3 Weeks

Wow, three weeks already. We have just been in heaven (besides the lack of sleep) at our house lately. The incredible miracle of a precious little newborn is something that almost nothing else compares to.

Emmett has been a WONDERFUL baby. He is so patient with us and is oblivious to the constant noise all around him. He has such a wonderful little personality and we already can't imagine life without him.

There doesn't seem to be enough hours in each day for us all to get our fill of this cute little guy. I would love to just hold him all day long, if only I could. My most favorite way to hold him is when he is all curled up - legs tucked up tight - laying on me chest to chest. I almost wish he would stay this little forever; until I think about how sad it would be to never have him smile or laugh at us. I'm sure I'll love him even more at each new stage he enters.

We sure love you Emmett - thanks for three wonderful weeks in our family.

Linz was holding Emmett while he slept and somewhere in there they reversed the roles. I just love these sweet moments...

My big 3 week old little man

Linz is such a good helper and she loves to hold him ANY CHANCE SHE CAN

He is our sweet little guy sleeping. I just love when they sleep with their cute little hands up by their heads...

We are just lovin' life right now!!!

The rest of us

Besides loving our cute Emmett, this is what else we've been up to lately...

doing some crafts

I even got adventurous and made cookies with the kids (Kirsten we made your Andes mint cookies - they were DELICIOUS!!!)

Linz fell asleep watching a movie - at least she had made a nice bed for herself on the couch...

Our Sweet Emmett

Ok so I have a feeling this might get kind of long, so if you want to skip to the pictures, feel free.

I took Emmett in for his 1 week appointment and the Dr. heard a heart murmur. She said it very likely could be nothing, but that she is anal about this stuff and wanted Emmett to have an echocardiogram to get things checked out just to be safe.

2 days later I found myself in the Heart wing of the hospital sitting next to Emmett as he was getting his echo for about an hour. The poor tiny littl guy with all those sticky things hooked up to him. That was on a Wed. We heard back on Friday that Emmett indeed had a few things going on with his heart.

I guess there are several "holes" in babies hearts when they are in the womb that allow the blood to flow easier. These holes close up right around the time the baby is born. Well, Emmett had 2 of these holes that hadn't closed up yet. They said these are nothing to worry about, it is very common and most likely they would close up on their own eventually.

The third thing they found was what they call Pulmonary Stenosis. (If you want to know more you can google the condition.) The Pediatrician wanted us to meet with a Pediatric Cardiologist so that he could do some more tests and better explain what is going on with our little Emmett's heart.

One week later (today), I again found myself (this time with Nate in case the diagnosis was more than I could handle on my own) in the heart wing of the hospital watching Emmett receive his second echo. The doctor said that one of the "holes" has already closed up. He said the other one was still there but that is could take up to 2 years to close up.

He then confirmed that Emmett does have Pulmonary Stenosis. We got the best news we could with this diagnosis - that Emmett has a mild case of this condition. With a moderate or severe case, the child would most likely need surgery to correct the valve - but with a mild case, surgery is usually not needed. The pediatric Cardiologist wants to watch him closely over his first year - since babies change so much during that time he wants to make sure the stenosis doesn't worsen as Emmett grows.

We get to go back in for another echo in 2 weeks and then many more times during Emmett's first year of life and most likely every year or two for the rest of his life (to make sure there isn't too much stress on the right ventricle causing it to enlarge.)

All we can do now is hope and pray that his condition doesn't get worse, that it stays a mild case. I have to admit I feel VERY blessed that his condition isn't worse. There seem to be a million things that can go wrong with our beautiful little babies - all sorts of weird and awful things. I am truly grateful that Emmett's condition is what it is and isn't worse.

We have been blessed with great health with all of our children (and Nate and I included) that I can't complain too much about the little bump in the road of Emmett's health. I am forever amazed at and grateful for my FOUR beautiful and HEALTHY children. I am grateful for the joy they bring into our lives each and every day and I am so humbled to be their mother - these amazing little spirits that I can learn so much from.

We sure love our Emmett and we are excited to share him with each of you as soon as we get the chance to. He has blessed our lives immensly and we look forward to creating many wonderful memories with him in our lives.

Here is our PRECIOUS little NEWBORN....

I just love these mad pictures, they are just so cute when they are mad

I might be slightly biased, but isn't he just ADORABLE!!!! Amazing and so perfect (except the tiny imperfection in his heart)

Our fourth BYU baby

I bought this for Ethan when he was born and (I think) each kid has worn it. If I were more organized, I'd be able to post a picture of each kid wearing this onesie, but I'm not so you only get Emmett. Isn't he a cute BYU baby though. I know it's been a while since we've been at BYU, but we can still claim our kids as BYU babies, right????

Emmett - 2 Weeks

Officially announcing Emmett to the world

Just some fun pictures of Emmett's second week with us.

Linz just can't get enough of holding him. She does an incredible job and the best part is that she hasn't been jealous or resentful of Emmett AT ALL. She is a wonderful big sister and loves to help with anything Emmett related.

The WONDERFUL big brothers. They do such a great job helping with Emmett. They get him out of the bassinet for me when he wakes up, they help him have tummy time and they hold him when I need one more minute to finish something. I am so blessed to have such great helpers.

Emmett has gotten his first ride in the PINK doll stroller - and he didn't even complain...

I just love these full body shots with their skinny little legs all tucked up under them.

He's trying to smile....
The famous sleeping with dad picture (first of many I'm sure)
I caught him sucking his thumb - a very interesting way of doing so....

Everyone Loves Emmett

The "first" picture of my four kids

And THE BOYS

My TWO BABIES (I know she's a big girl now)

Stuck in the Garage....

Our front door and the door to the garage both stay locked when you open them unless you manually turn the lock to unlock. So, the kids (and occasionally us) get locked out from time to time.

Sunday morning at 8 a.m. I was still in bed (since I wasn't planning on going to church) and Nate had just gotten out of the shower when we hear the doorbell ring. I thought who in the world is here this time in the morning and on a Sunday. So, I get up and go answer the door only to find Luke standing there. Remember it isn't uncommon for the kids to get locked out so I didn't think too much of it.

Well, a few minutes later Ethan comes up to me and tells me about how he and Luke had gotten locked in the garage.

Here is how the story went: Ethan said they were playing in the garage (I have no idea why - it is freezing out there) and they tried to go inside but the door was locked. They started to get scared and didn't know what to do. So, they said a prayer. It was after they said the prayer that they noticed the door on the side of the garage that goes to the outside. They unlocked the door and Luke went around to the front door and rang the doorbell. When I let him inside, he went to the garage door and let Ethan in. Luke didn't say anything to me about them being locked out.

It made me feel really good that they thought about saying a prayer when they didn't know what else to do. Ah, the faith of a little child. The funny part is that we have a garage door opener on the wall inside the garage that they both push to open the garage door numerous times every week. I guess they forgot about that option.

Kid Pictures

I know you probably want to see more pictures of the cute little guy. Let me tell you I have a TON on my camera right now. Hopefully I can get to those next. BUT, here are the latest pictures of the oldest three kids.

Ethan's 7 year pictures

I finally got around to getting Ethan's pictures taken for his birthday. We did these pictures 2 days before Emmett was born.

Linz wanted a turn and I, of course, couldn't resist

The last pictures of my THREE adorable kiddos.....

I'm not sure where the kids picked it up from, but they've been saying "cheese" pirate style for a while now. Ethan and Luke started it and then Linz finally tried her hands at it. Here they are saying their pirate CHEESE.

I figured while I had the stuff out, I'd get some of Luke and Linz too.

Here is Luke at 5 1/2 years old

I always get good facial expressions from Luke

Luke has discovered how to cross his eyes on demand and loves to do it (mostly because it makes me cringe when he does)

And here is our ALMOST 3 year old. Maybe since I got some good ones of her, I won't have to do them again in three weeks when she turns 3. Sorry there are so many of her, I just couldn't narrow them down.

Lindsey at almost 3

I had fun playing around with some of these....