Family Photos

How Do You Say Thanks?

We have been so blessed since we had Crew to have angels surrounding us. Most of them have come in the form of family members, friends, ward members and a few medical professionals who have reached out in extraordinary ways to help us.

When Crew was born and we discovered the problems that accompanied him, we were overwhelmed wondering how we'd get through this, we had anticipated that everything would be "normal" and things weren't. But fear soon turned to gratitude as we realized how relatively minor Crew's problems are, compared to what they could be; as we had wonderful doctors treat Crew and make it so he could breath more safely; as we had my mom first, followed by Shawn's mom, followed by my sister Julie come and stay with us and take care of us; as we had friends and family pray and fast for us; as we had ward members bring us meals (still bring us meals) and watch Mia and ward friends bring flowers and visit and comfort. Never would I have thought that a "trial" could make me feel so blessed. Never would I have thought that because my Heavenly Father sent me a child with a few difficulties that I would feel His love so much more strongly, that I would learn how quickly answers come to prayers, and that I would feel the love of all of you. So thank you. Everyone. Mom and Maryanne and Julie for coming, my ward friends in Texas for being the family we don't have here, and everyone else for being with us in spirit.

In Other News...

Crew had his swallowing study a week or two ago. He failed ... meaning, he is still aspirating when drinking anything by mouth, even very small amounts. We thought that would mean that he would have to have a "g button" inserted into his stomach for feeding (instead of the tube currently in his nose) but his surgeon said we could wait another six weeks and do another swallowing study at that point. If he fails again, then he'll have a g-button inserted at that point, we won't be able to put it off any longer.



Other than that, Crew is doing wonderfully. He is such a happy baby. He rarely cries and he is starting to smile alot. He is very healthy and gaining weight well. And he has started going about 7 hours through the night without waking up. Hallelujah! (Let's hope he keeps that up.)



Mia LOVES her little brother and her favorite thing is to have him lay with his head on her lap and she holds the binkie in his mouth. They sat this way for about 45 minutes the other day while watching Finding Nemo.(Not quite like the picture - he's usually not sitting up.) It's really sweet to see Crew looking up at her and smiling. I feel so blessed to have two healthy and happy children.

It's Christmas Time

We finally got a full size tree this year! Hurray! (We have used a little four-foot tree the past few Christmases.) Mia loves the lights and had fun helping us unpack the Christmas boxes and decorate the tree. She decided to try on the stockings ...

Have I Mentioned We LOVE Visitors?

We very recently had my Aunt Bonnie come and visit for a week. It was wonderful having her company, her extra set of hands, and her creativity. She brought some fancy fabrics for Mia to play with and made some dress up clothes for her. Mia is modeling them and playing in them below. Mia likes to put on the cape and be an owl. She runs around the house flapping her arms and saying "whoo whoo."