Fire Station Field Trip!

Saxon had his first field trip at preschool a few days after I got out of the hospital.

The permission slip specifically said "no siblings" and I had just had a baby.

So, once again, Aunt Brittany came to the rescue.

She picked him up early in the morning and went on his field trip with him.

The best part was, she knew the fireman, so he gave Saxon special attention.

The other parents kept asking Britt if she was a photographer because every time she would say Saxon's name, he would turn and smile and pose for her :)

Thank you so much Britt!

You can read more about his field trip on Brittany's blog here.

Utah State Fair

The day that I got out of the hospital, Mike took Nate and the kids to the Utah State Fair along with Jeff and Meg, and his friend Mike and his family. It was nice for me to have some quiet time with the baby and my mom and the kids had a blast!

They came home with a picture of them petting the sea lions, 2 big, yellow, stuffed bananas, and 3 goldfish. Obviously they had the time of their lives!
(Unfortunately all 3 goldfish died the next day. The boys were not happy...it probably had something to do with the fact that the boys were reaching in the bowl and "playing" with their fish all day).

Mike bought the kids all wrist bands so they could ride the rides an unlimited amount of times. I wonder, quite often, what we would do without Mike?

Thank you so much Mike!

Krispy Kreme

A few days before Dalton was born, the boys and I went to go run errands with Brittany so we could get out of the house. We promised the boys that they could get a donut if they were good. So, they had their first experience at Krispy Kreme and they LOVED it! Brittany bought them "kids meals" which come with a donut, a milk, a curly straw, and a hat. They thought it was the greatest place ever...

Thanks Britt! You have been a life-saver once again!

Sleepy Boys

Saxon LOVES his new baby brother and is always begging to hold him.
If I turn my back, Saxon will pick him up and try to carry him to his room.
After preschool, I let Saxon hold Dalton and in just a few seconds of snuggling, they both fell asleep...it was so cute!

Soccer Games 6, 7, & 8

Saxon's soccer picture:

Soccer Game #6
Saxon had a soccer game while I was still in the hospital.
My mom and Britt & Johnse took him and Nate met them there.
He LOVED having his fan club there.
My mom said that every time he would run past them, he would smile and give them a "thumbs-up" for the camera :)

Soccer Game #7
For Saxon's 7th soccer game, Nate took him and I stayed home with the baby.
Saxon didn't want to go since me and Dalton were staying home.
We made him go even though he said he was just going to sit on the side the whole time.
Of course when a cute girl on his team asked him to come and play, he agreed.
He played goalie for the first time and Nate said it was cute...
Sometimes he would stop all of the balls, sometimes he would be daydreaming :)

Soccer Game #8
(the last game of the season)

 

Dalton came to watch...

 

 This is what happens when I say "Smile Bridger!"...

 That's the end of soccer season.  It was really fun, but I think Saxon is ready to just concentrate on preschool.  He looked so little and cute out there, but he wasn't really that into it.  Maybe next year :)

Updates

Dalton:

We had Dalton's 2 week check-up today and talked to the doctor a little more about his back.  Apparently, the radiologist who read the MRI said that it was too hard to see if his spine was fused in an MRI and that they should have ordered a CT scan instead.  Our doctor said that he doesn't want to order another test that we would have to sedate him for, so we'll wait and see an orthopedic surgeon first and see what he says.  Our doctor said that he's not sure what to tell us about what the hemi-vertebrae in his back will mean for him long-term, so we still have to wait to find out for sure.

Saxon:

Saxon had his appointment with the ENT today and it looks like he does need his tonsils out.  He said it should help with his snoring and his restless sleep.  He said that after the surgery, he doesn't care if he eats anything, but we need to make sure that he drinks a lot, so to offer him soda, Slurpee, milkshakes, Popsicles, whatever he wants.  I think he'll like that.

Bridger:

He's potty trained.  I don't want to jinx us by announcing it, but we put him in undies everyday and he hasn't had an accident yet.  It's been way too easy.  Nighttime will be harder because he wants still wants milk at bedtime, but I'm glad he caught so easily during the day.  He's still new at it though so we're just keeping our fingers crossed that he keeps it up :)

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Sonnenberg were finally able to make it down to see Dalton. It was so fun to visit with them and takes some pictures. Grandma told me some stories about her family and is going to help me put together a binder of genealogy and stories from the Dalton side of the family. I'm so excited for it. I'm going to give it to Dalton when he's older.

This is the best we could do for a group picture. My big boys were too busy trying to get Grandma and Grandpa's attention to want to pose for a picture. Grandpa took a bunch of pictures on his blackberry. Can you believe that Grandpa has a fancier phone than me and knows how to work it better than I know how to work mine? He can call, email, text, take pictures, everything. It's impressive :)

Hospital Stay

First of all, we just wanted to thank everyone for their prayers for Dalton and our family.

We spent all day yesterday at Primary Children's Medical Center for Dalton's MRI.
We had to check in at 9 a.m. and then stay for 12 hours after the MRI was finished and he woke up from sedation. We were finally able to check out at midnight and we got home after 1 a.m.

Thank you so much Brittany, Mike, and Gregor & Joy for taking care of Saxon and Bridger while we spent the day at the hospital.

Here's what's going on so far:
When Dalton was born, he wasn't breathing well. He continued to struggle with his breathing for the first few days. My nurse was keeping an eye on him, and finally decided that they should do a chest x-ray to make sure his lungs were alright. The x-ray showed that his lungs were fine, but through the picture of his lungs, the radiologist noticed a problem with his spine. He also had a sacral dimple that had them worried because it could mean that his spinal cord connects to his skin. So, our doctor sent us up to Primary Children's to have an ultrasound on his spinal cord, and some x-rays on his spine. Both the radiologist who read the ultrasound, and the one who read the x-rays, ordered an MRI because they couldn't tell for sure if there was a problem or not. The initial test showed that his spinal cord could be tethered to his skin, that his vertebrae could be fused at the base of his skull, and that he has hemi-vertebrae (which look like half-formed vertebrae).

We talked to the nurse this morning and she said that the MRI showed that his spinal cord is NOT tethered to his skin, that his vertebrae are NOT fused, but that he does have several hemi-vertebrae which he will talk to us more about at Dalton's 2 week check up. We were going to have to meet with a neurologist and a orthopedic surgeon, but now he will just refer us to an orthopedic specialist to discuss what needs to be done about his back.

So, we still don't know what the problem is for sure, but we are grateful for the 2 things that it is not. Here's some pictures from our day yesterday:

Dalton right when they brought him out of the MRI:

Grandma and Grandpa and Gregor stopped by to visit.
Grandma brought us a folder of some stories from the Dalton side of the family.
I can't wait to read them!

My poor little guy had an IV, heart monitors, breathing monitors, and oxygen. He was such a good guy though. All of his nurses loved him and said they had so much fun snuggling him while they got him ready for the MRI. Everyone commented on his crazy hair too :)

Our recovery room was really nice too. We had a private room with a crib, a rocking chair, a couch bed, and a TV and DVD player. Thanks to Mike, we had a whole season of Bones to watch since we just had to wait there for 12 hours. We had a really good experience at Primary's, but we were so glad to take Dalton home last night.

The night before, Nate gave Dalton a blessing and we both felt really peaceful and felt like it would all work out fine. Nate said in the blessing that because of our faith, combined with the faith of our friends and family who were praying for us, Dalton would be fine. My Grandpa Sonnenberg said that he got up in the middle of the night to send me an email letting me know that while he was praying about it, he also felt like Dalton would be alright. So, even though we still don't really know what we're up against yet, I do know that Heavenly Father is aware of Dalton and loves him and will take care of him. Thank you again to everyone for their prayers and concern for Baby Dalton. I'll post more when we know for sure what is going on.