You don't know cold...

Unless you live in Wisconsin and it is -25 (with wind chill) and your mailbox freezes shut.  We will be going to Arizona and I asked my mom if it is cold there.  She said, "Yes.  It's gotten down to like 45 degrees."  Yikes!  I bet they are having snow days there just so the children who don't own jackets in Arizona don't have to go out in the cold.  

Photo shoot - Picture overload

I published this and then realized how rude I sound.  It was not meant to be rude, just a warning that there are tons of pics.
If you don't want to see pictures of the kids, don't look at our blog.  There are way too many, but I can't help it.  Whitney wanted to dress up, so I gave her a reason.  I wish Brooke were here and I would have taken them all together.  

This is why I am glad I went

I am so glad I was able to go to Grammy's funeral.  It was so nice to say good-bye and get to see most of my aunts & uncles and cousins on my mom's side and even some from my dad's.  But, one my favorite things was watching my Poppa interact with Liam.   My mom and Liam enjoyed each other so much too!

My cousin Patti's Nia had a Bumbo, so she let Liam try it out.  I think he likes it!  Patti was constantly giving us things and letting us borrow EVERYthing.  She is so sweet and made the stay much easier.


It was great to see my parents again and of course they helped with Liam non-stop.  Poor Liam had a cold and I was worried about him breathing the whole time, but it was nice to have them helping!!
Isn't my dad's smile so cute?!  Liam looks a lot like my dad normally does in this picture!

Adam was a prophet

Yesterday on the way to the doctor, Whitney was singing:

Daddy was a prophet,

First one that we know,

In the land of Readin' (Eden),

He helped things to grow.

Liam had his well-check yesterday.  He has gotten so big.  He is 24" and 13 lb. 1 oz.  He went from 50th percentile the last time he was weighed and now is up to the 80th.  He probably started around the 80th and then dropped down because of the colitis, but has made up for it.  

Just two more inches and he will have grown out of his infant car seat.  His head in the 91st percentile.  Why do my kids always have monstrous heads?  

Crafty woman

Liam is a travelin' man

My grandma passed away on Monday, so Liam and I will probably go to New York this weekend for her funeral.  Grammy had Alzheimer's, so now she can finally be herself again.  

And, we decided to go to Utah and Arizona for Christmas and we will bless him there.  So, by the time Liam is 3 months old, he will have been to three states by airplane.  Pretty crazy.

Also, if you want something that will make your kids laugh like crazy, try this out.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/index

Cute Whitney

I guess Whitney is at the age of cute prayers.  Ever since we went to Nauvoo in August, I don't think has said one prayer where she hasn't said thanks for the hotel.  Just the other day, she said thank you that my baby (what she calls Liam) came out of Mommy's tummy, I don't want him to go back in, please leave him out.  Then today, there were pickles on the table for dinner.  She was very vocal about not wanting to eat the pickles before we started.  As she prayed, she said, "Please bless the food, but not the pickles."  Needless to say, we didn't make her eat the pickles!

Crazy Kids

The kids were all dressed in blue today and I thought they were cute, so I tried to get some cute pictures.  Unfortunately, they all turned out crazy.  I guess that is what I get for trying to take pics of a very hungry baby and two other kids ready for a nap.  In the first one Liam looks like he is punching Brooke.  It's starting already.

It is starting to really get cold out so we get Liam all bundled up to take Brooke to school.  They have a bad system for parking there, so I have to drag all three kids down the street to bring Brooke to her teacher.  I wish they had a nice drop-off system.  We have been lucky weather-wise so far though.  It has been so nice and has just now started to get cold.  I hope this doesn't mean the winter will go longer into next year.  Maybe it will just be very mild this year.  I can dream, right?

Sweet Brooke

Out of the blue yesterday, Brooke said, "Sometimes when I am at school, I can hear your voice in my heart, telling me things."  When I asked her what kind of things, she just said different things.  She has the sweetest heart.  I hope my voice continues to speak to her heart as she is challenged with hard decisions as she gets older.

Results

Liam had his colonoscopy today and he is fine, but it was horrible.  I wasn't prepared for how scary and sad it would be.  Before they started, the nurse told me she wanted to make sure I wanted to go through with it before she put the IV in.  She then proceeded to tell me all of the risks, including his wind pipe collapsing and them having to intubate him with the possibility of them perforating something vital.  I said that I understand there are risks, but it is pretty safe, right?  She says, those are extremely serious risks and it is very dangerous.  I started to cry and she left the room and I had butterflies and felt so anxious.  So, I prayed and asked for help in knowing if I should say no and immediately the butterflies went away and I felt less anxious.  I still felt like I wanted to cry, but I felt like it would be okay.  This nurse also told me she is surprised that we are doing something so early in his life and that he is gaining weight and looks healthy.  Most babies who come in with his diagnosis are sickly and skinny and just look sick.  I also mentioned that the dr. would probably want to put him on formula and she made sure to tell me that I can still breast feed if I want to. That is the doctor's opinion and I have a choice.  I knew we were making the right choice despite what she said, so I told her to proceed.  She and another nurse poked him in the hand and wrist for like 30 minutes with him screaming out of pain and hunger ( I couldn't feed him for 4 hours before going).  So, they decided to poke him in the head.  It looked so bad.  When the doctors got there, I went to the waiting room and cried.  Luckily the procedure didn't take long and it turns out it is what they thought.  His colon was severely inflamed; a lot worse than the doctor anticipated.  He said there really is no choice, but to put him on Neocate formula.  After, the doctor left, the nurse said she could not believe how irritated and raw his insides are and she totally agrees with the doctor now.  She said she thinks he needs to go on formula as well.  It makes me kind of mad that she was trying to talk me out of it before.  So, I had my last time to breast feed him in the hospital and now I am feeding him formula.  We should start to see a difference in the next 5-7 days.  I am so grateful that this is fixable (hopefully).  And I just have to say thank you to my wonderful family and friends who expressed concern and prayed for us.  I even had a friend who watched the girls starting at 6:30am until 11:00 and then another friend offer to bring a delicious homemade dinner.  Both of those things made my day so much easier!

HALLOWEEN!!!

The girls had so much fun on Halloween and got soooo much candy.  What you see in the picture is what they got minus most of the candy with artificial dyes.  We have too much, but we couldn't stop trick-or-treating, because it was such a nice night.  It could not have been more beautiful out.  The girls walked around with just a long sleeve shirt and tights and I bet after a little walking around, they were hot.  We went with our cute next door neighbor, Jenna who is six and her family.  Brooke and Whitney adore her. And, they were so excited to wear their "real" make-up their Aunt Karly sent them.   We also went to a fun pumpkin patch while Grannie was here and it was so fun!  Bakamama gave the girls their costumes and also Liam his chili pepper costume.  Tara gave Liam the little orange Halloween outfit.  He looks so cute!

Colonoscopy

A few days ago, Liam started having diarrhea and about three days ago, I started seeing blood in his stool.  I called the doctor and our normal ped. wasn't in, so the nurse spoke with the doctor who was there.  It turns out he is a gastroenterologist and asked to see Liam today.  When we went, he tested Liam's diaper for blood and it tested positive right away.  He also said that the consistency of the stool is not normal.  I have been on a special diet for 3 weeks, only eating rice products, turkey, potatoes, and a few fruits.  Since I have not been eating anything with milk or soy, we can assume it is not because he has a milk/soy allergy.  He might, but that is not the reason for the blood.  Liam also has been eating ALL the time.  After he finishes feeding, he seems hungry again.  Our doctor says he is doing this since he isn't absorbing what he needs, he is not satisfied and compensates by eating more in order to get what he needs.  So, the doctor thinks that Liam is unable to digest the proteins in my breast milk which is causing colitis.  I just have to mention that this doctor seems incredibly competent and reassuring and was constantly asking me how I felt about things and asking my opinion as well as telling his thought processes and reasons for thinking the things he did.  Also, he says he is normally the biggest advocate of breast feeding.  So, if Liam really is unable to digest the proteins, he is not absorbing the nutrients like he should be and will begin to lose weight and have a failure to thrive.  So, he will have to be put on a formula that is super-duper expensive and tastes nasty, but will allow him to get the nutrients he needs.  The doctor wants to do a colonoscopy on Tuesday which will determine if that really is the cause.  If that is the case, I will have to get over my feelings of guilt for not being able to breast feed.  You constantly hear how much better it is for babies to breast feed, but now I am being told that breast feeding is harming my child.  It will be hard, but at the same time, it will be nice to have chocolate and pizza again!!!   Also, I will be happy because we will know the cause and know that it is fixable.  The doctor says that if it is failure to absorb proteins, he will probably grow out of it by six to nine months, so luckily it is not something he will have forever.  Wish us luck on Tuesday.  

Smiles and Sleep

Those are two of the best gifts a baby can give a parent.  Last Sunday, at 3 weeks old, Liam smiled at me!!!  He had been smiling while falling asleep, but this time it was a real social smile.  I got a picture of his smile 2 days ago and I will post that when I get onto the other computer.  Also, as many of you know, Liam has had bad reflux and gas issues which caused him not to be able to sleep more than 1 hour at a time, usually more like 20 minutes.  Well, on Monday as part of Family Home Evening, Adam gave him a blessing and in it said that Liam would grow out of his issues.  So, I prepared myself for another 18 months of this (when Whitney grew out of her reflux).  The next day, Liam cried significantly less and slept for 7 hours straight.  WHAT?  All I really wanted was 3 hours straight and I got 7.  The next night was about 5.  It has been between 4 and 6 hours since then.  And to make it even better, he now only cries out of pain a couple minutes at a time.  Then he passes gas and is happy and SMILING!!!  What a miracle.  I guess he grew out of it sooner than I thought and I need to remember to thank Heavenly Father for that often.  

Also, the pictures of the babies are:

Whitney 8 lb. 6 0z. you can tell she was the skinniest.

Liam 9 lbs. 11 oz. 

Brooke 9 lb. 10 oz.

I Have the Best Husband in the World

I just have to post to write what a wonderful man my husband is.  He has to be the nicest and most concerned person about his wife than any other man on the earth.  He really is the best.  First of all, Adam really wanted me to get an epidural during delivery, but he supported me so much with whatever I wanted to do and he helped me through a natural delivery.  Now that Liam is here and having a hard time adjusting to life (he has bad reflux), Adam has only been concerned about me and his family.  He took this past week off of work solely to help me.  He took Liam until 4 or 5 EVERY single night so that I could get plenty of sleep.  I have had to eat only rice in order to do an elimination diet, so Adam has tried his hardest to make my food more interesting, like frying my rice instead and making me special rice smoothies.  He also told me that he was going to be the one to worry about the food for the kids and himself this week to make my diet easier to stick to.  He brought Brooke to and from school and took the girls on dates and tried to make memories with them so that this would be an enjoyable time for them.  He cleaned the whole kitchen from top to bottom so I would have the least stress possible.  He made sure I would have help from the moment Liam was born with my fabulous parents being here to him taking off and then my fantastic mother-in-law coming to help.  He has just been available to me, waiting on me hand and foot and showing his appreciation to me constantly.  I just can't express how happy I am with him or how much his being here for me has helped me recover, physically and emotionally.  I love you ADAM!  You really are the best!  Thank you!!!

Which baby is which?

I think all of our babies have looked so similar and many people have commented on that, so I decided to see if you can tell the difference.  Some of them aren't the best pictures, but at least you can tell what they looked like.

Introducing Liam Bunker Nielsen

Liam was born September 28 at 10:07 pm.  He was 9 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long (at the doctor's 3 days later he was 21.5 inches).  He is a very sweet and gentle baby when he isn't fighting his reflux and gas issues.  Brooke and Whitney love him like crazy.