SPECIAL THANKS!!

I wanted to thank Heather and everyone that wrote in to get us a session with Kristin Wilkerson Photography. There was a drawing Kristin was doing to give away a free session for someone. My cute sister Heather who could have put herself in the drawing, put me in instead and got other people to write in for me so I could get the free session. We hadn't be able to get pictures done because we were in the hospital for three months and than couldn't take him out all winter long so she wanted me to be able to have some cute pictures done. It was a very selfless act and it shows what an amazing person she is. It meant so much to me to have them done and to have so many people write such nice things about us. I just feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people. Thanks again to everyone!!

Thanks Heather again. We Love you!!!

Summer Time

Oh, how I love Summer. There are so many fun things you can do and where we have been stuck inside all winter long it is nice to finally be out and enjoying the summer air. I feel like our life seems to be getting a little normal again. Well, I don't know about all of you but it seems like our summer is flying by so fast. I can't believe it is already July.

Well, Taylor started her first year at swimming lessons. I was a little nervous that she wouldn't like it at all and would refuse to do them. My Taylor is a stubborn one, and when she makes up her mind about something it is hard to get her to do anything else. It has always been on her own time. You can't make her do anything she doesn't want too. And she has always been a little gun shy of water. It is even hard getting her hair wet in the bath. So I was sure she wasn't going to like swimming lessons. To my pleasant surprise she did very well. She was so daring, she even went off the slide into the deep end. She also puts her head under water which is a huge improvement. I'm was so proud of her!!










































We are finally getting out and about and decided we needed to go visit my grandma Mathison. She had never seen Clint and was anxious to see him.










































I love these pictures they are priceless.

Hair Cut

Clint was so excited in this picture. He wasn't sure what was about to happen.















Here he wasn't sure if he liked what was going on.















He actually did pretty well for his first time getting his hair cut with the clippers. Thanks to his Aunt Laura for cutting his hair she is a pro at this she has three boys. This is all new to me. I have to learn to cut boys hair. It may take me awhile. He sure looked cute after. We had his pictures done (Thanks to Heather) So I will post them as soon as I get the CD. Which hopefully will be soon.

Clint's Blessing

We finally blessed Clint this past weekend. Even though he is 9 months, a lot older than most babies are when they are blessed. But we wanted to wait so that we could have both our families together. So, that meant waiting until RVS season was over and he was a little bigger. There were some that hadn't even seen Clint until this last weekend. So, It was a lot of fun seeing everyone and being out and enjoying every ones company. It was our first big event we have had Clint to. It turned out very well, thanks to my sister Heather and her husband. We were originally going to have the blessing on Saturday @ our church. But they double booked us with a wedding so we had to figure out something last minute. My Brother-in-laws family owns a lodge in Paradise, so they helped us get it for that day. It actually turned out better having it there. I have to say we have the best family ever. They are always helping us out when we find ourselves in a pickle. I also wanted to Thank my family and Mason family for bringing such yummy food to eat. We had so much good food that I over ate! But I can't pass up delicious food.
Being around everyone it made me realize how much I have missed going to family functions. I feel so blessed to be where we are today. It has been a long road but I feel we are on the up swing of things. We have also been so blessed to have Clint in our lives. With all that he has been through and still goes through he is always so happy. It makes it all worthwhile.

Here's Clint getting ready for his big day!

Thanks Laura for letting us use the cute outfit for the blessing!!

You can't tell she loves taking pictures!!


Here's my two favorite guys

I love this picture he looks so cute in his outfit.




Thanks Emily for being the family photographer :)


Thanks again for everyone that made this day possible. We love you all!!!

Easter weekend

I can't believe Easter has come and gone. We had a wonderful weekend. And I feel holidays are so much fun when you have kids. This was Clints first Easter and he turned 8 months on Saturday. He is probably around 13 lbs. It feels like he has been small for so long. But I have to realize he started out at 2 lbs. So even though he is 8 months he is like a 5 month old. He is getting to be so much fun. I feel like I can finally start enjoying him and not be so stressed out all the time. He has found his voice so he loves to talk. Clint has a paralyzed vocal cord due to the heart surgery he had. So we have to wait to see how much will come back. They say it may take up to a year to see how much of his voice will be recovered. He still has a very soft cry. But when he talks he seems to be able to get louder than his cry. So that is always a good thing. Another thing he loves is his hands. The only problem with that is that he always makes himself throw up. So his sister has found a solution. She will tie his arm selves together so he can't get his hands in his mouth. Taylor has been so good with clint. She is such a good helper. Clint loves his sister and I love to watch them play together. I can't believe how fast time seems to fly. And we are excited for spring and the warmer weather.

Taylor and Mason coloring eggs.

Taylor and Clint Easter morning

Taylor decorated Clint with her grass from her basket

Grandma Mathison came up to visit. We love to have visitors!!

Taylor having an egg hunt @ her aunt Laura's house

Mason got Clint his first Utah Jazz Shirt

Here is Clint with his fingers in his mouth. The thing he loves to do the most.

Cuddling before bedtime. Taylor loves to cuddle before she goes to bed.

I love those cheeks! I could kiss them all day.

Clint's Story

It all began when our precious little baby wanted to enter our world three months before he was due. I remember that morning I woke having some contractions. They weren't painful, but I thought I should go get checked out because I had gone into labor early with Taylor @ 32 weeks. So I was going to catch it early this time. I had gone to the hospital alone hoping that they would just give me some medicine to stop the contractions. Needless to say when I got there my contractions got harder and more painful. The nurse checked me and said I was dilated to a seven and that we were having a baby. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I was alone and my doctor wasn't even there because it was too early. They tried everything they could to keep clint from coming but he was on his way. Mason and the doctor got there just in time for the delivery. When Clint arrived I heard him cry, that was the best sound I have ever heard. They rushed him out of the room to start working on him. He weighed 2 lbs 6 oz and was 14 inches long.

The doctor came in and said he was doing very well for how little he was. And for him to cry like he did was a good sign. He said a lot of babies that are that small usually have to have CPR. And clint was trying to breath on his own.

He had also said that they would have to life flight him to another hospital because he was so small and would require a lot of attention.

This was the first time I saw him. They had put him in this plastic bag to help protect him because his skin was still so fragile. I put my finger in to touch him and he grabbed it. From that moment on I knew he was going to be a fighter.

I got released from the hospital a few hours later and was able to go hold my baby for the first time.

This was the first time Taylor had seen her brother. She was a little scared at first and really didn't know what to think.

The next three months were like a roller coaster ride. He would be doing so well and than he would have set backs.He got an infection when he was a week old and dropped below 2 lbs. He was so skinny and he didn't look very well. He also had heart surgery to close his PDA. So needless to say those first few weeks of life were very stressful for both clint and us.

There were days I couldn't hold him because it would stress him out too much. And when they would poke him with needles (which happen frequently) and make him cry the only thing I could do was put my hand on his head and and talk to him. This always seemed to calm him down. But it was so hard to watch your little baby cry and not be able to pick him up to comfort him. But knowing by just touching his head he knew I was there and would settle right down was one of the things that would keep me going.

I was the only one who could hold him because he was so little he couldn't hold his temperature up by himself. And they say that mothers, if they hold the baby skin on skin can help maintain the babies temperature. I thought that was pretty interesting.

This is a picture of him in a head box. He had to use this for awhile because his nose was getting dried up from the oxygen tubes. ...."Greeting Earthlings, take me to your leader.".....

This is Mason and I giving him his sponge bath.

Clint had a lot of visitors, some came as far away as Florida and Texas. He also had regular visitors that came almost every day like his grandma Stevens. There were also those who couldn't visit but helped us out by watching Taylor, which was a huge help.

I love this picture. Clint isn't sure who is holding him.

Mason was clint for halloween and Taylor was his nurse. This has to be one of the best costumes he has done.

This is us getting ready to go home after 3 months of being in the hospital. We were nervous that we wouldn't be able to find a car seat small enough to fit little Clint. Luckily we were able to stuff some rags on the sides of his head to help us be able to go home. There is no way to put into words the Joy that filled our hearts when we were finally able to take our baby home! To be together again as a family at home. It was the greatest Christmas Gift we have ever received.

Being at the hospital for that long was really hard on our family. It has absolutely been the greatest trial in our lives. But we feel we have been blessed so much throughout this whole thing. We have had so much love and support from family and friends, and have felt many prayers in our behalf. We know we couldn't have gone through this experience without them, words can't express how grateful we are for all they have done for us. We will be forever in their debt.

Clint is doing so well now, we can barely believe where he started. He has truly made our family grow closer together and put our faith to the test. We thank Heavenly Father everyday for sending us such a special spirit. The greatest gifts and blessings in this world is our families and our health.