A little catching up...

So I know I have a LOT of catching up to do. While doing that blog challenge I neglected doing actual updates. We've been rather busy the last couple of months. The beginning of November my wonderful mom turned 60, so my whole family got together here in SLC, without my mom's knowledge, and surprised her. It was great. My dad rented a house that we were all able to fit in and the weather was fabulous. We had a great time.

Thanksgiving was great also. We traveled down to my parents house in Nevada and spent the weekend there. Our trip was cut a day short by a huge snow storm that moved in, but the time we had there was great. The only ones that couldn't make it for Thanksgiving was my sister Brenda and her family in Idaho because of another snow storm. We missed having them there. One of my brothers-in-law brought some guns and skeets and most of us went out and took turns shooting. I managed to hit 3 :)!! The dinner was delicious, as always, and our group got so big that we ended up eating at the church. That night we had a trip down memory lane when one of my nephews pulled out an old mattress and got a lot of the nieces and nephews to mattress surf down my parents stairs. We even took the girls down a couple of times and they loved it. Brooklyn got very upset whenever we made her get off the mattress.

The last couple of weeks have been a little rough with all of us taking turns being sick. It started with Emmalyn, then me, then Brooklyn, and is finishing up with Jeff. We ended up going through quite the ordeal with Emmalyn. Hers first started out as a cough and runny nose but then she started sounding very "rattly" and wheezy while she breathed. So I took her into the pediatrician. They did a chest x-ray on her and said they couldn't "see anything for certain" and "guessed" that it was either an early stage of pneumonia or she had swallowed something that got stuck in her throat. So we took her up to Primary Children's Hospital to do some more extensive x-rays and testing. They confirmed that neither of the previous guesses were right and said she had Reactive Airway Disease, which basically means her throat was reacting to a virus and was inflamed. So we've had to give her some breathing treatments but she seems to be much better now. Of course now Brooklyn is starting to do what Emmalyn did, so it'll be interesting to see how things play out with her.

Anyway, that's about all that's been going on around here, including continuing on in the job search and getting ready for Christmas. Sorry there are no pictures by I have to get some from my family since I've gotten really bad at taking my camera out when we're doing stuff! Hope everyone is having and continues to have a wonderful Christmas season.

BC Day 30 - My Favorite Song

My favorite song changes on a somewhat daily basis. However with it being Christmas season I will choose my favorite song of the season. It is Carol of the Bells. My favorite versions of this song are by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

BC Day 29 - In this Past Month, What Have I Learned

I have learned quite a bit this month.

-I have learned that it's hard to do a daily blog post...especially when I have two (sometimes three) little 1-year-olds to look after!
-I have learned that perseverance and faithfulness is key in overcoming obstacles.
-I have learned that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
-I have learned that when going through hard times, family and true friends are always their and the best people to lean on.
-I have learned just how random acts of kindness can bless your life.
-I have learned that you can't just give up, you have to keep pushing, keep trying, and keep praying.
-I have learned that I have a ton of pictures of my girls over the past 16 months, and not so many of hardly anyone else :)
-I have learned that no matter how poor you are monetarily, as long as you can stick together as a family you will NEVER be poor emotionally or spiritually.

BC Day 28 - A Picture of Me from Last Year and Now, How Have I Changed Since Then?

When I think of last year I mainly think of being pregnant...probably because I was for just over half of the year! So I only thought it appropriate that I post of picture of my pregnant. This is actually one of the last picture taken of me pregnant. It was taken almost a week before I had the girls.



And my picture from this year is from just over a month ago. When all of my family was in town for my mom's birthday a bunch of us went to the zoo. My sister Vera got this cute picture of our cute little family of four.
I have changed in many ways over the year. First off I've become a mother...of twins :). I have learned a lot about myself, my strengths and my weaknesses. I've learned what it takes to become a mother, both the good and the not so good. Everyday is a day of change and growth with a few set backs here and there. I love that I am ever changing, and as long as I keep changing for the better than that's all I can ask for.

BC Day 27 - Why am I Doing this 30 Day Challenge

I started doing this 30 day challenge because I thought it would be fun to let others know more about me. I was hoping other people would start doing the challenge as well, but as far as I know no one else has started after I did. It's been fun, it's made me think of things and relive some good times and good people. I urge any and all of you to do this challenge...

BC Day 26 - What do I Think About My Friends

I think very highly of my friends. They are great people that I love to be around...otherwise they wouldn't be my friends :) There are many of my friends that I don't see often but I still hold them very dear to my heart.

BC Day 25 - What You Would Find in My Bag

Well I have the typical "mommy" bag. You'll find diapers, wipes, toys, sippies, snacks, a change of clothes for the girls (when I remember), and of course my wallet, chapstick, gum/mints, etc.

I try to clean out my bag quite often because stuff tends to build up in there and I hate it, but ya. Nothing really exciting!

BC Day 24 - A Letter to My Parents

Dear Mom and Dad,

I love you both so dearly. You have always been there when I've needed it. You are such amazing examples to me and what I want to be like in the future. I learned so much from you and can't thank you enough for all that you have taught me. I never really knew how hard it was to be a parent, but I love that I can call anytime I have questions, concerns, joys to share, etc. You have loved me and supported me unconditionally and I couldn't have asked for more.

I love you both so much!

Love always,
Jeanette

BC Day 23 - Something I Crave For a Lot

I don't know if this is referring to food or what, so I'll list a food and something else.

I crave popcorn a lot, it's a big comfort food of mine, plus I just love salty crunchy stuff.
I crave peace and quiet :) I'm sure all you mother's out there would agree!

Well those are the only two things I can think of right now...

BC Day 22 - What Makes Me Different from Everyone Else

What makes me different from everyone else is that I am me and everyone is, well, their own individual selves. Some of us similar some in some ways and some of are similar in other ways, but we are each our own individuals with our own personal knowledge, experiences, challenges, joys, etc.

BC Day 21 - A Picture of Something that Makes Me Happy

Of course there are many things that make me happy but I think that this place encompasses all of the big main things that make me happy. First of all my family makes me the most happy and the temple is a symbol of the eternal aspect of my family and how we're all together forever. The gospel of Jesus Christ also makes me very happy and the temple is a huge symbol of the church and all the wonderful things that can happen because of the gospel. And finally the closeness to the Lord that I can have inside the temple is amazing and can make the worst situations seem small and very bearable.

BC Day 20 - Someone I See Myself Marrying or Being with in the Future

Well seems as I'm already married, and I'm VERY happily married I will have to say that I can see myself being married to Jeff for the rest of my life. He is an amazing man who makes me a better person. He's shown me strengths I never knew I had and is always there for me.

BC Day 19 - Nicknames I have and Why I Have Them

Nette - Many only my family calls me this one. It started when my oldest niece started calling me that since she couldn't pronounce my full name.

Nettie - A few friends started calling me that after they heard my family calling me Nette.

Jeanettie Spaghetti - Got this nickname in 4th grade. Our teacher had us give everyone nicknames and our classmates got to choose each others...and some how that's what I got.

Jean - There's actually only ever been one person to call me this on a regular basis, that's my cousin Ty.

Smitty - I all of my siblings have had this nickname at one point or another...oh it's because my maiden name is Smith.

Hon - that's just what Jeff usually calls me.

Jenatowski - I few friends in high school used to call me this...not really sure why or where they come up with it though.

Those are all the ones I can think of right now.

BC Day 18 - Plans/dreams/goals I have

Wow this could be quite the extensive post, but I'll try not to make it too long :)

-I plan to be able to travel with Jeff one day.
-I dream to be able to build/design my own house some day (the layout and the cosmetic stuff).
-My goal is to have healthy happy children who are strong and faithful.
-I plan to make the best of my situations and to learn all that I can from them.
-I dream that one day we will be comfortable financially...not necessarily rich, but comfortable.
-My goal is to go to as many temples as I can.

BC Day 17 - Someone I Would Want to Switch Lives with for One Day and Why

There are lots of people I would love to switch lives with for one day, some just for the sake of seeing what it's like to be them others for the sake of them seeing what I do every day! But someone I would really love to switch lives with for one day is one of my twins. I would love to know what they are thinking, learning and processing every day. I'd love to see the world through their pure and innocent eyes. If I could them maybe I could get a better understanding of what they're trying to communicate to me every day!

BC Day 16 - Another Picture of Myself

This picture was just taken a couple of days ago. We went down to my home town, Caliente, NV for Thanksgiving to be with my family. One of my favorite past times is "mattress surfing" down my parents stairs. Of course we weren't allowed to do it all that often, but now that it's grand kids doing it it's a different story (just kidding Mom and Dad!). Anyway, as I was watching all my nieces and nephews do it Emmalyn and Brooklyn were getting anxious and looking like they wanted to try. So up the stairs we went and down we came on the mattress...oh GOOD times!!

BC Day 15 - Put My iPod on Shuffle: First 10 Songs that Play

This is going to be a rather boring blog post...I don't have an ipod, mp3 player or anything of the sort. I wish I did, but at the moment I really don't have a serious need for one. I guess for music sake I'll list the ring tones I have on my phone:

Take it Off - Kesha
California Girls - Katy Perry
1, 2, 3, 4 - Plain White T's
Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's
You're My Best Friend - Queen
We are family - ??

And that's all I have right now.

BC Day 14 - A Picture of Me and My Family

This is actually the most recent picture taken of our family.

BC Day 13 - A Letter to Someone Who has Hurt Me Recently

Dear _____,

I do not know if you are aware of the things you have done or said or the effect that they had on me, but just know that I forgive you.

Love,
Jeanette


I'm being totally serious about this letter. There has been a lot that has happened lately that could have left me bitter, angry, and hurt. But I am learning that harboring these feelings does no good and that I just need to forgive, learn, and forget.

BC Day 12 - How I Found Out About Blogger and Why I Have One

I found out about blogger from my sisters and sister-in-law. They all had blogs and I had fun reading them. The once Jeff and I got married I thought it would be a good way to keep people updated on what was going on in our lives. Plus it was a good easy way to "journal" our experiences.

BC Day 11 - Another Picture of Me and My Friends

What better friend to put a picture on here of than one of me and my BEST friend! I couldn't have asked the Lord for a better friend/husband. He's there when I need him to be, he strengthens me, and loves me regardless of all my faults and craziness. I love Jeff so much and am so grateful that I get to spend all of time and all eternity with my best friend :)

BC Day 10 - Songs I Listen to when I'm Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

Music is awesome, whether I'm dancing to it, singing it, or just listening to it, I love it. There are songs or types of music that can brighten even the darkest of days. I really don't have any specific songs that I listen to at any given moment.

When I'm happy I can listen to any type of music.
When I'm sad I like uplifting music or really upbeat music.
When I'm bored I love music that has a really good beat, basically anything I can start dancing to.
When I'm hyped I like to listen to upbeat fun music, I usually end up singing along and/or dancing to it.
When I'm mad it's usually some type of rock music, once again something with a good beat.

Basically I can listen to music anytime no matter what mood I'm in. Mostly as long as it has a good beat to it then I can listen to it anytime. Music can make my sad, bored, and mad days turn into happy, hyped days. And music can make my happy and hyped days even better!

BC Day 9 - Something I'm Proud of in the Last Few Days

I have been very proud of Jeff, not only in the last few days but in the last few weeks. Being laid off is very disheartening and difficult to deal with, but Jeff has been strong and driven. Sure he's had his days where he's more discouraged than others, but for the most part he's been more motivated and driven. He has a real, true, strong desire to find a new and better job so that he can provide for our family. I'm so grateful to be eternally sealed to him. Even on days when I'm feeling discouraged he's been there to help lift me up and stay hopeful. He has been so strong and spiritual about everything. I love you Honeybabe!

BC Day 8 - Short Term Goals for this Month and Why

1. Start a workout group. I just can't get the motivation to do it all myself, so I'm hoping to get some ladies together and we can all help push and inspire each other.

2. Clean out all our closets and do a major "dejunking" and hopefully sell some fo the stuff. So that we can make more room and maybe have a little extra money for Christmas

3. Loose 5-10 lbs (I'm down 3-4 lbs!) trying to get down to pre-pregnancy weight, and then keep going down once I hit that :)

4. Find some good but inexpensive Christmas presents for the girls and Jeff. So we can still have somewhat of a good Christmas even with Jeff being out of work.

Those are a few of my main goals that I have right now.

BC Day 7 - A Picture of Someone/Something That has has the Biggest Impact on Me.

There are many people in this world who have been big influences in my life and have made a huge impact on me - my parents, siblings, teachers, etc - but the one person in my life who has made the biggest and continues to have the biggest impact on me is my savior Jesus Christ. He has helped me and taught me so much and I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for Him. He has guided me, directed me, and let me lead when he knew I was strong enough. He has given me strength, comfort, peace, and calmness numerous amounts of time. I could not be more grateful for His influence in my life and for all that he has blessed me with. If it wasn't for Him I wouldn't have the parents, siblings, friends, husband, children, etc. that I do.

BC Day 6 - My favorite Super Hero and Why

To be honest I really don't have a favorite super hero, at least not a fictional one anyway. I have my own personal super hero's that are real people, many my family. But I guess if I had to pick a fictional super hero I would say Superman. I choose him because he's really just a regular guy but still goes out and saves the world. I know that seems like a lame answer but that's really all I got. I've never been really big on super hero stuff. I prefer to look up to real people in my life :)

BC Day 5 - A Picture of Somewhere I've Been

As I mentioned on the first day of this challenge I love to travel, and especially love to go on cruises. So the picture I chose for today is one from our honeymoon. We took a Mexican Riviera Cruise and our first stop was Puerto Vallarta. This place had some beautiful churches and statues along the beach. Apparently they were also having a sand sculpting competition and there were some great ones! Anyway, here is my picture for the day.

BC Day 4 - A Habit I Wish I Didn't Have

I have many bad habits that I wish I didn't have. There are two main ones effect my every day life, so for today you get a two-fer :)

The first habit I wish I didn't have is the way I always doubt myself and diminish myself. I have a really hard time making big decisions because I'm always so doubtful and worried about making the wrong decision or hurting other people in my decisions. In saying this, I'm so grateful that I have a Heavenly Father who knows this weakness of mine and is almost always willing to help me in making decisions. I've gained a strong testimony in Him and his knowledge and awareness of us and our abilities, strengths and weaknesses. I'd be lost in this world if it wasn't for Him.

The second habit I wish I didn't have, and also one that Jeff really wishes I didn't have, it picking at and biting my lips. This drives Jeff crazy and can be rather painful for me sometimes. I usually only pick when I'm stressed, upset, or worried about something, which lately has been happening a lot. Jeff is good about pointing out when I'm picking and telling me to stop.

So there you have it, two of my worst habits that I wish I didn't have.

BC Day 3 - A picture of me and my friends

I have many friends that are dear to me, but there is a certain group of "friends" that are very special to me and they always will be, I like to refer to that group as my family. I love my family, they are the people who raised me and taught me how to be the person I am today. When we were all younger we didn't always get along, but now that we're all older we all get along great. I love that I have so many people that I can call and ask for advice or just to vent to if I need to. And the greatest thing about family is that it never stops growing. So here is my photo of me and my friends:

I chose this picture because it's the day that Jeff's family also officially became my family and I love them all just as much as the family I grew up with. Family is the greatest gift there is and when you're lucky enough to be able to consider your entire family your friends then I think that's even more special. Of course there's also those few friends that you become so close to that they basically are family. I love you all!!

BC Day 2 - The Meaning of our Blog Name

The meaning behind our blog name is:

See
How
Much
I
Love
You
Jeff/Jeanette

I actually have that listed on the right side of the blog. If you wanna read the story were I found SHMILY you can here. And then we added the 'J' at the end because both of our names start with that letter.

BC Day 1 - 15 Interesting Facts About Myself

15 interesting facts about myself

1 - I have a set of identical twin girls. I was originally pregnant with triplets (my identical girls and a fraternal baby), but I miscarried the triplet at 13 weeks.

2 - I get cabin fever a lot. I hate being cooped up inside all the time and love to get out and about.

3 - I grew up in a small town of about 1200 people.

4 - I went to a high school of less than 200 kids.

5 - My favorite color is orange.

6 - I love to read, and when I read I put myself into the story and try to imagine the things that are going on in the story.

7 - I love to dance, particularly ballroom dancing.

8 - My favorite animal is a polar bear...no real particular reason I just love how beautiful and white they are.

9 - I hate teeth, they are just gross to me. I could never do anything in the dental field. I don't even want to have to pull my own kids teeth, I'm hoping to leave that up to their dad.

10 - 90% of the time I prefer snacks that are salty and crunchy rather than chocolaty and sweet.

11 - My comfort food is popcorn and Orange Julius.

12 - I wish I was more crafty and creative. I have my moments when I can be, but they are usually short lived :(

13 - I love to quilt. I gained that love from watching my Grandma Smith make baby quilt after baby quilt for people she didn't always know. I still have a "quillo" (quilt that can fold into a pillow) that she made me YEARS ago.

14 - I would love to go to school and get a degree in Interior Design. I love to decorate and coordinate rooms, unfortunately we have a very limited budget and a rather small space so I can't do much of this in our current home.

15 - I love to travel, particularly on cruises. I've been on two cruises already in my life and hope/plan to go on many, many more. I also hope that one day Jeff and I can travel abroad and see the world together.

Blog Challenge

One of my cousins started doing this on her blog and I thought it would be fun and interesting to do also. I always like to learn new things about people so for those that want to learn new things about me here is your chance :) I hope you call enjoy this as much as I do. Day 1 will be tomorrow (Nov 12).

Day 1- List 15 interesting facts about yourself
Day 2- The meaning behind your blog name
Day 3- A picture of you and your friends
Day 4- A habit that you wish you didn’t have
Day 5- A picture of somewhere you've been to
Day 6- Favorite super hero and why
Day 7- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 8- Short term goals for this month and why
Day 9- Something you're proud of in the past few days
Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad
Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends
Day 12- How you found out about blogger and why you have one
Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 14- A picture of you and your family
Day 15- Put you ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play
Day 16- Another picture of yourself
Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 19- Nicknames you have and why you have them
Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying or being with in the future
Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else
Day 23- Something you crave for a lot
Day 24- A letter to your parents
Day 25- What I would find in your bag
Day 26- What do you think about your friends
Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge
Day 28- A picture of you from last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned
Day 30- Your favorite song

Halloween 2010

This year for Halloween the girls were little ballerinas. I wanted to do something cute and inexpensive, so I looked online and got instructions to make their tutus and head-bows. Luckily Joann's was having a sale on the material for them one weekend. I was so happy about how they turned out. Our friend Angela is a photographer (Ivory Lime Photography) and was nice enough to take a few pictures of our beautiful girls. Here are a few of my favorites. Brooklyn is in the purple tutu and Emmalyn is in the pink tutu.

As far as trick-or-treating, we took the girls into my old workplace and "trick-or-treated" around the cubicles. It was fun to catch up with my friends from there. We were going to Trick-or-treat a little Saturday night, but it was raining the majority of the evening and Emmalyn blew out of her diaper pretty badly, so we gave the girls a bath and just let them hang out in their jammies for the rest of the evening.

Friday afternoon we had their 15-month check up...dang they're growing up so fast!! Here are their stats:

Emmalyn - 20.1 lbs, 29.5 in

Brooklyn - 20.9 lbs, 30 in

They're in the 10th percentile for weight and about the 30th percentile for height. Emmalyn gets more and more brave about walking around and taking more steps. Brooklyn is starting to stand on her own more but still hasn't taken any steps. Both of the girls can go up and down the stairs and love to do so any chance they get! Each girl says a few words, Emmalyn's favorite is "uh-oh", Brooklyn's is "see" which she usually says while she's pointing at what she wants. They both say hi and Brooklyn says Kitty. They LOVE reading books and climbing on things and playing with each other (although sometimes that results in fighting). They are both pretty sociable and love to be out and about. We just love them so much and love to watch them grow and learn new things every day.

Double the mischief, double the fun!

Well it appers that we are all finally healthy again...at least for now! The girls and I went through another round of colds last week, but we all seem to be over them. Of course now we're moving on with more teething, growth spurts, and learning new things. One of the new things is a new love for books. They've always loved books but it was more to chew on them than read them, now they actually love to read them...a LOT. They're constantly crawling over with books in their hands wanting you to read it and usually whichever one didn't bring the book over will crawl in your lap to be read to also. The girls have also discovered the dishwasher, washing machine, and drier and any chance they have they'll go and "help" us with them. They've also learned that they can climb...on LOTS of things, and if they can't climb up on to it they'll try to push something else up to it give them a boost. And the best (and probably also the scariest) of all is standing/walking!! Emmalyn has pretty much mastered standing, she's even taken a few steps on her own. The most she's taken at one time is 5. Brooklyn is just now starting to try and stand on her own, so I know that she's only gonna be a couple of weeks behind Emmalyn. Anyway, here are some pictures of two of the cutest girls ever!!

Emmalyn

Reading "on the pot" (as Jeff says)

She found her way into the pantry/under-stairs closet.

Toilet paper and flip flops - what more could a girl need?

Standing on her own!!

Brooklyn

She loves to crawl into the toy basket


Helping with the dishes at Grandma's house



Yes, she discovered the art of picking her nose!



She got in there all by herself...such a poser!


Best friends!

Looking out the back door

Reading books together

GO UTES!!

A serious case of the sickies :(

The last few weeks have been rather rough. We've gone from sickness to sickness and I am once again a very firm believer in the phrase "When it rains it pours"! Everything actually started in August when I took the girls in for their 1-year check-up. Emmalyn had an ear infection that ended up lasting the entire month of August. We went through two oral antibiotics (which she hates) and in the end had to do Rocephin shots. Those were brutal, I had to take her in three days in a row and get a shot each day...needless to say by the third day she was NOT happy about going into the doctor's office again since she knew what was coming. Poor thing! Luckily the shots worked at her ear FINALLY cleared up.

About a week later we took a trip down to Richfield, UT for Jeff's Great Aunt Mary's 80th birthday party. When we left that morning everything was just fine, but an hour or too after we got to Richfield I noticed Emmalyn had a lot of goobers in her right eye. At first I just wrote it off as allergies acting up in a different place, but by the time we left the park (and after cleaning her eye out every 10 minutes or so) her eye started to swell and turn red - as you can see in the pic below:


When we got to our hotel I called my mom and she told me it sounded like pink eye...great! So Jeff went to Walmart just down the street and talked to the pharmacist there and confirmed that it was probably pink eye but said he couldn't give us anything without a doctors prescription. Long story short, Jeff got a hold of a local eye doctor in Richfield, explained the symptoms and the doctor was nice enough to talk to the pharmacist to get us an antibiotic for Emmalyn. We are so grateful for that gracious doctor and him saving us a $200 ER bill!!

That next Monday Jeff and I both woke up with colds and of course it passed on to the girls. So we all had headaches and coughing and sniffling all over the place. I tried so hard to keep things clean and sanitized. I thought I was doing pretty good since Brooklyn didn't seem to catch the pink eye...that is until Friday, Sept. 17, that's when all hell broke loose. Jeff got a phone call from his boss and HR that morning informing him that he was being RIFed (reduced in force, aka laid off), his last day is tomorrow (Oct 1). Needless to say Jeff didn't feel much like working the rest of the day so we headed out to his mom's house. While I was out running some errands with Jeff's mom and sister we noticed Brooklyn had some goobers in her eye...ugh! I called the pediatrician right away and got her in that afternoon. Luckily the doctor checked Emmalyn out while we were there as well and she found yet another ear infection. We decided to take Emmalyn to an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) Specialist and see what he thought about putting tubes in her ears. Luckily they were able to squeeze us in (since we'll be loosing our insurance) that next Tuesday and did the surgery on Wednesday. Here are some cute pictures...

Pre-op

I don't think anybody could make a hospital gown look so adorable!!

Resting on my lap in Post-op

Unfortunately on Tuesday night (the night before the surgery...which we had to be at the hospital at 6:00 AM for) both girls came down with the flu. They each threw up at least 6 or 7 times, if not more. So off to the insta-care we went...they just told us it was a stomach virus and to try and keep them hydrated. Emmalyn was doing okay Wednesday morning so they went ahead with the surgery, since it's such a simple one and she handled it like a champ! Of course I wasn't feeling very well all day Wednesday and being really tired from a late night/early morning it was a bit rough. That evening Jeff started feeling queasy and ended up throwing up a couple of times that night. So for 4-5 days we all basically lived off of toast, applesauce, crackers, Gatorade/Sprite (for Jeff and I), Pedialyte (for the girls), and the occasional banana.

Luckily it has all passed, as far as we can tell, and I'm PRAYING that we are done for awhile!!

Too close to home

You know those things that you hear about that happen to people, both good and bad, and you always think "Oh that will never happen to me or anyone I know." Well one of those things has happened to some one I know, someone I'm close to, someone who's been a really good friend to me and last night as I walked into her hospital room in the ICU and I had a huge reality check.

Last Saturday (8/28), while her husband, Dustin, was at the store and her son, Ryker (1), was napping in his bed, my dear friend Christy fell down her stairs and hit her head really hard. So hard, in fact, that she fractured her skull and has had a lot of bruising, bleeding and swelling in her brain. After three surgeries and 12+ CT Scans she in stable but still in very critical condition. Just yesterday they tried to take her breathing tube out but there was so much swelling and mucus that she was having a very difficult time breathing on her own and her windpipe started to collapse. So they had to sedate her again and re-insert a new, smaller breathing tube. Her ICP (internal cranial pressure) has gotten better, but still fluctuates up and down. She is responsive to her husband and others through head nods/shakes and hand squeezes. She even squeezed my hand as I held it and talked to her for a minute.

It was very hard to see her like that. Words cannot express the grief and remorse that spread over me. I don't know what I had expected to see, but that was just a major reality check as to just how bad of shape she's really in. She's currently in a stable but still very critical condition and it's still in the fluctuating state.

I pray for her every day, multiple times a day. Please pray for her and her family to be able to make it through this rough time.

Here is a blog on Christy's status.
http://prayersforchristy.wordpress.com/

Please help with a donation to the Ericksen's in this time of trial.

Thank you

Emmalyn and Brooklyn are ONE!!

I know I'm a week and a half over due for this, but things have been rather crazy and busy around here lately with two (at times three) little crawlers getting into things!! What has made it even worse is now both of my girls can pull themselves up on furniture and they're starting to cruise along the furniture too. YIKES!! :) Anyway, last week the girls had their first birthday. I can't believe time has gone by so fast!! Last Saturday we had a little party for them and they got lots of fun gifts. Today was their 1-year check-up and here are their stats:

Emmalyn - 19 lbs 3 oz, 29"
Brooklyn - 19 lbs 4 oz, 29"

They're really starting to catch up to other babies their age, and for being premies that's pretty awesome, they're doctor is very impressed! Anyway, here are some picture from their birthday and party. Enjoy!

Their birthday onsies my mom and I made them.

Gotta have ruffles :)

Opening presents!!

Enjoying all their new fun toys and clothes

Brooklyn

Emmalyn

The cake (compliments of Matti Smith)

The girls' "smash cakes"

(again compliments of Matti, I did help though)

Oh, pretty! (Brooklyn)

You want me to do what? (Emmalyn)

Mmm frosting! (Brooklyn)

All done (Emmalyn)

Happy Birthday girls, WE LOVE YOU!!!

(Pictures are compliments of Angela Stewart)

Stairs!!

Within the last couple of weeks the girls have discovered the stairs and started trying to climb them right away. They now can both climb all the way up to the top of our stairs by themselves. We're working on teaching them how to go down, but it's a work-in-progress. For now we just have to keep a gate at the bottom of the stairs during the day, otherwise they would spend ALL their time on them and I'd really get nothing done!! here a few pictures we've taken of them.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Emmalyn

Emmalyn

Littlewood Reunion

The weekend of July 24th all of Jeff's side of the family came to Salt Lake for a reunion. We had lots of fun hanging out all of them and catching up on each others lives. It's been quite awhile since we've all been together. Here are a few pictures:

The girls on a frog at the Living Plant Aquarium.

Waiting to go see the animals at the zoo

Eating some lunch while at the zoo.

At the Day of 47 Rodeo

On July 24th we had a bbq with more of the extended family. Jeff's mom put us in charge of dessert so we got an early birthday cake for the girls. We went ahead and gave them each a piece of cake and here are the results:

Brooklyn

Emmalyn

Thanks again every one, we had a great time!!