Owen v. Howie

Owen's stats at 4 months

Length: 26 1/4"
Weight: 16 lbs.

Howie's stats at 4 months

Length: 26 1/4"
Weight: 16 lbs. 5 oz.

It seems my boys are going to be about the same size - if this trend continues. Howie is so so so so super cute! He's so pink and round and such a happy baby. He didn't enjoy the shots yesterday, but what baby does? Howie is growing very well and doing great. I started him on oatmeal baby cereal about 2 weeks ago and he certainly loves it. He was eating about 14 and sometimes 16 ounces at a pop - I figured that's a pretty good sign that he's ready to eat something more than formula. I'm holding off on other baby foods, of course, until he's 6 months. For now, he'll just chow on the formula and cereal.

3 For 3

Yup enough said!

Owen wanted his thumb almost from the very beginning. Caroline wanted her thumb from about 3 months on. Howie, well he's my trifecta and he wanted his thumb starting at about 8 weeks old. I was determined to have a non-thumb sucking child. But, he would scream and cry and get more worked up if I tried to give him the binky. Therefore, I gave in much to my dismay and let him have his thumb.

I've already been reassured from their dentist that it's not going to cause problems if they suck their thumbs as long as they stop before their adult teeth start to come in. Besides, they have plenty of room for their teeth. If he isn't the least bit concerned about them sucking their thumbs, then I really won't be. !Que sera sera!

Howsie B!

My how the time is flying that my little baby boy is growing so fast. I take him to the doctor tomorrow for his 4 month appointment. I can't believe he's already 4 months old!!!!! I looked up Owen's stats of when he was 4 months old and it'll be interesting to see where Howie compares to Owen at 4 months of age. I'm not going to reveal Owen's stats until Howie's appointment tomorrow. I'm pretty sure they'll be close to one another, if not Howie being a little bigger!

I love how in these pictures it looks like he's holding his head up with his eyebrows. If he wasn't raising his eyebrows would he still be raising his head?!

'Tis the Season....Canning Season That Is!!

Before I was even married and had kids, one of my "fairytale" ideas of being a stay-at-home mom was that I would learn how to make bread, jams, jellies, and can (bottle) fruit. I have very fond and vivid memories of seeing my mother and grandmother bottle peaches that came off my uncle's orchard in Mexico.

Well, that tiny fairytale idea of mine is coming true. I took advantage of my Mom being here and her knowledge to help me while Adam recovered. We bottled peaches, apples, applesauce and yams. My food storage is busting with all of these jars and I love it! I got 11 quarts of apple slices, 7 quarts and 1 pint of applesauce and 2 1/2 pints of yams.



I learned a hard lesson with the peaches. I had them all pitted and peeled the night before I bottled them. Even had fruit fresh sprinkled on them as well. But, because there were so many (32 lbs. worth) I had to put them into pots with lids on them. Well, the fruit fresh reacted with the stainless steel pot I had them in and turn 3/4 of the pot brown, just on the outside of the peach. I didn't want to chance it so I had to throw out that much of the pot. Of course and ideally, it is better to do it all in one day, but I couldn't because Adam was in the hospital at the time of the peaches and I couldn't leave that much for just my mom to do. So, in the hopes of "getting ahead" I actually lost quite a bit. I'll never do that again.

In my pantry I have bottles of Rainier cherries, apples, peaches, applesauce, yams, strawberry jam. I love how pretty it all looks but even more I love how I have saved my family that money!

Humpty Dumpty - Part 4 (and Last)

Adam had his blood drawn last Wednesday for his liver function test ("lft") to check the levels of his enzymes. We got really good news in that the lft showed his enzymes were dropping rapidly. The AST enzyme is almost to normal and the ALT enzyme is ONLY 4 times high normal. I say ONLY 4 times high, because when he left the hospital it was 15 almost 16 times higher than what it should be. So, we'll take 4 times higher. Adam will have to have his blood drawn again in another 3 weeks and about once per month thereafter to make sure they stay in the normal range and don't go back up.

Adam did go into the office last Thursday. This week is his first full week back to work and it makes me happy to have him going into the office.

You Can't Deny Your Heritage

I went to a meeting for my church calling last Thursday night. At the end of the meeting, I was talking to one of my most favorite people in the world, Berta Whitney. She reminds me so much of my great-Aunt LaPrele it's unbelievable. She grew up with my great-Aunts Fannie and LaPrele. Berta's father was LaPrele's mission president in Mexico City. She remembers my great-Grandmother, Lucy Macdonald Bluth. We often talk about "Grandma Bluth" and being down in the colonies of Mexico.

In the process of talking with her, I told her about a street in Mesa that bears the name of "Macdonald". I was explaining to Berta that that was my family's name. Another sister standing there and I had the following conversation:

Krsitine: "Well that's MY family name. That's the name of my great-great-Grandfather, A.F. Macdonald."
Me: "Wait a minute. A.F. Macdonald as in Alexander Findlay Macdonald?"
Kristine: "Yes! Which line are you from?" (A.F. Macdonald had 5 wives - 4 of them had children)
Me: "I'm through Fannie VanCott." (4th wife)
Kristine: "I'm from Agnes Aird." (2nd wife)

Yep, we both realized that although from different women of the family, we were, and are, in fact related through the same great-great-Grandfather. How weird is that?!?!? We never would've known that we were related unless we were talking about family histories, temple work, and actually knowing some of our family history. It was so cool and sooooo neat to know someone from a different line, but still related to me - no matter how distantly or "removed" it may be.

Humpty Dumpty - Part 3

Adam finally came home late in the afternoon on the 12th. He could hardly wait to get out of there. The GI doctor only let him go because he saw some of his enzymes leveling off and some dropping. On the 14th he got his staples out; the 16th he had more blood drawn and then the 17th he saw the GI doctor again. From the blood drawn on the 16th his levels dropped, quite a bit too. They are still really elevated, but at least they dropped. He has to have his blood drawn again this week and then about once every 3 weeks thereafter to make sure they don't level off at an elevated level or start to rise again. If they do either of those things, he'll have to have a liver biopsy, which is pretty painful and another trip to the hospital.

On the brighter side, he was given the clearance to return to work - from home. So, last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday he worked half days from home. This week he'll work from home full days and then next week he'll be going back into the office.

Adam's appetite has been like I've never seen it before. He's eating constantly!!! While in the hospital and from the surgery, he lost about 10 lbs. The one person in the family who doesn't have 10 lbs. to lose and he loses it. I would've happily given up 10 lbs. and then some for him. He did reassure me that it was a diet that even I wouldn't want to have. I'll take his word for it.

We are all doing well and are slowly but surely getting back into our routines. We were suppose to go to Virginia this week to see Adam's friend, Chris, get married. Adam is so incredibly bummed that we won't get to go, but is realizing that it is a little soon to be doing that a mere 3 weeks post-op.

Thanks, again, for all of your thoughts, prayers, and help. It is all greatly appreciated.

Humpty Dumpty - Part 2

Adam still isn't home. He was suppose to come home on Thursday. His surgeon discharged him, but the GI doctor has not. It seems that Adam's liver enzymes, ALT and AST, are rising - again.

Originally, the GI doctor thought that Adam's liver had suffered because of the intussusception. Immediately after the surgery, the enzyme levels dropped. Two days post-op they began to rise. Yesterday, they rose to almost 800 for the ALT and about 600 for the AST. Way, way, way off the charts high. So, more tests and more tests and still everything is coming back negative or within normal limits, except for these 2 enzymes. The GI doctors cannot figure it out and are taking a "shotgun approach" to try to figure out what is happening.

Adam's level of frustration continues to rise - he just wants to come home! Because medicine is not an exact science and these types of flukes do happen, it makes it even more frustrating for him. I tried to tell him that his body is like a computer and his liver is a program that has crashed without knowing why it did. Sometimes it just happens regardless of what one may or may not do. It just happens. But, in order to fix the program that has crashed you have to figure out why which can be difficult, at best to do. The good news is the doctors are working hard to help Adam.

I was telling Adam that when he decided to get sick he "went big." Now, it's just time to go home. The only thing any of us can do now is "ride deep in the saddle." Again, we thank you for the prayers, well wishes, help, support, and good thoughts. They are all so very much appreciated.

Humpty Dumpty Sat On a Wall...

We all know this nursery rhyme right?



Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings' horses and all the kings' men
Couldn't put Humpty back together again.


Well, it all started last Friday, the 4th. Friday morning Adam woke up and his day started as usual. He worked out, ate breakfast and started working from home. By about 11:15 he said he wasn't feeling so well. By 12noon he was double over in pain. The day continued on like this and we both thought that maybe he had the flu. The pain got worse and shifted, bad news! About 2:30 Saturday morning he woke me up and I immediately flew out of bed, got dressed and took him to the ER Hospital. They ran tests and initially thought Adam had a case of appendicitis. Great! Easy to fix.


Well, when the tests came back, the good news is he didn't have appendicitis. The horrible news is he had a bowel intussusception. If you think of a telescope collapsing on itself, that's what happened to Adam. This typically happens in children or when there is a blockage of the bowels. It causes severe abdominal pain. We got the results of the CT scan at 4:30 and at 5:45 he was being transferred to a different hospital. By 7:30 the surgeon was talking to him and at 8:15 he was being prepped and wheeled to pre-op. It was at 9:00 he was in surgery to fix the problem. The surgeon took out about 20 inches of bowels (approximately 1/2 small and 1/2 large). The pathology report revealed no blockage or real reason as to why this even happened. In other words, it could be classified as "idiopathic" or a fluke.


After Adam's surgery there was more blood work done. The results of the blood work revealed that 2 liver enzymes were elevated. Everything else is coming back either negative or within normal range. Because everything is normal but these two enzymes, the doctors are stumped and once again it can be considered idiopathic or a fluke. More blood work and more blood work and the enzymes were still elevated. They remain elevated as of this post. We were hopeful to have Adam come home today, but with the enzymes being elevated, there's just no way he can be released. Even though it seems like "they're not doing anything" if something happens and he's not in the hospital, it could be bad news.


Adam feels good, other than being sleep deprived and sore from the surgery. He's frustrated and wants to come home so bad and sleep in his own bed. There's a lot of disappointment happening in not being allowed to come home. I totally understand how he feels. I felt the same way just a short 3 months ago when I couldn't come home when I wanted to after having Howie (another story for another time).


I'll try to keep this updated and let everyone know how he is doing. The kids are missing him BIG TIME and keep asking for daddy, especially at night. I've snuck the kids up a couple of times for them to see their daddy. Because of the H1N1 virus and school back in session, they have limited the floors to visitors older than 12. I understand why they've done this, but it breaks my heart to tell the kids, especially Owen, that he can't go see his daddy. The phone is great, but just not the same. I'm missing Adam terribly and am burning up the highway going between home and the hospital. I'm grateful he's where he needs to be at this point in time and getting the care he needs.


We are so grateful for the prayers, well wishes, good thoughts, meals brought in, kids being watched, and help that we (mainly me) have received from family, great neighbors and even better friends! Thank you to everyone who have helped, thought of helping, or offered to help. Your kindness, service and generosity is so very appreciated.

Howie - 3 Months

I can't believe Howie is just over 3 months old now. Time seems to be slipping by me even faster with this baby and I'm not so sure that I like it too much. Some days I wish I could slow time down and be able to spend more of it with just Howie. Other days, I wish the day would end as soon as I get out of bed and we can move on to the next day. I've looked back at pictures of Owen when he was just 3 months old and it makes me sad. I miss him that small. As a first-time mom, I didn't know what I was doing and those first 6 months slipped by me way too quickly. Then, before I knew it, I was pregnant with Caroline. Because Owen was so small and still needed so much of my help, when Caroline was born, the first 6 months of her life were - and still are - a complete blur to me. I promised myself after Howie was born that I would enjoy this phase of babyhood because I would never again have this in my life. Boy am I ever enjoying this baby! Howie is a great sleeper -12 hours at night plus two 3 hour (minimum) naps per day. When he is awake he is talking more and more and is so happy and smiley - despite the face in the picture below.



I decided that I would take some pictures of Howie this afternoon since the other kids were asleep. I had an entire hour to spend with just Howie - what a novelty! I loved spending that one-on-one time with just him. It seems like whenever I have him in my arms I'm either feeding him or rocking him to sleep. I don't get to spend much time with him awake and by himself as the other two kids are usually awake making demands of me. So, this 1 hour was definitely a treat and I devoured every minute of it. He was very cooperative when the camera came out. He even started cooing and talking to me. I got to hear him giggle and see that sweet smile of his without being distracted by something (or someone) else. It was definitely a highlight to my day.



Owen and especially Caroline look more like me. However, out of the three kids, Howie is the best mixture of Adam and I. From about his nose up, he looks like me. The mouth and chin are more Adam. Although, each day I do see more of Adam coming through in Howie. His nose and eyes will always be me, but there's something about the whole combination that looks more like Adam. He is definitely "a keeper". Each of the kids got Adam's hairline, hands, fingers, feet and toes genes. Adam and I are so incredibly blessed to have 3 beautiful children. They each present their own unique and different challenges on a daily and, sometimes hourly, basis but they are each a blessing in our lives.

California or Bust - Part II

As promised, here are the pictures that I've finally had a chance to pull off the camera. I sooo miss the beaches of California. There's not a whole lot that I miss about Cali, but the beaches are definitely one thing I do miss. To me, there aren't many beaches that top these.