Fresh Country Air

Taleah and I were lucky enough to join Jordan and his class on a field trip to Staheli Farm last week. It was so fun to meet all his friends and teachers, and to see his fun interactions with them. Jordan was super excited that Mommy was able to go (because "teacher said I could go") and was over the top excited when he realized that Taleah could go too.

Jordan car pools with Hunter and Henry,they have become known as the "H" boys and he loves them so much. Miss Mary is always telling us how cute the three of them are and how they are inseparable. I'm grateful that Jordan has such good friends and that he can still be "the best in the class" (Miss Mary's words not mine) Jordan is doing well both socially and academically, he is even starting to sound out words and trying to read.

We rode the tractor hay ride out to the Pumpkin Patch, where we learned about plants and farming. The kids could see the different stages of the pumpkin growing process and really learned a lot. Did you know that the flower is the bottom of the pumpkin? We also saw cotton plants, and learned about the process to go from plant to clothes. The kids were excited about the "witch house" and the knight that she had battled. Ask Jordan he has a whole story about what went down :)

There was a STRONG smell (you know what I mean), and the kids were covering their wrinkled up noses. The guide told them to take a big sniff and that was called "fresh country air" and that you used to smell it all over Washington Fields but that now it is becoming scarce. Well it must have made an impact because whenever there is a strange smell, Jordan will take a big sniff and say "FRESH COUNTRY AIR"! It's like a name brand for "STINK" and he uses it often :) Then the kids had free play on all the fun toys in the farm yard.

My cute little pumpkins, aren't they the best?! Taleah was wonderful (as always) and loved being out with her brother, Jordan loved showing off HIS baby. I love the picture of him holding her, it is just so sweet.

THANKS STAHELI FARM FOR ALL THE FUN !

Dixie State Homecoming

We were able to take part in the fun of Dixie's homecoming festivities this year. Parker came home from school with a note about the parade, and we thought "why not". We can never say no to a parade(the boys love them), and I thought we should take advantage of living in a college town. The parade was fun, then we got with our friend Wendi who hooked us up with tickets to the game and a SWEET parking pass. Bailey(the adorable cheerleader) came with the us and we had a blast. Parker talked a cute co-ed out of the shirt that she caught, he even flirted and shared his Rice Krispie treat ;) Jordan watched the game intently...I think he is considering a career in football. We had to leave early though because of an unfortunate mishap involving Parker's huge mug of water, Taleah and her car seat. Anyway, we had lots of fun ... we should really do this more often and take advantage of having a college in our town.

Staheli Farm NICU Reunion

Our First big outing as a family was to the NICU Reunion at Staheli Farm, a few weeks ago. This isn't a party I would want to be a part of, but since we had to be in the NICU I'm grateful we got to go. We were lucky enough to have my Aunt Daryl down for the weekend, and had a blast with her with us. It was fun to see all the doctors and nurses that helped us,great to experience Staheli Farm for free, but most of all it was GREAT to be out and together as a family!

"PARTY OF FIVE"

The boys were lucky to have Daryl there to play with them...Mommy and Daddy were suffering from many nights of no sleep :) Daryl played all the games with them, explored the farm and even took them in the corn maze (and found the way out) what a trooper (and great Aunt!) Note the way both boys are sticking their tongues out with consecration...a Papa trait passed down.
HAVING SO MUCH FUN WITH DARYL!

There were several photographers there taking pictures, and donating their time and pictures to the NICU. They took a lot of pictures of our kids...I guess they could see who the cutest kids there were ;)


We enjoyed treats from KNEADERS (yummy) all the animals, the tractors rides and pumpkin patch, the fun farm yard toys and of course the corn maze. Thanks again NICU for the GREAT care that you gave our little Taleah, and for the fun party! See you next year.
Here all all the pictures and videos, if you want to enjoy all the FUN!

Happy One Month Birthday, Taleah !

Happy Birthday Baby Girl ! I can't believe that it has been a month since Taleah has joined our family. I also can't believe how much Taleah has grown and changed! Check out the pictures below, the change in a few weeks is amazing...even though she is still small she is catching up with her Monkey friend. I had seen this done with one of my friends baby and I couldn't wait to have a baby to do this with. My mom brought down this adorable monkey and I knew that I had the perfect friend for Taleah to have her pictures with. My favorite is the one where Taleah is trying to eat her friend...I guess she has perfected that move :)

This week was a busy one, and one filled with milestones. Taleah reached her due date on Monday...she is officially a 40 weeker. She FINALLY left the 5 pound weight and moved into the 6 pound range. (although she isn't gaining like the doctors want her to so we are back to nursing-pumping-bottling until our next weigh-in next week) On Wednesday, Taleah turned 4 weeks old and today marks three weeks since we came home. Wow, how time flys!

YES, WE DID IT !!!

Here are just a few fun pictures that we have taken the past month. Here Taleah is all dressed up in big girl cloths, ready for her first outing and party at Staheli Farm. What a sleeping princess...Sleeping Beauty has nothing on her!

I just had to throw this one in to show that Taleah does own something that isn't pink, and she totally rocks this yellow and blue number...don't you think?

So tiny in Daddy's hands !

My cousin, Jenni made this darling tutu and cute matching flower. The tutu was so tiny, until you put it on Taleah. I love this picture! It almost looks like Taleah is smiling as she is being overrun by her pink tutu:)

As we were listening to the beautiful talk given by Sister Dalton, especially for fathers of daughters, I looked over and saw my wonderful husband holding his new baby daughter. It brought tears to my eyes (remember I still have lots of hormones raging through my body) to think of all the special memories they will have together. I know that Ryan will be the best Daddy to her, and I know that Taleah already has her Daddy wrapped around her finger. I noticed how tiny Taleah looked in Ryan's strong hands, and the striking difference in the size of their hands. I had to take this picture to show that Ryan's wedding ring would fit on Taleah's wrist! Here she is holding Ryan's "huge" ring...I love it!

But most of all, Taleah has become the center of our hearts and family. We love her so much!

Tic Tac Toe...Three in a row

I love being a Mommy of Three! I am blessed with three of the best kids ever! The boys are such great helpers and they really love their baby sister. When we pulled up to the house from the hospital, the boys jumped out and called all their friends over to look at THEIR BABY. If I ever walk out holding Taleah, all the boys run over to look at the baby.Her brothers are really proud of her and love to show her off. She is quite the celebrity. Minutes after getting home, I looked over to see Jordan lining up his Transformers up on Taleah's chair to show her and play with her. He was careful not to show her the bad guy "so she wouldn't be scared".

Jordan told me the other day that he loved playing with Taleah, "even MORE than playing with my Legos!" That is a serious compliment! It took awhile for them to figure out how a baby sister played out in the family. At first every time we left the house they would ask if we were taking Taleah, and Jordan was worried that if we left her she would be scared. He asked if Taleah was going to stay in our house with us and when I told him yes he said, "Good now we can be a family forever!" You got to love this kid.
Parker loves to hold Taleah and help to feed her a bottle, he is really good at grabbing her attention when she is awake.
Taleah LOVES her big brothers! The first day home, she was laying on the floor looking around at her new surroundings. This was really the first time she had been awake for more than a few minutes, with her brothers on each side of her talking to her. She kept turning her head from side to side to see her brothers and the voices that she learned to love when they would talk to her in my stomach.
The boys are also learning about having a baby around, the dirty-diaper runs, the washing of hands and their favorite...burping! See the video below for a good laugh...

Taleah's First Photo Shoot

My cute friend Allison came over last week and took some darling pictures of Taleah. Allison amazes me, she ALWAYS has her camera and captures the best everyday memories. As a hobby she started to take pictures of our friends babies...I couldn't wait for Taleah to be born and to have our own Original by Allison. Taleah was a trooper, most of the time she was awake looking around or asleep (at least trying to be). Taleah did have a moment of crying, but it didn't last long. Allison brought a few props - a scale,a doll basket and a doll bed. She thought that Taleah was so small that maybe she would fit... she did with room to spare :) Here are a few of the favorites...which one do you like best?




Thanks Allison, we love the pictures and we are so grateful for great friends like you!

Taleah's Nursery

I just had to show off Ryan and I, first DIY home improvement project...for those of you out of town. In June I decided I really wanted a pretty pink princess room for our baby girl. I knew that I wanted pink and brown, and had seen bead board on HGTV and thought it was really pretty. So the plan was set and my inner designer was working over time. By July, I was very anxious to get started and by the end of July I bought the paint and told Ryan I was going to start with or without him. He felt it was TOO HOT and that we had plenty of time before she came to get started, but after a few days of talks we began. (Thank goodness!) We chose a very light pink for the walls and a deep rich chocolate (named Fudge and lives up to its name...it makes me hungry every time I go in) for the bead board. We painted the walls pretty fast, just two evenings and then started the bead board. We thought we would paint the bead board before we put it up (thank goodness) and began painting it out in the garage. It was crazy hard to paint, but we finally triumph over it after many coats of paint (and blood,sweat and tears). Painting in the garage in 106+ degrees is not recommended for a 7 month pregnant mommy... but we did survive. We also took apart a "vintage" rocking chair we picked up at a garage sale and painted it pink and stenciled "PRINCESS" on it...I think it turned out pretty well. I think I am most proud of the window box that I painted, with the help of the green "FROG" paint tape I was able to get perfect lines. I thinks it turned out pretty well, what do you think? Thank goodness for the "Frog" tape, it really made things easier and we would definitely recommend it. Notice the project was just one room but it over took our whole house, and garage!

After much debate, Ryan and I decided that we didn't have the tools or experience to do the install. We really didn't want to mess up the bead board and have to paint more ;) Our great friend in the ward and one of his friends (who does construction) came over one evening and helped Ryan put up the bead board...they did it in a few hours! AMAZING, thanks guys!!!

The finished project...I LOVE IT ! I re-purposed a few shelves from the boys nursery and found a old board and put new hardware on it to hang Taleah's blessing dress. I really love the saying "PRINCESS... daughter of a Heavenly King" and had to have it on her wall. It helps us remember the kind of princess we all want to be, think step sisters vs Cinderella. I found all the decor online and think everything really went together well.

The second day home, we let Taleah explore her new room. The boys were so excited to show her everything. I think she has some growing before she will fit her new dress, I'm sure glad we bought the NB size and not something bigger! She is so tiny she fits in the little hanging hamper, just like a toy :)

Taleah enjoying her new throne. What a cutie!

I didn't know why I felt so driven to complete this project so early,we had finished Parker's room the month before he was due. Thanks goodness we had it done, before Taleah's early arrival...I would hate to be living in a house of construction or trying to paint right now between feedings:)

Parker's Super Sixth Birthday

Parker's day started off with an early morning arrival of Grandma Kathy, Aunts Laura and Jessica and cousins Ethan, Austin and Jason. Mommy was on bed rest and had an early morning doctor appointment, so Grandma Kathy, Jessica and Ethan took birthday cookies to school to celebrate . Parker was super excited to show off his class and friends, they were happy to help Parker celebrate his birthday, Jessica made the comment that all the girls were shyly wishing Parker a happy birthday...Ryan is proud of his "stud" son :)

We have been blessed to move into a wonderful neighborhood, with lots of children! We had 15 boys,3 girls and 2 cousins at Parker's party (all his age in school or primary). The kids all arrived ready for their Super Hero Training Camp.

We began with an introduction and instruction session and then traveled to Gotham City. There Batman and Robin taught us the importance of team work and partnership. The kids really had fun and did a great job doing a balloon toss. I think it was a first for many of them.

Then off to New York, where Spiderman had set up an obstacle course for us. We had to go through the web, scale up the wall, down the slide and then shoot a web at and capture the bad guy. The kids did a great job and really liked the web shooting...even if they got a little webbing on them.

Then on to Metropolis to help Superman save a troop of Army guys from a drowning death. They kids had great form as they "flew" in to help save the men. This could have gone on forever...they really loved it.

The final test was to destroy the Allspark, we really had a ton of fun. Everyone had a few trys before Daddy had to help. There was lots of goodies for everyone. Check out the intent faces on theses little ones .

After a tough day of training... drinks and treats for everyone!

They earned their capes and masks and are ready to battle evil.

What a bunch of cute kids.

Presents !

After the party, we had a few Super Heros that couldn't tear themselves away from the fun.

We had lots of fun playing,even when it started to rain :)

Thanks everyone for coming and helping us celebrate Parker's birthday! We are so grateful for friends and family. Thanks for those that helped me ( the bed rest Mommy) to pull off such a fun party for all these "SUPER" kids!
Last but definitely not least, thanks Parker for being such an amazing son. I am so lucky to be Mommy to such a smart, fun, helpful and friendly boy. We love you and are so glad you are in our family!

It was the BEST of times...It was the WORST of times!

It all began on Sept 8, at my routine Dr. appt. Because I was high risk, I was having weekly NST and AFI tests. On this day, the AFI (fluid around the baby) was really low (5 and the normal is 10 or over)but the NST was great (baby was doing well)and she was 6 weeks early so Dr. Lunt put me on STRICT bed rest with instructions to hydrate and watch the kick count. Dr. Lunt wanted us to try to make it to 37 weeks at least, so we had two weeks to go. He said he would have taken her then if we were a little further along. Well, I was a nervous wreck trying to make sure she was moving ( I was constantly poking her and eating sugary treats)...this did not help my sleeping at night as I was so worried she would get into trouble and I wouldn't know because I was asleep. It was so hard to be on bed rest, I felt like I was missing everything (soccer games, church, girls night, reading and playing with my boys, etc.)and I was worried because this was my last few days before I had a baby to consume my time. How was I going to do this, how will this effect my boys and husband? Thanks goodness for our ward family, they brought meals in, took the boys in the afternoon and helped with car pools! I was given a beautiful blessing, that brought me peace and comfort that I'm truly grateful for. After two days, I went in for a NST which the baby did well on...bring comfort for a few more days. That Monday Sept 12 (also Parker's birthday) I went in to the Dr. office for another NST and AFI. The fluid had gone up a bit (6.2) and my weight and BP were down, feeling pretty good I got ready for Parker's birthday party. Thanks goodness my Mom and sisters came down to help Ryan, and between us all we pulled off a fabulous party for 5&6 year old boys (21 to be exact). So my Mom and sisters headed home the next day, thinking things were looking pretty good and Mom wanted to get everything ready so she could come down for awhile when the baby came. On Wed, Sept 14 I had an afternoon Dr. appt and ultrasound. I was feeling pretty good, and even stopped at the store on the way to get thank-you cards. I was horrified to see VERY little fluid as soon as the ultrasound probe hit my belly. She kept looking for a pocket, but it was very soon apparent that there was no fluid (it was measuring 2)...so Dr. Lunt came in and said "let's go have a baby". On our way to the hospital, family was called and plans were made. My Aunt Julie came over and got the kids and the dinner that one of the ward members made, she stayed all night with the boys...what a life saver! I was given another blessing that really helped me have peace, I was so nervous I was shaking all over (they could barely start my IV). I knew that our baby was preparing to come to our family and that she was ready. I also knew that everything would be okay. I felt her sweet spirit with us already, like she was preparing us for the trials we would face together. The c-section was rough, I was given the spinal block and the Dr. wasn't there yet so during the surgery it started to wear off and I began to feel it. I won't go into details here, so if you want to know ask me. When they pulled her out, she started crying IMMEDIATELY, which was such a comfort and joy. My baby girl was here, she was really here! I could see her and she was PERFECT, what a miracle and blessing. I was overwhelmed with the awesome responsibility and opportunity to be the Mommy of this beautiful daughter of our Heavenly Father! I (almost) couldn't feel the pain, as they placed her in my arms and I got to hold and love her. It was like de-ja-vue to see her, she looked so much like her brother Parker. We were doing pretty well for an hour or so, when they took her vitals and decided that she wasn't doing as well as they wanted her to so they took her down to the NICU for observation. I was horrified that she was down there and I couldn't go to her, couldn't comfort her because I couldn't move. Daddy went with her, and they stayed for most of the night. I tried to sleep and prepare, because the moment I could feel my legs I WAS GOING TO MY BABY!

Day two started, with a early morning ( 2am) visit from the nurse letting me know that Taleah was out of the NICU and doing well in the nursery. I could have her come into the room, in the morning. That morning at 6, I called for her and spent time loving her and getting to know each other. We kept trying to nurse, but were having a really hard time (surprise surprise!) We saw Dr. Lunt and then the fun began. My Mom got into town, picked up the boys and came over to meet their sister. Jordan was a little shy and nervous, which surprised me because he has been loving her for so long in my "tummac". Parker was a little cautious, but excited as usual. They were super sweet holding her and loving her. We had other visitors, Grandma Sylvia, Aunt Julie, Uncle Jeremy and our friend Allison. The boys loved opening Taleah's presents and we were having so much joy, when everything came crashing down. The nurse noticed how hard Taleah was breathing and working while we were trying to breastfeed. She took her down to the nursery to do her vitals. Next thing I know, the Dr. from the NICU was in the room telling me my baby was in the NICU and that she need a lot of help to breath. I was told to give them an hour or so, for them to get her stable and ready before we could come down. It felt like my heart was being ripped out, I could barely move, my baby was fighting for her life...I felt so helpless. We went down, and I saw my sweet baby struggling to breath, she was breathing so fast (120 beats a minute) and working so hard (her chest would cave with each breath) How could I help her, what could I do. After a few minutes, we had to leave because it was shift change and rounding time. I could hardly tear myself away from her, if felt like I was leaving a piece of me behind. How could I leave her when she was in such need? When it was time again, I thought I had gained my composure until I saw her little body laying there with IV's, huge breathing tubes and feeding tubes. I could barely stand, yet I WAS NOT going to leave her side! I stood there sobbing, as I held her hand and vaguely heard the Dr. explain how they were treating her, what the plan was and how how she was behaving (as if she was doing this on purpose) is to be expected because she was a preemie. Finally, I guess they got worried about me because they sent me back to my room...telling me I looked horrible and that I needed to rest and get my strength back. I barely made it back to my room because of the pain both emotional ( I felt like I was abandoning my baby as she was fighting for her life) and physical ( I had missed a few pain med times). As a side note, the boys had heard adults say that the baby was not doing well and had to go back in (the NICU). They of course didn't know what that meant, so they applied what they knew. Parker told his friends, "I can't play, we have to say a prayer right now. Our baby Taleah is sick and had to go back in my Mommy's tummac!" Thank goodness that wasn't true, that really sounds bad!

Day three. That night was rough, I was so exhausted but I couldn't sleep. When I finally fell asleep, I heard a baby cry ( a noisy neighbor)...as I was coming too I thought it was Taleah and this was all a bad dream. When I was fully awake, I felt all the pain again and cried for hours. I kept thinking I should be with her, did she know I wasn't there, did she need me to comfort her? I was worried that she would bond to the nurses and not to me. Finally it was 7 am I had pumped and it was time for her feeding, we would stay until 9:00 rounds ( to get to talk to the Dr's and hear her progress and the plans for the day) and then hurry (a relative term) upstairs to my room for breakfast. This was the beginning of our routine for the next 7 days. She had feeding every 3 hours (through her feeding tube), then I would go pump between and try to hold her. I was amazed how she would relax and her vitals would be perfect when we had skin to skin time. I love the special feeling of oneness that we could share during that time, it is close to the special feeling I was talking about last post when I said I loved feeling her move (it's something only a mother can understand!) I hated seeing her with the huge C-Pap in her beautiful petite nose watching her struggle to breath! My Mom had to leave, as she had things to wrap up at home, so she took the boys and went back to Farmington for 5 days. WHAT A LIFE SAVER, we were completely consumed with Taleah and everything going on at the hospital...it would've been impossible to deal with the boys and their needs also. They had lots of fun at Grandma's house and loved playing with the cousins. The doctor had told us it may take 5 days for Taleah to get off the C-pap and on to high flow because she was on such a high pressure. They were treating her for an infection which is common when there is low fluid. I guess they were worried about the mommy that couldn't stop crying because the NICU manager and the NICU social worker came to talk to us. We also meet the lactation specialist, to prepare for when Taleah was ready to try nursing again. The social worker said something that finally put into words how I was feeling. "When you deliver a baby, hormones are released that help you bond with your baby. Even though you know in your head that your baby is here and she needs to be here and she is being taken care off, your body is looking for her. You need to feel her and touch her, it's like you are missing a leg or an arm. Almost like phantom pains of an amputee, you are missing her at the cellular level" That night Ryan was holding her, while I went to my room to pump. When I got back to her room, I saw that they were both asleep...awgh they are so cute! Then I noticed that she had wiggled down between his arm and belly and had pulled off her C-pap! I ran out panicked, the doctor came in and said "well I guess she was tired of this. She must have been doing okay or the alarms would be going off. Lets see if we can ween her off." Later that night Ryan and I went to eat dinner and Grandma Sylvia was there holding her( she came every night to hold her), when we got back the nasty C-pap was gone and she was on high flow O2! This was the first of many times when Taleah proved their timeline wrong... everything runs on Taleah time!

Day 4 This day began early with a shower, pumping and a quick breakfast before heading down for Taleah's 7:00 am feeding. Taleah was doing well on the high flow O2, and they were hopeful during rounding that we could ween her off to room air the next day. It was my job to hold her and love her and try to feed her. She was FINALLY able to have her IV out of her head, as her antibiotics were done and she didn't have an infection. We were able to step down her level of high flow O2 and she was doing well. I loved spending time with her, and was grateful for Ryan and his support and love. He was so cute loving on his beautiful little girl. I love the picture of him holding her and seeing that her ARM is the same size and his finger! We kept marveling at her teeny tiny size, and kept trying to take pictures to show how little she is. She was a little feisty and kept pulling out her feeding tube (it was in her nose and was horrible to watch them shove it down!) and she didn't like her O2 cannula. That night the respiratory therapist said he was NOT going to take her off of high flow. because she had gone down on the level fast and he didn't want to go backward. After the 11:00 pm feeding , Ryan and I went up to my room and went to bed. At 3:00 am, I was awakened by one of the NICU nurses coming to tell me that Taleah was up in the step down NICU , was on room air and was doing well. I guess Taleah again had her own timeline and convinced that Resp. therapist that she was done with the nasal cannula ;)

Day 5 Began in the step down NICU, and our new home for the next few days. I was feeling better about her progress. I was desperate to get her to breastfeed, if she could feed at least 50% of the time then I could room in at the hospital and not have to go home. I was suppose to check out, and I didn't want to leave my baby. I knew that she was doing better, but I felt like I needed to be with her. We spent the day feeding her (trying to), pumping and doing it all over again. She couldn't wake up long enough to eat, couldn't latch on and fell asleep almost instantly. It was so frustrating and I felt like such a failure when the nurse would say, "okay it's been long enough, we will just feed her through the tube." I was so grateful that I had my milk in and she was getting the benefits of breastmilk, but this meant that I had to go home that night. I had a visit from two wonderful friends, who saved me that day. They had planned a baby shower for me earlier that week, but Taleah and I had missed it because she had decided to come the day before. We have amazing support from our ward, friends and family! They had the shower without us and brought the presents over. It was such a blessing to sit down and talk and have a fun uplifting time opening presents and laughing... a break from the worry and stress of watching your baby sleep in the NICU. Thanks guys, you will never know how much that meant to Ryan and I! We had a great view from my room (to bad we couldn't enjoy it) and I had to throw in a picture of my favorite foods from room service. I LOVED the chef salad, the asparagus soup, cherry pie and OREO shake. YUMMY! The sweet nurses let us stay in the room after we "checked out" so we didn't leave until after the 11 feeding. I couldn't believe how hard it was to walk out those doors and again leave my baby. Ryan was excited for a good nights sleep at home in his own bed, I just couldn't wait to go back to the hospital.

DAY 6 We hurried back in the morning, Ryan dropped me off and went to work. During rounds, they decided that her bilirubin level was high and she needed to go under the bili lights. I hated that again I couldn't touch or hold her, but was grateful that she was doing this here instead of at home. We could only hold her for 15 minutes every 3 hours, to try to feed her. She still was to tired to eat, but I loved those precious moments I got to hold her skin to skin and feel her. She still did so much better when we had that time, and I knew that she loved it too! It was amazing how well those lights work. When they would take off her glasses, her eyes and the diaper area were yellow and the skin that was exposed was white. It was like her own super hero disguise. We were also blessed with the opportunity to have a room given to us, for me to stay at the hospital, close to her and not have to leave her.

DAY 7 HAPPY ONE WEEK BIRTHDAY, TALEAH!!! We started off the morning with the lights coming off, her levels were down. Taleah had her first ultrasound, and her kidneys looked great! The nurse practitioner made the cutest hat for Taleah, I loved getting a chance to have Taleah's first photo shoot with her darling little hat. I love that the hat is so tiny, but that it is bigger and longer than she is. This was also a very hard day, I had very foolishly pictured this day as the day we would come home. I guess I thought a week was long enough. My mom and the boys came home that day, and I felt like it was so important to be there for them ( their life had been turned upside down) but I also needed to be with my baby girl. How was I going to do this ? The boys were so excited to see her (even though it was through the glass) and yelled through the glass their request to see different body parts (feet,hands,tongue etc.) Jordan was so impressed with the fact that she didn't have ANY teeth but had a tongue, that he would tell people that fact first when asked about his sister. We had a little scare with her hearing test, I spent a day thinking she could be deaf because of the antibiotics she had to have. Then we had a glimmer of hope that evening. The nurse said that it was time to do the car seat test, and for Ryan and I to do the baby CPR course. Could I dare to hope that we could be going home soon? Taleah was still not nursing well (actually not much at all), but she had pulled out her feeding tube that morning and we had tried bottling her. I couldn't stand to have them shove that tube down her nose again, and I begged to let us try to feed her and supplement with a bottle... and it WORKED!!! Once again, Taleah and her will was in charge of the timeline. 'We also got a chance to give her a sponge bath, it was so fun to watch Daddy's strong hands, give his daughter a bath with such tenderness. I love that guy!

DAY 8 At rounds that morning, I heard the words I had been waiting to hear for a week "do you want to go home...how do you feel about that?" I could barely squeak out a heartfelt "YES' and "GREAT" with a voice choked with emotions. I am so grateful for the angels that surrounded Taleah in those beds (both seen and unseen), I know she was watched over and protected during this time. I know that the beautiful blessings that were given to us, were fulfilled and that everything would truly be okay. That Taleah was really walking with our Heavenly Father just a few days before, and was sent to our family to complete us. I was so ready to be home with my little ones, lay on my couch and snuggle my baby without constant interruptions and strict timelines. But I was also a little panicked to take this little one home and be souly responsible for her well being and not have all the comforting monitors watching her. Ryan went back to work, while I spent the morning saying good bye, packing our stuff and taking (and passing) our third hearing test. Taleah had lost a little weight that morning, and was still struggling to eat...so we were nursing,pumping then bottling every 3 hours. But again, I was willing to agree to anything to go home. At noon Ryan,the boys and my Mom came to get us. I wanted to run out before they changed their minds. The boys were so excited to have Taleah coming home, I looked out the window to see a little Jordan head jumping up and down trying to see her. Taleah looked fabulous with her car seat accessories made by a very talented Aunt Laura. I love our first family picture, and the picture of my sweet Jordan watching over Taleah on the car drive home. Again I want to say thank you to all the nurses and doctors for all their help and caring, we wouldn't be here without them. All our family and friends, we really appreciated all the prayers,calls and support. We couldn't phone in the NICU, so please understand that we weren't ignoring your calls and love you all! Thank you Ryan for your love and tender understanding and support. I am so grateful for your priesthood and your example of faith and prayer. Thanks to all that helped with the boys and to Mom for being here for a week... of food, cleaning,playing school teacher and for just being you!
NOW HOME AND BACK TO REALITY !