Growth.

Beckham's Blessing Day

Beckham's Blessing was on Sunday, September 11, 2011, when he was just under 2 months old.

I took this picture of him the day before, on September 10.

We had a yummy pot luck luncheon afterwards. My parents were unable to make it since my dad was still in the hospital from his heart attack. My mom was staying with him.

My Dad

On Friday, September 9, 2011, my dad suffered a major heart attack. This happened just days after returning from a horse ride in the Wind River mountains, which is hours away from any help or even cell phone service. He surely dodged a bullet by having it when he was close to home.

He was having chest pains, shortness of breath, cold sweat, and pain in his arm, shoulder, and neck. He called my sister Brianne, who took him right to Pioneer Valley hospital. He wanted to go to IMC, but it was rush hour on Friday night, and she insisted to take him somewhere closer. It's a good thing she did, because damage was being done to his heart every second.

One of the 3 main arteries that goes to his heart was completely blocked. They put a stent in that artery to open it back up. They also put him on blood thinners. He was able to go home on Monday the 12th, but isn't allowed to drive. He's advised not to be alone. He has to wear a "life vest" that will act as a defibrillator until help arrives, if his heart has any problems.

The lack of blood supply did some significant damage to his heart, and at this point (2.5 weeks later), his heart is operating at only 35%. He still has to wear the life vest, and they recently found a blood clot in the lower left ventricle. So he can't do any cardio work, since it can knock the clot loose and cause a stroke. He is currently on coumadin, to try to diminish the clot. He's very limited in his activity right now, which I know can be very frustrating to him.

It's so frustrating to me because he's one of the healthiest 64-year-olds I know. He's constantly on the move, and he makes wise food decisions. He doesn't have high cholesterol, he doesn't smoke, & he's not overweight. His only risk factors were his age, and stress, basically.

I'm really hoping the next few weeks and months will bring good news for him. I hope his heart can recover, the clot can diminish, and he can get back to a little bit of normalcy. He & my mom came to our sacrament meeting this past Sunday, since it was the kids primary program. It was so good to have them there!

Labor Day at the Cabin

We've made it a tradition to go to this cabin in Star Valley over Labor Day weekend each year, with my side of the family.

It's the perfect place for us, with lots of room for the kids to run & play, property for the horses to wander around on, and land to ride the motorcycles.

Click here to rent the cabin on VRBO.com.

We had a great weekend!

We surprised my parents, who recently celebrated 40 years, with a surprise Anniversary party! I have to give kudos to my SIL, Dawna, who organized the whole thing. We each wrote 8 memories of our parents down, and Dawna put them all into a book for them to read. :)

Some of us went over to the fish hatchery Sunday morning. The kids loved it! I thought it was pretty cool too!

We also took a quick trip up to Cottonwood Lake.....

We do a family picture each year as well, since it's usually the only time the entire family is together at the same time. This is one of the "getting ready" pictures. My sister Brianne came up with the captions. (see below)

Trinidee- You can take this chair from my cold dead fingers....

Kevin- How you doin? Yup, still got it.

Kyle- I got this third nipple... wanna see?

Dad- Kyle is gross I'm gonna vomit... bluh bluh. How'd I get this fish hook in my lip?

Kody- I'm soooo boooored!

Tyrel- Is that where the camera goes? I'm sooooo tired.....

Dawna- I could really use a manicure...

Brianne- The more you move the tighter I squeeeeeeze...

Maci- (cracking knuckles) I'm gonna get Jovi

Mom- Is that a stain?!

Brianna- Pictures yay! I lOVE PICTURES!!!!

Season- I'm... soooo... pretty...

Katie- Logan's psycho!

Logan- Ahhhhh! I'm psycho!

Luke- ...I like smurfs...

Bailee- What did you just call me?!

Jovi- I love my shoes...

Ryker- Look what I can do!!!

Easton- Where am I?

Toby- Practice smile... CHEEEEEEEESE!! What the... here comes Ryker!!

Sam- I must focus... unleash the force, unleash the force on all these crazies...

Shane- Concentrate young padowan... how long has this rash been on your leg?

Tia- Why, why, WHY?! WE ARE LOSING THE LIGHT!!

And here's the end result.

And all the grandkids, in order by age, except for Beckham, being held by Bailee....

And individual family pics....

Yeah, Trinidee was done by this point.

We heard this kitten meowing one night, and quickly made friends with her....

It was a fun, memorable weekend. I hope we have many more to come!

Beckham's stay at Primary Children's

This poor picture makes me so sad for little Beckham. Although all the wires and cords hooked up to him make him look a lot more serious than he was.

On August 29, I went to feed Beckham in the middle of the night, and the minute I picked him up, I knew he had a fever. He was so hot. So I took his temp, and it was 100.3. He was exactly 6 weeks old at the time, and I've been told that a baby under 3 months with a fever will have to go directly to the hospital. I didn't want to take him in the middle of the night, and decided that since he was not fussing, and he was eating fine, that I would give him half a dose of Tylenol, and let him sleep, and that I would call the Dr in the morning.

So when I called the doctors office Monday morning, and they indeed told me to take him directly to the hospital. By now he had a fever of 100.7.

They admitted us and began the poking. I had done this with Bailee when she had a fever, cough, and runny nose at 6 weeks, so I knew what to expect. They have to take samples of urine, blood, and spinal fluid to find out what is causing the fever. And their little bodies are too young to fight anything off on their own.

They determined he had "Meningitis" which is an infection of the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. If that infection is bacterial, it can cause all kinds of problems like loss of hearing, vision, brain damage, or even death. It would have to be treated with antibiotics for 3-4 weeks. If the infection is viral, it just has to run it's course. It's less serious if it's viral, obviously.

Well, it takes a while for them to watch the samples, to see if bacteria grows in them. They immediately start treating it as if it's bacterial, and pumping him full of antibiotics via IV, which was in his head at first, then moved to his hand.

We spent Monday night there. On Tuesday, they had one of the samples come back positive for "Enterovirus", which is a common virus. So since they knew it wasn't bacterial, we were able to go home Tuesday afternoon. We were told to just give him Tylenol for the fever if it keeps coming back. But it never did.

I love the staff at Primary Children's. They were so helpful, knowledgeable, and kind. I'm so glad it wasn't something more serious, and that we didn't have to stay too long in the hospital.

A family hoping to adopt

Kevin's sister, Heidi, and her husband James, along with their darling little daughter Hadlee, are excited to add to their little family.

I cannot say enough about Heidi and James. They are the most loving parents I've ever met. Even before they had children, and before Heidi met James, my kids would say Heidi was their favorite aunt. She has so much love in her heart to give away. She would do anything for anyone! James is equally as kind, loving, and patient with their little daughter.

I hope they can find another little angel to join their family! If you know of anyone that is looking for someone who's looking to adopt, please share this information with them.

You can go to Heidi & James' adoption profile here.

I've also added a button to the side of my blog.

Ryker's 1st day of pre-school!

With his Go-gurt in hand, Ryker is now officially ready to start pre-school! Today, September 6, 2011, is his first day at Miss Barbara's, and he's been looking forward to this day since he was old enough to talk.