So close to walking

Laynie bug is getting so close to walking. We are so proud of her. She is strong enough, but her balance still struggles. She improved so much over night and we were so surprised. I am so excited for her to be able to walk. She is getting a walker from her occupational therapist next week.

 Trevor texted me this picture while I was gone one night. It seriously melts my heart:)

 Handsome stud

We have been spending time at the park this week because the weather has been so nice.

"Green Dinosaur Birthday Party"

 Drake wanted a "GREEN DINOSAUR BIRTHDAY PARTY" so I did my best to give him what he wanted. This was the first year I have done a little friend party for him. We kept it small with a few rowdy boys. It was so cute. We also had a family party later that night.

This was his little invitation to his friend party...

He was so excited when he woke up on his birthday to decorations! He said, "Ohhh, I love it! Thanks mommy. You are the best mommy!!!" Followed by a big hug! It was so sweet:)

 They are so cute! I can't believe my boy is growing up so much.

 They played pin the tail on the dinosaur

 They colored a dinosaur picture

 And went on a dinosaur egg hunt

 Drake had a BLAST on his birthday!!!

 My talented mom made this cute cake

 

  Drake and some of his cousins. He had a great day:)

Happy 4th Birthday Drake!!!

Happy 4th Birthday DRAKE

Happy Birthday to the sweetest little boy that made me a mom!!! You have brought so much happieness, laughter, and smiles into our lives. You are so silly and so fun to have in our family. You are so stubborn, and yet so sweet at the same time. Your heart is so big. The way you care for your sister is so cute. You really love her and watch out for her. You love to play and never want to miss out on anything. You are my best little buddy during the day, and keep me great company. You are getting so smart and saying the funniest things every day. It makes me sad to think that you are growing up, because I always want you to be my little boy. You are always wanting to do things that older kids are doing, and I just want you to slow down!!! You tell us every day that you love us!!! You are polite and kind. You love your dad so much and you love to do anything with him. We love you so much! Thanks for brightening our lives. Happy Birthday Drake!!! We hope your day is awesome:)

Surgery and testing... all done!!!

 It is done! The easiest and fastest surgery yet:) The surgery was on the blockage in her nose. It is called a choanal atresia. She had nasal stents removed out of her nose and her nose dilated and flushed. The surgery only lasted about 20 minutes!!!! I sure loved that:) Normally, we sit in the waiting room for 4 hours and watch all the parents come in after us and leave hours before us. We also got to leave the same day, which has never happened before. That was also super nice!!! Laynie is getting so smart and she doesn't like being in the hospital or any doctor's office. When I went back to the recovery unit she has very upset, but so happy to see me. She was signing mom and pointing to leave!!! It was so sweet, but so sad at the same time. Then she was signing dad, but he wasn't allowed to be there at that time. They only allow 1 parent back there. She stayed for a couple of hours after surgery and then she was cleared to go home! I wish I could have caught her face on camera when we walked outside, because she was so happy. You would have never guessed she just had surgery. I don't blame her to be happy to go home. She did awesome and is still doing great!

 

Waiting before surgery. She was telling me something.... Her face is so expressive:)

Isn't that the cutest little back???? She looks so cute in her hospital gown!

She also had her pre-cochlear implant testing the day before. She had a speech evaluation and this was just to see if she was cognitively ready for a cochlear implant. There are very strict requirements when they decide if someone is a candidate for a cochlear implant. The speech therapist was very impressed by Laynie. She said she had spent all morning reading her enormous chart and she thought to herself that she didn't think Laynie would be where she needed to be for the implant. With all of her medical stuff she just assumed that Laynie would also be very cognitively delayed. She said she was pleasantly surprised by how smart Laynie was and she thinks she would be a great candidate from her speech evaluation!!! She says that she looks far worse on paper than she does in person and I would agree! So that was great news.

Then she had her audiology testing. She did a lot of testing in the sound booth with her hearing aid on and off. Her hearing is sooooooo bad. She didn't pick up ANY sounds with her hearing aid off and she picked up a few with it on, but they were very loud. The audiologist thinks that she is a great candidate for the implant according to her hearing. She also showed us the 3 different kinds of cochlear implants and it was really neat to see them. I think we know which one we will want for Laynie.

Now the decision is up to the cochlear implant doctor. He needs to look at her MRI to see if it is even possible. Her anatomy is very different and so he needs to see if it is too risky to do the surgery, or if he thinks she is a good candidate. She doesn't have a cochlear nerve in her left ear so that ear has no chance of hearing with a hearing aid or an implant. The only ear that has a chance is the right ear. Our appointment is the end of the month with this doctor, so hopefully we will know then.

Wow- it was a very bust couple of days with a lot of new information!!!

 

These two have been snuggling on the couch today. I love it!!!

Our whole family went and stayed with my sister. Drake had soooooooooo much fun with his cousins. Thanks for everything Afton and Ross!!!

Signing... 46 and counting

Laynie is really starting to pick up signing. I want to be able to look back and see her accomplishments and progress, so here are all the signs that she knows. I was surprised that I counted 46. I thought it was somewhere around 25-30 before I counted. I need to keep learning myself, because she is catching up to me fast!!! She continues to amaze me everyday.

mom, dad, drake, dog, cat, fish, bear, bath, sleep, blanket, toothbrush, hairbrush, eat, hat, bike, car, blocks, baby, phone, apple, cookie, icecream, sit, signing times, blue's clues, lotion, no, yes, shoes, socks, book, flower, ball, more, stop, go, grandma, hurt, bubbles, build, drink, light, elephant, plane, coat, and thank you!!!!

 

The signs she uses the most are daddy, mom, blanket, and bubbles:) She loves her bubbles!!! She has learned most of her signing from Signing Time videos and me just doing them over, and over, and over! I can't wait until one day we can fully communicate together.

Family pictures

We took some family pictures and here they are. It is so hard to get everyone looking at the camera and smiling, but we managed to get a few...

I sure love my little family!!!

Happy Fall and our weekend

 Our weekend involved....

Laynie got a staph infection all under her neck so we decided not to share it with everyone at church and we went on a GORGEOUS... SUNDAY... FALL drive to Jackson Hole. It was so pretty. When I was younger I didn't appreciate pretty landscape, but now I do!!! We live in such a beautiful part of the world! We walked around the square, ate some dinner, snapped pictures out the window, and looked at our old spec house in Victor. Laynie slept the whole way there and Drake slept the whole way home. It was an awesome day!

I am a lucky mom...

Seriously.... how did I get so lucky to be her mom??? I get millions of hugs like this plus slimy kisses every day.

 She is such an inspiration to me. She is going in for her 13th surgery in 2 weeks and has a nasty cold right now, yet she is the happiest person I know!!! How is that possible???

She can make me smile any time of any day! When I start to complain about her complex life, I remember some child out there is fighting for their life and it's not mine at this minute. I am thankful for this girl more than words can explain!!!

Trevor's Triathalon and our weekend...

We went to Ogden last weekend for Trevor's first Triathalon!!! We stayed in a big condo with Trevor's brothers and family. We had such a great time. Trevor did awesome at the triathalon and we had lots of fun cheering him on. I got to put my old cheerleading skills to use:)
The kids cheered on their daddy and held up this sign for him!!!

It was neat being able to watch the swim and then cheer him on as he came back to his transition spot between each event. Trevor and his brother Blake did the race together. They both did great!

Love this guy

The kids had fun playing all weekend:) They all played in this spot under the stairs.

 My sleeping angel. She thought she was so cool sleeping on the bed next to mom!!! We had an appointment (pre-cochlear implant testing) on Friday, but they called to cancel the day before. This is the third time this appointment has been cancelled by them!!! Seriously, this cochlear implant process is so ridiculous and annoying!!! We have been working on it for months and have gotten nowhere. The crazy thing is if all of our future appointments go as planned, she could possibly be implanted in December or January. That is so soon!!!!

 Up in Ogden Canyon was so pretty

 She is seriously the cutest, funniest, and sweetest thing in the world

 Drake had tons of fun with his cousins and played his little heart out. Notice how he has Woody buckled in with him.... Buzz is usually buckled up in the seat next to him, but not during this picture. He is such a sweet kid!!!

 Our weekend was awesome and we are so proud of you Trevor!!!

Drake goes to PRESCHOOL

 Has this day really come?????? My baby boy is in SCHOOL??!!!??!! He was excited for school his first day. He was a little (or a lot) bummed about not being able to ride the bus to the big school. He is going to preschool twice a week to a lady in our neighborhood. Her preschool is so cute and Drake is also going with his two best buddies!!! I am excited for him to be able to have some social interaction and hopefully learn a thing or two also!

He picked out his skateboard backpack! It is almost as big as him. It is so cute!!!

 Eating breakfast before school. Trevor stayed home to watch Laynie because I had to go with Drake for his first day. It was nice to have daddy home for breakfast!!!

Drake and his buddy Quinton

Drake and his buddy Mason

I think he is going to have a great school year. I am excited for him!!!

I went with him his first day and it was more of a meet and greet and this is how we do things type of day. The second day of school was a real day and he said bye mom and shut the door. My heart kinda ached for a minute and I was fighting the tears. My little guy is growing up and is going to preschool without me. What I am ever going to do when he goes to school full day or goes to college????? This school thing is weird.

BIG decisions and random stuff

It is nearing the end of summer. The nights are getting cold and the kids are back in school. This summer was fun and it flew by!!! I absolutely LOVE fall, but it just doesn't last long enough. It seems like we get 1 month of fall and then it turns into winter. We have been busy as usual.

We went to my niece's baptism. She looked adorable and it was wonderful. I didn't get a picture of the special girl though, but here is Trev and Laynie after the baptism.

Drake and his best friend Woody

 We are trying to get in some swimming before the pool gets drained. Laynie loves balls!!!

 Drake and Papa Leo mowing the lawn

 Laynie also got a turn:)

 Drake went to the dentist and had NO CAVITIES!!! Such a big improvement from his last visit. He did so good getting his teeth cleaned, x-rays, and fluoride. I was SO proud of him!!!

 We had appointments at Primary Children's and Laynie was so good in the car. She is such a little sweetheart!!! Her appointments went well and her next surgery is scheduled for the first week of October. We have a lot of appointments in the next few months down in SLC.

The audiologist told me if she gets a cochlear implant then after she is implanted it is INTENSE!!! They want us down there once a week for a year for appointments!!! My mouth seriously dropped when she told me that. We already drive down once a month for her other 10 doctors that she sees in Utah. I also have to have somebody drive with me because I have to sit in the back to help her so much (suctioning, feeding, and putting back on her oxygen a million times). There is NO way we can drive down once a week. We have thought a lot about it and prayed about it. We even seriously considered moving to Utah, but that isn't possible for lots of reasons right now. I want to give my little girl the world, but I don't know if it is possible for me to give her the cochlear implant. It is her ONLY chance at hearing. Hearing aids don't benefit her. It is also very crucial that she is implanted ASAP. They want to do it before she is 3, and after 3 her chances of success go WAY down! This has been such a hard decision for me. I want to give her a chance at hearing. On the other hand, it is ton of work and sacrifice for us. Also, it is not guaranteed that it will even work and there are some big risks involved in the surgery. She will be a VERY complicated case because of her anatomy in her inner ear.

 

After lots of discussion and prayer, I think we have decided to continue to go forward with the implant. We are working on scheduling some testing and meeting with the cochlear implant doctor. It is still not for sure, but I think I want to give her a chance at hearing, which will also hopefully help her be vocal someday!!! Our families have offered to help as much as possible with some of the trips down to Utah which will help a ton. We would do anything for her if it is going to improve her quality of life! Some of these decisions are so hard for me and I just hope in the end I make the right decision for her!

Silly girl on the drive