one month old

And Megan, I have a little nibble of her cuteness daily! :)

Me and Rhen took out some time of our busy day and took some glamor shots of Layla. She did so good and just layed there (she loves being naked). Anyway we had fun getting her into her cute hat our neighbor gave us and putting bows in her hair, but right when I put the head band on with the bow on it she wailed and cried, put her hand up to her head got her finger stuck in the bow and pulled it right off, and then stopped crying. Go figure, I guess she really is my daughter (haha). I always thought I wanted all boys, I have never been too girly, so I worried about having them, but they don't seem to mind and I wouldn't trade them!!
Layla has been super fussy, grunting and crying staying awake alot and crying when she spits up. She get the hiccups so bad that she can barely get a breath in. I called my wonderful pediatrician Sheryl and she was nice enough to call in a prevacid perscription for reflux. I have given her one dose, and she is back to being her wonderful self! I had to wake her up last night after 5 hours. It makes me sad she was in so much pain and I didn't think to call sooner. The month has gone by so fast, she is busting out of the newborn diapers and has a big double chin! They change so much so fast.

p.s. we are planning to bless this cutie on March 7.
Come if you can, our church is at 11:00

Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

Nope, it's just Rhen.

"Rhen, your turning...violet!"

He loves his blueberries! He asked for more and more. His face and hands were covered.

medicine countdown

Chloe will be officially off all her medicines (the second go around) on Febuary 23rd!!! HOOOOray!

She had clinic on wed and they said she looks great and although she had a crappy poking experience (oh how she hates that). They let her go home without the IV for antibodies ( we will check it next time). The doc felt bad about the bad poking experience and I don't blame them, it is hard to look into her big, sad brown eyes and tell her she has to have an IV put in after that.

Next appointment: a bone density scan at the University Hospital, hope it gives us good results.

ouchy

Rhen has been REALLY ornery the past few days, screaming, crying, saying ouch, but I didn't know what was going on. I did a trick I learned by putting hydrogen peroxide in the ear and if it bubbles, there is an infection. It didn't bubble so days went by and he was still a stinker. I wasn't getting any sleep cause he was waking up and then I was feeding Layla as well. Sunday morning he woke up and I mentioned to Jake that he looked like he was drunk, wobbling back and forth. He had his hair stuck to his ears but I thought it was just the orange juice we tried to sooth him with the night before. Jake and the girls went to church so I put Rhen down for his nap. I looked closer to his ears and both were oozing with puss. So I did the peroxide again and sure enough it was foaming up. We took him in and he had ruptured both ear drums! Poor kid.

OUCHY

So he is on some expensive antibiotics and is finally feeling better. His ears are clearing up and he is slowly catching up on his sleep, I however, am not. :) Five kids keeps me very busy!!

Chloe at her 2 year BMT birthday (01-15-08)

This is now

That was then


Chloe has been doing so well! We feel so blessed to have her be a survivor. We are grateful everyday! She is going off drugs next month and hopefully she will continue to do well and the GVHD will stay away. We can't believe it has been two years!

Layla

A week ago I took her into her 2 week appointment and she has already gained a pound (she is at 7 pounds 5 ounces)! It is crazy how much they grow, she doesn't look the same as when she was born anymore. She loves to stick out her tongue (as shown in both pictures). She doesn't like for me to eat chocolate (bummer for me cause I love a good chocolate chip cookie). She is so fun to have around and brings a good spirit into our home.

nap please

Rhen has been feeling under the weather for the past couple days. The usual yucky january junk. Last night he was just being so fussy and so picky with what he wanted, the certain carton of milk (when his all look the same), the right cup and so Jake got him what he needed and put him on his lap to drink his milk, and didn't want that so he cried got down got his blanket and said "nap". This was at 5:00, so he feel asleep. He did the same thing to me this morning, he woke up at around 8:45 (which is rare for this boy) and at 10:00 he got his cup and blanket and said, "nap". He slept until 12:30!! Wow this kids does NOT feel good. I will, however, enjoy it. :)

Bike

Every morning as soon as Rhen wakes up he asks, "Bike?" Which means he wants to watch this video clip of a Scottish guy named Danny Macaskill doing some crazy stuff on his trials bike. I showed him this clip a few weeks ago to keep him entertained while i was holding Layla. Since then he wants to watch it all the time. He asks for it first thing when he wakes up and many, many, many times throughout the day. We're all getting tired of watching it, but we've gained an appreciation for Band of Horses. Still, this guy is pretty impressive - it's worth a watch.



The other night Rhen asked me to come watch him downstairs. He showed me how he was trying to bunny hop his push along radio flyer trike onto the play ironing board. Then I guess he couldn't figure out how to do a tail whip, so he just spun himself around on the seat. He thought it was pretty cool.

Our christmas 2009

Chloe: "Oh I am sooo in love with this webkinz."
Addie: "Seriously, an ipod? saweet."

(don't be fooled by the packaging santa did not get her a gphone, although she would like one, too bad addie not until you are over twenty, haha)
Rhen: "Ehh, I guess this bike will do until I can get one with a motor."
Merry Christmas!

(Elsie doesn't have a picture because we used two different camera's, so once I find one we will post it.)

a little after christmas activities

We like to go out in the field behind our house and do a little christmas sledding after all the presents are unwrapped, played with, all the wrapping is thrown away, and all the egg nog is gone.

Chloe is showing us her skills here although her gloves didn't come with good grippage so her hands slipped alot. She is sporting her classic face of eyes over top of her glasses. We need to get those adjusted.

Dad put together this nice pull system with pvc pipe, caps and the blue rope, which is much prettier than the yellow one we almost bought (wink, wink). Inside joke there. Waaaay better than what we had to work with last year. We love how dad thinks!

The two buddies Rhen and dad. Dad is sporting some sweet sunglasses and showing Rhen his skills at maneuvering the four wheeler and Rhen, well, he is just sporting some gooood chocolate on his face.



Go Addie Go!

Addie was bigger so the sled would go fast for her, she got some pretty good moves pulled off so much so that she kept getting snow down her pants! brrrrrrr

Elsie, what a cute smile you have! Elsie popped the sled in the first 5 minutes of blowing it up (not surprising). We patched it up and were good to go.
contemplating how chloe can get her gloves not to slip.
Moose observing from the observation deck back at home because he does NOT understand the word, COME.

We were so glad we had snow to play in now if we can just get some more so we can get some good skiing in.

when I should be napping...

I will blog instead. Rhen's birthday festivities







Some times the cake turns out and some times it just doesn't. Although it was really moist, the frosting sags. But as you can see from the picure of Rhen eating it he didn't mind. We had a pinata to hit, cake to eat, presents to watch open, candy to eat, and dad and spencer to watch play with the race track he got, and to see what cool thing the cars could jump. Jake said it was the best present ever (hummm did he mean for Rhen or dad!)

and her name is . . .

Layla Grace

We had such a hard time deciding her name. She just didn't look like any name we had previously had planned. I even need to call the birth certificate office and change her middle name to this one. Delivery went so well, it was easy and fast and peaceful. She arrived and cried once. She is a great eater (thank goodness) and is so delicate and peaceful, hardly making a sound. She came out looking different than my other girls. Her nose is different, and she looks more like me. She has more golden colored hair and we couldn't love her more. She is held ALL the time by her sisters and even Rhen got angry when we took her from him. The day Jake came to get me from the hospital he told Rhen he was going to get mom from the hospital and he raised his hands up and said "Baby?" He was excited to meet her too.

Although I am really tired (I didn't get to sleep much at the hospital this time with the nurses coming in almost every hour) recovery is good and I am just going to enjoy having a newborn.