Look at those beautiful eyes

Don’t those eyes just say “Mom what are they doing to me?” Even with all the tape and tubes don’t you think she is absolutely beautiful. She has gone though so much! The surgery was successful, Yea! We celebrated by getting some take out.

Through reading blogs I have found that there are a lot of good people out there. I was amazed at the response my friend Morgan got when she headed up a fund raiser for NieNie. Morgan was overwhelmed by the support and donations that she got from the people in blog land. Today I discovered that there is this blog land support system of heart patient parents. They are really amazing people, my thoughts go out to them as they wait for heart transplants and finding surgeons and funding to give their babies a chance at life. Yet they stay strong and hopeful. Yesterday I ran into a friend that her 4 year old son had a heart transplant. I asked her how she handled it, she said she didn’t know how she really did it, but she never felt alone. I have already seen this, the day after my nieces surgery there are nice comments to my sister and brother in law from other heart patient parents. Telling them of support groups and warning them of some of the hard things that are still to come. I know that my sister and brother in law, aren’t alone. They have such wonderful family and friends that have rallied around and prayed and worried with them. But I think it is so nice, that people that they have never met, that have been though heart surgerys too have so quickly offered their support. It is so nice to know that during the hardest times, there probably is somebody that has been there and willing to help you out.

Today is the day that we have been waiting for. My niece is in surgery right now as I type. This last week has been hard. I hate being stuck here when my sister and husband are in California with their adorable baby, who has been waiting for heart surgery. (If you want to know more details on the story go to www.babyabigailrose.blogspot.com) All week I have had my sister her baby and the rest of her family, constantly in my thoughts. I just can’t even imagine what they are going through as they anxiously wait to know what the outcome of the surgery. My heart aches for my sister, I wish I could be there by her side as they wait. When my brother was in the hospital my family and I spent 5 days by his side and with each other, we camped out in the waiting room and we would take turns on sitting by his side. Those days were different, no flu epidemic they let a lot more people into the hospital, no rules on ages etc. Even though the outcome of that situation was tragic, I look back on the memory fondly. All my brothers, sisters and parents were there together and that made the situation bearable. I hope that Lisa and Jeff know that if it were possible we would all be there with them and Abby camping out in the hall taking turns by her bedside. I hope they know that all of us here in Utah are there anxiously waiting with them in thought. We are all praying and hoping for the best!

Have I ever told you that I love being a mom? Well I do, it really is the best thing that I could do with my life. Today when I was trying to get dinner made, my boys decided that they were going to go out and play in the leaves. Dinner could wait, I wanted to enjoy the time with my boys. I have been trying to enjoy my time with my kids more often, the dishes, laundry, sweeping etc. can all wait while I enjoy sweet moments like this with my kids.

Arthur said that his favorite job ever was raking the leaves

Orson and Cedric couldn’t resist jumping in the pile before Arthur was ready for them

Look at what a big boy my baby is, he’s so cute even with a snotty nose.

This last week has been a crazy one! Last week Arthur came down with the flu, then Orson got it and then I got it, and Reed too. On Monday I had what the Dr. told me was swine flu. That same day my sister was in the hospital having a baby. (I wish I had a picture, but I don’t) She had a 7lb baby girl, right after birth they couldn’t get her stabilized and they hurried her out to the nursery, later that day she ended up in the NICU and they thought she had some kind of infection. The next day she was flown to Primary Children’s Hospital, there they discovered that some of her heart valves aren’t working right. The Dr.’s there weren’t comfortable with doing the surgery that she needed. So today she was flown to California and hopefully she will be able to get the surgery she needs soon.

It’s amazing how a little person that you have never met can affect your life and so many other people’s lives. I have spent this week worrying and praying about this new little baby, my sister and her family. So have a lot of other people. She has a great purpose on this earth, I’m glad that I get to be her Aunt.

I know I’m a few day’s late. I took the pictures on Cedric’s 1 month birthday, I just haven’t haven’t had time to post them. So here is a quick post so you can see how Cedric is growing. We are starting to get back to normal life, I just need to figure out how to get the house work done between feeding kids and Cedric. It seems like all I do is figure out what to feed people and then clean up after the eating is done. I have started another project that I am happy with how it is turning out. So I will have to post that later.

I have been pretty busy with taking care of Cedric, it’s going to take awhile to get back to normal life with 4 kids. My Mom was wonderful!!!! She stayed with us for 2 weeks to help us, I don’t know what we would do without her. She went back home yesterday and the kids have all mentioned that they already miss Grandma. Here are a few pictures that I have taken lately, babies grow and change way too fast.

This is what Cedric thinks about his baths

These pictures I took today, in his frog pajamas



The next picture Cedric and Orson are wearing the outfit that Orson wore home from the hospital. Cedric is wearing the onesie and pants and Helen put Orson in the Jacket.

We finally have a baby! He was born at 4:00pm, Feb. 29 2008. He weighed 9lbs 3oz and is 21 1/2 inches long. We have named our leap year baby Cedric Asher. We are all super excited that he is finally born and we have him home now. We got home earlier tonight so we are still adjusting, but it’s nice to be home! I will post more pictures later, I thought that I better give you a quick look so you can see how cute he is.

The end of being pregnant is near, we are scheduled to be induced on Friday. Leap year baby here we come!!! Hopefully this baby will be like his parents and think that having a birthday that will really only happen every 4 years is cool. I think it might come in handy to be able to choose between the 28th and the 1st, for the day that we will celebrate his birthday. Except of course every 4 years when we will celebrate it on his real birthday. I really didn’t think that I would still be pregnant this long and there was talk from the midwives that they would induce me the week of the 17th but that didn’t work out. I am so happy to have a date that we will finally be seeing this little guy. Yea for leap year!!!

All I can think about lately is having this baby. On Tues. we found out that the baby was breech and that if he didn’t turn we would have to have a c-section.(I’m terrified of being cut open) Then I didn’t want to go into labor until he turned. After trying different exercises to get him to turn,the worst was laying on a board upside down at a 45 degree angle. We went in this morning to see if they could get him to turn and it took about 2 hours of monitoring and about 30 seconds for the doctor to turn him. So now my mind is back to thinking that I want to go into labor. Somebody told me the other day that they thought that it was weird that I wanted to be in pain. But there is a good result to the end of the pain. Today they measured the baby and they estimate that he weighs 8lbs. 1oz. give or take a 1/2 pound. So I hope this baby can be born soon so I can start to think and worry about other things.