Marissa Robin

It's been a rough couple of weeks for this sweet little 2 year old! It all started with a really bad virus which I thought was strep throat. So we went to see the doctor - no strep just a bad painful virus in her throat with really high fevers - no fun. Since I was there I wanted to ask a question I've been wondering about for a long while. Ever since she was born she has had really bad smelling pee (I did mention this to her pediatrician at her 2 weeks or 2 month checkup - he said - pee smells bad - not funny now). Seriously at night walking past her room was just nauseating. Anyway - since she's been potty trained for 4 months I have noticed that her pee is really cloudy. Hmmm - so I brought that up to the doctor and she said well let's check it out. Urine sample that evening - bacteria showed up right away - will send sample to be cultured - so antibiotics started. I won't even get into the horrible time we have with Marissa taking medicine - just know that it is totally horrible and totally ridiculous. Allergy to amoxicillin too. URG. Since she didn't have any symptoms of a UTI (urinary tract infection) - doctor wants to make sure her kidneys are ok. Off to ultra sound at Primary Children's Hospital. Ultra sound of kidneys - shouldn't be hard - right? Marissa did not like it one bit and cried almost the whole time while the technician got all the pictures she needed. Poor kid. Bad news - one kidney is 2 cm larger than the other - what's that mean - we aren't sure but could be scarring from a UTI she's probably had her WHOLE life. Talk about a super hero who must not feel pain - I feel so bad. Anyway - next step - sedation and a VCUG at Primary Children's again. The VCUG is a catheter they insert in her and fill her bladder of with fluid and dye and then they x-ray to watch how it flows from the bladder. So the medicine they give her for the sedation doesn't put her all the way out. Totally out of it but not asleep. We had a heck of a time getting her to take the medicine - we finally had to hold her down while the nurse forced it behind her teeth till she swallowed it. That was the worst of it. Poor girl was so funny to watch. She was so loopy and giggly and then totally mellow. Well JD and I had researched online and knew what was bad and what was not so bad. So as we watched the x-rays we knew it wasn't so good. The doctor was there too and just told us she definitely has reflux of the bladder and it's probably a stage 3 or 4 out of 5. So what that means is that instead of the urine flowing out of the bladder it refluxes back up into the kidneys. Next step - we will go see a urologist at Primary Children July 6. For now she is on a maintenance dose of antibiotics to prevent any more UTIs. Some kids have to be on that low dose of antibiotics for years other times they have to do surgery. So I guess we will see what happens.

Here we are before the medicine made her loopy - she got a cool frisbee.
On the x -ray table looking at the cool light toys - distraction techniques!
After it was all done! She loved the jammies and wanted to take them home. She was still so funny - I love this picture.
Oh by the way she had to fast. I couldn't let her eat anything at all in the morning - it was torturous (probably more for me because I was so worried about it). And her appointment wasn't till 12:30pm. We had to do a lot of playing to distract her from the food. But she did great - she really didn't complain too much - what a trooper.
Still pretty wobblely for awhile afterward. We couldn't let her walk alone for a couple of hours. She bounced back pretty quick but was tired and mellow.

So that was on Wednesday the 16th. The next night I was feeding Brielle and Riss was all ready for bed so I said go downstairs and see Daddy. She heads to the stairs and next thing I hear is boom boom boom, and then crying. I'll keep this story short - broken clavical (collar bone)! But let me just say that Marissa really is tough. She has like a 30 degree break but she was using her arm. Certain movements hurt so JD thought it was just a bruise - I am so glad we went to the doctor. All they can do for her is put her in this brace. Not fun. She does have to go get it x-rayed again this Friday to make sure it is healing right since it was such a bad break.
So yeah - it's been a tough few weeks for this cute girl. But you know it isn't slowing her down one bit. I'm so worried about her running around and riding her bike and all the things she does. I'll probably have a nervous breakdown just from worrying!!

Oh how I love this little girl!

Memorial Day

Just to catch up -

Here is most of the Hanks' family gathered around Robin Hanks' grave. JD's little sister. It was fun to listen to the memories that the siblings and parents have of her. She wasn't on the earth very long - but long enough to have an impact and to be missed - she'd be 29 this year.

Missing a few family members because of car trouble. But here is most of us.

Grandpa Seastrand telling everyone about the relatives that settled American Fork. JD's family has quite the legacy over there. Grandpa told of coming to the cemetery as a boy and how they would jump off the big tall headstones and see who could jump the farthest. Well....

That led to this! Yep after JD's lecture - not so much a lecture but a reminder that we don't jump or walk on the headstones because we want to show respect - Grandpa calls Tanner up to try it. Then everyone had to do it! I guess if it's ok with Grandpa then it's ok - right?

And then there's Jade and Riss finding a really cool headstone with lots of pinwheels!

Afterward everyone came to our house for some chicken that JD BBQed! He did a good job! Then off to our second BBQ at my parents house! It was a very busy day - but most enjoyable since we got to be with all of our family in one day!

A Busy Week for JD

This past week has been a pretty great one for JD.

#1 On Tuesday the 18th, JD was recognized and awarded the Alpine School District's High SchoolTeacher of the Year!

I am so Proud of JD! He is an amazing teacher and it feels great that he was recognized for all his efforts. I don't really know how to put into words how he is able to be such a great teacher. But I think most of all is that he loves what he is doing. He really wants the kids to learn so he puts his best efforts into teaching them. JD is a thinker - whether it be trying to figure out a good way to present a certain concept or trying to decide how to handle a tough situation with students and parents, he puts a lot of time and thought into everything he does. I think that really makes him the man he is. I respect that about him because I'm quite driven by my emotions and sometimes don't think as much as I should. Although he has been a good influence on me and is helping me to see that thinking before acting is a better way to go!

Here are the people that came. That is JD's uncle Gary and his Grandpa and his Aunt Denise and Grandma. Gary and Grandpa were and are educators in Alpine School District. It was a great night. My dad also came to support us. Happy times!

#2 It was Cavestock at AFHS on Friday! Time for JD to be the rock star that he is for a night. It was great fun this year. JD plays the bass guitar and sings backup and also got to sing one song. It was Marissa's favorite song - Pork and Beans by Weezer. He did SOOO good. In the middle of the song Marissa and Dawson went right in front of band and started dancing and jumping. I have a video of it and it is sweet. I will try to figure out how to get it downloaded on here. We had a great time and love watching Daddy rock!

#3 And finally Sunday was JD's birthday! I made him a yummy breakfast burrito before his church meetings in the morning. And then as soon as he got home at 11:45 we gave him his presents. I think the kids and I were more excited to give him his presents then he was to get them - but that changed!

A new GUITAR! I think he really likes it!

Then we headed off to church. Came home had a nicely cooked (by JD) tri tip and artichokes (cooked by me). Then cake and ice cream. Then LOST - (a little disappointing - not the ending I was hoping or expecting) but fun to watch the last episode.

So yep - a busy week but a great one too! I love you Babe!

Family Fun

It took a bit of doing and a few piles of this but

eventually we got this
and this
and this
and finally this! What fun!
Oh and just incase you were wondering. Dawson who became a Bear (Cub Scout) this month, if you ask Marissa, Dawson is not a Bear, he is a yellow boy! (I had a pretty good laugh at that one)!

Random

Dawson turned 9 today! I can hardly believe that he is that old. My little blue eyed boy is growing up so fast. Here we are last week with him getting his Wolf badge.

Brielle was blessed on Sunday. She did so well - not a peep. We had almost all of our families there. It was really nice and I am so grateful that I have JD as a priesthood holder in our home to bless our children! He is good man!
Brielle and Rissy. Today I left the room while Marissa was drinking one of those Kool Aid drink things. All the sudden Josh is yelling for me. Marissa had Brielle drinking the red kool ail. Brielle had a red tongue and a red shirt. Thanks Rissy Roo.
Brielle and Quezon. My little sister's baby. They were almost 3 pounds different in birth weight but now are about the same weight. Quezon is packing it in. He is half Samoan and he is a boy so I don't mind at all the he's passing Brielle in weight! It's fun to have these two so close in age! And now that the Leuluai's are here in Utah instead of Hawaii - it's even better.

Glasses, teeth, beards, fohawks, and more!

So I totally blew my New Years Goal of updating my blog every week. Let me tell you how 5 kids has really thrown me for a loop. Wow - who knew that one more would be so crazy! But totally worth it - I love my kids - they are awesome and we are having fun (most of the time)!

So here is an update on the Hanks family.

Here's my sweet husband, he's been growing a beard again for awhile. He's had to trim it a couple of times to keep it in control. I like the gray path on the right. JD has been busy busy busy. He is probably the most dedicated math teacher ever. How many teachers are so dedicated to spend 10 hours at work each day. And sometimes more - got to get those kids ready for their AP test in a couple of weeks. He only has one prep instead of 2 and does the math lab after school for an hour. He is definitely a little stressed out. He does still find time to watch most of the Jazz games and we DVR Lost and Parenthood so we can watch those after mutual on Tuesday nights. For spring break - he finally got around to sheetrocking the basement bathroom. (Yes this family of 7 shares 1 bathroom -URG). So hopefully in the next few weeks we will have the luxury of another bathroom. JD worked really hard on it with Josh as his assistant. Also during spring break JD and the kids got most of the garden planted. JD got a new tiller with our tax money and he is loving that! If you have ever seen how big our garden plot is - you would appreciate how much work taking care of it is. My JD is a stud and I appreciate all his hard work and especially his amazing ability to be a great dad. He rocks!

Josh got glasses about a month ago. He's looking so grown up. He is growing tall too. Soccer has started and Josh is doing really well. He and his brothers are also outside every day shooting hoops. Josh is really excelling at his piano. Oh and he's pretty funny too. He's always trying to make us laugh with some silly thing he does. Josh is one smart cookie - he's a thinker like his dad and a jokester too. He's exactly 10.5 years older than Brielle - she was born on his half birthday. Good kid!

Dawson is almost 9. What - how did that happen? He woke up to a tooth under his tongue the other morning. He said it wasn't even loose when he went to bed. At least he didn't swallow it! Dawson got a haircut the other day. He was so funny because he came home and told me how on Mondays he was going to do one fohawk, on Tuesdays 2 fohawks, Wednesdays spikey, Thursdays and Friday I can't remember but he had it all planned out. So far I've only seen the double fohawk once - thank goodness. He is a cute kid. So good with Brielle - he is by far the one that holds her the most (out of the kids). He also is very willing to watch Marissa for us. And he is getting really good at the piano too. He is playing some things by ear just like his dad. I don't know how they do that - it amazes me. Good kid!

Tanner is toothless. Okay not anymore because three have grown in but he has that gappy smile and cute dimples too! He is a 6 year old who acts more like a preteen. He is very athletic. He dominates on the soccer field not only because he is so much taller than the other kids but he has skill too. It's fun to watch him. And he's quite the basketball shooter too. The other night I told him that I was going to put Brielle's portable crib in his room because she was too loud for me and dad and she would wake Marissa up. So he said in all seriousness "Ok. So when she cries should I get up and take care of her?" Pretty cute! JD and I had a good laugh about that one. "Yeah Tanner - Mom and I don't want to wake up to take care of her so you do it!" Oh the things that go through those cute heads! Good kid!

Marissa is definitely a 2 year old. We have been seeing a lot of tantrums lately but also a lot of cuteness too! She is endless energy! She still loves Brielle and is always right there. If Brielle cries she always runs up to her and says "I'm here, don't worry, I'm here" in a cute little sing song voice. Marissa loves to sing. Her "I am a child of God" is so sweet. And she sings along with the radio too. I was listening to my IPOD in the kitchen the other day and she started singing along to a song I didn't know she knew. She LOVES her daddy. When springbreak was over, she woke up Monday morning and waved goodbye to JD and then sat down on the couch and said "I need my daddy." Sweet girl!

Miss Brielle is 8 weeks today. It has flown by. Her eyes are a very pretty deep blue. I'm hoping they stay that way. We haven't been able to get a good smile picture yet - camera shy. But this is sweet. She is smiling a lot now and it melts my heart. I love this little baby. She is the mellowest of all my babies and I am very appreciative of that! She eats regularly and doesn't spit up too much like her siblings did. Yeah! We are loving our little angel!

So there we have it! The Hanks are hanging in there. We will be blessing Brielle May 2, so more pictures to follow!

Sisters - So cute!

Can I tell you how much Marissa LOVES Brielle? So much!
Holding Brielle when we got home from the hospital. 3 weeks ago.

Saying goodnight. This must have been Daddy's doing!

Sunday morning - Marissa ready for church and loving her sister.

"Daddy, two girls, two girls." This is what Marissa was telling JD when he was holding and dancing with Brielle. Marissa just couldn't stand to have her Daddy dancing with Brielle alone - at least she could share him!

Daddy taking pictures. They both look pretty happy here! Infact it looks like Brielle is dancing!

I love this one. Brielle looks like she is telling Marissa something funny!

This was Marissa's doing. She had Minnie cuddling with her sister!

Aren't they adorable? I just love these little girls.