My favorite freebies page

This is my favorite site to find deals. I found her website while looking through the weekly paper inserts that come in the mail and loved her blog. She always does giveaways and has the best deals. My favorite is the day before premier movie things she does. I am usually able to get tickets to great movies!

VACTERL association

We had another ultrasound done on Monday. I always look forward to seeing the baby. However once again we weren't very prepared for any bad news. Over the last 7 weeks we have been wondering exactly what is going on with our baby. So far all we knew was he/she was missing the left radius bone and it is not a genetic disorder. Other than that all we kept hearing was "it could be this or that", "we will know more when the baby is born", things like that. The last Doctor said he thought it was an amniotic band. I was confused because what I knew about that, the entire arm would not have grown. But he is the Doctor right? So we really just thought this was a random thing.

The Doctor yesterday was the most knowledgeable we have had so far. During our ultrasound there was a lot of focus on the heart, never a good thing. After that, he said that the right side of the heart was a little more dominate than the left. Just one more thing to keep an eye on. He said as of right now he can't see any Major problems like holes or openings in the heart but until we can do a chest xray after birth we won't know for sure. Then he moved on to the stomach. He said he really can't see a left kidney or it might be a pelvic kidney (in the pelvis not upper back). He looked and looked but there was no definite kidney where it should be. As the baby gets bigger you can see things a little more clearly which must be why the other Doctors and techs always measured 2 kidneys. Unless they were all idiots :)

So the term for what the baby has it VACTERL association. It is not a syndrome or condition it is just a grouping of birth defects. Our baby has 3 of the 7, so far. It is really hard to hear. I don't want a long NICU stay which is what will happen if things are worse after the baby is born. I just hope they chest x ray shows nothing serious. The only thing we won't know is the kidney. You just can't tell how bad or not so bad something is from inside the womb. We really have no idea what to expect. We are so extremely lucky there is a Shriners Hospital here in Utah. That is where we will be sent for all future visits.

That is what we know so far. The baby is growing and developing normally expect for those few thing and as of now they are not a concern in the womb at this point. We have another ultrasound in 4 weeks. The baby will be much bigger by then and maybe we can learn a little more. I am grateful that it is not something worse. We could have found out our baby won't live past birth or have some terrible genetic defect.

Less than 3 months now!!

They are getting so big...

I can't believe how fast kids grow. Where have the last 2 1/2 years gone? I remember when my nephew Nixon started talking and I thought I just couldn't wait until Kayden and Riley started talking too! Well now I find myself thinking, if I could just get some piece and quiet! :)

I do love this age though. It is fun I can carry on conversations with them. However the back talking and "NO MOMMY!" can get old.

We finished setting up the babies crib that used to be the crib that the twins slept in. I remember them in it, I had to clean off some old milk! Now they sleep in a bunk bed.

Riley still loves her baby and blankey but Kayden lost his taggy a while ago and we had to convince him he was a big boy and was okay without it. I think I had a harder time loosing it, I love to keep stuff like that.

Kayden know all of his letters. Don't know where he learned it but one day at Olive Garden he was looking at his kids menu and stared telling me all of the letters on the page. He doesn't know the order of the alphabet but he loves telling me all the letters he sees in words, the cereal box, netflix, and even the toilet. :)

They love Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse, Pirates, Word World and Blues Clues. If they could they would drag me to the park EVERYDAY! I don't know what they would do with out each other. They are their best friends. If Riley wakes up early she has to wake Kayden so they can start playing.

Kayden is all boy. He loves his cars and trains. Riley loves playing mommy with her baby and almost anything she can tuck into a blanket. However Kayden does like the occasional dress up game.

Missing bone...

So here is the update on our little peanut.

We went in for a routine ultrasound almost 2 weeks ago, well what we thought was going to be routine. Everything was going fine during the ultrasound. The tech was very good at her job when she found a problem. She had the Doctor come in and he told us that it looks like our baby is missing his/her left radius bone. I never knew that could happen. So of course we had a ton of questions. The Doctor said he could not see anything more wrong besides that but he wanted us to meet with a genetic counselor at the University of Utah to rule out any other major problems.

Today we had our ultrasound at the University. It took FOREVER! The baby was as stubborn as could be! It would not move. They could not get a great look at its arm so they could not see if he/she has a thumb or not. If there is no thumb then we will need to figure a way after it's born to make a thumb somehow so he/she would have more use of the arm. If there is a thumb bone then it is just a little less visits to a specialist.

The heart and brain and other organs all looked good. According to the genetic counselor it looks like this is a sporadic thing that happened to this baby. That is great news. The only thing they could not say 100% sure was if the baby has the opening to its butt. Or as they called it the button on the butt. I guess with things like missing or shortened bones that something like no opening on the butt could happen. She could not get a great look today so she could not say for sure. If it is there and formed than everything is good but if there is no opening then that will be a whole list of other problems that I don't want to thing about.

I am hoping for the best of course and I know there are so many other terrible things we could have had happen but no one wants to see there baby go through anything like surgery or having to meet with different specialists.

So for now we hope for the best and try to get me to full term!

4th of July

Going back for more!

Kayden had no fear of the fireworks. He just wanted more and more
Riley was happy just sitting back and playing with the pop its

I think this face tells you how much she liked sparklers
Kayden loved all the fireworks


This year we finally did fireworks with kids! The past 2 years they were in bed by the time we could do fireworks. Riley touched the end of the sparkler (her first one of the night) and it scared her because it was hot, it didn't burn her but she still freaked and would go near anymore. So she sat back and played with pop its. By the end she said "Mommy go inside. No more. Fireworks later." It was cute she would put her hands over her eyes during the bigger fireworks Zach lit off. Kayden on the other hand couldn't get enough fireworks. He loved them all. He would bring Zach the fireworks. He would run around holding 2 sparklers in his hands jumping and laughing. We had fun. Zachs mom (Opi as the kids call her) came to watch along with Zach's cousin Mandy.

Camping

The kids loved roasting little weenies.

That is Riley trying to take off the helmet. She did not like it

A little while ago our friends, Brad and Jennie invited us to go camping at the sand dunes. We did not get there until 6 but still had fun. Kayden LOVED going on the 4-wheeler but Riley of course was crying in no time to get off. Kayden and Riley love playing with Paetyn and Drake. It was fun but it got so windy. I can't even tell you how horrible it is being stuck in a windy sand storm. Then it started raining. It was fun while it lasted.

Summer time fun

The kids LOVE playing outside. That is all they want to do!

































Cousin Cameron is getting out of the heat

Hello second trimester!

I am in my second trimester and thankfully feeling much better! I still have bad days every so often and usually feel sick in the morning but for the most part it is nice feeling a little better. I am still tired all day everyday and I don't think that will change soon. :)

We moved to Layton over the 4th of July weekend. After we found out I was pregnant we needed a bigger place. Another baby would not have fit in our house in Bountiful. So after only living there for 9 months we moved again. Every time we have moved I have been pregnant. We moved to New Mexico when I was 10 weeks pregnant with the twins. We moved to Albuquerque when I was 7ish weeks pregnant with Alfie then Zach got the job back in Utah and we moved to Bountiful when I was 17 weeks pregnant with Alfie. Now this time around I am 14 weeks. No more moving I am so sick of it! The kids are great though. They love their new house. It is MUCH bigger than any other place we have lived. There is so much more room!

When we bought the kids their big beds we bought bunk beds just didn't set it up. Zach and his cousin Mandy set up the bunk beds in the new house. After a fun time of watching them set it up the kids were so excited. They love climbing the ladder and there is so much more room when they are set up as bunk beds. When I get a new memory card I will take pictures.

Gardens and Zoo

On Wednesday the kids and I went to the Gardens at Thanksgiving point with Jennie, Paetyn and Drake. The kids had fun but all they wanted to do was play in the water even though it was FREEZING!












































Today Zach and I took the kids to Hogal Zoo. They were not to interested in the animals because they weren't really moving. Kayden thought all the little furry animals were puppies. We actually got them to hold hands for a little while. It was so cute!

In the picture where Riley looks scared and about to start crying, she was freaked out because an animal came close to her.

Some fun pictures

Kayden loves to help cook!













During one of the few nice days in May they were able to play in the water. Now everyday they ask if they can play in the water.











They love playing in Daddy's "jeet" (jeep)

Easter

We went over to my moms for Easter this year. All the kids loved looking for eggs. For a while after if the saw a basket or went to my moms they would still look for eggs.

Vacation

In April we went to Disneyland and the Beach. It was a lot of fun! The kids really enjoyed the beach. We went to a character breakfast with all the Mickey Mouse characters. They liked looking from a distance but of course as soon as any character came close Riley cried. Zach did get food poisoning from the sausage there. It was a very very rough night for him. Even though at the time we went the kids only knew about Mickey Mouse they still loved the rides. Riley loved the carousal and Kayden loved the rocket ride and dumbo.






They LOVED the beach!!




Mickey's house


Riley is very very shy, she doesn't look like she is having fun but she loved it! I just had to hold her the whole time!

They did so well waiting in line