April 2016 - Change is Good

Tyson is loving his new job. It means he gets to visit new places every weekend, meet new people and have fun! I am a proud wife and I am so happy he has this opportunity.

Monet, watching General Conference. Every six months we get to hear from the leaders of our faith (We are members of the Latter Day Saints, aka LDS, aka Mormons) This is such a great time for us to get guidance. It is something that has really helped me through many times of my life. It is no shock that I received much guidance about our current situation with Bridget's medical needs and my role as mother. I love my faith!

Abe and Monet are still loving having a new baby in the house!

Here she is without her oxygen! Fresh out of the bath :)

Baking cookies together is one of our favorite things!

Abe really loves to help with any form of cooking or baking. He loves the process of mixing things up and seeing what happens. He is going to be a chef one day

We were able to play outside at the park a few times! The weather has been wonderful.

Bridget had a swallow study done to check out her little jaw and how it is affecting her eating. We know it is affecting her breathing and that is why she continues to have oxygen but the eating is something else all together. So she drank a special bottle while the Dr took x-rays. It was actually really cool to watch! The formula in the bottle showed up more clearly in the x-ray and you could see how everything works.

The update from the swallow test is that she is not allowing fluid in her lungs when she is eating. YAY! She still struggles with making sure things work correctly and I got some tips on how to feed her so she keeps up the good work. The ENT is going to keep her on oxygen for now.

These are the travel tanks we have stocked up! Each one lasts 40 hours so this is what we take when we are out and about.

This is the large tank that stays in our room. It is HUGE and I don't even know how many hours it lasts!

Hanging out

Monet was REALLY mad that I wouldn't let her pick Bridget up out of the pack'n'play. How dare I!?!

Movies in Mommy & Daddy's bed.

Bridget is 2 months old!

Just off to take Bridget for a Dr appointment. Today we went to get some equipment to make sure everything is still growing properly

Me and my girls :)

A little about Tyson's new job; He is now part of the Seminar Team for Adam Ginsberg and Get Motivated. This means he gets to travel every weekend and teach people about building their own business. He really loves it.

I love that the kids like to play together. Abe and Monet do just about everything together and they don't seem to mind!

Abe ADORES Bridget. Can you tell?

Some of her first smiles.

I got to travel with Tyson and see what his new job is all about! We went to Chicago together.

The kids didn't miss us one bit! They stayed at their Nana and Papa's house and cousins were there too!

Dinner with my man, in Chicago. I loved getting to go with him on this trip. He is amazing and I really enjoyed getting to see him in his element. It helps that I like everyone he works with!

The only tough thing about this new job is that Tyson is gone every weekend. But I do have three amazing, beautiful kids to keep me going! Life is good!

March 2016 - Welcome Home

March was a great month for our whole family. We started off the month in the best way possible. By bringing home Bridget! She got to leave the hospital and join us at home on March 2nd and we were so happy! A few days before she got to come home, Abe and Monet made a poster for her! 

I love watching the two of them work together and how focused they get!

One of the last times Tyson held Bridget in the NICU

We HAD to get a picture of her hair! So dark compared to her siblings!

Tyson and I had to pass a few tests before we could take Bridget home. We needed to know infant CPR and how to place her feeding tube. We each had to place the feeding tube in front of the nurse so they knew we could do it at home if we had to. It was hard because it was uncomfortable for Bridget but worth it so we are prepared for anything!

About to go inside!!!

Abe and Monet were at home waiting for us to return. They were so excited to FINALLY meet their new little sister! They could not stop staring at her sweet face! It was the most wonderful thing to have our family all in one place after what seemed like such a long time. We were blessed that Bridget didn't have to spend too long in the NICU, my heart goes out to the parents who spend months and months there.

We let Abe hold her and he was so excited. It is amazing to see the bond he has with her. We knew they would be close when our sweet Abe named his little sister and we can already see how strong their bond is. 

Monet has also been as excited as can be. She didn't want to hold Bridget right away and we are okay with that. We will give her a little time to warm up to it.

Bridget got her feeding tube out! She met with her pediatrician just a few days after being home and he cleared her feeding. She is eating like a normal newborn and it seems that being at home has calmed her and allowed her to eat better than she was in the NICU. I am so proud of this little baby!

We tried to catch a Leprechaun again this year but were not able to! Abe woke up early and could barely wait for us to wake up Monet to see if the trap worked. At least that tricky Leprechaun left us some fun prizes!

Can't tell you how good it is to have all the kids in one place.

We had some family pictures taken and we are really happy with them. I think I will post later just pictures so it is separate from this month update but here are two of my favorites.

Bridget turned one month old! She is doing great. She is steadily growing and is so sweet. She is still on oxygen but we hope that doesn't last too long.

Grandpa and Grami took Abe and Monet to the dinosaur museum. Now that Tyson is gone each weekend I get a little worn down with the two toddlers and a newborn. I am so glad to have family close that can take some of the kids out for some play so I can get a break.

The kids are happy to have them close too! They had a blast together and will be talking about the fun trip to see dinosaurs for a long time.

Always have to take a picture of the first bath at home! We can't give her full baths often because of the need for the oxygen. She mostly gets wiped down with a washcloth, but when she does get a chance to soak in the water she LOVES it! She kicks and splashes.

Monet was showing Bridget her toy and I was reminded of when Abe did the same for baby Monet! 

Bridget still has a lot of appointments just to make sure everything continues to go smoothly. She had an EKG done and it looks good! Her heart is still stable, still low HR but stable.

Monet took a few weeks before she was ready to hold Bridget. Once she got to, she didn't want to stop. She asks us all the time "hold her? hold her?" Such a good big sister!

She even likes to make sure baby B has friends to snuggle with. I often find little surprises in the pack n' play.

It is so sweet to see everyone together and how the kids love to take care of each other. Bridget is such a blessing to our family.

We did have to improvise a few outfits so her monitor cord wouldn't jam. There are a few sets of jammies that I had to cut holes in! Anything for our kids, right?

We decorated eggs and had a family Easter celebration a week early this year. Tyson started a new job where he will be traveling every weekend and Easter weekend happened to be his first. I am glad we were still able to celebrate together.

Monet LOVED the Easter eggs. She would crack them open the moment she picked them up and would eat the candy inside. Abe was more focused on getting more eggs than anyone else. It is so fun to see their different personalities develop and how unique they are!

Another appointment for baby B. This was an Ear Nose Throat appointment to see if we need to continue to worry about her tongue tie. While she was in the NICU we were told she might need surgery to help bring out her jaw as well. Because of her small jaw and her tongue tie she has slight sleep apnea and this is the main reason for the oxygen. No big news at this appointment, we will continue to monitor her and see if she grows out of it.

I love seeing Abe and Monet play together in their clubhouse! These two have become such close friends and it makes my mommy hear warm.

We are so glad when daddy is home!

The kids and I had Easter dinner with the Ellis family. Tyson was unable to attend because he was working. I am glad I love my inlaws and that I still want to spend time with them even without Tyson. It is so great to be a part of their family!

4 cousins born within 6 months of each other! We have Luke, Gabe, Owen and Bridget.

And here are the two-year-olds! 6 cousins born within 18 months! Here we have: Lincoln, Yogi, Stan, Monet, Thomas and Evan! Such a fun bunch.

Lincoln LOVES Bridget. This boy is very tough and we were all worried he might be a little rough, nope! He is so sweet with her and kept calling her "My baby".

These three are my favorite kids in the world.

We had an Easter Egg Hunt at the Crown household. Of course there was a pinata! Why not!?!

Kyle was so sweet to help Monet. She got distracted quite easily but Kyle was right there to help her out and keep her going.