Crazy Boys!

I do not know why my boys think it is okay to keep getting injured but they do. Erik had his 1st major injury the day before his birthday. He fell at or back door and cut his eyebrow and had to get dermabond. When it was time to come off I had no other choice but to pull it off so he ended up with 1/2 an eyebrow.

Then just a few weeks ago he fell and hit his head and ended up with a nice goose egg in the middle of his forehead. It looked like he had a 3rd eye.

This past Sunday at nursery AJ and another little kid collided going for the same toy. After a 4hr trip to urgent care he got 2 stitches. He got them taken out today and he did great.

Family Visit!

For Erik's 1st birthday my Grandma and her new husband Monty drove all the way out here to Vegas from Indiana! I was so happy that they both were able to come. Since they were coming my sister her 5 kids and 2 of my cousins came down from Utah. We had a blast. We were able to check out some old stuff of my Moms and of my Grandmas when she was a kid. I just love looking at old pictures and love it even more when they are of my own family. I learned a lot of things about my Grandma that I never knew and am glad that I had a chance to learn them. We did not do too much while they were here. Mostly just talked and caught up(even though I talk to my them almost everyday.) We of course had Erik's birthday party, we went to the strip and saw a few of the hotels and that was about it. While they were here Monty put a celing fan in our living room which I am soo happy about. I have had to run the air a lot less lately. When they left I of course was sad as I only see them every few years. This has made Arli and I almost decide (we keep going back and forth about it) that we will move to Indiana with in the next few years. Like I said it is now back up in the air and we have no clue if we will or not. I love my family but I also love my ward family and all of the friends and family that I have here. There is also the fact that the only best friend/family of Arli's lives here in Vegas and I would feel horrible about him leaving his family for me. So we are once again putting this on hold and will decide in a few years what we will do. Thank you to everyone who came out here. We know you traveled a long way but we are so glad that you did. We love you all so much.

Happy Birthday Arli!

Today is Arli's 44th birthday. He says 39th but it's not. I am so thankful to have him in my life. He is the best man, husband, father and friend I have ever had. I do not know what I would do without him. He is such a strong man and with his help we have been able to go through the toughest thing any parent could ever go through. And I look up to him in so many ways. As you can tell if you do not already know Joslynn died 4days before his birthday. So he really does not like to celebrate it anymore. But he does and I will never know how it is to be in his shoes having that situation. But am very thankful that he does celebrate it. The way he plays with the boys is so funny. He always knows how to make them and me laugh at just the right moment and just the right time. I love you so much honey and can not wait to see what our life has in store for us as the years go on.
I love you!

For some reason blogger is not letting me upload pics. so this post will have to be pictureless. :(

3 years without you

Today is Joslynn's angel day. It has been one of the hardest days since she left us 3yrs ago. Even harder than her past angel days. I do not know why but for some reason every time I have looked at the clock today I have remembered what we were doing 3yrs ago. From waking up, breakfast, we had her favorite fruity pebbles, playing, lunch chicken nuggets, taking Arli to work and stopping by the park on the way home. she always loved playing at the park and just running around. Then coming home and playing some more, to the moment I put her down for her last nap ever. I still wish I had not done that. Even now as I am writing this I remember what we were doing. We were at the hospital saying goodbye. Something we never wanted to do. I remember everyone who was there, me, Arli, my mom, sister, aunt Susan, cousin Kristi and Arli's best friends Ken and Pattie. How we all held her and never wanted to let her go. How we all took our turns and kept passing her back and forth to each other want just 1 last chance to hold her. It lasted until about midnight and none of us wanted to leave. I can still remember every ones faces so vividly. Something I wish to never ever see again.

On days like today I do not know how I have made it this long. But I am so happy to know that I have found my way to get back to her. That she is up there waiting for all of us to be with her again. That we are a forever family and nothing can break that.

I do not want this post to be all sad. So I will end it with some of my favorite memories of her. She loved taking baths and the water. She was like a little fish I could not get her out. She would even dunk her head all by herself. She had the biggest most beautiful brown eyes ever with long eyelashes. I do not think I have ever seen a baby with that long of eye lashes. She loved spending time with her Daddy and would just glow when he was around. He was also the only man that she liked for a long time. She would always cry when a man came around who was not her Daddy. She was always happy I do not think that she was ever upset. I take that back. She did have like 2 temper tantrums in her life. One was that she could not get a bath and the other was that I had to wash her blankie. She loved her swing and slide. She would always try to walk down the slide instead of sliding down. But she never got hurt and would just laugh and laugh. She also thought we were not saving enough money for her so she thought it would be a good idea to hoard some change in her hiding spot and then eat it because her hiding spot was not good enough. I found a total of $.93 in her hiding spot plus she swallowed 24 cents. She was the best baby from the beginning. The night in the hospital she only woke up once! I was up at every little noise that came from her of course. It is so funny how everything changes when you are a mom. I was the hardest sleeper in the world until that night in the hospital. I mean she would the smallest noise and I would be at her side. I could go on and on about how many times she made us laugh and how much joy she brought into our lives. I love you so much baby girl. You are with us everyday and we miss you so much. I can not wait for the time where we can be together again and I can hold you in my arms one more time and watch you grow. I love you!

Erik's party

Erik had a blast at his birthday party and got a ton of gifts. I am so glad that my Grandma and Monty were able to make it out here all the way from Indiana. And of course my sister all of her kids and my two cousins who all live in Utah. We love it when we can all get together as it is not too often. Erik loves everything he got and plays with all of the toys. His favorite is the little farm thing my Mom got him and my favorite is the picture collage of him enjoying his cake that my friend Tiffany did for me. As you can see he enjoyed his buzz lightyear cake. He did not eat as much of it as I thought he would but that was fine with me.
We are thankful for every moment we get to spend with Erik and especially all of the milestones that has occured in this last year. You are such a wonderful son and I can not wait to watch you grow into a young man. (Well maybe I can. But I will enjoy watching you do so.)
Mommy.
Thank you to all who came and shared this special day with us.

Erik's 1st Birthday!

It is hard to believe that Erik is 1! he is getting so big. We could not imagine our lives with out him. He loves to play with AJ. I love watching them grow together. They are the best of friends. Erik is such a handfull. All of the things that my other kids never got into he gets into. Nothing is safe from him. He is also my first to climb out of his crib! Arli thinks we should switch him to a toddler bed early. But I am just not ready for that one. He is such an attention getter. He will do anything to get your attention and loves anyone who gives it to him. It seems like everywhere we go people comment on his skin and his big eyes.

Hair-dark brown

Eyes-dark brown

Height-29.5in

Weight-21.5lbs

Likes-Any food but his favorites are water melon, apples, oranges, pears and frozen grapes, all of his big toys, anything AJ has, swimming, baths as long as you do not pour water on his head, walking around, babbling, getting attention, getting into things he is not supposed to get into, reading, playing with Daddy, Mommy and AJ, car rides, going outside to play, bubby's 4 wheeler and going over to Nannies house.

Dislikes-getting told no, nap time, bed time, finishing his food, getting his diaper changed and getting dressed.

Look at what I can do-walk, feed myself, use a sippy cup and water bottle, say more, up, hi, bye-bye and da da and climb out of my crib.

Happy 1st Birthday Erik!

This will not be a full post of Erik's birthday because it is almost midnight and I do not have all the pictures of the day yet. But I did want to get this done before midnight since today was his actual birthday. We had a blast and he of course got spoiled. We love you Erik! Happy 1st birthday big guy!

This is my favorite present from my friend Tiffany. She took these pics last week. They turned out great!

Ice cream you scream.....

We all scream for ice cream! The other day while I was talking with my sister Michelle on face book AJ decided he would get the ice cream that I left out on the counter top. He had a blast eating and playing in it. But boy did he make a mess. Erik even decided to join in the fun. Erik even tried to crawl away but of course since he was in a puddle of ice cream he could not crawl to well and kept sliding around. They sure did love playing in it together. They obviously do not do anything like this so I let them enjoy it for awhile. Plus it gave me plenty of time to take pictures and videos.

Update on Erik

So I have finally gotten a chance to write about Erik's sleep study. He does have sleep apnea. But it is upper respiratory and his oxygen saturation levels do not drop during the spells. His longest one was 6 seconds long and he had 6 episodes in 1hr. After a few calls back and forth between doctors they are pretty sure it is caused by acid reflux and he is now on zantax and in a few months we will re evaluate the whole situation. I guess that means another sleep study. I did ask the dr if this could have been what caused Joslynn's death. But they are not 100% sure because we never were able to do a sleep study on her, but that it is a possibility.

Water fun!

Since it is summer and it is 100+ outside we have been to pools and water parks like crazy. AJ really does not like to swim so we usually go to water parks. He can play for hours in the water. And sometimes does not want to leave. And Erik well to say he loves water is an understatement. He love, Love, LOVES the water. The first time Arli and I took the boys to the water park was super fun. We all got wet. I love it when we have our family fun days. Every other care in the world just goes away for the whole day.

AJ wanted me to twirl him the whole time

Erik sat in the wrong place at the right time. I love this picture his face is priceless.

Later that same week my Mom and I took the boys to the rec. center. The one on her side of town has a Mommy and me swim in the outside pool. Only Moms and kids 8 and under can get in. Erik once again loved it. The water starts out at 0ft and goes to I think 2.5-3ft. Well Erik kept crawling from the 0ft until his face would be in the water and still try to go farther. AJ on the other hand did not like it. He had a life jacket on and still did not want to barley put his feet in.

Nannie and the boys

Erik trying to crawl away

To me AJ's face says it all.

My friend Tiffany and I have been getting our kids together for some fun swim/play dates lately. We have gone swimming here at my house and at the water park where Arli and I took the boys. Both times we had the park and pool to ourselves. There were a few kids at the park. But it was when we were about to leave. When at the pool she got some really good pictures of AJ jumping into the pool which hardly ever happens. But they turned out so good. It is so nice that our kids are sort of close in age. Close enough to love playing together. She also takes the BEST pictures I have ever seen. I would love to take that good of pictures. But I have a long way to go.

My little swimmer

I love these next 2 of Erik they turned out great!


Best Friends

1...2...3....jump!

Happy 4th birthday Joslynn

Today Joslynn would have been 4yrs old. I can not believe how fast time has gone by. This year I put a video of her together and am going to post it. But as I was watching my home videos of her it reminded me of so many wonderful times. Like meeting her cousins for the first time. She had such a fun time, never even cried. Even though she may have been just a little bit cranky that night since her Aunt Emily gave her so many new foods to try (not to my liking I may add). Her first bath in a real bath tub with cousin Malaki. He was not to happy but she sure was. It is hard for me to remember too many times when she wasn't happy. Then there was the time when we went down to Mesquite for the family Christmas party. Aunt Kristi was the only one who got her to go to sleep. She got so many wonderful things that Christmas. She was totally spoiled. Meeting my Dad and Grandma was so great. She loved it. They came out for her 1st Easter and of course brought a ton of goodies for her. I just wish they could have had more time to know each other. I was so fortunate to get a few of her milestones on video. She started crawling on her 9mo birthday while we were on vacation in San Diego. I was sort of like the army crawl. She only did that for a few weeks then went straight to walking. Never really crawled. She did this really funny thing when she first learned to walk. She would run like 5-8 steps and then fall right on her face, get back up and run again. We bought her a pool that we put on our back patio. She loved that thing. Always wanted to go outside and swim and never wanted to come back inside. She was defiantly a Daddy's girl. He was the only guy that she liked she hardly would go to any other guy. Aside from her Uncle Kenton. She also would scream as soon as Arli put on a pair of sunglasses. It was so funny she would be happy again as soon as he took them off. She was a Mommy's girl too. When we would go down to my sisters in St. George, or when they would come here, It had to be Mommy holding her. I loved that and I miss that.

Joslynn,

It has been another year and you did help me make it through this last year with out you. It is hard to believe that you would be 4! That is just crazy. I see kids who are your age and wonder how well you would play with them and how you could be great friends. As you were always happy and would light up any room you stepped into. You are a wonderful big sister. I know you are watching over your little brothers. I sometimes hear AJ talking when Erik is asleep and nothing is on, and I know that he is talking with you. Erik looks so much like you, I remember shortly after we brought him home how Daddy said he is more worried about him(as a baby) than AJ because he looks just like you. I know you were there when he was born looking out for us. And I know that you were looking out for Erik a few weeks ago. I love you so much baby girl and can not wait for us to be together again. We miss you so much and love you so much.
You always were and always be our little princess. We love you baby girl.
Love you forever and always,
Mommy, Daddy, AJ and Erik

Right after Joslynn passed away a coworker of Arli's suggested making a blanket of all of her clothes. So after almost 3yrs, 2 kids and my Mom's help it is done. It turned out great. It looks a lot better in person. But here it is.

This year I made the boys these shirts that say "Happy Birthday Sissy" on the front and on the back it says "Joslynn Sky Ma 8-17-2005 to 10-10-2006" They turned out great and I think I will try to make them every year. We also sent her balloons just like we do every year. This year I did it a little bit different and sent her 4 balloons from each of us. We went over to my friend Lisa's house so I got some for her and her older kids to send to Joslynn too. Arli and I are sending more balloons tonight after he gets off of work but not as many, just 1 from each of us.

Here is a video of Joslynn that I made.

Sleep study nightmare

So because of the other night Erik had to have a sleep study done. The doctor put a rush on it and got him in last night. It was horrible! They had to hook up a whole bunch of wires and he did not like it one bit. They said that the kids they have done this to before did alright and once the wires were on and he was asleep the wires would stay on. They were wrong! Our appointment was at 8:45 and he did not get fully hooked up until about 12:30-12:45am! As soon as he would fall asleep they would get a few of the wires on then he would wake up roll around and then get tangled up in all of the wires. They were everywhere around his arms, neck, stomach, and legs. It was scary. And the most important thing he needed on, the nasal cannula, he would not keep on. I finally had to hold him down so they could tape it on to him. Thankfully he did keep them on for about an hour and a half to two hours. They were supposed to get 6hrs of sleep study. Where he was sleeping in REM sleep or dream sleep. They only got 1! So hopefully they will be able to get what ever they needed to see why he stopped breathing the other night.

This is how it was all night. Every time we would try to untangle him would wake up and then get tangled all over again. The wire he has a death grip on in his hand is his nasal cannula. He would not let us keep that on him for anything. All the little gold things on the wires should be on his head.

Daddy untangling Erik for what seemed like the thousandth time.

A VERY big thank you to the makers of this baby monitor it really does save lives

My handsome little man who is safe and sound now.



I have blogged about our baby monitor before. But I feel it needs a new post as it saved Erik's life last night. For those that do not know it is a special monitor that goes under his crib mattress and monitors breathing movements and any other movements in the crib. After no movements for 20 seconds it sets off an alarm. Well that is exactly what happened. At 4:40am it went off. Arli got to him first and said as soon as he picked him up he was breathing again. After talking with Arli this morning we figured out that he was smothering in his blanket. (I just thought I would edit this after talking with Arli again he said Erik was not in the blanket the blanket was near him. But not near his face.) After Joslynn died we stop putting anything in the cribs except for a blanket because we keep the house freezing at night. I never thought that a blanket could do that to a baby who is able to roll. I know they say no big thick blankets when they are little. But I thought 10 mo he would be ok. But I was wrong and I am so thankful that we have this monitor. It is so hard to think of what we would be going through again if not for it. I recommend this to any Mommy with infants out there. I just thought I would edit this after talking with Arli again he said Erik was not in the blanket the blanket was near him. But not near his face.

Here is the babysense V movement sensor monitor. The BEST baby monitor out there.

http://www.babysafeus.com/Products/BabysenseV/HowItWorks.aspx

Picnic in the living room

At the beginning of the month AJ and Erik had a picnic in the living room. Well it was actually a bedtime snack. But they loved it as it is a treat for them to do it. Since then we have had a few more picnics in the living room. Even had friends over to join us. But it was so crazy that day that I forgot to take pictures.

Potty Training

So this is late. But over July 4th weekend we tried the 3day potty training program. I really love this program. It has so many good reviews and stories from friends. But at this moment for AJ it did not work. They want you to keep giving the child fluids all day long. But after 2 sippies AJ refused to drink anything. We are continuing to potty train him. Although I have slacked over the last few weeks. But he loves to wear his big boy undies and sitting on the potty. He has now started to let me know when he is poopy or peed. He waddles. It is so funny. He even wants Erik to wear big boy undies. So hopefully by the time my Grandma gets out here he will be out of diapers.

AJ wanted me to put undies on his and Erik's head. He is such a silly boy.

But he did not want his picture taken.

Erik was not to impressed with bubby's idea.

As you can tell from the pictures of AJ that he is not my picture boy anymore. He runs and starts to cry after the 3rd or 4th picture.