Off track fun!

I was very skeptical of Year Round School when April started Kindergarten in 2004.  Can I just tell you how much we LOVE IT!  Not only do the kids need the break.... so does Mom! We've had a great time already.  We started out at the bounce house Monday,

and went to visit Great Grandma Tuesday.

Now we are busy finishing laundry and packing our bags to visit Grandma and Papa Gailey in California!  

I love to see the Temple...

We had the awesome opportunity to go to the Draper Temple open house last week! The kids were so anxious to go and loved the experience! We are spoiled here in Utah with all the beautiful Temples around us.  A lot different from when we were kids!  We tell our kids how lucky they are.  Tyler and I had to travel for hours to see a temple when we were young!  Now we are counting down until we are able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house!

Summer is on it's way!

Today has been a gorgeous day!  It might have only been 50* outside, but with the sun out and the awesome blue sky....  it easily felt like 80*!  You know summer is coming when you can pull out the sidewalk chalk and make chalk houses....

finally take down the Christmas lights....

and go for a little bike ride....

We are choosing to ignore the remaining snow on the grass and the 7 day forecast which shows more rain and snow showers.

9 month photos!

Aunt Wendy did an awesome job capturing all of his cuteness for his 9 month pictures! Thank you so much.  I love them!

Off we go!

I totally love that my kids are creative! It doesn't take much to entertain them, thank goodness! Last Saturday the girls had Ashlee (cousin) over.  We left them for several hours while Tyler and I ran some errands.  This is what we came back to!

They took every possible chair they could find to make their car so that they could travel to California! Notice the Wii wheel they used as their steering wheel, the car seats for their babies, and the luggage in the trunk!  So much fun!

Big boy!

I had to show off my new high chair which I love!  When they put me in it I get so excited to eat.  I just kick and kick with excitement!

I also love that Mom and Dad let me sit in shopping carts like a big boy!  It is so much fun. I like it when Brynn sits by me. She pushes me back up when I slide towards her! I think I like this big boy stuff!

Home and happy!

Justin finally had his PDA closure Thursday. This is a picture of the always happy little guy right before the surgery.  He was oblivious to the stress that Mom and Dad were feeling. 

As they took him from us and explained all the terrible things that could go wrong, (because they have to) they also warned us that it could take up to 4 hours.  We were given a pager and began to walk the halls.  Finally after pacing for a good 45 minutes, we decided to get a coke and find a place to sit and read to get our minds off of the time.  We figured we had a long wait ahead of us. Right as we found a spot and began reading, our pager went off!  Instantly we thought something went wrong!  It had only been 1 hour and 10 minutes!  We rushed back to see the sweet nurse greet us with a smile! "He's all done!  It went very smooth!"  As they rolled him out I had to hold back the tears.  He was so out of it, but I was also very glad to have this done and over with.  The surgeon pulled us aside while they took him to the first recovery room.  He was extremely happy with his heart! Luckily the closure was quite small, so that should heal up really well.  They also did some exploratory stuff while they were in there and his heart is functioning beautifully! We are so thankful! 

Only one parent was allowed back in the first recovery room.  Of course Tyler didn't have a say!  I was up and out! Tyler was only out of the loop for 20 minutes.  They put us in an overnight recovery room.  Since the procedure was done through his groin, we had to make sure he didn't move his leg for 6 hours to prevent any blood loss.  We felt awful because we couldn't hold him.  All we could do was stand there and hold his leg down as he looked up at us.  

All he could do was use his little arms to touch us.  I spent most of the time leaning over so I could kiss his cute fingers.  They gave him atropine before surgery. Down syndrome patients heart rates tend to drop during surgery, so this is used to maintain proper heart function and increase his heart rate.  It also dilates the pupils and causes major flushing of the face after surgery!  He was such a trooper and never needed pain medicine!  After the six hours was up, they had to x-ray his chest to make sure the coil (used to close the PDA) didn't move.  Luckily it didn't.  Next thing we know they said we were going to be discharged!  He did so amazingly well they didn't see a need for him to stay over night!   The girls were so sweet (with Grandmas help of course) to get his room all decorated for his homecoming!  They were so relieved to see him!

We want to thank everyone for their prayers! We are so happy to have such a healthy little boy!

9 months!

I have a hard time believing that my baby boy is already 9 months old!  He is growing up much faster than I'd like!  Today he had his well baby check-up and is doing very well. He is in the 60% for weight and 75% for height on the Down syndrome growth chart! The Doctor is more than pleased with him and his progress!  The Dr. checked his lungs and he sounds awesome, which means surgery should be able to take place this Thursday for the PDA closure. We are anxious to get that done and over with even though we are very nervous to have him put under for the 3 - 4 hour procedure!

I had to document this moment today with him in a highchair!  I know that seems so silly, but he has been so unstable in highchairs, so we've always fed him in his bouncy seat.  I thought I'd give it a try today while I took Brynn out to lunch.  What do you know.... he sat up nice and strong and loved every minute of it!  Now I have to go high chair shopping!  Don't you just want to squeeze him with loves?!  I sure do!