I finally got some pictures of Jack smiling. He's been doing it for several days but as soon as I get the camera out, he stops. So stuborn at two months!

Easter...Finally

I keep saying I'm going to post our Easter pics, but life seems to get in the way. So today the dishes might not get done but you will get to see what a great Easter we had.

I sewed Easter dresses (Missed you mom!)

We dyed eggs

Opened baskets

and Jackson ate his first chocolate marshmallow bunny.

We hunted for eggs with our cousins

Even the teenagers got into (of course there was money in their plastic eggs!)

And we ate lots of great food!

That night after our bedtime story, I asked Emily why we celebrate Easter and this is what she said, "Because Jesus died so we could live with Him again."

I am grateful for the Atonement and that I will be able to live with my beautiful family forever.

This past week Bekkah and Jackson have both seen thier cardiologists. Jackson is still doing well. His murmur is still there, and he still has some leaks, but they are small. He will have another echocardiogram in September and if all is still well, he will be discharged! Yeah!!
Rebekkah's heart is still very pre-excited (beats too fast). As a result she burns calories quickly and doesn't gain weight like she should. But he said she looks really good and her tests came back ok. He wont take her off her meds, but he didn't put her on a higher dose either. She's still too small for the surgery for her WPW. He wants to check her Ebsteins to see if the valve is growing ok and to check the size of her heart. But to do that she needs to hold still for the Echo and she doesn't do that very well. We had a hard time just getting a reliable EKG. So we are going to wait for a few months then try it. If she is still too wiggly they will sedate her. He also told us that if she were to "grow out" of the WPW, she would have done it by now. So I guess we're in this for the long haul.
Though my hopes of going off meds were not realized, I still felt good about the visit. Her cardiologist is very positive and upbeat and that helps to calm my fears.
I know the Lord is watching over her.

Yesterday Bekkah was fitted for her heart moniter. We keep telling her it's her purse, but I don't think she's going for it. I spent all day yesterday telling her not to pull on the leads. We made it the 24 hours without her pulling them off. In two weeks we get the results. Sometimes little children with WPW go into a kind of remission. If that is the case, she may go off her meds. This would be good because the medicine she is on can prolong the time between heartbeats and could cause her heart to go tooo slow or even stop. The bad part would be that there will be no medicine to stabalize her heart when it goes too fast, so if she's not really in remission or she comes out of it we wont know. Most babies show symptoms or signs, but she doesn't. Her heart can be beating 250 beats a minute and it doesn't even phase her. I guess I'll just keep checking and try not to worry. It helps to stay busy, so if any of you need anything, please let me know. Serving others keeps things in perspective for me. I know Heavenly Father is watching over her and all will be well if we are faithful.

Ladybugs...or Gentlemanbugs?

Have you been to the green belt lately? Our kids are having a great time there! The draw you might ask...lady bugs... tons of them. Yesterday I witnessed a humorous example of observation among the under 10 crowd. Ammon, Trevan, Ryan, Garon, Jacob, Christian, Charise, Kyle, and Bradley were keeping busy by seeing how many ladybugs they could catch and put in a butterfly net. Ryan called out, "Hey look at these two, they're 'dating'!" All the kids gathered around to spy on these two unsuspecting ladybugs. Then Trevan, in his 6 year old wisdom, corrected his big brother, "They're not 'dating', they're 'mating'!" The rest of the afternoon these 9 bug enthusiasts changed their game to how many 'mating' ladybugs they could catch.

Jack-in-the-...BOWL?

Jackson hasn't been gaining weight like he should so Dan bought a scale that showed ounces at Wal-mart to track him better at home. We couldn't figure out how to get his whole body on the little scale. Dan suggested a salad bowl. Here's a pic of our little Jack-in-the-Bowl!

Jackson's Blessing Day

It is not our usual practice to bless our babies when they are only 13 days old. Jackson was our exception. My mother and her husband are retiring and moving to Utah at the end of the month and we wanted them to be able to be there. I have such mixed emotions about this special day. Of course, I'm so happy to have this little guy. I loved hearing the beautiful words spoken by his Daddy, of the things Heavenly Father has in store for him. I know he was sent to us for some special reason--I know they all were. But I also felt an overwhelming saddness that this was our last baby blessing. From a medical standpoint I know how dangerous and irresponsible it would be to have another. I would never want my children to grow up without a mother. But my heart breaks knowing I will never hold another wiggly newborn in my arms and call him mine. Maybe I'm just selfish. I do have eight children. More than my three sisters-in-law who have been trying for years. But the joy I feel knowing I am entrusted with these sweet little spirits makes me feel so amazingly wonderful. I love holding them. I love playing Barbies or reading books with them. I love helping them with thier problems. I love teaching them to bake bread or plant flowers. And they just grow up so fast. I try to console myself by saying it wont be long before grandkids. Or, just focus on the ones you already have, there's plenty of room for improvement. But it doesn't seem to help. For now I'll hold this new little one lots. I'll let my housework go and cuddle my babies, and pray they will stay small for a little bit longer.