3-D Ultrasound

Isn't 3D ultrasound cool?

I'm not sure exactly which finger our sweet innocent daughter is holding up in that first picture. She must be telling us that she's #1.

Before and after pictures -- weight gain from my feeding tube (*and a little recreational eating)

Yes, 25 lbs does make a big difference on a person (especially in my face!)This week I went to see my OBGYN. I never thought that I'd be told by my doctor at the age of 26 that I'm overweight. That's exactly what she said. Infact, she's putting me on a diet. I'm suppose to eat a piece of fruit for breakfast and lunch and some veggies for dinner. (keeping in mind that I'm still being fed by my feeding tube). Sound like fun? Well, I'm not sure how compliant I'll be with my diet, but I'll give it a try.

To: Cambrie For: Steve

As some of you know it’s Cambrie’s birthday today, which reminds me of several presents I’ve bought her these past two years. For Christmas two years ago I bought Cambrie a GPS for her car because she’d get lost driving to patients’ homes. A few months later she got pregnant and couldn’t use it. Last year I got her an MP3 player so she could listen to music while training for her marathons. As you all know, she’s stopped running (at least on the streets and more so to the puke-bowl) due to her pregnancy this year.

So far the major presents I’ve given her, I’m the one that uses them. I figure today I should forego what I was going to give her since she’ll somehow find a way not to use it. So I’m thinking of either getting her (me) a new indoor basketball or BYU football season tickets. What do you think?

Yesterday I pulled a tomato out of the fridge to chop it up. Kiera saw it at immediately utilized one of the 6 words that she knows: "Ball!" She wanted to hold it (wow...a new red ball..thanks mom!) but then I took it away and proceeded to start chopping. She was distraught that I was ruining the red ball so I tried to get her to eat it. I'm not 100% sure, but I think she liked it. Tomatoes are tasty Kiera, don't let your daddy tell you otherwise!

KIERA IS GOING TO HAVE A LITTLE SISTER!!!!!
That's right. We're having a girl. We had our ultrasound today; it was a 3D ultrasound which was pretty cool. The image on the screen was really clear but the one's they printed out were poor quality. I guess I'll have to spend the $10 to buy the CD with the images on it and then I can post some pictures.
Wow another girl-- Kiera has 14 male cousins and only 1 female cousin so I guess it's a good thing she'll have a sister. And I won't have to buy any baby clothes or anything so there's another positive.

Our Nauvoo Trip

We just returned from our trip to Nauvoo Illinois for Steve's younger brother's wedding. Visiting church history sights was a lot different this time with a 1 year old along. The above pictures are of the stairs at Carthage Jail. Kiera climbed up and down those stairs about 20 times (those were the stairs that the mob ran up to). Whenever we tried to get Kiera to rejoin the tour she through a tantrum so needless to say, we stayed on the stairs.


Kiera's favorite part of our trip was the swimming part. Swimming with daddy and cousins brought several squeals of delight. Oh, she also discovered her love for Ketchup on the trip. She loved dipping the fries in it and sucking the ketchup off. And when the fries were gone, she'd just dip her fingers in.

Traveling with Kiera was a big worry, but she actually did pretty well as long as she had her blankie, her DVD player, and a few exciting toys such as a baby food jar with a screw-on lid and a spoon that fit nicely in a little box. It was a fun trip, but as always, it's good to be home again (especially since us Californians are not used to snow and cold temperatures!).

Given the following three options, which would YOU choose?
1. Being nauseated. I could take out my feeding tube right now and I would be nauseated constantly.
2. Being overweight. If I continue having my feeding tube AND eating, I'll soon be very overweight (I've now gained 25 lbs in about a month).
3. Not eating anything. I could choose not to eat and just let my tube feed me. Not very fun psychologically.

FOR SALE ON BLACK MARKET:

THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF MEDICAL SUPPLIES. Supplies for IV's, wound care. Also about 20 different medications in many different forms: pills, IV,......and others. Some medications are thousands of dollars and never worked a bit for me.

The girl I once was

We have a 8x10 of this bridal picture on our wall in our bedroom. It was actually taken 5 years ago this week. I’ve been looking at it a lot lately thinking about the girl I was in that picture. Like every engaged girl ,I was excited to be married and live happily ever after. I told everyone how wonderful and perfect Steve was and how lucky I was to be marrying him. They told me “just give it a few months and you won’t think he’s so perfect anymore”. I imagined us and our 6 children and how wonderful everything would be. I knew we would have trials, but I had no idea just how difficult they would be. In a way, I look at that picture and think “naïve”. I had no idea what I was really getting myself into and what kind of trials I would have. I thought that Steve was wonderful and perfect, but I had no idea just how wonderful and perfect he really was. Oh, and all those people who said thatI would find out otherwise after a few months or a year were WRONG! I had no idea that he would be there for me and risk flunking out of dental school because he is such a great husband and father. I had no idea that he would hold my hair out of my face as I vomited and love me even when I have been too weak to shower for 6 days and had not done my hair, makeup, and had the worst case of vomit-breath ever.

Having been married to Steve for nearly 5 years now, I have no doubt in my mind that I did marry the best man out there and that we will be happy together no matter what comes our way. The girl in the bridal picture was very naive, but also very lucky.

OUR REDNECK LIFE......

We already had a very red-neck swing hanging in our tree in our backyard, but now we have a hammock to go with it. Steve put it up and we enjoyed laying/playing in it. Kiera thinks it is another swing so she's a fan. The pictures look even more redneck when you notice our garbage can in the background and the rope strung throughout the tree. Oh well, I guess our backyard isn't as neat looking as the Jones'.

There's more of me to love......

it's official: I'm a clunky chunky monkey. I saw my doctor today and found out I've gained 15 pounds in two weeks. Yes, that was the goal, but no-- I don't want it to continue. I guess that is what happens when I can eat just fine and am also getting fed by a feeding tube. Anyway, I'm hoping my dietitian sees fit to slow down my feedings a bit or Steve might be married to an elephant by the end of this pregnancy!

What's the dill?

For the past 2 nights getting Kiera to eat dinner has been a struggle. We eat as a family and I try to give her options of things to eat that I think she will like. She is a strange little lady though and won't eat things that a person would think she would love (fries, fruits, waffles, PB&J sandwiches), 2 nights ago she refused to everything but was flipping out trying to get to something on the table. Finally we figured out what she wanted: carrots. The problem: she only has 5 teeth. But then we figured out that it wasn't the carrots she wanted, but the dill dip that we were dipping them in. So, that is basically what she had for dinner: the dill dip she sucked of the carrots. Then, last night we had bbq hamburgers and fries along with fruit. She wanted nothing to do with any of them. Steve put a dill pickle in her mouth to see what she would do. She LOVED it at proceeded to eat pickles for dinner. Hmmm.... dill dip and then dill pickles. Maybe I'll sprinkle dill on all of her food.