Birthdays

Birthdays!  Today there are three very important birthdays; My AWESOME Brother Brady who is on his mission in the Dominican Republic, My wonderful late mother-in-law Jackie and my sweet puppy Phoebe!  I love you all!  Happy Birthday :)

So I have not had the chance to post a lot of pictures of my puppy, it just didn't seem important with everything that has been going on, so I am going to take my opportunity now to celebrate her first year of life.

*Side Note: Callum passed his second swallow study yesterday and they moved his feeding tube up into his stomach so now will be able to work to get it out!  He just has to learn to eat enough in the day.  Yay!

So first let me tell you the story of how Phoebe became a part of our family.

My family always had a dog, and I therefore I wanted to have my own dog when I got married. 

Well Brigham was against it from the beginning.  He likes dogs, but he did not want one, unless, of course, it was a giant one.

I kept asking and asking to no avail.

We would go visit the puppies a the pet store so I could get my puppy fix, but it just made me want one more.

So finally after we had been married for almost 3 years Brigham went to San Francisco to see his brother James.  While he was there I went to pet the puppies at the puppy store and I found a really sweet little Maltese puppy and I wanted her so bad!

So I took a picture of her and sent it to Brigham and asked if I could have her...

 

To my surprise!  He said yes!  I was so excited I couldn't believe it!  

He just said that I had to ask our land lady to see if we could have a dog and if she said yes then all was good.  

Brigham was banking on her saying no... she said yes!

Now, the puppy at the puppy store was really expensive, so my mom did some shopping and found a breeder in Riverton who had some Maltese puppies for sale for a lot cheaper, so I agreed to see them.

Well we met with the Breeder and they brought Phoebe with them for us to see, and I fell instantly in love!  More so than the one in the store.  I knew she was mine :)

So I brought her home and I was so happy!

She then came with me to the airport when I went to pick up Brigham and his dad, and even though he denied it, I could tell he liked her.  She was such a cute little puppy!

And to reinfoce that point, when we got home I went into the bathroom and I heard Brigham giggling... I went to look and he was rolling around on the floor playing with her!  It was so cute!

And so began our little family

P.S. It was only one month later that I found out I was pregnant, so if Phoebe had not come along when she did, I am pretty sure I would have never gotten a dog

 

This is the day after she came home with me, she is so cute!

 

This is Brigham's golf bag he took to San Francisco with him... Phoebe liked to chew on the tags

 

Tired puppy

 

Her little cave

 

Brigham secretly adores her, but he will never admit it out loud

 

Utah Puppy!

 

I love it when she snuggles with me 

 

Good way to travel

 

She does not like baths... poor dog, she looks like a drowned rat

 

She loved to play in this box, it was so funny

 

She sleeps in the strangest positions

 

She also will sleep anywhere she falls down

 

So my mom bought this little purse for her dog but she wouldn't play with it, and she really wanted a picture of her holding it like a purse... this is the best I could do.  I think I have some better ones, but I couldn't find them

 

This is after her first haircut; Brigham thought she looked stupid, but I think she is cute

 

On the ride home from Bear Lake

 

She likes to crawl under the couch and sleep, but sometimes she only sticks her head under

 

She stares at the door waiting for Brigham to come home

 

I love you bug!  Happy Birthday my sweet puppy :)

One Month Old

My sweet little guy is one month old today!  I can't believe it, time has gone by so fast, and he is so funny!

This month he has been through a lot! 

*He had open heart surgery on December 15, 2010

*He finally came home on December 23, 2010 and we got to spend our first Christmas as a family at home instead of at the hospital.

*He likes to scowl and shows us all the time while he is awake and asleep.

*When I unswaddle him to change his diaper or his clothes he makes a funny face and stretches his whole body!  He puts his arms above his head and moves his head from side to side; it is really funny, his whole body sort of wiggles.  Also if I leave him unswaddled his arms are still really spastic and it looks like he is practicing his freestyle swimming.

*He "talks" in his sleep; we have him in our room right now so that I can hear him (his voice is still not completely back).  He sounds like he is waking up, but when I look at him he is still sound asleep.

*He growls awake and asleep.

*He does not like to be bathed... his little belly button has not fallen off yet so he just gets sponge baths, but he screams and growls the whole time.

*He gets the hiccups all the time and he hates it!  He will start to hiccup and it makes him mad so he growls and when they don't go away he starts to cry angrily and that just makes them worse!  It is a vicious cycle, and I am a mean mom because I think it is funny when he has the hiccups... he always looks so surprised when one happens; his eyebrows go up, his eyes get really wide and his mouth goes into a little "O".  So funny.

*He pulled his feeding tube out... twice... in the same week.  It was really special, and we ended spending about five hours in the ER at Primary's to get it replaced.  He now gets swaddled really tight, with the Velcro swaddle me blankets, with his hands at is sides.  He doesn't like it, but I don't like spending any more time at the hospital than I have to.

*He had his first follow up with the cardiologist and he is doing really good!  He increased the volume of his feedings so that he can continue to grow, and we are slowly coming off all his medications.

*He also had his first swallow study and even though he did not pass completely (he did well with thick liquids, but he silently aspirated the thin liquids, so they left his feeding tube in his intestines), we get to practice eating from a bottle 3 times a day!  Today was our first day to try it and it was great and scary... he vomited through his nose the second time.  Not fun.

That is really all that has been going on this month.  He continues to get cuter everyday and I love him more and more!  Hopefully by the beginning of February his feeding tube will be gone and he will be able to eat all by himself!  That is our next milestone, and I know he will do great because he is a superstar :)

 This is during one of his "baths" and he is NOT happy

  He is so sweet!  Happy One Month Birthday little guy!  I love you so much!