Little Miracle

I suppose not many things in life go the way you think they ought to go. The birth of our fourth child was one of those such events. Avery Romaine was born at 2:39 AM on Friday, October 15th after a short and intense labor. (My contractions woke me up at 12:30 AM. We made it to the hospital at 2:00 AM, up to Labor and Delivery at 2:10, and then I hit transition and pushing contractions shortly thereafter.) Avery was the biggest of all my babies, measuring in at 7 lbs. 9 oz. and 20 in. long, and a week overdue.
When Avery was born, and for a brief moment, I felt her warm little body against mine, and murmured "she's here" in relief and joy. But Avery was not able to breathe on her own, and was quickly taken from me and put on oxygen and attended to by several nurses. After several minutes, she still could not transition to breathing, and was taken quickly down to the NICU. I had to recover a bit myself after delivering her, but was relieved Danny could go with her and be with her while they worked on her. We don't have any real first photos of Avery immediately after birth, but this is how she looked the first day of life hooked up to many monitors, an IV, a tube down her throat, and a head contraption that helped her breathe called a CPAP.
The X-Ray taken shortly after birth showed that Avery's lungs looked like they had not developed all the way, that they were full of fluid, and that there was infection there. The CPAP machine was doing her breathing, and a tube was draining fluid from her stomach that was expelled from her lungs. That day Avery spent on the CPAP was miserable for her. She fought it with determination, arching her back, trying to pull off the CPAP headpiece, and successfully ripped out her IV. After several hours of increasing discomfort and nurses holding her down (even with sedation,) she was transferred to a high-flow oxygen tube by late afternoon Friday. Her need for oxygen had been decreasing gradually, and the transfer was successful.
The transfer made it possible for her to be moved from her bed, and I could finally hold my little girl for the first time! The whole day I had spent crying and feeling helpless as I watched her misery and pain, and now I could finally comfort her. She was much happier without the CPAP, and could sleep and be content, which was a huge relief to us all.
Saturday morning the pediatrician checked her and decided that she could be breastfed. She still had the high-flow oxygen in place, but she latched on and ate hungrily! She loved to be held, and seemed most comfortable in my arms (which I didn't mind!)
Sunday morning at 2 am (48 hours after birth) Avery was weaned completely from oxygen! We were so excited. Because of the infection found in the second X-ray and 2 different blood tests, it was decided that Avery needed a 7-day course of antibiotics to clear out what was decided to be pneumonia from her system. Although I was discharged from the hospital the night before, I was allowed an "extended stay" to be with her and breastfeed for the rest of the week. And after she was weaned from oxygen, she was allowed to room in with me. It was a relief and so exciting that we could finally spend some mother-baby bonding time after her traumatic ordeal. The picture above is how she looked after the tubes came out, and we could finally see her cute little face! (The red marks on her cheeks are from the tape that had held the tubes in place.)
Without much notice that I would be staying at the hospital for an entire week, Danny was left to carry on both trying to work and playing Mr. Mom. Luckily, we had help from both of our moms and he was able to pull everything off just fine. (If a bit behind at work...) Special thanks to our moms for helping with Lexie, Gavin, Cole, and taking care of the house!
We were thrilled with the fact that Avery had come so far so quickly! She is our little miracle. We have really felt and seen the results of many prayers in our behalf, and thank the Lord for His blessings at this time.
When we were moved to the rooming in stage, the kids could see Avery more. We had limited visitors, however, as we needed to be careful about exposing her to any germs. Lexie was thrilled to be able to see more of her new sister, she is so excited to have her.
And Gavin is such a good big brother!
Monday night was the first time Cole was even able to see Avery. Children under three were not allowed in the Special Care Nursery (NICU). He thought the baby was cute, but we still could not let him get too close. (The germ thing...)

As we had a long week at the hospital, I took some photos when Avery had started to perk up a bit. Here she is 4 days old. The skin on her cheeks had started to heal from the tape, and she had more quiet-alert times and her eyes were not swollen any more.
She is quite a calm and sweet baby.
Well, I am in love!
Oh, and I love how she smells.
The week was lonely, but Thursday evening the 21st was Avery's last dose of IV antibiotics and then she could go home. So to prepare for her journey home, the monitors were removed and she had a bath. (She doesn't care for the bath much!)
And she got all dressed up to come home!
I don't know if we'll miss the portable isolette that we used so much that week. We definitely don't miss the IV attached to her. (She had to have 5 different IV's that first week of life.) Here she is receiving the last dose of antibiotics, luckily the last time she had to be hooked to the tubes and wires.
And she was ready to go! The kids were so happy we got to come home. (Except Cole, he didn't know how he felt.) This is the first picture of our new family of six.
We are so glad to have her home! And even more glad that she is healthy and well now. Thanks to everyone for their concern, prayers, support, and help to us during this time for our family. We are blessed to have sweet little Avery in our family and know we have a miracle.

Bed Juggling

Our little Miss Lexie got a very nice bedroom set! We have been preparing for and anticipating the arrival of our fourth child now, and we are shifting the kids around a bit to make room. Lexie now has a full-size bed and new furniture, and she feels like a princess in her new room! When we get things moved around in the basement and add a bathroom, she and Gavin will move downstairs and this room will become her little sister's room.
Gavin and Cole are now set up with the bunk beds, so it's new beds for everyone! Gavin had shared the bunk beds with Lexie before, but he now merits the top bunk! And Cole moved out of the crib and never looked back. He loves his big-boy bed.
Gavin is super excited to have his own spot (where Cole can't get into his stuff.) He feels pretty cool having the top bed.
Cole is really excited about his bed. We keep the rail on there just while he is getting used to the bed, so he doesn't roll out of bed in the middle of the night.
And here Cole is, all ready for his first night in his big boy bed! He did awesome, and slept there with no problems. He sometimes doesn't want to stay in bed for his naps, but he eventually gets in bed and falls asleep. (He acts like I am torturing him if I try to lay him down in his crib. He only wants his big bed now!) We are almost ready for baby.

Back to School

School started back up the end of August. Lexie and Gavin definitely had mixed feelings about the end of nonstop playtime in the summer, but looked forward to friends and fun experiences in school. Lexie jumped right into 2nd grade with no fear, but just excitement that she already had several friends in her class. (Do we really have a 2nd grader?!)
We really look forward to Lexie's school year this year and know her teacher is great!
Here she is with her class already diving into her school day and getting down to business on the first day of school. She was a pro and things are going well.
The Kindergarteners started their first day a week later than the rest of the students. Gavin was excited, but was just overall pretty laid back about the whole experience. I asked him what his favorite part of Kindergarten was, and he said "Recess."
Here is Gavin with his teacher. She has lots of fun things planned for the class this year and Gavin is excited.
Gavin knew right what to do when I walked him in: he hung up his jacket, put his backpack on his chair, and got to work writing his name. He is liking school and things are going well. Another one off to school! Sweet little Kindergartener!
Lexie had her friends over one day and they decided to have a fashion show. It was so cute how they all chose their own style and made up this elaborate story to go with their play. They wanted me to take pictures, too. Go, little fashionistas!

Cali-forn-i-a!

We finished the summer with a whopping trip to Southern California! Danny's parents treated the family to a fun-filled time in Disneyland and LA area, and we went a bit early to see San Diego, too. We used to live in San Diego, in fact it was where Lexie was born, so we thought it would be fun to reminisce. Here we are in Old Town San Diego, where there is always fun stuff and yummy Mexican food.
We went by our old apartment complex to show Lexie her first home. Wow, I can't believe that was over 7 years ago!
And here is Lexie at the hospital where she was born!
The kids had fun playing at Old Town and seeing the sights.
We also stopped at the Visitor Center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The kids got to try some pioneer activities, like pumping water...
...and building with bricks!
We loved to visit Coronado Beach when we lived here, so stopped by there after dinner to enjoy the sunset. (You can see the famous Hotel del Coronado behind us.)
The water was a bit cold! But Lexie and Gavin enjoyed getting in the waves anyway.
Cole liked to watch the waves from a distance, but thought the sand was more fun.
Wasn't the sky gorgeous?
We stayed in a fancy-schmancy hotel in San Diego called the Westgate Hotel. It was very ornate and quite enjoyable.
The next day we had a blast at Sea World with the kids. They have a fun Sesame Street kids' area, as you can see them on Abby Cadabby's Spinning Sea Star ride.
The ocean animals were definitely the highlight of Sea World. We loved learning about all the animals and had some fun hands-on exposure too. (Like here where the kids got to pet the sting rays.)
They swam right by! There were also some fun rides, and if Lexie and Gavin look wet, it's because they just got off the log ride and got soaked!
It was a fun day, the weather was perfect, and we enjoyed our time at Sea World.
The most favorite things at Sea World were the Shamu show and the dolphin show. Cole still does the actions to "Shamu! Shamu!" and my kids are now obsessed with whales and dolphins. It is so cool to see how the trainers work with these neat animals. I think both Lexie and Gavin want to be sea animal trainers now.
And there is even a Shamu car...pretty neat. It was a great day, and we maximized it all we could!
After Sea World, we headed up to Anaheim and met with Danny's family at the hotel. The kids were very excited to see their grandparents and cousins! We even got there in time for the nightly Disneyland fireworks display. The next day (Tuesday) we rounded up the troops to get to Disneyland and experience everything! Here's our group right when we entered the gates, in front of the Disneyland train station.Here are all the girl cousins: Emi, Lexie, Kayley, Camryn and my niece Kayley's friend Sarah, in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle. It was magical! The girls loved it.And all the boy cousins in front of the Pirate Ship in Critter Country: Devan, Dylan, Cole, and Gavin. The boys were so excited to do everything and ride all the rides at Disneyland!
Cole and I hung out a lot while the older kids went on rides. Here, Cole had a kick out of spraying Carrie's mom Lee with my mister fan.
Dylan, Emi and Cole got to ride on the cute Winnie the Pooh ride while everyone else did Splash Mountain.Most of the group had a fun little exploration on the Davey Crockett canoe ride. The guide was hilarious, I'm told, and cracked some jokes about the "crazy lady with a camera." (That would be me!)
After lots of rides and fun, we took a lunch break at Downtown Disney for some yummy Mexican food.
Cole loved driving Mr. Toad's car in Fantasyland.
Here's our little family on the Pinocchio ride.
And more fun on King Arthur's Carousel.
There were a lot of rides I could go on, even though I was 7 months pregnant! I enjoyed our Disney vacation, too!
Cute kids and grandmas in the tea cup.
Wednesday of our vacation we spent relaxing by the pool and beach. All the cousins had tons of fun playing in the hotel pool together.
Cole didn't really want to get in the water, but he still had lots of fun.
The kids loved the hot tub, Lexie and Camryn got foam from the bubbles all over them.
Gavin hanging out with Uncle Tyson.
My nephew Devan is so cute with Cole and always looks out for him.
Lexie doing her mermaid thing!
The adults trying not to overheat...


After the pool in the morning, we needed some beach time at Huntington Beach. Everybody had lots of fun, and we stayed in or near the water to keep cool. Here Gavin and Dylan were trying to save the pyramid from the waves.
Cole needed to snuggle with Grammy.
The girls loved jumping in the waves.


Dylan and Gavin are such good buddies!

Papa with Cole and Emi.
Bonnie and Danny with the pier behind us.That night we went to dinner at a gourmet pizza place in Downtown Disney. We paid the Disneyland price for our meal! (That is 3 to 4 times more than you would pay anywhere else.) But the kids got these awesome balloon creations.
Our last day (Thursday,) Grammy and Nana Lee got more matching shirts for the cousins to wear to Disneyland. The kids also are sporting their cute Mickey ears. (Cole did not want to be in the cousin picture.) This shot is taken in front of our hotel, it was literally across the street from Disneyland and it was great!
For two days Gavin and Dylan wanted so badly to go on the Haunted Mansion ride. (It was all they talked about.) After it was over, they didn't know if it was as great as they had thought! They still liked to talk about the ghosts that hitchhiked along with us, though.
For lunch that day, we had special reservations at the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, called the Blue Bayou. It was a special place to Danny's parents when they were dating, and Danny's dad almost proposed there!

It was a yummy lunch, and fun to see all the people float by on the ride.
Here's our whole group shot on the last day. What a fun group! Thank you, thank you, thank you to Danny's parents for giving us such a fun trip and so many memories!
Camryn, Kayley, and Lexie enjoyed Sleeping Beauty's castle tour.
And Gavin loves all things knights-castles-dragons.
Caged wild animals!
As night fell, the boys all got these light-up light sabers and had fun playing Jedi Knights.
Cole wore his Mickey ears long enough to get a picture.

We found Goofy and got a family picture!
So did Danny's sister Jenna with her three kids.
And we were able to meet Mickey Mouse! Yea for Disneyland!
It was a wonderful time, the kids' first trip to Disneyland. What a fun vacation to celebrate Danny finishing law school and the bar exam, as well as Danny's sister Jenna graduating from nursing school. It was a great way to say goodbye to summer, just in time to drive home and get ready for school beginning on Monday for Lexie! Happy summer!