Wednesday, January 30, 2013

SLC appointments...

Brynnah was scheduled for some appointments at Primary Children's Medical Center this last week. Brad had work and school and wasn't able to come along...I had Brynnah and Gwyneth and my good friend Megan Anderton agreed to come along on the trek! We got there on Friday and had the first of Brynnah's appointments, pulmonology (lung specialist). We see this Dr. once a year for maintenance and to see if the Dr. suggests weening from oxygen. He did try and have Brynnah do a pulmonary function test but she ended up gagging on the mouthpiece...bummer! Everything at the pulmonologist went great. He wants Brynnah to stay on her oxygen for now and we will see him in a year. The Dr. suggested that we get a swallow evaluation to see if when Brynnah is swallowing, if there is ANY fluid getting into her lungs. He also suggested we see an ENT(throat specialist) to check her vocal chords. Luckily they were able to get us in quickly and we saw him on Monday. There were no complications whatsoever with her vocal chords which was really great news. Unfortunately, the test they had to do was horrible. We had to pin Brynnah down while they stuck a probe down her nose. This Dr. suggested that we see the pulmonologist again and look into some other reasons why her breathing is so affected and why she needs the oxygen.(it's always been a mystery as to why Brynnah constantly needs oxygen) On Tuesday we saw Brynnah's nephrologist(kidney Dr.) We do have to recheck her blood work at the end of the week. She was a little dehydrated. Other than that everything looked great. So we are good for another 3 months. We also got to do some fun things while we were in SLC. We went to the mall and the girls were so excited that there were fish in the pond that was in the middle of the mall. We also took them to the Disney store and the girls LOVED it! Gwyn picked out this Gigantic minnie mouse and was convinced we needed to buy it! Fortunately she got distracted and I was able to get them out of the store without the minnie!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

 This pic is from Brynnah and Gwyn's B-day! I just LOVE it!
 We went to an ISU football game...the kids had a lot of fun and got to meet Benny the Bengal!
 Making Christmas cookies!
 I finally got our table re-done! I wish I had a pic of the way it used to look!
 Meet Smokey! He's the newest addition to our family! Santa thought the kids were extra good this year and sent Smokey to us as an early Christmas present! The kids adore him!!! (David really hasn't payed attention to him at all! Hopefully he warms up to him :)

 Bedtime at our house!
 All the kids love to bake!!!!
 Decorating the Christmas Tree! I LOVED how ALL the ornaments are in one spot...I had to re-decorate after the kids were done :)


Update now......pics later!

Has it really been so long since I've posted?!? I am so horrible at keeping this blog updated...maybe I'll make it my new years resolution!
Bradley: just got done with finals...whew! He does have to retake his calc 1 class :( it will be a good thing though. His teacher was really hard to understand....LITERALLY! Next semester will go much smoother. I'm so proud of Brad! We have had a really rough year and he still continued going to school and working....He's definitely my hero! He is so excited about having a break from school for a couple of weeks!
Jacqui: I have been busy doing crafts and Christmas stuff...it seems NEVER ENDING! I was going to school this semester but ended up having a lot of health problems. For those of you who don't know I'm going to be having a hysterectomy Dec. 31st. I'm excited to have it done so that I feel better....on the other hand it's a little sad knowing I'll never have any more children of my own. This year has been really eventful for me. I think one of the biggest accomplishments has to be that of FORGIVENESS! It's definitely one of the hardest things I've had to do, on the other hand I've felt so weighed down by some of my feelings that I'm so thankful forgiveness has finally taken place in my heart!
David: Is just AMAZING! He does so extremely well in school and we are so proud of him! We don't have to fight with him to do his homework/reading....he actually enjoys it! (I wish I had that kind of enthusiasm for school!) His teacher raves about what a good student he is :) He's in the accelerated reader program at school and loves it when he moves up to the next level. He is so tender-hearted and I think it's definitely his most endearing quality!
Brynnah: We are so PROUD of Brynnah this year. She has made so much progress! She is at the top of her class academically. She has also made some friends in her class, I've gone to her class a few times and watched her interact with her classmates...it's so amazing! She doesn't seem like the same little girl! She has been taking her service dog Storm with her to school on Fridays. The dog's trainer has now moved from the area and released Storm into our care.We concluded that Brynnah isn't quite ready to handle Storm on her own yet. I will be going to school with Storm and Brynnah on Fridays after the first of the year to help train and then we will re-evaluate before 1st grade!
Evelyn: Has been enjoying preschool for the most part! She has some separation anxiety and has a hard time when we first drop her off. But, once she's there she has a great time and always tells us all the fun things she did at school. I can't believe how smart she is, When we do homework with Brynnah and David she's always right in the middle of us wanting to "help" them do their homework! We've started giving her workbooks so she feels like she has homework too! She's still our little spitfire but her and Brynnah play so well together. We have a willow tree figure at our house of two little girls holding hands....it's titled "sisters by heart" it's so fitting for them.
Gwyneth: Oh, what can I say about little miss Gwyneth!?! Terrible 2's have definitely started!!!!! It  seems like she's constantly hitting, biting, throwing, teasing, or terrorizing someone or something! Brynnah was never like that so it's definitely new to me :) My mother claims I was the same way...so I guess I did end up with the mother's curse (you know....your mother bestows it upon you...."I hope you have a child exactly like you") The good thing about Gwyn is: she's almost always willing to kiss and hug me! She's my little snuggle-bug....sometimes too much of one!
All the kids are so excited for Santa to come this year! We have ALL the kids so we are really excited too! We are staying at home and enjoying our time together! All the presents are wrapped and ready to be opened...the kids ask everyday "Can we open presents today?" Brynnah and David are really excited that they have time off of school! Bradley and I will probably want to rip our hair out by the end of the break....we don't normally have ALL the kids home ALL day.....HELP! I do hope we get some snow! The kids love playing in it and we are in much need of a WHITE CHRISTMAS! Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you all have a fabulous time with your families! Much love to all of you!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

UPDATE

I guess my idea to have a monthly udate kinda got pushed to the back burner! Better late than never....right???
Bradley: is still working part time at Caring Hearts. He's still is wanting to find a job...so if anyone knows of anything pass the info on! He's getting ready to start school up again...full time. He's excited start back up again...this has been a long summer...but still busy! He's taking calculus, macro economics, and a literature class...fun for him...and SO glad it's not me! His 27th Birthday is comming up on friday...so I'm sure there will be more to post soon!
Jacqui: I am still selling jewelry for Premier Designs! It has been so much fun wearing jewelry for my job!!! I'm having a big open house on Sept. 1st to introduce the brand new catalog....WAY fun! I'm also getting ready to start school...full time...yuck! I'm taking math, psychology, maybe english, nutrition, intro to message, and a hip-hop aerobics class...which i'm super excited for! I'm SO white...so we'll see how I do in hip-hop!
David: Will be starting 1st grade...can you believe it!?! He's a little nervous...but i know he'll make friends in no time! He will be going to Syring again this year. We got him all registered, all his supplies for school, and just finished up school clothes shopping!
Brynnah: Will be starting Kindergarden this year! I'm a little nervous for her, she has a hard time making friends....it will be really good for her though. She will be going to Jefferson elementary. She's good to go! Our dog trainer will be going to school with her on Fridays to help her handle the service dog.
Evelyn: Will be returning to the ELC program at ISU. She'll be going M,W,F. She always has a great time there and i'm not worried at all about her making friends...she can make friends with anyone! The older kids all got back packs and school supplies...so of course she needed them too!
Gwyneth: We actually aren't sure what we're doing with her yet! We have about an hour that we need her to stay with someone on M,W,F....so I guess we'll see what we come up with! She's starting to actually grow!!!! At her last check up she was finally 20lbs! She's our little miss sassy pants! She's constantly getting into something, or getting into trouble...it's rumored she gets it from ME....

CAMPING

I don't know how Brad manages to escape  from being in pictures....it seems i'm ALWAYS in them!
 We had so much fun at the "Page Family Reunion" this year. We went to Logan (totally don't remember which canyon) Tons of great food, and way fun activities! The kids all got to break the pinata!

 Down below the deck there was a stream running by...BEST playground ever!
 Brad and I had a yard sale...with the money we earned we bought new camping gear...LOVE our new tent...plus it was HUGE!!!

OUR NEW DOG

For those of you who don't know...we have a new dog. Her name is STORM and she is currently in training to be a service dog for Brynnah. She will be carrying Brynnah's oxygen for her! We are so excited that Brynnah will finally be able to have some independance. Storm is such a great dog and has done so well with training. It's extremely hard work but, it will pay off! We haven't captured a super cute photo of Brynnah with Storm...but this ones pretty cute with miss Gwyn!

SWEET DREAMS

I just LOVE this picture of the girls and their daddy!!!!