Happy Birthday Jade!

I am writing this post a day late (and I'm supposed to be writing my talk to speak in sacrament meeting tomorrow!) Yesterday Jaders turned 2. So cliché, but time goes too fast with these little ones! Jade is the little princess in our house. She has her dad wrapped around her finger, two brothers that adore her, a mom that cracks up at everything she does and says, and an extended family that thinks she is the cutest thing ever:) She is super sassy, but such a sweetie. She is quick to say she is sorry and even quicker to tell you no when she doesn't want to do something. I'll update more when she has her well check next week. We celebrated this week by having TWO parties for her. One on Wednesday night with most of the Byington cousins and the other on Friday with the Frehner cousins. She got lots of cute clothes and adorable dolls. It was like Christmas for Jade all over agin:) (Dominic is already planning his birthday party and all the decorations he wants for it!)

We love Jade so much!

Six months

Yes, it's 1:51 a.m. and yes, I am still up. (Thanks to walking 5 miles at 8:00 p.m. and a Diet Dr. Pepper after…) Tomorrow, actually today, Hudders will be six months old! Gosh, probably the quickest six months of my life. This little guy is so dang cute! He is definitely my smallest kid…but he eats all time! He has started to take interest in people food, baby food… not so much. He has the most beautiful blue eyes and cutest dimples. He, like my other two, is hard to get a good laugh out of, but tonight I was smooching on his chin and ear and really got him giggling. He is a great baby, but got a little spoiled after being in the hospital in October. I now feed him or pick him up anytime he makes a peep. (Try having one of your kids in the hospital and see if you don't do the same thing!)

He likes his Bumbo chair Grandma and Grandpa got him for Christmas. He is comfortably in 3-6 month clothes, but still wears some 0-3 months too. He sleeps quite a bit too, but is so spoiled about that - must be held, rocked, sang to, etc.

He loves Dominic and Jade. Both of them can get him laughing. Brad has recently acquired the magic touch and does just the right amount of power patting to get him to sleep.

He loves his toys and likes to roll over. When he doesn't have a sassy in his mouth, he has his fists in there! As soon as his socks come off, his feet go in his mouth too. This little guy has been such a blessing in our lives. We love him and can't wait to see him continue to grow!

Oh yeah, and check out his RED hair. Too cute:)

Brad's clones

Okay, I found some pictures at my mother in law's tonight that confirm in my mind my children's DNA make-up: Brad. Especially this latest child:)

Brad at 15 months - I see a little Jade in the face.

Brad at 4 years old - Dominic gives this look quite often!

Can you say Hudson on the last three?

My little runtlet

*Photos by Felicia Gray




Hudson hit the four month mark on November 7! He is a wonderful addition to our home. He is seriously such a good baby. He loves to be held and talked to. He loooves Dominic and tolerates Jade :) No, really, he loves all kids and watches them all the time. He has discovered his hands and sticks them in his mouth if he doesn't have a pacifier in it already. He sleeps well, eats well and is just a really good natured kid. His hair is still red too! He looks so much like Brad to me. I just keep making them closer to being exact DNA replicas of Brad, it's crazy!

We love this little guy to pieces. I love his adorable dimples, his cheeky babbling and skinny little legs:) He was a whopping 10 pounds 4 ounces at his check up yesterday! And 23 inches long. Dr. Sirsy said he is a little on the small side, but that it was okay since his head was good sized. He said the rest of his body would catch up. We got the okay to start rice cereal. We will be doning that as soon as mom can get to the store:)

A girl up the street is starting a photo business and kindly offered to take Hudson's pics to add to her portfolio. I normally take my own pictures, but she is super nice and obviously talented. All the pictures were taken by her, Felicia Gray. She did a wonderful job and turned them around super fast! I like to see how other photographers work too. It was fun for me to watch her in action.

So how was your week?

This week was quite possibly one of the worst and most stressful in my life! It all started Sunday with Brad feeling a little under the weather. After ward council, he decided to go home and take some Theraflu and rest. I took Hudson to church and went to the primary program. Brad's condition continued to get worse so he called in sick to work on Monday. He never calls in sick. (Dominic gets up and throws up a few times Monday morning.) He couldn't get an appointment with our family doctor, so I convinced him to go to Urgent Care. He came back a few hours later with a diagnoses of bronchitis, but they also suspected an pneumonia so they tested him for that. Tuesday morning comes along, I get up and I am not feeling that great. I am feeling sick to my stomach at first, then I start feeling like I felt three years ago when I was having gall bladder attacks…except I no longer have a gall bladder. I go from bad to worse and insist on Brad taking me to the emergency room. So he does. His dad comes to watch the kids and he and I head over to Rose de Lima (I am so sick, I don't even get dressed, I just stammer into the car in my night gown.)

I get back to the ER and over the course of a few hours determine that I probably have a kidney stone and order a cat scan. I get the cat scan and then get wheeled back to the ER. About an hour or so later, a get the most horrific pain in my life. I am on the bed pleading for help. I am whimpering that I can't breathe. I feel like I'm going to black out any second because of the pain. A very nice nurse comes over to my little corner of the ER and yells at me and tells me to stop saying that I can't breathe, because if I an say that I can't breathe, then I can. She pushes the guard rail up and says, "there, now you won't fall off the bed."

Finally my nurse, who is actually nice comes and gives me a shot of pain medicine. It goes straight to my head and makes me kind of loopy. But I can still feel the pain so she gives me another shot. Finally, I feel better.

They discharge me, but tell me I have to see a doctor soon because I have a kidney stone that is 3 mm and might not pass on its own. GREAT.

So we go home. My sweet sister comes and gets my kids for me because I'm pretty out of it and still in some pain. Then my mom and dad take my kids for the night so I can get some rest. They even take Hudson because I can't nurse him on all the pain medicine. Besides, my mom watch Dominic when he was only six weeks and I had to have my gall bladder removed.

So my mom calls my the next morning early. She said Hudson is running a fever and he didn't really eat anything the night before. told her to bring him over so I could nurse him. She does. Also, Dominic is looking a little sick and running a fever. They get to my house and we call the doctor to get an appointment as soon as the doctor's office opens. My mom and dad take all the kids to the pediatrician. One hour later my mom and dad call me to tell me that they need to take Hudson to the emergency room.

Brad and I rush over there to meet them. As soon as we get there, my Dad and Brad give Hudson a blessing. The doctor in the pediatric er tells me that he is positive for Influenza A. She also says that most likely it is H1N1 too. I am freaking out to say the least. She then tells me that there is nothing they can do for it because he is so young. So they attempt to put an IV in him to rehydrate him. They have almost poked him in every vein possible. Finally, they get a NICU nurse to come down to get the IV started and draw his blood for some tests.

I keep nursing him when he makes a peep in hopes of helping him in some small way. So the doctor decides that he needs to be admitted. So we wait for a room.

Meanwhile, Brad gets us both an appointment with our primary physician. We are there for two hours. He gives Brad a couple of shots, tests him for H1N1 and puts him on Tamaflu because he believes he has the flu, not bronchitis.

He tells me to take all this medicine and that I might have to have surgery to remove my kidney stone. I could have just started bawling in his office…oh yeah, Idid. He told me to go see a uroligist the next day. I left determined not to take anything until my baby was out of the hospital.

I return to the hospital with Hudson and bring my mom some food - she hasn't eaten anything, it's 5:00 p.m. We wait some more hours, finally at around 8:30 they have a pediatric room for Hudson. We go there and get settled. (By this time my pediatrician has called in Tamaflu for my other two kids to start taking. Brad goes and gets the medicine and takes it to my Dad who is watching Dominic and Jade. ) I am also now worried about them too. I ask my mom to go home to help my Dad watch the other two. I stay the night with Hudson.

Hudson and I are attempting to get some sleep at the hospital when the nurse comes in at 2:00 a.m. and tells me that there are contaminates in his blood work and that they need to do a spinal tap. Again, I have a break down. The doctor comes in to explain the procedure. It's basically like and epidural, only instead of adding fluid, they are removing fluid. He asks me if I will be upset watching them do it…I say yes, it's probably best if I don't see it done. So they take him out. About thirty minutes later the doctor comes back and tells me that he thinks everything is okay, but he won't know for sure until the next day.

Hudson and I sleep on and off for the next little bit.

Thursday morning Hudson is looking better. I get an appointment with the urologist. My mom comes to watch Hudson while Brad take me to the doctor. Thankfully the doctor tells me that he thinks I have passed my kidney stones and I don't need to take any medicine!

I go back to the hospital and the doctor checks Hudson out. He is maintaining his body temperature and looking tons better. She says he can go home! We got home about 8:00 last night! My other kids stayed with grandma and grandpa until about 4:00 today so we weren't crossing germs.

We are all home now and somewhat healthy:) Yippy! I went to Target tonight and stocked up on hand sanitizer and Lysol. I am so grateful for everyone that helped us this week. I don't know what I would have done without my mom and dad watching my kids for me and helping us. I know others would have and did help too, we appreciate it so much. We are also thankful for a good, smart pediatrician and last but not least, priesthood blessings and Heavenly Father for helping Hudson to make a speedy recovery:)

Family reunion

This weekend we had the biannual Slack family reunion. (That is Brad's mom's side of the family.) It was held on Saturday at the park in Logandale. We started early with pictures for the Frehners taken by me. We ate, played and had an action to raise money for the next reunion. It was really fun. I enjoy getting to know Brad's extended family better. There are so many of them! I know Brad's Grandma Slack is pleased that her kids still get together and spend time with one another. It is also one of the few times that all of Brad's brothers and sisters are able to get together with their families.

I love being part of a big family both my own and my in-laws.

Such a Jade face