One Month Old

Gray turned one month old today. I cannot believe how fast time is going. Even though we are sleep deprived, I just want to pause time and enjoy every minute with this little guy. I know from experience that this newborn phase does not last very long. Gray is such a great baby. He sleeps well and hardly fusses. We are so lucky to have in our family.

Photo Shoot

I must say that Harlee and Nash are fans of taking pictures. Yesterday I had the camera out to get a picture of Nash before his doctor appointment. Harlee asked me to take some pictures of her and Gray. Nash would not allow pictures to be taken without being in the them! I love the one of Nash and Gray. What a difference 18 months makes! What cute kids!
*Luke was at Riley's all day that is why he is not in the pictures. I am sure he was having a lot more fun!

Nash's 18 month appointment

I think a lot of it has to do with perspective since having Gray but Nash just seems to be so big! I was anxious for his 18 month check-up just to make sure that he is not too big. Looks like he is right on track and he is doing great. Here are his stats:

Weight: 27 lbs 14 oz- 75 %

Height: 34 in tall - 90%

He is just responding to genetics as Dr.D said. He is doing so good with his growth and his development. He had to get one shot but is now off the hook until kindergarten. I was so grateful to my mom for her help. She watched Harlee and Gray so I could just take Nash alone. So weird to go to the doctor and not feel like a circus. Even Dr. D commented on how "different" AKA "wonderful" it was to just have Nash there!

Little Man to Old Man

BEFORE
AFTER

Either Gray has taken notes from Grandpa on hairstyle or he is following in Luke's footsteps! Gray was born with the least amount of hair out of all the kids but it was all over his head. I say "was" because now the hair on top is gone! When this happened to Luke when he was a baby, we called it the old man hair. Looks like Gray has the same hairdo!

The Things They Do

For a long time I have been wanting to write a blog about the little quirks that make up the Childs kiddos. They are each so different and they all make life so fun and interesting.

L*U*K*E

Nicknames: Lukie, Looky Spooky
Luke is always on the go. He loves to play and talk about Super Mario Bros. He loves to sleep completely covered in covers. He wraps blankets around his head and I always worry he is not going to be able to breathe. Luke LOVES chicken nuggets and would eat as many as we would let him. He does not snack very much during the day but can put it away at mealtime. He is loving Star Wars and loves to look online at different star wars sites. Basketball is his sport of choice. He dribbles a ball around the house all day and loves to shoot hoops. He is very good at it. He has a best friend named Riley and they would spend every day together if they could. Luke is so loving and reminds us often how much he loves us. When I was in the hospital after having Gray, I got a little bit sad after the NICU news. Shortly after Joey and the kids were going home for the night. Luke saw me crying and started to cry. He told Joey on his way out "I just love her!" He has the biggest heart and we are so lucky to have him in our family.

H*A*R*L*E*E

Nicknames: Har, Harlee Marlee, Sis
Harlee is such a girly girl. She loves to dress herself and changes her clothes numerous times a day. She loves to play Barbies and could entertain herself for hours. She is quite the snacker. She eats little bits of food all day long but at mealtime takes only a few bites. She LOVES the baby and often tries to pick him up when I am not looking. She loves to dance and dances around the house whenever music is on. She LOVES chocolate and she LOVES gum. She asks everyone that comes over if they have gum. She loves to sleep with her favorite pink blanket and bites it when she is tired. She is a chatty cathy and pretty much talks from the moment she gets up until she falls asleep. She will literally be talking one minute and completely asleep the next. Harlee is definitely outnumbered by her brothers but I don't think she minds one bit. Harlee is such a sweet and fun little lady and we love having her in our family.

N*A*S*H

Nicknames: Bubbas, Nashie Bashie, Little Man
We call Nash our gentle giant. He is the biggest kid I have ever seen. If you look at 18 month old Nash you would think he was 3! He LOVES to eat and somehow has free reign of the pantry. He loves to play Wii with Luke. His favorite word is "More" and always says "Thanks" when you give him what he is asking for. He loves to snuggle and still gets rocked to sleep. He loves to play outside and do anything that Luke and Harlee do. He always crosses he ankles when sitting in his car seat. He loves to brush his teeth and unfortunately loves to eat toothpaste. He is not the best at being told no. He loves to let you know he does not accept that answer by throwing himself on the ground and having a fit. Nash is so funny and has such a big heart. We are so blessed to have him in the family.

G*R*A*Y

Nicknames: Graby Baby, Little Gray
Gray is the newest addition and we are still learning so much about him. He has such a fighting spirit and we know that is what got him through his rough start. He is the only one of the kids who loves his pacifier. He loves to be snuggled up tight in his blanket. He loves to eat, sleep, and poop which keeps his mom busy all day long. He loves to hold his hands together and keep them close to his face. He does not like to be hungry and will cry and hold his breath to let you know. He has such a sweet spirit and we know he came straight from Heaven. What a blessing this little guy is already in our family. We cannot imagine life without him.



What great kids we have. It is amazing to think of the blessing and responsibility Heavenly Father has given us. Each day brings something new and we look forward to many more memories to come.

H*O*P*E

Well to say having four kids at home under the age of six is a little hard is the understatement of the year. I get up each morning praying that we all make it through the day in one piece! Today I had dreams of getting some housework done too. This does seem like something that is so out of reach but today I did it! All of the kids are dressed, the kitchen is clean with a freshly mopped floor, the living room is cleaned and vacuumed. Luckily I had my little helper to assist me in the housework- so cute. Never mind the fact that breakfast consisted of fruit snacks and cookies! Everyone seems to be happy and the house is looking clean. Just had to write down this exciting moment guessing that this will probably not occur on a daily basis. Maybe I can get a handle on the four kid mom thing??? Even if I don't, I am so grateful for this crazy, often unkempt, life! What blessings these little ones are to me and I truly would not change a thing. Well maybe add a maid but no more changes!!

Like Father Like Daughter

Joey surprised me and took the day off from work yesterday. It is always so great to have him home. He was going to go pick up the rest of the sod we needed to finish the upper level of the backyard. He said that Harlee could go with him if she got ready. So Joey went to get dressed and put a hat on. Then cute Harlee decided she wanted to be just like her Dad. How cute is she in her mom's dirty hat??

Are you kidding me??

So this funny story is coming to you a bit late due to the crazy happenings of the past few weeks. But when I was in the hospital on the Monday after Gray was born, Joey called me to tell me the following. I guess he had logged onto ITunes to buy Harlee Hannah Montana's "Let's Get Crazy", a song that we had done for the finale in the dance recital. She loves that song and dances all around the kitchen when it is on. So he bought that for her and left ITunes up on the computer. Later when logging in he found out that a few more songs, 40 to be exact, had been purchased. They were Elmo songs, sesame street, and wiggles. Harlee had gone on and spent about $25 on songs for her. What a stinker! Joey and I were laughing so hard. How can you be mad when it really is quite funny. I guess that is what we get for having such smart kiddos!

3 Weeks Old

Gray turned 3 weeks old today. I cannot believe it! Time is going so fast. We are slowly getting use to a baby and a four kid household. He is a great baby. He LOVES to eat and seriously cannot get enough. He also sleeps really well at night. I am very thankful for that. He has not had anymore of the crying/no breathing episodes so I have no complaints. We love you Gray and cannot wait to see what the next few weeks bring.

Happy Father's Day 2010!

Well Joey enjoyed his first Father's Day surrounded by all of his children. He was feeling so sick and I felt so bad for him. Probably not his best day. He is truly the best Dad. Our children are so lucky to have him. He finds any opportunity to teach them and is always having fun with them. He is such an example to them and I hope they all turn out just like him. Happy Father's Day Joey! We all love you so much!
Luke- I love Dad because he is the best Dad in the world!
Harlee- I love Dad tuz he is the best Dad in da world!
(Can you tell that she answered the question second!)

Gray's First Doctor Appointment

Since Gray had his little stay in the NICU they want you to see his pediatrician within a day or two. We went today and here are his stats:
Weight: 7 lbs 9 oz
Height: 21 3/4 inches

He is about 35% for weight and then about 75% for height. The dr made a comment that he is at the top of his chart for height. Does not surprise me, he is following in his siblings footsteps. The doctor checked everything and said that if he did not know that he had a rough start, he would think he was looking at a very healthy baby. That is so comforting to hear. Then Gray had to do his circumcision. So not fun. Gray has this bad habit of crying so hard and holding his breath. He has done it several times and I had asked the dr about it. He said that he did it a few times at the end of the procedure. He continued to do it on the way home. I took the frontage road and stopped several times to soothe him. Poor guy. He makes me so nervous and I just pray this little habit goes away as his lungs continue to mature. But as for everything else, he is doing great and we could not feel more blessed.
* Our cute neighbor brought over these cookies to welcome Gray home. They are so darling!

Gray's Big Day

I am so happy to say that today was the big day when Gray got to come home. The nurses had said that today would most likely be the day so we waited by the phone. At 9:15am Bobbie the nurse called to say that she had a discharge order for Gray. We rushed to the hospital and brought that baby home. I am LOVING it and so are the kiddos, especially Harlee. She cannot keep away from him. It is so cute. Here are just a few of the pics we have taken and I can guarantee there will be many more to come.
*We realized this morning that Luke came home from PMC's 6 years ago today. They share the same release date!! What a special day.

All of Our Blessings

What lucky people Joey and I are. I cannot believe that we have four beautiful children. I know that as soon as Gray comes home we will reach a new level of chaos but I also know how blessed we are to be able to have these little ones in our lives. They are each so different and bring something so special to our family. I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who trusts Joey and I to take care of His special children.

On the Mend

Gray has been in the NICU for 12 days and even though it has been so difficult, we feel so blessed that he is in good hands. He was fed for the first time on Tuesday. He is doing really good. Last night with his bottle he took 42 cc's of the 50 he is suppose to eat. He was taken off oxygen on Monday. It was so fun to walk in and see he whole face. His pick line was removed yesterday from his head. Now we are just getting him to eat his full feeds and he will be ready to come home. I asked my favorite nurse Paula last night when she thought he would come home. She said it would probably be a week. This is so hard to hear but we want him to be completely ready when they send him home. We are so grateful for the doctors and nurses that have helped him to get better. We love you Gray and cannot wait for you to be home.

Gray Update

To say this has been an emotional week would be an understatement. We have been through a lot of ups and downs but I am so so thankful to say that he is on the mend. For the first few days of his life they could not figure out what was wrong. There seemed to be issues effecting many of his systems, his lungs, his heart, his bowels, his intestines. Each day when we would hear of new problems we were saddened and very concerned. On Wednesday the doctor talked to us about doing a spinal tap. They were thinking that maybe little Gray had meningitis. This is not what you want to hear. They did the spinal tap and called about 11pm that night. They said that he did not have meningitis so they felt he had a bacterial infection. They started treating him with a combination of two new antibiotics and in the morning he was dramatically better (in the words of the doctor). He is doing so much better. Still on oxygen but on Friday morning they moved him to a high flow nasal cannula instead of the c-pap. They started his feeds also on Friday and now he is up to 12 cc's every 3 hours. I was able to hold him for the first time on Friday night. This was such a needed moment. Joey has been so sweet to give me his holding turns and I have held him two more times already. Last night he was wide awake and what a cute boy he is!! We don't have any idea of when he will be coming home. He is on 10 days of antibiotics so that will take him through Wednesday. It will then depend on his breathing and how well he feeds. We are just truly grateful that he is getting better and he is in good hands. We love you Gray and cannot wait for you to come home and join your crazy siblings.

Happy Real Birthday Luke!

Luke's actual birthday was on Friday. With all that is going on, I felt it was really important to try to make this day special. He reminded me several times that I was struggling to focus on his special day, but at the end of the day I think he was happy with what we did. I went to the hospital in the morning to see Gray. My mom sat in the car with the kiddos. After the hospital trip we all went over to Carls Jr for lunch. The one down in Orem has a really fun play place. Luke had originally wanted Old Spagetti Factory but changed his mind! So Riley met us there and they had a fun lunch. Riley came over to play for a little bit and then we had to take Luke to the doctor. This was something that Luke definitely thought he could get out of because it was his birthday. But he has been sick for so long and I wanted to make sure it was not more serious. The doctor said that he has a soft case of walking pneumonia so he is getting treated with antibiotics. After the doctor, Riley met us there and we were off to the movies. Joey bravely agreed to take Luke, Riley, and Harlee to see Marmaduke. This is a funny movie about a dog. After the movie, we gave Luke his presents. He got some new shoes, a new shirt, some basketball shorts, and an IPOD Nano. He was in heaven. I don't think he has taken that thing off. He loves listening to Justin Bieber or Justin Beaver as Luke calls him. He is seriously 6 going on 16. We hope you had the best birthday Luke! We love you so much and are so thankful that you are in our family.

Gray Aksel Childs

Sunday was the big day- our newest addition to the family was born. It kind of started on Saturday night. I could not get the little guy to move and I was really nervous. Even after eating a cookie and drinking some propel, he still would not move. Finally around midnight he made a little move. I got up early on Sunday morning to go to welfare meeting. He was moving quite a bit during the meeting and around 7:45am I started having some contractions. They seemed to be coming every 3-4minutes. I was really getting nervous and reluctantly called Mindi to come watch the kids so we could go to the hospital. We arrived around 10:30am and she checked me. She said that I was about a 4 1/2. I was excited since I was only a 3 at my last appointment. So we waited an hour and my contractions seemed to be in an irritable pattern. They were wondering if this was the real deal since the pattern of contractions did not seem active. So they had me walk for an hour and meet back at noon. She checked me again and I was a 5. So there had been some change even though the contractions were not too regular. So she talked to the doctor and they decided that they would keep me. They started me on an IV and epidural. At 4:30pm Dr. Reese broke my water and they started me on petocin to speed up the contractions. At 5pm I was still a 4 (they figured the nurse had been generous) but had thinned out a lot. By 6pm I was a 5 1/2 and by 6:30pm I was an 8. I was feeling so much pressure and a bit of nausea at 6:45pm so I called the nurse to check me. Sure enough, I was a 10. The doctor got prepped and ready and after 2 pushes Gray was born. He was born at 7:18pm weighing 7 lbs 3 oz and 20 1/4 inches long. He has the same dark hair, the least out of the bunch and has the same cute face.
I wish at this point I could say he is healthy and home with us but unfortunately the scenario seemed all too familiar. Gray was breathing a little bit fast so they wanted to take him to be watched. I got to hold him for a few minutes and they took him to the nursery. About an hour later, Cari, the same nurse practitioner that watched over Nash in the NICU, came to see us. They said that his lungs seem immature and he needed to be transferred to the NICU. I could not believe it. We were going to have to go through this again. I was comforted by the fact that we have 2 healthy boys that made it through the NICU and are doing great now. Still does not make it easy. The past few days have been crazy and very emotional. On Monday night the inti bated him to give him some medicine called surfactant. This helps his lungs to stay inflated. After they did that they noticed some blood in his tummy. They were concerned about this and put a large tube down his throat to drain this. He remained on a ventilator until Tuesday night when the moved him to a CPAP breathing machine. They also told us they were worried about a valve in his heart that might not be closing. This turned out to not be an issue but yesterday (wed) we received some scary news. They asked if it would be OK to give him a spinal tap. They were concerned about him have meningitis. So scary. It seems that he just cannot get better. They are feeling that there is some type of infection that is affecting several systems in his body. He was given the tap last night and we got a call around 11pm with the results. They said that he did not have meningitis, thank goodness, but they are feeling that he has a bacterial infection. They feel that he contracted this in the hospital. They have started him on two new kinds of antibiotics which should help fight this infection more specifically. I called this morning and they said that they were able to turn his o2down a bit and he seemed to be resting. I just pray that this is the answer and he can start to make some progress.

In the midst of all the scariness, Joey and his dad gave Gray a blessing on Monday night and then gave me one. In the blessing we were told that he would be healed. I was told in my blessing to exercise faith. This is so tough for me, especially with the lack of progress. But I am truly grateful for the Gospel. How do people do it without this knowledge? I KNOW that I have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of me and the trials we are facing. I KNOW I can turn to Him for comfort and peace. What would I do without that?? Now is the test though. I need to not dwell on the negative and focus on faith. I am truly grateful for a husband who honors his priesthood. He told me that as he was driving down to give me a blessing, he knew that Gray was going to be OK. So grateful that he is worthy to receive such impressions. Joey's dad said that during Joey's blessing to Gray he received an affirmation that Gray is going to make it through. So now it is my turn to focus on faith and know that this is just for a short time. What a great blessing Gray is already to our family and he is teaching us lessons on what is most important. We are so excited for him to come home and grateful for his addition to our family.

Caught in the Act

On Friday night Nash was really struggling to go to sleep. He usually will cry for a minute or two but this time it was a bit longer. So after a couple of minutes Joey went in to check on him. He had taken off his pants and his diaper. He had just fallen asleep in the stink bug position with his naked bottom in the air. I wanted a picture of that cute position but Harlee woke him up. We have got to make sure we dress him in pajamas that he cannot get off. He is such a funny kid.