Medical Update

18lbs 3 oz & 27 1/2 inches long
Oxygen Update

May 12th we were in the ER with Eden because of a trach infection. She was pretty sick for a good two or three weeks, but even after all other symptoms of the sickness had gone away, she was still requiring much more oxygen then she did before she got sick. The lung xrays showed that because of the sickness and increased mucus, Eden's lungs had little plugs all over and parts of her lungs had collapsed. We tried different medications and manual CPT treatments and her requirement did go down, but nothing was working to get us back to her "normal" range.

Until this came along at the end of June... the miracle performing Vest Machine.


Twice a day, 20 minutes each session, Eden gets wrapped up and it basically just shakes the heck out of her lungs. As bad as it sounds, she actually doesn't mind it too much and ends up falling asleep most times (as you can tell from the pictures). And it's a good thing she doesn't mind it because this machine works so well and I would hate to force her if it made her cry.

When we started her first treatment she was on 1/4 liter of oxygen on her HME and 4 liters at night on the trach collar. After just three or four days of using this machine she was on 1/16 on the HME and only 1.5 at night on the trach collar. Whoo Hoo! Finally, something worked to clear out her lungs and she is actually even a little lower than she was before she got sick. Now we've made room in our routine to do these threatments twice a day.

Trach Update

In other news, we have a trip to Denver Children's Hospital coming up next month! After Eden's bronch in May I was determined to get a second opinion and we're excited to be moving forward. We have good referrals about the doctor we will be seeing and hopefully we will be able to get a little more information about what's going on in Eden's airway. I am prepared for anything though so if he isn't able to give us any more information that's ok, at least we know she has now left two good doctors confused! :)

To make the experience even more exciting, the Pickett family will be going with us. Chad and Annie's daughter Lydia has a trach too and will be seen by the same doctor on the same days. We have decided that since we have to be there for a few days we might as well make a good vacation out of it too. Outlet shops look out... here we come! :)

Feeding Update

We continue to rely very heavily on Eden's feeding tube. We had a period of time where she was actually starting to try baby foods and was even swallowing some. She also would drink more than an ounce from her bottle without any fight at all! Then all the good times ended and we were back to crying every time I try to feed her. I think she may be trying to break two more teeth on the top so I'm hoping that once those finally decide to make their appearance she will go back to being interested in trying to eat again. One can only hope.... In the meantime we just keep trying everyday and hopefully someday all this work will pay off.

I have to say that out of all the things we've experienced because she was a preemie, the eating battle is definitely the hardest of all. I can easily deal with all the medical stuff, but trying to force her to eat several times a day really gets so exhausting. Some days I just want to give up and just pour everything down the tube - save the hassle, save the time. But I know that this will all pay off eventually and hopefully one day (most likely after the trach comes out) she will be able to eat without difficulty and she will love it just like the rest of us! :)

Physical Therapy Update

Eden isn't crawling yet and I wonder if she ever will. Part of me thinks she may just walk and skip the whole crawling thing. She still absolutely HATES being on her tummy and cries everytime we put her there. She absolutely LOVES to stand up against things though and loves when we help her walk. She is still really shaky and no where near doing anything on her own, including pulling herself up, but we're happy she enjoys being up on her feet and we play this way a lot.

Her physical therapist comes every other week and that's probably the hardest hour Eden experiences. She hates it, but still manages to give her therapist some really cute smiles through her tears. She is such a sweet and patient baby.


I think that's all I've got for now. The next medical update will come after our trip to Denver.

In non medical news... her hair continues to grow and we can now (barely) get side pig tails. Oh so fun :)

River Trip

Last weekend we were able to take a trip out to the Colorado River on the border of California and it was an absolute blast! It was a perfect opportunity to spend time with old friends and have fun out on the water. I was definitely not ready to leave! We stayed in a gorgeous home right on the river so it was the perfect setup for having fun in the water and keeping Eden and her trach away from the water all at the same time! :)

We took boat rides, jet ski rides, tubed, wake boarded, floated down the river, and had tons of fun playing on the dock. And of course, in the evenings after the kids were put to bed we stayed up late playing games and laughing a ton. It was such a fun trip and we're so grateful for the Neuberts for allowing us to stay in their amazing home. Isn't it beautiful?


Here are a few pictures of the fun:

Me, Heather Stewart and her daughter Ashley on a tube ride.


Eden spent a lot of time in this living room playing with toys and quite often we would stand at the window seat and watch all the action going on outside. She loved it!


Brad, Brandon Stewart and Scott Gunderson out on the tubes. They were quite fun to watch out there because for most people who ride tubes, the number one focus is to stay on the tube. For these three the number one focus was to knock someone else off their tube so it was very entertaining.


Here's most of the group going out on the boat. Unfortunately Brad had to stay behind with Eden for this ride so he isn't in the shot.


At one point Eden went down for a nap and Brad and I ran to the boat so we could get a chance to go out together. Someone was back in the house watching Eden's monitor and if she woke up or did anything crazy someone would flag us down on the dock. Fortunately we didn't have any craziness and Brad and I enjoyed the time out together.


The boys were getting creative in their clown fountain play...


Ashley is the most adorable little girl and always said the funniest things. Her and Brad spent so much time together out in the water. These two were serious when it came to swimming.


At one point we brought Eden outside to sit in the shade while we played in the water and took a quick jet ski ride. I think she was only out there about 15 minutes but it was much too hot for that because we came back from the water and she was bright red and sweaty. Poor girl. Back into the house we went!

Oh and a side note, because we were back to lower elevation Eden didn't need to be on oxygen when she was awake and it was SO NICE! We were free of the cord and tank and that in and of itself felt like a vacation!

Heather and all the kids taking a tube ride.


Me, Heather and Cindy Gunderson out on the tubes. We were nice to each other and didn't push each other off like our husbands did. And we had just as much fun doing it the nice way! :)


I have a handsome hubby who absolutely adores anything that includes water!



Thank you Neuberts, Stewarts and Gundersons for an awesome weekend! We hope to see you all again soon!

4th of July Celebrations!

The 4th was so fun this year, as always! This is such a fun holiday and one we look forward to every year. Fortunately we were able to celebrate both Saturday and Sunday nights with food, friends, family and fun!

Saturday night we went to Tiff and Cam's for their annual block party. They had awesome fireworks over there (you know, the kind that are, ah hum... illegal) so it was lots of fun. I wasn't sure how Eden would handle the fireworks but she actually did well with it and was very curious about them.



Then on Sunday night we had all the family over at our house for a BBQ and more fireworks.







Brad is officially the king of fireworks and is like a kid on Christmas morning as he runs from one to the next to light them. He does well at putting on a good show for everyone, but it makes me wonder if he stops to enjoy any of them himself! :)




Once our fireworks were all done we went up on the balcony that overlooks the city and we were able to see the city fireworks show as well as tons of residential fireworks. It was definitely an awesome view - and free - whoo hoo!

I had to steal this picture from Jesse because it is so hilarious. For some reason Wren loves the feel of those little rubber strings in her mouth. She leans down, gets a mouth full and then sits up and lets them snap back. It is so funny to watch. She's such a cutie.


A couple weekends ago Michael spoke with Steve Young at one of the firesides at the Freedom Festival at the Mariott Center in Provo, UT. It could not have worked out any better that the fireside was being broadcast on BYU tv the night of the 4th so we were able to all watch it together. He did such an amazing job.



All in all it was an awesome weekend and a great time to celebrate this amazing country we live in and the men/women who sacrifice so much for our freedoms. I feel so blessed to live here and have all my family close by to celebrate with.

Our temporary second child

While Michael and Jesse were on their honeymoon we were able to keep Kadence with us for a few days and nights. Having two kids is a lot of work! Especially when they are only about 7 months apart! These two girls are great friends, but also had a competition for attention going on there towards the end of the stay! I got good at holding them both on my lap, or carrying them both around wherever I went. :)

It was lots of work but so much fun. Here are some pictures of some of our adventures with Kadence:




They wore their matching dresses from the wedding to church on Sunday. They both looked so cute.



For some reason Kadence really liked to try to sit on Eden's lap. Eden only found this to be a positive experience a few times. I happened to catch one of the happier attempts.



Kadence LOVED the swing at the park and sat in there pretty much the whole time we were there.


Thanks for staying with us Kadence! Come back anytime! :)

Michael & Jesse's Wedding

Congratulations to Michael and Jesse! They were married last Friday, June 25th here in our backyard. Our yard was completely transformed and looked so beautiful! The ceremony was amazing and we are so excited to welcome both Jesse and Kadence into the family.

The day was crazy with lots of decorating and setup, our house was full of people and was basically destroyed :), but it was so fun and I'm so grateful we were able to do this at our home.

I wasn't able to get very many pictures because we were all crazy busy, but we were able to get a few and I also stole a few from my sister and Jesse's dad. Hopefully I'll have more to post later! But for now, here are quite a few...



Behind all the chairs for the ceremony, the tables were set up for dinner. The plates, baby toys, and books were there to keep the wind from blowing the table cloths away, these were not decorations! Unfortunately this picture was taken before the center pieces and decorations were in place, but it at least shows the way the yard was setup.


The food was set up along the back patio and it was all so delicious!


Tiffany Smith put together the arch to go over the cake and dessert table and then the dads started deocorating it but we had to take over because they were getting a little stressed about how it looked. :)



There was lots of ribbon tying...



Josh was very helpful with the centerpieces, although he wasn't very happy that we were taking his picture working on the flowers. :)



Michael supervised as dad built the backdrop.

It wasn't all work for dad though - he made sure to throw some entertainment in there too.


Then all the men just hung out while all the girls went to get ready.




The girls all wore matching dresses and looked so adorable! I'm so bummed that we weren't able to get a picture of all of them together. It was definitely craziness there when we were getting all the kids into their outfits!

The boys looked so cute in their matching outfits too, and this time someone was good enough to get a picture of the three of them together!



Eden looked so cute, but unfortunately the headband didn't last long. She's no longer a fan and is always too anxious to rip those things off her head.


Jesse looked so beautiful.


I'm not sure what Brad did to Jesse here but she looks like she's going to get him good! :)


The head table where all the important people sat.


Unfortunately this is the only family picture we have at this point and it's pretty blurry because it was taken with a cell phone. We are anxious to see what pictures the professionals got!


Congrats again Michael and Jesse, we love you guys! We are so excited for you and are so glad we got to be part of such a beautiful day!

P.S - one more funny picture. Saturday morning Michael and Jesse came back to our house to pick up Kadence to spend a few more hours with her before leaving on their honeymoon and this is the outfit Michael showed up in:

For some strange reason (ha ha) he was in such a hurry to leave Friday night after the wedding that he forgot his flip flops so he was stuck wearing his boots with his casual clothes. I was tempted to not give them to him just because he looked so funny, but I figured it wouldn't be too pleasant to wear combat boots throughout his whole honeymoon so I gave in. Thanks for the good laugh Mike!