Saturday, May 22, 2010

Natasha's Graduation

So Kairington and I went away for the weekend and it was a great trip...very fast though. We left Logan Saturday afternoon around 1:30 and drove down to Salt Lake to catch our flight. It took a little creative thinking to get a baby, a diaper bag, a carry on bag, a stroller and a baby car seat from the parking lot to the shuttle, but we made it, then it was even more tricky to get all of that through security, but we made it without any big issues and had about an hour to kill while we waited for flight. Kairington was the best baby, she didn't cry on the drive down to Salt lake, nor on the shuttle or at all at the air port...she just played with her toys and watched people. Then we got on our first flight to Denver and actually had an empty seat next to us, so I sat her down and turned on Einstein and she watched it half the flight and then the other half decided to take a nap. Then in Denver, we just had time to get off one plane and get onto the next one. This flight was full, but Kairington was once again a perfect child. I fed her some baby food while we waited to take off, then she played for a little bit and then fell asleep the rest of the flight. We got into Omaha about 9:45 or so and Tasha and Chris were waiting for us. We went to dads and chatted for a little bit and then we headed to bed. Kairington slept straight through the night and I had to wake her up to get ready for church. Then she sat quietly on Grandpa Wright's lap or Uncle Garth's lap the whole time at church. Then we were off to Tasha's graduation. It started at 1 and we thought it wouldn't go any longer than an hour and then we figured 1/2 an hour for pictures....WRONG! It didn't get over until almost 3, so we took some quick pictures and fought our way through the crowd and went home. We eat some dinner while Kairington slept for a couple of hours. Then Tasha wanted to show me her apartment, so we headed over there for most of the evening until it was bed time. Then I got Kairington to sleep, packed our bag and went to bed. Once again,Karington slept through the night and probably wasn't too excited to get woken up at 5 in the morning, but we had to catch our flight. She pretty much slept for both of our flights home and on the drive home, but was well rested and happy to see everyone at home. We got home just in time for me to get lunch for the kids while Mike went down and worked. All in all it was a great trip, wish it was a little longer, but could not have asked for a better 6 month old to travel with that is for sure. Thanks to my great husband for watching the other 2 kids and let me go to support my sister. I couldn't ask for a better husband...Love Ya Mike!!

Tasha & Mo Brown (They are besties)

Tasha made it!!

Tasha & I (The favorite sister!)
Tasha & Kairington

I think Tasha likes Kairington...just a little bit!

Tasha & Garth...I dont think she knew who to look at, Dad or I

Tasha & Chris
Tasha & Thayne

Tasha & Dad...he is done, all his kids are graduated!

What? You don't let your kid chew on cords!?!

Kairington is all smiles!

Kairington not sure about siting by herself

The thanks I get for leaving!

So my youngest sister, Tasha, just graduated from high school this past weekend. The plan has always been that I would just fly to Iowa for the weekend and Mike would stay with all the kids. I would get a great break and get to enjoy some time with my family and Mike would get to bond with the kids for the weekend. Well that all changed 2 days before I was suppose to leave. I decided that I would take Kairington with me for a couple of reasons. One is that I know I would miss her like crazy, two I though I would take the X factor out for Mike so he would be able to do things with the old 2 kids while I was gone ( and he did take them to the park, out for ice cream, and managed to make it through 3 hours of church by himself) and three because I thought I would surprise my family in Iowa and just show up with Kairington (plus heck why not bring her, she is free,right?) Well the day I was leaving, Saturday, Reighlyn woke up with a fever and very whinny. I thought, oh poor Mike on one hand and on the other I was like, good luck, see ya! I think he and I were glad I was taking Kairington since Reighlyn didn't feel to good. Well the report from home while I was gone was that the kids had fun and were pretty good, except Reighlyn complained that her ear hurt the whole weekend, but didn't want to miss out on anything. Well Mike said that Monday morning she woke up with dried liquid from her ear and acted like she felt a lot better. Monday afternoon when I got home, I checked her temp and it had gone down a bit and she was acting fine, but since I needed to take Kairington in to the Dr for a 6 month check up and shots I thought I would bring her along. Well everything went great with Kairington, she is in the 43% for weight and 78% for height and no sickness for her. Reighlyn on the other hand had broken her ear drum and needed to get some medication and ear drops. But at least the sickness stayed with her instead of making its way through the rest of the house. She is doing great now and should be healed completely in another week.

Spring is here...kind of!

So it seems as though spring is having a hard time coming to Logan for sure. We will have some way nice weather and then wake up the next day to snow. I think the kids are more confused than anything. Reighlyn is having a hard time understanding why she can wear a skirt to preschool one day without tights and then the next day she has to go to school in jeans and a winter coat. Lets hope since it is the end of May now, that all the snow is gone!! We have gone I think a week and half or so without any snow...cross your fingers!! The kids have been able to enjoy some days outside in spite of the snow we keep getting. Here are some pictures of them just enjoying being outside.

Reighlyn playing with the bucket and shovel

Reighlyn digging in the dirt
She is in to sucking on her bottom lip when she smiles

Kairington enjoying being outside

Keegan playing on the slide

They both love the sand box

Reighlyn & Keegan playing at the park in the sandbox

Easter 2010

So I know it is way past Easter, but I was just downloading pictures from the camera and saw all of the pictures and I thought I would post some of them since I never blogged about Easter. Easter was pretty low key this year. Thanks to GREAT Utah weather, we opted for an inside Easter egg hunt this year. Also since the kids are all still so young, I knew it wouldn't be a deal to them at all. So we just invited a couple of people over, Ariana and her 3 kids (Jonathan was working or sleeping...who knows) and Lauren and her 2 kids (Tim was working). While the Ana and Lauren kept the kids occupied, I went down and quickly hide a bunch of eggs just in the family room and then while they were looking downstairs I hide the rest up in the front room and dinning room. I think it took me maybe 10 minutes to hide them all and it took them 5 minutes to find them all. Oh well, they had fun. They we decided to color eggs, little kid style...NO EGG DYE!! We used crayons...I tell you what, it is the best idea I have ever had...no worries about little kids knocking over dye all over. It is so easy and quick to clean up. Last year we had stickers too,but I never got to the store to buy some this year. Then the adults sat and chatted while the kids ate WAY too much candy. Then that night I refilled the eggs for the next morning when the Easter bunny would come. The Easter Bunny hide the kid's baskets and gifts in the basement where they couldn't get to them until Mom and Dad were ready...hehe...what a sneaky bunny! They had the normal candy and little toys in their baskets. Reighlyn & Keegan both got stick horses that when you press behind the ear it makes horse sounds. They also got a basketball hoop to share for when it warms up outside. Kairington just got some little toys and a new bib. All in all it was a great Easter, especially since we were able to stay home and watch Conference on TV. Can't get any better than watching the prophet on Easter Sunday!

Kairington giving a little smile, she is still waking up

Kairington loving her bunnies!
Kairington excited about Easter

Keegan trying out the basketball hoop

Reighlyn giving her horse a ride

Dad showing Keegan his horse

Reighlyn found the baskets
Kileigh, Keegan, & Ethen coloring eggs

Addison, Reighlyn, Kileigh & Keegan coloring eggs

Ethen with a mouth full of chocolate

Keegan not knowing whats wrong with stuffing your mouth with candy

Addison seeing whats in her eggs
Keegan looking for eggs

Kileigh found 2 eggs!

Aiden not sure about the whole hunt thing

Reighlyn breaking the rules being on the couch with shoes on

The group looking for more eggs

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

The Big Move

So the sad sad time has come...Keegan has figured out how to get out of his crib! With Reighlyn we had to move her so quickly since the two are only 14 months apart, also because Reighlyn learned how to get out a little after she was 1. But Keegan was our angel child when it came to sleep. We would put him down at 7 and you wouldn't hear a peep until 7 or so the next morning, and when he did wake up he would just sit in his bed and wait for someone to come and get him. But when we were in Iowa, he slept in a pack n'play and it had lower sides, so he figured out that he could hike his leg over the side and get out. Well sure enough a little while after we got home from Iowa, he tried it on his crib and it worked...but it was a long drop down. Being the good parents we are we dropped the side down for him, so it wouldn't be as far of a drop for him since he was going to get out either way. But he has actually been pretty good still, we would put him in his crib and he would go to bed and stay in bed until morning and then when he was a wake he would just get out of bed and come and knock on the door until someone came and opened the door(Luckily he can't open doors yet). We would have moved him into a big boy bed right away, but we were waiting on Mike's sister to pass on her crib to us for Kairington, because then we were just going to cut the legs off Keegan's bring and take the front off. But lucky Lish, Mike's sister, her little guy still stays in his crib. So we finally sucked it up and went on bought Keegan a toddler bed and moved Kairington to the crib. She looked so big in her bassinet and was getting too big for it, when she rolled over she would get stuck. But then when we moved her to the crib, so looked so small, but she loves it, she rolls all over the place. I will put some pictures of the switch when I remember to take some pictures one of these days.

Kairington Update take 20...I swear!

Sorry for the space in between posts....it seems like life has been non-stop here, but yet not a lot to write about. So the word on Kairington is, nothing. They checked her oxygen levels and they all came back great, so they opted to wait and see how she does as she gets older. Well with a lot of prayers, she is actually doing really good. She went 2 weeks without having her monitor go off, so we opted to take her off her monitor, which is good because her chest was just raw where she had to have the wires taped to her all the time. I think she is very happy to have the wires gone too...she was always trying to pull them off because I think they bothered her. So cross your fingers we are out of the woods and she can just grow up to be a healthy little girl with no sleeping issues. I just can't believe my baby is already 5 months old. She is teething which is NEVER fun, but part of life. She is rolling all over the place and loves to kick herself around in a circle . She is also babbling all the time and will put anything within her grasp into her mouth, including her sisters hair if she gets too close. She is starting to think her brother and sister are pretty fun and loves to sit in her bouncer and just watch them and of course they LOVE the attention.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Hospital Experience

So yesterday was a stressful day, probably more for me....I was a basket case! So we had a pretty normal morning, got dressed, got kids fed, got the house picked up,etc. Then we loaded everyone up around 10:45 and dropped Reighlyn and Keegan off at my sister's house who is such a doll to offer to watch them pretty much all day. Then Dad, Mom and Kairington headed down to Salt Lake. We needed to be at Primary Children's Hospital at 1:30 to get checked in and everything. But before we could do that, Mike had a meeting with a client in downtown Salt Lake at 12:30. The original plan was for us to drop Mike off at his appointment and then Kairington and I would go get some food;but when we got into town and we saw how busy it was and how much construction there was, I opted to just stay put. So we found a parking spot right across the street from his appointment, Mike went to his appointment and Kairington and I just chilled in the car. While waiting for Mike, Kairington and I decided to get some lunch, well at least for Mike and I; Kairington couldn't eat until after her procedure later that afternoon. Once the appointment was done, we were off to the hospital....I think I got more nervous with every street we drove closer to the hospital. We got all checked in and had all of her vitals and stats taken. Then it was off the the pre-op waiting room to wait for the Dr's to come and talk to us. I thought for sure Kairington would just be screaming since she hadn't eaten since 9am, but she was such a good baby; very calm unless a nurse tried taking her. She is deciding that she doesn't like strangers very much. The hardest part of the whole day was handing our baby girl to the Dr and watching him walk away with her to get her set for the procedure. I started tearing up, so we just had to walk away quickly so I didn't loose it completely. Then it was off to the surgery family waiting room, where we waited while she was with he Dr's. They had to put her under so they could check everything out. After about 1/2 hr the Dr came and gave us the run down of what she found. She said Kairington was doing great and was just sleeping away in post-op. She said that her lungs looked great, nice and pink and healthy. She said her trachea was nice and pink but small, but that there was nothing that can be done about that. Her larynx also looked great she said, no floppy cartilage like they thought it might have been. Then she said she did find why she is having sleep apnea, she said that her adenoids and tonsils are WAY to big for her. I guess there was an ENT surgeon in the OR next to her and she had him come and look and he said that yes they were way to big and that he would do the surgery to remove them for us. She said loves this ENT and would trust her own kids with him. So it looks like the next step as far as Kairington is concerned is surgery....which is SCARY!! They said since she is so small she will have to stay in the hospital for at least a couple of days depending on how she recovers. We will find out on Monday when all of that will happen when I talk to the Dr.
After talking to the Dr, I went down to post-op to see my little baby girl. She was just waking up and wanting to eat...good thing I came prepared with a 6oz bottle for her and promptly gave it to her. She was still sleepy and didn't even open her eyes until Mike came back to be with us and her bottle was mostly gone. She gave Dad a quick smile when she saw him...she loves her dad. Usually with this procedure, you can go home within 30 minutes of the baby waking up, but since Kairington has sleep apnea and we had a 2 hour drive home, they wanted to make sure she was completely awake and having no side affects of the procedure before they would release us. So I think she was done with her procedure and everything around 4 and we didn't leave until 7. She was such a good baby, in good spirits and just chilled with mom and dad. She didn't really like having all of the wires on her, but she is kind of use to it with her sleep monitor she is always on.
So all in all everything went well and I am so relieved. Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. We will keep you updated on the future for Kairington.




Kairington at the house that morning..all smiles!

Kairington not wanting to get changed!

Kairington thinking that getting her vitals checked and held by a stranger SUCKS!

Life is good again, the nurse left and she has her mom Pre-op

Kairington and Dad Pre-op

Kairington & Dad before the procedure -Pre-op

Kairington waiting for the Dr - Pre-op

Kairington - Post-Op

Kairington Post-Op

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Yet another update for Kairington

So Kairington had her doctor appointment with the Pulmonary Specialist this week down in Salt Lake. Well the doctor was not happy to hear about how much she is still not breathing at night, but said her lungs sound good so that was a good thing. The bad thing is she is pretty sure she has OSA, or Obstructive Sleep Apnea. She is thinking that it might be her adenoids are to big, in which case they would need to be removed via surgery. Or that the cartilage around her larynx is too floppy, is which case some might have to be removed or Kairington would have to be put on oxygen at night to help keep her air ways open until the cartilage hardens as she gets older. Another thought is that her acid reflux is so bad that she is getting acid into her lungs. So with so many reasons why Kairington is having the issues she is having, the doctor made a to -do list. First was to order an oxygen test for two nights. Along with her apnea monitor she already has, she needed to wear a monitor on her foot for two nights to test her oxygen levels, check we finished that last night and now need to wait for the results. Next was to contact the insurance to see if they would pay for a sleep test, check, her office is checking into that. Next would be to have her stop taking all acid reflux medication to see what her body does with no medication, check, she has been off medication for a week and seems to be doing good....no major throw ups yet! Finally would be to have a bronchoscopy performed. This in-tells Kairington being put under and a scope being put up her nose and all the way down to her lungs to see if and what is obstructing her sleeping and causing her to stop breathing. So that is what we are doing tomorrow actually...we are heading down to Salt Lake to Primary Children's Hospital to have a bronchoscopy done at 3pm tomorrow. I am a nervous wreak the closer it gets, but I also know that something is wrong with my baby and this will help get us one step closer to finding out what and hopefully fixing things. So thanks to my wonderful sister, Ana and her husband we at least get to leave our other two children here....I am hoping that 2 less children will equal less stress in the waiting for....we will see! I will update once we are home tomorrow night. Please keep my precious baby girl in your prayers!

Seriously Keegan???

So I don't know if Keegan thought that he could fly or what,but either way he found out that gravity works very well in our house. I have told Keegan and Reighlyn millions of times not to jump on the couches, but do kids ever listen, really...NO!! So yesterday evening I was up doing dishes and saw the kids jumping on the couches and I told them if I saw them do it again, they would be in big trouble and counted to 3 for them to get off the couch....did it work...NO! So I was on my way down to discipline and was in the process of chasing down Reighlyn when BAM! Keegan's head connected with the floor!! He instantly started screaming at the top of his lungs and I ran to pick him up. His head had a good sized goose egg on it right away. It took a bit to get him calmed down and of course wanted nothing to do with ice on his head. So I turned to get him some Tylenol...and of course we are out.Ugh, so we had to pack up and go to the store to get some, so the kids and I stayed in the car while Mike ran in to Wal-Mart to get some. I thought maybe he would have a bump for a while or maybe even a black eye, but this morning he just had a bruise where he had hit. Luck kid, he hit the floor hard.


Keegan after "flying off the couch Wednesday night"
Side view of Keegans head Wednesday night
Well no worries, he made up for the fact that his bump went away so fast. Today while I was putting laundry away up stairs Keegan was dancing to a old birthday card I found(it is one of the cards that plays a song when you open it). Well for some reason, Keegan feels the need to dance with his eyes closed. The next thing I know, I here BAM followed by screams. I come running down stairs and Mike comes running upstairs from work. Well lo and behold, Keegan hit the exact same spot and has an even bigger goose head!! All I could say was seriously Keegan, seriously?! At least I had Tylenol this time! I guess he is like his mother...I ran into quite a few things when I was little. I have many pictures to prove it!

Keegan after dancing into a wall Thursday

Closer view of his head after meeting the wall head on!

Kairington 4 months old

So we took Kairington to the doctor for her 4 months check up on Tuesday and everything is looking good for the most part. She is weighing in at 14 lbs (59%) and her length is 25.5"(88%). I think I could go as far as saying it seems she gets her height from her dad since he is 6'5" and I am only 5'5". Kairington is such a happy, calm baby. She can just sit and calmly watch her brother and sister for hours, that is until one of them decides to try and include her in their fun...then she lets out a warning cry. This cry lets mom know its time to pick her up where she knows she will be safe; once in my arms, she usually will go back to watching and laughing at her siblings. She is smiling and laughing all the time (she actually had her first laugh for Mike while we were in Iowa). She is also rolling over from her belly to back and sometimes from her back to belly, but that has only happened a couple of times and usually only when she is mad. She loves watching her Einstein(the way we made it 1000 miles in the car), but mostly she just loves to be talked to. Her new favorite thing to do is buzz her lips and make spit bubbles. When she makes her spit bubbles, she laughs, but Keegan is pretty sure she is "messy" and quickly goes to find a burp rag or towel to "clean up" the baby;such a helper. Kairington has also started on rice cereal...she enjoys anything, not a picky eater at all.
Kairington enjoying her first rice cereal meal