School is coming to end!

It seems like I have been in school forever but it is finally coming to an end which seems crazy to me.  I graduate this semester and Jared will graduate after student teaching in the fall. We do not really know where we will be after that but are hoping for a job in the northwest preferably Washington but we shall see what happens!

Violet is a busy girl. She is still trying to learn how to walk but is definitely quick on all fours. I spend most of my time at home with her which is a huge blessing that I am able to do that. She is such a fun, spunky girl. Her favorites right now are food and playing outside. She love ravioli, pizza, yogurt, and potatoes. 

I am excited for our upcoming trip to visit Jared's family this summer. It will be nice to get out of Rexburg for a little while. This past weekend we spent as a family celebrating the fourth. We went to the town parade, had a barbecue and went to the park. It was nice to spend time as a family as Jared works and goes to school so time is limited. But we sure are looking forward to being less busy after graduation! Here are some photos.

All about Violet

Violet is now 9 months old. I can't believe it. It has flown by. Some of you may know that Violet has had some health problems since she was about 4 months old. She was having seizures that caused her to jerk her head forward, fling her arms up, and her whole body would tense up. These episodes are very upsetting to her. After seeing a neurologist, having several EEG's, and an MRI we got no real answers. We were seeing a neurologist that thought it might be infantile spasms which is a type of epilepsy that causes major delays and often turns into a different type of epilepsy when they are older. But with Violet her development is normal and her EEG did not show evidence of infantile spasms. After 5 months of trying different medications that worked for a little while and then stopped we decided to get another opinion about her condition.

We went down to Salt lake to the Primary Children's hospital there. We LOVED our experience there. She had another EEG done there. Once again there was no evidence of infantile spasms. The only thing the doctor saw was a slight abnormality coming from the left side of the brain and everything else was normal. He explained that this could mean she has a tiny abnormality in that part of her brain that could be causing the seizures. He told us to continue her medication that she is on since she had been seizure free for five days. He wants to do an MRI within six months to see if anything shows up after her brain is a little more mature. But it was comforting to hear that is wasn't anything super major. He talked with us about options if this was something abnormal in her brain. Some suggestions were to first control the seizures by medication, if that didn't work there are steroid shots, diets, or surgery that could help. We are hoping she will continue to be free of seizures with medication so we don't have to put her through any of the other dangerous treatments. 

We love our little girl so much. She is the happiest baby. Even with everything she has gone through in the first part of her life she continues to grow and learn new things. She now scoots around and jabbers. We hope she continues to be seizure free and that we can find the cause and stop them permanently.

Some recent photos:

Summer

I have been wanting to blog but keep putting it off. It seems like summer just flew right by and now it is starting to feel more like fall. Some new things about us are that Jared got a new job at McDonald's which he has been liking a lot more than working at the call center. He has been a lot less stressed out.

I made a trip to Boise a couple weeks ago to visit with my mom and so that Violet could meet my dad and my aunt. Here are some pics:

 I also got to visit my friend Candice that recently moved to Boise. We went to the dog park with her dog Jack and got some fries at Boise Fry Company!

 My friend Brittany had her baby in August and we got to meet her too. She is so tiny and makes Violet look huge!

 Cecilia and Violet :)

 Classes start up in about a week so we are getting ready for that. Violet is now 4 months old. It is crazy how fast it is going. She now sleeps through the night and giggles. She is such a joy to our family.

Photo Blast

Here are some more pictures of her newborn shoot :)

2 months old

It is crazy that Violet is already 2 months old. She got her shots and was super good afterwards so we were impressed.

Here are some recent photos:

 

We are loving this little girl :)

School is now over so we are officially on summer break. We enjoyed Jeff and Kathy's(Jared's parents) visit to Rexburg earlier this week so Violet got spoiled! Jared got a new job that he will start next month because the call center he was working at was not a fun place for him to be anymore. We are excited for a new opportunity. I am grateful for his hardworking personality. 

It has been a lot hotter than it was last summer so we are happy we have an Air Conditioner this year.

PS- Violet is sleeping through the night so that is a plus! 

 

Violet's Birth Story

     I had a pretty easy pregnancy up until the end. I had been sick off and on the last two weeks of my pregnancy which was not too fun. So at my 38 week appointment they told me I was huge and measured the baby at 8.5 lbs, while telling me I was going to have a big baby. This made me nervous but I assumed that she would make an appearance soon so I wasn't worried. But time passed and no baby yet. At my 39 week appointment they were surprised I was still pregnant and measured the baby yet again telling me that I needed to have this baby soon. My appointment was on a Tuesday and they gave me the option to get induced that Friday. We declined because my due date hadn't even come yet. I wanted her to come when she was ready. Then on Monday (May 6th) I began t have contractions but they would come and go and were not consistent. Then on Tuesday I began to throw up and have more contractions but they were 30 minutes apart at this point. I had my 40 week appointment later that day. They had me do a non-stress test and could tell I was having contraction 10-15 minutes apart. The doctor then told me that he wouldn't be surprised if he saw me later that night to have this baby. He was exactly right. 
    As soon as I got home from my appointment the contractions began to pick up. This was at about 3pm. I told Jared that we would probably be going to the hospital that night. But I just lounged around even though I was having contraction 4 minutes apart. I didn't want to go to the hospital too early and get sent home. Jared has class until 5pm so I went upstairs to my neighbors to hang out in case I needed to go to the hospital before Jared got home. After Jared got home I was in pretty bad pain so I decided to take a bath. This helped the pain a lot. Getting out of the bath, getting dressed, and actually leaving took a lot longer than I thought. This was not the way I had pictured spending my 22nd birthday but it was all worth it. We ended up getting to the hospital around 8:30pm. We waited in the exam room to get checked for what seemed like forever but really it was only 45 minutes. By this point the pain was so uncomfortable. Finally they admitted me, hooked up my IV(which took 4 tries and 2 nurses), then asked if I wanted an epidural. I had been in pain since that Monday and this was Tuesday night so I wanted the epidural. I was so tired I needed some pain relief so I could make it through labor. After that I was a lot more relaxed and was able to nap for an hour or so.
    Soon after this I was getting very hot and they kept checking my temperature. It kept going up. It was at 102.5 at this point. They didn't seem too worried but knew the baby needed to come out. So they broke my water and waited for me to progress on my own a little. I was finally at 10 cm around 2:00 am so they had me start pushing. I was very tired from the fever and being so dehydrated. My fever kept raising so they started me on antibiotics. After pushing for 1.5 hours she was out. They whisked her away to clean her off. She was very gray when she was born and all I heard was the nurses say that they couldn't get her breathing like she should. I had no idea what that meant. Then they took her to the NICU. I was really worried and didn't know what was going on until 2 hours later when the pediatrician on call came in to update me. Apparently I had some infection called corio which can pass on to the baby during delivery. They needed to treat her with antibiotics for 48 hours. I was not able to hold her until noon on Wednesday. So I was not able to have her in my room at all. I made many trips down to the NICU from my room throughout the two days I was there. She was doing very well. Then I was told that she would need to stay a couple extra days after they take her off of the antibiotics to make sure she doesn't have the infection. Everything came out well and she was able to come home Saturday morning. 
   We are so blessed that she is home and healthy. It was a rough couple of days but this beautiful baby girl was all worth it.
 

Welcome Violet!

We had our baby girl on May 8th! We are so happy to have her here. We have been able to have some family visit which has been nice. 
I had a few complications during delivery so Violet had to stay two extra nights in the hospital. All is well now and she is very healthy.