I Spent the Day...

Turning our homegrown veggies into delicious salsa. YUMMY!! Tomorrow we'll try the corn.

Garbage Day

Today is garbage day, the best day of the week as far as Mason's concerned. After he helped me pull our garbage out to the street he wanted to play with his "HUGE blue gabage truck" on the front porch. Mason often plays on the porch and watches for the garbage trucks to come while I get ready. I can leave the front door open and see or hear him from the bathroom and my bedroom. He is usually very good about staying on the porch and at most will venture onto our lawn. This morning as I was getting ready it got quiet on the porch so I went out to check on Mason. He wasn't in the front yard which was odd so I yelled out his name and got a response from two houses down in the street. I have no idea how he got so far so fast, but there he was pushing his garbage truck down the side of the road pretending to dump everyone's garbage cans. I sprinted down the street and helped him to the sidewalk and asked him what he was doing in the street (he NEVER goes in the street) and he simply replied, "My gabage truck is empying the gabages". I coudln't even get mad because I thought it was so funny. Then he pointed back to our house and said, "Look, I pull my little gray gabage to the street." I looked and sure enough his little gray garbage sat perfectly next to the curb by our garbage can waiting to be dumped. I couldn't help but laugh. We had a little chat about how our blue garbage truck empties garbages on the sidewalk with mommy, not in the street like the big, green, garbage trucks. As badly as I wanted to get a picture of him in the street, I figured that would only be reinforcing bad behavior so I had to settle for a sidewalk shot. We'll have to reconsider Mason playing on the porch alone on garbage day.After all the hard work of emptying the neighborhood's garbages both he and his truck needed to "take a rest in the shade".

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Some might say that taking a 2-year-old to Disneyland is a waste, well .... they're wrong. The day we spent at Disneyland was one of the funnest days I have had as a parent and Mason still talks about it every day. Mason loves Mickey Mouse so much and was excited for weeks to go see Mickey and give him a hug. He is still young enough that everything about Disneyland was so magical and real. When he got to meet Goofy, Pluto, and Mickey he was totally star struck. You could tell by his actions and words that he truly believed these to be the very characters he watches everyday on TV. I think that was the highlight of the whole trip for him.

Mason's favorite rides were Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, the Storyland boat ride, the little train ride, and Buzz Lightyear (where Mason literally tripled Scott's shooting score) . He seemed to base his ride choice more on what you sat in than the actual ride itself. This is the beginning of the Storyland boat ride. Mason was so excited that the big fish with teeth was going to eat our boat. Kennedy, Kacie, Cannon, and Mason on the boat ride. Rachel, Rachel Faye, and Scott on the train. Grandpa Val, Kennedy, and Mason on the train. All Mason cared about was getting in a Green Dumbo, but once the ride started he loved making it go up and down. If the workers hadn't been so inefficient, making the line move so SLOW, I'm sure we would have gone on this ride over and over.

So what about Brynn? I was a little nervous taking a 5-week-old to Disneyland all day, but it turned out to be great. We would take turns waiting with her in the shade while everyone else went on rides. They have an awesome Baby Center that is an air conditioned place you can take your baby to nurse, change diapers, or just to relax and get out of the heat. Every few hours when she needed to eat I would take her there to feed her and then I would let her lay down and kick around for a while before catching up with the others. The only ride Brynn went on was Pirates of the Caribbean which we went on while all the kids were sleeping in our arms because it is dark and cool. She got to meet Minnie, too. At the end of the day Scott asked her if she had fun at Disneyland and she smiled, so it's official, she loved it. An added bonus for me was it apparently wore her out and she slept for 7 hours straight that night for the first time in her life. Brynn's favorite ride was her stroller. Our family in the happiest place on earth. Can't you just see the excitement on Brynn's face? Brynn taking a break from all the excitement. Mason taking a little power nap in Daddy's arms.

At the end of the day we took the kids to the souvenir store. My parents got all the kids their Mickey Ears and then we let Mason pick out one thing he wanted. When he found a Buzz Lightyear gun that is the same as the one you use on the ride he informed us, "I MEEED it". Mason showing off his excellent aim. I love their names on the back of their ears. Even Brynn got some ears. Mason's face shows how excited he is about his gun.

A couple random highlights of my trip include the time we were standing in line for a ride and Kennedy got her head stuck between the bars of the railing. Of course we left all our cameras with the strollers. It's a good thing her little body is skinnier than her head so we just had her walk the rest of her body through the bars. It gave everyone in line a good laugh though.

Right outside the gates to Disneyland there were these two ladies passed out asleep on a bus stop bench. They must have had a really great time at Disneyland. I just hope they weren't counting on the other person to watch for the bus. It was such a great trip! Thanks Mom and Dad.

We can't wait to go back again soon..

Allred Reunion

Between all the weddings, having a baby, and everything else we've done this summer we were able to sneak in a family vacation to California. We went to Laguna Hills for the Allred family reunion (my mom's family). When we first heard about the reunion we weren't sure if we would be able to go with me being due just 3 weeks before, but when Brynn came 2 weeks early we said what the heck and packed our bags. We were not about to attempt a 12 hour drive with feeding stops every 3 hours and a baby who hates her car seat, so we flew. This was Mason's second time flying, but he was too young to remember the first time. He was so excited to fly on a "Huge Hairpain". We flew into Longbeach airport, which is a little on the ghetto side, but Mason loved that we got to walk outside right next to the airplanes. I figured with Brynn only being 5 weeks that she would just sleep the entire flight, but I must have forgotten she is the newborn that doesn't sleep. She was an angel the whole flight, but just starred at me the whole time. The reunion included a day at Disneyland (I'll save that for a seperate post), a day at the beach, and lots of time at my aunt Janet's house swimming, eating, and getting reaquainted with each other. You see, we were very close with our cousins all growing up, practically siblings, but now that most of us are married and having kids and living all over the place we don't see very much of each other. It's amazing how when we get together all the boys immediately turn 10 years old again and entertain us all. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of all the fun we had at the house. Our trip to the beach was fun because it was Mason's first time to the ocean. It was Brynn's first time too but she just didn't seem to get as excited about it. It was a red flag day meaning we couldn't go in the water at all because the waves were really big. The kids were all happy enough just to play in the sand, so we'll save playing in the waves for our next trip to the beach.

Here we are at the ocean (Brynn was sleeping in her car seat). This was as close to playing in the waves we were able to get. Mason had such a good time playing with Grandpa Val the entire trip. He even got to sleep in Grandma and Grandpa's hotel room. I just love this picture. Mason and Kennedy just love playing together. Mason, Cannon, Kennedy, Rachel, and Allie digging in the sand. If you couldn't tell Allie wasn't a fan of the sand.

I just want to tell my Grandparents how much I love them and thanks for making such a fun trip possible. I'm so glad Mason has such a great relationship with his Pooky and Papa. Also a huge thanks to my parents for all of their help. You guys are the best.

Meningitis

As a mother, it is only natural to get excited for all of the "firsts" in your child's life. Their first smile, first words, and first steps are things you will always remember. This last week we experienced a first in Brynn's life that will be remembered, but not fondly. Brynn had her first illness, which resulted in her first hospital stay. Brynn spent 3 days and 2 nights in the hospital with Viral Meningitis. There has been a lot of sickness going around our family including Scott, Mason, and I all having various symptoms over the past week. We tried so hard to protect Brynn from all the germs by keeping her home and away from people who were sick. Scott even slept in the basement and didn't hold Brynn to avoid giving it to her. Once I got sick on Sunday night I knew there was a good chance Brynn would get some degree of sickness, but hoped I would give her enough antibodies through my milk to protect her. Monday afternoon when Brynn was abnormally fussy I was sure she was getting sick so I watched her closely. Sure enough Monday evening she got a fever and started crying inconsolably. I spent the night holding and rocking her trying to sooth her without much success. I took Brynn to the doctor first thing the next morning. She still had a fever despite the Tylenol I gave her, was still crying non-stop, had a rash all over her body, and was now becoming quite mottled. The doctor was concerned with the fact Brynn had such a high temperature (it got as high as 103.9 that day) as a six week old and informed me it was a new protocol that any baby under 3 months with a temp greater than 100.5 had to have a series of tests done to rule out things such as sepsis and meningitis. He sent us to the hospital to be admitted and run all the tests. At the hospital they had to start an IV which proved to be very difficult and after an hour and a half of trying all over her body they got one in her head. They were able to draw blood cultures and some other basic lab work through this and then start giving her IV fluid and IV antibiotics. They used a catheter to get a sample for a urine culture. She did not like this and pooped all over the doctor while he did it. They had to strap her down to hold still for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. The worst thing they had to do was a Lumbar Puncture which is essentially the same as getting an epidural only they stick the needle in a little further and draw out fluid. They did this to test her spinal fluid for meningitis. I opted to not be there for any of this so I wouldn't have to watch her suffer and she wouldn't associate me with all the torture. After all of the trauma was done they brought her back to me and she was ghost white. It was the worst sight I have ever seen as a mother. She had been screaming and fighting for hours and it had taken everything out of her. As soon as they handed her to me she stopped crying and fell asleep in my arms. Poor baby girl. It was a few hours later that the doctor informed us the spinal fluid had come back with white blood cells which means she had meningitis. They now had to run some tests to see if it was viral or bacterial. Viral is miserable but you recover fully from it within a week. Bacterial is really scary and can cause mental retardation or even death. The doctor felt very confident it was viral because all her other lab work strongly indicated a viral infection present in the body. He told me not to worry but they had to treat it like bacterial until proven otherwise. So she was put on contact precautions, meaning the nurses and doctors had to wear gowns, gloves, and masks in her room at all times and they added another IV antibiotic. The diagnosis of meningitis explained the endless crying and screaming. Meningitis is horribly painful. Any movement of the neck causes unbearable pain. Most people who have meningitis won't move their head at all, but a 6 week old who still lacks total neck and head control is at the mercy of everyone around her to prevent her head from moving. Also it makes you very sensitive to light and so meningitis patients are kept in completely dark rooms. Once we were aware that these were things causing her pain we were able to help her a little more. That night was another horrible night of her crying all night long. She would cry so hard whenever she was in the crib or a nurse would hold her. When I would hold her she would just whimper and look at me with the saddest eyes that showed how much pain she was in. So I held her all night long...anything to make her feel even a little bit better. The next morning after zero sleep she finally passed out from exhaustion for an hour and woke up apartly feeling much better. From then on she kept getting better and better until she was just a little fussy at times. By Thursday afternoon all the tests had come back that confirmed it was viral meningitis caused by an enterovirus which is most common in July and August and was most likely what everyone in our family had been sick with. Brynn was doing so much better and the doctors were ready to send her home except she wasn't eating at all. I had to pump almost every time she was supposed to eat to maintain my milk supply because she refused to eat at all. The doctor said we would have to spend one more night which was so discouraging because I knew Brynn was so sick of all the tubes and wires and that was part of the problem, but I understood the doctor's concern. Finally at 6:30 pm Brynn ate really well and when the doctor stopped by at 8:00 pm to check on us he said we could go home!! YAY!! When we got home Brynn passed out asleep and only got up at 2am to eat because we woke her up for Tylenol. She has pretty much been sleeping non-stop since then to make up for the three days and nights of literally no sleep lasting longer than a hour. Brynn seems to be almost 100% now once she can catch up on her sleep. Thank you for all the texts and phone calls from friends and family. We especially appreciate my parents who once again took care of Mason for 3 days straight and let us come home to their house while Scott is in Florida for work. (Seriously, what is the deal with the timing of his business trips?) Now for the pictures. Poor, miserable, baby girl. A rare moment of sleep. Notice how red her eyes were. The blanket looks like it's suffocating her, but really it was just blocking the light from the monitors. The IV. You can't imagine how much fun we had getting all that tape off while trying to leave hair on her head. Luckily the nurses have several tricks they use that help with the process. Where Brynn and I spent most of our time. This was when Brynn was feeling much better. It feels so good to be home and be able to kick around without any wires or tubes tying her down. This was the first smile she had given me all week. I just happened to have the camera next to me and was able to catch the tail end of it. She has been all smiles today. Check out those cheeks! It's no wonder she didn't have to eat. She could live off of those for a week.

Wow, a lot of really long posts lately. I promise the next one will be fun with more pictures than words.

Brynn's Blessing

It's hard to believe that Brynn is already 6 weeks old! We blessed her in church yesterday. Scott did such a wonderful job with the blessing and Brynn was an angel through it all (she waited until she was back in my arms to make some very unladylike bodily noises). She looked beautiful as ever in the same dress I was blessed in 24 years ago.

The Hale Family.

Whitney, Rachel Faye, Brandon, Val, Nancy, Rachel, Mason, Brynn, Scott, Cannon, Kacie, Kennedy, Chris

*Warning: Journal Entry Ahead*

In the first 6 weeks of life:

• She has never had her nights and days mixed up. She's been a pretty good sleeper but she is so noisy grunting in her sleep she keeps us up at night.
• She hates her car seat!! Anytime she is in her carseat when awake, she SCREAMS!
• She has flown on an airplane twice.
• She has been to Disneyland.
• She likes to smile.
• She knows her mama's voice and loves to stare at her.
• She tracks people and objects around the room.
• She sleeps very little for a newborn. She takes only 2-3 naps a day and stays awake for several hours between them, making her awake more hours than she's asleep during the day. She has done this since she was a week old.
• She loves to sleep with her hands over or near her face, just like she had them in the womb.
• She loved to shoot poop when we were changing her diaper the first few weeks of her life. She covered my entire upper body as well as shooting 6 feet across the room before it splattered on the wall.
• She has reflux which causes her to project spit-up all over our clothing, couches, and floors. Luckily she seems to be growing out of this.
• She loves to sleep on our chests with her legs tucked up under her and bum in the air.

Wedding #2

The Murrays had not one, but two weddings this summer. Vance and Lisa got married on July 18th. Now all of the original 6 Murray kids are married. At the wedding dinner it was very clear listening to stories about Vance and Lisa that they are perfect for each other. They have two of the kindest and most sincere hearts I have ever met. We are so excited for them to start their life together and hope they'll still come by and hang out often.

Vance and Lisa were sealed in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple. All the sisters except the bride.

Jennifer, Janessa, Becky, Rachel, Jenna. It was Hot Hot Hot. Everyone in the shade while waiting for pictures. Our little family. The light makes it so you can't really see Brynn, but trust me she was adorable. "The First Generation"

Jennifer, Steve, Janessa, Scott, Vance, Becky. I hear there was some great dancing including this conga line to finish off the night. I missed out because it was time for Brynn's bedtime snack.

Congrats Vance and Lisa!