March for Babies '09!!

Yikes i cant believe its already time, yet here we are again!! Time to start getting ready for the March of Dimes March for Babies '09! This year our walk in Provo will be May 16th, 2009! And (for those who remember the walk 2 years ago) it will be in Provo Canyon again this year!! (i know your excited for that Bobbie!!)

If you would like to join our team and walk with us (which we would LOVE for you to do!!) you can click on the badge in the upper right side of our blog here, and sign up!! Also in a little incentive to sign up early, Farmers is donating $25 to the March of Dimes for every walker who signs up before December 31st!! If you would like to walk, but aren't in our area, you can go to www.marchforbabies.org to find your local Walk!!

Thanks again to everyone who continues to support us and the March of Dimes!!

Thanksgiving Point Lights!!!

So Friday was a CRAZY day, most anything that could go wrong did, lol. First Joe had to take his car in to get the Heater fixed, the know wouldn't turn to heat and with the cold coming this weekend we REALLY needed to finally get it fixed... So he took the car in first thing when it opened Friday morning. After a couple hours they finally had it looked at and told him it was 1 of 2 things but they couldn't be 100% sure, but if we took the car to their Sp. Fork garage they are more specialized for heaters there or something. So while Joe waited for his mom to come over to follow him to Sp Fork to drop it off (i was here with the kiddos) I google'd both of the things the guy said that could be wrong to see if i could get some kind of idea for the cost. I found someone who actually had the same problem with the same year and model car as Joe, and a guy had replied to his question with what the problem was, he had the same thin happen to him.

So I called Joe back and had him tell the guy to check the air flow vent cable. Meanwhile i decided to call the dealership and explain to them what was going on with it (since it seems to be a common thing with this car) and he knew right what I was talking about and said oh yeah, its about $600 to fix. And right about then i had a small mental breakdown in my head! Who on Earth has an extra $600 laying around 2 weeks before Christmas!! Not us, we're done shopping its all wrapped, no going back now!! lol. So for the next 15 minutes i was sitting on the verge of crying while the kiddos were coloring, and then Joe called me back and said it was the cable that needed to be replaced after all and they could replace it (and the non working headlight) for $138.. DONE! apparently the cable is snagging on something when it is moved back and forth from the cool to the heat and that is what caused it to break, and to figure out what is wrong with that requires them to take the whole dashboard out, and so that is what would cost $600... so he showed Joe how to manually move the cable underneath the dash so it isn't snagging to buy us some time, thank heavens for them!

If anyone is looking for a good, honest mechanic definitely call Clegg's Automotive, they have a garage in Provo, and Sp. Fork and they are FANTASTIC!!

So basically they had told us the car would be done by 2:30 and we were planning on going over to pick it up, then do a quick grocery trip and leave at 5 to head up to Salt Lake to take Zach to see the lights at Temple Square. Well 2:30 rolls around, and Joe called to check on the car.... they still hadn't received the part from Salt Lake... so we decided to go grocery shopping and then hopefully the car would be done by 4:45 and we could be on the road by 5... well, 5 rolls around and still nothing, so we called again and they apologized and apologized, they had JUST gotten the part from Salt Lake and they were going to stay late and would be done with it by 5:30 and we could pick it up then... So we got there at 5:30, and by the time we got back up to Orem, dropped off the other car at home and got on the freeway it was about 6 and we were in bumper to bumper traffic.. so frustrating!

So as we were finally rolling up to Thanksgiving Point (40 min later!) i remembered that they have a driving through lights show there! So we got off the freeway and drove over, and found where to go, and it was THE CUTEST thing I've been to. Basically its a good half hours worth of driving through all these lights, HUGE set up lights Zach just LOVED it, so we listened to our Christmas music and looked at lights all from the warmth of our newly fixed heater! It ended up completely making up for the rest of the craziness of the day! We decided its going to have to be a new Christmas tradition to do that! And it was only $7 per car! SO worth it, i recommend it to anyone!! it goes through the 27th of Dec i think. We're hoping to make it up to see the Temple Square lights this coming week :)

Ive been Tagged!! Picture time!!

Ok, so, Instructions: Upload the 4th picture from your 4th album or file and tell about it. Then tag 4 people to do the same

Alright!! So fun!! Well this is Zach (obviously) and this is from the first time we put him in his Exersaucer. Surprisingly he liked it a lot, although since he had such short little legs, even with it on the lowest possible setting his feet were still a good 3 inches from the bottom, so we had to fold up a couple of blankets and put them under his feet, so that they touched something! :) He was 7 months old at the time (3 mo adjusted) He was really happy in that thing, it became one of his favorite places over the next year!! We definately got our moneys worth out of it! (Well Grandma's money's worth since it was a gift form her :)

Alright, so I tag Bobbie, Autumn, Melissa, and Jan :)

2 Years Ago Today!!

So I just realized its December 6th!! And that means that 2 years ago today Zach came home from the hospital. I cant believe its been so long, yet it seems like it was just yesterday!!

On December 5th, 2006 we had done an overnight stay in one of the hospital rooms with Zach so we could get a hang of the heart monitor and to make sure he was on the right amount of oxygen with the home oxygen tank... and to make sure we got a hang of his feedings before we left. We were originally told that we would do 2 of the overnights, and then go from there, depending on how well he did. Well that night he did great, he drank all of his bottles, no problem, his 02 stayed steady, and he didn't have any apnea/bradychardia. So we left the hospital, after the nurse came to get him, and we went out to grab some breakfast and then head home to shower before going back to the hospital. Well, Joe was outside grabbing stuff out of the car when i got a phone call from Zach's nurse. She said "hey, we were wondering if maybe you would want to take Zach home today instead of tomorrow, what do you think?" and I did a little "Squee" like a 12 yr old and said "absolutely we will be right over, lemme go check with Joe" :) He of course said, "Seriously! Of course we'll bring him home today!!" So we did a quick last minute shopping trip to make sure we had everything we needed for him, and everything we would need so we wouldn't have to go anywhere for a while and went over to the hospital. About 6 grueling hours later (it felt like YEARS since we were just waiting and waiting!) after watching a few videos, checking out with the nutritionist, my lactation consultant, the occupational therapist and what felt like everyone else in the hospital Zach got to come home! We dressed him, made our rounds to say bye to all of our new family, Respiratory Therapists, RN's, Neonatologists. Then we walked him out to the car, saying goodbye to Tammy (his nurse the night he was born) and were on our way home! (all the way across the street, lol) We even joked in the car and said "Hurry! before they make us take him back inside!!" lol.

It was such a strange and exciting feeling to walk in the house with him! After months of coming home alone he finally came with us! He has been such a joy and blessing ever since, and I cant believe the last 2 years have passed so quickly!

Shoe Shopping with a 2 year old...

Well, we've been meaning to get Zach new shoes for a week or so and finally made it out last night to the mall (since I had to drop off my ring anyways) and at first he did well with it, he liked looking at all the shoes, and then when it came time to try a pair on, that was when the tantrum started... and then we needed to try the next size up from that and by the time we finally finished the poor kid was a snotty, teary mess... you would have thought he was at the Dr for the tantrum he was throwing. But he ended up with a size 8, I cant believe it, his shoes before were a size 5, poor kid... I had no idea the other ones were so tight! So needless to say he should be walking a lot happier now!

After the debacle at the shoe store we decided to check out the Disney Store, and he picked out the CUTEST little Wall-E.... he passed up a Lightning McQueen for it, which if you know him is HUGE! He spent the rest of the night saying Wall-E and holding it with a death grip, lol :)

It's begining to feel a lot like Christmas...

So now that Thanksgiving is over, we broke out the Christmas Tree and other decorations. Zach had a lot of fun helping us decorate the tree (at first then he was DONE! and didn't want to do anymore!) Now he loves to just squat in front of the tree and point to all the decorations!! He's been so great (knock on wood) about not playing with the tree :)


Zach putting on the first ornament!!
Zach noticed that some of the presents have Cars wrapping paper on them, and was SO excited he brought it over just to show me, lol

Also this weekend we made Gingerbread houses at Grandma & Grandpa Magleby's house, Zach especially loved eating the cheerios after he put them on the house :)

mine & joe's houses :)

Our little vacuumer!!

So we had the carpet cleaner in the kitchen a week ago, and Zach decided he needed to vacuum up the floor :) he was so proud of himself he clapped when he was done "cleaning"


on another exciting note, this trip up we were finally able to get Grandpa to play Guitar Hero! And he LOVED it!! yea!!

Happy Birthday Joe!!

Happy Birthday to the best Husband in the whole world!! I hope you had a wonderful day!! :) Love you!!

Weekend of Potty Training!!

So this weekend we started potty training! Yesterday was a bit rough. He had easily over 12 accidents. Most of them were after he had gotten up from the potty and hadn't gone.. then as soon as he got out to the living room, BAM, he peed all over the floor. SO by about 5pm I'll admit I was a bit frustrated, and (not wanted to get frustrated at Zach or let him sense that i was frustrated) I said forget it! We'll try again in a couple weeks, and put a diaper back on him.

Well, this morning he woke up dry again, so I thought, ok lets try this again, just to see. So I put him in his underwear and he did SOOO much better!! I couldn't believe it. He only had 4 accidents today, 1 of which was at grandma and grandpa's house, but I think that was just from standing in front of a cold window, lol. So all in all it was a much better day, so we are going to keep trying this week. He is SO proud of himself when he goes in the potty, and loves to flush the toilet after we dump it into the toilet!!

Zach's MRI

Zach had his MRI this morning, and all in all it went really well. He was pretty apprehensive (as he always is in any sort of hospital setting) when we first go there, and was REALLY upset once they started the IV to give him his medication to sedate him. Luckily the nurse we had was an AWESOME IV started who works in the ER up at primary, and he was able to get Zach's IV in on this 1st try (which is unheard of for Zach!!). It took a long time and a LOT of extra medicine to finally knock him out... he was "not a cheap date" according to the nurses, lol (the male nurse who was about Joe's size said Zach had enough meds in him to knock out a grown man). Once they finally got him down, the actual MRI only took about half an hour to 40 min. Then waking him up was really hard to do... the nurse was about to break out the cold wet washcloths when Zach finally opened his eyes. After he drank a couple ounces of juice and kept it down he was good to go. We should hopefully hear the results back early next week. Now he is all snuggly, and sleepy, so its going to be a snuggle filled day here in the Magleby house!

One Miracle after Another!!

So today Zach had his ENT appt with the vocal chord specialist up at Primary. We went in basically because in Jan of 07 Zach was diagnosed with a paralyzed right vocal chord, and his pulm just wanted us to follow up on it to make sure nothing (food/drink) was getting caught up on top of the paralyzed one.

So we go in, go over the normal why we're there, what procedures.surgeries he has had in the past, all kinds of things. Then we got Zach to talk for him a little bit so he could hear how raspy/grunty he is when he talks. And then the Dr. put in a camera through Zach's nose down to see how his good vocal chord moves, and see if it looks like anything was caught up in there. So he looks around for a while looks at a couple different things and then pulls it out and says "Well neither of his vocal chords are paralyzed anymore, that happens sometimes." And my whole brain just went "duh... what?!?!?"lol. I had no idea what to say, i was totally NOT expecting to hear that, so all of the questions i had before we got there no longer applied and i couldn't think of a single thing to ask him! He probably thought i was quite slow, lol. SO basically he said he does have some scarring on his vocal chords probably as a result from being on the ventilator for so long, which is why, even though they both work now, he still has a soft cry. He said as he gets bigger, hopefully that raspyness will wear off and he should someday talk completely normal like anyone else! Also he said that the grunting he uses when he talks is just a way his body has come up with putting that extra emphasis behind what he is saying (since he cant yell or get to that high pitch most people can) and he should grow out of that too!!

So all in all it was an amazing day.. not the day I was expecting to have at all though!! It just amazes me how still (2 years later) we are still seeing these little miracles touch his life. He is such a blessing and seeing everything he has gone through and overcome has been the biggest testimony building experience I have ever been through in my life. We are so lucky to have been entrusted with this little guy and I cant wait to see what other hings he has in store with his life!!

Dot Art fun!!

So, yesterday we made these super cute caterpillar's so naturally.. (since caterpillars turn into butterflies) we made butterflies today! :) We used these super cute dot art things I got a little while ago. Zach had a blast!! he does have this problem with needing to kiss it, lol... SO he had some cute blue lips for a little while, but luckily it washed off by lunch :)

2 Years Adjusted!!!

So today is Zach's 2 year Adjusted birthday! Basically meaning that 2 yrs ago today was his due date. And i must say that this day this year is a much happier day than it was last year! Last year i was still so wrapped up in him making his developmental goals... I thought for sure he would be starting to catch up by his 1 yr adj bday, and when that day came and he was still so far behind, it was a really hard thing for me to cope with.

However because of that (and because of my amazing husband who always is so laid back with this, it has helped me to ease off of it as well) i have learned to just go with it, if he hasn't hit his milestone by his adjusted birthday then oh well.. as long as he is making progress :) And that has helped a lot over the last year. And now, i am happy to report he is caught up to where he should be for his adjusted age!! Its such an exciting thing, and it has been such an amazement to watch over the last 2 years where he started off so far behind, and to see him catching up to other kids his age, it really just touches my heart.

In other exciting news Zach has a busy week this week. He has his physical therapy re-evaluation Wed afternoon, so we will know better after that where he is falling in with his development. Then Thursday he has an appt with a Vocal Chord Specialist. Basically just to follow up on his paralyzed vocal chord, and make sure it isn't hindering any sort of oral development. Also they want to make sure food isn't getting caught up on top of it, since it doesn't move at all. Then on Friday Zach is (finally!) getting his Brain MRI done. His Pediatrician and his Neurologist have been wanting to do this for a long time, but he was on oxygen and then they decided to wait until he was 2 to do it. For that basically they are looking to follow-up on his brain bleeds he had when he was born (Level 2 IVH), and also to check and see if there are any remnants of the "possible" stroke he had when he was so very sick in the NICU. Basically its just a looksie, see whats going on in there and see if anything looks worrisome. When Zach say his Neurologist last Friday she didn't seem too worried that they would find anything bad because he isn't showing any signs at all of having problems resulting from the brain bleeds. Now there are certain things that wont show up until he is in school, such as learning disabilities, ADD, ADHD and all sorts of other things, that could be as a result from it. SO basically like everything else related to Zach's health, we'll have to wait it out and see :)

On another exciting note, we are going to attempt full-blown potty-training this weekend. All weekend long this past weekend Zach would follow me into the bathroom every time i went and go over to his potty and sit on it. And he went pee-pee this weekend in his potty after his nap! And he has started again to wake up from his naps and nighttime dry. SO we figure what the heck lets go for it. Whats the worst that can happen: it doesn't work... oh well! we'll try again later then!! SO wish us good luck with it!! it would be SO fun to have him potty trained!!

Zach Talking

Zach has exploded on his vocabulary! He is starting to repeat pretty much anything you ask him to say!! Its so exciting!!

Neurology Appt today :)

Zach had his follow-up appt today with his Neurologist. She was SO pleased with the progress he has maid since their last appt 4 months ago. She would ask a question not expecting to hear Zach was able to do whatever it was (walk backwards, squat down, run, name 6 body parts) and every time i answered yes she was more and more surprised :) All in all he is just a little behind still in his fin motor skills, but other than that he is right where he should be developmentally for his adjusted age (which will be 2 on Monday!) That was such exciting news!!

She also gave us a referral to get the MRI done that they have been wanting to do on Zach for a while, and now that he is off of oxygen and is 2 it is the perfect time to do so. They want to get a look to see if his brain is showing any signs of the possible stroke he had when he was in septic shock (in the NICU when his intestine perforated). Also they want to check to see what the remnants are of his brain bleeds he had when he was first born. He doesn't seem to show any signs of having brain problems, but (as is the story of our life) its better to check it out just in case :)

Random Cute Picture

Our Little Professor

Here are jsut some cute shots of Zach (of course) i LOVE this outfit!! He looks like a little professor!!

Zach's haircut!

Today when Zach was playing i looked at him and thought, man.. this kid needs a haircut!! So before we went grocery shopping we stopped and got Zach a haircut!! He of course freaked out, and ended up sitting in my lap. He eventually calmed down once the girl gave him her spray bottle... he was so busy squirting water he didnt even notice her cutting his hair!! I was worried that buzzing the back would make his little flat spot on the top of the back of his head more noticeable, but it doesnt seem to be :) He looks about 3 years older, which is so sad lol, but its SO cute!!

4 Generations of Magleby's

On Saturday we went up to Salt Lake to visit Spike (Joe's grandpa) and take Zach up to see him again (we haven't been up to see him since last fall) and get some more pictures for Zach to have of him when he gets older because sadly we aren't sure how much longer Spike will be around (although you never really know no matter what). It was a great trip, and Zach actually let Spike hold him and didn't cry. Zach was a little apprehensive when we first got there because of all the workers wearing scrubs but once he realized we were just visiting and none of the nurses wanted to touch/poke/do anything with him he was fine! It was great to visit with Spike and so great for Zach, hopefully he can have some memories of his Great Grandpa!

Afterwards, we met up with Grandma and went to lunch at Fudruckers :) Zach had a blast "playing" with the video games and stuff while we waited :) He's getting to be such a big boy!!