A Summer Of Firsts

Since we were cooped up in the house for the last holiday season, when summer rolled around we were determined to get out and enjoy it. This meant a lot of firsts for Charley and some firsts as a family.

We kicked things off in June by taking Charley to her first wedding. My older brother got married and we couldn't be happier! We love his new bride and her two boys. They definitely fit right in with the family. And it is such a small world! She was in our stake in California and we know the same people, even though we didn't know each other. Her ward even merged with my ward years later. And her parents lived in Kevin's Fullerton ward before his family moved down there. CRAZY!

Charley was 9 months old in this pic and her cute dress was a size 3 month! She's our little petite girl.

Since it was the second marriage for both of them, they had a really nice, low key wedding with family and close friends at a restaurant downtown.

My siblings with our spouses

The whole Grow family

I love how big our family is getting...and it's only going to get bigger!

The next adventure was on the 4th of July. I made Charley and myself matching shirts for our fun filled day. We started early by going to the South Salt Lake parade with my mom and some of her family. I've enjoyed this parade since I was a kid because they always throw a ton of candy! And it's nice because we can just walk down to the end of my grandma's street and park our chairs.

This year was no different for how much candy was thrown. I was surprised that the little kids weren't grabbing every last piece! They would just leave taffy in the road, so I got in on the action. I won't let yummy treats go to waste!

Charley fell asleep at the beginning of the parade and didn't wake until it was over! This was her first time really out in the heat for a long period of time, even though we were in the shade. But Nana didn't mind...she held her the entire time.

We went to a second parade that evening in Sandy. This is another parade I've loved going to since I was in high school. This one was a lot bigger but they still throw candy. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) Charley stayed awake for the entire parade this time and loved it. She got a flag and was having a great time waving it around.

After the parade, we walked down to a grassy area to wait for fireworks. We were pretty close to the stage where a band played and relaxed until the fireworks began. I had a feeling Charley would love the fireworks and I was right! She has always loved loud noises and she watched in anticipation for each boom. I wish I could have filmed her, she didn't take her eyes off the sky! Afterwards, my little brother made the comment that we have the COOLEST kid because of how much she loved the fireworks! I have to agree, she is very cool.

Our next first was taking Charley swimming for the first time. Our ward has an annual neighborhood pool party so it was the perfect time to take her. Unfortunately it was a little colder that day, so she didn't last very long but we did managed to capture a few moments.

We definitely need to take her again when the water is a lot warmer. She loves splashing in the bathtub so I know she would love playing in a pool.

On the 24th of July, Charley and I visited Grandma Grow in her nursing home. She had never held Charley since we were holed up all winter and then soon after she went to live in a nursing home. My uncle said it was about time Grandma held my sweet girl, and I agreed! 

I won't tell you the exact word she was saying when this pic was snapped but she was expressing how much she wanted to be home. It was pretty funny.

The festive attire has Big Steve written all over it

Our next adventure was the biggest one yet. At the end of July we went camping with my family for 2 nights. I was a little worried about how Charley would do sleeping away from home. And there was no way we were all going to fit into our little tent. Kevin and I were crammed with just the 2 of us and our queen size mattress. So we bought a great big 3 room tent that was awesome! We were able to put Charley's pac n' play in one room, store all of our gear in the middle room and then put our mattress in the 3rd room. 

And the BEST part about the tent is that it's an E-Z Up, so Kevin and I can put it up and down in a breeze. I even challenged my brother and his 4 boys to a race to see who could take down their tent the fastest. (The boys were complaining about having to do the work, so I thought this would make it a little more enjoyable) and the boys immediately accepted my challenge. I wish I could have seen everyone's faces when we had ours down in no time. I believe my brother's comment to me was "I hate your tent." LOL but I believe we sold his wife on getting a new tent! 

As it turned out regarding Charley sleeping, I was right to worry about it. I put her down at her normal bedtime the first night and she woke up around 9:30pm very upset. I think it scared her to be in a strange place without knowing where mom and dad were. We hadn't gone to bed yet, so she was all alone in the tent. Anytime I would get her calmed down and back asleep, she immediately woke up screaming if I attempted to put her in her bed. So after a long night (which included me sleeping with her in my arms while sitting in a camp chair) she ended up just  sleeping in bed with us. I don't sleep well with her in our bed, but if she'll sleep that way, I'll take it! The second night she fell asleep as soon as we laid her in our bed. 

We had fun eating good food and relaxing during the day and enjoying the campfire at night. It was nice to have so many willing arms to hold Charley and she loved every minute of it! I started a new tradition around the campfire. We, of course, had s'mores but I also brought something that was a little different. I LOVE caramel apples, so I brought caramels to roast in the fire and sliced up granny smith apples and put the caramel in between the apples. It was delicious! I enjoyed it even more than the s'mores and so did my dad. He wants to have these every time from now on. 

My BIL took all of the kids down to the reservoir during the day to play in the water. It was too rocky and sunny to take Charley down there, so we stayed back at our campsite. When a couple of the boys returned, they were walking like this:

We all were laughing and then I asked a silly question of "why?" To their response, it was keeping his towel up! Boys will be boys, I guess? LOL 

Our last adventure of the summer was going up to Snowbird for my work summer party. We got a day pass to enjoy the rides and have a BBQ lunch. Unfortunately, Charley was too little to do anything fun, so we watched Daddy go on the alpine slide and the zip line. We got tired pretty quickly from walking up and down the mountain, so we didn't last very long. But I was able to get one photo.

 Charley had a few other firsts this summer that were pretty fun and we captured some cute pics:

Her first time riding in a shopping cart. She's gotten better at sitting up straight.

Going out to eat with friends while Mama works.

 

Her first time in her Jenny Jump Up. She didn't know what to do LOL

It's been a great summer but we can't wait for fall! It will be filled with lots of celebrations including a first birthday!

Charley's Health Update

I've had a lot of people ask for updates on Charley's health since we have been going to a few different specialists lately, so I thought I would give all of the details in a post.

Before Charley was born, the doctors saw a few things in her ultrasounds that needed follow up once she was here. Her kidneys were swollen and it looked like her ureter could possibly be blocked (Kevin had this when he was a kid). She also had a tethered cord, meaning she has an extra vertebrae in her spine and it ascends further down than normal, leaving a dimple in her cute little bum.

When she checked out of the NICU, the doctors made a follow up appointment with the urologist to look into her kidneys. So at 2 months old, we went in for an ultrasound and a consult with the doctor. We also had them do an ultrasound on her spine, since we were already there. The urologist said that her kidneys were still inflamed, but that he was pretty sure they would clear up on their own as she got a little older. He wanted to do another ultrasound in 6 months to follow up, but there was no major concerns.

Our pediatrician took the results from the spine ultrasound and followed up with a neurosurgeon to see what steps should be taken. He had us come in for a visit so he could check Charley out himself. Again, he wasn't too concerned with the tethered cord, but to be sure, he wants us come in for an MRI in about 6 months to see for sure if any surgery needs to be done. He was pretty optimistic that it wouldn't have to come to that. While we were there, he noticed Charley's pupils were odd shaped. We had noticed the same thing a few days prior. Her pupils didn't fully develop into a perfectly round shape and instead, it looked like they were bleeding down into her iris. He referred us to an opthamologist, since he wasn't the expert. His main concern was to rule out glaucoma.

Daddy and Charley waiting for the doctor.

So we made an appointment with the opthamologist. I was a little concerned since I had noticed that Charley was extra sensitive to the sun and wasn't sure if that was just her or if it had something to do with her eyes. She tracked objects and people really well, so I wasn't concerned that she was having a tough time seeing. The opthamologist diagnosed her with Coloboma, which is a hole in one of the structures of the eye, such as the iris. The hole is present from birth and can be caused when a gap called the choroid fissure, which is present during early stages of prenatal development, fails to close up completely before a child is born. It's best described as a key-hole shaped defect since that is pretty much what it looks like. The doctor said that she should not have any trouble with her vision but that he wants to follow up with her in a year. He also said that since she has 2 other congenital anomalies, he thinks she could possibly have a very mild case of CHARGE syndrome and he sent a letter to our pediatrician asking her to look into this.

CHARGE is an acronym that stands for: Coloboma of the eye, Heart defects, Atresia of the choanae, Retardation of growth and/or development, Genital and/or urinary abnormalities and Ear abnormalities and deafness.

Once our pediatrician got the letter from the opthamologist, she immediately called us and asked us to go see a cardiologist the next day. I was thinking it was merely a precaution and that they wouldn't find anything. Since we had been in the NICU for 4 weeks after birth, I figured if there was something wrong they would have caught it then. So I was surprised when the cardiologist said that Charley has a moderate to large hole in her heart that will need to be closed surgically. I am so grateful for the way the doctor explained everything to us because he immediately put me at ease. He said that if she was going to have a heart condition, this would be one of the better ones to have. Charley has never eaten a lot; at 10 months old, she is still only eating 5 oz of formula every 3 hours and just beginning to tolerate solid foods. So when he explained that one of the things to watch for was a dip in her growth chart, it all started to make sense. Her heart is having to work harder to circulate her blood because it keeps circling back through her hole a few times before it goes back out to her body. This means that she tires faster when trying to eat. But as long as she doesn't dip in weight, we will be able to wait until she is 3 or 4 years old before she has surgery. And, they will be able to go through a catheter in her leg to close the hole so that she doesn't have to have open heart surgery. It's amazing what they are able to do these days! We will go back in a year and do another echocardiogram to make sure nothing has changed. But the doctor is again, pretty optimistic we will be able to wait until she is a little older to close the hole and said that after that, she shouldn't have any other problems.

We have one more follow up to do, which is to have a genetics test done. This will help the doctors determine if she does indeed have CHARGE syndrome. But if she does, multiple specialists have said that it is the mildest case they have ever seen, which is a blessing! Most children with CHARGE are physically deformed and struggle with so many things, it makes my mama heart hurt.

I've personally have been struggling a bit lately, trying to understand why Charley's development is so far behind. I have so many friends and family who have babies around the same age as Charley and I know I shouldn't be comparing her to others. In fact, everything you read says that all babies development at different stages. And I know this, especially with Charley being premature. But I struggle sometimes when I see posts on Facebook and Instagram of babies younger than Charley so excited to eat solid foods, or sitting up on their own for the first time or even taking their first steps. I'm so excited for their accomplishments but I then wonder what am I doing wrong since Charley is still not doing any of those things? Even after Charley's physical therapist says that she's doing great and that she'll get there at her own pace and that we are doing everything we should be doing to help her.

It wasn't until after we met with the cardiologist that it finally started to make sense. Before, I just kept thinking it was because she was premature. But I would see babies who were born at an earlier gestational period having an easier time at certain things than Charley. But now, I'm starting to understand why. My sweet little girl is having to work harder than the average baby and that means she will be a little slower at things. But we will be able to correct these problems one by one and eventually she won't have to worry about them anymore.

I am so grateful that in every case of congenital anomalies the doctors have discovered so far, they have all been very minor and that it is, for the majority, simply monitoring them to ensure they don't get worse. I am sure that when the time gets closer for her surgery, I will feel more anxious and nervous. But I know that she is in good hands and that all will be okay!

Birthday Surprise

Papa Bill turned the big 6-0 in March and I couldn't let this birthday pass without doing something fun! So even though he specifically told us he didn't want a big to-do (including a surprise party) I chose to ignore his request and threw him a surprise party anyway. Normally, I would have started the preparations a month in advance but time slipped away from be (a little one can do that to you) and before I knew it, his birthday was only 10 days away. I enlisted the help of my mom and siblings and together we concocted a plan.

Stephen was in charge of keeping my dad "busy" so he wouldn't suspect anything was up while my mom was MIA all day. He chose to enlist my dad's help in purchasing and putting together a new entertainment center. And if that didn't take long enough he was ready to finish painting the ceiling in his new condo. Nothing like a day of labor to get you ready for a surprise!

My mom was in charge of the food and spent the day before at my house baking and cooking up a storm. I made some decorations for the big event. We were on a pretty tight budget so I printed up a bunch of pictures of my dad throughout the years and strung them on a clothesline for the guests to look at.

And then I bought some cheap centerpieces from Dollar Tree, along with a couple banners, and added some vinyl to personalize them.

Since my dad LOVES bubblegum, I picked the theme "60 Blows" and filled the center pieces with bubblegum and blow pops.

It wasn't fancy but I think they turned out pretty well. 

We had originally planned for the Bishop to ask my dad to meet him at the church for something. But when the Bishop asked, my dad replied that he couldn't because he had a birthday thing with my mom (she had told him she was taking him out to dinner so he wouldn't make any other plans.) Well, that backfired on us! So we came up with an idea to have Kevin breakdown outside of the building and call my dad for a jump. He didn't suspect anything until he came inside the building and my mom pushed him towards the cultural hall. He wasn't happy....

Or at least he was trying to make us THINK he wasn't happy. But he really did enjoy himself. 

I was a little (or should I say REALLY) disappointed with my extended family's participation when it came time to play cards. I didn't want this to be a typical "family get-together" so I had purposefully set up the round tables because I wanted to play a tournament with my dad's favorite card game, Presidents (also known as Scum). I brought prizes and everything and I was really hoping that there wouldn't be any party poopers since this was my dad's 60th Party. However, my dad's siblings snuck out one by one until there was no one left. This ruined the game because people were supposed to move up a table or down a table depending on their placement. So after the first round everyone else started to leave and by 8:30pm the party was over. All of my efforts were for not, but at least my dad still had a good time. My Clark Griswald persona came out a little bit but my sweet hubby was there to push him back in. 

I was happy that so many people came to celebrate with my dad...I know that meant a lot to him. And even though my dad's family snuck out (you know who you are ;-p) I am glad they came to support their brother! 

She's Out of Quarantine!

Spring is just around the corner and we couldn't be happier! Charley's pediatrician recommended we keep her quarantined for 4-6 months since she was born right before winter to help keep her little immune system healthy from all of the sickies. When February came around, I was going crazy being cooped up for so long. And since it had been 5 months, we decided it was time for us to slowly introduce Charley to the world.

Charley at 4 months (9lbs 7oz)

I hadn't been to church in 5 months so when Kevin got a call to meet with the Bishopric the first week in February, we decided that Charley and I would start going to church in March. Well, I guess the Lord had different plans for us because I was immediately called to be the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency and would be serving with my sweet friend Marci who was the new President and my former Relief Society President who was the 2nd counselor. I was really excited. It was a month sooner than we had planned but it felt really good to be back in church. I had really missed it, and I love Primary!

Kevin was released at the same time I was called from the Young Men's Presidency and then a few weeks later put in as the Stake Young Men's 2nd Counselor. It works out well since he will be able to take care of Charley during church most weeks while I'm either conducting or doing sharing time. And I have so many great friends who have offered to take her for me when he's not there. Charley's really lucky because she will have a great group of friends in the ward. There are 3 other babies who were born within a couple months of her plus one who will make his arrival any day now. We have been so blessed with our amazing ward family. Our house might be small but we don't ever plan on leaving.

We have been having spring-like weather and I love it! I wish all winters could be like this. We took Charley for her first walk and she fell in love with her stroller. She loves to talk and smile with whoever is pushing her and it is a great way to get her to take a nice long nap. (She has become the queen of cat naps!) We have gone on a couple shopping outings with Nana and it is so fun to be able to do this with her.

Charley has developed a little bit of torticollis (which means she has a tilt in her neck). She prefers to look and lay on her left side so we have a Physical Therapist that comes to the house twice a month to work with her and to teach us exercises to help her stretch and use the neck muscles on her right side so that it won't hurt so much for her to use them. I'll put her in her bumbo seat and she can hold her head up but it almost immediately falls to the side.

She is starting to roll over and loves to be on her side. She's only rolled all the way over to her stomach a handful of times but she is constantly rocking back and forth from her back to her side. One afternoon while I was working, I looked down and she had fallen asleep on her play mat like this:

She HATES tummy time so we have had to learn some different techniques to get her to spend any amount of time on her tummy. It is getting better, she used to scream immediately when we would put her on her tummy but now she will go several minutes before she starts to protest. It's been quite the learning experience for me. You don't realize before you have children how much the little things you do day to day really help their development (for the good AND for the bad), especially when you have a preemie.

Charley at 5 months

Charley is also teething. Her first tooth hasn't popped through yet but she puts everything in her mouth! Her favorites are her hands, blankets, binky and mom and dad's fingers. We have a plethora of teething toys for her to use but she doesn't like any of them at the moment. Especially the cold ones. It's pretty funny to watch her when we give her one, though! And my favorite thing is that she is laughing! You have to really work for it because she doesn't give her laughs away for just anything or anybody. But when she does it melts your heart! Kevin had made her laugh a couple of times when I wasn't around before I ever got to hear her. And believe me, I was really trying! But when it happened Kevin caught it on video.

I can't believe how fast time is going and how big Charley is getting. But she is still my little preemie baby. She is only wearing 0-3 month clothes with plenty of room to grow at 6 months. And I'm not sure when she will fit into a size 0 shoe! She has the tiniest feet. The only way I can keep shoes on her is to tighten the velcro straps as tight as they can possibly go. And even then she looks like she has a clown shoe on. My brother bought her some one-size fits all leggings that she probably won't be able to wear until she is 1 or 2! But I do have to admit that I love having a teeny tiny girl. Even though she is getting older, she is still the size of a very large newborn, LOL.

And this past Sunday night, Charley gave us the best gift ever...her first full night sleep (without a wimper for her bink)! And the nights after that weren't too shabby either. She still sleeps in our room at night but I think it is time to move her to her crib. She takes her naps in her nursery but it would really be nice to have her sleep 100% of the time in there. So that's my goal for this next week!

Christmas and a Little More

Christmas was pretty quiet at the Gardner household this year...at least for me. I'm used to having lots and lots of family around on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Christmas was always a marathon at the Grow's; going from one grandparent's house to the next...and I loved it! It made the day last a lot longer to me. So this year was really different staying home.

We decided to do our favorite Christmas traditions to make it special for us. Christmas Eve was spent baking and wrapping all day long. We made pies and sugar cookies and then had Kevin's traditional waffle dinner. And even though we weren't going anywhere I had to dress Charley up for her first Christmas Eve!

After dinner we relaxed and enjoyed the warm fire while Charley gazed at the Christmas tree.

The next morning we got up, opened gifts and then had Kevin's traditional Christmas breakfast casserole (my first time and it was delicious).

Charley enjoyed her gifts from Santa...especially her wubanub (it works like a charm)!

Kevin's parents stopped by on Christmas Eve and my parents stopped by on Christmas day to exchange gifts. We even got a surprise visit from my older brother, who we hadn't seen for several months because someone in his family was always sick. It was nice chatting with him for the short time he was here.

After everyone left we watched Christmas movies and relaxed.

Christmas 2014

New Year's Eve was pretty much non-existent at our house. Kevin had to be to work by 6am on the 1st and I had to do some work at 8am, so we did pizza and a movie and were in bed by 9:30pm...lol. We are QUITE the party animals!

My birthday is only a few days after New Year's but with all of the holiday excitement I forget it's coming up until it's here. We typically go out to dinner for our birthdays but I decided I wanted to include Charley, since a birthday is a family deal. So I chose to have Chinese take-out for dinner so we could eat it at home. Kevin also treated me to a movie and then took me to Ikea to pick out my birthday presents. I have been wanting to organize lately and get my house in order. And who doesn't love Ikea!

My cute date on my birthday

But my favorite thing I got is my new Silhouette Cameo that Kevin gave me for Christmas. I told him almost a year ago that this is what I wanted...and he came through! I love to craft and there are so many cute things I want to make and do around the house that I can make with this awesome machine!

My first project was very simple. I wanted to add our street numbers to our front door.

It was so easy to do and I can't wait to do more! I have all of these ideas and projects floating around in my head. I'm even considering the idea of starting up my own etsy shop to make a little money on the side (most likely to pay for my new addiction...lol) I feel like a kid in a candy store...I'm so excited to keep playing with my new toy!

Holy Smokes It's Christmas!

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I started a little late getting the Christmas decorations up this year so I feel a little behind. I wanted to do something different with the tree because I was tired of the same ole' thing. So I bought some red chevron ribbon and decorated the tree and my kitchen cabinets. I love how it looks on the cabinets...the jury is still out on the tree.

Since this is Charley's first Christmas, I wanted to start some new family traditions. If you ask anyone in my family, I am all about traditions! One of my favorite things to do when my parents get their tree up is to look at the ornaments we made as kids; especially the ones with our pictures on them. I love to see how cute we once were. So I started a new tradition this year since I now have a cute little one. I made Charley her first ornament on shutterfly.com and made a family ornament. I want to make one each year so that our tree will be covered with my cute kiddos when I'm an empty nester. I think they turned out pretty cute.

Another tradition I have been wanting to start is a gingerbread house decorating party. Last year I bought all of the supplies, sent out the invites to my family and took off 5 days from work to bake all of the gingerbread. Well, I ended up spending those 5 days in bed with the flu, Merry Christmas to me!

So I wanted to try it again this year. But we couldn't have everyone over since Charley is quarantined, so I decided to do a trial run. And boy am I glad I did! 

I joke with my husband that I am like Clark W. Griswald when it comes to holidays and vacations. I have these great visions in my head of how I want everything to go and of course they never do. Then I end up being disappointed and depressed. Well...the great gingerbread house of 2014 was no disappointment. 

It started out well. I had done a lot of research on pinterest and thought the hardest part would be baking the gingerbread but that was actually pretty easy. 

Assembling the house went well...we didn't have any destruction. I had Christmas music playing in the background and hot cocoa and cider to sip to get us in the Christmas mood. 

So on to the fun part, right? Not so much. I think my downfall was all of the research I did. I had this cute house in my head; nothing too fancy...but it definitely wouldn't look like a preschooler decorated it. I mean, come on...how hard can that be? Apparently pretty dang hard. We had been at this thing for 3 hours and the house was looking pretty pathetic. Kevin had lost interest, the baby was crying and I had to figure out something for dinner. The joyous Christmas music playing in the background was now just obnoxious noise. I was tired and hungry and this was no longer fun. Plus I had made a huge mess in the kitchen that I now had to clean up. Who came up with this dumb idea anyway? LOL

I was ready to just chuck the whole thing but my calming, wise husband told me to just leave everything for now and we would pick it up again tomorrow. He's so good dealing with my "crazy" and knows how to calm me down. I did just what he said and the next day we sat down together and finished our house.

All in all it turned out okay (just don't look close!) My favorite feature is the smoke from the chimney. I found white cotton candy at Walmart and it worked perfectly. 

I'm not sure I could handle doing a decorating party. For one, my house is way too small. And secondly, it was a lot of work prepping for one house. I'm not sure how I would do 8 eight! But you never know...I could completely forget about this experience and get caught up in the "idea of fun" next year and give it a whirl. Just like Clark Griswald...he doesn't learn from his experiences either ;-)

To end on a cheery note...another tradition I started this year was Christmas cards. I've always loved getting Christmas cards from friends and family and have always wanted to send out my own and since now we have Charley, what better time to start, right? Unfortunately I couldn't send out as many as I had hoped so I apologize if you didn't get one. Hopefully next year I can send out more. 

So instead, here is an e-card from us:

We hope that your Christmas is filled with love, laughter and happiness. Merry Christmas!

LOVE, 

the Gardners