Major Update in the Making

I realize I'm way behind on this whole blogging thing. So behind, in fact, that blogger changed everything and I feel like I'm relearning how to post!

Tanner is sick today so I figured while Montana is at church with Mason and Peyton, I will attempt to update the blog. I have so many pictures to post so it's gonna be lots of pictures and a few words! And if I'm feeling ambitious, then some pictures will get their own post. Just FYI, I will backdate the pictures with their own posts...and there are a lot of new posts!

Back in January (yes, I'm that far behind) Montana and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary. My mom came down to our house to watch the kids so we could take off for the day. We headed up to Midway to go sledding. It was a lot of fun!

Then we hit up a little diner type place in Heber for lunch. We ended with a trip to the movies to see Jack and Jill. It was just so nice to get away for a little bit and to celebrate!

My mom helped the kids make a cookie bouquet for us while we were gone. It was delicious!

We finally got a little bit of snow in January so the kids had to make a snowman.

I caught Mason reading on the counter one afternoon....

Tanner is just cute!

Tanner playing the piano with Uncle Eric on his last day of living with us.

On St. Patrick's Day, we headed to my parent's home for family birthdays. Trent was also in his school's play, Alice in Wonderland. We went to the play and then stopped at the Veteran's Memorial Monument. The have a monument for those that served in the Korean War. My Grandpa Thayne served and it was fun to find his name.

There IS a light at the end of the tunnel! And everything else...

So, Sunday, we saw Peyton doing this...

That's right...he's drinking from a sippy cup! We decided to put PediaSure in the sippy cup and see how much he would drink. We got 5 oz down him on Sunday as well as 5 oz on Monday...all by mouth. I never thought this day would come. So, today I decided to count his calories and not give him any milk through his tube. And, of course, he is a stinker today and he hasn't hardly touched his PediaSure...or his juice! At least I know he will drink from a straw so we are definitely making progress. Also, Peyton had his first hair cut a little over a week ago. He screamed almost the whole time. But now his hair is controllable!



Mason had his very first dentist appointment last week and he was scared to death to go. He watched me get my teeth cleaned first and finally let the dentist look in his mouth and count his teeth. And he eventually got in the chair...without me! He is growing up so fast!

Our 5 year anniversary was Saturday and Montana and I had decided that we were going to go to dinner and see a movie. Well, Montana blindfolded me on Saturday morning and put me in a car with a friend and said, "See ya later...have fun!" Kassie took me to a number of places that had meaning to us while we were dating. It was fun spending time with Kassie and being away from the boys. Montana met us at the last place...RC Willey...where he proposed...and asked me to marry him again! (I only got a ring pop this time!) Then, he sent Kassie to meet her husband at our house and to babysit the boys for the rest of the day! Montana and I went to Gardner Village (It was cool but sad cause we are poor and you need money to buy stuff there!), Temple Square to take a tour of the Brigham Young Home, then we went to play mini golf, went to dinner, and then to a movie. It was so fun to get away from the boys for a day and not know it was coming. But I was happy to get home and see them again too! It was a great day and I still can't believe it's already been 5 years!

Our Anniversary

Last Thursday was our 4th anniversary! I can't believe it's already been four years. It's amazing how time flies by. And to think that we are the parents of the two cutest boys ever! For our anniversary, we stayed in a hotel on Friday night in Salt Lake City. We took Mason with us because he has been with so many different babysitters that I had a hard time leaving him again. They had an indoor pool and spa so we took Mason swimming and we had a really good time. Here are some pictures of that.





And here's an update on Peyton! Last Friday, he was moved to his own room on the floor. It was a big step. By Saturday morning, he wasn't doing so well. He was really upset and his nurse was with another patient. The doctors happened to be doing rounds at the same time and came to see him. He was screaming and his heart rate jumped really high. Since nobody was there to calm him down, they decided to move him back to the ICU and back to the high flow oxygen. When he's in the ICU, there is a nurse with him all the time and if he starts to get mad, they can calm him down pretty quickly. Since Peyton had been getting pretty mad lately, they decided to have an Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor come and look at him. So, Saturday afternoon, they put a scope down his throat to look at everything above his vocal cords. Everything looked really good and they decided to take him to the OR on Monday, sedate him, and look with another scope past his vocal cords. They were worried about a spot just below the vocal cords but when they looked, that spot wasn't the problem. His vocal cords are a little swollen from the many times he has been on the ventilator. And as they went further down, they found a small area of his windpipe that is narrower than the rest. The part of the windpipe that goes into the lungs looks really good and the narrowing is above that. The only thing they can do about it, is to keep him on a little bit of oxygen to keep it open if he gets mad and to watch it. When he gets mad, that area constricts and makes it harder for him to get some good breaths. The doctor thinks that as he gets bigger, it will continue to open up a little more. So, we are watching and waiting! He was going to be moved to his own room again but they are going to keep him in the ICU until his bed space is needed so that he can have the one-on-one with the nurse. He is doing well, though, and hopefully he will be able to come home in the next little bit. There are some pictures here of Peyton and also of Mason with his brother when he was in his own room. Mason hadn't seen Peyton since before the heart surgery on the 18th of December. He was really excited to see him, but wasn't quite sure about the helmet on his head! Sorry for the lengthy post but I thought I'd give most of the details and save everybody a call! Enjoy the pictures!




P.S. I will try to post the pictures of Peyton's windpipe that were taken with the scope later today. Then, you can actually see the narrow part!