Bella's 1st and hopefully last surgery!!

Good morning sunshine!
Good thing you don't know what's happening later!!






Our sweet Bella had a colonoscopy with biopsy and enzyme studies and a endoscopy with biopsy's and studies all at the same time. Poor thing went under ok but had a terrible time coming out of anesthesia. She screamed for about a hour:( The nurses kept asking me what to do because her blood pressure was out of control, her pulse was too high and she couldn't keep her O2 levels high enough. I felt like telling them it was their job, I don't know how to help her. I felt so helpless. I warned them that anytime her bowels get stimulated or bothered she freaks out. Luckily after much walking and bouncing and praying, they let us come home.

So what did we find out after all that.... she is one of those rare babies that is "allergic" to breast milk (or the lactose in it). So we are going to try lactase drops and pray that helps her gut!!! Cross your fingers and hope it works or this momma is going to get even crazier!!

*AFTER* (not smiling)
*BEFORE*(smiling)

Gator Country Pictures.....

Bella and Daddy at the kids outdoor salt water pool!!



I was able to travel with Guy to Florida a couple weeks ago, just me, Guy, sunshine and....Bella. Oh well it was still a trip away from cleaning, cooking and crying ( just kidding that came with us). Our wonderful trip turned out to be me stuck in the hotel while Guy worked 14 hour days:( But the hotel was cool. This is the view from our balcony! All of this is indoors, the atrium was filled with footpaths, streams, gator springs and even a few small waterfalls. It was amazing!!

I think next time we go we will make sure Guy doesn't have to work!!

Mother dear I love you so......

It's funny, I still cry every time I see this picture. I don't know why. There isn't a certain memory that comes to mind. I guess it is that I just miss her.
I really thought this mother's day was going to be difficult, but it was a beautiful day of remembering. I was just coming off of a week long trip away from my boys and as happy as I was leaving them, I was even happier coming home. As I sat on the plane some lady next to me wished me a happy mother's day. I hadn't thought about the day for me I was just thinking how grateful I am for all my mom did for me. Not a day goes by that I don't do something that she taught me. I think I pass on part of her as I fold laundry with my kids, make banana bread with her recipe, rock one of my kids in the rocking chair and especially watch Jay Leno:)
As I was going through a box of her things, I had prepped myself into keeping only things that would be useful. So as I opened the box, suddenly everything became useful....her old hair brush, her pin cushion, her toe nail clippers and even some old talcum powder and makeup. I looked at my garbage pile and my keep pile and it seemed I needed everything. I needed her hairbrush to remember her hair color, her scented powder to remember her smell, her makeup to remember her face color. I know it seems silly because those were only temporal things, but they were hers and I was not ready to give them up.
I decided to take a break and look through a book she gave me "I never meant to become a witch" When she first gave it to me it made no sense, why was this woman calling herself a witch. But now that I have become one I know. I know what it is like to tell a child no they can't play, or tell them to practice their piano, and the meanest....clean your room!! All things witch's do.
She knew long ago the things I would need to be a strong and good woman. She knew that by making me cook dinner I would learn to feed my family. She always knew what I needed. So this mother's day I am thankful for my mom, my friend, and now my guardian angel. I love you mom and miss you so much. Happy Mother's day!!

Super mom fights nature AND the sock monster!!

The room of mismatched socks!!
2 birds = 5 eggs!!

This week I have discovered yet another weakness in my super powers, I can't fight the ways of wild birds and I can't get rid of the sock monster that lives somewhere in my house. For the past couple of years we have had some pesky starling birds that thought our BBQ is the best place for a nest. Last year I kept taking out the nest making materials hoping the birds would just give up, and they eventually did. This year I have not been on top of my game and 5 little eggs are the result. I do have to admit it is fun to see the nest grow and see a new egg every morning. But so much for barbecuing this spring!
About this sock monster....the top picture is my front room covered with mismatched socks. I spent 2 days trying to find mates and make all the socks happy. As you can see supermom failed. How does this happen? Where do they go? I thought black holes were only in space. If anyone can solve this mystery or knows how to get rid of the sock monster, please let me in on the secret. As you can see we have way too many "spinster" socks:)

Mitchial's Baptism!!

Oh happy day!! After 2 missed baptism days we finally were able to baptise Mitchial. He loved practicing with Dad before hand and even laughed when they had to dunk him again! So cute! It is fun to see your baby grow and watch each milestone with a smile on my face. I love Mitchial so much and am so happy that he wanted to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He shared his testimony with the family the other night at dinner, and I loved watching his brothers eyes grow big listening to their big brother share his feelings about Jesus Christ.
I am thankful for my worthy husband to bless our children with the priesthood. He is a wonderful man ( handsome too:).
I am thankful for my parents and that they worked so hard to raise me in the gospel.
We gave Mitchial his first scriptures and I included my testimony in the front just like my Dad did for me when I was baptized! Thanks to all the family that was there to support Mitchial. Little Timothy cried when Uncle Bret went home, he cried when Aunt Nikki and Grandma Stones went home, and even when Uncle Matt and Uncle Cory (and their families) went home...so he cried when everyone went home! Poor Tim didn't understand why they didn't take him too.
I want to take a minute to share my testimony of Easter. I was having a rough day yesterday preparing dinner. I was thinking of my Mom and missing her so much. As I started a prayer asking for comfort and peace my heart was filled with the understanding and the promise of the ressurection. I know it is silly but I thought as I prayed how thankful I am to my brother Jesus Christ who died for me so that I can see my mom again. It was a wonderful feeling to know that I will see my mom again, I have that promise. It was a spiritual Easter for me as I learned for myself about the atonement and ressurection of Christ. Even as I prepared dinner and missed the wonderful meals my mom used to make I thought to myself what a better way to remember her than to follow her traditions. I must say I made the best gravy yesterday. Thanks for teaching me mom!

Bella's progress?

This week Bella has made huge progress, well sort of. We were able to get her to eat baby food again! Yeah! At first it was just a bite or two and now we are up to half and maybe a bit more of the 1st jars. There is one problem.. after eating this is what she looks like.
Primary Childrens wants her getting fed only through a nose tube or a tube placed in her stomach. After many prayers and fasting(thank you everyone) I decided before making the appt for surgery for the g-tube placement I would talk with Bella's regular dr. She went from 14lbs 4.5 oz the week after she got out of the hospital, to 14lbs.13oz all in a month!
She isn't tipping the scales but I think she is petite like her mommy:) Ha ha!
Her Dr. felt no need for the tubes and to continue breastfeeding since she gets so sick on her special formula. I am so thankful for prayer. I felt confident with what the Dr. said and he also sent us home with 4 infected ears (Bella's and Mitchials whose ruptured) and a strep throat. So within a month all of my kids had infected ears....what is that about?
I am sure someone is playing a joke on us. Anyway we still don't know why Bella can't handle baby food and what is causing pain (besides the ears), but we are having more smiles than we used to. I can't ask for everything to be fixed at once, right? Again thank you for the prayers!!

Looks can be decieving!!

This is our sweet baby Bella! She looks so peaceful and beautiful. Like all children that is not always the case, but Isabella has, in her short 5 months, been our most expensive baby, caused us to lose the most sleep, and keeps even the Dr's on their toes. Let me explain a little; the past week she and I have had a "luxury" room at primary children's hospital. For 2 months she has thrown up blood and had blood in her stool accompanied by lots and lots of crying. The Dr's put in a feeding tube to rule out any allergies and have done numerous tests all resulting in the same,?????????? We have no idea. All we know is we have a baby that won't bottle feed, won't even look at a sippy cup, and waits until nighttime to exercise her lungs! The Dr's sent us home with a feeding tube (which I have to put in every time she pulls it out:( and wait for a follow up.
Things aren't so good tonight so I am asking to include us in your prayers. We will most likely end up at Primary's again doing a endoscopy and colonoscopy with biopsy's. They didn't want to do those on her because she is so young and the risk of tearing her insides is a common side effect. No good. We love our baby sooooo much and hope to get her better quickly.

Now you were probably wondering (like our neighbors) why we had a fire in our garden, simple....when your stressed burn something!!! Just kidding but it really did help. We had a bunch of old bills and didn't have a shredder soooooo we decided to have a bonfire in our garden. The boys loved it even though there was more smoke than fire:) Guy, you should have listened to me on how to build a fire:) Girls always know best!!!!