Special Fast for Agent P

This Sunday, December 4 we are having a special family/friend fast for our little Agent P. We would love and appreciate any prayers and happy thoughts sent his way.

A few months ago at his 15 month doctors appointment, his doctor noticed a heart murmur. Just to be safe, she sent us to a pediatric cardiologist. He did an EKG and said it seemed abnormal so had us come back later for an ultrasound. That is where we found out that our little guy has a hole in his heart and a cusp on a valve. Normally to fix the hole in the heart they can do the surgery through a catheter but with the valve problem, they have to do open heart surgery. My sweetheart will be having surgery on December 14. He'll be in the hospital for 5-7 days then it will take about 4-6 weeks for his chest to heal.

The doctors have told us that this is a surgery that they do all the time but it doesn't completely soothe my nerves. My baby is having surgery and it's scary. Especially since he's small enough to not understand what will be going on. All we want for Christmas this year is a quick, healthy recovering for our little boy. We have faith in the doctors and in our Heavenly Father that things will turn out well with P. But the extra prayers, thoughts and good feelings sent our way are always appreciated.

Just chillin on the couch with Santa Mickey and his sippy cup. Love this boy!!

This Too Shall Pass

There's a time in our life when we have to accept what life will bring us and grow from it. I know there's a choice to not accept it, but that always leads to unhappiness and that unhappiness can spread like a disease to others. So the best thing to do is accept it. To accept fate, to accept what life has given you. But that's actually the hardest part. It would be easy to be bitter and upset at what trials you have to go through. But where's the challenge in taking the easy road?

The biggest and hardest step is acceptance that you can't change it. That life is going to be the way it is and there's nothing you can do. That's where I have the hard time. I don't like there being situations that I can't fix and make better immediatly. I read a quote that stated, "Accept fate and move on. Don't yield to the suductive pull of self-pity. Acting like the victim threatens your future." Self-pity is always the easy thing. I often times sit and cry to myself asking, "why me?" Why is this happening to us right now? Haven't we been through enough?" Things have happened in our life that just seem to pile one on top of the other until we think we'll burst if more occurs, then more happens.

When you've reached that low point in life, what do you do? Where do you go to? If you're like me, that's when the pride steps in. "I can't ask for help. I ask for too much from others. There are other people struggling, I can't ask for help." This is the moment that you have to kick yourself in the pants. Joseph B. Wirthlin, apostle of the LDS Church, stated, "Because Jesus Christ suffered greatly, He understands our suffering. He understands our grief...sometimes the very moments that seem to overcome us with suffering are those that ultimately suffer us to overcome." President Thomas S. Monson, Prophet of the LDS Church, stated, "At times some may think that no one cares-but someone always cares! Your Heavenly Father will not leave you to stuggle alone, but stands ever ready to help."

I needed the kick in the pants to remind myself of my beliefs and the love that Heavenly Father has for me and my family. Heavenly Father will never give us more than we can handle. If we feel that we are going to burst from trials and problems, that's when we need to remember that God thinks really highly of us. He gives his loving and special children the hard trials because he knows they will succeed. He will put others into our path to help us through it if we can't do it alone.

Dallin H. Oaks, another apostle of the LDS Church, put it wonderfully, "At times we may despair that our burdens are too great. When it seems that a tempest is raging in our lives, we may feel abandoned and cry out like the disciples in the storm, 'Master, carest thou that we perish?' (Mark 4:38). At such times we should remember His reply: "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?' (v. 40). The healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ-whether it removes our burdens or strengthens us to endure and live with them like the Apostle Paul-is available for every affliction in mortality."

Heavenly Father is the only one who knows what the outcome of my life will be. I can't control it anymore than I can control the sea. I've come to accept the trials that have been given to me. I might cry and complain still since they will be hard, I'm only human. But I will continue to remind myself that I am loved and will endure to the end. This too shall pass.

Happy Thanksgiving!

First School Picture

 

A month or so ago my sister Becky surprised us with P's first school picture. Hutch had dropped him off to her before work on the day of her other kids school pictures. We had left him in his pajamas though and hadn't packed an outfit. She went and bought him this cute outfit and had his picture taken at her kids school. On a side note: she told us she just had this outfit and thought to put it on him. Liar! But we love and thank you very much for getting this picture done. He's adorable!!! Don't you love that smile?!?!!

Snow Day!

Most of you know, it snowed last weekend. Last winter when it snowed P was only about 5 or so months old so it didn't mean much to him. I was also afraid of him catching RSV so we kept him inside. So this past Saturday was the first time Agent P played outside. We, of course, filmed some of it.

This is P first being in the snow. It takes him a while to understand he can walk in it. But once he realized how fun it was, we couldn't get him to stop walking through it. Our back yard was full of foot prints really fast.

P likes to play in his wagon. Even the excitement of the snow didn't stop him from playing in his wagon.

This is P learning how to throw a snow ball. It was fun to see how confused he'd get when the snowball would hit the ground and disappear. It must be noted that the first person to throw a snowball at him was his Oma Dorene (Grandma Dorene). It's not in the video, but every kid should know if their first snowball thrown at them was by their Grandma. :) heehee!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, fun and safe Halloween! We've had fun so far with a family Halloween party and carving pumpkins at Grandma's house. Here is Agent P as a Tiger. Isn't he the cutest tiger you've ever seen!?!?

 I told you he was adorable!! He's actually laughing in that last photo not crying. He thought it was funny to jump on the trampoline in his costume.

Here is the pumpkin I carved at my parents house. They had two pumpkins and forgot to carve them. So my sister Liz and I carved them. I made Oogie Boogie from the movie Nightmare Before Christmas. My sister did a skull and crossbones. I didn't get a picture of Liz's because she was still working on hers when I had to leave.

I took the pictures of the pumpkin with my cell phone and even though the picture is in the correct direction on my computer, for some reason, they won't stay in the right direction for my blog. Just turn your head to the side to see Oogie Boogie.

HAVE A FUN AND SAVE HALLOWEEN!!!

Saturday is Fun Day!

Saturday we had the opportunity to have my sister's kids spend the day with us. We had a lot fun! It helped that I had planned things to do a head of time. When they arrived we were outside raking leaves so they played in the leaves for a while.

 Here is Fancy Nancy, Dooku, Batman and Agent P playing in the leaves. They had fun. We went into the house for a bit to get drinks of water then went back outside to the backyard to color the cement with sidewalk chalk. Even P had fun. He liked carrying the container around which made it harder for us to get chalk but not impossible. Here is everyone drawing pictures.

I even had fun coloring. I impressed them with my drawing skills. I can make a pretty awesome pumpkin, butterfly and flower. After playing with the chalk, we went back inside. The kids started watching Ghostbusters II. I started making lunch. We had homemade corn dogs and cheese sticks. The cheese sticks are like corn dogs but cheese instead of the hot dogs. It was the first time Hutch and I had made them. Thankfully Dooku is a genius and helped us out. We had a hard time getting the batter to stay on the dogs. He suggested wiping the hot dogs off so they are dry. It worked great! He helped us make them and had a lot of fun doing so. The kids LOVED lunch! They had seconds. Even P loved it!

After lunch we finished watching Ghostbusters II. What a great movie! Then we painted pumpkins. I bought some small pumpkins and pulled out my paints. I cut up some sponges to use to paint. The kids wore old dress shirts of Hutchs to help keep their clothes clean. Just put P in his diaper. We're glad we did. Here's a video of him painting. He seems really gentle and clean with his painting.

It pretty much went downhill from there with the painting. He noticed that it was more fun to paint himself than then pumpkin.

/

The rest of the kids did a great job at keeping the painting on their plates and on the pumpkins.

Here they are with their finished pumpkins. This photo was taken at the end of the day because I wanted to make sure they were dry before they held them. Fancy Nancy had also just woken up from a nap. Batman is eating a spiderweb cookie that I had made for them.

After we played with toys for a while and Dooku watched some episodes of "School House Rocks" (yes, I own the DVD) we went back outside for awhile and played in the leaves. The kids helped us rake up the leaves into one big pile. They then jumped in the leaves and took turns burying each other.

They are really great kids and even helped us bag up the leaves. I think they got frustrated that even though we raked up the leaves, more leaves get falling. Once we got the big pile in bags, we gave up on the other leaves and just played. We tired them out pretty good. Once we went inside they just wanted to sit and lay around and watched a movie. We let them, we were tired too. We watched "Astro Boy" until their dad came and got them.

It was a really fun Saturday! I'm so thankful to have such wonderful niece and nephews, I love them a lot. I'm excited for the next time we get to play together.

Quote

"There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible." ~Atticus Finch

There's a reason he's my literary hero. Very wise, very true.

Things As They Really Are

Funny Friday!

Here are two photos to help you through your day. You can't help but laugh after seeing at least one of them. :) Love this boy!!

photos taken by Aunt Tifany

Quote

"Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend." ~Stephen King

Nothing against Twilight. I've read the books and seen the movies (I think I've seen all that has been done). It's not my favorite but an ok read.

(pretty much making sure no Twi-hearts attack me while I walk to my car at night) 

Still the Cutest To Me!

Just a heads up that P didn't make the top 10 cutest baby on the Today Show. He is still the cutest baby in the world to me though!!

Not only the cutest baby, but the cutest husband. Let's just say, I have the cutest family. I love them very much and am very greatful to have them!!

Cutest Baby

I entered Perrin into the Today Show's Cutest Baby contest. Let's hope he wins!! I certainly think he's the cutest and most loving little boy ever!! If he makes the final 10 then people can go online and vote on their favorite photo. If he makes the top 10, I hope everyone will vote for him!

Green Smoothie

I've been reading about Green Smoothies from some of my friends. Mostly Amanda and Rachael. What makes it a Green Smoothie is adding spinach. There is a TON of healthy things in spinach that we all need. So I decided that we will try to start out days with a green smoothie. I had to talk Hutch into it because he doesn't like spinach but I promised him that he wouldn't taste it with the fruit that will be added. I didn't have a ton of fruit today so I just added strawberries, blueberries, mango, banana, milk and spinach. And it was very yummy! Hutch did like it too. In fact, from the pictures below, you can tell who also liked it.

They're not the best pictures, but they show that P liked the smoothie. So if you're looking for something healthy to start your day with, try a green smoothie. I bought some flax seed to put in it too. It has omega 3's and lots of fiber.

Swimming with Dad!

Here is Hutch and P swimming at Aunt Lisa's house. They had a lot of fun swimming until the "Grandma Incident" (heehee). It was a lot of fun to see Aunt Becky, Chelsie and Ashley and the rest of the family! Let's do it again!!

Playing

The first picture is of P playing with a toy that his Aunt Becky Chapman gave him. It's a wooden tractor type toy that picks up wooden blocks with a magnet. He LOVES this toy. He hasn't quite figured out how it works, but he loves to play with it. Aunt Becky gave him this toy for his birthday because she remembers P's Grandpa Tracy had a toy just like it. That was really sweet of her to share that with us.

The second picture is of P coloring. I bought him his own box of big crayons. He had a lot of fun coloring with daddy. We have learned that he needs to be supervised while coloring. Hutch had stepped out of the room for a minute and I was reading (in the same room with P). I look over at P and notice his mouth has flecks of black on it. I also noticed something in his mouth. I put my finger in his mouth for a sweep and what do I find? The top of his black crayon. He got bored coloring and decided to eat his crayon. Luckily I was smart enough to buy non-toxic crayons and I got it out of his mouth. He didn't really like the taste anyways so there's a good change he won't do it again.

At the Zoo

A few weeks ago, Hutch, Agent P and I went to the Zoo! Hutch hadn't been there in years and the last time I took P it was rainy and cold. Today was beautiful! We all three had a lot of fun! We have a year pass so we will be going again and again.

Here is Hutch and P in front of the Gorilla statue. P was so weird with the statues. He was acting afraid of them. Not sure why. When we went into the ape house, there was a gorilla sitting right up to the glass with his hand under his chin. He was just starring. It took P a bit of time before he was willing to get close to the glass. In the orangutan area, I was holding P while he watched it eat. A little girl came up and stood in front of us, blocking P's view. So what does he do? He starts swinging his arm like he was going to whack the girl. I stopped his hand. I have no idea where he would get hitting from. Silly boy!

Here's my boys at the lion statue. It took a lot to get him to sit on it. I have no idea why he was afraid of them.

Agent P and I in front of the giraffes. P LOVED the giraffes. He just stared and stared. He was mesmerized by them. He could have stayed for hours watching them walk and eat.

This picture is just after the T-Rex growled at us. P didn't like that. He didn't cry but he shook really hard and grabbed onto my neck really tight. I'm not sure if he realizes that they are not real.

 

Riding the wooden horses. He really liked to hold onto the leather strap and bounce around. 

Hutch and P on the train. The train has seemed to gotten a lot smaller since we both rode it. (years and years ago) When Hutch got out of the train, the whole thing moved. We laughed hard.

Agent P and I are prairie dogs too! We got into the lowest tubes so we both could be seen. My knees didn't like that. But P liked it.

The three of us had a great day. We walked all around, got a little wet (some of the dinos spray water) and laughed really hard. I'm grateful for my family and that we're able to spend these precious moments together.

Agent P's Birthday Party

I'm very, very behind in my posting (as I have been told by many people). I'll do my best to catch up.

On Saturday, June 11 we had a birthday party for Agent P. The day before his party, P got the stomache flu (curses to whoever gave it to him!). Poor little guy was sooo sick. He would throw up and cry and cry for us to just hold and cuddle him but we had to clean him up first, he didn't like that. It broke my heart to see him so sick and there was nothing we could do. Saturday morning he was still sick. We kept debating on whether or not to postpone the party. He started feeling better so we decided to at least feed everyone that was coming. We knew we could take P into the other room if he started feeling sick again. I'm soooooo incredibly thankful for my family and friends for their help in getting the rest of his party put together (decorations and food). My awesome sister-in-law Lindsay helped finish P's birthday cake that my mom and I made (my mom sacrificed her arm for that cake). My nephews helped hang up decorations, my sister-in-law Tifany helped them decorate. Everyone was so wonderful! I'm so greatful for them all. My besty, Steph, took pictures for me.

Here is P's birthday cake. It didn't look as good as I wanted to. My mom would have done a brilliant job if she had done it. Curses to that big knife!

We served hot dogs and hamburgers, salads and beans. It was all very yummy! Thanks to my brother James for cooking the meat and to everyone else for bringing yummy food. This was the "Monkey Chow" area.

This is the "Sweet Monkey Chow" area. I created a candy buffet for our guests thank you gift. Everyone took a bag filled it with candy.
We played "Pin the Tail on the Monkey" but all of my photos for that are in portrait direction and for some reason my blog will only post photos in landscape. Weird!!

For some of the decorations, I printed a ton of photos of P throughout the year and hung them around the house. At the end of th party, I let everyone take as many photos as they wanted to.

A tired birthday boy.

Does this look like a mom who's been thrown up on a lot? :) That or at least a very tired mom. But we had a fun day!!

Opening presents!! He was unsure of what to do when I gave him his first present. Once we opened it and it was a car, he was excited. Then when I showed him there were more presents, he really liked this game. He wanted to keep stopping and play with the toy he had just opened. Needless to say, he loved every gift he was given.

Here is a picture of the backyard where everyone ate. The center pieces were bananas and P's many stuffed monkey's. We also had the barrell of monkeys hanging from the tents.

Even with how sick he was, he still seemed to have a good party. He didn't get to eat cake at his party but still had fun. Here he is with his Grandpa. Grandpa held him most of the time and kept him calm and relaxed.

Hutch and I are very greatful for our friends and family for their love and support throughout P's first year. We are so blessed to have P in our life and could never imagine a life without him.