Jaelyn's Hand Surgery

Jaelyn had hand surgery yesterday. :( For those who didn't know, she was born with an extra digit. Or in other words, an extra thumb. It was what the doctors call a "trickle effect" from her heart condition. They say that when you have something as serious as her heart condition, they will sometimes have this trickle effect of other things going wrong. She was also born with only one kidney and only until after she was born did we notice her extra thumb. 

In the delivery room, there were so many people (docs, nurses, etc) in anticipation for Jae's delivery, and so much anxiety and emotions that were running... I mean, I can't explain how overwhelming it was to give birth to this angel. It was SO important to me to be able to hold her right after delivering, but only if everything was looking good for her. I was blessed enough to hold her for a few short seconds before they swept her off to the nicu. While George went with her, I was left to recover (which I HATED) and texting was all I had to stay close to them. I was asking all about her, how she was doing, what they were doing. "TELL ME EVERTHING!" I texted. A few minutes passed and George texted me; "She has an extra finger digit. I call dibs!" ..... Now imagine the minion from Despicable Me saying. "Whaaat?" 

I thought he was joking. Literally, a straight up joke. I didn't find it funny. It was fine if it was true, but it didn't seem real, only because we had countless amounts of ultrasounds. I'd be surprised if we missed it. Sure enough I saw it for myself a couple hours later! It was just one more thing to add to her beautiful and very special body. Anyway, surgery went flawlessly. Finally one surgery that went her way!! She did amazing! I'm so freaking proud of her!!!

CHRISTMAS 2012

  I've been really, really excited for Christmas this year. I mean, really excited. I guess having a kid helps to bring back the magic of Christmas. I couldn't wait for Jaelyn to wake up and see the lights from the Christmas tree and the shiny presents that lied beneath. I about peed my pants every time I'd think about it. I wanted a color theme this year and I loved how it turned out.

On Christmas Eve we read scriptures together and ended the night with the book, The Night Before Christmas. I read it pretty animatedly, so Jae thoroughly enjoyed it. There was something about the feeling that I got at that moment, as we sat there enjoying the illumination from the tree and watching Jaelyn. George put his arm around me and we basked in the spirit and the love that we had for each other as a family. We felt whole and at peace with our lives. That is how I want every Christmas to feel like, because that was a perfect night.  

After I put Jaelyn down and George and I went to bed, I waited for him to fall asleep. Then I snuck out and I put out the rest of the presents under the tree. I finally had a glimpse of what it felt like to be Santa! I loved the thought of being the person to put out the presents under the tree and set up the house for that glorious Christmas morning. I wanted to see the surprise on everyone's face as they saw the transformation from the night before to the morning of. I skillfully placed each present in a way to showcase its beauty. Each present was delicately wrapped to the best of my ability, and if I could toot my own horn, I would because for me, I did a pretty dang good job! I was one proud mama and wife that night. I slipped back into bed around 2AM and fell asleep. 

  That morning I woke up early to make George breakfast. I made some killer Mexicali Omelets (courtesy of my pops secret recipe) and waited for Jaelyn to wake up. 

  Well she finally did and she was one grumpy little girl. She was cutting a tooth so not much made her happy. But Merry Christmas Jaelyn, you have a new tooth!! That made tooth number four. She cut number three 2 days earlier. Poor thing. Aside from the let down of her being grumpy, she still enjoyed somewhat of the morning and enjoyed her new presents. She mostly wanted me to hold her, so I didn't get many pics. But I'll post what I did snap. We celebrated with George's family the day before and went over to my parents house later that day to open presents and celebrate. We had so much fun!

FotoFly Santa

For a couple of years I had known about this place that did these really cute pictures at Christmas time up at Thanksgiving Point (& now at Scheels) where you can dress up as Santa so your kid doesn't end up totally and completely traumatized.. well I did them this year!! I was so ecstatic! I remember calling my sister and telling her about this place while I was in Arizona without a baby yet, and trying to convince her to take her kids there. It was too cute to pass up! It's called FotoFly Santa and deserves some kind of "Best Of.." award. Kicking it off for the first year, I was the one dressed up as Santa. I loved the idea of doing this as opposed to having a billion kids (sick and what not) sitting on Santa's lap at the mall, all the crying, screaming, fussing and of course the lines. Anyway, enough about the details.. here are the cute pics!! 

Halloween 2012

Jaelyn has officially cut her first teeth. One on Sunday and another on Monday. Back to back. She's one tough chick! I have to say, it is darling though. She's been sleeping through the night up until these babies came out. Now she'll wake up shrieking in the middle of the night in pain. I feel so bad for her. Hopefully it'll get more and more bearable as time passes.





On Halloween, George and I decided to dress up. I was an evil fairy and George was one of those cool guys with the 2nd skin. He looked awesome. Jaelyn was a cute little kitty. She was so stinking cute! Here are a few pics:

We had a wonderful time getting to see everyone all dressed up. I was thoroughly impressed with everyone's costumes. We had Wolverine (Cody), Effie Trinket (Cody's girlfriend, Tara), A football (Tyler), Domingo Ayala (Gentry), A cool white ninja (Drew), 2  gorgeous princesses (Katie and Kylie), a darling scarecrow (Paisley), and the awesome Iron Man (Roman)! Hopefully next year we'll be able to take Jae trick-or-treating. (We didn't want her to get sick this year, since she's so fragile from surgery and didn't see much point since she can't even eat the candy.) Hopefully you all enjoyed yourselves this Halloween as much as we did!

I have a feeling we'll be cooped up in the house again this cold and flu season, so I better get to crafting! Pinterest, I'm sure, will become my best friend! A fellow heart mom recommended this poem to display at my house for those people that visit others when they're sick. Hopefully people will respect it so we can keep away from all the sicknesses out there.

2 years and still kickin it!

The world has grown suspicious of anything that looks like a happily married life. For what it's worth, I want to keep them on their toes.

Graduated July 14th, 2012 from Western Governors University in Marketing Management

My husband is hands down, the HARDEST WORKING PERSON I KNOW. When Jaelyn was born, he had a heck of a job to finish his college classes by the end of May and be able to graduate by July. He had put off his hard classes for the last 3 months (expecting to use during his paternity leave) but with all that came with Jaelyn's birth, you could only imagine how difficult it was to be dealing with the stress and stay focused at the same time. But George amazingly finished his undoubtedly difficult business classes in the wake of Jaelyn's open heart surgery while in the hospital and during our move to Utah (in which he practically did all of, since I stayed with Jae.) He just graduated last week and has made me one awfully proud wife.
George doesn't just stop there. He has a full time job working for an inventory software company (Fishbowl Inventory) and works with his own clients on the side doing SEO (search engine optimization) and social media with his business Netdawg. He has taken on jobs to be able to secure me as a full time mom, wife and homemaker. To be able to pay for our very expensive (but TOTALLY worth it) daughter and her medical bills, and for the pleasure and satisfaction of seeing the fruit of his labors. In turn for myself, I see him becoming what will hopefully and I'm sure will be, (TBMOE) the best marketer on earth!
 George continues on to his now favorite role as a father. He has gone above and beyond of what I ever expected my husband to be as the father of my child. Jaelyn can't help but smile at him every time he comes

home from work. You can definitely tell she's missed him throughout the day. If I had to think of one word that summed up their relationship-- it would be laughter. Almost every time I see them together, George is making her laugh and of course he can't help himself either. Laughter comes so easily with him. Between the two of them, it's the sweetest sound I've come to know.

July 15th, 2010

This July, we mark the 2 year anniversary of when George and I married. Of when I became the smartest version of myself, and said yes to the man I love so dearly. He has made my life so much more complete than I ever could have attempted by myself.

July 15th, 2011

July 15th, 2012

George- people often say, "I can't imagine my life without you!" Well, I've put that to the test and stopped to think about what it would be like for me. And when I think about it.. I'm unhappy and let down. I saw myself trying to fill the void of a man that could not possibly be filled by anyone other than you. I saw myself in a world of hurt and endless torment of single life dating. lol. I am so grateful to you for your hard work to provide for our family, I'm grateful for the wonderful relationship we've had, I'm grateful for you being the daddy to my daughter in the best possible way, and I'm grateful for your fun personality and keeping things light in tough situations. I remember when I first talked to you on the phone. We talked for hours, in laughter and happiness. Thank you for keeping that alive in our marriage. President Monson said, "Choose your love. Love your choice." I just can't believe I made such an amazing decision. Thank you for being my forever love and my best friend. And thank you so much for the best two years of my life. I love you so much Cowboii!

BEADS OF COURAGE

The Beads of Courage program is something special. In fact, it's a gift. After Jaelyn was life flighted to Phoenix Children's Hospital, we were checked into and set up with a billion and one things to know, to do, and to have. As things slowed down a bit and we were able to process everything, I noticed a booklet and a bag with a few beads inside. It was the Beads of Courage program. The hospital quietly set us up with this wonderful program to help us remember Jaelyn's experience. This booklet had already been marked up and dated with which beads Jaelyn had already earned. With these beads we're able to tell a story of what she's had to endure and how she fought through her heart condition with the odds against her. They'll be a teaching tool for us to show Jaelyn as she grows older and starts to understand it all. And I'm sure eventually, she'll take these to school one day for "Show and Tell" and explain them to her friends and classmates. It's a beautiful idea, these beads. They'll be a physical reminder to her as she goes throughout other struggles and trials that she'll be okay, because once before she's conquered this.

3 Month Photos & Update

JAELYN AT 3 MONTHS

How darling is she? I cannot get enough of her!!! We had her 3 month photos done by Armi Gorrell and she did a wonderful job. Here's a few of my favorites:

 

UPDATE:

 Last week Jaelyn had her cardiology appointment where we did a chest x-ray and found some fluid in her lungs. She also had blood labs drawn and showed high potassium levels. So she was admitted to Utah Valley Hospital for that and a need for inserting a feeding tube. We were sent home a day later and sent up to Primary Children's Medical Center a couple days after that. She needed to be monitored since we had put her on Lasix for the fluid in her lungs, and Enalipril for her heart. We found in an echocardiogram that the left side of her heart (the good side) wasn't functioning as well as they would like it to. Apparently that's a typical thing to happen in situations like hers, since that side tries to compensate for the other side. We were able to get discharged on Mother's Day which was a wonderful gift! So then at this week's cardiology appointment we decided that we'll place a heart cath within the next few weeks to find out more about the heart and to see how ready she is for surgery. As of now, Dr. Hoffman is thinking her next surgery will probably happen mid to late July. Hopefully we'll get answers soon. The unknown is killing me.