Happy Halloween

We went to a church Halloween party tonight. The girls were dressed as angels - my precious little angels. I dressed as an angel and Thomas, well he was the tooth fairy. The pictures say it all. We had a good time!

Haley and Rachel - my little angels


Me and the girls


Thomas and the girls


The tooth fairy. I love the tutu!




Haley having fun in the plastic cauldron


Rachel didn't enjoy sitting in the cauldron as much as Haley.

Date night

Thomas and I finally had our first date night out tonight since the girls have been home. This was a long time awaited night out. We have been wanting to get out for a while, but was hesitant to leave them with anyone. We decided it was time to take the night off and put our trust in a good friend to watch the girls. It's always kind of nerve racking to leave the girls, although we left them in great care. Our good friend happens to be a nurse. She is a great person and is so good with them. We are so grateful for her. She is so good with them. We really enjoyed our time out. We joined some good friends from our church for BBQ and a boat ride on Lake Houston. We had so much fun! We were able to recharge our batteries. We look forward to the next time we have the opportunity to have a date night.

Thomas and I after the boat ride


Thomas and our bishop


Of course I don't want to leave the girls out on this post. They are doing well and continue their daily routine with therapists. Rachel is getting closer and closer to crawling. Haley is getting closer to sitting unassisted. They are getting stronger and are more active. They are growing. Rachel is 17 pounds 5oz and Haley is 15 pounds 9oz. Haley is getting her 5th tooth. We are still waiting for Rachel to get more teeth. She currently only has her two bottom ones. Not much else new going on.

Rachel putting her toes in her mouth


Rachel looking cute


Rachel and Haley after their bath. They get one hour a day out of their helmets.


Haley sitting on daddy's belly

Girls 1 year old / Family photos

Here are the girls 1 year old photos that were taken back in August. We also did family photos at the same time. We had these pictures taken by Mark and April Condiff (www.condiffphotography.com) who did our wedding pictures almost 4 years ago. They do such a great job. Enjoy!

Never Ending Love

Today (Oct 11) marks the 1 year anniversary of our sweet Ashlyn's passing away and her return to our loving Heavenly Father. Also the 1 year mark has come and gone for when Dallin (Aug 6), Kaitlyn (Aug 8) and Braden (Aug 19) passed away. When the 1 year anniversary of each of them came, I couldn't get myself to write about it. Now I would like to share my thoughts and feelings. I miss so very much my precious children who have passed, all 6 of them. The 2 year anniversary of the passing of Brian and Brendan was September 24. I think of them often and wonder what they would look like, what their personalities would be like and what it would be like to raise them. I do know that I will get to see them again and raise them some day. That is Thomas and I's goal to live worthy so that when that day does come we will have proven ourselves worthy to raise all our children who have gone on before us. I know that the Lord has prepared a way for that. That is one of the greatest pieces of knowledge that I possess. They will always be my precious little angels and I'm so grateful to be their mother. My love for them is never ending.

My dear mother gave me this beautiful necklace for my birthday. I love her so very much. This necklace means so much to me. It has all the names of my children engraved on it. One side are all my daughters names and on the other side is all my sons names. I'm so proud to be the mother of these precious 8 children. I'm so grateful and blessed to have Rachel and Haley here on this earth with me. They mean everything to me.

What's New

The girls seem like they are progressing very slowly from a developmental stand point though they are progressing which we are grateful for. They are doing some new things lately.

Haley
Haley has started putting her toes in her mouth. She is getting closer to sitting without assistance. She's not crawling yet, but we are working on that. She is such an active little girl and doesn't like to sit still. She is quick to roll over whenever we put her on the floor. Haley is "verbal" and loud. You know when she is near. I have tried her on some stage 2 baby foods and she's doing ok with them. She is still a picky eater, but I can get her to eat some veggies when I feed them to her along side some fruit. Haley is a very slow grower and is only 15 pounds 5oz. She is definitely short for her adjusted age of 10.5 months (<5 percentile). Despite what she has not accomplished yes, we are so grateful to the Lord for little Haley. She brings so much joy and happiness to Thomas and I. We just love and adore her, she is a happy little girl with so much energy.

Haley putting her toes in her mouth




Rachel
Rachel finally got her glasses. Her glasses are definitely not thick like Haley's. She got a little scared when we first put them on her and she didn't seem to care for them, but the more she has been wearing them, the more she has accepted them. She does try to pull them off sometimes, but I think she realizes also that she can see better with them on. Rachel has really started to move much more lately. She is trying to crawl and is rolling all around the floor. We put her on the floor in one spot, we turn our back and then find her across the room. We are really having to watch what we have on the floor near her because she will grab anything and everything and put it in her mouth. Rachel is still not eating baby foods well. We have been trying to feed her everyday, but she just doesn't care for food in her mouth. She loves to put all kinds of things in her mouth, but when it comes to food, she doesn't care for it. All her nutrition is through her g-button. Her current weight is 17 pounds. Rachel is not sitting by herself yet. Rachel has also been more "verbal" lately. I'm sure it has a lot to due with her getting those ear tubes. Her hearing most likely has improved. We are grateful for all the different therapist who come in to work with her and Haley. We owe so much to them for their hard work with the girls. We are so grateful to have Rachel in our home. She brings so much happiness and joy to our family.

Rachel with her new pink glasses


Rachel trying to crawl


We are so blessed to have these beautiful girls. They are the greatest blessings to us. Thanks be to God for our sweet Rachel and Haley. They have been the greatest thing to happen to us.

Both girls with their pink glasses and helmets


Rachel and Haley both wanting the same toy. They are starting to interact more with each other.

No more feeding tube!

It has been 2 weeks since we pulled out Haley's nasogastric (feeding) tube and we have not had to put it back in. Yeah! She has been drinking her bottles well and eating baby food well. Though Haley doesn't really care for the meats, vegetables or plain rice cereal, she loves the fruit. I can't believe she already has a sweet tooth! Being a dietitian, I'll have to put some of my skills to work and try to prevent some not so healthy eating behaviors early. I really don't want her to become a picky eater. I won't give up on giving her the baby foods she doesn't care for. I'm going to keep trying and hopefully she will eventually accept them. Despite her preference for sweet fruits, I'm so proud of her for not needing the feeding tube anymore and is doing so well with drinking her bottles. Each achievement leads to more progression. Way to go Haley!