Family Pics

My brother in-law was so nice and came over and took some pictures of the kids with his nice camera. They turned out so great! He edited some and I think he did an amazing job. I suppose having cute kids helps :)

Christmas Lights

I have had so much fun decorating for Christmas in our new house. The kids were very helpful and loved decorating the tree. We were lucky enough to put up the outdoor lights while the little ones were naping and while Mason was with my sister. It made it so much easier!

All Better!

It may not look like it, but Maddox is considered all better! He had his last CT scan on the 28th of October. We saw the Dr right after the scan. He told me that everything looks good and that there should be nothing else we need to do from this point on. He then shows me the scan. I about fell to the floor! Can you see that indent and the crack in the upper right part of the skull (the upside y is normal growth plates)? I couldn't believe it. Seriously, it just looks terrible. I am so thankful that it wasn't worse then it was. Underneath the skull is what they are concerned about and everything underneath is perfect, you can't even tell that there is crack. It's cool to have this picture, but scary that he still has a crack in his skull!

Happy Halloween!

I know I'm a little late. Who knew being a stay at home mom was so much work?? LOL! I rarely sit down at the computer during the day now. It's actually a good thing. I would say I was pretty depressed living with my parents. Not that I didn't appreciate it, but not having our own place was a real downer. I'm so happy now.

We moved in the week before Halloween. We were so excited to for the kids to trick or treat in our new neighborhood. The streets around our house are perfect for walking little kids. They had so much fun. Derek took them all out while I stayed home and passed out candy. It was so nice!

The American Dream

We are finally starting to feel settled into our new house. The kids love it. Reese asked to go back to "Grandma's house" for the first week, but now after we go some where in the car, she asks to go back to her "new house". We still aren't able to park in the garage, we have so much crap we have to clear out. Here are some pictures with the kids enjoying their new space!

Poor little guy always has bruises on his head. One is from him falling and the other is the result to a feisty big sister. She likes to throw things right now...at her brothers heads.
Seriously, I LOVE THESE KIDS!

Reesie loves to show off for the camera!

This is our family room. It's not huge but it's perfect. We also have an extra bedroom downstairs that we use for the computer room and their toys.

Mason is REALLY into making tracks right now. He loved trains when he was two but didn't have much interest the last couple years. Now he doesn't really play with the trains much, but he makes long elaborate track cities. This is one he is building through the hall upstairs.

It has rained buckets since we have moved in. I think this is the only day that it didn't rain. This is our backyard. It's not big (our yard end where the grass ends), but it's just enough for us. You can see that the neighborhood park is right behind our backyard. We are putting fence up in the next few weeks. but we'll put a gate to the park so we can get their easy.

Oh my gosh....WE OWN A HOUSE!

I seriously can't believe we own a house. It seemed as if it would never happen. We are loving every second of it and couldn't be happier! We are at the end of a quiet cul de sac which is heaven. The kids seem to be adjusting well, but Reese is still asking to go "home to grandma". I'm sure my mom is going through shock as well. We will miss her so much and we are so grateful to both my parents for all their help and the sacrifices they have made over the last two years. This is exactly where we wanted to be after staying with them, I'm glad we stuck to our goal! More to come once we get settled in!

#1 Mariners Fan!

I don't use that term lightly either. Mason is literally Mariners #1 fan. He knows all the players, what order they bat and what position they play. Derek was able to take him to a lot of games this year and he sits through every inning all the way to the last out (even when getting their butts kicked). His new thing this year is dancing crazy between innings so he can get on the big screen. Well this year was totally his year. Early on in the season we were all at a game and we texted in a picture of him and they put the picture up on the big screen! We were so excited. Also, Derek got a text from someone he knows that said they just saw Mason on TV between innings. We were bummed we missed it. The last game they went to this year Mason was on TV again! I was watching and even taped it to show him when he got home. He is a very lucky boy to be only 5 and been on TV two times already and on the big screen! It couldn't have happened to a bigger fan!

I took a picture of him on the screen. The camera man asked him to hold up his poster after the third out. He did a crazy face the whole time, totally our boy!

Before and After

Here are pictures of Maddox's head. The first one was taken on Tuesday, the day after he hit his head on the elliptical (before I knew how serious the hit was). The second picture was taken the day after we got home from the hospital. Can you see it? It scares me that he has it on his head, but the neurosurgeon assures us that he is fine. He is such a little dare devil, I'm so afraid to even let him stand up to anything anymore. Go to my previous post to see how it all happened.

Happy to be Healthy!

What a long couple of days we have had! I guess I will start from the beginning. Sorry this is going to be long.


On Monday, Maddox pulled himself up and was standing holding on to one of the back of one of our kitchen chairs. Well, the chair started to fall and he held on and he went straight back and hit the back of his head on a corner of the elliptical (with the chair still on top of him). I FREAKED out because I knew he hit hard. Derek and my mom were both there and they reassured me he was fine, that it was just a bonk. He calmed down very easily and was never bothered by it. He had a goose egg where he had hit but that was about it. Well, 4 days later (Thursday evening), he woke up after being asleep for a couple hours and he had a huge soft mass on the side of his head. Again, I FREAKED out and showed Derek and my parents. We all knew we had to take him to the hospital. My Dad and Derek gave him a priesthood blessing before we left. It didn't calm me down much at the time, but I knew he needed it. We got to Children's Hospital at about 10:45pm and they got us back to a room at about 11:45. They looked him over and decided that they needed to do a ct scan. The Dr didn't think they would find anything but just to make sure. He was so good during the scan. He was scared but I was right there by him and it was fast and painless. After waiting a little while longer she came back with the results, and of course I was not expecting to hear it. A skull fracture. I mean really, I thought I was going to faint. She said it was a small crack and that only a little bit of blood had gone into the crack. She said that the amount that went in was so minor that there was nothing they needed to do to fix it. The neurosurgeon then came in and explained it all to us. It was not common at all for them to see a skull fracture with no other symptoms, besides the blood that had pooled up on the side of his head. And it wasn't common at all for that to show up 4 days after the initial hit. They thought maybe he had hit it again and that is what caused the blood to fill up. Anyway, we had to be admitted so they could watch him and make sure that he was okay. It was a long sleepless night for Derek and I but Maddox was the happiest boy ever. The nurses loved him (of course) and they could tell he was going to be fine. It was SUPER hard when they told me a social worker had to come in and talk with us. They said it was completely standard, because it was a skull fracture. It was so hard to hear that, but I knew it was coming. We didn't end up leaving till after 3pm on Friday. It was a long day of waiting but I didn't mind as long as our little boy was going to be okay. We have to go back to see the neurosurgeon in a couple weeks to get him checked out again and then in a month they have to do another ct scan. They said that as his brain grows they may have to check him again to make sure the skull healed and that the brain doesn't come through the crack. Seriously, I'm sick just talking about it. The mass on his head will absorb eventually and they don't have to do anything about it. It scares me so much to let him crawl around and play because I'm afraid he will hurt it again. I knew when he started pulling himself up to furniture at 7 months that he was going to get hurt, but I never thought to this extent. Needless to say, I blame myself. I should have baby proofed better. AND I should have trusted my instinct when he first hit his head to call the Dr. I'm so thankful to my Heavenly Father that he is going to be okay. Scary night, but for what happened we got the best possible answer!

This is how happy he was when he was awake. I didn't leave him in the crib much when he was awake. All he wanted to do was pull himself up and stand in it and it scared me. I mean really, put a child with a skull fracture in a metal crib...NO THANK YOU!

Being in Children's made me so thankful for my healthy children. We saw many REALLY sick kids and it broke our hearts. I pray for all of them now in my nightly prayers. We hope we don't have to go back there with a child ever again!

Foul Ball!

The night of Mason's party (Saturday), he got to go to the Mariners vs Yankees game with Grandpa and Daddy. My dad's work has season tickets so the seats are pretty good (better then we would ever get when we buy tickets). So Derek texts me early on in the game and said that the guy directly 3 rows behind him got a foul ball. I had a feeling it was "their" night to get a ball. Sure enough a little while later they got one! It landed a few rows behind them but it rolled down and Derek grabbed it. My mom and I even saw it on TV and rewound it 100 times, it was so much fun! The Mariners got their butts kicked that night by the @#%# Yankees, but Mason said to my dad and Derek "Even though the Mariners lost it was still a good game, because I got a ball!!" Lucky boy!

5!

Mason turned 5 this last Monday! I say it every year, but I can't believe he's 5! He had his 5 year check up yesterday and he is growing like a weed. He weighed 40 pounds and is 45 inches tall. I was concerned about his weight being low, but the Dr said he has gained 4 pounds this last year and that is perfect. Derek would like him to have some more meat on his bones, but what are you going to do about it?

Last Saturday he had his very first "friends" birthday party. Of course he chose Mariners to be the theme. He had 15 friends there, but it was a lot of fun and it went so smoothly. We had ESPN jock jams music going on the cd players and the a Mariners dvd on the dvd player. They made pennants with their names on them, played games, had pizza and grapes and this year we made ice cream sandwiches instead of cake. It was a HUGE hit. I was glad we did something different! Here are a bunch of pictures from his party!!

Mason invited all of his cousins to his party. Griffin was the oldest but he was SO much help!

Pin the ball on homeplate! I think Murphy won that game and he's only 2!

Mason's favorite pizza is from Costco!

He loved his new Seahawks sweatshirt!!

36 More Days Until Uncle Ike Comes Home From His Mission!!!

But who's counting?

Preschool!

Mason had his very first day of preschool on Wednesday. We had always planned for him to only go to one year of preschool, mostly for financial reasons. He's almost 5 so he is one of the oldest in class, and we really like that! He already loves it and got so excited today when I told him preschool was tomorrow. Here are the pictures we took before we left.

I hope he continues to love preschool as much as he did after the first day. He has never been away from me like this so I really think it's good for both of us and great for him to get ready for kindergarten. Love this little boy!