One is Fun!

Diego turned 1 on November 16th. And in true Diego style I awoke to his alarm going off around 5 am and his heart rate was at 32. The lowest it has ever been. Even on his birthday he continues to keep us on our toes. When he woke up around 7 am I started singing "Happy Birthday to you!" I didn't stop singing it the whole day. I dressed him in his "I'm the Birthday Boy" shirt before I left the house. It killed me that I had to go to work in the morning but as soon as I got home we started to celebrate.

We had a party with the family at our family's pizza place and he had a great time. He cried when everyone sang to him but then he ate cake and was over it.

When I got him to sleep at night I sat on my bed thinking about the day I had him and how much joy he brings me. I thought about when I first found out that I was pregnant with him after waiting such a long time for him and how after every OB appointment I would sit in my car almost in tears in disbelief that I was really pregnant and thanking God that he was giving us another sweet child.

We have been through SO much with him in a year. More than I ever thought I would be capable of handling but it has been a good testament to us that he is meant to be here with our family. Trials and all.

* He weighs 19 lbs 13 ounces and he is 30 inches tall

* We just started him on milk and he is doing well considering his milk allergy so we are thrilled about that.

* He started walking at 11 and a half months. Sooner than my other kids and he walks everywhere. It is so cute to watch him on his wobbly legs.

* He is into EVERYTHING! My house looks like it has been hit with a tornado everyday. I am finding out how unbaby friendly it is.

* He waves bye, Loves his baths, and still cuddles with me.

* He says, Mama, Dada, Ball, Ba Ba (bottle) and shakes his head yes and no. He also covers his mouth when he coughs and he puts his hand by his ear to pretend to talk on the phone.

He is so wonderful and I am so glad to call him mine. I just love him so much!

Family Pics

Fall Sports

Victor and his friend Brian at Region. Victor placed 7th and Brian placed 9th.


Before the Region race in St. George

Our oldest two kids just wrapped up there High School fall sports. Liv was on the soccer team at the High School and loved it. There team had a rough season but it was a good eye opener for those young freshman like my daughter of how different High School sports are compared to the other ones they have played. I am waiting to get her pictures and will post them as soon as possible.

We just got back from Victor's State Cross Country Meet in Salt Lake. He did really well. He actually has been running incredibly well this year. He is their top Varsity runner. Which is amazing because he didn't even qualify for state last year. We like to tease him and ask him how it feels to be the fastest runner in Iron county because he has beat all of the guys on his team, Cedar High and Parowans in all of the races this year. But he is very humble and tell us that any day one of them could come along and take over that spot.

He finished at State with the time of 16:48. It gave him a 22nd place finish. It was very humbling for him because he has been placing usuall around 5th, 6th or 7th place this whole year. There was a little disadvantage. They dropped a whole bunch of 4A schools down this year to 3A to compete at state. They have been running with 4A this whole year until regions. So they were up against a ton more schools. So based on last years times if they would have had the same 3A schools he probably would have placed 5th. Once again another good lesson of what they are going to be up against next year.

We just loving watching our kids and their friends in action. They are great kids and work so hard at school, church and ther sports. We are very proud if them.

When Did This Happen?

I was recently holding my 9 year old daughters hand when I realized that it just didn't feel the same . It no longer felt like the little girls hand that I used to hold while walking in the store or walking her into school on the first day. It now feels so grown up. Like a grown up.

She was my baby for almost 9 years before little Diego and I savored every moment of her babyhood and younger years thinking that I would never have another. Yet somewhere in all of that time she grew up on me. When did this happen? and how?

I remember the day I found out that I was having a little girl. I was so excited and have always had big dreams for her. I shopped until I dropped and hoped she would love all the things I loved. She let me spoil her rotten. Now she is my shopping partner and clothing critic. And she is so independent. The day of her letting me pick out her clothes and do her hair is long gone.

Oh how I love her. I just wish the time would stand still sometimes so I could take it all in. If I think hard enough I can still feel that tiny little hand with tiny little bracelets on it in the palm of mine. My sweet baby girl.

Homecoming 2011

Victor and Nicole


Crazy kids!












These are a great group of teens!









Victor went to his first High School Dance last weekend. His date was Nicole Ganowski. They started the day by having all of the couples from their group come to our house for breakfast. Then they went to the park and played volleyball and had a picnic then the guys dropped off the girls to get ready and all of the couples met over at the football field so my sister in law could take some pictures of them (It was a good thing she did because they would have never been able to get them at the Dance.) Victor said that the line never moved. They had dinner at one of the other guys house and headed to the Dance.

Some parents think that day dates are dumb but I think it is a great idea. They only get a couple of days in the whole school year that they get to have a blast on a group date through out the day and get all fancied up later at night. He was so lucky to have such great friends to go with. And did you notice all of those modest dresses? Pretty amazing huh!

Worries

I just thought I would jot down some thoughts that I have been having lately for future reference.

Yesterday before our church started I layed the baby down for a nap. I left the room only long enough to warm up some lunch for my kids probably 3 minutes or so and when I returned I noticed that his face was dark purple. I thought that maybe the light was playing tricks on me so I watched to see if I could see his chest raise and nothing. His monitor was showing that he was okay but he clearly wasn't. My heart started racing. I frantically woke him and he gasped in a big breath. Then his monitor went off showing that there was a problem.

I went to church shaken up and ended up in the foyer with my busy little one and four other Mom's who spent the next 30 minutes complaining about what a pain there babies were. After I had all I could take I picked up my sweet little guy sobbing and left the church. I realize that Mom's just complain. I definitely have my share of days when I am spent and the kids are driving me crazy but I just kept thinking about how good they had it. All of them are stay at home Mom's (something I have never been able to do)Their husbands all make a good living and all of them have healthy little babies. It took all I had to keep my cool but I tried to also have understanding towards them. I went to church hoping to feel the spirit especially after the scare I had just had but left feeling rotten inside. "Don't they know how good they have it?" is all I could think.

Tonight we dropped off some food for my husband at Maverick. While there he pulled over a car with some questionable people.I snuck the food in his car and reluctantly left. I was a little worried to leave him there all alone.

When we got home as we were walking in the house Alesia said to me. "Mom, do you ever worry that Diego will pass away? " Taken back by what she had just said,I replied that "yes I worry everyday." She also said, "I do to. And I really worry about Daddy passing away too." My heart sank. I tried to reassure her the best I could but how was I supposed to make this sweet little girl feel good about something that worries me and consumes so much of my days lately.

A few minutes later I heard a lot of sirens and told Alesia to get my phone fearing that something bad had happened to my husband who was just about a mile away. Before I could call him he was trying to call me to make sure we made it home ok because he had heard the sirens too. I'm glad we were both thinking of each other at that moment.

I have had so much on my mind lately. We are trying to see if we can sale our home and move into town. We really need to be closer to the kids school and my husbands work. We are spending so much money driving back and forth everyday. And I would feel so much better being closer to the hospital with the problems that our baby has. That would also help my husband to be able to attend church more while on duty. But we are not confident that it will sale. I have also been feeling like I need to stay home and care for our baby and possibly start doing some online classes through the college but I know how desperately we need my extra income. I wish I knew what the right thing to do was. But so far I just don't know and am a little scared to act on faith alone.

So we will keep praying and have faith that we will get the answers we are needing. And hopefully have some direction for our crazy life.

I'm One of Those Moms

QUESTION FOR THE DAY: If God only gives us what we can handle, does that mean we have to handle it well?

That is how I am feeling today. The last few nights have been so rough with my baby. His monitor has been going off about every 5 minutes at night. And the moment I finally get him awake enough to try to fix the issues I end up staying up just because I am afraid to fall asleep and have something happen to my little guy. Some days I amaze myself that I am still barely functioning as a human being.

I just started back to work at the school last week and as the Mom's were bringing in their little ones with health issues they would stop and talk to me and see how things were going with my baby.We would talk about the different monitors and equipment and they would give me some advice on what was working better for them.

In the past those of us working at the preschool would look at these Mom's and say to each other "how do they do it?"

As we were wrapping up our conversations one of the Mom's said to me "I don't know how you are doing it." At that moment I had a revelation that I am now "One of those Mom's"

No my baby's issues aren't the same as some of theirs, some of their children are very severe and they will deal with their children's health problems for a very long time, some don't want to deal with what I am but nonetheless the feeling is the same between all of us. None of us asked for the trials we are having none of us ever expected it, none of us wanted to be part of this group. All of us would gladly take on these issues for our children in a heartbeat. Nothing hurts more as a Mom than to see your little ones have some problems that others don't.

I have been thinking lately that we need an updated family picture. I have been contemplating how to time it on a day that we can take off his cute little round tender grips that are on his cheeks. Then I got thinking about my reasoning about why I needed them off for a family picture. Was it because I wanted him to seem more like a normal child? Or was I just embarrassed? Then the thought came to my head that why would I put him through the pain of taking them off. He cries so much when they come off and it breaks my heart. Another thought came to me that it doesn't matter. This is our life and we have nothing to hide. He is precious no matter what. Stickers and all.

The bottom line is that I know beyond everything that our little guy is meant to be ours. We prayed so long for him and all of us know that a healthy pregnancy doesn't always ensure a healthy baby.I just struggle to know why God thinks that I can do it. Some days I just feel like I can't and then other days I feel a little stronger. I know that we will get through the problems we are having and be better for it but for right now I just wish I had a little clarity and a lot more faith in myself. And a little more sleep.

A Small Hic Up

Last month Diego came down with strep throat which is practically unheard of in a baby his age but the test was positive so we treated him with antibiotics. While he had strep his heart rate kept dropping down into the 50's and 60's. As you could imagine, I didn't sleep a wink for those several days. After meeting with our Pediatrician he advised us to contact our Cardiologist In Salt Lake and he set us up with a Holter Monitor for him to wear for 24 hours and send back. They were concerned about Rheumatic Fever. So we kept it on him as best as we could for a very active baby and sent it back. The Cardiologist called me a few days later and told me everything looked reassuring. Whew! So for now we will continue to monitor him. They felt like the strep had probably just taken a toll on his little body. We will just chalk this up to one more monitor to add to his list. We are so grateful and blessed that everything checked out good.

9 month well check

Naughty!


Diego loves the piano




Crusin




He stole the baby dolls bottle








Silly boy!






He loves to play in the water







Diego has his 9 month check up on August 22nd. He weighed 18 lbs 11 ounces . His length was 28 1/2 inches. He is so much fun! And is so busy. He is into Everything! He pulls himself up to everything and he is always on the go. He can say MaMa, and Dada, ball, bye and hi. He hates riding in the car seat and loves to be outside. He is still on the yucky nutramigen formula and we have not been able to start him on any dairy or eggs yet because of his food allergies. He even breaks out with fish crackers. weird huh! He still has only his two bottom teeth.He is just wonderful and we love him so much.