Once Please. Just Once.

Nursery is a sea of germs. Ever since Maya started attending nursery at church she gets sick a LOT. And they are always illnesses that knock her out. She had the flu for an entire week a few months ago. And then a nasty cold. And now this.

Last Saturday afternoon she woke up from her nap sounding hoarse and wheezing when she breathed. She didn't improve much during the day. Ryan was working all day and didn't get home until very late (2 AM), so when I went to bed and poor Maya could hardly breathe I was so worried. I put a humidifier in her room and gave her a pillow so that she would be elevated a little. At 10:15 PM, after Maya had woken up a few times already because she couldn't breathe, I asked a friend if I could borrow her oil diffuser and RC oil for a few days. Her husband brought it to me right away.

Sunday morning she sounded awful. We talked to Brendon (my BIL), who is a doctor, and he said it sounded like she had croup and that we should call Maya's doctor to find out if we needed to take her in. The on-call nurse told us to put her in a steamy shower for 20 minutes and then breathe the air in freezer. When the nurse called back, and heard that Maya's condition had not improved, she told us to take her to Urgent Care ASAP. Ryan took her to the Children's Hospital and I stayed home with Brianna. I desperately wanted to be there with them, but Ryan said it wasn't a good idea to take a 6-month old to a place where everybody is sick, and even though he was right, it was still hard.

Ryan sent me a couple of pictures of Maya. She was practicing holding the face mask on, but Ryan said that as soon as it was hooked up to the nebulizer (sp?) she rather freaked. She also freaked when she got a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. I was glad I wasn't there. My heart would have broken.

They were at the hospital for 8 1/2 hours. She got to watch 2 movies and lots of shows on Ryan's phone. Ryan said she did fantastic. After 2 nebulizer treatments and 1 oral steroid, she got to come home. They had wanted to keep her overnight to watch her, but Ryan told them he didn't feel it was necessary. We got a prescription for another steroid pill for the next morning as well.

I think all of those things combined (lots of prayer, humidifier, oil diffuser, nebulizer, and steroids) helped put that girl back on track by Tuesday. She hardly even coughed after getting home from the hospital. I am so very grateful that she recovered so quickly, but we do not need to experience it again!

Brianna - 6 Months

Brianna Joyce is already half way to a year old! She is such a sweet doll, and we love having her in our family. She and Maya have a great relationship. Maya loves to make her laugh, and Brianna is starting to laugh socially now.

Her two bottom teeth are just starting to poke through. Thank goodness that's almost over with (for now). I have not been enjoying sleepless nights with her. She is showing love and affection with lots of hugs and kisses, especially when she's either really excited or tired. It's quite adorable and I love it, even if her hugs include pulling my hair really hard and sometimes I am afraid her kisses will leave a baby-hickey on my chin (they haven't yet). Worth it!

She is a pro at rolling around to get to things. That's new for me, and I have to make sure there's nothing in the entire room that she shouldn't have, not just within a few feet. She is starting to be able to sit up on her own, but not for longer than a few seconds.

She is happy. Always happy.

She still isn't sleeping through the night though, which would make ME happy! She wakes up quite a bit, but she only nurses once. I started being consistent about night weaning her earlier this week because I really need my sleep again. Hopefully after that she will be able to learn to fall back to sleep without nursing quickly.

Her 6-month appointment is on Tuesday, and I will update with weight and height then, but I'm pretty sure she's still in at least the 50%.

I love my precious little chubby baby!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmastime vacation(s) this year.

We had planned for 2 years to go to my grandma's house in Salt Lake for Christmas to see her huge set-up one last time. I'm really sad I didn't take any pictures of it. Then about a year ago we found out that Ryan's mom was planning his grandmother's 80th birthday party for December 21st. So guess what we did?! Huge road trip! I was honestly kind of dreading it; 30 hours in the car with 2 babies was not sounding very great to me. We decided somewhat last minute to drive to Phoenix through the night. Hard on Mom and Dad, great for the kids. And I tell you what, I am really really glad that we bought a bigger car last summer. It was quite packed! 

We arrived safe and sound in Phoenix at 11 AM on the 18th. We spent the next few days in Phoenix spending time with Ryan's side of the family and celebrating his grandma's birthday. She seemed incredibly grateful that we all came to see her and I am glad that we decided to go, even though it wasn't the most convenient thing for us this year.

We took family pictures to give to Grandma Carolyn for her birthday. This is the whole gang. Maya, oh Maya, where have you gone? Oh there you are, on the left. Trying to run away. (I couldn't blame her; we had just sat through 45 minutes of sacrament meeting and then straight to another 45 minutes of another church service.)

Cindy and Berne have an amazing backyard for kids. Maya was in heaven and if we couldn't find her, we knew she must have ventured out the back door. Her older cousins were great at taking care of her. It was quite nice to have babysitters around all day long!

We left Phoenix and headed to Taylorsville, UT, on the 22nd. We left at 3 PM and didn't make it to my grandma's house until 2:15 AM. It was a lot more tiring after having just driven through the night a few days earlier. But we made it! We went to Temple Square on the 23rd. It was really cold and CROWDED. Maya's favorite part was the castle (temple) and waterfalls by the mall where we parked.

Christmas morning was great! We had fun having a yummy french toast breakfast and then opened presents.

Later that morning we got to Skype with Ben and all of the family! It was fun to see him. The time is flying by. I know he will be back before we know it!

And then more presents from Nana and Papa. 

We had a lot of fun seeing family and relaxing in Utah. We got to see The Hobbit too! Always a fun treat to get to go to a movie these days. I was really sad to come back home, but was glad to be here when we got back. It was even super exciting to plan a menu and cook dinner again!

I am looking forward to a fun-filled 2015, even if I am turning 30 next month!