Baby blessing and family

We decided to bless Quinnley at 3 weeks old, so that most of our family could come over their spring break.

The week before though I got a call from her pediatrician telling me one of her screens from the hospital had come back with an irregular result.  She  told me it was the screen test for SCIDs (Severe Combined Immuno-Defiency or Bubble boy syndrome) and she told me not to look it up on the internet.  Who can resist these days.  The things I read were more than a little shocking and scary.  Most baby's who are not tested and treated in the first six months die within the first year.  The treatment for it is usually a bone marrow transplant.  I sat there holding that baby and thinking how can someone so sick possibly look so healthy.    They sent us to National Jewish Hospital for more testing.  All the nurses looked at us like we were the ones who were sick and they expected us to pass out any minute.  The head Dr was nice and very straight forward with us.  He told us the chances of her having SCIDs were minimal and we would worry about it only if her results came back positive.  Then came the really fun part.  They needed to draw blood. . .. 4 vials of it.  How can they take that much out of a newborn???  They barely have that much.  It took them 4 pokes with lots of wiggling that needle around to get it all (5 different nurses had to try it).  Poor Quinnley screamed the whole time and I just cringed inside holding her.  They said it would take 3 weeks to get back all the results and that no news was good news for us.  However, the resident doctor called 2 days later to tell us she didn't have SCIDs.  I was so grateful and so relieved.  I had been willing to go through the challenge if that is what Our Heavenly Father wanted for us, but I was so grateful for Quinnley not to have to go through it.

The following weekend my family came for the blessing.  All of my brothers and sisters except one were able to make it.  The church was packed.  So was our house.  It was wonderful!

The girls had a spa party.  We put on face masks.  Most of them weren't too sure about that.  And we painted  nails.  They liked that part.

They spent plenty of time in the sandbox.  (Kadence and Seriah)

Uncle Tegan taught them all to play Baku-gan.

Cragun and Maizy watching the Baku-gan game.

Cute Mr. Treyson "Is it my turn?"

The cousins had a great time playing together.  The adults had a great time socializing.
 On Monday, those who stayed all trekked down to Colorado Springs for some site seeing.  We drove through Garden of the Gods and then headed for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  I have lived here in Colorado for eight years and had never been to either place.  Garden of the Gods is free and the zoo most definitely is not!  My dad got the military discount even though he hasn't been in the military for as long as I can remember.  That helped alot.  It is a remarkable zoo and you get a great workout as you have to climb up the side of the mountain (thus the name) to see all animals.  The highlight had to be the giraffes though.  The giraffe enclosure is surrounded on two sides by a platform so that patrons are on eye level with them.  And for a dollar you can feed the giraffes.  One of the best dollars we ever spent. We would go back just to do that again!

Quinnley's arrival!

So the month of January and most of February seemed interminable waiting for that little girl to get there.  My midwife didn't think I would make it another week after my 39 week appointment.  But I did. . . I made it two weeks (13 days and 12 hours but who's counting).  The Friday that she was born I woke up at three in the morning having strong contractions every 15 minutes.  That lasted for 4 hours and then quit.  We had a docs appointment that morning and we were hoping she would just induce us right then.  She didn't.  So through out the day I would have spells of contractions and then they would quit.  I had them all the way through dinner time consistently every 12 minutes and then they quit and 9.  So I went to bed.  At 10 :45 they were back very strong.  Not very consistent at first and then consistently every 3 minutes for 20 minutes which is when I got Jake out of bed.  And he rushed around the room gathering stuff.  It was a good thing Zephanie was there so we didn't have to drop kiddos off.  I had them consistently all the way to the hospital I couldn't even dial the phone or walk into the hospital.  I had to stop every 10 feet and breathe.  Someone brought us out a wheel chair but nobody at the front desk called up to the delivery floor to let them know we were there.  Quinnley Noelle was born only 30 minutes after we got to the hospital.  I went natural (naturally there was no time for an epidural).  For about 20 minutes it was really hard, but then she was born and recovery was so smooth.  She was by far our biggest baby at 8 lbs 13 oz.  She promptly made everyone's acquaintance by pooping on everyone and everything.  And she was loud.  I was sooooo happy to get her here.

So were her big sisters.  Kadence took right to mothering her and wanted to hold every chance she could get. Maizy was a little less sure but still wanted to hold her.  Kadence was awesome.  Maizy had about a week where she was into everything and needed extra attention.  Jake loves here but still isn't adjusted to having 3 kids. It makes us feel. . .  how should I say it . . . . old?  Hate to put that in print.  With just one you still feel like you are mostly newly weds and young parents but with three there is just no getting around the fact that you have been parents for awhile.
Well we are still not current yet but at least you know we have three kids so getting closer.  I will try to do better.  Signing off for today.

Once again, it has been an age since we have written anything.  It is my intention to do better.  So a recap of 2012 to this point.

In January (December technically)  Zephanie came to stay with us during her off track.  I was so grateful to have her here.  I was 7 months pregnant and having a struggle to keep up with kids and house work.  We were able to finish several projects together.  It was awesome.  We painted stripes in my bedroom, recovered a head board and two lamps and revamped two barstools into side tables.  She is so talented.  And I can honestly say, my house was the cleanest it has ever been for the longest.  Every time I turned around she was doing the dishes or laundry or vacuuming.
In February, Renae had a reception celebrating her marriage to Mario Botello.  Her reception was the day before I was due.  I was really hoping Miss Quinnley would decide to join us before the reception so we could show her off.  But she was more inclined not to.   The kids had a great time dancing at the reception .  I spent the Saturday before putting together the flowers for the tables and for the mantle.  We incorporated both pine and tulips for an early spring feel.  The piece hanging on the mantle was also one of mine.

We can't escape the boxes!

Wow a lot has happened since my last posting on here!  Let me give you a brief overview of life for our family.

#1.  We were not able to find a renter/buyer for our condo in Colorado so we ended up having to move back after 9 months of Iowa.  We had  a wonderful time there. We will miss our branch. :)

#2. We finally rented our condo about a month before returning to Colorado so ended up living with my parents for almost a year! (Oct- to Oct- just shy by like a week). Thank you Mom and Dad.

#3.  Jake finally found a job doing COBRA insurance.  I work for a company that does Flex Savings Accounts, Health Savings accounts- where you have to submit your receipts and file claims to get your money out... I work on the other side of the company doing COBRA- I"m the whole department and I love it! It has a lot of rules and regs, and crabby people so I'm used to it working in the mutual funds and stocks world.  I LOVE IT!!!  and for me a job that I can even stand is a keeper.

#4. Finally after months of searching we are back at it again and have moved into a new house.  We are renting a house just down the street from my parents. Its a good size home and a lot of work.  We are excited to change it all up (at the expense to the land lord).  The girls have a basement to put all their toys in, a back yard to play in and enough room to hold our newest expected arrival of our new baby girl in Feb! 

We are once again trying to get in the habit of writing on this blog.  So please bear with us as we make the transition.  Hope we post fun and exciting stories that you all will enjoy.

~Jake, Chantrie, Kadence, Maizy and Baby Q.

Too Hot in the Kitchen

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Most children would be fine with cold cereal.  Generally Kadence would too, except she can't mix anything so its not worth it.  

Kadence has really been into mixing and doing all sorts of things in the Kitchen. She helps with the dishes, and takes the salad dressing to the fridge- 3 bottles at once, and no she won't take them one at a time.
She is so willing to help.  Check out these two stories.

I"ll get you a snack Dad

If you know me at all, you  know that I'm always hungry and will eat prett much anything.  Often times I'll come home from work and say, "I want a snack" and head to the kitchen to see what I can find.  Kadence is always there because she knows that means she can have some of whatever I get.  Well Friday last week I had a really bad headache and came home to plop my head on the sofa.  Kadence asked if I needed her tummy medicine.  I told her I don't need any tummy medicine that my head hurt.  "Well you must need a snack. I'll go get you a snack." Not thinking anything of it and slipping further into my sofa I decided that I beter just go to my bed.  So I ploped myself down on my bed where Chantrie was at the computer.  A few mins later Kadence comes running in and makes that mmmm mmmm sound- not the this is great! but the where do I spit this out????  I look at her mouth and there is some brown/pink liquid running down the side, but it's got a powdery look to it, like when you add water to a mix but haven't got it mixed together yet.   I ask Chantrie (who hasn't turned around yet) "What do we have that's brown in our fridge?"  I sent Kadence to the kitchen to spit it out- (we tell her all the time not to spit something out, usually new foods that she's tasting.... not when something tastes horrible... we will have to work on that.  Come to find out, she was making me a snack.  It was yogurt- red something and she had found a drink mix that Chantrie's mom had made.  It looks like hot chocolate mix, but tates more like baking chocolate until you add it to other ingredence. I  laughed and thought had I eaten that snack, I would have taken her up on the tummy medicine!

Today Kadence decided to start her day off by making oatmeal for breakfast.  Apperently she decided that she didn't need to wait for Mommy to come back in the kitchen.  She pulled the hot water from the mirowave and spilled it all down her arm.  Take a look at this burn... blisters and all.
That reminds me.... we finally got our new camera after 3 failed attempts to get one that's worth anything we ended up ordering online and we love it.    So these are the first pics we got.

Here we are a month into our new adventure and I haven't even posted one thing.  That could be due to the fact that the internet out here is horrible!  Let me recap our moving experience for you all in highlights.

When we first arrived here late in the day, we went to the town hall so that someone would turn on our water.  It was cold, we had been in the car all night long- we drove from Denver starting at 2:00 am. We had to be in Inowa by 5 the next day.  A 13 hr trip- no problem except you change time zones and loose an hour.  :)

So we got to our home, which we hadn't even seen in person, and went off our realitors reccomendation.  We got here and turned on the water.  Little drips... then a little more and then nothing.  The water man came to the door and said..... did you turn it on?  Yes, we didn't get anything.  Come to find out that the water had not been shut off ever and with the line from the road to the street along with most of the house was frozen! Upon hearing this from the water man I quickly thought to myself Self, what would you normally do in a situation like this?  And self answered, Call Nick your brother of course! For a 6 pack of Dr. Pepper Nick would fix anything. >  Lucky for us Nick was the one driving the moving truck and was 20 mins from arriving.  Durnig that time the water man returned to his office to talk it over with others. 

Next thing I know, a woman appears at the end of my driveway and promptly announces that she "heard about my water problem and wanted to be the first to come over and let you know that we are going to get this taken care of.  I'm the mayor of this town, and I want you to feel welcomed and will do what we need to to get it fixed."  So we met the mayer of the town and I learned my first lesson.....

#1 IN A SMALL TOWN THEY ALL KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU IN 2 MINS. 
AND #2 THEY ARE MOST LIKELY RELATED TO THE PERSON YOUR GOING TO COMPLAINE ABOUT SO DON'T.

To finish the water highlight, the owner of our house (cause we are renting here until we get things figured out...) paid for us to stay in a hotel in town. and paid for our dinner as well.
The next day we learned that just the meator was broken, no pipes in the house and we had running water.  It started with a faster drip, then finally shards of ice broke through, and then chucks of ice cubes.  It took a while but we got it all fixed.

By the time we had water, there were 18 people at our house unloading our truck so fast I think it all ended up in the garage so I could sort through where I wanted everything.  They had us unloaded in about 30 mins, and had shoveled all our snow in the driveway and cleared a path for the back door access.  It was great!

Note on that point.  Each of our boxes had labels on them with rooms and a listing of the cjiooi      g nbgvglkvnn                              hkttgottttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhlikjjkjjjjjjjjjjjjjghughgubnontents (Kadence is adding her input).  When we moved in we didn't want to put anything inside because we didn't know if the pipes were busted or not.  So we slowly moved things in that we needed.  

We quickly noticed how much fun we were going to have in Iowa belonging to a small branch. (For all the  non mormon followers each area you live in has an assigned congragation.  A Branch is a small group 0-200 or so  and then you get a ward of about 300-600) That's a guss khiojuyhuhfg  - Ok so change of author Jake is going outside to shovel snow off our driveway).  I am not sure where he was going with this last line.  45 minutes after the men from our branch left the relief society president showed up with lunch and cleaning supplies ready to help clean the house and unpack us.  When we didn't put her to work she said she would be back with dinner.  So we had dinner that night and for the next two nights after.  It was so nice. 

A funny side note to our hotel experience:  It has been a joke at our house that they must eat lots of corn and bacon here since those are things they grow alot of.  So we go to dinnerour first night here and I asked if they had broccoli as a side dish for Kadence (she really likes broccoli)  the waiter says "No we don't have broccoli but we do have corn."

Is her hair wet?

Moving is such a great experience. I see why people live in their homes for years and years using the excuse that they don't want to uproot their children.... LIE it's because they are afraid of all the junk they have accumulated and having to sift through it if they did move.




With moving comes boxes, packing, cleaning, and of course painting. Chantrie and I have been having a great time getting this all together so we can make a quick move. The stress of moving can be felt by all members of the family including Kadence and Maizy. Maizy doesn't want to be put down for longer than 5 seconds and so Chantrie has resorted to using the baby backpack and putting her in so she can see all the things. That's keeping her busy and happy. Hard on Mom's back, but not as hard as her ears.



Kadence is having a little harder of a time with moving stress than Maizy. We were at our friends Jeff and Naomi house this last weekend. We had finished dinner and sent their girls 3,2 and our 3 year old up to play so we could attempt to watch a movie. You know the feeling when you get 7 mins of uninterrupted movie time and then it hits you..... the dreaded "it's too quiet up there"... and we turn to look up the stairs and here comes the 2 year old crawling down her stairs. Chantrie and I look at her and say, "Is her hair wet?" Upon further examination, it's not water but Bag Balm- a very nasty smelling thick hand cream. (Used to lube up the cow utters so they don't get chapped when milking... yep!)



Bag balm all over her hair. Globs of yellow covering ever hair follicle on that girls head. Also covered are Kadence and her friend. Pj's are covered, walls were just about to get touched when both Mom's reach the girls. Needless to say the movie night was over, and bath time was moved to the top of the list of things.



Kadence sat in the car squishing her fingers together the trip home because she has soo much of it on her body. "Don't touch anything" was her orders so she did the only other thing of constantly squishing the stuff through her fingers making squishy farting sounds.



It took 4 washes with dish soap, a few attempts with corn starch- which we had to unpack because we had just finished the kitchen. All in effort to make some of it come out.



Best part was we had church the next morning. Kadence looked like a greased rat the next day at church. Although she wasn’t alone in that adventure so when they stood together you just thought something was odd about them. Only alone did you really notice. :)





< UPDATE we have almost got it out of her hair a week or so later>

Pics to follow... :)