A Very Happy 3 Year Old

This little girl has been begging for her birthday for many months. All summer long she would tell complete strangers, "it's my birthday." She is smart. She figured out really fast that if she told her Aunt Monette that it was her birthday, she would get a little treat. She worked that one.

She loved all the attention today and knew all the details. Quite the birthday diva.

She was thrilled to have a party with her friends. Since she turned 3 on the 3rd it was her GOLDEN birthday so we went all gold.

Rather than cake we had pumpkin and chocolate whoopie pies. Oh my. Turns out she just wanted candy. Oh well.

The kids love hitting a pinata to pieces. It was full of gold chocolate coins, of course.

We love Quinn and are so grateful she is part of our family. She makes all of us happy (unless she is in Quinzilla mode - destroying some little project or thing that belongs to someone).

Quinn loves to pray. She she comes up with some great things to add to our family prayers. Today for example "Bless Teague to not be hit with a basketball." ?

Quinn loves her friends. She is very social. But we are working on sharing at the moment.

Quinn loves to watch shows.

Quinn is very concerned about anyone that is hurt - especially Kenyon.

Quinn really loves her brothers and sister and wants to be just as big. She thinks she can wrestle, play hide and seek, soccer, and scooter just like them. She doesn't mind being with me but she really loves to be with them. And they are good sports about having a little shadow. But watch out she might steal your candy or chapstick and not even be sad about it.

PS Thanks to Jane, Kristine, and Egan for all the party help. If you want lots of good party ideas on any theme - email Kristine. But she should start charging. Brilliant. Egan can design anything - she always saves the day on my invites. And Jane is an awesome photographer despite my really crappy lighting in my house. And she did lots of my errands. Hooray for being off track. :)

My favorite thing

at the moment.... I might say that it is the Margo cookie from Ruby Snap. Thanks Jul. I am seriously hooked.

But since I am trying to make some serious attempts at healthier eating (like very limited treats, fish, and kale smoothies), I don't get to enjoy the Margo as often as I would really like.


Nap time has always been one of my favorite things. And Quinn is one of my favorite people.

But lately, my MOST favorite thing is - Quinn with her microphone singing her little heart out. She kills us with the things she says and the cute songs she sings. She even takes her microphone to bed with her, which is a bad thing when she doesn't feel tired but so cute when she finally gives in.

Queen Quinn Turns 2

How did this happen? Our little sweet baby grew up to be a 2. And in a flash she will be 16. I'm scared. She is hilarious and trouble all in one. She is a sweet girl. We are so happy she is a part of our family. We pretty much want to squish her to pieces most the day. Sometimes because she is so cute we can't stand it and sometimes - well cause she is making us crazy. But that smile easily melts us.

I went with the owl theme for birthday. So many fun ideas out there.
Party Favors: Owl Bean Bags
and chocolate owl suckers  with flavored colored chocolates from Orson Gygi
Owl Cupcakes
Owl Pinata We thought it would be easy to break open. It is made out of cereal boxes and tape. Seriously easy but it would not give in. That thing had the life beat out of it and it held strong. So funny.
A true sugar fest for the Queen of Sweets - check out her tray.
We invited just a couple of her cute friends (that she talks about all the time) to join us for a little celebration. Boy, did she love all the attention.

Not Yet!

Why does my baby girl have to be approaching 2 at rapid speed? This is ridiculous. I cycle through moments of thinking "she is the cutest little thing that ever existed" to "somebody save me OR her now please." She drives me up a wall. And at the risk of me looking like a total failure, I will share the proof. Just know that as long as she is awake - nothing is accomplished. NOTHING. And when she goes to sleep, I am so tired that I don't get much done then either. So ignore the mess. Just listen - I hear this ALL DAY LONG.

Favorite activity: pushing a chair to the sink, high-centering herself and getting a "dink." And everything around her soaking wet in the process.

Quinn was insistent that this skirt belongs to her and on her. It is actually Elise's uniform skirt.
Favorite word - MINE. A close 2nd - "Mo" that means no and yes. Totally confusing. And 3rd - "Don't Dad" or "Don't Mom".

I almost want one of my own. Almost.

Sweet little Campbell Cannon on her blessing day. She was a little worked up so we couldn't get any good shots without her binky. Oh well. She is darling anyway. I love holding that new born baby that just folds up in your arms. 

Yum!

My friend Heidi is AMAZING! For lots of reasons. But her photography is wonderful. Check her out here at Heidilynnphotography. Go look at the rest of our family photos. They turned out wonderful.

Don't you just want to eat her up? I do.

A few things we love about Quinn:

• She still growls. She has been doing that for a long time.
• She loves to wave and say "hi." Especially to Kenyon.
• She loves her Dad and says "daddy."
• She loves to throws her food. And she tries to be sneaky about it. Well, we don't love it but at moments it makes us laugh.
• She says "uh-oh."
• She can climb the stairs - up and down. Finally.
• She can stand on her own. So close to taking a step.
• Totally comforted by her binky and blanket.
• LOVES candy and ice cream.

One Year Ago Today...

Can you guess what happened?

My little tiny baby has grown up and turned one. It is so fun and so sad at the same time. I miss that sweet little bundle. She is naught now. But she is full of personality and it cracks us all up. She makes things entertaining around here.

We are missing a few months. I think they got lost on my computer that crashed. (Kenyon please retrieve those files.)

A Must Have - for baby

These are my most favorite blankets. And Quinn loves them too. They are the best, light-weight, swaddling blanket you can find. Perfect for summer, too. I LOVE them.

Good news...I haven't found them ANYWHERE for less than $44 (for a 4 pack). I was at Target today....and THEY HAVE THEM for only $30. Same brand. I am hoping the quality is as good.

Can it be?

Yep - SIX months have passed by since Quinn was born. Dang, I wish they would stay teeny tiny a little longer. She loves to sit up. That is her new trick. But she refuses to put any weight on those legs. So it maybe a while before we see her standing.

Love Love Love

There are too many good pictures to pick. My friend Heidi did an amazing job. She was super patient with us and worked so well with Quinn. I probably should have done them when Quinn was newborn but I waited until she was 6 weeks. Quinn just wanted to keep her eyes open and watch everything. Near the end of the session, she finally fell asleep.

Check out Heidi here for more of her work. I love her. She is a dear friend and a great example. She is putting up with all the cancer/leukemia junk at her house too. Only it is worse because her little guy is only 6. Heidi is so tough and handles it all so well. I love that I can call her and vent and she knows exactly what I mean. Thanks Heidi. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the pictures.

Blessing Day

My sweet baby girl was blessed (christened) on Saturday. Usually it is done on Sundays, but for various reasons we did it on our own with a few family and friends. It is kind of nice to have it be such a simple, private affair. She was a little fussy but Kenyon was able to get her to settle down and proceed. It was a beautiful blessing that Kenyon gave. It is definitely a blessing in our lives to have her in the family.

And really - do you love the leggings and gold ballet shoes? They were killing me. Her feet are so dang skinny that they look kind of silly on her but oh well. And that dress. I fell in love with it. It is super soft and cute.

Waiting

I know. I haven't updated my blog for quite some time. I have been waiting. We are supposed to have some Kenyon's tests results back. My plan was to update as soon as I had word to the tests. Well, it has turned into weeks and I give up.

Are you ready for Christmas? Not quite. I have plans, projects, ideas but I haven't made many of them happen. Thank heavens for the internet because I have done MOST of my shopping online. Here is my one big complaint. I ordered Gavin's one big gift (a green machine). The UPS guy delivered it at 6:00 pm (when everyone is home) and to make it worse - there was a huge sticker/label with the item on it. Couldn't they have packaged it in another box? Duh! Obviously it was being ordered for the holidays. Then if the UPS guy sees it - couldn't he have knocked on my door and told me that he had a package so that I could distract the kids. Nope. So I had to lie. I told Teague and Elise that one of my neighbors ordered it and had it shipped to our house. Dang it.


Gavin has picked up on some of this dad's habits - lounging on the couch with the laptop. Isn't that the good life?

We are constantly amazed at our little Quinn. She is growing so fast. She is such a good baby. We love her smile. Elise has been such a big help - she has been changing Quinn's diapers. Love it! It has been most helpful when I am trying to get dinner together. Quinn likes tummy time. If she is tired, she will fall asleep and have a good nap while sleeping on her tummy.

Hopefully, I will be able to give an update on Kenyon soon. He seems to be doing pretty well. We made it out to our first movie. We took the kids to see Bolt. We picked a time when there would be no one in the theater. Five minutes before it started, we bough tickets and picked a row that was far away from the other 10 people in the theater. A few minutes after it started, two days and kids came and sat right behind us. Duh. There are a bazillion other choices and they picked the ones by us. Oh well. We enjoyed the movie and a little time out of our house.

My Mom is the best!

I really don't think I could have a baby if my mom couldn't be in town. She was a life saver. She always steps in to help in anyway. She got up every morning with the kids and managed their crazy schedules. Plus she cooks, cleans, and does whatever needs to be done. When she leaves it is always a little overwhelming for me. I always have that feeling like - "wait - you are the mom. you can't leave me with all these kids by myself." Oh well. She does have her own life and I seem to manage (with a few tears here and there). I am so grateful for such a great mom.

Quinn is officially one week old today. I can't really believe it. She watched her first BYU football game this weekend. She has been loved to pieces by so many. We have been spoiled.


This morning when I woke up at 6:45 to help the kids get off to school, I looked out the window and found that someone thought it would be funny to toilet paper our front yard. I am in way too hormonal a state to think it was funny. Plus it was raining. What a mess. I don't know if it was random or someone is just mean but I really didn't think it was funny. Thankfully - some good neighbors cleaned it up for me. Thank you!!!

Anyway - that is our update for now. Nothing new to report on Kenyon. He continues to do pretty well.

More of Quinn

Gavin has finally warmed up to having a little baby. He has always been excited but a little nervous to get to close. Now he loves holding her. We all do. She is such a sweet, little baby.

Announcing...

Quinn Evaline Porter! She was born at 3:14 today. She is our heaviest and shortest baby - 7lbs 15 oz and 20 1/2 inches. We love her. It was a really lousy delivery. I had 4 epidurals - the first 3 didn't work and finally when I reached 10 cm, the anesthesiologist was able to get the epidural to work. But, otherwise it was a pretty good delivery. We are so grateful that she is healthy and here. The kids can't wait for us to bring her home. They were very interested in giving her a bath and getting her dressed. That will come with time. I am going to try and get a little peace and maybe some sleep before we come home.

3 1/2 Weeks...

I had a nice visit with my Doc this morning and we scheduled the arrival of Baby No Name for November 3rd. Hello! I can't believe I know a date. Of course, she could come sooner. But hopefully we will make it to that day. I am a bit of a cheater, I know. I have to schedule everything. It makes life easier. With every child I think, this time I won't be induced and I will just let it happen. But then as it gets closer it just makes so much sense for everyone involved to have it totally planned. My Doc reassured me that it is not cheating - in fact, God made pitocin (sp?) possible so that we could plan these things out. Who knows but I will take that reasoning for now.

The crib (Thanks Gavin) and car seat are ready (Thanks Brit). Some clothes are washed. But still no name.... I need something brilliant. I feel like it is on the tip of my tongue but I just don't know what it is. Do you know? If it hits you, let me know.

And the baby is a ....

Good news! Boy or girl is good news. The baby is healthy and that is truly a blessing. But we are having a girl and that makes everyone at our house excited. Elise is especially thrilled. Gavin would liked to name her "Beach." We'll see if we can't come up with another name. She was very active for the ultrasound and was busy sucking her thumb and yawning. We look forward to her arrival in November.

On another note - Kenyon had his central line/catheter put into his chest today. It went pretty smoothly. Unfortunately he had a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) on Tuesday and he has been miserable. He does ok if he is laying flat but that isn't any fun. The doctor said he would do something on Monday to fix it. That doesn't really do me any good because he will be admitted to the hospital on Monday anyway. Lame! Oh well.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

What do you want first....good, bad or ugly?

Let's start with good and we might just skip ugly. Last night we went to the Jazz game and it was great. Such a fun win! That stadium gets LOUD! American Idol star, David Archuleta was AWESOME!!! It was so cool. It was the perfect way to end a really hard day (that is the upcoming "bad.") Thank you to our dear friends who knew just the thing for us to do!!

The problem is that wasn't the end of the day. On the way to get on I-15 we got rear-ended and it was scary. We were definitely blessed. The car is damaged but not totaled and we are stiff and a little sore but we can manage. Lame. I don't handle those things very well.

The really "good" news is that we are expecting baby #4 (early November due date). The kids are so excited and we feel blessed that we get to have one more baby. It doesn't feel like the greatest timing (considering the bad news) but I am sure it is meant to be this way. It definitely adds to how emotional I am - beware. A couple of you have already been victim to my emotional messes. Sorry.

The "bad" is that we spent a good portion of yesterday at Huntsman and concluded with a team of doctors that the best option (maybe the only option) for Kenyon is to have a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible. We met with the transplant team and learned more than I could possibly share (that is the "ugly"). If we have a donor match in the family then this process could begin in the next 8 weeks. It will require a lengthy stay at the hospital and a lot of follow-up treatment. This is definitely going to be a challenging year. But, by next year this time, we hope to have Kenyon healthy and cured. We will keep you posted as we know more. The trick is (and anyone who knows me know this could be a problem) that we have to keep the house really clean and the kids really healthy - as well as anyone who visits us in the next year.

Thanks for all the love and prayers out there. We definitely need it and feel it. And don't you worry - I already know I will need help so you just might be one of the lucky ones who finds out what it is like to have Gavin by your side (see previous post).