The 12 Days of Christmas

I wasn't sure how to begin this post, especially since it's been months since I have posted anything.  But I couldn't let this go by without writing about it and hoping that those responsible will be able to read this.

And this is the part where the hard truth comes out, that is mostly tucked away, and hidden, on many of our blogs.  I apoligize in advance at how long this post is-sorry!

Most of you know that we don't have things easy.  We have 3 beautiful children, who have blessed our lives more than we will ever know.  And with them, we have also had some trials.  Our first daughter, Briley was diagnosed with cancer (Wilms tumor) shortly after her 1st birthday.  It was so long ago, but such a scary time in our lives.  We were so blessed to have such an amazing group of friends and family who stood by us and helped us every step of the way.  We wouldn't have been so strong without all the support and love we received.  We are so grateful that Briley is a healthy, beautiful, 7 year old today.

Our 2nd daughter, Brooklyn, was diagnosed with Epilepsy and is severely developmentally delayed.  She is now 4 1/2 years old, has only a few words, is no where near potty trained, and occasionally still struggles with seizures.  We have searched high and low to figure out what is causing her to be delayed, and have not been able to find a diagnoses.  Despite all the challenges we face with her, we are forever changed for the better to have her in our lives.  We are able to relish in her small accomplishments-when she first signed "please" at 18 months, after months of practicing and working with her.  When she first waved or said "mom".  We can't take these little milestones for granted, especially since we all worked so hard to accomplish them.  She is the most beautiful, loving, and happy girl. 
I was constantly fearing the unknown for her.  Will she ever walk?  Will she ever talk?  Will she go to a normal school?  Will she ever be dependent?  Will she ever get married?   Will she ever have children?  All of these questions have potentially scary answers.  But as time has gone on, we don't worry so much about those little things, that sometimes seem so important.  We are just glad that she is here, alive, and that we get to know her and raise her.  I think that part of her purpose is to teach us-to be patient, loving, and forgiving.
This last April we where blessed to have a baby boy-Jack.  He is such a joy and so fun to have around.  We cross our fingers and pray daily that he will grow up to be a healthy boy. 

In the last few years, we have had two failed restaurants and have had our share of financial and legal struggles.  We realize that we are not the only ones.  I don't know where Shan comes from, but he has this amazing ability to keep working hard.  He does so much to support our family, and never complains.  He is so skilled and knowledgeable, that he is able to maintain a construction business despite this economy. 
And just like everyone else, we are not always positive or have good attitudes.  We have our days where we feel so low and dumped on. 
A few weeks ago we went through one of these times.  We really felt like we just couldn't take anymore.  I was feeling really sorry for myself after a particular rough week.  We just got the Ensign in the mail, so I picked it up and read the first article.  It was on Gratitude.  I was reminded that we often don't realize how much we have, until it is taken away from us.  This hit close to home since something very dear to me was threatened to be taken away.  I realized I needed to stop complaining about the "little" things and be more grateful for what I already have.
Later that week, my mom called and told me about an acquaintance who is 5 months pregnant and just found out that her baby has a severe heart defect and may not survive after birth.  I quickly became humbled and grateful again-to have my children, despite their challenges.

Then Sunday, December 11th, our door bell rings.  I opened to the door to find this:

I didn't even know how to respond.  I called for Shan to come to the door, he pulled the package into the house, as we saw a car drive away.  (Couldn't get a close enough look at that car-dang it!)  We stared at the box for a very long time, not really knowing what to do.  So we opened it and found this:

4 darling boxes, each individually marked for the kids and us, filled with wrapped presents.  I couldn't believe we were recipients of such a grand act of service.  I felt like we don't deserve this!  There seems to be so many others, who have much worse circumstances. I was quickly humbled and grateful and couldn't help but cry-good tears. 
Briley was up too, and she was sooo excited.  She wanted to open all the presents right way.  We found some envelopes marked "1st day of Christmas" and so on, so we assumed we were to open a gift each day.  Today another envelope was delivered by some boy, who I didn't know,  that gave us the instructions to open one gift a day.  After he left, I immediately regretted not telling him to tell our "Secret Elves" how grateful we are.  I was still in shock-I think.

I really hope that whoever you are-one, or many of you, that you know that we are so, so, very grateful for your act of love and service.  I sit here and type with tears in my eyes to be able to realize how blessed and loved we are-and not just because of this amazing gift of The 12 days of Christmas.
This is The Season...and someone has given us a gift that we will never forget.  I am so humbled at this time-to have the family and friends that we have.  We love all of you so much.  We are so lucky to be able to share all our good times and all our bad times with each other. 


We are excited for the rest of our 12 days of Christmas.  We hope that This Season, we will all remember our blessings-even our little ones, that don't appear to be blessings, and remember Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is The Reason. 
We Love You All,
Shan, Monica, Briley, Brooklyn and Jack

Brooklyn's 4th Birthday

Brooklyn turned 4 on May 22nd. One of the favorite presents?  Yup another electric toothbrush. 



















Brooklyn with her cake.  You can tell that we are still working on taking pictures and the whole "cheese" thing.  Just know that these are the best pictures of her, even though I ended up taking tons!












She really liked the cake and ice cream.  However, didn't want to eat it off her plate.  She just went around the all the other kids plates and finished off theirs.












One of the things Brooklyn loves to do is jump on the trampoline.  She is actually quite good at it despite all her delays. 

Happy Birthday Brookie!

Arizona 2011

Our summer has been pretty uneventful, but I knew this would be the case with having a new baby.  I wanted to do "something" this summer, so the kids and I decided to take a road trip to Arizona before I went back to work.  My niece-in-law, Bree and her daughter Mckinely came with us.  I was super bad at taking pictures.  We basically went from pj's to swimsuits for 5 straight days.  I don't think I did my hair and makeup once!  It was a super low key trip.  What we did: SWIM.

Kendis and Briley at Grandpa's pool. 


















Brooklyn loved the pool.

 

We checked on the kids after they went to sleep and this is how we found Kendis and Briley.




















I got to meet Elin for the first time.  She is about 3 months older than Jack.  And you can tell by the picture that she is tiny!  I thought this picture was hilarious!  Jack is thinking, "what stinks?"

So just to redeem Elin, here is a cute picture of her! 

Jack's Blessing

It's always an exciting and special day when you bless your baby, and today was no exception.  It's also always such a relief to have it done and over with too!  It was such a beautiful,  hot day today, that we were a little worried it was too hot to be outside.  And our house just isn't big enough for everyone inside!  But as soon as we started eating, a cloud rolled in and provided us with some shade.  We even had some spinkles too.  We were so happy to share this occasion with our family and friends.

Shan's mom bought Jack his blessing outfit, which I think is to die for!  I think he looks so handsome!  She also made him a white blessing blanket.

My two favorite and handsome boys.

The family.

The spread.

Baylee and Sydnee with Jack-haven't they grown up?

Thank you to everyone who shared this special day with us!

Jack



I had pictures taken of Jack when he was 2 weeks old.  I had my friend Jana at Butterfly Love Photography take them, and I love them!  Jack was such a good baby during the whole shoot.  I went with my sister Shannon, who also had a baby 4 days before Jack was born and unfortunately, she wasn't so happy during her session!

Jack is now 4 weeks old, and we are adjusting to 3 kiddos.  I don't think the number "three" kids had been difficult, it's Brooklyn that keeps us on our toes!  She is in the terrible 2's stage, and of course she is always getting into trouble when it's time for Jack to eat!  But that's how it always goes, right?

I didn't get much into his birth story on my last post, so I will give a summary here.  Most of you know that I had Brooklyn naturally-meaning no drugs, epidural.  For Jacks birth, I had absolutely no desire to do that again, and actually thought that an induction sounded quite nice.  I have never been induced before.  I was scheduled for Wednesday, April 27th, and on Tuesday night, the hospital called saying that all these women went into labor on Monday night (there was a huge storm that night, and I guess that can cause women to go into labor), so they bumped me onto Thursday.  I really wasn't too bummed-weird, I know.  But I guess I had one more day to get ready, and it was pretty much a guarantee that I would go in on Thursday.  So Thursday morning we went into the hospital.  It was such a different feeling going there and thinking... I am going to walk away with a baby!  My other labors, it was all a blurr going into the hospital.  So we settled into our laboring room and just hung out for a while until the nurses came int and started my IV and drew my blood.  I made it very clear that I wanted the epidural AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  My goal was a pain free labor and delivery!  Well.....

The doctor came in while later to break my water.  I was nervous, because I hadn't had the epidural yet, and I knew that once my water broke, I would progress super fast.  I told this to the Dr. and the nurse, and I bet they were thinking..."um  uh huh.  We'll see."  Why do they always question?  I think I know my body!  So then the nurse wants to start the pitocin....which I was also nervous about.  I kept saying, ok...but I really want the epidural!  They were waiting for my lab results to come back to make sure that my blood was good and I could actually have the epidural.  Since when was that a rule????

Anyway, she put me on a drip level of 2 for the pitocin ( The highest is 25).  Not long after, I started having some pretty painful contractions, 2 minutes apart.  I paged the nurse (AGAIN) and said (AGAIN) I really want the epidural NOW! 

She comes in and tells me that they got my lab results back, and she was just on the phone with the anesthesiologist and he is on his way.  He went home!  Yup...there wasn't anyone with a current epidural in, so he didn't have to be at the hospital.  Luckily he lives super close.  And he arrived about 10 minutes later.

Once I got the epidural, it was great!  I was just bummed because the whole point of me wanting to be induced, was to not experience any pain.  So I wasn't mentally prepared to feel any contractions.  Oh well...30 minutes of pain-I am not complaining (anymore).

As soon as the epidural kicked in, they put the catheter in, and then checked me.   Oh my...I was at a 10 and ready to have this baby!  See-I told you I go fast!

The doctor arrived in the room at 11:38 am, I started pushing at 11:39 and he was born at 11:41am.  So...over all, it went very well and very fast. 

And here is a picture of Jack's cousin, Hallie Grace





Jack Jayson Peterson

We welcomed our baby boy into our family on April 28th. We are so excited that he is here!

Born at 11:41am

7 lbs 7 ounces

19.5 inches

Briley is SO excited to be a big sister again, and just loves her baby brother. She also loves to be a big helper and holds him all the time.

And here he is at 1 week old.

So far, he is such an easy going little guy-which we love!

We just got professional pictures-soon to come!

Update

I guess it's time for a little update. We've been surviving winter and hoping Spring comes soon. We are ready for warmer weather! Briley has been doing great in the 1st grade this year, and will be super sad when school is over. She always falls in love with her teachers and then never wants to get a new one. She has had such a great teacher this year-its amazing how well her entire class has been doing.

Brooklyn is also going to school twice a week, and loves it. The bus will come and pick her up, and she gets so excited, that she can hardly eat lunch. She just stands by the front window, waiting for the bus to pull up. She has the nicest bus driver, who is so sweet with her. She is making good progress. She is more aware of her surroundings. At school she used to just want to play or do only one activity and wasn't interested in anything or anyone else. Now she likes and notices the other kids, and explores much more of the class room. She actually has a few words! She says "mom" a lot and uses it for "more" and "dad". We are working hard on the "dad" thing, but that hasn't come yet. She will also say Briley and bye. She is trying so hard to talk and is understanding so much more.

She continues to test our patients. This one particular night, after we had already bathed and dressed her for the night, she decided to hop back in the the tub with Briley....fully clothed. For some reason, I can't seem to download this picture right-you'll have to turn your heads.


Such a stinker! We are excited that we have finally moved her to a big bed. We have been putting this off, because she has done so well in her crib and doesn't try to get out. It's pretty much the only "safe" place for her to go and not get into so much trouble. Well, with baby #3 about here, we decided it will never get any easier and we better just do it. It's been almost 1 week, and surprisingly, she has done well! Every night gets a little easier. Our focus is to teach her that she cannot get out of bed. The first night, it took her 45 minutes to fall asleep. It was horrible, when we are used to putting her in the crib, and walking away. It was such an easy bedtime routine for us. She was so excited and hyper that first night. She is picking up really fast that she isn't suppose to get out. I think she likes sleeping with Briley and being in a big girl bed.

And finally, here is the dreaded prego picture, that I have been putting off. I can already tell how much I will hate this picture when I look back! This is the only one I have taken the whole pregnancy. I am 38 weeks here. I have an induction date set for April 27th. I really hope I make it to that date, because I would love to experience a pain free labor. I have done it every way, except this way and from what everyone tells me, it's great!


I will keep you updated, but baby boy should be here in 5 days.