Make 'em laugh, make 'em laugh...

Don't you know everyone wants to laugh.I admit that I'm not that funny, but today, Maisy was feeling a little punchy and I got her laughing. Keep in mind, this is after several minutes of me doing this before I started to record. She is so fun.

Swingset

 I am a deal diva. I love finding a good deal and this week I scored a free swingset. I've always loved the free section of craigslist and don't often get to things soon enough, but this week I got this swingset for free from a grandma whose grandchildren had outgrown it. Woohoo.

Do you want to be even more impressed? Justin had a crazy, crazy, busy week. I almost waited for him to go pick it up with me, but knew he didn't really have the time. So... I pretty much loaded 3 kids in the truck and drove to pick up the swingset. (luckily, the teenage grandson was there to help me load it). Then I drove home and unloaded it by myself while Justin was still at school. The next day I put it together by myself. We still need to figure out the slide, but we have been having a lot of fun with this new find. I only saw the kids looking through the fence once this week!

VICTORY!!!

Bringing the world His truth

  As many of you know, Justin's parents are serving in the Montana, Billings mission. Their mission is a pilot mission for using the internet to share the gospel. Some of their missionaries are allowed to use facebook and blogs to share the gospel. It is a really cool thing, I wanted to share this link to President Gardner's (Larry's) blog which has links to all of his missionaries' blogs. The blogs I have read do such a great job of sharing the gospel. I invite you to check them out and add one you like to your blogroll, or to write similar heartfelt posts on your own blogs.

Justin's parents in Montana

 Click HERE to read missionary blogs.

I really like THIS post by one of the sister missionaries.

Lasly, I wanted to share this quote from Larry's blog
In 1974, President Spencer W. Kimball issued an amazing prophecy about the technology driving the gospel message.
Technology will help spread the gospel. We need to enlarge our field of operation.… The Lord will lay in our hand inventions which we can scarcely conceive whereby we will be able to bring the gospel to the peoples of the world…. I have faith that the Lord will open doors when we have done everything in our power. I believe that the Lord is anxious to put into our hands inventions of which we laymen have hardly had a glimpse….We shall use the inventions the Lord has given us to awaken interest and acquaint people of the world with the truths, to ease their prejudices and give them a general knowledge. We shall need to answer specific questions, and perhaps that can be done by two-way radio and TV perfected to a point beyond our present imagination. It is conceivable that such a program greatly perfected could be multiplied ten thousand times in ten thousand tongues and dialects in ten thousand places far and near…. Tens of thousands of young missionaries endowed with the power from on high will follow up the proselyting."

Gracie: Eeeew. Sick!
Me: Maisy, did you spit up?
Gracie: Yuck. That makes me want to spit up!

Big Numbers

The nurse came again on Tuesday to weigh Miss Maisy. She gained 5oz., boosting her up to 9lbs.12oz. I really think she will make it to 10 lbs. before surgery now!!!

The little kimono in the picture is one my sister, Flori sent. Isn't it sweet?  It will be great after surgery with so many tubes and with dressing wounds.

I talked to the cardiologist and he said that Maisy will be mostly healed by the time she leaves the hospital (5-7 days). They usually go home on Tylenol and then we will have some "sternal precautions" for the next 4-6 weeks (only sponge baths for awhile, we'll have to scoop her up from under her back rather than lifting her up under her arms, and I'm sure that tummy time will be off limits for awhile as well- basically we have to let the breastbone heal back up again). Isn't that amazing though? They say that older babies go home from heart surgery crawling and pulling up on furniture. Our bodies are amazing.

We Love Camille!

 We had so much fun with Camille. I think Gracie had about 50 things in mind that she wanted to do with Camille .She followed her around constantly and thought up things they could do together :). We celebrated Camille's birthday that is this week! We wished that she could have stayed longer. The BYU part of the weekend was fun, but more than anything, it was just fun to have Camille here. Come back soon!!

 

 

Gunner, Camille, and Gracie at "Tangled".

 "Tangled" finally made it to the $2 movie theater and  we had fun going to the movie theater with Camille.

 I attempted my first ice cream cake. It was more like an ice cream tower. Does it look delicious? I made ganache to pour between the layers and then topped it with caramel topping and chopped up snickers. We took down the total calorie count by substituting blended kidney beans instead of oil in the cake. A great trick- you should try it sometime. Maybe I'll do a post on it sometime. Do you have any favorite substitutes?

 I can't end this post about Camille without the LeBaron tradition of telling what I love about her. I love that Camille is so kind and patient. She was so fun with the kids and I love her easy-going personality. I also love that Camille is so good at sports and that she shares her love of sports with Justin (really, all of the Gardners share that love). They are great friends and I'm happy that even though I don't generally talk sports, Justin can talk to Camille and have someone that gets as excited (or outraged) about it as he does. Love you, Camille.

Jimmer-mania

Our BYU loving fam.

We have been suffering from a giant case of "JIMMER-MANIA" around here. Crazy things have been happening. Maggie has been watching basketball games all by herself (when Justin was gone), we've watched every you-tube video available of Jimmer and Jimmer propaganda, Justin has had sweaty palms in anticipation of every game. Even Gracie and Gunner have been heard singing "Teach me how to Jimmer, Teach me how to Jimmer".

This last weekend, Camille came into town. We loved having her here. On Thursday, she and Justin watched 4 NCAA games in Denver. Justin and Camille were like kids on Christmas and I was happy to stay home with the kids. I don't think I'd make it through 4 games:)

Justin outside the Pepsi Center- waiting for the fun to begin.

Camille and Justin gearing up for BYU vs. Wofford

Even Maisy has Jimmer-fever. Look at that smile!

 We were excited for 2 big wins and the Jimmer-mania will continue as BYU goes on to the sweet 16!! Oh, and Justin and Camille were on TV cheering for the cougars :)

The forgotten children

  They aren't really forgotten, but I know I haven't posted as many pictures and stories of the older kids lately. Gracie and Gunner are doing well and have a lot of fun together.

We made a fort last night and let the kids watch a little movie. They were in heaven.

Gunner is still our little cowboy. I'm in love.

Our little girl that is getting way too big. She is such a great helper.

4/11/11

We scheduled surgery last week. The big day is 4/11/11 (Maisy's 5 month birthday). We are excited. Maisy got weighed again yesterday and had only gained an ounce for the entire week. The nurse told us that it wouldn't be unlikely for her to gain 10 ounces a week after the surgery. I think that Maisy will always be a little small (judging by her size now and the size of my other kids), but it will be fun to see her really grow and thrive. We are told that the change will be immediate and that she will keep her sweet personality but have all sorts of energy to eat and do everything else. I'm hoping that Maisy will reach 10 lbs. by her surgery date (making her 4 lbs. bigger than she was at her original surgery date). Right now she weighs 9lbs 7oz.

This is how Maisy was sleeping the other day.

We've got our happy girl back

Maisy has been really happy this week. It is funny how you forget how fun your kids are when they are sick.

4 months

 

Our little Maisy is now 4 months old. Where has the time gone? Here are her stats:

Weight:9lbs.5oz (she just maintained this week because she was sick)

Height:22 inches

Head Circumference: 15 1/4

Here are some notes about the last month:

* I'm still pumping but bumped it down to twice a day about mid-month. It has made pumping a lot more do-able. I've been supplementing her other feedings with milk from the freezer and anticipate by my stash that I will have to start supplementing with formula within the next few weeks.

*Maisy loves her binky, but I wouldn't describe her as binky dependent. She will only take "soothies" and a "gumdrop" pacifier (shaped like a soothie) she got in the hospital. This month she found her thumb, and even though it was hard to break Gracie of the habit, there are few things as adorable to me as a tiny baby sucking a thumb.

*Miss Maisy loves her hands, loves reaching for toys, giggles at us, and is splashing in the bath.

*Maisy is incredibly good-natured and we all love her happy disposition.

* She still loves diaper changes and I feel like it takes forever for us to get through a box of diapers. She still fits a size one diaper, although I sometimes put her in a 1-2.

* I put away the last of the newborn clothes this week and put her in her first 3-6 month outfit this week. I think I'll pull out my 3-6 month box and see what fits her.

*she has rolled from tummy to back, but not back to tummy.

* She has still been sleeping through the night (until the last week when she has been sick).

That's all I can think of for now. Maisy is doing a lot better and just has a lingering cough. She gets better each day.

Sick and Tired

 

Have you all been dying to know what happened? We didn't die (or almost die). This is how the week went down.

Tuesday- Gracie started to cough in the morning a few times. Gracie started coughing a little more in the evening. Gunner's first coughs started. Tuesday night Gracie burned a fever all night. Both kids had coughs that set in.

Wednesday- Both kids were burning up and coughing all day long. more coughing. I Lysoled like crazy and kept Maisy in my room most of the day.
 
Thursday - sick kids again. Tried to keep Maisy in my room most of the day. Lysoled like crazy again. The home health nurse came to weigh Maisy who still hadnt' come down with anything but wasn't acting like herself. Maisy only gained ONE OUNCE in an entire week! I talked to Justin and we called the cardiologist. The cardiologist told us he thought we should go ahead and schedule surgery. They scheduled surgery for this coming Thursday.

That afternoon, Maisy's fever and coughing started, but somewhat more mild that the other kids.

 Friday- Maisy had a higher and more constant fever and was coughing more. Talked to the nurse practitioner at the surgeon's office. She said she would check back on Monday and see if Maisy was doing better.

Saturday- kids were getting better, Maisy still had a cough and fever

Sunday- Thought Gunner was better but his fever came back. Poor, tired boy. Gracie had a cough and too much energy (guess she was on the mend). Maisy was sounding a little worse.

Today- We took Maisy in. I took her in more because I was afraid because she is sick and is not supposed to be sick ,not as much because I was super worried about her symptoms. Does that make sense? Her symptoms have been a lot more mild than that of the older two kids.

Maisy's lungs sound clear, her oxygen levels look good, she tested negative for flu and we are waiting to hear back on RSV (**Came back negative too**). I talked to the nurse practitioner again and they are canceling surgery for this week. We will probably have to wait another month to reschedule, as they want babies to be in top health condition before they put them on the heart-lung machine.

 

These are some pictures I took of Maisy in anticipation of possibly doing surgery this week. One mother  whose baby had open heart surgery recommended I get some pictures of Maisy's perfect, scar-free chest before her surgery.

 I took the pictures on Saturday and she wasn't feeling the best so she is not very smiley but she was cooperative.

 I put Gracie's tutu on her, but it's too bad that tutu pics are the cutest with chubby babies. Maybe I'll take some more in a month. I'll post more about surgery later.

I feel queasy

 No, I'm not physically sick (or pregnant for that matter).  I'm sick with worry. Yesterday morning Gracie coughed a few times and then started up again in the evening. My kids are sick. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? We have been so careful. It didn't look so bad yesterday but today is looking worse.Gunner had a few dry coughs before bed but in the night had a sad yucky cough. Gracie burned a fever most of the night and I just feel sick about it.

We've banned the kids from our bedroom where Maisy sleeps. I sure hope we can keep her safe from this. Kids are bound to get sick, but I was almost convinced we could make it through the winter without getting anything. Of course my mind is racing to all of the worst case scenarios- We'll be sick for a month, We'll have to go back to the hospital.

All three kids- Maisy is not so sure.

 Yesterday I couldn't get Little House on the Prairie out of my mind. I read  most of it to Gracie this summer, and there is a part where Ma, Pa, Laura, Mary and Carrie are all too sick to take care of themselves. They almost all die in their little cabin until they are found by some nice neighbors who give them medicine and nurse them back to health.Don't worry though. We're okay and the mother, father and baby of this family are not sick yet.