McBrides

Camping

2011-08-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

So I'm still catching up this was in the very begining of summer we went camping with our friends and Caleb's sister. We had a fun time except it was SUPER windy which made it hard to cook and sleep, but the kids did pretty well. It was Hudson's first time and he loves being outdoors just like daddy so he was a very happy... and uh dirty boy.

We did some crawdad fishing or I should say the little boys (Caleb and Tyler) did the fishing while us ladies cheered them on and Kendyl was brave enough to hold the cup of overflowing lobsters. It's been a long time and was fun to relive those kind of childhood memories. However, I did not enjoy this...

They cooked up and ate the big ones, sooooo gross!
Ellery had a good time with her buddy Gus, now he was loving it outdoors. Ellery was not a fan of the uneven ground and fell down alot.

Ellery was smart and ate only the food we brought with us.

She didn't want to nap in the tent, but eventually gave in

It was pretty much awesome going camping with Kendyl my photographer friend. I actually made it into some of the pictures thanks to her!

Story of my life right now and I love it

We need to go camping again!

May...

2011-07-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

This little guy just keeps getting bigger and doing new things, he started to crawl at the end of May closer to 9 months old and is now all over the place! He also got his first bottom teeth, but refused to let me get a picture of them so I settled for this adorable grin!

Ellery welcomed summer with open arms, this girl LOVES sprinklers!

Ellery's speech therapist was so nice and got us tickets to the phoenix zoo! Ellery and I rode a camel....that's right a camel. It wasn't the most comfortable ride, but fun nonetheless.

This was one of the most entertaining animals we saw, there were squirrels everywhere waiting for a crum to fall. This little guy stole one of the kids veggie straws and came so close! We gave him more and Caleb let hudson get a closer look!

We did the splash area but it was so crowded and wet I couldn't get any pics but Ellery had a great time, nice way to cool off!

A few weeks later Hudson had Roseola... Ellery had it last year and I had no clue what it was now both of my kids have had it. No fun for 4 days then this lovely rash breaks out but it doesn't bother him.

Back in April...

2011-07-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

First time swimming!

Jumping with the fam...

Family Reunion...

My kids are so good at sharing :)

Easter 2011

2011-05-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter this year, Ellery got a new baby she spotted it so fast and immediately adopted her. She loves her babies!

Hudson was rather pleased himself

Ellery actually understood the egg hunt this year! More fun for me than her? yeah maybe, but once she spotted an egg (after being guided by daddy) she knew to grab it and it goes in the basket. I'm so proud.

On our way to church in our Easter best, the pictures in my new blog title are also Easter pictures of the kids we took the day before at my parents cabin. Already have them blown up and now I just need to decide where to put them in my house.

We spent the afternoon with family at my parents house and enjoyed eachothers company, especially my grandpa who had recently lost his wife. My grandmother passed away just a few days before Easter which made the true meaning of Easter sink in that much more. Experiences like loosing someone you love are hard, but I appreciate the way it makes me check myself and refocus on why I am here and what is most important. We spent the evening riding around on my grandpa's pride and joy.....the train. My grandpa built all the cars and he used to drive this around his neighborhood and pick up any willing riders and the kids can't get enough! Especially Ellery!

2011-05-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting to see this image for 2 years, Ellery as a healthy little girl walking down this hallway with a smile on her face. This is the view from one of the elevators at St. Joe's and this hall leads to the PCTICU where Ellery spent most of her first year. This image is very near to my heart because I have been clinging to it ever since it came to my mind 2 years ago.

I remember very clearly, but I'm not sure exactly when it was. All I remember was walking toward the elevator and seeing a small family with the cutest little 2 year old that was walking on her own and laughing coming out as I went in. I thought to myself, she's adorable, I hope one day Ellery will be walking and carefree like this child. I walked into the elevator turned around and just like that as the doors were closing instead of the other girl, I saw a toddler Ellery walking down that hallway carefree and happy. It was just a glimpse because the doors shut and she was gone, but It was so clear to me then that Ellery would one day walk on her own down that very hallway.

It was an image that brought me great comfort and hope when we weren't sure if she would make it or when we weren't sure if she would ever walk. I always went back to that precious moment that sure feeling that I was blessed with. It was so fast I'm sure I could have blinked out of it or excused it as my imagination, but I know it was an answer to my prayers, a tiny glimpse of the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. It was a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father letting me know all would be well someday.

Well, there it is my toddler Ellery walking on her own down that very hallway...healthy....happy. I can't even express how I feel about this experience it is so personal to me, I wasn't sure if I should post about it simply because I didn't think I could do the story justice or I might get too personal with details. Just know the Holy Ghost is real and personal revealation is Amazing.

This will be our last visit to Ellery's old room and this clinic for echos because they are moving the whole unit to Phoenix Children's new building this summer. Glad we got to see it all before the big move. Good thing Ellery was walking before they changed it all....coincidence? I think not.

just like daddy

2011-05-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

This is Caleb when he was about 6 months old, super adorable right? Well, I thought it would be so much fun to recreate these portraits with Hudson. It was fun, but not so easy by myself. Caleb's posing is so calm and sweet, Hudson is my little wiggle worm and refused to keep his arms crossed and smile sweetly. I tried once before and posted some a little bit ago, but we tried again and instead of recreating, we did it Hudson style and came out with some great shots. I love my little man!

Compare this to the far left shot of Caleb:

Close up of Caleb

This set of three is already framed in my house, definitely my favorite!

So does he look like daddy?

Cowgirl

2011-05-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

Back in March we went to the Queen Creek rodeo and I forgot to post about Ellery's first pony ride! First we waited in this LOOOONG line, but it was free. She did great, kept one hand on the saddle and the other on daddy.

watched some lawn mower races, unexpectedly very entertaining

The real reason why I demanded we go out as a family....kettle corn

Love this picture...

Creative Fix

2011-05-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have slowly been finishing up the kids rooms, still working on Ellery's after 2 years and I already want to change up things. We got this hand-me-down crib from Caleb's cousin and I painted it and fixed it up so now Hudson has Ellery's crib. Well, I saw this idea from a craft blog I follow and she originally copied it from a pottery barn magazine. Isn't it so pretty? I want to get an enchanted garden/fairy theme for Ellery's room and this was the perfect touch! I want to repaint the flowers on the wall and lots of other little projects....who knows when I will get to it. This was super easy fyi, just a stick wreath from hobby lobby and whatever flowers and ribbon that you want wired on!

Glasses

2011-04-19T16:09:00.001-07:00

Ellery used to have an issue with both of her eyes turning outward, but she had an eye surgery to fix that. Not ideal, but it worked and she was looking great, no problems. Recently I've noticed her left eye now turns inward. That darn eye got worse and worse until sure enough now it's her constant "lazy eye". Took her to the eye doc and his medicine of choice this time.....

Glasses

Is it horrible of me to admit I would prefer surgery again?

I know I know, she is ADORABLE with those sweet pink frames and look at that face! Don't let her fool you, these glasses have made me want to rip my hair out. Ellery actually has ripped her hair out because of them.

Trying to get a 2 year old to wear glasses is next to impossible I have decided. My little sweet Ellery is very strong willed and can rip these things off before I even let go after putting them back on for the 100th time. I have tried really really hard not to get angry with her, but to just constantly put them on and stay happy and positive! But I am only human and I have only so much patience.

Imagine walking around the store and bending over to pick up glasses (of course you have to be certain not to run them over with the cart too) seriously every 5 steps. Then imagine sitting on the floor for 2 hours just putting them back on right after she rips them off and doing that over and over and over, determined not to give in before her just like supernanny teaches with time out. Don't say a word just keep putting them back on? Seriously, I am soooooooo not that patient!

I thought it was getting better, but I am loosing this battle. Ellery is actually very smart and she is just as stubborn as any normal 2 year old, but I can't make deals with her and I can't explain to her WHY she needs glasses. Meanwhile her eye gets worse but it's been 4 weeks now and I have aged a couple years. I acutally made an appt. with her doctor again to see if we could try something else. Wow, I needed to vent, glad I didn't admit to anything embarrassing (like how I may or may not have thrown the glasses in the other room, ellery won that one) Good thing they are durable

6 months

2011-03-22T16:12:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my little man is already 6 months! Hudson has been so much fun for us, a whole new experience! He is just FULL of personality and spunk that the whole house just feeds off him because he is always alert and excited about everything it gets us all up and ready for fun! He is so smart and unfortunately has me trained to do what he wants. I'm working on de-spoiling these days :)

At 6 months Hudsons is:

-Sitting up on his own, but is known to topple over still

-Talks all the time says "da da da"

-Squeals like a little girl.... a lot!

-Loves mickey mouse clubhouse (I know he's too young for tv, but momma's gotta cook dinner in peace)

-He grabs and reaches for everything! When I put a bunch of toys in front of him he doesn't know which to grab first so he gets a little flustered with having to choose!

-Still prefers to stand up as much as possible

-Loves baby food, can feed himself a bottle, but he still loves to nurse

-Can roll from tummy to back and side to side

-Loves his binky and soft blankets

He is growing so fast and learning new things all the time it's exciting and I can't seem to take enough pictures to capture it all! Or I can't him to hold still long enough to capture it...

Hudson and Ellery are showing the first signs of becoming friends. They will kind of play together and I love it! They really love eachother and those little moments just melt my heart!

We went to Arkansas!

2011-03-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I took my two babies on a plane and flew to Arkansas! Why there you ask? Well, my sister Terri lives there and now so does my bro Mark, but this was an official "sisters trip"! I have 3 older sisters and there are years that gap us in age, I'm talking 14 years from my oldest, so we haven't had much bonding time as sisters. Now we are all adults, wives and mothers so we thought it was important to reconnect and spend some quality time together. My sister Kim, my mom and I flew from AZ with a few tag-a-longs and my sister, Tonya, flew in from Seattle. We must of had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures because I hardly took any, oops!
Ellery and Hudson did quite well for their first airplane ride, Ellery hated the take-off and the landing. I suspected she would because this girl HATES elevators and it's a similar feeling of going up and coming down.

Some of the highlights from the trip include:

-Going to a Jerome-Like town but was so much cooler, wish I could go again and remember to bring my camera! there were the neatest spots for some awesome photography....one day.

-Late night chats till 4 in the morning

-Terri's pumpkin bread, I'm in love

-Dance Contest on the Kinect, yeah you know I won :)

-My first Zumba class, went with Terri, so much fun!

-Tonya trying to find my nose ring hole the entire 4 days due to a prank from Kim to make her think I was "troubled" thanks for NOT lettting me in on the joke by the way!

-Just hanging out with family and cousins

-Making memory necklaces

I caught Ally giving hudson a sponge bath with wipes and Ellery's water which had thickener in it which is pretty much a gel. So his hair was all slicked down with hair gel, it was hilarious he seemed to enjoy it.

Lunch with the ladies, missing mom

These next few pics pretty much set the tone for what our trip was like the whole time...

We went home on my 24th birthday and everyone surprised me the night before with my favorite cake, I have it every year and I actually totally forgot about it. Last year I made my own simply because its a tradition now. So thanks ya'll for all the love! they all spoiled me with little treasures!

I hope these trips happen more often from now on, being the youngest I learn a lot from these women I call my sisters and my mom. I'm grateful for their knowledge and experience, I was going through a rough patch just before the trip, no I didn't get a nose ring! It was a health thing, I think it was post partum hormonal stuff, but It messed with my brain. What would I do without some one on four with my sisters and mom? I mean Caleb is a great listener and all, but there is nothing like some good old fashioned girl talk :)

Ellery's New Year's Resolution...No more Feeding Tube!

2011-02-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

Ellery's feeding journey has been a struggle from day one, she started with a bottle and when her weak little heart was too tired to work we put the rest of the milk through a feeding tube in her nose. She was off and on the feeding tube while in the hospital until she was on a breathing tube for 6 weeks and as a result she lost her ability to suck at all. She came home on a NG tube and we fed her milk entirely through the tube.

Oh how I hated that tube! It was so uncomfortable for her and she would always try to take it out, which meant ripping off very sticky tape on her sensitive little cheeks. The worst part was having to put a new tube in because that was mommy's job, but it shouldn't be a mommy's job. No mom should have to shove a tube down their baby's nose down to their belly and strap it to their face, she hated me in those moments....I hated myself. But as a mom you have to in order to feed your child. But when she started to pull it out almost everyday? sometimes more than once, I just couldn't do it anymore! So when it was time to take down her Illeostomy I decided to have them put in her G-Tube when she was 9 months. I was hesitant to put yet another scar on my baby, but she was no where near sucking on a bottle so it had to be done. In the end it was totally the right decision.

So Ellery has been a great solid food eater going through baby food to solids just like any other kid would, but she couldn't drink. So really we just used the tube for formula, milk and water. We have worked with her speech/feeding therapist since she was 6 months to get her drinking.....nothing.

Then we found these little spouts from buy buy baby and after trying them time and time again, it finally clicked and she started to drink! So I left in the G-Tube just in case and it was a security blanket for me if she got sick, I could keep her hydrated easily. Well, finally I told myself she was doing great and we never used the tube anymore so when this one goes bad and comes out, I won't put in a new one. They last about 4 to 6 months then the balloon that keeps it inside eventually leaks out and the tube slides right out of her tummy.

I woke up New Year's Day, put Ellery in the tub and her tube was sticking out, she had pulled on it, but not all the way. I knew it was done for so I stuck to my plan and pulled it OUT FOR GOOD!

I was so nervous because the hole you see above starts to close like an ear piercing would within an hour. So if I chickened out and put a new tube in, it would have to be fast. But I was strong and decided it's a new year and a new Ellery, the Ellery that doesn't need a feeding tube! I am a proud mamma and she seems pretty proud of herself too, congrats sweet pea!

New Year's Minute to Win it!

2011-01-21T20:27:00.000-08:00

Scott and Melody out did themselves this year for their annual New Year's Eve party! Have you seen the show "Minute to Win it"? Well, it's much more entertaining to watch your own family than strangers, but it's a game show where the contestants have 60 seconds to complete these random tasks. So my family spent the night battling for bragging rights on things like "who can empty a tissue box using only one hand tissue by tissue the fastest" or at least under 60 seconds.

I have some pretty awesome video of all of this, but not sure how to get it on my blog yet....soon hopefully. This challenge was transferring m&m's from one plate to another using a straw and we had to make a smiley face. We got one point if we did the task under a minute and another point if we beat whoever we were racing at the moment. At the end when we combined the scores of the couples it was a three way tie. So we redid the m&m race but the couple had to pass the m&m from straw to straw, so I picked one up passed to Caleb and he put in on the other plate. Do I even need to say who won overall? Team McBride all the way baby! I will give props to I think Kim who had the most points single handed.

This one we had to swing the ball back and forth to knock down the bottles, I was horrible at this one, my sister had hers all down before I got two! It' just went in circles!

This was the only picture because we mostly got video. We had to jump/shake ping pong balls out of the box.....very funny to watch every one's technique.

Cake pop, yum!

We had a lot of fun, I vote we do this every year. I wish I had more pictures from all the games we did a lot. A favorite was when we put an oreo on our forehead and you had to maneuver it down your face, no hands and into your mouth. Sounds crazy and yes you look like you are having a seizure but it's so fun! You should try it!
Happy New Year!

Jakey's Blankies

2011-01-20T19:50:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

This is a post for a heart mom friend who has turned her loss into an amazing charity for others. Below is a picture of a special blanket Ellery recieved while in the hospital for her second heart surgery. She is holding a donation drive starting today on her son Jake's birthday and it runs for as long as he lived, 19 days. To read Jake's story and learn more please go to http://tylerelizabethdennison.blogspot.com/. Please help spread love to those in need. Thanks!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-20T10:04:00.001-08:00

We had another great Christmas this year! We decided to pack up leave a note for Santa and spend Christmas over at Caleb's parents house. I spent most of Christmas Eve finishing Ellery's blanket I made (I will post about that soon). It turned out great and I am very proud of it! This is what Santa left for the kiddos. Neither of which had any clue what was going on.

We gave Caleb's mom a glass top for her coffee table because she has run out of space to display more family pictures so she had the idea to put them on her table and we ran with it.

I will say things were different this year. I am used to super early Christmas mornings and crazy excitement. At the McBride's we slept in till 9 and then just hung out until everyone else woke up. We didn't start opening gifts until 10 I think! It was nice actually, Ellery and Hudson had no idea it wasn't any other morning but when they get older and do, we will definitely go back to the early morning craziness!

Ellery did what she always does when I introduce her to a new toy that sings and lights up, she gets worried and wants to sit in my lap, but she can't help bu want to push the buttons and play with it. She just has to get to the know the toy before she can play alone with it.

Poor Hudson was sick with a nasty cold and was not really happy, but he seemed to like to look at his new baby toys and loved his new cow blanky. That kid loves soft fabrics and snuggling his face right in.

Ellery got a new baby and carraige from Nonnie and Grandpa and she adopted her with no hesitation. Santa brought her a school bus that she drops balls into and unfortunately those balls are just so fun to throw on the tile. They make a loud noise and bounce all around. So Ellery doesn't sit nicely and expand her developmental skills like I planned, instead she takes the balls and throws them. That is all she did Christmas morning, we had to make her come over and open more presents!

My husband knows me so well!

And I know him so well, those are nice two-way radios

And apparently we know eachother so well we both got eachother video cameras!

Sad story: I gave Caleb his video camera on Christmas Eve so he could charge it and record Christmas morning. Well he did and we got so many cute clips and a really funny one when his mom opened a gift from her her hubby that said "Jared" on it and she started to scream "he went to Jared!" So funny! So after all the fun died down we wanted to watch the videos so we tried to hook it up to he tv. Love my husband dearly, but he is not tech savy. He saw a button with a picture of an SD card and an arrow so he thought "transfer" the card was what that meant when really it meant "format". So he thought he was transferring the videos to the tv when really he totally erased the card! I'm not going to lie, I cried. Caleb felt horrible and I don't blame him, it was just so sad to loose those precious videos. Good thing I took a billion pictures!

We returned that video camera anyway since we don't need two, I was mad at it, but I love my new video camera and I use it all the time. I have a lot of new videos to share.

Overall Christmas was great and I already can't wait for next year when Hudson is older! This is the Sunday after Christmas we all matched and I promise I didn't plan it. The boys dressed themselves. Ellery would not hold still so I could get a good picture of her in her Christmas dress!

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas!

Family Christmas Party

2011-01-13T14:31:00.000-08:00

This year my sister Kim hosted our family Christmas party just a few days before Christmas. We had a great time, lots of family fun including ring around the rosies

I was so happy that my grandparents were able to come, we love them so much! My grandpa is always great with the babies and he was nice enough to take care of Hudson most of the night. I think Hudson enjoyed the love and attention!

We had the family talent show that was filled with music, piano playing and instruments. Ellery showed off her walking skills and my nephew did a puppet show.

My mom managed to whip up these costumes for our tradition of acting out the Nativity. The kids did great at each of their roles, my dad is always Mary's donkey. Isn't my neice so cute as Mary? Ellery was a sheep. I made her costume earlier that day out of an old onesie and cotton balls and old bunny ears. It was the best I could do on short notice. She didn't like it so much, she kept pulling off the cotton balls and making a mess! The ears only lasted long enough for a not so great picture. But she was a good sheep.

We did the kids secret santa exchange and the kids had a ball with all the new toys while the adults did our white elephant exchange. I must have been too into the game to take pictures because it was really fun this year. Last year we played the game giving good $20 gifts. Girls brought girl gifts boys brought boy gifts but no one knew what was what. This year we got a little crazy and decided to trade clues to the real gifts. So we each wrapped a clue and once the game of stealing was over, we gave the person the nice $20 gift. Caleb ended up with a wok and the clue was fortune cookies. I came home with a set of family games and the clue was pieces to popular games. The gift I brought was a pedicure gift card and my clue was a chinese to english dictionary and Caleb gave an emergency car kit and his clue was some of his elk meat wrapped up and he wrote "road kill" on it. Everyone was really creative and it made the game hilarious!

ThanksGiving

2010-12-17T11:15:00.000-08:00

I thought I should blog about Thanksgiving before Christmas came! We had two big feasts, one with my family on Thursday and then we drove to Rosevelt Lake to camp with Caleb's family which was a lot of fun! I didn't take enough pictures with my family unfortunately but here's a few of the highlights!

Here's a few things we did this month...

2010-11-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month I took the kids for a quick trip up to my parents cabin while Caleb went on his deer hunt. Lucky for us, he got his deer the first morning of the hunt and was able to join us later that night! My brother Jeff came up with his family, this is Ellery's cousin Liberty, they are only 4 days apart.

Here's my grandpa with his baby Pepper. Ellery loves this little dog

Back when we lived on the ASU east base and were newlyweds we met these crazy people and now call them some of our best friends. Tyler and Lacey moved back to Utah but came down for a visit so we all got together for a fun weekend of "card nights". We really just spent the whole time playing with the kids! Funny how things have totally changed...

I needed to distract Ellery so I gave her a cookie....a couple minutes later she found me wanting more

Hudson was so excited to go to the Veteran's Day Parade!

We enjoyed a picnic at the park when the weather was lovely and fed the ducks

Spent a lot of time trying to get a smile out of Hudson

and we danced and danced.......and danced (once you start, Ellery won't stop)

Halloween

2010-11-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

We had a good time this year for sure, our ward's trunk or treat was Friday night and I came up with the idea to turn our trunk into a monster. My brother is into music so he has recording equipment and he's just as crazy as I am so we (meaning he did all the work) made cd tracks to go along with our trunks. He did voice overs on mine to sound like my monster car was talking. It was perfect and scary, but it was so loud at the party that no one could really hear it. I was bummed. I love Halloween, it's right up there with Christmas in my book. I can't wait till my kids are older, it's fun to dress Ellery up and she sure looks cute, but I know it will be even more fun when she understands it all.

I had hopes that Ellery might be walking in time to trick or treat, so I was excited when she started pushing her cart around the week of Halloween. I wanted to really dress up the cart as her treat bag, but I ran out of time and only managed to do a little something to disguise it. She had a good time though, Daddy walked her around to each trunk and everyone just threw a piece of candy into her cart. It was cute. She was so focused on walking and Caleb had to stop her at each car, she had no clue they were giving her candy.

I saw these cupcakes online and just had to make them! Arn't they hilarious?

The second trunk or treak was my sister's ward and they had it at a member's home. They have a huge yard and they even set up a scary haunted house that I was too scared to go into.

I got to take Ellery around this time to trick or treat and she had an actual bag for the candy. She liked to hold her cat bag and acted shy at every car, which is strange for her, but I know she enjoyed it

We had to do the best part of halloween, getting back home and going through the goods. Ellery definitley got this part and enjoyed it, once she figured out what was in her bag, she kept digging for more.

Hudson thought the whole thing was pretty boring

How old are you?

2010-11-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

So is it sad that Caleb and I are already forgetting our ages? We were driving in the car a week before his birthday and I had been thinking all month that I need to do something extra special for him because he's going to be 25 and that's like a milestone. Well, after I made a comment about it he corrected me and said "I think I'm going to be 26, right?" We seriously had to sit there and think about how old I was and how old he was going to be. Sad.
So in the end he turned 26, not sure how I missed the 25th year but oh well! We didn't get to do too much because of the kids but we did have a birthday dinner for him at his parents house. He's been partying all month going on hunts and actually just left for his deer hunt that he is very excited about so he's a happy birthday boy.
Even though I don't know how old he is, I do love my hubby and everything he does for our little family. He is such a great dad, Ellery and him have so much fun together and I can't wait for him to take Hudson out in the woods. Maybe I'm not too excited about the hunting lessons, but I know it will be a great father/son thing. Happy Birthday Caleb, we love you!

A week before Caleb's birthday he was off hunting so my parents invited me and the kiddos to join them on a day trip to Jerome! Going to little towns is one of my favorite childhood memories. I love going through the little shops and eating icecream on the sidewalk. It was busy this time of year because it's a ghost town and it's halloween time so everyone wants in on the fun. In case you are wondering where Hudson is, my mom is holding him in the sling. Ellery never liked the sling, I think she was too old when I tried it, but Hudson LOVES it! It's the only way I get anything done.

Also, look whose walking! Well in a way she is, Ellery's developmental specialist decided to help her walk along with her shopping cart one day and Ellery just took off! Always has to start a new trick on her time. It was so fun to watch her own excitement at this new skill. Now she just walks up and down our house all day long! I bet she starts walking on her own pretty soon!

Blessing Day

2010-10-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

I wish I had taken more pictures but this is all I got on such a busy day. Hudson was blessed by his daddy on 10-10-2010. It was perfect, Caleb did an amazing job and made us all cry...okay maybe just me and his mom. I feel so blessed to have a strong husband who holds the priesthood and can be so intune with the spirit on such an occasion. It was so special. We both felt so loved from family and friends who attented and from those that sent their love but could not attend....or they forgot (ahem...scott).

Daddy helped Hudson get ready for the big day...

I love his little shirt but I couldn't find nice pants in a newborn size, then the week after I found some that were given to me as a hand-me-down! oh well he looked more put together the week after, isn't he just precious?

Hudson... the model

2010-10-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

I had a fun little photoshoot in the family room when hudson was a week old and these were a few of my favorites! This was his official announcement above. He's a cutie if you ask me, but I may be a smidge bias.

C is for Cookie...

2010-09-25T16:03:00.001-07:00

Ellery is 2! This past year has gone by so fast I can't believe she is already a two year old! I feel like we just celebrated her first birthday.

At 2 Ellery...

weighs: 22 pounds
length: 31 in

-Ellery is pulling to stand at everything and is starting to cruise the couch
-Her favorite thing in the world is her baby doll and she plays with her all day long
-She loves cookies and goldfish
-She smacks her lips when she wants a drink
-Peek-a-Boo is always a hit with her
-Twinkle Twinkle little star is her new favorite song
-She likes to point and push buttons and lift flaps in her books

Well, with being pregnant I wasn't sure if a party was going to happen this year. I needed a distraction though and decided to plan a family party and if I needed to cancel it than fine. Well, the baby didn't come until the day after so the party was on. I tried to think of a theme that Ellery would actually enjoy. She isn't in to anything like a favorite show or game. The only thing I knew she LOVED was cookies! So we decided to have a Milk and Cookies Party.

I love planning parties, I'm a little crazy into the details and the fun. I really enjoyed gathering these cookie jars and making them coordinate. It was simple and easy with the four days I had to plan the party a cookie and milk buffet was perfect!

We started the fun off by making these easy cookie monster puppets that also served as the kids treat bags.

We played cookies and milk bingo with cookie crisp cereal as the markers. Anytime someone got a bingo they were able to pick a cookie from the buffet to put in their bag.

Then I brought back an old family favorite that my older sister used to always do at her parties and that is pass the package! The kids pass around the gift that has many layers and if the music stops on them they get to open a layer and win a prize!
Always a hit with all ages!

My personal favorite was the Oreo eating contest that you may have seen on the Ellen D. Show. This was hilarious to watch and everyone was pretty into it... especially my dad!

The night before I was freaking out because I had nothing to put the candle on for when we sing to her. Late that night I was up creating this cookies and cream icecream cake! It's just all icecream that I molded into a round glass containter then topped with whipped cream and oreos. Not the prettiest thing but whatever works!

We then let her eat a few of her favorite cookies, the keebler rainbow m&m ones...yum!

I'm glad that it all worked out so Ellery could have a special birthday before her baby brother showed up. She seemed to enjoy her family and cousins thanks for coming! I just wish she enjoyed all my hard work as much as she loved this bag!

Thats my Ellery, happy birthday we love you!

Hudson's Arrival

2010-09-17T10:30:00.001-07:00

This is my journal so this is really long and very detailed for my record.

So I was really getting worried that he was never going to come! Last week I distracted myself with Ellery's birthday which was on the 13th by planning a fun birthday party last Saturday. There will be a post later all about that! I won't deny I pushed myself in the hopes that it would put me into labor. Well the day came, it was so fun and very exhausting and no baby. We went home had a wonderful full nights rest and in the morning I woke up to a small trickle...

My water broke Sunday morning at 7:00, I was shocked and a little unsure only because after it broke nothing happened for an hour. I put Caleb to work immediately because the house was a mess! Contractions finally started up and we just cleaned and packed and got Ellery ready for the next couple of hours. This was in between contractions, my last belly shot.

By 10:30 we made it to the hospital and I was still at 2cm and 80% effaced, I had been that way for 2 weeks! I was really mad and worried that maybe my water didn't break and it was just false labor again! It was the real deal though, but the doctor that was on was one that I have never met before so I was super nervous because I had planned a VBAC and there are specifics that are very important. I lucked out big time because she ended up being the perfect doctor! She said I had to have an epidural in case my uterus ruptured and I needed to be rushed to surgery but they allowed me to only have half of the dose so I was numb enough that I did not feel the active labor contractions, but I was able to move and feel my legs.

So I spent all afternoon relaxed in bed while I slowly made it to fully dialated and effaced. The epidural worked the whole afternoon, but once I made it to transition, that low of a dose doesn't do anything for you (I asked for a bolus dose in desperation in the heat of it all and they kind of laughed at me :)

Once things got exciting it was a lot to take on suddenly. His heart rate dropped and they had me on my hands and knees and all over the place trying to get him to recover. I had to wear oxygen which makes me super nauseous and to top it off they gave me a shot of terbutaline. That is medicine to stop my contractions, I was on it with Ellery for 6 weeks when I was having preterm labor. It makes your heart race and makes you extrememly shaky and my teeth chatter hard. Anyway, a shot of that while in transition was pure torture. It was to give the baby a break and it worked just enough only took a few minutes.

Once he was stable I was back to work on pushing and it was a lot of work! He unfortunately got stuck under my pelvic bone and was not moving so for a long time my pushing was kind of pointless, just made his head swollen and me swollen. There was a time when I could feel everyone's hope just vanish and the doctor was seriously considering just taking me to C-section. She thankfully left it up to me, all she said was "it's going to take a long time and still may not work" She gave me an hour to get him out. I had already been pushing for a full hour. She knew how much I really wanted to avoid another C-section. So it took that whole extra hour, but he finally made it! 2 hours of pushing and totally worth it!

Hudson Dale McBride
He weighed: 7 lbs. 10 oz.
Length: 19.5 in.
Head: 13cm
Born at: 8:12 p.m.

The euphoria that comes after giving birth is strong. I was so happy it was over! And there was a baby! He was healthy and screaming and big! I am just so happy that it all worked out and I was able to experience a vaginal delivery. It was definitely harder than the C-section and right after I told Caleb I may opt for C-sections from now on. Now that a little time has past, the recovery is much better and Im proud of what I accomplished and think that maybe I could do it again. I give props to those moms who do it all natural all the way. I know if I didn't rest that whole afternoon during active labor, I would never have had the energy to push him out at the end.

My dad brought Ellery in to meet her brother soon after he was born and she was not too sure of what to think. At first I was holding him and she wouldn't take her eyes off of him, but did not want to get close. Slowly she relaxed and warmed up enough to say hi.

First family photo, this is what Ellery did that whole time, just give him a strange look.

First bath

It's been so fun and exciting! He is such a good baby and a good eater! We came home on Tuesday and Caleb was back to work on Wednesday. I was really nervous, but he sleeps well and Ellery has been great! Not to mention all the love and help from grandmas. Thanks for everyone's well wishes and visits and food...it's been so great to have a healthy baby to bring home and to just enjoy! We love him so much and he's already added so much to our little family! We love you Hudson!

The Cowboy Room

2010-08-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

The cowboy room is almost complete! All it needs is basic organizing and decor to finish it off! It was a big project, but we had a lot of fun putting it all together. We needed to paint almost every surface including the doors and floor boards. We went with a tan/grey for the top half and then I really wanted to add wood to the bottom half to look like barn wood.

Caleb was not too excited when I told him I was planning to paint the wood red. I was nervous myself because I loved the wood as is, or maybe just stain it a darker color? It took me a week to finally just do it and hope for the best. The first coat was really bright and made me think I totally ruined it! I was hoping that the brown glaze paint I chose to antique it would tone it down in the end.

This is with one coat of the glaze, I went back and added more randomly to make it even more dramatic.

So this is what it is so far! It is still a work in progress as far as decorating and final touches. We need to get a ceiling fan and I would love a foe fur cow print rug! Obviously he needs a crib when Ellery is done with it. That will go under the painting near the door and I hope to get pictures of the baby to put on the wall with his name. Hopefully he looks like a Hudson because I already bought and painted the letters.

I love how it's coming together, but it just isn't perfect yet. This is some of the decor that hasn't found a home yet. I keep moving everything around, the shelves have been redecorated like 10 times with all the same things just in different spots. I love it though and glad that it looks just like I imagined! Now all it needs is an adorable little cowboy to occupy it!

Buckaroo Shower!

2010-08-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

My sister Kim was awesome enough to throw me a baby shower for this little guy! It turned out sooooo cute! I loved everything, she is very creative and knows how to put on a good party! My mom was her right hand man for the party and actually made saloon doors to set the mood! They were fabulous and real wood and I hope to get them into his room somehow later :)

I actually asked my sister if I could contribute by making these cake pops. I've been itching to try making them but just haven't had a reason to. She was nice enough to let me and it took me all day, but I think they turned out pretty cute! They were tasty too, much richer than I thought they would be, but it's perfect when you only eat a couple. If you are interested, check out my link to bakerella she is the master. Mine look like a kids project compared to hers :)

We had chips and all kinds of homemade dips...delicious! My sister also made little piggies in blankets, very western yum. Glass bottles of soda were available to drink OR you had the awesome option to make a mason jar float with them!

These were the prizes if you won a game. We played the game where you take a string and try to guess the circumference of my belly. I was a little shocked with how large most of the ladies thought I was! No, I'm just kidding it was fun and my sister in law hit it on the money with her guess!

We also played a version of musical chairs where we passed around two baby bottles with apple juice in them and when the music stopped, whoever was holding the bottles had to duel. They had to put on the cowboy hats and race to drink all the juice! It was pretty funny I have to say. My sister in law Sarah won the first round, even with the slow-flow nipple! It took her awhile, but she was determined! Amy was luckier with a faster flow nipple and beat my neice Macey for the second round. My sister even found a tumble weed earlier to set the stand off mood.

Thanks to everyone who came, I totally scored on clothes and diapers which is what we really needed! I feel much more prepared now for him to come! I am also so lucky to know such talented people! I got a lot of homemade gifts that were just too perfect!

Especially thanks to my sister and my mom for giving me such a great baby shower, it was so fun and I will always remember it! I missed those that could not make it or live out of town, wish you could have come!

A Few Things...

2010-08-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

These are just a few things that happened this month:

Caleb's brother, Hunter, left for his mission to Mexico! We are so proud of hime and he will be missed, especially by Ellery because he is her favorite uncle for sure. She never held back a kiss from him, she just loves him!

Apparently if it exsists, Ellery has had it or will get it. I swear this girl is just prone to every sickness. I thought if I wasn't obsessive with germs and let her be exposed a little then she would have a stronger immunity. I'm beginning to think that instead she just gets sick over and over. So a couple weeks ago Ellery had super high fevers for 3 days, I thought it was the flu. She was scaring me with how hot she would get, but I figured it was viral and we just had to wait it out. Then finally her fever broke and she seemed better until this appeared out of nowhere...

This nasty rash was all over her body! I didn't know what the heck was going on, but thanks to google I'm guessing she had Roseola. She fit all the symptoms and it is viral so we couldn't do anything for her but wait it out. The rash lasted about 3 days. Didn't seem to bother her like it didn't itch, but she was still crabby.

In other Ellery health news. We had her hearing tested, it was a possibility that she has hearing loss so it was great to hear (ha ha, no pun intended) that she is in the normal range for hearing! The negative part though is she has a lot of fluid in her ears that could be making it muffled and she just isn't draining properly. Her ENT doc has had her on nasonex all summer to help, but she is still full of fluid. I don't want another winter full of ear infections which is what will happen again if we don't do something different. So Ellery is going to be getting tubes in her ears pretty soon. We will do that after the baby is born. Hopefully it will help with the infections, her hearing and also balance and coordination.

Lastly, Ellery had her first hair cut! She has funny hair lengths because the helmet gave her some bald spots so it's longer in someplaces than others. Anyway, she was getting a mullet look as you can see in this picture here:

So my friend Kelsey was over doing my hair and I asked her to please cut off Ellery's tail in the back! It was quick and easy, but made a big difference! Thanks Kelsey!

Bear Lake

2010-08-12T15:57:00.001-07:00

Warning, long post and picture overload!

I am so spoiled by Caleb. Here I sit and whine all day about how I'm tired of being pregnant and wish I could go and do something interesting. He goes to work everyday and does about 55-65 hours a week and never complains. It was decided a long time ago that we would not be able to go on my family's annual vacation to Bear Lake because I would be in my 8th month of pregnancy and with Caleb working so much, we knew he couldn't get time off. So I'm not sure if it was his immense love for me or my constant whining that Caleb gave me and Ellery the go ahead to tag along with my parents on vacation. I think he was just sick of me and ready for a break of his own :) We only had a day to prepare for a week long trip since I literally waited that long to decide to go. (Guilt for leaving Caleb behind and also the fear of going into labor while we were gone.)

Would you look at that belly?

So we rode in the back of my parents truck and Ellery did okay. She was great until it came to sleeping time. She just did not want to give up and sleep in her car seat! After long hours of driving, an overnight stop in Kanab and many bathroom breaks we finally made it to Bear Lake, Idaho!

Ellery was unsure at first, but soon learned to love the beach! It was tough to stop her from eating all the shells and sand however. If she was in the water she was too busy splashing. When the boat came around she got a kick out of the bigger waves that would splash her on shore. She also rode in the boat, first time riding and she was content when it was moving, but she HATED the life vest!

This is where we were. I have been going to this cabin every summer for my whole life, big family tradition and I was so happy to able to bring Ellery! 6 of my 7 siblings were there this year with all their kids which made a grand total of 40 of us I think? It was crowded, but so fun to see everyone and all the kids play together!

Ellery and I spent a lot of time just relaxing inside. I wanted to take it easy and she enjoyed playing with her familiar toys and doing her thing. We also did alot of hanging out outside, the weather was great and Ellery just played on a blanket thank goodness she stayed on it....once again tough to stop her from eating rocks and leaves and bugs...
All she had to do was sit there and be cute and sure thing someone would come along and give her attention. This girl was SPOILED with entertainers and lots of love.

Milkshakes at LeBeau's!

Saturday the 31st was my sister's birthday and my niece's birthday. We went out shopping in Garden City with my sister and had lunch at the pizza place. Not sure why my flash didn't go off but these pics didn't turn out so great unfortunately, I tried to fix them.

Onto to Pickleville Playhouse, my favorite. The show this year was so funny and Ellery kept herself entertained. I was worried I would have to leave a bunch because we were in the front row right next to the piano, but she did great! It was nice to have the foot room for her to play because there is just no room on my lap anymore. She played with the program the entire 2nd half of the show. She was in heaven!

These are my nephews...they are all so big and teenagers. weird. If you look close you can see Ellery's face got pretty dirty from the ink on the program, she was a black mess by the end of the show.

Sunday had perfect portrait weather... I got the perfect picture of my girl

Monday we spent one last day at the beach.

Cleaned up in the sink and headed for home the next day...

I was so ready to go home by the end of the week, I missed Caleb so much. It was fun, but not too busy. I was able to relax and spend good time with my family which is exactly what I needed. I was so sick of being home and the heat and the waiting for this baby. I am glad that Ellery and I were able to get away and out of our routine. It wasn't as challenging as I feared, quite the opposite due to such helpful family members and Ellery entertainers. I really wish Caleb could have come, that would have made it perfect. It was a great vacation and I am so happy Ellery got to go and enjoy it!

Camping

2010-07-20T14:14:00.001-07:00

Caleb and I were both anxious for some fresh air and decided to head up to the mountains. His sister Jessica happened to be camping with her family and friends and invited us to join their camp. It was gorgeous! It was near Sunrise just outside of Showlow and the weather was perfect! I love a little rain when camping and it was just enough to keep the temperature nice but not too much that you couldn't sit out and enjoy yourself. We bought this massive cabin tent thinking it would get a lot of use in the future and it would have if it wasn't used and missing parts. It was nice for the weekend, but we returned it.

The first night was pretty misserable because Ellery was mortified. She did not like the strange tent even when we let her sleep with us. Anytime she woke up, she freaked out. The second night was a little colder so we put a big blanket over her whole playpen to keep the draft out and she slept 11 straight hours that night. Since she couldn't see the tent, she felt safe or something.

She LOVED playng outside, but still ate everything in site. I found dirt, pine needles and a lot of rocks in her mouth. Eventually, an empty water bottle became a good alternative.

This picture makes me smile, but she also looks so big here! We got her her own camping chair and she spent a lot of time in it. That is when she wasn't falling out of it trying to reach something on the ground....I need to get this girl walking!

I think I could make a whole album with pictures just like this...

We had fun riding in Caleb's sister's TREX a few times. Caleb and I recently discovered that Ellery has a MAJOR fear of driving anything. About a month ago we were driving to a neighbors house so Caleb thought she might like to drive for fun. I don't know why but she screams and tries to get away even before the car was moving. It's fine if she sits in the front with me but the steering wheel is too much. We thought we would try it on the TREX and got the same reaction, the machine wasn't even on! It's so sad but also really funny to see how horrible it is for her to hold the steering wheel. Not sure what's so scary about it, but she has made it clear that it is not okay.

On a side note, I have another sneak peak at the cowboy room. There has been a lot of mess and work, but it's coming along and so far it's exactly what I wanted so I'm excited! I'm not afraid of color so I went for it. It's almost done so soon I will have a complete overview of the whole transformation! This kid is coming in just a few more weeks and I'm ready! Well mentally I'm ready, his room is empty of baby supplies. I've only purchased a little sweat shirt that was on sale. I may need more than that.

4th of July

2010-07-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

We didn't go anywhere for the fourth this year, but I was determined to have fun! Last year we were released from the hospital after Ellery's stomach surgery on the fourth so we didn't do much. I really wanted to go swimming and we did, a lot. On saturday Caleb worked in the morning then we went to Basha High's pool and it was packed but we had a really great time. Please ignore the blue whale in the pool :)

We had such a good time just us and Ellery always loves to swim so her smiles make it all the more fun!

I know this isn't very original, but I have never decorated a dessert to look like a flag. I was CRAVING a layered pudding dessert with the pecan crust....yum, so I made it with banana pudding for our bar-b-que we had saturday night at Caleb's parents house. We also went all out with Elk steak shish kabobs, corn on the cob, watermelon and potato salad. Oh it was sooooo good!

I have created a posing queen, she knows what to do when mommy pulls out the camera.

On Sunday we went to church in our red, white and blues and that afternoon we enjoyed time over at my grandparent's house. My grandpa hasn't been feeling well so we thought since they couldn't go anywhere for the fourth either that we would visit. They have the cutest little dog named pepper and oh my was Ellery in love! They had so much in common, they both loved to crawl on all fours, beg for food, chew on all the toys and especially couldn't get enough kissing!

Ellery is an open-mouth kisser and didn't hold back on pepper. It was pretty much gross, but Ellery was just laughing her head off! She kept instigating the kisses, not the dog.

Later that night we went over to Schnepf Farms to watch the fireworks! I really wanted Ellery to see good close-up fireworks this year so we drove down the street with my sister and her youngest. We had a really good time. We played sequence while we waited and we brought plenty of snacks and toys.

When the show started, Ellery was definitely worried. She just clung to Caleb but couldn't look away.

Cole was in awe, he just kept leaning closer and closer.

Eventually, Ellery relaxed and enjoyed the show while I popped popcorn into her mouth every so often. She seemed to really like it, it was a good show like 45 minutes long. I was almost thinking it was too long, but a great way to celebrate our nation! We had a "blast"!

On Monday, most of my family went to my sister's pool to swim and we spent a good part of the afternoon there. Caleb surprised us by leaving work early and showing up to play! That was fun and he deserved a break. He works so hard for our little family and I'm glad when he can relax and we can enjoy our daddy! I only took pictures while we were in the splash park. Ellery loves the water!

Mid-Summer Update!

2010-06-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

I just had to try it and I gotta say, I'm loving the pig tails! It's not much, but isn't she a cutie? Perfect summer style.

So I'm 27 weeks now and this is my bump...

He is head down and I feel him really low, like he punches my bladder and lower organs all the time and kicks just to the right of my belly button. Always the same and he is super active as was Ellery. I'm quite positive this is as big as I've ever been. Below is me pregnant with Ellery just a couple weeks before she was born so I was 8 months, maybe 32-33 weeks? And I will probably never go all brunette again...

I'm anxious to see how everything turns out. This baby is seemingly healthy, but I am still having preterm issues with the actual pregnancy. I have been really uncomfortable lately, but no labor, just cramping. I feel like a ticking time bomb just waiting to go into preterm labor and it's very stressful! So far I am 50% effaced so my doc is watching close, but there isn't much we can do but wait for labor and stop it with medicine when it happens I guess. I am on modified bed rest to try and keep me relaxed and off my feet. It does help acutally only because I feel much better this week. Ellery is getting way too heavy!

My biggest fear is that this baby will have IUGR, growth restriction like Ellery did after I went into labor. I went into labor with Ellery at 29 weeks and she was born 6 weeks later and I never gained any weight in between, in fact, I lost a pound. Apparently there was something wrong with my placenta and/or the umbilical cord that was not giving her enough nutrition. Hence, her being only 3 lbs. 12 oz. at 35 weeks. So now I am just as big as I was last time, let's see if we get bigger! Not that I am looking forward to stretch marks and waddling and swollen limbs, but if that's what it takes to have a healthy fat baby, then bring it on!

So I've been really wanting to get this kid's room in order before he is born or even before I get put on full bed rest. I know if I wait until after he comes, it will never get done! So here is a sneak peak of the cowboy room. It is in the very early stages so know that more exciting things are to come.

2010-06-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

We went on our first trip to the cabin this summer memorial day weekend and it was so relaxing! Ellery was getting over an ear infection but she was loving it up in the mountains. She loved the rocks, the pine cones and the creek. I love going up to the cabin and for some reason it made my pregnancy more comfortable, like I could suddenly breathe better.

I really wanted to see if Ellery would enjoy a quad ride because lately she's been more aware that she can get hurt and not as adventurous. So I expected Caleb to take us for a short ride up the road and back, but no, he decided to take us all the way up to the waterfall. It was about a 20-30 minute ride one way and it's bumpy. Ellery absolutely loved it! She sat between Caleb and me and was just so happy to watch the trees whip by. We played at the top of the waterfall in the creek and Ellery got soaked in the freezing water. Caleb would dip her feet in and she would kick and splash all over. Then he started dipping her upside-down and get her head wet...daddy. She was in heaven though, I really really wish I would have had my camera on me, but I was not aware that we were going for such a long and fun ride. While we were up there, two guys were repelling off the side of the mountain down the waterfall, it was cool to watch them do it. Caleb actually proposed to me at the bottom of the waterfall, actually under it in the water. It would have been fun to hike Ellery down there, but I am too preggo.

Anyway, on the ride back Ellery had wet hair and she actually tried to crawl past me to get in front of Caleb on the quad so she rode in the very front the whole way back....this was what she looked like when we returned.

On Memorial Day we went to my bro's house for a bar-b-que and the kids swam. Always a good time. Unfortunaly, two days later Ellery had the stomach flu that she picked up from some unnamed germy people we may have spent time with....

This was her the morning she woke up throwing up. I had to clean out her whole bed so I set her down to get to cleaning and when I came back like 2 minutes later she was folded in half totally passed out! Poor thing, but it was so cute.

This is Ellery's new trendy head band. I'm thinking of starting a boutique to sell these stylish babies. No, Ellery has been sporting this ace bandage since we can't get her to stop hitting at her ear. After the ear infection and stomach flu she was constantly hitting her ear and it was enough that she split her skin where the ear attatches to her head and she also scratched it up really bad. Even after the ear infection is now gone, she is still hitting at it and without this lovely gaurd, she just re-openes wounds and bleeds all over. Everyone keeps asking if she had another surgery, but no it's not as serious as it looks. We do think that maybe the bone behind her ear is infected so she had a CT scan yesterday to see. We find out Tuesday if it is, if not, I have no clue why she is back to hitting her head all day. Until she stops, I may have to start pinning flowers to this thing.

SCORE!!

2010-06-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

So have you ever had a goal that you work on for months and months and it's trial and error and you just never seem to reach that goal? Well I am here to tell you to keep trying because it's possible! My mind has been weighed down with wondering when will Ellery start moving? and when will she finally drink her own fluids? Not usual goals for all parents, but these were two of my goals since last summer and my friends I am here to tell you that together Ellery and I have finally reached those goals!

So Ellery is finally crawling! We have been working on it for a very long time in physical therapy. At one point we declared that she would never crawl and instead just go straight to walking. She has always hated being on her tummy and in that face down position. With her surgeries and her ostomy bag and now her g-tube button, it's understandable. So we were shocked when she started to get on all fours voluntarily.

Here she is with her awesome physical therapist, Brenda, who comes by once a week to work with Ellery. She works Ellery hard too which I like, but we also have fun! She's been coming to our home for over a year now and it's great to see how far Ellery has come physically! She actually started to crawl about 3 weeks ago and has pretty much mastered it, but she is still pretty lazy. She stays in one room and doesn't get into any trouble yet. I kind of wish she would because her baby toys don't keep her occupied anymore, she gets bored with them so I find myself encouraging her to crawl and open cupboards and discover new things.

Also, Ellery is drinking all of her liquids! Now this is HUGE! She has been off her pump for about 2 months now? Long time, but I didn't want to jinx it. We found these sippy cup spouts that you put onto regular water bottles at BUY BUY Baby a long time ago and bought them just as another thing to try. We tried, she didn't suck on them and so they sat in my cupboard for months. Her speech therapist has suggested a lot of options to try to get Ellery to drink and we have tried them all and had no progress. She had a Barium Swallow study done to see if her swallowing was any better and turns out it was kind of worse. We have had to thicken her liquids as thick as nectar and apparently she was still aspirating (swallowing straight to her lungs). Probably could be why she kept getting bronchitis! Anyway, so we now thicken her liquid as thick as honey and started to try this spout thing again. We could squeeze the bottle and the drink would come out and she would swallow it. With the water being thicker, she had better control of swallowing.

Regular sippy cups don't work because they are all spill proof or too hard to squeeze out thick liquid. Slowly, but surely, she started to put her lips around it and then suck a little. Her aunt Breanna had patience that Caleb and I ran out of to sit there for a whole evening and offer her the cup. She ended up drinking the whole bottle! So that gave me some motivation and persistence to keep offering it to her as often as possible and with in days she was drinking enough to stay hydrated! What a glorious occasion! This has been a struggle for far too long and my goal was to have her off her g-tube by 18 months. I think we did pretty good!

So two huge milestones in my baby's life have been reached and I could not be happier! Never having to drag around that pump and remembering to pack tubes, pump bags and syringes is the best! We haven't decided when to actually take out her g-tube. I honestly don't know how all that works, but so far I've needed it this past week because she had the stomach flu and it was the only way to keep her hydrated since she refused to drink. So it will prob. stay there for such occasions until a later date.

These pictures are for memories alone. I took these because I love babies in their cribs and wanted to remember Ellery and her butterfly she sleeps with every night and her cute little face poking over the gate...makes me smile!

Results from the Echocardiagrams

2010-05-20T13:35:00.001-07:00

So on Tuesday we had our appointments at St. Joe's for Ellery's echo and my fetal echo. I was in one room and my mom and Ellery were in another checking both my babies hearts at the same time. I was really nervous about my little guy being okay and it's always horrilbe to watch in silence because the sonographer can't say anything. So I'm looking at my little baby's heart trying to see if I can tell if anything is wrong, which I can't. They are so focused too that it's easy to mistake it for a somber attitude like they saw something that isn't normal. Anyway, it was really short and turns out all is well so far! At least there arn't any HUGE defects that they can see as of now, but over time they can get a better look. The only minor thing was a possible small hole which I already new and they said is common in a lot of babies and will usually close as the baby gets bigger. I'll take it, I just feel so relieved that there isn't anything major!

Onto my bigger baby Ellery, it was about the same as the last echo. Not too bad, but she does have a leaky valve. Pulmonary Stenosis is the name and she has always had it (1 of 4 defects in Tetralogy) They try to fix it in her repair but I guess this is common, hard to make a tight valve bigger.

Normally the right side of the heart pumps blood to the lungs. In a person with PS, the pressure in the right-heart pumping chamber (right ventricle) is much higher than normal and the heart must work harder to pump blood out into the lung arteries. Over time this can cause damage to the overworked heart muscle. When the valve is regurgitant it can cause the right ventricle to enlarge.

So her doctor says that it should take a lot of time before any real damage is done to her right ventricle and her valve will need either a balloon placed in to open it up temporarily or a complete valve replacement eventually. He told me that she may need a valve replacement as an adult last visit, but now he says not until she's at least 12 so unfortunately it looks like it could be sooner than I hoped. I guess before I was holding out that she "MAY" need another surgery, but it looks as though it's inevitable that her valve will be replaced, just a matter of when. Sad to hear and accept, but glad to know it's not for a long while. I just hope they keep a close eye and act before she goes into heart failure or her valve bursts (I have known these to happen and will do all I can to prevent them).
So that is that for now, we just take it and move on. Luckily, Ellery is doing so great lately that I still forget she even has any health issues. She is getting so big and learns new things everyday! I feel so blessed she's made it to this point and now to know my next little one is looking healthy is even more of a blessing! It's starting to become a reality that I have another baby coming and I'm getting nervous!

Happy Anniversary Ellery

2010-05-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

So today is Ellery's official one year anniversary since her heart has been repaired! Crazy crazy! It's amazing how once a little girl's heart is fixed, everything else seems to just be easier. This was the last time we ever stayed at St. Joe's, we used to practically lived there. Her first year of no heart issues, now that is a step in a wonderful direction!
I'm hoping all is still well, the only concern the docs had last report was her pulmonary artery was a little tight, but not bad. On Tuesday she has an echo and we can get a good look again...let's hope she is still good. Dr. Rhee seems to think if she ever did need heart surgery again on that artery it wouldn't be until she is much older. I'm opting for no more heart surgeries!
Also on Tuesday, I managed to squeeze myself in to get a fetal echo on my new baby. I'm super nervous, because this will be the official "yes" or "no" about whether this one has heart issues. Oh I pray he is alright. So wish us a happy appointment next week, I will report.

Look at how flat her head was! I totally forgot how bad it was until I went back into these pictures.

And look how talented Ellery is! She stood at that fence for so long while I took pictures! Very impressive for her. I have a post coming soon of her recent accomplishments. Things that we have been working towards for months she can finally master!

Say What?!!

2010-04-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

In case you are wondering, yes I have put on a few pounds. Thank goodness I have a good excuse seeing how I am pregnant! I am late in putting this good news on my blog, but it is true. This kid is halfway in the making too, 19 weeks and counting! We are very excited and are hopeful this one goes smoothly (not that we are comparing :) I'm due in September which will put this one and Ellery exactly two years apart which I think is perfect!

My new doctors are watching me like a hawk this time around. With Ellery's history and my preterm history, there is a lot to be careful about. We just had our first appt. with a perinatologist (specialist for finding special babies in the womb) and had an intense ultrasound to check the baby for everything and anything! I was there for 3 hours!!! So far though everything is looking okay, they will keep checking as the baby develops for any defects or abnormalities. I was so worried, even though the chance of me having another baby with Ellery's chromosome deletion is less than 1%, I was just terrified of the all the possibilities. It was just such a relief to hear "so far so good" and that the baby is a good size. Ellery was tiny and the IUGR (growth restriction) could happen again.

This appt. was also our chance to see if this was going to be a brother or a sister for Ellery. Caleb and I both really wanted to know and we actually agreed that a sister would probably benefit Ellery the most in the end. Funny how with Ellery we really really wanted a boy and now we prefer two girls! Well, the baby rolled over and spread it's legs with no hesitation, the sonographer kind of laughed and said "whoa!" It was obvious something "stood" out and sure enough there he was loud and proud! It's a BOY!! Im really excited, I have always wanted a boy and Caleb of course was worried he would have all girls so he is pretty proud that he got himself a boy! I just hope and pray that this little one is healthy and full term.
So that is our awesome good news! We couldn't be happier! There will be updates as the tests go on and the cowboy room develops! So stay tuned!

Easter

2010-04-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

Easter was much more fun this year than last year. No hospital or stomach flu for this little girl! We had a party for friends and family at our park. I always remembered the Spring parties I grew up going to and I want to do this every year, it was so fun! We had an egg hunt, a cupcake walk, bunny sack race and three-legged race and then a bike parade where the kids decorate their bikes before hand and then there were prizes for the best bikes. I wish I had pictures because these kids were creative! My nephew did his like april showers with an umbrella and my sister made her little girl's trike look like a bunny. It was a good time!

Ellery wasn't the best hunter, but she enjoyed her eggs that I helped her collect.

Digging deep for more goodies!

Not sure who gave her a cupcake, I suspect daddy, but she loved it!

I love Ellery in swings, she gets so scared but she absolutely loves it! So it sounds like she's crying, more like freaking out and she holds on for dear life, but she has the biggest smile!

The Easter bunny was very good to Ellery this year! She got lots of goodies, a book, bubbles, a slinky, a ball and two swim suits to wear in her floaty!

Is that not the funniest basket you have ever seen? I laugh every time I see it, I love how squished the face is and it is very soft! Ellery wasn't sure what to do with it at first, but she figured it out fast checking out each toy. Once she found the grass it was over, that was all she wanted.

I hope all your Easter's were as fun as ours! Holidays are so much more fun with your own kids! Oh and we got a dog a couple months ago, her name is Bela, she is in one of these pics in case people are wondering what's with the dog. Caleb's sister gave her to us and we like her okay, still getting used to it I think. I'm not a huge animal owning person. I like pets, but not my own so much. Ellery loves her though and they get along great!

PJ and Chick-Fil-A

2010-04-12T16:39:00.000-07:00

Chick-Fil-A gave out free meals on national pajama day if you went wearing your full out pj's. My family has no shame, so we made a night of it. My bro's family and my sister's family and my parents even all came out for a free meal. It was packed, but also fun and um, did I mention the food was free?

This is up in Utah a couple of weeks ago. My Grandmother passed away and all my siblings were able to make it to the funeral in Idaho. This is me with my sisters, two of which live out of state so we enjoyed seeing eachother. I don't have too many pics of just the four of us. I wish I had taken more pictures of the whole trip.

2010-04-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo in Tucson for a fun family day out with my sister and her family. It was a long drive there, but it was cheaper and the zoo is way better than Phoenix Zoo. We got to see all the animals clearly and there wasn't too much walking. The weather was nice which was a bonus. Ellery was a little young, but I think she enjoyed being outside and there were some animals that she found facinating which was fun to see.

We went on the day that Ellery was officially 18 months so I made cupcakes for dessert after our picnic. She is really starting to understand sweets, begs for more and cries when it's all gone.

She was clinging to the post to look at the otters. They were so cute and obviously enjoying the crowd. They would do tricks and show off for an applause, I was impressed Ellery could follow them, but she watched their every move and wouldn't let go when it was time to move on.

We had so much fun and it was a much needed day out with Caleb to just enjoy. We ended the trip with a ride on the train. It was fun, but I thought it was going to be a real train on tracks that went around the zoo or something. Instead it just went around the nearby park and it was on regular wheels. I recommend the zoo though, it was a whole day event with the driving, but worth it I thought.

18 months!

2010-04-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe Ellery is 18 months! She has come such a long way in just these last two months. Since her eye surgery it's like she is a completely different kid! I love how interactive she is now. She looks me straight in the eye and I can see her learning and discovering like never before. That was always a struggle for me that she lived in her little bubble not really progressing a whole lot and now I can't keep up with her progress!

At 18 months Ellery is:

Weight: 21.0 lbs

Height: 30 in.

6 teeth on top and 6 teeth on bottom

-Able to get herself from laying on the floor to a seated position

-She will now wave "hi" in her own little way. (first sign of communication!)

-She can DRINK! Just in the last two weeks she started to suck on her sippy cup and now she is drinking pretty much ALL of her fluids! I haven't used her pump in 2 days!!

-The "Popcorn" primary song is her favorite and will turn a scream to a laugh

-She is obsessed with goldfish crackers, I have to be careful how many she stuffs in her mouth at one time!

-She is starting to get herself into a crawling position, but then sits back down. Just the attempt is a huge leap for her though so it must be acknowledged

-She still puts everything in her mouth and loves toys that spin

-She is just such a happy little girl! She is so funny and entertaining and we just love her!

Catch-Up

2010-03-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

So this is what happened in the last month, Ellery got sick, what a shocker I know. This is actually her third time since she turned one getting this nasty chest congestion and wheeze. The doctor usually just has us do breathing treatments every few hours and keep her well rested and hydrated and she gets better within a week or two. Well, since RSV was everywhere at the time, the doc made us go to the ER just get her tested. Thank goodness is wasn't RSV or pneumonia, just a nasty case of bronchitis. So she was having a difficult time breathing they kept us at the hospital for 3 days, two nights. Blah.

We were at the new Cardon's Children's Hospital this time, it was just like any other hospital but they didn't feed me, only Ellery. The kitchen's were stocked okay though and they had free movies and internet on the tv. Ellery did okay, it's been almost 8 months since her last hospital stay, but she is no fool. It was challenging keeping her entertained since she was hooked up to oxygen. This book is her favorite thing ever, now it is ripped apart, but she played with it pretty much all day every day....thanks Amy! I might go find a new one, she over loved this first copy.

Just before all this was Valentine's day and Caleb had fun being his girl's valentine. He got Ellery a cute froggy which she loves and a balloon that I think she loves just a little more, it is still a float in my family room and gets beat up often by its owner. Caleb surprised me with gorgeous, deep red roses. They were very romatnic...oh and I got a balloon too only mine kinda got stolen from a little someone.

Please excuse the green face, this was during sick days and she always woke up looking like this.

Feb. 20th was Ethan's Run. Ethan is one of Ellery's heart friends who lost his tremendous battle last summer. He would have been one this past month and his Mom is amazing enough to put together this run to honor his name and raise money for the heart center to support families with kids with CHD's. It was a huge success and it we had a good time! My sister was nice enough to join me and Ellery, Caleb had a scout campout that weekend. We only did the 1 mile fun run. They had a 10K but I'm not that brave, oh and I could never run that far and survive.

This is my nephew who joined us as well, he ran the whole mile and had to wait for us stroller pushing slow-pokes to finish.

It was FREEZING and windy! It was fine weather until right when we decided to have the yummy pancake and eggs breakfast. We scarfed it down and had to get out of there, Ellery was so cold her lips were blue. We had a great time though, it was fun to see all the other families and a lot of familiar nurses and doctors came to support which was nice and weird to see them in casual clothes.

Then a few days later, I turned 23!

First, I threw myself an impromptu birthday dinner on my birthday eve. We had my sister and her family over for Elk steak and potatoes. We played the game where you tie a balloon to a leg and everyone tries to pop eachother's balloons, but has to protect their own. It was a little crazy, Caleb trashed us all showing no mercy for children or the birthday girl. Then, we had my favorite cake and icecream....yum!

Ellery had a blast, she couldn't stop smiling the whole night and Caleb kept getting her with the balloons and he had to stop a couple times to let her catch her breath because she was laughing so hard!

On my birthday, my mom took me the fabric store to help me make curtains for my kitchen and family room then I dropped off Ellery because Caleb came home early from work to spoil me! I got flowers and candy first, then he took me to the mall because I had no purse and was needing one. It was funny how he was actually opinionated about what I was allowed to buy. Boys. Then we went to Costa Vida by my request, oh so yummy! We finished the night off with a red box movie! It was a fun birthday, I felt loved.

We ended the month by feeding ducks, well Ellery ate most of the bread, sorry for the super long post!

How was the eye surgery?

2010-03-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

So I know it was a month ago, but here's the blog on Ellery's eye surgery. It went well thank goodness! We went in on Groundhog Day to PCH and she knew something was up, which always makes me sad. Those two dots on her head were from the surgeon. They do it as a reminder to do both eyes. Some kids only have one eye done and they mark which one just in case. They took her back for the surgery and it took about an hour and a half before we could see her.

It took longer for them to get in an IV line than it did to do the actual surgery. They didn't seem to believe me when I said she was a hard stick. Poor kid's been poked and threaded so much she has too much scar tissue. They ended up having to thread a line in her neck, I hate those ones.

Anyway, she was pretty out of it when we first saw her which was actually kind of cute. She was awake, but just whining and wanted to rub her eyes. That was a challenge, how do you stop her from rubbing her eyes all day? Luckily, it was only that first day that she wanted to. The day after she was very happy and fairly comfortable which suprised me. For about two weeks she looked like this:

Now, for the most part she is healed. Her eyes look GREAT! She really can see so much better now! I was surprised how much it really helped her vision, she really looks at me now and can see me from across the room. She no longer lives in her little bubble. It is very exciting and I hope it holds up. I guess sometimes the eyes will wonder off again and they need to do another surgery, oh let's hope not.

Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week

2010-02-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

So I am totally copying a fellow heart mom's blog about CHD week and I hope she doesn't mind. Her son is two and was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and is in need of a heart transplant, their lives are way crazier than ours and they have overcome many challenges and still have many to face.

I had never heard of a Congenital Heart Defect until Ellery was diagnosed a week before she was born. I know people will say "I don't care if it's a boy or a girl, I just want a healthy baby." Sure I had fears that something would be wrong with my baby, but I never thought of a serious issue with her heart and that she would need surgery? I didn't even know that an infant could survive heart surgery, I thought at the time that the chances of her surviving was impossible. So to spread awareness, let's all learn a little about CHD's.

Nearly one in every 125 babies is born with a CHD. It is the #1 birth defect in America. This year alone, close to 40,000 babies will be born with a CHD.

Nearly twice as many children die from Congenital Heart Defects in the United States each year as from all forms of childhood cancers combined

Though research is ongoing, at least 35 defects have now been identified.
4-8% born with CHD have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
4-10% born with CHD have Atrioventricular Septal Defects
8-11% born with CHD have Coarctation of the Aorta
9-14% born with CHD have Tetralogy of Fallot - Ellery's Defect
10-11% born with CHD have Transposition of the Great Arteries
14-16% born with CHD have Ventricular Septal Defects

Also, for a fun fact, Olympic Snow Boarder Shaun White was born with Ellery's same Heart Defect and had two heart surgeries before he was one. Now he's a pro athlete, how cool is that?

Going back through old pictures always takes me back to Ellery's hard times, she's come a LONG way and it's still crazy to me that all that happened and then seeing where we are today. It is truely amazing and I never saw it coming.

I love this poem only because every bit of it is true, I just substitute him for her.

What is a CHD???

You passed me in the shopping mall
(You read my faded tee).
You tapped me on the shoulder,
Then asked, "What's a CHD?"
I could quote terminology,
There's stats that I could give.
But I would rather share with you
A mother's perspective.

What is it like to have a child with a CHD?
It's Lasix, Aspirin, Captopril
It's wondering...Lord what's your will?
It's monitors and oxygen tanks
It's a constant reminder to always give thanks.
It's feeding tubes, calories, needed weight gain
It's the drama of eating...and yes it's insane!
It's the first time I held him, I'd waited so long,
It's knowing that I need to help him grow strong.
It's making a hospital home for awhile
It's seeing my reward in every smile.
It's checking his sats as the feeding pump's beeping
It's knowing that there is just no time for sleeping.
It's caths, x-rays and boo boos to kiss
It's normalacy I sometimes miss.
It's asking do his nails look blue?
It's cringing inside at what he's been through.
It's dozens of call to his pediatrician
She knows me by name, I'm a mom on a mission.
It's winter's homebound and hand sanitizer
It's knowing this journey has made me much wiser.
It's watching him sleeping his breathing is steady.
It's surgery day and I'll never be ready.
It's handing him over, I'm still not prepared,
It's knowing that his heart must be repaired.
It's waiting for news on that long stressful day,
It's praying...it's hoping...that he'll be okay.
It's the wonderful friends with whom I've connected,
It's the bond that we share, it was so unexpected.
It's that long faded scar down my child's small chest,
It's touching it gently and knowing we're blessed.
It's watching him chasing a small butterfly,
It's the moment I realized I've stopped asking why.
It's the snowflakes that fall on a cold winter's day,
They remind me of those who aren't with us today.
It's a brave little boy who loves Thomas the train,
Or a special heart bear or a frog in the rain.
It's the need to remember we're all in this plight,
It's their lives that remind us we still need to fight!
It's in pushing ahead amidst every sorrow,
It is finding the strength to have hope for tomorrow.
And no, we'll never be the same. It's changed our family,
This is what we face each day.
This is...a CHD.

**Written by Stephanie Husted (fellow heart mom)

2010-02-01T15:26:00.000-08:00

Hi all! Just wanted to let everyone know that Ellery is going in for her eye surgery tomorrow and to maybe remember her in your prayers! We are actually pretty excited for it, I hope it makes a big change for her in a positive way. The doctor seems confident which is reasuring and hopfully it will be a simple and painless process....keeping my fingers crossed. I defenitely wouldn't want anything sharp near my eye, much less my baby's eyes, but apparently that's what has to be done. So I will have an update later this week, let's all hope for straight, healthy, no more wandering, eyes!

Seriously...

2010-01-16T10:43:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen such a toothy grin?

jumping right in to 2010

2010-01-08T16:01:00.000-08:00

The festivities are over, now back to business. We are pretty booked this month with doctor visits. Ellery is seeing some new specialists and following up with some regulars. We see Cardiology in a week or so and she will get an echo. I used to dread these and they happened often, strange how now I am looking forward to such an event only to clarify that everything is still good in there. Let's hope it is...

Today we saw her Geneticist and we last saw her one year ago. This woman changed my life in one hour last Feb. 2ND. I was aware of Ellery's chromosome deletion and obviously her heart and stomach issues, but I was shocked when this woman went down this list of characteristics or "symptoms" of children with 9q deletion syndrome. It was full of severe mental retardation, obesity, seizures, flat face, hearing loss, short nose, uni brow, behavioral problems.... and the list goes on including heart defects. Of course it was all in medical terminology which makes it 50 times more threatening somehow. Ellery doesn't have everything on the list but she does have a lot and other things not on the list. Anyway, it took me a month or maybe longer to get over that shock. I wasn't prepared to hear my child is mentally retarded especially, I cried a lot that month. Today was different, it was fun to bring her in doing so well. The doctor was pleased and says her progress is great! Also, just before our appointment there was another little kiddo with Ellery's same diagnosis! There are only 114 diagnosed so far in the world people, so it's kinda a big deal!

I also took Ellery to a pediatric eye specialist earlier this week. Ellery isn't the best at eye contact and her eyes take turns wandering either her right eye turns out or the left goes too far inward or vice versa... it was an obvious challenge for her. So it turns out she has exotropia. I know nothing of the eye so now I must research and add it to my list of specialties. Basically she was born with a muscle misalignment, both eyes are perfectly healthy, she just can't get them to work together. So she needs eye surgery to align those muscles. Luckily, they would only work on the surface of the eye, they don't have to go deep and it only takes 15 minutes and is pain free recovery. Now that is my kind of surgery!

So this was just an update and a ramble apparently

Christmas in Review...

2009-12-29T10:35:00.000-08:00

Ellery's first time meeting Santa was funny only because she wasn't upset he was holding her, she just did her thing she does when she is overwhelmed. She chooses not to see people that are right there. So she chose to look the opposite direction of Santa, she peeked at him once. The camera lady was not happy with me taking pics, but everyone was doing it and hers were really bad that I was willing to be rude in order to get a closer shot. She kept saying that I was distracting her from looking at her camera when really Ellery was craining her neck to look away from santa's direction. Oh well, sorry camera lady.

Christmas this year was perfect! Ellery was home and healthy, we got to spend it with all our family that lives here and Caleb didn't return the gift I got him! Score! For Christmas Eve we spent the night at my parents house along with my sister and her family. Kim and Steve treated us all to delicious soup and bread bowls. It was divine and perfect to set the mood of the evening. We enjoyed hot cocoa and then went caroling to a few neighbors to bring them some treats and to give the "pajama elves" time to visit.

We all think my sister's boy, Kyle, could be the next "Home Alone" kid because he looks just like him! His new Pj's made it even more perfect so we asked him to pose for us.

We went along with the Watson tradition of pj's from the elves the night before Christmas and it was really fun! I love Ellery's new pj's, I was so excited to see them on her for Christmas! This is Ellery's new trick and I can't get enough of it. I really need to get a video of it on here because it's so funny. When Ellery sits in her jumper she doesn't bounce, she just kicks her feet. I can't seem to get her to understand keeping her feet planted on the ground instead she "dances" like a puppet. So a week ago or so I held her like you would to help a child walk and she started to kick/run so I walked along while she relied on me to hold her up completely while in her mind, she was walking. So now she will "run" around the whole house and smile all the way!

This is my nephew, not sure why the grumpy face, but it is too cute not to post...

Before bed we kept one of my favorite traditions of reading from Luke 2 and acting out Christ's birth with the homemade dolls. We set out cookies and milk for Santa, tried to recite "The night before Christmas" story by memory while the kids ignored us and then settled on a "up on the housetop" book instead. Then it was bedtime...

Christmas morning came and Ellery was still sound asleep. I woke her up for the fun and she spent the first hour wondering what is going on here? So no smiles, just curiousity and confusion. We had a great time though. Santa brought Ellery this play table to help her practice standing. She also got a play piano, a bead maze and books and lots of toys.

Caleb spoiled me as usual and I loved everything! My most favorite and biggest suprise was this pot hanger he made himself! He's been working on it for months I guess, isn't that so sweet? I think it's gorgeous and I can't wait till we are 60 and it's still hanging in my kitchen.

Caleb unfortunatley discovered two of his gifts just before Christmas, a peg board and a camping cot, kind of bummed me out, but I still suprised him with my black friday find of a hunter's GPS Garmin Legend. It's not exactly what he wanted, which is $350, but I got a great deal on this one and he says he loves it!

I love that my in-laws live right down the street from my parents. I also love that we can have an entire Christmas morning at my parents then at 8:30 go to Caleb's parents and they are all still asleep. We went over and made them all breakfast and later opened presents. Ellery passed out quick, she was overwhelmed from the morning's excitement. She woke up in time for gifts though and loved the baby doll from Nonie. She gave it a kiss, I think, she may have just wanted to eat it. She did miss breakfast after all. Caleb shocked me once again with another huge gift at his parents house. He got me a bike! I can't believe I don't have a picture, but I love it. It was a great find on craigslist. We are still looking for a trailer for Ellery to ride in.

Christmas night we had dinner back at my mom's with most of my siblings and a fun white elephant exchange. We play with giving good gifts which I think is more fun.

Ellery got to open one last gift, we missed it that morning. It was a walker toy that converts to a rideing toy. She loved being pushed around on it and I can't wait for her to use it while walking! Thanks grandma and grandpa!

Like I said, it was a perfect Christmas and I loved every moment! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and the opportunity to enjoy Christmas with them. I appreciated the season so much more this year after last year. I have a lot of gratitude in my heart for my Savior and the blessings my family has received. It has been such an eye-opening year for us and this was a great way to end it. I think we are ready to take on this new year and whatever it may bring.

Let us not forget...

2009-12-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

One year ago, this was my baby.

Miracles do happen and you are looking at one...

Merry Christmas

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

2009-12-21T10:30:00.000-08:00

I am so excited for Christmas this year...I love this season and Ellery only makes it that much more fun! Especially because she is really starting to come into her own personality. She is very entertaining and she is curious about everything! I can't wait for her to open gifts, it's going to be so fun!

This is what she looks like a 6:30 in the morning when mom and dad wake her up. I just thought she looked cute in her beanie. Her and Daddy took a trip to snowflake that day for her cousin's baptism, I was taking pictures of kids with Santa.

I always love when Dad's hold their babies in one hand and balance them while they stand. Well, now that Ellery stands Caleb thought he'd try it out! She is so big, but she seems to like it! I hold my breath everytime he does it with her.

This was so fun, just last weekend most of all my best highschool friends got together with their spouses and we went to see our buddy Heath perform in an improv comedy show. It was at the National Comedy Theater in Mesa by MCC and it was really funny. He did awesome with the pressure of all of us there and his mother-in-law. It's great to see old friends and see how great they are doing!

Just last night we ventured off to the Temple Lights! It wasn't too cold and for the sunday before Christmas it wasn't too crowded, it was crowded for sure, but not horrible. Ellery enjoyed the lights, she kept leaning back real far to see the top lights in the palm trees.

So I am officially, let me repeat...Officially, up and running!

2009-12-19T23:02:00.000-08:00

So I am so excited to announce that my photography blog is up and running! You should all check it out and let me know what you think! Not much on it yet, but it will soon be booming! Wahoo!

http://www.shelleymcbridephotography.blogspot.com/

Peacock Christmas

2009-12-13T16:08:00.000-08:00

So this is my peacock themed tree that I decorated for the Festival of the Trees. The pic doesn't do it justice, some details you just can't see. I don't mean to brag but this thing was pretty awesome. I had such a fun time putting it together. It's something I would never think to do to my own tree, it's not even really my style but that made it interesting for me to get creative. I just realized the lights arn't on, oh well. I'm bummed because I don't know how much it sold for. It was "appraised" for $130 so I think it had to be more than that. All they told me was it was wanted by many.

Christmas Portraits!

2009-12-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

So my new camera finally came in and those who want last mintute christmas portraits done the time is now! Now that things have cooled off with Ellery I am ready to jump back into my photography...wahoo! I am currently working on a new blog with my work on it, but it's not quite ready yet. As of now I am offering family portraits for $75.00 + that includes a CD of your images!

I already only have a few spots open in the near future including this Friday and next week I'm available Monday, Thursday and Friday in the evenings. Hurry and book today before my last spots are taken! Leave a comment if you are interested or email me at shelster02@hotmail.com

Thanks!

This is my new nephew Cole, precious as can be right?

2009-12-04T12:14:00.000-08:00

So my mom is involved with the Festival of Trees, it's a charity event for Banner Gateway Hospital. Lots of businesses and volunteers donate creatively decorated christmas trees to be auctioned off. I spent most of my day yesterday decorating my mini 3 ft. tree that my mother-in-law helped me donate. It is peacock inspired and I must say I think it's fabulous! Anyway, I am also working with my brother tomorrow taking pictures with Santa! So I am blogging about this to inform you all that Santa is in town and will be at the:

Rome Towers, 5th Floor
1760 E. Pecos Rd.
Gilbert, AZ 85295

it's near the 202 and Val Vista

So they are having breakfast with Santa in the morning, but it's $5 for adults and $3for kids and I think you have to reserve a spot. But from noon -5:00 it's free entry and it's a cool place with lots of decorated christmas trees and some entertainment. I will be there taking pics of kids with Santa and I doubt it will be a long line so please come!

This is the news report:
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/morning_show/festival_trees_120409

CHIEF Graduation

2009-12-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

On November 5, 2009 Ellery officially graduated from the CHIEF Program. That is the Complex Congenital Heart Infant Evaluation and Follow-Up Program...(whew a mouthful).
After Ellery's first heart surgery she became a part of this group. A wonderful Nurse Practitioner, Beth Rumack, decided that these infants who go home in between heart surgeries should be watched closely because they are super fragile until their hearts are fixed. It's a process reconstructing an infants heart. Some babies need three different heart surgeries, some need more or less...Ellery needed two. So when we got to go home last January, we met Beth.

She became our saftey net. She works overtime accepting phone calls and texts on any concerns we parents may have. We took Ellery to her for everything "sick related" because in the end her heart was most important. She had that BT shunt placed in her first surgery and if it clotted from dehydration or anything that would be horrible so Beth kept a close eye.
After Ellery's second heart surgery she was "fixed" so suddenly the stress was relieved. No more rushing to phoenix for every cough or fever, no more needing Beth. Now we get to go to the regular pediatrition down the street. So this was all back in May, but the graduation ceremony, the "wow we made it through" ceremony was last month. It was for all the kids whose hearts were fixed this year and lived to tell the tale. They are actually having another ceremony for those who did not make it on Dec. 10th. That strikes a hard cord for me thinking how close Ellery was to being in that ceremony instead this time last year. The holidays in 2008 were a scary time for us.

This group picture is a small number, only 18 compared to how many were born with a Congenital Heart Defect. Ellery actually "won" smallest of the group to have open-heart surgery and she wasn't the youngest 5 weeks and 5 pounds. Some of the others are born and then taken immediately to surgery...so sad. So big day for Ellery, big accomplishment...

They had diplomas and T-shirts for all the babies and then these red hats had tassels on them! It was really cute. Also, my new friend, Becky, made heart charm necklaces for all the families it's so cute it's a heart with a bandaid on it. I wear mine all the time, but I got mine from Ellery's fundraiser when Becky donated them for the cause.

On the left is Dr. Cleveland, he did Ellery's Repair (her second heart surgery). I respect the man, especially because he fixed my baby, but I'm still a little angry with him. He's the surgeon who placed Ellery's wound vac from her incision staff infection without telling me. Anyway, I posted all about it back in May and this was the first time I'd seen him since then. Silly I know seeing how it all worked out, just irritated my ill feelings toward him. There are only two heart surgeons and Dr. Nigro was not there, he did Ellery's first surgery and we actually know him better, wish I had a pic. The doctor on the right is Dr. Choy (sp?) and he is the head doctor of the PCTICU floor and one of our favorites.

The news was there and I guess we made a clip but it was gone from the internet before I had a chance to see it. I got texts from people saying they saw us, hope they got my good side!
So Congradulations to Ellery! I'm glad they do a little ceremony, it's a big deal and these strong kids deserve a little celebration for all their hard work! Kind of fun to put it all behind us now. We have four month breaks between cardiac visits now! That's crazy, but totally awesome!

Caleb's 25th Birthday and Halloween...

2009-11-29T17:59:00.001-08:00

I'm still catching up...

Caleb's birthday was on the 24th of October, one week before Halloween. It was a Saturday so I let him choose what he wanted to do. He chose to drive up to where his trail camera is and hike for a bit. It was gorgeous weather and we had a great time, though I didn't take any pics silly me. We stopped at the burger house in Globe for the best bean burros EVER, seriously you must try them if you get the chance! I would say Caleb got all that he wanted on his b-day...a big breakfast in the morning, presents, a trip to the mountains and a BH bean burro!

So I've been on this cake high for a while now and thought how cool would it be to make Caleb a mounted deer head for his cake! Well, what started as a great idea ended as a mounted weiner dog. My antlers were too heavy and my cake was super soft so it turned into an unstable mess! I had fun trying though and Caleb thought it was pretty funny and thoughtful...at least it tasted good! Red Velvet...get it?

At least he saw it before it took this dump...next time I will stick to something much more simple.

I was supposed to bring his awesome cake to our friends pumkin carving party, but instead I went with plan B after all went south with my deer head. So I made these cupcakes! Ellery looks so big next to her buddies Aspyn and Kade...

We were so happy to see our friends and were having a splendid evening when Ellery totally started throwing up, with all their new babies we had to bail, didn't want it to spread. Sure enough, Ellery had the stomach flu for a couple days poor thing.

This was the results of the pumpkin carving party we had with my sister's family. My pumpkin was the little monster on the far right.

So I was going to have Ellery wear her ladybug outfit for Halloween but I just couldn't help myself. My sister turned her two oldest boys into mummies and I got the idea to do the same to my sweet adorable baby girl...
However, I liked that she was something "scary" but I had to make her "cute scary" so she got a little flower on her beanie and some lace for a girly touch, otherwise all night I would have heard "what's HIS name?" and we just can't have that.

We joined my parents and some siblings to mine and Caleb's parents ward's trunk or treat! It was freezing! Glad Ellery had on long johns instead of that ladybug tutu.
Her costume was easy to make. It was cheap long johns from walmart then I bought muslin and cut it into strips, died them in black tea and wrapped it around her with fabric glue. Problem was getting her to hold still and then getting it on and off. I had to cut a few pieces of muslin strips to get her out then glue them back together when I put it on, good thing it looks good when it's falling apart!

These are my sister's mummies, they were scary

This was at our wards truck or treat, it was in the afternoon on halloween and we all laid out blankets at the park. It was fun, I know I'm a dork for wearing my candy corn costume, but I love halloween! I made Caleb wear a shirt that said "I'm with Candy Corn"

More from October...

2009-11-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

We took another trip to the cabin for the weekend last month and spent the day watching my dad and mom build and perfect this rope swing. My family appreciates a swing that pushes itself. My dad built a cool platform for the kids to jump off of. I personally have a hard time jumping off and getting my feet around and on the swing...I didn't dare try this time but hats off to my brave nephews!

This would be Ellery eating her very first pb and j sandwhich and mandarin oranges. The first of many I'm sure, it was just fun to put her lunch on her tray and walk away. Usually, I have to sit and feed her babyfood. She is getting better and better with solids, very exciting!

This smile is so stinkin cute, yet creepy at the same time.

So once again this is the creative work of my dad. Ellery's physical therapist wants Ellery to put more weight on her feet. She doesn't just stand like other kids, she curls up her legs and crosses her feet. So we have been working on sitting her on stools while she plays or on my leg so she can put her feet on the ground and lean on them. Well, my dad was so kind as to make Ellery her very own table and chair! Isn't it so cute! She obviously loves it! She looks so big in it and it definitely works for her therapy and she is already much better at putting weight on her feet! Wahoo!

This picture is just funny to me, after a walk crying the first half she finally settled and was just so content in this position, one leg up the whole time.

Ellery Kisses

2009-11-24T09:39:00.001-08:00

2009-11-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

Way back in October, my sister and I ventured over to Bass Pro Shops for their kid's night! It was really cool, they had a lot for the kids to do and it was all free! You like Ellery's hat?

They have a laser arcade with a life-like desert scene with targets to shoot at. Usually it's a quarter for like 4 shots but on Tuesday nights it's free all you want!

We also were able to take my nephews back for a little lesson on shooting a bb gun and a bow. They were naturals...

They also had rock climbing for bigger kids, a scavenger hunt, they fed the big fish in the tank and free popcorn all you want! It was really fun and we didn't spend a thing! Oh wait, we did buy some fudge...mmm

Ellery helped herself to a dum dum, messy stuff

3 Years down...Eternity to go

2009-11-15T10:09:00.000-08:00

So I know its been forever since I last blogged, my computer got a nasty virus and it took forever to get it fixed, but now it is and I have internet back wahoo! Now it is time to play catch-up on my blogging.

First, all the way back in September, Caleb and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! Back in the mayhem and stress that was living in the hospital, Caleb promised me when it was all over that he would take me to Disneyland! He isnt the disney type so this was a big deal that he was willing to take me and pretend to enjoy it. I was super excited, I hadn't had any sort of vacation except maybe a couple camping trips since Ellery was born, so I was anxious to go somewhere.

I am so sad because I had the cutest picture of her actually wearing her helmet just before we left for Cali and somehow I deleted it or something because I can't find it anywhere!

So yes I was excited to get away with my hubby, but it was definitely a challenge leaving Ellery behind. I was super stressed with all her high maintenace and all and plus just being a mom you know. I was going to miss my baby for 3 whole days! So to make thing easy for the grandmas, I put together a picture intruction book on her schedule, how to work her pump, give medicine and everything in between. It was very helpful and still is for anyone that babysits.

This was my "Disneyland Fund" that I jokingly started when we first got married, but we both already had coin jars that we dumped together and then kept adding to it until we busted it open for this trip...guess how much moola is in there?

is it about,

A. $172.00
B. $86.00
C. $340.00

The answer is at the end of this post.

So I didn't take very many pics at Disneyland, just too into playing or something to remember I guess, but I was bummed out when I realized I missed some good times. Anyways, this pic with Goofy was funny because we were the only adults for one and goofy decided to pose us himself.

This is on the Buzz Lightyear ride and it was Caleb's favorite because he got to shoot a gun and double my score...

Okay so just before this picture was taken, which by the way was taken by this funny older woman who kept taking more and more because she liked my camera and was getting creative, she probably took 10 and she kept posing us, it was funny. Anyway, as we were walking up to the spot I noticed this lady in work clothes and a totally awsome camera, then I notice a woman holding a child and getting teary eyed. Then, I see an old man with a book that he is reading from and he is facing a couple holding hands, the girl was wearing a veil. Oh my, we were suddenly at a wedding. This young couple was just right there on the pier at California Adventure getting married!

We went on the first day of the Halloween theme, it was really cool how they decorated and re-did space mountain and the fireworks show to be all haunted, I love halloween so it made it just that more fun!

Day two was so relaxing. We drove to the beach, rented bikes and rode them all over to shops, lunch and all down the board walk. So fun and it was so nice out but too cold to swim in the ocean though. We found a new hotel nearby and swam there instead. At night we hit up the old spagetti factory for dinner and it was really neat inside and the food was good.

We were trying to get the name of the restaurant in the picture and we both forgot to smile...

Day 3 we woke up super early to go deep sea fishing, Caleb's choice and my first time fishing! It was cold and smelly, but I was excited. Caleb gets motion sickness on huge roller coasters and I don't so we thought he would get sick and I would be fine. Well, I spent the first 4 hours on this boat sick. It was very cloudy and it felt like we were in the middle of no where and that made me chlostriphobic (sp?) in a way to not see land. Then with the mixture of fish and people smoking smells, which are my top two most nausiating smells, I was done for. No fresh air to be found. I finally slept for a while and then felt better. I had dum dum lollipops and those were my saving grace. They helped mask the strong odors and I was able to fish at the end. In fact, I caught a fish before Caleb!

So this is gross and sad. The kid next to me caught a shark, yeah it was like 2 feet long and my line was tangled all around the tail of it so I like to pretend I caught it too. They cut up all the fish on the ride back and when they cut up the shark it was pregnant! It had two of these sacks in it and if you look you can see the little sharks floating in it there are 3, they are the dark red areas. They say eventually the mom just squirts these pods out and the sharks are born from there! Crazy!

After fishing we drove back home to AZ...It was a really great trip and a much needed getaway, but I was so excited to see my Ellery again! She was still in one peice, but it felt the grandmas were a little over stressed....I warned them she is high maitenance!

The answer to the "Disney Fund" was C. $340.00 more than I thought it would be

My One Year Old...

2009-09-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

So last Sunday, September 13th, Ellery turned one wow, I still can't believe it, yet it seems like "that's it?" I feel like she's been here forever! I love my baby girl and I'm so happy she is so happy! At one year of age Ellery is:

Weight: 17 lbs. 1 oz.
Height: 26.5 in.

-Practically sitting all by herself

-She makes a gurgle/purr noise when she's happy and playing

-Gives the biggest smiles and laughs silently, but if you get noise out of her it's like extra points!

-When laying on her back she kicks so fast and hard, it's like an excited dog wagging it's tail...I love it!

-She has four teeth all on the bottom

-She LOVES balls larger than herself and she makes the cutest turtle-like face when she grabs at it!

-Her favorite noise is Daddy's duck impression

-If you are holding her, just expect her to grab your whole face, this is how she says hi

-She will hold still when I go in for a kiss, she doesn't pucker, but she thinks she is!

This was her on her actual birthday all ready for church...

Grandpa gave her an oreo at her party, which is not on the "ok for ellery to eat" list, but Caleb was right there and apparently she wasn't going to give it back! According to Caleb she was all about this oreo and she ate it pretty quick! Apparently she is getting better with the solid food! So on Sunday we treated her to another one and I think she enjoyed it!

The LadyBug Birthday!

2009-09-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

So to celebrate Ellery's turing one, we decided to have a ladybug themed party! I have been looking forward to this for a very long time, it was to celebrate more than just that she's now one, it was to celebrate all she's accomplished in that first year...a whole lot! Ellery has come a long way and this was something fun to end such an eventful year!
I made her little tutu and wings, not perfect but I had fun and it was only like 5 bucks to make both!

We served a small dinner of hot dogs and a lot of finger foods and salads...thanks mom and kim! I decorated the table cloths with oreos to be "spots".

This was my first attempt at fondant and I really enjoyed making these cakes! I made the fondant out of marshmallows and powdered sugar, messy but actually very easy and it tastes good! However, coloring it red and black was a challenging task involving a lot of food coloring, kneading and stained hands. I cooked the chocolate cake (two mixes) in a large metal bowl on a lower tempurature for a longer time...took 3 hours to cook to the center! It was yummy and moist to perfection!

We had the party at my mom's house with mostly just immediate famliy invited since that alone is a big crowd.

Ellery has a lot of cousins so we had to play a few games including pin the spot on the ladybug! If you got your spot on the wings, you got a prize! My very talented mom put together this ladybug...isn't she cute?!

We played a game just like a cake walk, but with leaves and the kids had their own pipe cleaner antanae on so they were the ladybugs flying around until the music stopped and if their leaf number was called out, they won a prize!

I also had them decorate their own cupcakes to look like ladybugs, but I forgot to make a sample and I never got a picture of the completed cupcake so sorry! But they were super fun!

Side Note: I had purchased live ladybugs online at homedepot and I wanted to put a few into some re-designed baby food jars as the party favors. Well, I ordered them on Thursday a week before the party because they had implied that such an order wouldn't be shipped until Monday so I was thinking I would get them two days before the party. However, the very next day after ordering a half-pint of these bugs, they arrived on my doorstep a week before the party! Ahh, how do I keep them alive that long? Apparently, you are supposed to keep them in the fridge till ready to release them...weird, but okay so that is what I did. Online it said they can last a couple weeks in their sleeping. So, the night before the party Caleb dumped them into the jars, but the lids holes he poked were really tiny and only 4. It was a little late to fix it and in the end the ladybug mortality rate was high. Poor kids had 75% dead ladybugs in them...oh well. We ended up just releasing them all that night instead of the kids taking them home. Learn from my mistake, order ladybugs later and poke more, larger holes.

So we have been working on Ellery sitting up because I wanted her to be able to sit and open her gifts, well I still sat behind her to help, but she didn't need much, she went to town on those presents! She is very curious now and grabs at everything so it worked out to her advantage here, because she ripped and pulled each gift wrapping very quickly, she's a natural! She got the jack pot on books, toys and clothes! Our three favorite things, thanks everyone!!

So then came cake time, another task we have been working towards, Ellery feeding herself and also being able to handle chewing and swallowing cake safely. We practiced with bread the whole week before and about 2 weeks before she stared to pick up little snacks and put them in her mouth! So just in time, still I wasn't sure what she would do if I put a cake in front of her, I had an idea though and I was right...

First she stares at it...

Then tastes it...

Then dives right in...

Rubs it all over her head...

And enjoys every second of it!

So I think it is safe to say that Ellery had a great party and a great time! I'm so glad it went well and grateful to all who came, it wouldn't have been a party with out you! I wish others could have been there, out of towners and busy peeps, you were missed. It was a grand celebration and an opening to a new chapter in Ellery's life! One full of growing, learning and playing!

This was the next day Ellery playing in her new jumperoo, she seems to like it!

Summer Fun!

2009-08-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

So we have been super busy this summer, with hardly any doctor appointments and no sick days, we have been making up for lost times with a whole lot of playing! Ellery has really taken off with wanting to play and learn, she is hungry for everything, including food! Look at those big brown eyes! Right now Ellery is a master at eating her baby food she downs a 4 oz. jar in minutes three times a day and she loves to snack on puffs and yogurt melts. She is drinking the best from a regular open cup, but it's only in sips so her volume is just not enough. Her therapist explained to me that her motor skills need to improve and as she sits all by herself and starts to crawl and such then she will be better skilled at holding the cup and drinking more. So we continue to pump in her milk and focus on her physical improvement.

Also, Ellery has had her helmet now for almost 2 months and we think it is helping. She just recently had her head re-measured and there is improvement. The Doc estimates about 2-3 more months before her head is near perfect! I have had fun trying to find ways to make her helmet cute and stylish, I made all these flowers, too bad she still pulls them off all the time and rips them up, but sometimes she doesn't find them and they look darling!

This is random, but her bum was sooooooo sore the first two weeks after her stomach surgery and she spent those two weeks like this...I just think it's cute!

So to sum up the last month and a half we have been doing a lot of camping...

Lots of Swimming...

Partying with the Cousins,

AZ Science Center

Jungle Jims

These are cupcakes, yum!

I now have four teeth on the bottom, but this is when my third tooth popped up!

Ellery is going to be one on Sept. 13th can you believe it! I have been awaiting this day for what feels like a very very long time! I always just told myself, by the time she's one this will all be over. Now she is almost one and all the really hard stuff is over, but I'm still sad that she's getting big, happy too though. She is an amazing baby and she still keeps suprising me with how tough she is. I love this girl!

So how did it go?

2009-07-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

This is the most asked question since my last post and I finally now have the chance to let you all know how Miss Ellie is doing since her latest surgery.

So I always have a hard time passing off this face to surgery, but come on! She was making it extra hard this time...look at this little squirt!!

When I told her it was time to go and that she needed to be brave she gave this face like "bring it mom, I can handle it"...what a tough cookie

I always hate going back through my pics and video because so much time passed in between these two moments of before surgery and after, but it is always so day and night here. Like I said it took an hour and a half just for the IV. They said the whole procedure would take about 2 and a half hours, so because of that they were way behind. She went in at 1:00 p.m. and I didn't see her until about 6:30 p.m.! It was way drawn out and I was really anxious the whole time. Usually we go in so early for surgeries that I end up sleeping while we wait, this time I wasn't tired at all so it was really hard to just sit there and think.

So it was definitely different going to Phoenix Children's Hospital over St. Joes. I would say that it was uncomfortable and inconvenient for me, but so much better for Ellery. We did have to share a room though with another family, but it wasn't too bad for the short while we were there, Monday through Saturday. This was all the space we had, very cozy. At St. Joes we had our own private room, with walking space and our own bathroom, this one I had to leave the room and go down the hall. I had to hold it until Ellery was asleep in order to feel okay leaving her.
Also at St. Joe's we could order up food, not at PCH, so Caleb had to stock me up with bread, peanut butter and bananas.

They put this HUGE NG tube down Ellery's nose to suck out stuff from her tummy to make it easier for her bowels to start working again, I felt bad because I promised Ellery she wouldn't ever have one again, she even pulled hers out in the car on the way to the hospital, so she was excited! Anyway, she was two-face for a while with the monster tape job that was needed to keep this sucker in...plus the head IV

Recovery was okay, Ellery slept most of the time the first two days, they wouldn't feed her anything until something came out of her bum to indicate that her bowels were functioning properly. F.Y.I what they did in the surgery was a 3-in-1 deal. First, the doc had to remove part of Ellery's large intestine that was super narrow that nothing would make it through if we tried, we think it was infected back in novemeber, remember those days? It was actually the entire right side of her collon and then she also took out her apendix, it was in the way.
Next, she removed Ellery's belly button hernia, not sure if anyone can recall Ellery's very large outie, well it is gone!
And last, the surgeon put in a Mic-Key Button, a port to Ellery's stomach. They stitched her up and this is what she came back looking like...Caleb and I call it her little C-Section...

Throughout those days we had some good moments...

And then some bad moments...

Luckily, Thanks to my bro Todd, Ellery had her baby Einsteins...

And the coolest part of PCH was they let me take her for like hour long walks around the whole hospital, even outside!

So I can't even begin to express how cool I think it is that Ellery came home on the Fourth of July. We were scared because Thursday night was 3 days and still no poo from the babe and that means they need to start giving her some nutrition in her IV, well she needed a better IV, a pick-line! No no no no, please no. She was scheduled to go in Friday morning, Caleb and I had given up on being home for the fourth and just had to get prepared that her bowels just weren't going to work for a long time or maybe not at all...urgh. Caleb did all kinds of stretches and leg kicks with Ellery to get her pumping, he was rolling her around and pushing on her little tummy. We were desperate...
In the middle of the night that night she totally had a bowel movement! It was awsome, who knew I would be so excited about poo! They canceled the pick-line, gave her food instead and bam we were home FREE the next day...the day we celebrate our FREEDOM, I mean come on could it get any better?!! This should be it people, no more surgeries so it is hopefully true freedom.

Our good friends had a fun bar-b-que planned so we spent some time at home, then headed over for some dinner and then watched the schneff? farms fireworks in our neighbors driveway, it was fun!

Stomach Surgery

2009-06-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

So with it being summer, Ellery's ostomy is driving us insane! She sweats so bad and so the base leaks all the time now and it is no fun replacing it, plus her skin is getting infected and nasty. So it's been six weeks since Ellery's heart surgery which means we can get her ostomy closed up anytime....so I scheduled her for Monday. We are nervous, but sooooo excited because it really will change a lot of how we live day to day. Taking away any extra stress is a good thing.

So that brings me to extra stress number 2. Ellery's feeding tube. This thing is also a hassle, especially now that Ellery pulls it out all the time! I hate having to put those in, it is so mean. We just got a new Speech therapist who I love already and Ellery really isn't anywhere close to taking the volume she needs to be taking in liquids. It will take some time and work to get her doing anything with liquids. So I've been researching the G-Tube or Mic-Key Button and I was always anti that idea, but recently I've been considering it. I looked at a ton of blogs of those that have babies who went from the NG to the button and all were pleased with the difference it made. Ellery is just getting old enough now that the tube just bothers her all the time now and she is much happier when it's out.

So.......I added putting in a Mic-Key Button to Ellery's stomach surgery.
So starting next week, no more bag and no more tube!!! I'm stoked really, I just hope all goes well and we can get in and out quick! If it does go well, we should only be there maybe 4-5 days.

We are actually doing this surgery and Phoenix Childrens Hospital so that will be different, but hopefully a good change. Please pray for her though because quote "something always happens" and this time we would rather everything went just perfect.

Wild Fundraiser!!

2009-06-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

So Caleb's sister, Breanna lives in Sierra Vista and works at Buffalo Wild Wings. Well, she somehow worked it out that the restaurant was willing to give 15% of people's checks to Ellery if they brought in the flyer promoting the event! Go Breanna, we were excited and just figured it would add the the Benefit Account. Well, the event turned into an awsome ordeal with many people involved and wanting to help us out. In the end, EVERY check, no flyer needed, took 15% out to go towards Ellery, there was a raffle, and door prizes!

It was a big jump from very girly and frilly hair salon to tough and wild grill and bar. Ellery and I took the 3 hour drive with some family to the event and Caleb and his Dad came down for a late dinner.
The hightlight for me had to be when the Budweiser Guy showed up with a specialty made sign for Ellery as a surprise. Can you say that you have your own beer sign? I didn't think so...

They also played Ellery's slide show, pictures from birth to her last heart surgery on a few random screens, right next to soccer and baseball!

My mom put in for this really neat plant and she won! It's all real, and the man in the backround does not know us, just an instant friend.

This woman was the miracle worker who works at buffalo wild wings with Breanna and she went to town organizing the raffle! Out of the goodness of her heart, she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met!

So they actually managed to get a very nice HP laptop to raffle off. Crazy huh? Everyone was putting in for that of course, but this was the lucky guy to take it home! I'm really gald he one because he put in $250 worth of tickets, paid out in the end thank goodness!!

Thanks again to Breanna for putting that together, we were not expecting it and in the end I believe they raised about $2500 so Ellery is now richer than Caleb and I! We are so blessed and can't seem to comprehend how blessed. We are surrounded by amazing people...thank you all!!!