5 Months Old

This little cutie patutie is 5 months old today! Where has the time gone! I was so in love with him when he was born and I am even more in love with him now! He is so calm, sweet, happy, lovable, squeezable, easy, easy, easy! Did I mention he was easy? A dream baby! All I can say is... he is PERFECT! Heavenly Father new EXACTLY what our family needed and he was it. I will be forever grateful for you James!

We went for an evening swim tonight because it is still so stinkin HOT here! I think all of our 110 and above days this summer have come in the last two weeks! It is great that our pool still feels like bath water in September though! James loves the water. Actually we all do!

Some of James's Milestone:

*He has two bottom teeth

*Eating rice cereal and his first graham cracker (which did not sit too well, he won't be having those again soon)

*Scoots in circles on his back and tummy (has not rolled over yet)

*Talks to you (When you talk to him he waits until you stop and then talks back, lots of fun)

*Holds his own bottle

*Sleeps through the night

Canning Peaches

My friend Melissa and I spent the morning canning peaches. It was a morning full of great conversations, fulfillment and food storage! Oh, the life of a Homemaker!

1st day of School

Today was the first day of school for Haley, Scotty and Madeline. They started at a new school, Somerset Academy! They have a uniform dress code, thus the matching outfits. Everyone was a little sleepy, but excited this morning. The school is about 7 miles from our house and starts 15 minutes earlier than our old school, so we were up bright and early! We are (or should I say I am) turning over a new leaf. I set up routines for the kids and me, lists of daily chores, and my motto is to "DO IT NOW"! I am really hoping to make some permanent changes in myself and I know that my house will run smoother if I do. And I will be a good example to my kids of what I expect out of them. Because isn't example the best teacher??? Wish me Sucess! Enough about me...

Haley started 5th grade. She rotates teachers this year, but her homeroom teacher is Mrs. Metzel whom we love! She is one of my good friends. She has a son Scotty's age and a daughter a year older than Madeline, but is one of her best friends. Haley is super excited for this year. She has worked many hours this summer with Mrs. Metzel getting her classroom put together. She came home and told me she is every 5th grade teachers slave. She said the other teachers know her name and so they just call it out if they need something done. She is going to have a great year! Oh, she was in tears when she realized she would be wearing the same boring outfits everyday, so she came up with some accessories we are hoping will be acceptable wear (sequin belt, leggings, and cute flowers in her hair). We'll see how it goes!

Scotty is in 3rd grade this year. His teacher is Ms. Tsilis. She is a new teacher that graduated from the University of Utah (we will try not to hold that against her). He was not as enthusiastic about his first day as Haley was. I think he got bored of the many rules that were explained throughout the day.

I cannot believe my little Missy Moo is in Kindergarten! She has been so excited to go to school. She has been asking how many more days until Kindergarten since she turned 5 in February. Her teacher is Mrs. Tanner. She is just excited to finally be one of the big kids. She was scared for a few weeks in anticipation for the big day, however my friend Mrs. Metzel took her to the school one day this summer and showed her her classroom and that seemed to help alot.

Here they are on the blacktop where they find their teachers. I cannot get over how old they are getting. It really makes me kind of sad.

I got to walk with Maddy into her classroom. She was pretty confident, but I guarentee she didn't talk very much. She is so shy!

I LOVE YOU MADELINE!

Grandpa!

My parents were not able to come down for James surgery. Truthfully I never even thought about asking them too. It did not seem like it would be that big of a deal. I knew that I had several friends I could ask to watch my kids and that would be all I really needed help with. However once a parent always a parent, right? They were worried about us and wanted to help out. So, Ken drove down on Saturday after he had worked in the temple from 5am to 11am to help us! My mom could not come down because she needed to be at work on Monday morning. The kids were excited to have Grandpa come and stay. He said he was here to work and help and that is what he did. He folded laundry, did the dishes, shampooed the carpet and watched the kids so I could take a nap. He even took the kids to Chuck E Cheese for several hours one day. That is something I don't even like to do.

Haley helped out so much with the little girls at Chuck E Cheese that Grandpa wanted to buy her something nice. So, he watched all the kids, even James while I took her to the store. She picked out a nice outfit for church.

Grandpa and Haley have had a special bond since she was a year old. They both share the love of Fresh Farm Corn. When corn is in season Grandpa always brings up a bag full when he comes to visit. This visit was no different. It was very yummy!

Thank you Grandpa! We love having you! Please come back again soon!

James had surgery

**CAUTION: If you are afraid of talking, hearing, or reading about the male genitalia, then this post is not for you!

James had surgery Friday on his man parts. He was born with a concealed penis,which means that his little man part was hidden under the pubic skin. You could not pull the pubic skin down to reveal the head of his penis, there was a lack of attachment somewhere. The pediatrician referred us to a urologist who informed us that surgery was necessary. The urologist, Dr. Close said that if my pediatrician would have tried to circumcise James it would have remained trapped and he would look like he had two belly buttons. Apparently this is quite common. Dr. Close did 4 of these surgeries that same day on other boys. She described the surgery like peeling a banana, sewing some of that skin onto the penal shaft and then doing a circumcision. When it is all said and done, he will look like any other little boy who had a routine circ. I was not too concerned, the only thing that made me a bit nervous was that fact that they would be putting him to sleep. No I would not want them to do that to him while he was awake, but there is always the chance that he would have a negative reaction to anesthesia.

We arrived at Mountain View Hospital at 1:15 in the afternoon. After we registered, Scott came and we headed upstairs to wait for his scheduled surgery at 2pm. James was not allowed to have any milk after 11am, so by the time we got settled in the waiting room he was starving. We were able to give him a bottle of pedialite that made him perk right up. We waited in the waiting room until about 3:30.

When they finally called us back, the nurse had us put a hospital gown on him and she weighed him. He was 17 pounds 7 ounces.

She took his blood pressure and listened to his heart and tummy. She said that his little stomach was growling. You think! He hasn't eaten for 5 hours now.

He was such a good boy! Look how happy he is. He was content for the most part and let the nurse do what she needed to do!

After waiting in the pre-op room for an hour and a half James had had enough! Scott took him for walks up and down the hallway and this kept him somewhat happy. He always enjoys new things to look at.

He finally gave up and fell asleep!

He hadn't been asleep long, when they said he was ready to be wheeled into surgery. It was about 5:30 pm. It was hard to let them take him knowing all that his little body would go through. He was in surgery for a little over 2 hours. The doctor said his was a severe case and took a little more work than usual, but that everything went well.

They brought us into the recovery room when he woke up. They said he woke up happy but soon got upset. After he ate he was as happy as could be! What a champ! We did not end up leaving the hospital until around 8:30 or 9pm. We were all exhausted. My friend Melanie came to my house and watched my other kids so we could both be at the hospital. THANKS MEL!!! And thank goodness for wonderful friends. With no family in town it is so nice to have such great friends that are willing to drop everything to help us out.

James had a little cast on his penis. In order to protect the incisions he had to wear two diapers. The first one we cut a hole in so he could pea out into the second diaper and so it would help protect the incision from his poop. It was quite a process to change his diaper for a few days. This Wednesday we went back to Dr. Close's office to get the cast removed and check his progress. She said it looked wonderful and that we did not have to come back for 3 more weeks. His package is still a little swollen, but other than that it does not seem to bother him. We are grateful that it is all taken care of and that James did so well!

Counting my blessings!

I am sitting in the surgery waiting room feeling very grateful for the wonderful circumstances I find myself in. Although James is in surgery on his man parts and I am concerned that all is going well, I am feeling thankful. There are people all around me that have loved ones that are on the brink of passing from this life to the next. They are crying and feeling hopeless. I wish that I carried several book of Mormons in my purse that I could hand out to them. Thank goodness for the knowledge I have of eternal life. This knowledge gives me comfort to know that there is life after death and that families can be together forever if we live up to the covenants we make in the temple. I am so grateful that I have such wonderful parents that taught me these things.

Worn Out!

This summer has worn us all out! We have been so busy, gone on many great vacations and swam to our hearts content. All the excitement has made the summer fly right by. I cannot believe the kids will be starting school again in a week. I will miss the fun days of summer that seem to tire us right out!

Can you believe she can sleep like that?

She fell asleep while eating her dinner. Yes...we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. That is one advantage of having your husband gone all the time at night, you don't always have to fix dinner!

This is the intense face Marianne puts on when she is playing with James. (notice his feet in her grip) She curls up her tongue and looks real focused. It is like she is getting ready to attack. No wonder James winces when she gets in his line of sight.You will catch her Daddy doing the same thing when he is focused on something.

On Saturday Marianne bit her tongue (imagine that) and cut open her chin and had to have it glued shut. She was jumping to Haley in the pool and fell and hit her chin on the pool decking. Thank goodness for a wonderful friend, Dr. Houston, in our ward. He let us come to his house instead of the emergency room!