Too Young to Go 11/6/09

I got a phone call yesterday from my ex-roommate Tammy. She got married about 5 years ago and has had 2 boys and a girl added to their family.

She called me yesterday to tell me some "sad" news. Her 3 month old baby girl, Sabrina died of SIDS.

With all the losses that I've had with friends in the last couple of months, I was just in shock and devastated.

I had made little Sabrina a blanket with her name embroidered and sewn around the edges and had yet to give it to her. Tammy and her family went on a 2 month long excursion/vacation to Utah and Oklahoma, so we were out of touch for awhile. And then just 2 weeks ago, I felt like I needed to deliver her blanket. I figured while I was out travelling to my accounts that I would stop by her home, meet little Sabrina and deliver her blanket. So I put her blanket in my car and carried it around with me for the last couple of weeks. But then, it always seemed like I had a reason to not stop, because of the time or distance and I never did.

So when I got this message from her yesterday, I was heartbroken...not because of the blanket, but for Tammy, Troy and Sabrina's older brothers.

So Decker and I went to a funeral for a 3 month old today. As we were in traffic at a light, I turned around to talk to Decker. I told him about Tammy and her beautiful baby girl and that we were going to a funeral and there might be people crying and sad. I told him that Sabrina has left this earth and was with Heavenly Father now. Immediately when I said that, he folded his arms like he does when we pray. It was so sweet and I was so touched when I realized that he understands so much more than I credit him for. As I talked to him, he listened and looked me in the eyes like he was understanding everything.

As we were waiting in the line of the viewing, Decker was holding the program and kissing the face of little Sabrina. For awhile he was very subdued as he looked at baby Sabrina in her tiny coffin, and I just felt that on some level, he understood what was going on.

The Memorial service was so sweet. Tammy read a letter that she wrote to Sabrina and Troy talked about the happiness that Sabrina filled their home with and how she interacted with everyone. She is surely missed and loved.

My heart and prayers go out to Tammy and her family.

Our Little Stinker 10/31/09

Choosing pumpkins is something we look forward to every year. We actually went to a different place to get the pumpkins earlier in the month but only had our phone camera, so we didn't take a lot of pictures. This place was full of rotting pumpkins. We couldn't believe how hard it was to find a suitable one. The owner said that Seattle had such a sunny summer that the pumpkins grew too fast, so by October they were overdue to be picked. We ended up getting some pumpkins that weren't too bad. These are the only 2 pictures we got before my battery in my phone died. Decker really enjoyed the ride.

So we had to go back to get the traditional photos in the pumpkin fields. So, on Halloween, we went to Remlinger Farms. This was the field...we thought it looked like a graveyard of pumpkins...though the pumpkins were still beautiful...much better than the other field we had gone to earlier.

Being that it was Halloween and it had rained the day before all day, there wasn't anyone at Remlinger Farms. There was just one other group of photographers. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Picking the perfect pumpkin...

The skunk costume: This summer we found this great skunk costume for Decker at a garage sale. It hung in Decker's closet for months. Almost every night, Decker wanted to pet it. We put it on a few times just for fun. Decker really liked his costume. The material is so soft too, like a stuffed animal.

Some pictures from the Remlinger Farms...
Tigger?In the corn maze... After the Farms, we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. Since Decker was our "Little Stinker", Mike has his costume on. A surgeon's mask with a clothespin for our nose. I had a matching costume, but you'll just have to imagine it because we didn't get any pictures of me.
This must be one of the joys of having kids....free candy...Thanks Decker... :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Birthday Mike! 10/16/09

How do i go so many days without posting? I get so far behind and then I forget about the fun and exciting things going on.

I'm jumping back to October 16th. It's Mike's 36th birthday and his Grandma June Hancock was in town for a week visiting.

At Mike's request, we made Grandma Wood's famous Baked Spaghetti and then we made Mike's favorite cake: a cherry cobbler like cake.

It's so easy to make. You just mix 2 cans of pie filling cherries with one can of crushed pineapple, save the juice for later. Layer on the bottom of a jelly roll pan and then layer a box of white cake mix on top of the cherry mixture and then sprinkle the pineapple juice on top of the cake mix and bake for 45 minutes on 350. Eat hot with ice cream and YUMMERS...

anyways, we had that for dessert and we played a little bit of the Great Dalmuti. It's also a family favorite.

We then took pictures of everyone, one funny and one smiling.

It was sure fun having Grandma Hancock in town and we look forward to her next visit.

15 Month Check Up 10/13/09

After 2 boosters and a flu shot, Decker is happy!

HIS STATS:

Height: 31 inches (50%)

Weight: 19 lbs 14 oz (3%)

Head Circumference: 46 cm (25%)

Teeth: He has 4 molars-2 up and 2 down, making 12 teeth total.

Some of the new things Decker has learned this last month:

Decker has learned to scribble. He started doing it on my birthday at Las Margaritas. He still likes to eat the crayon though.

He's started putting the phone up to his ear when he plays.

He is pointing at everything and starting to point at objects meanfully.

His favorite book lately, is MOG the Forgettful Cat. see youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmiYnEmFILo

This is Decker sitting in his BOOK BASKET. Of course he loves to empty his basket...all over the floor. :)

Words he says: "Mama" = mama
"dad" and "da da" = daddy
"mo" and "mum"-(mix between yum and more) = more
"mana" = banana
"tak u" = thank you
"key" = monkey
"Melmo" = Elmo
"Ma" = Mog
"Kiya" and "baba" = Grandma
"shiz" = shoes
"tutu" = turtle
"blows" = hot
Uh oh is hummed in the high low fashion.
He shakes his head "yes" and "no". Sometimes appropriately and sometimes not.

He folds his arms when we say prayers.

He can sign "milk" and "more"
He blows kisses.

He runs all over the place.


His favorite things to do that we say are "bad" are: climbing on the table, banging on the TV, banging our tall lamp against the wall. All of these actions will result in a time out. We put him in time out for 1 -2 minutes and when we go back to get him, he's shaking his finger. He knows he did something that was unacceptable.


When he gets frustrated, he clenches his fists and face.

He's figured our that you slide a debit/credit card in a machine.

He loves to hug you from behind when you're down on his level doing something. He has just gotten all around more openly affectionate on his own initiative.

Funny picture to find Mike in Decker's crib....I guess it's BOY TIME.

This was a fun pudding day.

Happy Birthday Me! 9/21/09

It's my birthday and I got to celebrate it with mom Wood, Mike and my great old auntie Roberta. She was up in Washington for a couple of weeks visiting family and got to spend a couple of days with us. To celebrate, we went out to Las Margaritas and enjoyed sopapillas, carne asada, rice and beans. Decker thought this sombrero really cool. Roberta and Decker hit it off and got to spend some quality time together while I worked at Bellevue College for a buyback. See this video of Decker showing off his muscles to Roberta with a sweet little kiss at the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1S_2zu3daE&feature=channel

Go M's!

Mike got tickets to a Mariner's game from a coworker at work. This is the THIRD time he's gotten tickets to a Mariners game.

The FIRST time, his dad was in town so he took him.

The SECOND time, my brother and his family was in town, so he took my brother.

The THIRD time....guess who he took???

and

We even beat the Yankees in the final 9th inning with a homerun by Ken Griffey Jr.! Take that!

To finish the evening off, we had to visit Krispy Kreme's. YUMM!

Ups and Downs

This has been a month of ups and downs with highs and lows.

Week 1: (7 weeks along). We had our first Doctor’s appointment to confirm our pregnancy. She brought in her portable ultrasound equipment and when looking at the monitor, she said, it looks like there are two sacs there. Through the rest of the appointment, she would say "fetuses", in the plural and then say, but I could be looking at it wrong, this isn’t the best equipment. I shouldn’t even say that. We decided to schedule a more "in depth" ultrasound in one week to confirm the age of our fetus(es). Mike and I left the hospital that day in awe and shock! 2 babies? 2 cribs? 2 bassinets? 2 carseats? Going from 1 to 3 kids in one shot? Yikes! We called my mom and she was so excited. She had always hoped for twins and felt she had a good chance to get them since her grandpa, my great-grandpa, had 2 brothers that were twins. And generally, twins skip generations. So all week I had dreams of twins and the challenges and fun it could be. By the end of the week, Mike and I had come to the conclusion that if twins were to be ours, there was a reason and that the Lord wouldn’t send us more than he thought we were capable.

Week 2: (8 weeks along). We went to the Dr’s office for the "in-depth" ultrasound. We were so excited to find out if we were having twins or just one and the answer was just moments away. As the Dr. looked at the monitor and explained what we were seeing, She said, what had appeared to be 2 sacs was in fact, just 1 sac and the other that looked like a sac was just a hemorrhaged area where the sac had attached to the uterus. I hadn’t had any blood or spotting, so she was a little surprised that I hadn’t had any. She then told us that the actual sac appeared to be empty. Usually, you would be able to see a yolk, or start of an embryo. And there was nothing. She measured the sac and it was the size of a 6 week embryo. We thought we were 8 weeks along. So this brought up the question: Did the sac stop growing at 6 weeks? Or are we in fact at 6 weeks and not 8 weeks? This gave Mike and I hope that it was only 6 weeks along and just too early to see anything. The Dr. diagnosed a blighted ovum. This happens "when a fertilized egg attaches itself to the uterine wall but the embryo does not develop. Cells develop to form the pregnancy sac, but not the embryo itself. A blighted ovum usually occurs within the first trimester before a woman knows she is pregnant. A high level of chromosome abnormalities usually causes a woman’s body to naturally miscarry."

Before leaving, we scheduled another ultrasound for the next week to see if there was any change. The Dr. said she wanted us to start thinking about how we want to handle this—if it is a miscarriage-- do we want to schedule a D&C or let it happen naturally. When we went home, Mike and I were once again in shock. We went from thinking we might have TWO babies down to ZERO. I immediately started researching on the internet "blighted ovums" and I came across a website that told stories of women who had misdiagnosed miscarriages. Many women shared similar stories as mine. This gave Mike and I hope that it could be misdiagnosed and that at our next ultrasound, we would be able to see the beginning of our baby. We were feeling the need to have a blessing to help comfort us and feel the power of the Lord in our lives. Two of our friends, Steven Beecroft and Mike Whitmore came over and gave us both preisthood blessings full of comfort and reminders of who we were and why we were here and who we could go to in times of need. It was a comfort to receive these blessings and hear the words of love from our Father in Heaven.

Week 3: (9 weeks along). We went to our ultrasound appointment and once again, we saw the sac on the monitor. She measured it and it had only grown 2 days worth, making it the size of a 6 week and 2 day old sac. Still EMPTY, nothing growing inside. I still hadn’t had any bleeding or spotting. We pretty much knew and accepted that this pregnancy was going to end. Our Dr. suggested we give it another week and see if we naturally miscarried and if not, make a decision then. Two days later, I was working at a buyback and I began to bleed and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I called Mike, for I wasn’t prepared for it and the bathrooms on the campus didn’t have any pads in their machine. He came and it was so nice to see him and Decker. (Decker had gotten croupe this week, so Mike stayed home with Decker since he was very contagious.) The cramping began 4 days later and the reality really hit us.

Week 4: (10 weeks along). This past Wednesday, we had an appointment with the Dr. for another ultrasound. As we were driving to the hospital, strong cramps and heavy bleeding began. While at the Dr.’s office I had to go back and forth into the bathroom. The actual miscarriage was happening while being examined. I was in terrible pain and they finally gave me some Ibuprofen for the cramping. From the monitor, we could see the sac. It had moved from it’s position last week and was hovering over my cervix. Our Dr. tried to pull it out, but that didn’t work. Our Dr. gave us a prescription to help the miscarriage along, (which I didn’t end up taking), and I went home and rested for an hour or so and then that evening, the final piece came out, which we saved and took to the Dr. for lab tests. They wanted to be sure it wasn’t molar.

So here we are almost a week later and we are glad the worst is over and that we have some closure and are able to move forward. Mike and I through this whole process have tried to be optimistic and count the many blessings that we do have.

1. We have Decker, who is healthy and who is a joy in our life.

2. This is not the end, we can still have more children.

3. It happened early rather than later in the pregnancy.

4. If there was something wrong with the embryo, it’s a blessing that my body knew how to handle it. Amazing!

5. This must not be the right time for us to have a second child. When it is the right time, it will happen.

6. My health was not jeopardized.

7. We have a great Doctor who has been very supportive and informative through this whole process!

8. Our families have been a great support and we love them.