We ATTEMPTED to take a family picture for our Christmas cards. Well, we didn't do it when the weather was nice and now we can't take Laynie outside so we were just going to take a snapshot. Well, I have a husband that throws a hissy fit when I mention family pictures, a 2 year old (enough said) and a screaming baby! They didn't turn out so well. Looks like we won't be sending out Christmas cards this year. haha

Overall, our week was WONDERFUL!

Thankful...

I love Thanksgiving. You get to be with FAMILY, EAT, SHOP, and be THANKFUL!!! It really is a great Holiday! I really am so grateful for everything in my life, but today I am most thankful for...

1. FAMILY- I seriously have the BEST family in the world! I don't know what I would do without them. I feel so lucky to have the family that I have!
2. HEALTH CARE- I am so thankful for good health care. I have never thought twice about it before, and now I realize that we are so lucky to have such wonderful doctors, technology, medicine, etc...
3. HOME- I have spent a lot of time at home lately. I mean A LOT of time!!! I am so thankful to have a warm home and friendly neighbors!

I hope everyone has a HaPpY tUrKeY dAy!!!

Ok, so I'm not a professional...

Growing up, I always wanted to go into Cosmetology. That was my plan ever since I can remember. I learned how to french braid when I was 6, so I thought I was a natural.

Well, I am NOT a natural and it's a good thing I chose a different career path!

First off, Drake was in a desperate need of a hair cut. I have always cut his hair but something went wrong this time. I put the guard on the buzzers and I usually use a #3 for him, but I accidentally put on a #1. After one swipe, I knew I was in trouble. I had to finish the rest of his head at the same length. I tried my best, but it just looks horrible. This first picture doesn't look too bad, but trust me... it isn't pretty!

Oh well, good thing he is so dang cute!

The back has some nice streak marks and all!

Second flop: I've dreamt about painting Laynie's toes ever since I found out she was a girl during her ultrasound. I guess next time I will try it when she is sleeping. Baby feet move around so much. This was the best I could do! (Sorry Trev about the picture, but I thought you looked funny)

I always cut Trevor's hair, but I guess he didn't trust me after my mistakes. He had Drake cut it instead!!! Actually, he called over my mom to do it! Drake loved pretending and he put quite a few nicks and scrapes on the side of Trevor's head!

*Happy Birthday Trevor*

Happy Birthday Trevor!!! You make all of our lives so much better and we are SOOOO LUCKY to have you! Thank you for being my best friend and the love of my life! I love you so much. Hope you have a fabulous Birthday!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

And you are the best father too! Drake adores his daddy and I know Laynie will be daddy's little girl!!! Thanks for all you do for your little family!!!

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And just some more random photos!!!

SNOW?!?!?! I can't believe it's already that time of year!

Trevor doing what he LOVES on his Birthday.... watching the BYU game!

Trevor is the most amazing person I know. He is ALWAYS looking out for me and I know he would do anything to make me happy. We are so much alike and we have so much fun together. He always is willing to help others when they need him and EVERYONE loves him. He is so easy to love! He works so hard for us and we have some

GREAT NEWS................................

Trevor got a promotion at work and he is now the Assistant Controller at Eastern Idaho Technical College!!! I am so proud of you! Thanks for everything you do for us. I couldn't ask for a better husband and father for our kids!

HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY!!!

My Life!!!

These two little kiddos are MY LIFE right now. We have had some serious quality time together. It has been 3 weeks today since we have been home and I still haven't left the house. I am going to in the next few days though. I have to, for my own sanity! They sure drain me of everything that I have in me, but I LOVE being a mom... especially Drake and Laynie's mom! All I have to say is...... they better not put me in a nursing home when I am old and crazy!

She is doing really well. She is getting healthier and chunkier!!!

This little man likes to make our days interesting. I feel so bad because I really neglect him sometimes (because Laynie requires so much). I have found him changing his own poopy diaper in the living room, taking a fully-clothed bath (with lots of soap), and painting his fingernails recently. I guess he keeps us entertained and busy all day!

I love my life............

Halloween and Home

Our Halloween was extremely low key this year. Luckily Grandma Debbie was nice enough to get Drake a costume. He was the cutest little Fireman!!!

Drake went trick-or-treating with Whitney and Quinton at Melaleuca on Friday....

And then daddy took him on Saturday. He had sooooo much fun and got tons of candy. Candy is Drake's FAVORITE thing in the world. We have been trying to cut back his sugar consumption lately, but we just let him go sugar crazy on Halloween. He thought it was so awesome! He takes after his mom and loves his candy!

Here he is with a special treat. A ba-ba watching TV...

And here is little miss Laynie with a little smile!