Popinjayz

My sister-in-law has opened a new online store that sells beautiful little girly accessories. Check it out! www.popinjayz.com

Goals for Crew

Well, we spent a long time with Crew's physical therapist, coming up with goals for our little guy. We hope to meet most or all of them within the next 6 months, by the time his adjusted age is 15 months.

Feeding:
Crew will hold his bottle independently
Crew will pick up a cracker and progress to cheerios
Crew will play with toys and feed himself equally well with both hands
Crew will signal "all done" and "more" in a recognizable way

Independent Movement:
Crew will roll across room to get toys or follow mom
Crew will get into or out of sitting and sit independently to play with toys
Crew will get onto hands and knees to crawl across the room
Crew will independently get around the house to find mommy and to play with siblings
Crew will get up to 1/2 kneel to stand, holding onto a solid surface

Play Skills:
Crew will be able to pass a toy between both hands
Crew will bang two toys together
Crew will clap
Crew will play pat-a-cake
Crew will take toys in and out of basket/bucket
Crew will begin to stack one block on the other, using both hands
Crew will reach/signal with his arms when he wants to be picked up

Wow.

He's got a lot of work ahead of him, that's for sure!

We are very excited that he has made some progress in the last few weeks with his hands. My dinner plate is no longer safe when he's on my lap!! When I hold something in front of him, he now almost immediately reaches out to grab it, with both hands no less! That's a huge step for him. He doesn't stare at it for 30 seconds, waiting/trying to make his arms/hands respond to his desires. Also, once he gets it into his hands, he holds onto it for a long time. A few weeks ago, I was having to pry open his hands to put things into them half the time, and then he would drop them within 10-30 seconds. Now he is actively reaching and grasping and will shake them around, holding onto items for several minutes at a time. He can even hold onto one toy in each hand. Huge accomplishment; pretty exciting stuff :)

Go, Crew!

Grrr..... Split

I realize we haven't been here long enough for us to be upset by this, but we are still managing it.

We've been out of the loop because of the Swine Flu, but I found out this morning that our ward was split on Sunday night. They cut our subdivision right in half, joined the upper half with pieces/streets of another ward to form a new ward and kept us with the pieces of several other subdivisions that we were already a part of. No new blood in our ward, unless you count the new move-ins, like us.

Most of the people I have met at church are now in the other ward. We also no longer attend the building that is right behind our house, a 3 minute walk from our front door. We now drive to a building that I haven't found on a map yet.

It was already a struggle with elementary school boundaries slicing right through our ward and now it's even more divided with that element. The families that we thought "Well, at least we are in the school boundaries with the rest of the subdivision" are now in our school boundaries but in the other ward. Most of the families in our ward as it stands now are in the other school boundaries. Awesome.

Nobody is happy about this. I remember the great Slate Canyon Split in August 2007. I well remember the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth that ensued. And... I remember how we got over it. Eventually.

Ew.

Brothers

Tanner, what who have you got under your Bambi?

Playtime with Crew

Toothy

What? Is that a tooth I see? Is that two teeth?? Yes, indeed, it is!

Tuckered Out

Concentration

Prayers of Faith

Tanner: "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless Crew that he will feel better and be healthy. Please bless Daddy that he can travel safely to work and not be sick anymore. Please bless Kinley that she will be safe and happy at school. Please bless Mommy that she can watch a show..."

I feel awesome. (Dripping sarcasm.)

Cute Crew

Cute little Crew remains very cute and very little. We continue to get the "he's how old?" bug-eyed gasps at the grocery store. One of these days I think he might grow out of his 3-6 month clothes, but the swine flu didn't help him out any.
See how my big boy is reaching and playing with the toy in front of him?! Yay!
See how he is reaching with his weaker left hand??

Mosaic Pumpkins

Kinley told us about a great craft she did at school, so we copied it here at home. Tanner made a "mosaic pumpkin" with a glue stick and shredded orange paper. He's getting pretty handy with that glue stick!

Bat Craft

I went to this website and got some free craft ideas for kids. Tanner made a "hand print bat" for Halloween. So fun! You can get the body of the bat to do this yourself by clicking here. Wings are made out of loose hand tracings!

Morning Dash

Hard to believe that someone so cute could take 55 minutes to eat 2 mini-muffins and a banana. How do you get your kids to eat faster??

Big Brother

Tanner is such a helpful big brother and so gracious about it...MOST of the time...

Sigh..... All Better

It appears that Crew really and truly has overcome the Piggy Flu at last. Seeing how hard it hit his Daddy, we feel especially fortunate that Crew fared as well as he did. And we feel very blessed that Crew's breathing was never impacted one little itty bitty bit. Not bad for a little guy that has "Chronic Lung Disease" plastered all over his medical files, eh? What a kissable little miracle he is. It seems Heavenly Father still keeps one eye peeled for the occasional Crew Crisis. He is at about 97% wellness, sleeping horizontal in his very own bed tonight.

As for Justin... he's finally on the upswing. This flu has kicked his butt and I feel really badly for him. He is improving, though he took a backslide over the weekend. He is on the slow mend again. For those of you who know Justin well, you'll appreciate that he felt so sick that he actually swore about it. Then he laughed. And laughed and laughed. I blame the codeine. While I have heard unconfirmed rumors about his football stadium mouth, I never ever hear Justin swear. Hey, someone has to set a good example for me :)

Cabin Fever

Blech.

Being quarantined/isolated for over a week with sick people and potentially sick/contagious people is really depressing.

Our Super Powers

Random announcement this evening:

Tanner: My power is FAST! Kinley's power is STRONG! Daddy, your power is TICKLE and Mommy's power is LOOOOOOVE! Crew? Crew's power is CRY!!

What can I say? We're the Incredibles.

Piggy Flu Update

Crew is doing so much better. He slept for most of the day and continues to cough on occasion, but his appetite has fully returned along with his good humor, and he is overall in very good shape. Phew. I feel so relieved. It was very stressful to have him suffering from The Plague. He'll continue to sleep propped up for a few more days, slathered in oils, just to be safe.

As for Justin... wow. He's a mess.

Family Pumpkins

Before the Piggy Flu swept so unceremoniously into our lives, we colored pumpkins for family night with sharpies because we still don't carve. We made a pumpkin for each of us. Those of us who can wield markers collaborated to decorate the pumpkins for Dex and Crew. We don't have a lot of family "traditions", per se, but this is a keeper for sure. Welcome, Autumn.

Mystery

Audrey also dropped off some produce from her Bountiful Basket. A gold star to the first person to correctly identify this mystery fruit/veggie. Two gold stars if you can tell me how to best eat it!

Piggy Treats

Darbi asked her parental reps to drop off some get-well piggy treats to her boyfriend. I laughed and laughed! Then I "pigged out"...

Did She or Didn't She?

Over the weekend, Kinley had a low-grade fever, mild sore throat, mild body aches, and then those symptoms went away and a little cough lingered for several days. The doctor says it's unrelated to the swine flu, that it must be a different virus altogether, but I'm not convinced. They are the exact same symptoms of the swine flu, only taking an extraordinarily mild form. I have read in many places online that a lot of people don't even realize that they have the swine flu because the symptoms are so mild. Plus, it makes far more sense for Kinley to start this bug in our house than protected, isolated Crew. I can't fathom for the life of me where he would have picked this up before the rest of us.

Anyway, I am keeping my fingers crossed that Kinley has already had the swine flu and that she simply sailed through it. Isn't that a nice thought?

Thursday

Morning Update

Crew is still sleeping. He has slept the entire night without waking up. He only had 4 coughing fits (none of them needed intervention.)

In bad news:
The Swine Flu Truck ran over Justin in the middle of the night.

State of the Laundry

Tanner (squealing with great amazement): Oh look, Mommy!! The laundry is a mooooooountain!!

(Hey, we have had the swine flu around here. Give me a break already.)

My Teenager

This is the conversation I had with my teenager yesterday:

Mommy: Kinley, would you like to watch Dr. Doolittle 3?

Kinley: Have we ever watched Dr. Doolittle 2?

Mommy: Nope.

Kinley: Sounds like we're getting a little ahead of ourselves, don't you think?


What am I going to do with this kid when she really is 15????

Wednesday 2

Evening Update

• Fever gone
• No ibuprofen/tylenol in 12 hours
• Diarrhea from Tamiflu (blech)
• Congestion/stuffiness lessening
• Coughing about the same
• Ate solid food for dinner
• Drinking more formula
• Appetite returning
• Lots of smiles from our littlest guy

We are feeling grateful and optimistic. We won't let up on our vigilance quite yet. Pneumonia remains a very real threat. We feel so amazed that so far his breathing has not been compromised AT ALL. It is truly a miracle.

Wednesday

Morning Update

• Fever down
• Hasn't thrown up in 24+ hours
• Sleeping for longer stretches
• Coughing seems increased
• More congestion
• He sounds hoarse when he talks/cries

Smile

Morning Update

At 3:00 this morning, with Daddy singing endless repeats of "Popcorn Popping", Crew offered up the first smile we have seen in days. Then he slept for an entire 5 hours straight before waking up to drink 4 luscious ounces of milk for breakfast. He even had a damp diaper in the middle of the night. After sleeping through his next time for medicine, he woke up with his fever just barely above normal. He is taking a nap right now in his bouncer to keep him elevated.

We are keeping him plied with piggybacked ibuprofen and tylenol every three hours (when he doesn't sleep through it). He is on Tamiflu twice a day. He is covered from head to foot in four different essential oil mixtures. We're doing a hokey alternative "energy thing" that seems to relax him and hopefully does even more on the inside. He's had a priesthood blessing and we're praying our little hearts out.

As far as the rest of us, we're pounding Vitamin C like it's candy, along with Vitamin D (something I read), Airborne, Noni Juice, salt water gargles and nasal washes (something Justin read), drinking water until it comes out our ears, and washing our hands until they bleed.

We've been reading that it often gets much better on "Day 3" and then backslides again to utter misery for a few more days. Trying to beat the odds here! Thank you so much for your kind prayers!

Oink, Oink

This morning I took Crew's temperature. With ibuprofen and tylenol in his system and after a cool bath, his temperature was 101.6 degrees. He is utterly miserable. My heart breaks when he cries, but it's so much worse when he is too tired and weak to cry, which happens when his fever is being especially difficult and unmanageable. I've broken out all of our "alternative" remedies to pile on top of the western medicine, throwing everything at him that we've got in our eclectic arsenal.

He is still eating some, though signs of dehydration are already apparent. His diapers have been dry since yesterday. We are trying valiantly to get as many fluids into him as possible, with varying degrees of success. He just reluctantly drank 2 ounces of apple juice.

When my pediatrician told us that it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better and that we are just entering the "ramping up stage", my heart fell into my shoes. He is spending the evening on Daddy's lap and he'll spend the night in my arms again. We hope to turn the corner by the weekend. Praying for sooner than that though.

Blech.

On the bright side, we had been agonizing about whether to get him the immunization. After much debate, we had tentatively decided to go ahead and get it for him. Now we don't have to worry about that, nervous laughter, nervous laughter...

Piggy Flu Crew

After a rough past 48 hours and a hellish night last night, I took Crew in to the pediatrician this morning.

He has officially tested positive for the piggy flu, otherwise known as the swine flu or the H1N1 virus.

Awesome.

Goodbye, Dear Naki

Once upon a time, I worked in an office with two of the kindest and most genuine people I have ever had the privilege to know. Naki and Abby are extraordinary examples of strength, compassion, optimism, humor, service, and love.

I was deeply dismayed and saddened to learn that Naki passed away unexpectedly on Friday morning at the age of 32, leaving behind Abby and their six beautiful daughters, ages 9-1.

Naki's obituary reads in part:

"Jared Amanaki Maile 1977 ~ 2009 The Maile family suffered a tragic and unexpected loss on Friday, October 16, 2009, when their husband, father, son and brother, Jared Amanaki Maile, passed away. Naki's great qualities are without number and as diverse as the people who loved him. Certainly our hearts and minds are filled with fond and loving memories as we reflect on his life. Suffice it to say he was a great man, who loved the Lord and his family. Naki truly spent his last days "in the service of his fellow beings," as he labored to raise funds and supplies for victims of the Pacific tsunamis that struck Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. He possessed a great soul. While Naki loved many, his heart only ever belonged to one - his loving wife, Abby. Abby blessed Naki with six beautiful daughters, Emeline, Anamalia, Elenoa Lose, Lesieli, Evaloni, and Meleane. Naki loved these girls, all seven of them, with all of his heart. He is also survived by his loving parents, Maati and Temutisa, and his brothers Rex and Maati Jr., and his sister Ruby. As you can imagine, Abby will face many challenges in the days, months, and years ahead, not the least of which is raising six young girls. We invite you to help ease her burden by making a donation at any Wells Fargo location (the Naki Maile Family account), or by visiting www.nakifamily.com. No amount is too small. "Goodbye Mr. Mom till we see you again."

If you have the means and desire to help ease some of the burden in this situation, please make a donation, no matter how large or small.

http://www.nakifamily.com/

Criminal Construction

Yesterday there was some criminal activity in our kitchen... Gus and Vinnie spent the day with us, tearing out and replacing 19 bum boards in 4 areas that had gotten some unknown mystery adhesive/finishing/construction splatter on them before we moved in. I didn't expect to get so emotional when they took their first swipe with the chisel and hammer.

The worst part is that after the floor guys tried a million different things to get off the splatters over the last month, one hour after our boards were ripped out of the floor, someone got a brilliant, very simple idea that worked absolutely perfectly with no damage and almost no effort. I managed not to cry... in front of them. And the floor boss managed to not put his fist through our wall. So kudos to us both.

The boards have been replaced and the stain color is perfect, but the top finish seems a little different, not quite as shiny. They have investigated it all the way back to the factory without any explanation and we are hoping that over time they will shine up the same. If not, they will refinish the entire floor in about 6 months to make it all uniform. BLECH. This has been a very expensive fix for them already. They don't want to do it and we don't want them to have to do it either.

I love my wood floors. I hate my wood floors.

Happy Birthday, Dear Tanner

We were so excited to celebrate our eldest son's fourth birthday this weekend! Happy birthday, Dear Tanner! His personality brings a lot of laughter to our home and we are so thankful that he is here. Age has brought a greater maturity and the volatile "Tannersaurus Temper" almost never surfaces anymore (phew!). He's much more reasonable than he was even a few months ago. He continues to worship his older sister and has proven to be a protective and interested big brother to Crew. He is smart as a whip and very cuddly. He still loves his Bambi blanket, Cars, Spiderman, and Thomas the Train. We celebrated by taking a trip to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.
Oh, the "time out" possibilities...
Here is our Horse Whisperer, in her element.
Crew taking a nap. I'm pleased to report that he didn't suffocate.
Kinley is our rodeo queen. No amount of bribery encouragement would get Tanner to follow in her footsteps!
Tanner did find something more to his liking.
"Cheese!"
Helloooooo, Llama, Llama...
Tanner just LOVED the wagon ride! He would have stayed in that wagon the entire day.
Farm faces of Crew.

It was a fun trip. The weather wasn't awesome, but it could have been worse.
Tanner got Spiderman and Ironman Transformers.
He was thrilled. Kinley and Daddy have been on round-the-clock transforming duty since Saturday...
Kinley made him pictures and wrote him a card. Since my scanner is broken, I will transcribe the sisterly card she made for him, complete with creative spelling.

Ahem.

"Tanner I wish that you where here. The best thing a bout you is that you are my brother.

The best thing wen you are still my brother is that you make me lagh.

You are the best brother in the wrlod.

Acshlee you are the best brothre in the youneevrs.

Bat samtimes you are anoying.

Bat thats ok.

Love, Kinley. Happy birthday."
Mmmm.... birthday dinner!
I know what you're thinking. I missed my calling as a professional cake decorator, huh? Don't I know it.
Ah.... finally got them all blown out (Daddy couldn't stand to watch him spit on the cake repeatedly, so he surreptitiously "helped" on the last candle.)
Grandma B. made him a Thomas the Train pillow case.
Or is it a jumping sack????
I love you, Tanner Banner!