Blog Awards

Okay so in the past few months we've been given a couple of blog awards and I am finally getting around to posting about them. Thanks to those who gave them to us, that is really nice of you all.

Way back in January Kristin over at http://twodogsandafish.blogspot.com gave us the Happy 101 blog award and then last week Tracie at http://thevelander4.blogspot.com gave us the same award and wrote some really nice things about us. Thanks so much ladies, it definitely makes us feel good that you think our blog is spreading happiness. That is definitely what we want this to do. Kaelyn makes us so happy and we want to share that with the world.

Here are the rules for the award:
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. Name the person who gave the award to you and link to their blog (or hyperlink).
3. List 10 things that make you happy.
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blogs to let them know.

10 things that make Kaelyn happy

10. Lots of kisses on her little chubby cheeks. That is one of the only ways we can get her to giggle.

9. Her bottle. She is such a better eater since her heart surgery. Everyone said she would be but we didn't want to get our hopes up, but its true. She drinks her food about 5 times faster than she did before.

8. Her bath time! She LOVES her tubby tub tub. She likes to splash and get mamma all wet, especially on the days that she is actually dressed and not just in her jammies.

7. Her Glo Wormy doll that cousin Nick gave her. It is definitely her favorite toy. If she is crying she will stop immediately if we squeeze his tummy and his face lights up and plays music. She even gives him kisses.

6. Balancing on daddy's hand.

5. Cuddling with Daddy and Mom. She is an expert cuddaler.

4. Volleyball/Basketball games. She loves to look up at the big lights on the ceiling and smile. Her favorite is the Huntsman Center's crazy ceiling.

3. Making funny faces, i.e. Elvis lip, fish lips, and grandma denture face to name a few.

2. Swinging while mom runs on the treadmill.

1. Making everyone that she meets smile. She loves to show off her tricks when we take her out. Making fun faces and sounds and whatever else she can think of.

We would like to give this award to...

Erin, Matt and Ellie at http://thematterinlife.blogspot.com/

Vandi at http://vdubsblog.blogspot.com

The other award we got was the Beautiful Blogger award from Alaina, Beau's Mom at http://alainakylestevenson.blogspot.com. Beau was born a few weeks before Kaelyn and was in the NICU while Kaelyn was. He is such a cutie and Kaelyn totally has a crush on him. Thanks so much for the award!

The Rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award.
2. Copy the award & place it on my blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated me for this award.
4. Share 7 interesting things about myself.

5. Nominate other blogs.

Seven Interesting things about the Bonner Family

1. We love to play sports, that is how Wayne and I spend most of our free time and Kaelyn will be right there with us. Some of the things we do together are volleyball, tennis, snowboarding, wake boarding, golfing, ping pong, basketball, softball, pool, bowling...okay I think you get the drift.

2. Wayne plays the guitar and Jeana plays the piano.

3. We like to watch Lost, The Office, Psych, American Idol, the Cosby Show.

4. We have been married for 4 years, 9 months and 5 days.

5. We work for the same Non-profit company. (Yes we get paid)

6. We don't have Cable television for the first time in our marriage...because we didn't have to pay for it before :)

7. We love being parents so MUCH! Kaelyn is the best!

Yikes that was hard, and sadly some of those aren't too interesting, but its the best we could think of :)

We would like to pass this award onto;

Sunny at http://downtolife.blogspot.com

Rebecca at http://astirringlife.blogspot.com

Polly and Kristen at http://sheisourangel.blogspot.com

9 months

I can't believe this little girl has been around for 9th months! I guess its true what they say, "Time flies when you're having fun". Kaelyn just gets cuter and cuter every day. I can't look at her and not smile, its just impossible. She is doing so good. We have taken out her feeding tube, turned down her oxygen, moved her into her own room and gone for our first two hour walk in the sunshine. Life is bliss here at the Bonner house! Now for the pics.

"Hi everybody!"

She has the tastiest fingers in the town.

Sporting her St. Patricks day outfit.

She sure loves her bath time.

Enjoying a Sunday nap with dad.

Enjoying a Sunday nap by herself.

First night sleeping in her own bed.

Check out that curl on top her her head.

Drum Roll Please...

WE ARE HOME!!!! As we speak Kaelyn is nestled quietly in her boppy, having lots of sweet dreams I'm sure. A little while after we got home Wayne asked her if she was "pumped to be home" and she gave us two of her biggest smiles yet. We are all so glad to have her heart surgery behind us and ready to move on from here. Thanks for all your kind words and prayers, that is what got us through all of this. Kaelyn is absolutely amazing, she endured so much these past couple weeks. We're so proud of her and so grateful to be her parents.

I've been thinking about an experience we had while I was pregnant with Kaelyn and I wanted to put it down on her blog so I would remember it. After it was evident that Kaelyn was going to be spending some time in the NICU because of her condition, we set up a consultation with the University of Utah NICU. We met in a conference room with a doctor and he went over everything that was going on with Kaelyn. One thing he said really stuck out in my mind. He said, "You're daughter will not be the same person she would have been if she had Down syndrome alone. The issues with her heart and growth really complicate her situation". He tried not to be too negative and at one point advised us to be "cautiously hopeful" about how things would turn out. He was really kind and compassionate, but it was the first time Kaelyn's whole situation was put together like that and it was really discouraging for us. I spent most of that night in tears and at one point said to Wayne, "She just has too much stacked up against her". I really felt like she wasn't going to make it, it just seemed too impossible.

Now as I look back over the past year I am in absolute awe at my daughters life. She has beat some serious odds, just the fact that she survived 32 1/2 weeks in the womb on very little nourishment is truly a miracle. She was only half the size she should have been due to poor blood supply through the placenta. People often comment, "I don't know how you do it" or "I could never do that" in relation to having a child with special needs or in the NICU for over 100 days or taking her to get open heart surgery. One night while I laid in bed when Kaelyn was still in the NICU I thought, "If this is what it takes to keep this little girl here, it is worth it and I can do it". There have been some really hard days watching her little body fight to survive, days when I thought it was too much, too hard and not fair. How grateful I am that Kaelyn kept fighting and continues to fight. She never gave up, never gave in, even when it seemed impossible, she came through. Teaching us how to persevere and continue on this miraculous journey she is on.

Though it may be true that she is not the same girl she would have been without all these health complications, that really doesn't matter. She is Kaelyn and she is amazing. She will do things at her own pace and that will be just perfect. The fact that she won't be walking or talking at the age of most kids doesn't hold a candle to the milestones this little girl has reached. She has already proven time and time again that she knows what she is doing.

Some "Pre-surgery" bath time pictures

I just love this goofy face she pulled

Last night she was begging us to take her home

Sitting in that hospital room was quite boring

Kaelyn's first wagon ride out of Primary's.

Sweet dreams in her boppy.

(You can see half of her scar)