Giving Thanks

We had a great Thanksgiving up in Paradise this year. After the week we had had, it sure was nice to take our mind off of things, and to enjoy some family and food. Update: Everyone is all better now, and working on the sleep deprevation. Charlie was a good little girl, and got plenty of love. I think Grandma Vickie held her most of the day. Graham was his usual "ham" self, and entertained all of us. He got to go on a wheeler ride, so he was a happy boy. He is so full of life and makes us all smile.

All of the people in our lives have helped us so much over the last year. I truely do not know how we would have made it through without them. I''m so grateful for their help, support, and love. You never understand service fully, until you fully need service. Thank you so much for making our lives better.

Graham and Charlie

What can I say, its true, I have pretty cute kids:) We are all on the mend here after mine and Jared's surgery. It was a pretty rough week last week. Jared's surgery was so much worse than we were prepared for. Thank goodness for family and friends who saved us! Jared got an infection along with his surgery, making recovery even tougher. With the two adults in the house not being able to lift more than ten pounds, Graham headed up to Grandma Vickie's and Papa's for the weekend. Thanks AGAIN mom and dad. Brett and Nurse Connie slept over the first night, and continued to help with anything and everything. It's so nice having them so close.

This kid is crazy! He is non stop and so sweet! And then there is his evil twin..he comes out once in a while and scares us to death!:)

Graham tending dad and sister..while watching I'm sure Megamind or Little Einsteins very focused. He is doing much better this week. He calls Charlie "Little", and kisses/drools on her head. Besides anything tractor/truck related, he has started to like puzzles lately. He is still not into coloring, but loves his books. At his 2 yr checkup, he was in the 80% in all areas, beast! He keeps us on our toes, and makes up smile while being very tired.

We tried a little photo shoot with Charlie. And by little, I mean we lasted about 3 minutes before Jared got light-headed and we both decided it wasn't really working. We needed Jenny's expertise..we will try again later. BUT I do love this one showing off her dimples. At her two week appt. she has gained almost a lb and an inch! She is very small and petite. She is 15% in her weight, 33% height.

Long, ashy feet..just like her mama's. Long toes too:)

She has the longest, skinniest, little legs. The angle shows them off, future volleyball player folks.

1st bath!

Gotta get all the '"firsts" documented. Although I already am cutting my mom some slack on having a lot less pics of me as a middle child. Its tougher getting all the pictures taken when you've got two kids.

Moultrie Family Love

We didn't spend our Holiday with any of Jared's family, but I would like to give thanks to them as well. KC flew out for a few days for Charlie's arrival, and saved us! With everything that was going on, he made it feel less hectic and took such great care of Graham. They went to Mcdonald's every day, played on the slides, watched shows, and played together. It is great to see Graham build a relationship with KC, favorite unc as he calls him:) KC brought him some new basketball shoes, a D Rose jersey, and spoiled all of us. We hope you know Kace how much it meant having you here, and how grateful we are for everything you do for us, especially that particular week. LOVE YOU!

Papi and Connie have done it all. From tending Graham, to tending us, cooking, cleaning, and just plain old company. We also hope you know how much we appreciate your time, and ALL of your help. We are lucky you are so close, thanks for everything!

Family of Four!

We brought Charlie home Thursday November 3 late afternoon. KC stayed with Graham so we could go and pick her, and took these pictures for us. It was so fun watching Graham meet his sister for the first time. He is so sweet with her. I thought he might be a little rough with her, but he is very soft, and wants to hold her. He calls her his babio, and says, "she's cute".

Graham has had his moments of adjusting, and they have not been fun. He doesn't seem like he has a problem with Charlie at all, just has some lovely two year old moments:)

Charlie's last day in the NICU

Happy Birthday Buddy!

An unexpected delivery

This sweet little baby girl decided to surprise us a week early. We were schedualed for a c section Friday, Nov 4th at 9:30 am. Charlie Jessie Moultrie was born at 4:44 pm Sat, Oct 29th. We were in Salt Lake helping Stace move some of her stuff into her new house when my contractions started. I should say they started the night before at Truck or Treat, but I just thought they were "done too much that day" pains. We went to Sams Club to kill a little time before we met Stace, and to buy Truman a new bed. My mom, Jared, Graham and I started shopping when I had a really bad pain(contraction). I tried to shake it off, and we kept walking. Within the next few minutes I had two more, one that made me sit down on the stairs and one that made an employee there want to use the code for "lady in labor". I really didn't think I was in labor, but my mom and Jared made me nervous enough that we left Graham with Grandma Vickie and headed to the hospital.

My contractions started to calm down, so we stopped at the house to grab a few things. I had no back packed, or anything ready. We threw a few things in a bag, and headed to Ogden Regional. We checked in, and then waited/tracked contractions for the next few hours. My contractions had calmed down quite a bit at this point, and they were having a hard time tracking them. Once we were there, we wanted to have her right then..and then as it went on I started to want to go home. I started to think we would be waiting another week, but the contractions were still there, and so the doc was called.

My whole labor/c section experience wasn't the best last time, so I had prepared myself for the worst. It ended up being SOO much better than the first time. The spinal was much better than the epideral, and everything seemed much smoother. Calvin, the anethesiologist(sp?) was great! He talked me through everything, and really made everything so much better. Jared and Calvin gave me a blessing right before we went into surgery. There are no bad blessings, but this one I truely felt manefested so strongly. Several times throughout the surgery and hospital stay I could feel the calmness of the spirit from that blessing and gained strength from it. It almost felt as if Heavenly Father was saying, Ill take care of things now. It was very special, and I'm so grateful for my wonderful, worthy husband.

Surgery is surgery. Weird, nerve racking, not fun. It took a little while longer than with Graham, and pretty quickly I knew everything was not 100 percent ok with Charlie. They showed her to me for two seconds, and then she went back with the nurses. I kept asking if everything was ok, and people was suffice me and say, "they are working on it". Kathy told me that she was having a little hard time breathing. Jared was trying to make me feel ok, but I could tell from his face that he was worried too. So I'm laying there on the table waiting for this sweet moment with my husband and new baby girl, and it never came. They told me she was going to the NICU to get some help. Jared went with her. I was wheeled to my room, and was alone for the next little bit. Graham and my mom came soon after. I remember feeling worried, confused, and just wanting to know what was going on. Jared was in and out for the next four hours. The next few hours were not the funnest.

Charlie's lungs weren't quite developed yet, and she had a small hole in one of her lungs. The doctor explained that when she took a deep breath, because her lungs werent quite ready, the deep breath created a small hole. It kinda "popped" is how it made sense in my head. She was struggling to breath, but could be seen. She had quite a few visitors that evening. I still hadn't been able to see her. I needed to get the feeling back in my legs, and had to be able to wheel to the NICU. Each time I would try to get up to go see her, I would puke. It was so frustrating. Finally around 3am I got to officially meet her. I was so excited. She had been improving they told me. She had several wires attached to her. I think that was the hardest part..seeing her all hooked up to monitors and the oxegen. She looked so little, fragile, and pretty. It was hard not holding her, but I was grateful to finally see her.

The next couple of days were strange. I felt so much better than with Graham, but we had no baby with us. The second day was the worse for me, I was in a lot of pain, but was/am so glad I didn't have to take those crazy pain meds..they make me crazy. Again, I feel that the blessing Jared had given me helped me through the pain. We spent those days wheeling down to see Charlie, and to feed her. We were so hopeful that we would be able to take her home with us, but it didn't happen. She needed to be off oxegen for x number of hours, and she was having a hard time with this. I was missing Graham so much by day three, that we decided to go home. The closer it got to leaving without her, the worse it got. We just kept thinking that we were going home to be with Graham for his birthday. It helped a little. As the days went on and Charlie got stronger, we were able to hold her, and feed her, and even dress her the last day.

Wednesday was Graham's birthday, and we had quite the day. Charlie again, couldnt' come home with us, which really was a blow because we were sure she would be able to. KC came into town, and I think Graham had a great birthday. We tried to make it that way anyway:)

(one of our favorite nurses, Elise)

The next two days were nerve racking. We kept praying that she would be strong enough to get off the oxegen and be able to come home. Finally on Thursday afternoon she was cleared! It was so exciting going to pick her up. The nurses in the NICU were so great to her, and us. It was so relieving leaving with a healthy baby girl.