Rainy Days

I know I know, I need to post about Jayne's surgery.  (she's doing great by-the-way)  I have been meaning to, just can't get around to it cause I have been trying to catch up on some photo shoots...Jayne's being one of them.  So for now, enjoy some cute Jayne over here.

"Here's My Heart, O Take and Seal It"

Some of you already know this, but for those who don't, Jayne was born with a hole between the upper chambers of her heart...an atrial septal defect or ASD.  Over the last few years, the doctors have said there may be a chance that it would close on its own.  If it didn't by the time she was 4, they would have to do surgery.  They were pretty certain that if it didn't close, that they could do a procedure that would go through an artery in her leg and insert a device that would cover the hole...a very non-invasive procedure.  In January, we went in for our annual echocardiogram (basically an ultrasound of the heart).  They found that the hole was not going to close on it's own and that it was too big to do the aforementioned procedure.  They would now have to do open-heart surgery...cut her open, take a piece of her pericardium (lining of the heart) and patch the hole.  I kind of freaked out (not openly, but all the horrors of "what if" started going through my head).  That sounded like a giant deal.  Her cardiologist assured me that it is still a very low-risk surgery and she would be fine.  Over the past few months we have come to grips with it and now it is upon us.  She will go in this Thursday for the surgery.

At her echocardiogram the beginning of May

The toy she gets at the end always helps :)

There is a line in the song "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" that says 'Here's my heart o take and seal it'  We had gone to a seminary family night and a wife of one of the teachers sang that song.  I have always loved that song, but then Shane pointed out that line in the song.  Perfect for our little Jayne.  Often she will say, "My heart is broken" which is so sweet and, well, heartbreaking, but we have faith that it will be "sealed" and we put our utter faith in a loving Heavenly Father to be with her every step of the way, come what may.

Our friend Jon is an amazing graphic designer and made this for Jayne.  Jon, thank you so much!  Your are so talented and we love it!

 

A year of bliss :)

 Love this girl.  She really is such a peaceful presence in our sometimes crazy home :)  I remember a few times, when I thought I was about to lose my patience (and my mind) with my other two monkeys (mind you, I do love them a lot, but you moms know how it is sometimes), I would scoop Lucy up, close my eyes and just snuggle her close.  She really just has this calming affect on people and it would help me regroup every time.  She just scoots around, smiles and quietly does her thing and we are all crazy about her.  Happy birthday sweet girl!

 So, for Jayne's first birthday, I gave her one of my old dolls and also one that I made for her.  I was excited to carry that tradition on with Lucy.

 

 

 

  

  

  

 Both Max and Jayne were very hesitant about digging into their cakes when they turned one.  Not Lucy.  It was no holds barred for her.  This is the point where she decided one hand wasn't enough to get the goodness into her mouth.

 

 Then she decided it would double as a pore cleansing mask and hair treatment.

 

 

 Lucy loves her dad.  If he doesn't pick her up right when he gets home, she follows him around and lets him know about it.  So sweet...I absolutely love that this moment is frozen in time forever.

Max at 5

Sorry, I know it's all portraits around here lately, but that is just the nature of my life :)  I think you all know this handsome boy.  Can't get enough of that dimpled face.  Check the rest out here.

New pictures of Lucy...

...over on the photo blog.  These were taken at six months and now she's 9 months.

December

Just a few of the things we did in December.

First...drumroll...Shane graduated with his Masters! *Confetti*
It was a long road, but we made it through and I'm so proud of this guy!

The Hooding

This is Dr. Cena who was Shane's professor and commitee chair for his project. Shane would be embarrassed if he knew I was writing this, but I have to say it hon. When I met Dr. Cena at the graduation, he was pouring on the praise about Shane and then said, "Your husband has been one of the greatest scholars I have worked with." Way to go Shane, you deserve it!

Jayne turned 3!

This little girl is all sass, but all sweetness too. I know, it's a weird combo, but she pulls it off somehow :)

  
 

My best pal in the world was in town and came to Jayne's party with her cute kids. Jayne and Ruby hit it off...especially after Ruby gave Jayne this Snow White dress.

Little did Ruby know that Jayne lives in dress up clothes. (see example below later) Her favorite present, bar none.

 

So for some reason I had Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T." stuck in my head the day of Jayne's birthday.  So I decided to play it at her party and dance.  I had no idea how much my kids would love it.  They beg for it daily and it has been a non-stop dance party ever since, especially when people come over.

 

 

 Max's performance.
We put Max in a little singing class since he has already had 2 years of preschool.  Max was always really outgoing, but then he went through a really shy stage...almost had anxiety to do anything new, even fun stuff like birthday parties.  Primary programs, no way.  Wouldn't even get up on the stand.  He has slowly been coming out of it.  You can imagine how proud I was when he was actually excited to get up on stage.  He sang all his parts and did all the actions.

 

He's the one in the middle, second row, next to the kid in the argyle sweater.

Christmas!

Christmas was as wonderful as always.  We loved being together, starting some new traditions, and thinking about our Savior's birth.

Picking out a tree and decorating it

We loved our elf on the shelf (thanks Al and Em!).  So cute to watch the kids find him and sneak private conversations with him.  They named him Charlie.  If Lucy would have been a boy, she would most definitely have been Charlie.  I guess the kids didn't want the name to go to waste :)

 

Leaving a treat for Santa.  I'm pretty sure Max doesn't think Santa's name is Stu, that's just how he sounded it out :)

Fort Christmas.  So when I was a kid, my bros and I would build a fort to sleep in on Christmas Eve.  We have loved carrying that tradition on in our little family.

The fort lighting ceremony

Dad was cordially invited into the lair

 

Christmas Morning

 This constituted much of the kids activities at Shane's parents house.  Our nephew, also Max, lining the kids up and jumping over them, sans shirts.  They couldn't get enough of it.

 

our Christmas card

And we'll end this gigantic post with some random cuteness...enjoy!

Lucy finds a friend :)

Jayne in some of her daily uniforms.  The last two are with her friend Lily.

 

Silly faces with cousins Masey and Kaya