Warm Weather Makes Me Happy!

It was 57 degrees in Boise today.  57!!!  It was such a great day.  We did not let that sunshine go to waste.  We spent hours outside enjoying it.  We finally took our Christmas decorations down!  I know, I know.  But it started snowing the day after Christmas, didn't stop for a while, then the freezing temps came, then more snow, now its finally mostly melted, so it was a good day for it.  Tomorrow is supposed to bring snow again.  Boo! Anyway, our inflatable reindeer was frozen to the ground....so that was fun!

Here's Scott chipping away the ice, but if you ask me, it looks like they are booty dancing!

 While Scott and I took down lights and chipped away at frozen inflatables, our cute kids, got out bikes, pumped up tires, and had so much fun riding up and down the street for the first time in months, and playing hide and seek outside!  Imagine that!  They also got in some trampoline jumping.  What a great day!

Malcolm and Echo slept through most of the outdoor antics since they took place during naptime.  It was nice for me because I could help Scott with the decorations, and trim our ugly bushes in the front yard.  But just to prove that they are still alive, here are a couple of pictures of their cuteness!  

I really hope the meteorologists are wrong about the snow tomorrow....I might cry at the first sign of snowflakes.

Bless Ivy's Valentine's Day Heart

Did you know that Valentines Day is also National CHD Awareness Day.  I don't know where I'm going with this.  I just wanted everyone to know that congenital heart disease is actually a lot more common than you think.  It is THE MOST common birth defect among babies (Not specifically Ivy's heart defect, but heart defects in general), affecting more than 35,000 infants every year.

So in honor of my sweet little CHD survivor I just want to shout out to the doctors who made it possible for us to have our amazing little girl brightening up our lives every single day. None of them even know this blog exists, but I want to honor them anyway.

Dr. Peter Kouretas:  He preformed Ivy's Norwood Procedure when she was 6 days old, as well as the Norwood repair 11 days later when she had a complication.  Then when she was 11 months old he preformed her Glenn Procedure as well.  Without his steady hands and expertise, we may not have our little ray of sunshine.

Dr. Michael Womack:  He has been Ivy's Pediatric Cardiologist since before she was born.  I have sung his praises many times.  We seriously adore Dr. Womack.  He is the doctor who gave us her diagnosis before birth and has always been so optimistic about how everything is going.  He is a great guy and we are lucky to have him!

Dr. Joseph Kiehl:  He is Ivy's Pediatrician.  We seriously adore Dr. Kiehl also.  He is great with Ivy and all the other kids too.  He always remembers all the kids by name, and does such a great job.  I remember right before Malcolm was born Ivy hurt her leg on the trampoline and refused to walk.  The next day I took her in to his office, but he was out of town so I saw the nurse practitioner instead.  She sent us to the hospital to take x-rays and it was discovered that she had no broken bones so we were told rest the leg and that she should be walking again soon.  2 days later when Dr. Keihl returned to work he heard about Ivy and was concerned so he called me to check on her and make sure she started walking again.  I was so impressed that he cared enough to call.  I don't think our old pediatrician in SLC would have given her a single thought!

Dr. Phillip Burch:  This is the doctor that preformed Ivy's most recent surgery, the Fontan, last July.  We don't know him as well as the other doctors, but he did his job well and Ivy is here today because of that, so we are eternally grateful.

Also, all the cardiologists (even Dr. Jerkface who will remain unnamed), nurses and other random people at PCMC who helped care for Ivy over the years.  We don't know all their names, and they probably don't even remember Ivy because they deal with so many people, but we are very thankful that they are competent at what they do and were able to help us keep our sweet girl.

We are also so grateful for our support system.  This includes everyone who knows our situation and actively supports us by giving us a place to stay during surgeries, babysitting, praying, bringing us food, giving shoulders to cry on, calling to talk things out, and just being there when we need.  We are so grateful for all of you out there.  You keep us going.

And thank you to Ivy for being so darn great!  We are honored to have her in our lives.  She makes life worth living and brings so much joy to our family.  I can't even imagine what life would be like without her, and can't even think about that.  We love her so much and are so proud of her everyday.

If you are still reading this, bless you for your patience.  Happy Valentines Day, and CHD Awareness Day!

The Power of Positive Thinking

Scott pointed out to me the other day that I've been kind of complain-y lately.  Winter does that to me I guess.  So I've decided to start thinking more positively, so as not to complain so much.  Here goes.

Its a positive thing that we have at least one person in our family that is sick on any given day.  It gives us all a good chance to build up our immune systems.  Its also a great way for me to spend quality time with these sick kiddos.  I enjoy rocking them in the rocking chair hours past bedtime, while they scream and cough in my face.  And cleaning up puke gives me the opportunity to serve them more, and do more laundry.  Plus you never know when the puking is going to happen and its such a fun surprise when it does.  Especially when it happens at the kitchen table during dinner.

I think its awesome that I rolled my ankle on Echo's sippy cup while holding her on our way down the stairs. It was great opportunity for Echo to see that the stairs maybe aren't the best place to keep it.  Because falling down the stairs, even when you are cushioned by mom, is very unfun.  Also, it was good practice for me to try and protect my child in an unexpected situation, while sacrificing myself. (We are both fine by-the-way).

See, my mood is already turning around! Hooray for being positive!

(if you think this post seems riddled with sarcasm....you might be right)

The joys of Scouts...

I'm falling behind in the blog world, both reading and writing.  I need to catch up, but who knows if that'll happen.  I guess having five children really does keep you a little more busy.  Who would've thunk it?

Anyway, when Corbin turned 8 in November, not only did he get baptized, but he also got the "privilege" to join scouts.  I put privilege in quotations because....well....I'm not so sure if its more of a privilege than its just a lot of work.  Its still new to us, so I'm trying to give it a chance, but I'm kinda grumpy about it. I suppose it gives him something to do besides video games, which is great, but a lot of aspects of it annoy me.  Mostly, I'm annoyed at the amount of work I have to do, and I really just want to be lazy and not do it.  Plus, I don't sew, and it seems like there is a lot of sewing involved.  It all just seems like something Dad's should be in charge of if you ask me.  Anyway, enough complaining.  Here is my little Wolf Scout (I still get confused by the order of animals, but whatever, that's what he said he is) in his uniform-a hand-me-down from cousin Bradley (thanks Earls!)

 A week or two ago the scouts were working on bird achievements (if that's what they are called) so Scott took Corbin and Dex to Birds of Prey here in Boise to pass his off.  Here are some pictures of all the cool stuff they did.

The boys had a lot of fun at birds of prey, so I guess I can't complain too much, but I probably still will.

Can I Just Take A Moment...

To complain?

Winter makes my house messy.  I HATE January, February, and Winter in general.  I don't like the snow, I don't like the cold.  It's 100% miserable walking kids to school when its 4 degrees outside.  There are not many good things that come from Winter (in my own opinion of course), but the worst part is basically being trapped indoors.....with 5 kids.....that miss Summer just as much as me....and make messes wherever they go.

The kids' coats, hats, and gloves end up EVERYWHERE.  Not one of the kids can reach the hangers in the coat closet, so unless I am right there to hang them up, they end up on the floor.  They don't want to play out in the cold, so they play inside.  It doesn't matter what they play, but it inevitably involves taking cushions and pillows off the couches, or ripping sheets off the beds, or putting cups full of water in the middle of the carpet.  I can't keep up.  I will clean the downstairs, and move on to the upstairs...by the time the upstairs is done the downstairs is messy again.  I kind of want to give up.

And that's just the beginning.  My precious 18 month old baby girl is a NIGHTMARE sometimes.  She climbs on everything, rips up any book or paper she can get her hands on, takes silverware out of drawers, spills any liquid she can find (and attempts to slurp it off the floor, or table or whatever she spilled it on), throws everything in the garbage can (such as silverware, toys, books etc), and if the mood hits her right, she will clear a countertop by sweeping her arms across it until it all the stuff that was there hits the floor.  If she could go outside, we would both be a lot happier.

I vote we move to Hawaii.  Who's with me? Stupid winter.

Six Months Post-Fontan

Yesterday it was 6 months since Ivy had her Fontan operation.  These six months have been great!  She is doing so well.  She has more energy (she can walk all the way to school and back without getting too tired), her color is pink (as opposed to blueish-purple), her oxygen sats are at an incredible 92-96% on average (they were about 84% before surgery), her scar looks fantastic, and seriously, you would never know that there was ever a problem.  She is a superstar.  She had her six month follow-up with her cardiologist, Dr Womack this week and he is very impressed with her progress.  He gave the green light to wean her off of her Lasix medication (as long as she is doing well), and said we don't have to go back until summer, and then we will probably switch to annual visits!  Whoo hoo!

We love Dr. Womack! Ivy used to scream whenever he walked in the room, but she has since learned that he is a super nice guy.  When he asks her to lift her shirt to listen to her heart, she does it right away.  She holds still and stays quiet when he does an echo, and she is very friendly with him now.  She loves his red shoes and the fact that there is always a nice piece of candy at the end of each visit.  If we ever do manage to move back to SLC we will be sad to leave him!

Ivy with Dr. Womack back in 2009

13 Things For 13 Years

Today is the 13th anniversary of my first date with Scott.  Just 5 more years and we will have been together for half our lives!  Crazy!  Anyway, in honor of our anniversary here are 13 things you may not know about us.

1.  Scott and I had lockers right next to each other junior year of high school.  I shared mine with my friend Selena, and Scott shared his with his friend, Danny.  Danny and Selena briefly dated junior year, but somehow Scott and I never met or noticed each other the whole year.  We didn't actually meet until senior year, and he asked me if I had just moved there because he had never seen me before.....so weird.

2.  It took Scott just over two months of flirting with me before he asked me out.  He was technically dating someone else at the time.  When I say technically I mean, they had been going out for a few weeks or so, but he didn't like her anymore. He had never broken up with anyone and didn't know what to do and therefore had been avoiding her for a while.  Anyway, he finally broke up with her and asked me out soon after.  She thought I "stole" Scott from her and didn't like me because of it. (For the record, I didn't.  Scott pursued me.)

3.  I got a belly ring (without my parents permission, I was 18) on the same day as our first date, just earlier in the day. The two were not related, just happened to fall on the same day.  When my mom found out about it, she was really mad, but didn't make me take it out.  I managed to keep it for a couple more years until I accidentally ripped it out when it got stuck on part of a door when I squeezed by.  I still have a small scar where it ripped and the ring hole is still there, even though its been well over ten years since I wore a belly ring.

4.  We were hoping to be each others new years kisses for the year 2000.  Unfortunately I had to work (Hollywood Video!  Woot woot!), so Scott went to First Night in SLC with some friends.  No new years kiss for either of us....until 8 days later.

5.  Speaking of kisses...Scott kissed 4 girls before me, I kissed no boys before Scott.  He was my first kiss (insert awww's here).

6.  We broke up twice.  The first time for like 2 weeks, the second time for like 2 days.  Both times were because I wanted to get married, but Scott didn't.  It all worked out eventually.

7.  I ruined Scott's proposal.  I expected it on Christmas 2002 and when it didn't happen I cried and got mad at him.  He then told me that he had planned to do it on our 3 year anniversary which was about 2 weeks later. I ruined the surprise.

8.  We got married on my sister, Britteny's 23rd birthday.

9.  We were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on October 15th 2005, which was 2 years and 2 1/2 months after our wedding and 11 months after Corbin was born.

10.  We have lived in 6 places together.  Our Ogden, Utah 4 plex for 9 months, the garage of Scott's Dad's office in Murray, Utah for 3 months, The 4-plex in South Salt Lake, Utah for 22 months, Our first home in Kearns, Utah for 19 months, The tiny 2 bedroom apartment in Boise, Idaho for 6 months and our home in Boise, Idaho for the last 4 1/2 years.

11.  Out of our 5 children only the 3 middle ones were planned.  The first and last were both big surprises.

12.  In the 9 1/2 years we have been married we've never had a real fight.

13.  We could pretty much spend every waking second together and not be annoyed with each other.  And we kinda do...Scott has been working from home for like 3 months now and we spend a lot of time together, and we both LOVE it.

So there you have it. 13 things that you might not have known before, and could probably have lived without knowing, but I told you anyway.  I am just so grateful for these last 13 years with Scott.  He's such a great guy and our family is truly blessed to have him.