Cuteness

I love, love looking at pictures of my kids and I'm hoping that you do too because I'm posting some. I found a good way for Jayla and Blake to hold Melia on their own because they love to hold her. I've just been so surprised with how affectionate they have been with her. I thought Blake would be major jealous because he's a mama's boy but he has been so great with sharing me with Melia.

Oh my goodness! How can you not love them!?

Melia gives me these almost smiles all the time. She does smile now but it's still not a lot but I will take what I can get. It's amazing how a little smile from her can totally make my whole day. She has been such a good baby and I couldn't ask for better...okay maybe for one that sleeps through the whole night but I guess we have to be realistic here.

People are always asking me who I think she looks like. At times I think me and other times I think Daniel so I've decided that she's her own. She's got the best of both of us. How is it that from two people can come three totally different babies? It just astounds and baffles me.

This is the first picture that I have of these two together. When she was born Daniel was the camera guy so we didn't get any pictures there and he's really nervous around little newborn babies and so the times he held her at first were few. Then she got sick and was still really little. Finally she's at a size where he's more comfortable holding her and I finally remembered to take a picture. And plus, Daniel doesn't like his picture being taken, hence he's not looking at me or smiling. I love the look she's giving him like, "I don't know about this big guy." No, she really loves her Papi. He can always get her to stop crying just by talking to her. She LOVES the sound of his voice.This one is my favorite of these two together so far. I love how Melia is holding Jayla's finger and looking right up at her. The bond of sisters has already begun.

Happy Early Anniversary To Me

Mine and Daniel's anniversary isn't until July but about over a month ago I told him since it was going to be our 5th anniversary that we should at least go out to dinner together and have a real date. I guess that got the wheels turing in his head and so he bought me a gift. Right after he bought it he informed me that he got me something but was going to wait to give it to me. At first I didn't really like that idea but I really do like surprises so I got over it. Well, Daniel didn't I guess because he kept dropping hints of what he got me and then one day a little later he calls to inform me that it's actually been over 5 years since we met so we should go out and celebrate that. He couldn't wait any longer. (It had only been maybe a week after he bought me the gift)

We went out to dinner and had a nice Italian meal and after we were done eating he told me to close my eyes. When I opened them there was a black velvet box in front of me. I opened the box and SHAZAM I was blinded! He got me this beautiful, beautiful ring. He told me there were five diamonds for the five years we have been (or going to be) married. Awwww! Of course I got a little teary-eyed over the whole thing. To be honest I was a little worried about his gift before I saw it. The hints that he was dropping before, I kind of suspected it was going to be jewelry and he hasn't scored big points in that area in the past. We just have totally different tastes. But he has more than made up for it this time.

I'm just so impressed with how thoughtful he was. I'm just more in love with him and it's not just because I have a huge diamond ring, but it was the thought and symbolism that he put into it. Never did I suspect to get something like this. I have wanted to "upgrade" my ring but he totally superceded my expectations. I love you baby! You are the best husband and father and I thank you so much for your love, thoughtuflness, and devotion.

Now the question is, "What the HECK am I going to get him now?!"

Our Fun Easter

I know, I know, I'm pretty late at getting this post up. But better late than never, right? After some delicious food and in between conference sessions we had our annual easter egg hunt at Grandma Gregory's. When I was a kid we took a picture exactly like this one above with my cousins. The numbers are a little fewer now but we still have a good time.

It was so fun to watch Jayla and Blake collect eggs and candy together. They worked like a team. Occasionally Jayla would find one for Blake and put it in his basket and then Blake would find one for Jayla and put it in her basket. I guess because there was a ton of candy that they felt like it was okay to share and help out eachother.

Here they're starting to spread all the loot. Even though we don't have as many kids participate there's still the same amount of candy. That's not good for me, especially when there's stuff like Reese's and Snickers.

I say this about every family get together but I'm going to say it again...It's so good to be with family and we always have the best time around each other. I seriously have the best family! Who knew that we as siblings would feel this way with all the fighting we used to do.

Tiny Dancer

This past February Jayla got to take her first dance class. She is in love! She's such a good student, too. She pretty much listened to the teacher the whole time. In the picture above she's doing her princess walk.

The teacher was so cute with them and she taught them a little dance and they got to wear these furry bracelets at their last class while they did their dance.

She always had to be by her teacher, front and center.

We signed her up for a community class that was only 6 weeks long but I thought it was perfect. It introduced her into dance and now I know it's something that she loves doing. We'll definitely be signing her up again.

It is way past due for a new post. I'll just pick up where I left off...After a 10 day stay in the hospital we finally got to come home. On the 9th day I was at my breaking point and I told Heavenly Father this and He listened. I told Him I couldn't do it any more and He knows me and made it possible for Melia to come home the next day. The doctor wanted her completely off oxygen and on room air before they sent her home and once they started weaning her she did really well. We were so blessed to be at Primary Children's and the medical staff there are incredible, especially the nurses. What would we do without them!? And what would I have done without my family, my mom mostly. She was definitely my angel through out all of this. She had Jayla and Blake for most of the time and bless her heart. Diane, Kate and my Grandma Gregory also helped out a lot and I wouldn't have survived without all of their help. I am truly, truly blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive family.

Melia is growing like a weed! Soon after she got home she was taking 4 oz feedings every three hours. That's a lot for a little girl! This picture was taken two weeks ago and she's already bigger than this.

This was after her first day of church. I wore this same dress when I was a baby.

Isn't she just so precious? And I love her red hair. I didn't think I would like having a red-haired baby but I love it and she gets so many comments and compliments from people.

Of course I couldn't leave out Jayla and Blake. They did so well through out the whole ordeal and I couldn't ask for better kids. When we were finally all home Blake asked me if I was coming to Grandma's (he thought he was going back). I told him no and asked him if he wanted to stay here and he said, "Noooo." I aksed him if he wanted to sleep in his own bed and have mommy here. Again he said, "Noooo." Even after all that time he still wanted to be with Grandma.

Getting back to life took an adjustment. I was feeling very overwhelmed just being back to real life and then on top of that more responsibilities from our business fell on to me at the same time. I was having major anxiety but I had been through that after I had Blake and knew how to handle it. I am now grateful for my previous experience because it helped me through this time much quicker and easier. Thank you again to everybody for your help and prayers and thoughts through our difficult time. When stuff like this happens it truly makes you realize how blessed you are in many aspects of your life.

RSV Bites Big Time

It seems crazy to me that this picture was taken two weeks ago. So many things have changed since then. Many of you know that Melia has RSV and is now hospitalized at Primary Children's Hospital and has been there since Sunday. The first two days she was there she looked good and was improving but the doctors warned me that it was going to get worse and it did. She is now in the ICU because she was working too hard to breath. The doctors said that if she continued to work this hard she could get tired and just stop. SCARY! So they transfered her up there to get her on full oxygen. They won't let me feed her because there's a chance she could spit it up and some go into her lungs which would not be good. They put in a feeding tube but it bypasses her stomach so she is ravenous and its so sad when she wakes up and she hears my voice and starts searching for food and I can't give it to her. It breaks my heart. She was doing better today. She's not working so much to breath and they've started weaning her off some of the oxygen.


This is one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through. She's going to be okay, and I know this, but it's so hard to watch my baby go through this and then to be away from my other kids. Without my family I would not be surviving. I'm never going to be able to repay them. She received a blessing last night and they blessed her that she might have the strength to get through this and to bless her family with strength also. Whenever I'm having a hard time I think of this and know that there will be an end to all of this madness. I don't think I've ever prayed so much in my life than I have these past five days.

Being in the ICU helps me realize that it could be a lot worse also. There are so many sick kids and some it will take weeks or months to get better and some kids might never. I need to remember that we are indeed very blessed. We're blessed to be in such a good hospital with such good doctors and nurses and to be so close. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't pop home when I needed a break. I'm blessed that Jayla and Blake are such good kids and adjust so well. I miss them so much that it hurts sometimes but it helps to know that they are doing fine with their grandma and that they're happy. I know a lot of you are praying for us and thank you so much because I draw strength from knowing this. Hopefully the next time I post we will all be home together as a family.

Melia's Delivery Day

I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to continue with the story. So after my water broke, like I said, I just kind of laid there and laughed before I actually got up to do something about this water gushing out of me. Luckily, I already had bags packed from going to the doctor earlier to check on things. I called the doctor and he said to go to the hospital right away since I was already dilated to a 4. On the way there in the car I wasn't really leaking much but once we got there and I got out of the car we had a flood. The back of my pants were soaked and even the front had a trickle line. I thought, Well last week when we came there were no other patients in the Emergency room so there probably is nobody there this time. Wrong! There were at least ten people in there. I hope that they all came to the conclusion that my water broke and that I just didn't pee my pants.

I got to labor and delivery and all the nurses thought this was going to be a fast delivery but I knew different. With Blake I came in dilated at a 5 and I was still there 12 hours before he arrived so I knew this time it might be the same. Sure enough my labor was slow-progressing so they had to give me petocin and I proudly made it to a 6 before I asked for an epidural. Every time I would get checked they would all say that there was something different but didn't know what it was. One nurse thought she felt the baby's fingers and because of that she called in the doctor to come check it out because a baby to come out with an arm up is not a good thing. It could cause nerve damage in the arm. After feeling around the doctor finally figured out it was her face that they were all touching. She wanted to come into the world with a view I guess. The way he figured that out is he accidentally stuck his finger in her mouth. Then came the painful part. He reached up to try to get her to put her face down like she was supposed to and even with the epidural it was painful because it was starting to wear off. At that point I asked them to up my dose in the epidural but the doctor said he wanted to hold off because he wanted me to start pushing. So here came the big moment. The moment where you think, Well there really is no way of going back now. Of course from the moment you get pregnant you know there's no going back but it always seems to hit me the hardest at this point and I do a little freak out in my head. Daniel then promptly took his position behind the curtain so he couldn't see any gross-ness. We discovered with Jayla that he couldn't take any of this kind of stuff without almost fainting so even though I would like him in the room I don't want to have to have the nurses lift him off the floor or just leave him there and step all over him.

After pushing for about 20 minutes while the doctor tried to reposition the head in between the pushing and epidural wearing off (OUCH!) she finally arrived, with a little help of some suction, on Saturday, February 6th 2010 at 2:37 pm. They put her on my stomach and of course she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen (just like what I thought with my other two children). They weighed her and yelled out she was 6lbs and 5oz. Holy cow! She was big for being 5 weeks early. Imagine if I would have went a few more weeks.

She's still pretty purple here but still oh so cute.

Now she's at a normal color and still oh so cute.

When you hold your baby for the first time you will never forget that moment. You're finally meeting the person that you and your partner created and the life that you supported inside you. I don't know how anyone cannot believe in God after having a baby. They come out so perfect and the only word to describe it is miracle. I noticed that her hair had a red tint but thought maybe it was just blood. After she had a bath it was still red, a strawberry blonde color, which she gets from Daniel's mom and her eyes were dark blue. She has Daniel's lips and nose but overall I think she looks more like me.

I can never get enough of just staring at her. I want to drink it all in and memorize everything about her.

Here she is all bruised up. She seems to have gotten poked in the eye a few times. She also had a pretty good bruise from the suction. For being so little she still had some pretty good chubby cheeks that I'm pretty sure came from me. I've always had chubby cheeks.

She had to be put on oxygen and be monitored for a little bit but she was doing so well they took her off and I was able to have her in the room with me but the day after she was born they found out she had pnuemonia. She had to be put back on the monitors with an IV for antibiotics and a tube for oxygen. It was so hard to go in the nursery and see her hooked up on everything and to know that she was sick. It broke my heart. I knew that she was going to be okay but you still can't help it from breaking. I just wanted to take her home and I couldn't. I had to wait a couple more days and with Blake it was the same situation where he had to stay extra days to but it doesn't make in any easier to have gone through it before. Luckily, with everyday she showed improvement and I finally got to take her home that following Wednesday. We have been very blessed to have such a beautiful daughter join our family. I look at her and my kids and I already can't imagaine not having her here. I love you Melia Carol Montero!