Corie's 9-Month Check-Up

Today was Corie's 9-months check-up with Dr. Marsden. Let me just start by saying that Dr. Marsden is AMAZING! I feel truly blessed and so grateful that he came to be our Dr.! We found him when we first moved to St. George, in 2005. Connor was 6 months old and we needed a pediatrician. My sister-in-law had told me about Redrock pediatrics and her Dr. there. Well, the Dr. she referred me too was full and not accepting new patients. So, they set us up to see Dr. Marsden! He is AMAZING!!!! Dr. Marsden even remembered us after we were gone to Law School for 3 years and came back! I didn't have to remind him who we were. He truly cares about his patients, gets to know them and the parents, really takes the time to answer questions, and takes every concern and question we have serious and answers them sincerely. He's also so funny, happy, and just a good person! I trust EVERYTHING he says and suggests. I know he is doing what's best for my kids AND us as the parents! One such example was his decision to see a lung specialist for Corie. Dr. Marsden discovered Corie has R.A.D. (Reactive Airway Disease). We've been giving her the treatments and doing as we're supposed to. However, Corie still has coughing spells that just look painful! I mentioned my concern with this at her check-up. Dr. Marsden said he was very perplexed by Corie. He listened and listened to her lungs over and over. Then, he sat and thought for what seemed like the longest time. He then said he wanted me to go to a lung specialist in Salt Lake City and get a 2nd opinion. He really wants to make sure that he hasn't missed something on Corie and wants to get everything checked out. To me, that takes a pretty awesome Dr. to suggest and want you to go to a different Dr. to get another opinion. It shows me that he really does care and wants what's best for my kids. Other than the R.A.D., Corie checked out perfect! At 9 months old, she weighs 19.4 lbs. (96%), is 26.77 inches long (83%), and is well on track for development with being ahead in some areas. She's our perfect little peanut!

Corie - 9 Months Old!!!!

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a ??????

Give me the camera!

I love her eyelashes!

She's getting started on good dental hygiene early!

Brusha, brusha, brusha!

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Corie turned 9 months old on Saturday. It's been a fun, exciting month of new milestones for Corie.

1. Corie started crawling on August 22, 2011, while we were at Grandpa & Grandma McGinnis' house to visit. We put her bottle on the floor for a minute and that's all it took. She was up and crawling after that. Now she's my human vacuum!
2. A few days after Corie started to crawl, she started pulling herself up to things into standing position. Which meant that we could no longer just leave her in laying position and she'd fall asleep. Now she stands up if she doesn't want to sleep. Her most favorite thing to do is to stand up in bed, move the blinds over, and pat and knock on the window.
3. On September 2, 2011, Corie began clapping. It began as a silent clap, not quite putting her hands together but, now she claps all the way and makes a sound like she's saying, "Yayyyyy!" It's very, very cute! She also lifts both her arms in the air when we say, "BIG girl!" Corie will wave bye-bye anytime we leave someones house or take her to bed.
4. Corie's 1st tooth came through on Sept. 4, 2011, while we were up visiting my family for Labor Day weekend. It was on the bottom, front, right tooth.
5. On September 8, 2011, Corie started a new & funny trick. She will crawl over to the sink and then start crying and waving her arms, which indicates that she wants a bottle. Kind of reminds me of a trained puppy!
6. On August 28, 2011, Corie was diagnosed with R.A.D. (Reactive Airway Disease). Ir's very similar to asthma but, isn't as permanent and doesn't include wheezing. She's getting enough air intake but, it's when she breathes out that the problem arises. So, we give her breathing treatments before bedtime, unless she's sick. Allergies and a cold/flu can make it worse so, during those times we do treatments 2-3 times a day. R.A.D. can lead to asthma but, we're hoping this is something that will come and go quickly.
   

Corie is still the happiest, most even-tempered little baby! We truly enjoy her so much! Even with all the many sicknesses she's had and dealt with, she continues to be such happy & funny baby! So grateful for her!!!!

My Birthday Fun a.k.a Much Delayed Post About My Birthday!

The top of Willard Peak (Inspiration Point)

The tells about being on top of Willard Peak

More of the trail we rode on

The Great Salt Lake

If you look closely, you can see a mountain goat on the rock in the middle of the photo.

Some of the area we just came from.

Brigham City, UT

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The last few years, as long as I wasn't pregnant, my Dad has taken me 4-wheeling for my birthday! Each time we've gone somewhere new. This trip was a little bit more nerve racking than in past years. There were spots on the ride that were scarier because the roads were not very wide and sometimes barely wide enough to hold a 4-wheeler. There were also a few spots that had damage from trees, which also made it difficult. So, I really had to focus and not get so caught up in looking around at mountains, trees, flowers, etc. The trip up to Willard Peak was tougher but, going back down was easier, maybe because I knew what was coming and could see it ahead; rather than just driving straight up towards the sky. It was beautiful and amazing when we got the top. It was also extremely windy! I just HAD to ask my Dad if someone had ever tried jumping while they were up there. We were lucky enough to see a few mountain goats while we were up there looking around too. I'm so glad we went on that drive. It was so very beautiful!!!!!

Founder's Day/Labor Day in Wellsville 2011

Kristen & Rylie, super excited for the candy!

Connor getting his candy sack ready to go!

Kids bouncing around before the parade starts.

Corie enjoying the parade.

Stacey, Corie, and my parents

Rylie sliding down the bounce house.

Connor sliding down the bounce house.

Connor loved the tractors

I was so excited when it worked out that I could go up to Wellsville for Labor Day weekend, for the big Founder's Day celebration! Mike had to be at work early Tuesday morning, so he wasn't able to come. So, I packed up the kids Saturday night and headed up to Wellsville! Sunday night, all of my family started to arrive. Pretty soon my parents went to having 3 people in their house, to having 28! It was quite the party! We had dinner, hung out, people set their tents up in my parents back yard(tradition to sleep out the night before Founder's Day), and just have a good time! The next morning, at around 4:30 or 5am, another tradition in Wellsville followed. The tradition of setting off a cannon ALLLLL over town! I get a kick out of it! Some people get mad or are annoyed but, I love the tradition. Then, a couple hours later my Dad begins making a big breakfast for all of us and the race to get ready and use the showers begins! There are kids running around everywhere and girl's getting their hair done like crazy! With all the people there, the number of girls that had to get their hair done (including Mom's) were 14. So, it was a bit crazy as you can imagine. Then, we headed off to the parade. Lucky for us and my brother Greg, the chair-stealing bandit was not successful in stealing our chairs! The parade was fun as usual! It had its usual elements and a TON of tractors this year! Rylie, of course, hated anything that sounded like a firework so that guns made her shake all over and cry. However, Connor and Corie loved all the loud things and got really excited over all of the sounds! After the parade was over, we headed down to the town square to eat yummy food, check out all the booths, and have some fun! I let the kids pick out a couple rides each to do. They both chose a bounce house and the train ride, pulled by a 4-wheeler. We ate our usual no-flavor Navajo taco's and sat on the grass and relaxed. While we had lunch, the kids investigated all the tractors and had so much fun sitting on them and playing on them. We headed back to my parents house to hang out with all the family again. My brother's put together a yummy dutch oven dinner and we had yummy corn from my Dad's garden! We really all had a great, great time! I love this holiday so much! It's the one holiday that my whole family comes together at the same time!

A Day In the Life of.....

I'm writing this post for the purpose of if I ever feel like I don't accomplish anything, I can read back on my day yesterday and feel better, ha ha! So, below is a detailed itinerary of how my day went.

1. Woke up with so much anxiety for the day to come that I was sick to my stomach and struggled to breathe at times.
2. Got Connor up to get ready for school. Made his lunch, got him dressed and looking nice for picture day.
3. Took kids (Connor and carpool kids) to school then came home.
4. Showered (thank heavens), got dressed, did hair & makeup. Then, proceeded to get the girls dressed and hair done.
5. Headed out the door around 10am to go take care of WIC. I needed to go because this month recertification for Rylie and I was out of the WIC vouchers for formula, etc. I arrived and it was too busy so, I had to go. Only to find out later that I did, in fact, have the vouchers for September and didn't need to panic and get the kids over to WIC, before taking Rylie to preschool.
6. Then took Rylie to preschool, arriving at 11:40am (starts at 11:45am). So, I'm sitting there waiting for it to be time for Rylie to go in. Her teacher, Miss Julie, will put a smiley face on the window so we know it's ok for our kids to come in. Well, 11:45 comes and no smiley face as well as I notice no other cars are pulling up to drop off their kids. By 11:50am I think something must be wrong. So, I go into the preschool and realize that I forgot to switch out my September calendar, which said preschool started at 11:15am! Dang it! However, soon after 3 or 4 other Mom's pulled up, making the same mistake. So, while I felt bad Rylie had missed 30 min. of preschool, I felt better knowing I was not the only weirdo! Ha ha!
7. AFter dropping of Rylie at preschool, I had exactly 1 hr. to go to Wal-Mart and get all my shopping done. NOw, you have to understand I had not been grocery shopping in 2 weeks so, my list was pretty extensive. Not to mention, I had WIC to get and that adds a bit of time to checking. Well, I thought I was doing great on time and actually didn't do to bad. However, as I got in my car to pick up Rylie, it said 12:52 and preschool ended at 12:45. Thank heavens the preschool is only a few minutes from Wal-Mart.
8. After picking up Rylie from preschool I head home with my frozen items, so they don't unthaw in the heat of the day! After I unload my groceries, I head back out to run more errands.
9. I return home, finished with errands. A few days prior to this day, and clearly before i looked at the calendar to see my day, I agreed to take dinner into my niece who just had the MOST BEAUTIFUL baby girl! Now, on a high note I was EXCITED to make her dinner and take it to her! She worked hard to get her daughter here so, I wanted to help somehow. I just chose the craziest day of the week for myself. So, I began making the dinner. Luckily, it didn't take as long as I expected it to take. So, I was done with that part.
10. I then sorted laundry and began the beginning of a mountain of laundry. I'm usually pretty good about staying on top of it but, I slacked off this week.
11. I then quickly gathered up the kids, dropped of the girls at my in-laws, then headed to Connor's school for SEP's with Connor and his teacher. It went well, Connor's doing great (even with his "strange noises" and lack of focus, ha ha!) and is very serious about being good for his teacher. I learned some frustrating thins though, basically his teacher from last year was not as up front with us as she should've been on his progress so, I was upset. Connor is a smart kid though and will be JUST FINE!
12. I then drove back home, loaded up the food that I made and my mother-in-law made, and then drove over to my niece's house to take her food. It was so fun to see my great-niece, Sophie. She's SO TINY and sweet and kissable! I wanted to take her home! My niece is so strong and just awesome! I'm so impressed by how well she's doing as a first-time Mom! She's rocking it! I also just think her husband, Ryan, is so great! I can just tell he loves his baby girl SO MUCH!
13. Headed back home to finally not have anything else scheduled to do. So, we had dinner, gave the kids showers, and got them to bed. Then, I realized we were COMPLETELY out of toilet paper so, off I went to buy toilet paper.
14. Came home, sat down with Mike and went over budget.....my absolutely least favorite subject.
15. Then all of a sudden BOOOOOOOM! My body had a burst of adrenaline. From about 11pm-2:30am I was in the garage. I was putting away clothes Corie and Rylie couldn't wear anymore. Taking out clothes Corie could fit into, rearranging boxes, finding boxes of clothes I forgot about, etc. Then I also did and put away 4 batches of laundry. I don't know what got into me! Finally, at 2:30am Mike told me to go to bed! However, I couldn't sleep and it took about an hour for my body to unwind and relax!

THE END!!!!!