Ayden's 4th birthday

Ayden John... what can I say, but he keeps me on my toes! lol

He woke up VERY upset that he wasn't "4"... so Dad helped him out.

 He got to open a present ... lunch box... so we could have a picnic lunch.

 This kid actually had 2 parties! lol This one is with the Payne's on Ayden's actual birthday. It was a joint with our nephew.

 The day after his birthday, Ayden and I went on a quick trip to Las Vegas ... where we had a joint party for Ayden and our other nephew!!

Ayden had a blast and really got birthdays this year. It made things really fun! He kept saying for a couple of months what he'd want for his birthday. He got spoiled and was happy with how it turned out.

Now mushy about Ayden: I love this boy so incredibly much! He has taught me so much about having to have patience... not that I have it yet, but I'm getting there! lol Ayden just loves life, loves people, and loves! He's not very affectionate... it's like pulling teeth getting kisses from him... but he does have a real love for people, especially his family. He gets really concerned when Bree's inpatient, Dad's workin late, or Mom's having that rare night away. He's getting to have quite the imagination. He'll dress up in a super hero costume and be quite upset if we don't refer to him as captain america, or which ever one he's dressed as. He loves learning too... Constantly asking questions about how things work, what is that, and what happens with this. I just love this boy and his tender, adventurous spirit. Ayden, we love you and so so glad you are our forever boy!!!! happiest of birthdays to, my son!!

Breeann's 3rd birthday

Excuse me while I go be in denial about my baby being 3! I know it shouldn't probably seem that big of a deal, BUT IT IS!!! For Breeann, a little girl who wasn't suppose to make it out of the NICU, to now be 3 is huge. She's such an angel... but we'll get to that in a bit.

For her birthday, she asked for elmo brownies... and Jared delivered! 

 We just had a little, low key celebration with a couple friends. She actually wasn't feelin 100%, so we felt like we needed to keep it low key.

 We got to see Momma Alyssa!!!!

 More presents! I'm tellin you, this girl was spoiled.

Now, for the mushy: Like I said, Breeann really is our angel. Granted, girl's got sass and is so dang stubborn!!! But deep down I know that's what has kept her here with us. She has got to be one of THE strongest fighters I know. She is growing into such a little lady to. She loves her hair bows. She is so smart and independent. She will just go play by herself for a while. She and I butt heads quite a bit (hey, I never said I wasn't stubborn too :oP ) BUT I love this little girl so dang much. I want to savor every min. we have with her... because, let's be honest here, who knows how much time we have left. I want to just snuggle her and kiss her all the time. I have no doubt she was sent her to teach me, and others, more then she needs to learn... if that makes sense. Breeann, we love you so much baby girl!!! So dang grateful and blessed to have you as ours!!! Happiest of birthdays angel!!!

Sept. ... better late then never?

Yeah, I'm slacker! I don't know why but I've been having a hard time getting myself to blog about our Sept. It wasn't a bad month, I don't know what it was. Anyway, here it is...

Finding out Bree did not react to milk on her allergy skin test

 But then gave her mac n cheese

 Yeah, we're taking it slow, doing more cheeses type thing to see exactly where she's at.

Having a blast at preschool!! Their teacher emails me pictures.

 Having fun at the Domo Tailgate party!!!!

 Gotta eat brownie (or was it cake :oP ) batter!!!

 Getting so big... or not :oP At their 3 and 4 year well child checks

 A little girl who kind of had a rough month, but made it through without having to go inpatient!

 Picture day at preschool!!!

 Borrowing a kayak and having fun before it gets too cold!!!

I think that about sums up our months... other then Ayden and Breeann's birthdays! Which, in my opinion, those deserve their own post SO! Be lookin for those.

August 2015

August was a busy month for us.... and a big one for Breeann.

Breeann became daytime potty trained!!! I can't tell you how awesome it is to not deal with diapers as much.

Breeann and I went to Omaha, NE for some testing. More on that to come. In the mean time, here's some fun pics of us, Jared, and Ayden that we both took while we were apart.

Breeann started preschool! She's doing great and lovin' it so far. She and Ayden go at the same time so this momma gets some down time.

Bree got her first real hair cut. We've just done trims before... but this time we decided to go for a bigger change. She is no longer a baby anymore. Such a little girl now. And I couldn't be more proud of her.

A bit about our Nebraska trip... We went there to see what (if anything) they could do about Bree's dilated bowel. We were not able to finish testing while we were there. While doing some testing, they found air pockets in Bree's intestinal lining. She's fine, it has since resolved... But because of it, they were unable to finish testing. That is all we know right now... We'll update if there's more.

That about sums up our month, I think. I'm hoping to do a couple more post later... but for now, bedtime. :) Good night and love to all!

Oh July

Our July went fast. It was mostly all fun and games :o)

We went to a natural curiosity museum a couple times with my side

Ayden could have seriously spent all day on this zip line

this girl loves water!!!

During the summer we do "Tacos Wedn., go swimming". Jared has to work late most Tues., that's why we changed it. Anyway~ here's them having fun.

July is Jared's birthday month!!! He never wants to celebrate big like I do... so we do a cake with some friends and family and call it good.

Breeann ended up getting a new IV!! So... if you've been following us, you know May and June were kind of rough. Well, that first week of July she started going downhill again. We did more blood work and it showed her line was dirty... AGAIN! So, after much talking and praying...we decided that the line needed to go. It was about 16 months old anyway... which is great for Bree!!

She's been doing so much better since we got that new line in her. She's my happy girl again. Her oral eating has really taken off overall too. She's not chewing her food, so we got to watch that and we're working with feeding therapy. So hopefully it comes quick for her.

We went to Texas for a week and spent some time with Jared's side. It was so incredibly amazing!! My kids had a blast playing with cousins... as you can see in this pic

And I loved just being there with my sisters-in-law and just having fun! To be honest, I didn't want to come back at all. I was sad when we had to go. But that's life.

These next couple are of my kids being crazy silly

As much as they drive me nuts... I sure do love those two babies of mine.

That about sums up our July!!! Hope you all had a great month as well. Love to all

better late than never

So, I'm just now getting to around posting about July. It has been a crazy few weeks and I'll explain why in this post... hopefully :P

Jared's parents came and spent a few days with us. This kids LOVED having Papa and Grandma here.

 A lot of time just being silly

Jared and I got a date night to the rodeo. BEST. DATE. EVER! I love going and sweet Jared makes it a point to make sure we go every year. We're thinking next year, Ayden maybe ready to go.

 Played a lot at parks

 We went to Pleasant Grove "Strawberry Days" carnival... we meet up with Ayden's bio. mom there. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the two of them.

 Father's Day!!! I'm not good with words, unfortunately, but Jared's such an amazing, sweet, fun, caring dad. I'm hoping he had a great day. The kids each picked a present from them and we got one from the dogs. I got Jared shirt, Ayden got Jared water guns, Bree got Jared swim shorts, and the dogs got him pants.

 Breeann's "Payne Day"!!! It was fun, but kind of low key due to getting discharged from the hospital that day (more on that later). We just did pizza, snow cones, and a couple presents with my sisters and nephews.

 We spent a lot of fun times with my two sisters and nephews. I just thought this picture was funny... the two using the other as a couch

 Silly times

So here's where I explain the last ... couple months really. So since beginning of May, Bree has not been herself. Just acting like she doesn't feel well all the time, high output (diarrhea, leaking from the feeding tube, throw up), and constant low grade fevers. She was admitted May 18 for a line infection. There we found out one of her vein access sites... to use for her IV sites... has reopened!!! Best news we have received in a long time. We felt like we could breath easier. Definitely miracle and tender mercy. On June 22, Bree got admitted with yet another line infection. So before we left, we talked them into doing a intestinal scan. Results showed her intestines have dilated again. Her being dilated means her intestines can't move as well and she can't absorb her formula/food as well either. Hence the high output we were seeing... or at least part of it. At this point, we switched her to a feeding up (boo for wearing a backpack again) and her dr. told us he didn't know what us to really do for her and requested we go back to Nebraska. So we are currently working on getting back out there for another transplant evaluation. It is possible they can do another STEP procedure but we're uncertain and won't know until we get her evaluated out there. We'll keep everyone posted. We're getting into July now, BUT might as well finish the story right? On July 7 (yay for staying out on Jared's birthday and 4th of July) Bree was admitted with another line infection. At this point we decided her IV was probably colonized with bacteria (meaning they just made themselves at home there) and made the difficult decision of removing the IV (which was like 16 months old) and getting her a new one. She went through both procedures great. We were particular about the surgeon we used, and the amazing, talented man who did Bree's original resection (removal of the intestines), placed her feeding tube, etc... He was the primary dr. for our angel for the first 4 months of her life. Anyway~ he put his great skill to use and yeah... Today, Breeann is doing great! She's acting like she feels better, she's tolerating feeds and even asking to eat!, and hasn't really had any low grade fevers even. She's use to the backpack again and is our happy, sassy, sweet Bree. 

So that sums us up. If anyone has any further questions, i didn't explain things good, etc... please, please, please don't hesitate to contact us. We're an open book and hope our story can help others. Hope this finds everyone doing fabulous!!! Love to all.

Good ol' May

Our May went by way too fast. Mainly good stuff!! Like playing in water.

 Ayden got to meet his new bio. cousin!

 Our city's fire department put on a pancake breakfast... brought in a helicopter and everything! it was a lot of fun.

Our ward had their fathers and sons camp out. jared and ayden both had a blast! apparently ayden mainly played with sticks.

 A fun visit with Mama Alyssa!!!

 Ayden's preschool had a graduation party we went to. He did great!!!

 Played at the park

 Went to my cousin's mission homecoming. I think this pic. captures their personality perfectly

 Learning how to drive

 Bree had a hospital inpatient stay (more on that in a min.), Ayden had a blast with my friend while I brought Bree home

 The day Bree got to come home

 This next pic., i have to tell the story! Bree went inpatient because she got a line infection. She ended up growing two different bacteria. SO! The drs. were worried we'd have to talk pulling the line, it had been a while since we looked at what her sites looked like for a new IV anyway, so we did a ultra sound

The ultra sound showed that her whole right side is completely opened!!! This is such a blessing! We thought we were down to the one site her IV is in right now!! It gives us that much more time to get her off her fluids!

We went out to dinner with both awesome bio moms!!!

 Pic of me opening my mother's days gift. jared spoiled me for sure! biscuits and gravy, awesome presents, and mostly took care of the kids on his own the whole day. it was nice.

 My mom came and played for a day or so.

 Ayden got sick for a day or so. This one never gets sick!

So that sums up our May. It was a good month, just went by too fast. Hope you all had a great month too!