Zach Madsen Family

A New Year...

2011-12-28T01:12:00.000-08:00

I have a beautiful family picture in my front room.

It's the picture of my little family that everyone that comes to call sees and possibly envisions us to be like. It's perfect. We're all posed perfectly and we're all smiling with what seems to be, without a care in the world...
...but what no one sees, are the bags that were under mine and Zach's eyes, that were removed, the money we scraped to afford it, the digital editing of 4 different pictures so that all of us were smiling, the many hours, tries, bottles, diapers, crying and of course all the stress that went along with it.
These past two years have been so eye opening. I've come to realize that it's ok not to be perfect and, more importantly, to be happy that I'm not. Everyone sees life and lives their lives in so many different ways and not one of them is wrong, but perfectly right for them.
I never want to go a day without being reminded of the struggles and little heartbreaks I've gone through these last couple years. Each and every one has been engraved into the very person I am and the person I will one day become.
Life is so hard and I constantly need to remind myself not to look past my front door and dream of a life without sorrow, a life without heartbreak, a life without medical bills, a life free of worry and daily reminders of how imperfect and little I am, but be content with my life, here in these walls. These walls, the walls that have been slowly built by each decision of my life, each curve ball I've been thrown that I've caught, every letdown that I've come across and seemed to rise above, every single slap in the face that I've received and somehow managed to turn the other cheek to and just pray that I've built them as strongly and securely as I possibly could. Because within these walls, is the one thing that matters most to me, my family.
I am so blessed and so grateful beyond words that my Father in Heaven in trusted me with my two precious children, my sweet little monkey and my beautiful little angel. He loves me! More than I could ever possibly deserve. He hears my prayers and calms my heart when I need it most. Even when I've blamed him for things that have gone wrong in my life. He knows just what I need and ONLY wants me to be truly happy, which can only come after you painfully learn that what you thought was happiness, never really was happiness. Wow! I've heard that before, but now it finally makes sense.
Of course I also owe all of my happiness from within the storms to my husband. Who tilts my chin up whenever it's hanging low. To him I owe my sanity, my unchewed nails and unbitten lip, my strength and unwavering testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's hard to go through this life, without that one person beside you, that puts your happiness above all else and never lets you stray from what you know is right. I am so grateful I have him!

I hope everyone has a wonderful new year, to make it better than the last, but not forget the things you've learned from years past.

I love you all! Happy New Year!

From Bottle to Sippy Cup Bottle

2011-12-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a fabulous day! We have been trying to get Kaizley to drink from her sippy cup bottle so that we can start transitioning her from her bottle to a real sippy cup. This has been going on for about a year now. We just don't want her to have to drink out of a bottle her whole life.

Kaizley isn't able to close her mouth around something or just didn't understand how to, until yesterday. Her physical therapist was over and Kaizley was drooling like normal and her therapist offered to put some theraputic tape on her lip, that could possibly help her to close her mouth, so she wouldn't drool as much. Instantly I got excited and thought that if that could really work, then she would be able to get the hang of drinking out of her sippy cup bottle. It's still not perfect, but she hasn't had a regular bottle since yesterday and she's been drinking like crazy from her sippy cup bottle. She needs more time to figure out how to get a lot out of it. Right now it's taking about 4x's longer for her to drink 8oz than normal. It's a bit tough, cause she gets really really mad every time I give it to her, until she gets the hang of it. For now she has to look a little silly, like a clown, but soon she won't need to wear all of that pink tape anymore.

She's such a big girl!!!!

Our Summer / Fall 2011

2011-12-07T18:36:00.000-08:00

This Summer and Fall have been so incredibly busy that I've forgotten to write all about it, so here's a little recap of all that went on that I didn't get a chance to share already.

We had a lot of fun going to the water park this year with some friends from church.

Fruit snack break!

A sleepy little princess.

We spent a lot of time playing at Oma's farm. Looking at all the animals, playing baseball with crab apples, riding around on the 4wheeler and playing on the playset.

Zach caught a chipmunk this summer, so we kept it for a couple months. It was so sweet.

My Dad came to visit a couple times and helped us with our flooding basement problem. Sterling had lots of fun entertaining his Grandpa and Jennifer. Jodi came to visit with the boys too!

Sterling played with his first worm. He didn't really know how to handle one though, cause he'd wrap it around his finger and use it more like a rubberband. It didn't live for very long. :(

Now some pictures of Sterling just being silly. One day I walked in on him trying to get a drink out of our tub. What a little nut!

He was just sitting in this box one day reading books.

Being a SUPER HERO!

Sterling loves putting on our clothes and shoes.

Sterling LOVES duplos and is always making Ferb, from Phineas and Ferb! Ha!

Ferb riding a train.

And I know what you're thinking, and the answer is YES! My son HARDLY EVER wears clothes!

Here, he fell asleep eating dinner.

Riding around with Bishop Jepperson during Kaizley's second Fundraiser Yard Sale.

One night my Mom took me Misty and Sterling and Kaizley out for dinner at the Olive Garden. Sterling acted so grown up and got his own pizza.

Now some pictures of our beautiful little lady.

Right after a bath. The pink stuff is just some theraputic tape.

Playing with Daddy's ipad.

What a scowl!

This is how Kaiz sleeps during the day when it's light. For a little handicapped girl that can hardly control her arms, this is pretty darn impressive!

We went to the Scottish Festival in Payson with Oma, Hannah and Jake.

Our little princess gets tired very easily. :)

Hannah and Sterling

Oma and Kaizley

For my birthday Zach took me to a restaurant I've always wanted to go to called La Caille. It was absolutely beautiful with amazing gardens, ponds and vineyards.

Lots and lots of family fun!

GOOD BYE! :)

Kaizley's Trip to Cleveland

2011-09-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally made it to the Cleveland Clinic for Kaizley. We don't have a diagnosis yet, BUT we have hope again and from a week and a half in Cleveland, a lot more knowledge of what is going on with Kaizley than we've ever had these past two years.
FINDINGS...
*Kaizley's sharp spikes in her brain and her seizures are coming from the right side of her brain, though they can't tell the exact location yet.
*Kaizley's seizure medication is working perfectly and she has absolutely no seizures on it.
*She doesn't have Hypotonia (low muscle tone), she has Ataxia. Ataxia is when there is a breakdown in communication from her brain to her body.
*Areas of her brain aren't receiving any glucose.
*Her geneticists at Primary Children's haven't done any of her genetic testing like they said they were. They even took her blood back in April, but never did anything with it.

When Kaizley is 3 we'll be going back to do everything all over again. That is when her brain will be more mature and we'll be able to see any abnormalities that aren't showing up right now, if there are any. In the mean time her doctors in Cleveland will be doing all of her genetic tests, skin and muscle biopsies.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS! Everything went so perfectly and we know that it was because there were so many of you that fasted and prayed for our little girl. Thank you!!!
CLEVELAND OHIO...
We were so scared to fly out there because we had no idea how Kaizley would handle a plane ride, but she was absolutely perfect. She was so happy and pretty much slept the entire way there or listened to music with Daddy.

We saw her Neurologist and her genetics doctor the next day and now I know why they are the BEST in the country! They are amazing! Not just in what they do, but the care that they give to their patients and the intensity and determination to get down to the bottom of everything and find a diagnosis. After that, we had a lot of time, so we went and saw the Kirtland Temple and we took Kaizley to her first baseball game.

Cotton candy!!!

She was admitted the next day and they started her week long EEG. After a few days we were able to see that the seizure like activity she had been doing at home that we just weren't sure of, were not actual seizures. So we know that her seizure medication controls her seizures perfectly. What we thought might be seizures are muscle aches, like charlie horses that cause her muscles to stiffen and jerk and cause her to laugh and cry, and last about 10-20 minutes so they gave us some medication that will calm her almost instantly.

After a few days the doctors wanted to take her off of her medication so that they could see a seizure, so Kaizley and I stayed at the hospital for four more days, but Zach had to go home and get back to work. They had the old My Little Pony movie so I was good. :)

The next few days were... hard. Kaizley is not a happy little girl when taken off her medication so abruptly. For 3 days she probably slept for a total of 6 hours. It was so sad. We did get two seizures though and she was put back on her medication the next morning. Those were the hardest couple of days I've had in a long time. That was when my angel nurse was working and I owe her my sanity! At like 3:00 in the morning one night I just started bawling and she came in and asked if she could hold Kaizley for a while so I could have a break and eat some food. It was only for about 20 minutes, but I needed that and then we just talked while she rocked Kaizley.
Kaizley was scheduled for a PETscan the next morning, but when she woke up she was really congested. Zach and I got really congested and a stuffy runny nose while we were there, which lasted 3 or 4 days. Now Kaizley had it. So they cancelled her PETscan. I was devastated. I wanted more than anything to get this all taken care of, but I also missed my husband and my little Sterling. So of course I prayed like crazy that she would clear up, we could do the PETscan and we could go home. A couple hours later when her doctor came in to check her, she sounded perfect so they scheduled it for the next morning. Here's Kaiz right before her PETscan and after hours and hours of screaming because she wasn't able to eat or drink anything.

Coming off of anesthesia

She finally got her leads taken off and it took me five hours to get most of the glue out of her hair.

The hospital let Kaizley and I stay one more night so we didn't have to get a hotel. So at 3:30 the next morning we grabbed a taxi, went to the airport and flew...

...back home!

Best 4th of July EVER!

2011-07-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

This was by far the BEST 4th of July I've ever had!
It started July 2nd. We all watched fireworks from the Stadium of Fire at BYU, just below the bell tower. A family tradition.

That was so much fun! Nana, Oma, Jake and Hannah were able to come. We ran into Austin and Diana and their beautiful little girl, Hadley and Darrell and Eve.

We also invited Zach's friend from work, Nate and his beautiful family.

Then 4th started with breakfast in Provo with Oma, Papa, Hannah, Jake and Katie and David. Sterling got to sit in a police car and sound the siren.

And he also got to sit in a helicopter. He LOVED that one!

Later, Zach and I took Nana and the kids to see Cars 2. First time as a whole family!! Very big deal for me. I don't know why, I guess just proving to myself that, even though it's a lot of work and stressful at times, we can do anything with a 2 year old and a handicapped child. It was perfect and both of them were so good!

Yes I took pictures of us in the theater! It's a very memorable experience.

After the movie we went and picked up some BBQ food and had a picnic and watched fireworks. My mom found a perfect place for us to watch the fireworks, extremely close, with no one around and under umbrellas cause it was lightly sprinkling. Yeah, it was absolutely PERFECT!

To end a perfect 4th of July, after we got home and put the kids to bed, Zach and I laid outside on our lawn and watched all the fireworks throughout the valley. Doubt I'll ever be able to top that 4th of July ever again!

June 2011

2011-07-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

WOW! What a crazy and emotional month it has been! Crazy, because we have been SO busy with all that we've been doing to get Kaizley out to the Cleveland Clinic and then still the day to day things. Emotional, because I seriously cannot BELIEVE how much love and support we've received from all of this! It's completely overwhelming! THANK YOU EVERYONE, that has helped in some way to get our precious little girl to Ohio!

We put together a yard and bake sale for Kaizley on June 18th! And it was a HUGE SUCCESS! Mostly because so many people came and paid WAY more than they should have for things and all of the many donations from friends and family!

We love you all SO MUCH! THANK YOU!!! A few kids from three different families in our neighborhood got together and did a lemonade stand ALL WEEK for Kaizley. I had no idea it was even going on till the night before the yard sale, when someone finally told me. I heard that they had signs for Kaizley and would yell to all the cars, "Please help a sick little girl!" They raised $161.27. Is that not the cutest thing you've ever heard!? I couldn't believe it! I love my neighbors!
The yard/bake sale went so well in fact, that we are going to be doing one more on July 9th. It will be at a different location, so we can hopefully get a different crowd and sell everything that we had left over from the last one.
I finally got all of Kaizley's medical records to Cleveland and now we're just waiting on them to review them and give us a call. We are so EXCITED!
On June 11th, my sister, Misty, and I ran the Utah Valley Marathon. 26.2 miles!

Never thought I'd do something like that. It was AWESOME! Very painful, but worth it! We were pretty darn slow, but we never had to stop running, even though Misty and I only got about an hour and a half of sleep! 4 months ago Misty asked if I'd run 5 miles with her, so I said yes. Didn't think I'd be able to run it all without stopping, since I've never ran more than a mile without having to stop my entire life and my doctors say I have a slight case of asthma, but with her help, I did it! So she asked me to run a marathon with her and I reluctantly said yes. So we trained for 4 months. I'm so happy that I don't have to wake up at 4 in the morning and run for 3 1/2 hours anymore! Next year we're planning on running the Seattle Marathon with my sister-in-law Jodi and my Dad. It'll be so much fun!

Toward the end of the month, my Dad came down and helped us with our swamp cooler and we got to go to Darrell and Eve's wedding reception. They are such a cute couple and we love Eve already, especially Sterling!

The next Sunday we went up the canyon with Martha and some of her girls, Jon and Lesa and some of their kids and Meagan and Tom! I love having family in town!

Thanks again for all of your love and support! We couldn't possibly asked for better friends and family! We love you all so much!

Benefit Yard and Bake Sale for Little Kaizley

2011-06-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Well it's just about time for us to get Kaizley to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. We're really REALLY excited about this! With our basement flooding and everything else that's been going on lately our wallets are a little bare so we have decided to have a BENEFIT YARD AND BAKE SALE! This Saturday, June 18th from 8am-4pm. We're accepting any donation that anyone can make, whether that's old junk, food for the bake sale or money.

Why we've chosen the Cleveland Clinic?

Well, a lot of reasons. One, I know in my heart that this is where Kaizley needs to go. Her doctors at Primary Children's still have not found a diagnosis. And we're not at all close. I can't FULLY help my child if I don't know what it is she needs. A couple months ago I was introduced to a lady's blog that has a child in KIDS ON THE MOVE (a program for kids with a physical and/or mental disability) like Kaiz. I read her blog and after getting on my knees and praying like crazy I knew that I needed to take Kaizley to this same place that she took her son. http://www.beatingepilepsy.blogspot.com/

They also have more dedicated and proficient doctors. At Primary Children's they take about twenty minutes to prep Kaizley's head with probes for an EEG. At the Cleveland Clinic, it takes about two hours, because they measure exactly where each probe needs to go. They've been able to find lesions and malformations that Primary Children's doctors weren't able to find.

Kaizley's Neurologist also said that this was the best place in the country to get a diagnosis. I've gotten Kaiz all registered at the Cleveland Clinic and they're just waiting on our go ahead to make an appointment, which will only be about two weeks out.

The two things we hope to accomplish from going to Ohio:

*To find a diagnosis

*To see if there is anything in her brain that can be fixed with surgery

Look how beautiful that little girl is! She deserves so much more time and attention than her current doctors are giving her. She's our little sunshine and we LOVE HER SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!
Thank you all so much!!! We love you all and are so grateful for all of your love and support through all of this!

Chicago Trip for Ross' Graduation

2011-06-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend I went out to Chicago. My brother and sister-in-law are back there with their three boys and he just graduated from Medical School!!!

He also became a captain in the Army!!!

So proud of my big brother!

Because my flight was delayed I didn't leave the Denver airport till 2am. Got into Chicago around 5am. Misty and Leslie picked me up (my two sisters) and took me to a hotel near by, got there at about 6am and got to sleep till 7am. On the way we almost ran out of gas cause it took us three tries to find a gas station and pump that actually worked!!

Then had to get ready and leave the hotel by 8:30 to make it to Ross' graduation! After that, we went straight to his ceremony for becoming a Captain. Both of which were pretty emotional! He's worked so hard and is one amazing guy! Next came lunch at Ross' favorite pizza place! Delish!

After that we took the train in to Chicago from Naperville

Gavin was my little buddy that I couldn't let leave my side. I love that boy!

and walked 2 1/2 miles through down town Chicago.

And Rhys fell asleep in Grandpa's arms.

To the harbor where Ross and Jodi rented an awesome sail boat! It was so much fun!!!

Gavin and Spencer steering the ship.

They had some fake swords so what else could we do...

Rhys got a little sick and stayed down below with Nana.

Afterwards we went back to Ross and Jodi's and played a game that was all about Ross that Misty and I put together. It was so fun and so disgusting at the same time. As punishment for getting an answer wrong you had to eat a Harry Potter jelly bean. I had to eat a centipede and skunk flavored jelly bean! Horrible!!
Then I had to leave early the next morning. :(

Sleep was definitely not on the agenda! But of course I didn't care. I was there for one thing and one thing only... TO PARTY!

Happy with a side of stress

2011-05-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

This month has been all over the place. Lot's of good and lot's of bad. Zach and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary on May 7th! And yes that's definitely one of the good things!

Another amazing thing is that Kaizley is doing SO SO SO SO well with her therapy! Still haven't mastered head control (our #1 goal), but she is doing so many new things that are so exciting for us! She's starting to explore things like crazy with her little chubby hands. She's starting to grab at things a lot. No holding yet though. Here's her in a little pool of rice.

We're introducing her to a lot of fun new textures. It seems a little overwhelming for her at times, but she's doing such a good job. She has also just found her own hands! It's so adorable! She'll put them in mid line and start playing with her fingers.

We now can finally MAKE Kaiz laugh! Her laughs are pretty sporadic and unexpected, but now I can make her laugh by bouncing her on my knees. She loves bouncing. She also is staring at faces. Before, her eyes were too weak to stay focused on anything, but now I can just hold her in my arms and we can stare at each other.

And Sterling is just adorable as always! I love my little Monkey! He is the best big brother and is such a sweetheart with Kaizley. We call Kaizley Princess around here and Sterling has begun picking it up. He'll always tell us when he sees her smiling and will say, "Oh she's so cute." or "Pretty baby girl." He is completely obsessed with trains and dinosaurs right now and he always wants to watch Jurassic Park. I tell him it's too scary, but he tells me "No, it's AWESOME!" Here he's washing dishes with Aunt Hannah.

Here he's playing with his dinosaurs while he watches Jurassic Park.

Oh yeah and our basement flooded...

Yes, this would be the bad thing. A sprinkler pipe broke and flooded the basement once again. AND we have mold in the walls. AND the foundation has cracked and the water won't stop coming up through the floor. It almost sounds like a joke, it's that horrible, but no. So life here at the Madsen's home is pretty stressful. I finally calmed down and took some pictures after Zach grabbed me, looked me close in the eyes and told me to calm down and that we'll be ok.

A few set backs, but that's life! And around here that's pretty much the norm, so we've learned that even though it's stressful at times, it'll all turn out just fine.

EASTER 2011

2011-04-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a FABULOUS EASTER! We sure had a crazy one. It was wonderful when we went over to Oma and Papa's house. Had an amazing Easter sunday dinner and an Easter egg hunt. When we went over to Nana's house the sugar kicked in and our son was CRAZY! He COULDN'T stop moving! It was a lot of fun though and he was loving all the attention. His new favorite thing is pretending that he's the evil Mother on Tangled. He'll put a blanket around his shoulders, sneer and sing "Mother knows best!" laugh and twirl around. It's hilarious! We said good bye to Leslie and Andrew (my sister and brother-in-law), they'll be working in Texas for the summer. We also got to spend some time with Meagan and her husband Tom, that Sterling would not leave alone. Good good Easter!

Sterling on his Easter egg hunt

Showing me his yummy candy (Thanks Monkey)

While the Princess lounged, looking gorgeous in her

Easter dress

Laughing with Papa

Being adored by her Daddy

On another note, we had Kaizley's appointment with her Neurologist and it went really well. We thought that we were going to be going to Boston for her second opionion, but her Dr. said that the best place to go is either the Cleveland Clinic or the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnestota. So we are officially going to Cleveland and we are so excited! Her Dr. said that it would go a lot faster if he got all of her medical records for us, instead of us trying to get them. So he's working on that and we'll be making an appointment with the Cleveland Clinic soon!

Kaizley's 2nd MRI

2011-04-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

Friday April 1st, Kaizley had her 2nd MRI. Her last MRI was done when she was only 2 weeks old. I'm waiting patiently for her Dr.'s call today. She wasn't able to eat or drink for 3 hours before her MRI and was furious.

The nurses said that kids, when sedated, would fight it at first cause it's scary and they don't understand the feeling of the room spinning and feeling dazed. She fought it like crazy, but then instantly calmed down and starred at nothing, until I closed her eyes and she fell asleep.

She's just so little.

The process took about 45 minutes, but she needed to stay asleep for 2 hours, before we tried to wake her up.

But no matter what the nurses did, they could not wake that little princess up. They even tried putting a popcicle on her lips. After about 40 minutes of bugging her, she finally woke up.

We got the test results back and they were normal... Her Dr.'s told us before Kaizley ever came home from the hospital a year and a half ago that she would have brain damage from the seizures, to some degree. Mild to severe and Kaizley's is severe. So for nothing to show on an MRI is just not right. So we have an appointment with her Neurologist on the 18th and we'll ask him to work with us and help us get a second opinion from somewhere else and that will hopefully make things go a lot faster. We'll either be going to the Boston Children's Hospital in Massachusetts, which is the #1 hospital for neurology and neurosurgery, or the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which we've heard amazing stories about from other parents of children with seizures. We're still praying to know which hospital will best help Kaizley. We know that this is the right move and we're really excited about it!

2011-03-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I've gotten on here. Our computer has been broken since November, but Zach finally fixed it. So let's see... where to start... Zach is now working only 8 minutes away in American Fork at the Ken Garff Ford store as their Internet Manager. And we LOVE it here! Zach actually enjoys work again and he loves selling Fords!

(the black tape on Kaizley's tummy is therapeutic tape for her muscles)

(Dinosaur Museum)

I am home all day with my kids, running around with Sterling. Trying to keep him out of anything he can get his little hands on to destroy. Working with and loving my little Princess. Getting ready for summer. Training for the Utah Valley Marathon in June with my sister Misty and keeping myself happy!

Sterling is growing up way too fast! He makes us laugh day in and day out! He's just about ready for potty training and I can't wait!

Kaizley is doing so well with her therapy. She's getting so strong and her vision is getting a lot better. We still haven't mastered head control, but we're close. She just got a new torcher devise that is helping her start to bare weight on her legs. It's adorable!

Kaizley got her genetic tests back and they were normal!

We're very unhappy with her Dr.'s at this point. We've been too patient with the help that she's been recieving in Utah and are ready to look elsewhere. We have a lot to decide here soon, but we're ready to take a big leap with her. And we'll let you all know what we decide on.

Update on Kaizley

2010-12-14T12:38:00.000-08:00

Kaizley sees a physical therapist, an occupational therapist and a vision therapist from Kids on the Move. Every six months they give her an evaluation to see how well she's progressing. We see what goals she's met that we set for her from the last visit and set new goals for her to work on. So I thought that this would be the easiest way for everyone to see how she's doing. I'll just copy the notes from her evaluation.

Sensory Organization:
Kaizley has become more interested in looking at people. She brings her hands to her mouth. She now enjoys social play and is beginning to enjoy frolic play.

Thinking and Learning (Cognitive):
Kaizley has begun to bat purposely at toys. She can keep hold of some toys that are placed in her hand. She looks to sounds, and looks from one object to another. She is starting to continue a body movement (kicking legs) when mom bicycles legs and then stops.

Receptive Language/Communication:
Kaizley demonstrates understanding of her name by looking and smiling. She watches peoples faces when they talk.

Expressive Language/Communication:
Kaizley has become more expressive with her vocalizations and makes sounds other than crying. She babbles to people to respond to a conversation or attract attention. She is making a new "guh" sound.

Gross Motor:
Kaizley tolerates tummy time much better and can raise her head and turn it. She can now look with her head in midline and bring her hands to midline when she is laying on her back. She is improving with weight bearing on her legs in supported standing, and she rolls sometimes with minimal assistance.

Fine Motor:
Kaizley now tracks objects upward. She uses an ulnar palmar grasp (between palm and little fingers). She reaches toward some toys and rubs her eyes when tired. She keeps her hands open most of the time, and places one hand on her bottle.

Social-emotional:
Kaizley now smiles frequently and smiles more for her parents. She is starting to explore adult features (pushing on mom's face), and appears to recognize her parents visually. She laughs about 3 times a week and has begun to squeal "aah", when excited. She now enjoys social play and is beginning to demand social attention.

Self-help:
Kaizley is eating solid foods (mostly a suckling pattern from spoon). She recognizes her bottle visually and places a hand on her bottle when feeding. Her sleeping pattern is still irregular.

Possible next steps:
Cognitive- look to the disappearance of an object, take toy to mouth for sensory exploration, more movements to indicate wanting to repeat an activity.
Receptive Language- look to family members when named, repond to simple requests with gestures.
Expressive language- lift arms to indicate wanting to be picked up, babble consenant-vowel chains, indicate choice between two objects
Gross Motor- hold head up 90 degrees off floor when laying on tummy, bring feet or knees to hands when laying on back, hold head steady for 1 minute in supported sitting, bear most of weight on legs in supported standing, roll both ways
Fine Motor- use radial palmar grasp (using thumb), reach and grasp a toy, place both hands on bottle.
Social Emotional- play with own hands, fingers, feet or toes, repeat enjoyable activities in a social game
Self Help- use tongue to move food in mouth, progress with solic foods, become more regular with sleeping through the night and napping.

Kaizley and Daddy

Fabulous!

My babies!

NOT looking at her light box, that helps her vision

We've recently changed Neurologists and definately for the better. He'll be having us do some genetic testing soon. They did genetic testing when she was born, but that was only for things that could be somehow reversed or helped in some way. Now it's just putting a name to it. He's thinking that Kaizley has Retts syndrome, since her brain has stopped growing, her poor vision, hypotonia, not being able to really hold something, no talking and a number of different things. We'll just have to wait and see though, but we'll definately keep everyone posted. And prayers are always appreciated and very much needed! Love you all!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T13:32:00.000-07:00

The older your kids get the more fun holidays become. This

Halloween was a lot of fun. Everywhere we went that had

Halloween decorations Sterling would get nervous and

say, "Scary". We had a lot of fun with Sterling and

Kaizley at a local Pumpkin Patch.

Here's Kaizley licking her sucker she got from Aunt Toni and

wearing the Halloween shirt she got from Aunt Toni.

Zach, Sterling, and I stayed up really late the night before

Halloween and watched scary movies.

This was Kaizley's hair do for Halloween.

All four of us were pirates this year.

And Toast was a turtle.

Hope everyone had a fun HALLOWEEN!

STILL ALIVE AND SUPER HAPPY

2010-09-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

My goodness gracious it's been quite a while since I last posted. This summer has been pretty crazy, so I'll just give a slight recap on how we spent it.

First thing was that my sister-in-law, Katie, was married to a long time friend, David Kittell. Her sister, Hannah and I were in charge of her shower and it totally consumed me! I wanted it to be perfect, so I went a little crazy. It was worth it though! She loved it and that's all I cared about. Tons of family came from out of town that we love so much and it turned out wonderfully.

Sorry these are the only pictures I have from it all.

We went to Hogle Zoo.

Then Jodi and the boys came to visit for a couple weeks. Definately not long enough. They are such good boys and so adorable. Rhys and Sterling were little buddies, unless toys were involved! Sterling still sometimes asks for him when we go over to Nana's. Gavin loved Kaizley and was always so concerned when she'd cry and would always let me know what I needed to do for her. :)

It's nice having a canyon in our backyard.

Sterling loved going swimming in Aunt Misty's pool. Kaizley....not so much.

Sterling loved having the icecream truck come by all the time.

Kaizley got her helmet, so her head can get back to being nice and round. She's rather old so it's going to take a pretty long time.

Then it was planning for Kaizley's 1st Princess Birthday Party! What an event! We invited family and friends from our church that we know love Kaizley and have always been there for us. Best of all was that my Dad was able to come down for it.

Then it was my big boys Car/Audi birthday party 8 days later. He is obsessed with cars, especially Audi's. The world comes to an end whenever he sees an Audi while we're driving and he can't touch it, or when we have to drive boring Mommy's car and not Daddy's Audi.

The week after, Zach and I took Sterling camping for his birthday, while Nana watched Kaizley for us. I've never seen a happier little boy! He loved being outdoors and was pointing at EVERYTHING, asking "What's that?" At night, it got pretty cold, but we all fit into our sleeping bag and were perfect. When we got up, we ate pancakes and went fishing out on the lake in a canoe. Didn't catch a thing, but we had a lot of fun!

Kaizley had a lot of things going on these last couple months with her eyes. Her Opthalmologist told me one day that he's ruled out that Kaizley's eyesight is just delayed. He said that the part of her brain that registers what she's seeing has either been ruined because of the seizures or whatever is causing the seizures and hypotonia is also affecting her vision. He said that she doesn't understand anything she sees, especially faces. Yeah...quite the slap in the face. Thanks Doc! So we got it checked out. She had a test done a week ago that measured her brain activity when they flashed lights in her eyes and could see how her brain was interpreting it all and it was PERFECTLY NORMAL! Her vision is just delayed and we're working on it like crazy.

Toward the end of summer Oma and Papa watched the little ones so Zach and I could have a night to ourselves. We went to SnowBird Ski Resort and listened to an astronomer talk about anything and everything there is to know about the universe It just left me scared out of my mind with what's actually out there.... but it was awesome. Then they took us to the top of the mountain where they had telescopes set up so we could look at different things out there. We got to look at Jupiter up close and see all of the moons around it. It was pretty amazing!

So that's what we've been up to this summer. I'll do better with keeping you all up to date on our little family. Love ya!

OH! I forgot! WE BOUGHT OUR HOUSE!!!!

LIFE

2010-05-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

…is so complicated! At one moment you couldn’t imagine yourself happier and the next you wish it would just… stop. I wish sometimes that it would pause for just one minute so I could catch my breath, have a good cry and a good laugh, before all of life’s sudden unexpectedness resumes to hitting me in the face.
Yet, I know that what ever challenge in life I am given, my Heavenly Father is using it to mold me into the person I’m supposed to be. The person I need to be!
It’s just hard, yet easy and fun! Yeah, life is COMPLICATED!

Anyways…Here’s all the good stuff that’s been going on with our little family.

Mine and Zach's 5th Anniversary was on the 7th of May! Zach is from the bay area in California, so he took me to San Francisco!

I forget what road this is called, but we got to see this winding road.

Wicked was in town, so we finally got to see that. Awesome!

We went and saw Alcatraz.

I saw Pier 23 on the cooking channel and had to eat there.

We ate It's-It's! Which are a San Francisco must! Thank you Erika!

We went to an Oakland A's baseball game!

We visited the Oakland LDS Temple.

We got peddled around the pier on the back of a bike.

And we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium!

And tons and tons of other things. It was so nice to just get away for a while!

After our trip, Zach had to go to Denver for work, so I went along. It was so much fun, until we got a flat tire at 1 o'clock in the morning in the middle of nowhere. We (meaning Zach) put the spare on and had to drive 50mph for two hours until we happen to find a truck stop that had a 24hour repair service place.

Sterling Ford is doing wonderfully! He's quite the little handful, but is so darn cute!

Here he is helping me unpack.

He loves trying to feed Kaizley.

Eating popsicles on the floor with Daddy.

Sterling doesn't like drawing on paper too much, but loves drawing all over the tub.

Kaizley May is doing great! Here's the little princess.

Here's her cool glove she get's to wear around. It keeps her thumb out so she can eventually grab onto things, when she realizes that she can.

Here she is in her chair that she isn't quite fond of.

Blowing some bubbles! :)

She hasn't been too smiley lately, until last night. She was SOOOOOO happy!

Kaizley's Physical Therapy and Crazy Sterling

2010-02-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

This is one of the things Kaizley works on for her Physical Therapy. I had her in a bumbo, but the therapist said they weren't good for kids, cause it makes them lean forward when they sit and not upright. So this is what we use to get her used to sitting up straight and helps her to use her neck muscles. She was pretty tired today, but she's getting pretty good at it. Once we get her neck muscles strengthened we can start working on strengthening her torso. The therapists are having me try to work on getting her to roll over as well.

Sterling is being so silly today. He was just sitting on our bed with an empty bowl pretending to eat from it.

And here are just some pretty pictures of Kaizley.

Just a Good Weekend

2010-02-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

This week has just been a nightmare. Kaizley started having 1 seizure at night and so we decided to call the Neurologist and they had us put her back on Keppra. We thought that maybe Keppra alone would help. Man were we wrong! We gave her just a starting dose. (barely anything) She started having 3 seizures a day, so we called the Neurologist back and he said to take her right off of the Keppra. Ok? No weaning? He said that it was such a low dose that it didn't matter. Well, Saturday and Sunday she had about 10 seizures a day. She lifts her elbows up to her cheeks, lifts her right leg up and turns to the left every time she has a seizure. Now her little muscles are so used to it, that she's in that pose almost always. Zach and I started to give her oxygen during each one and when we do that she doesn't turn gray as much and they don't last as long. *Could you imagine if we had given her anymore of that medication? Well, we almost did. The Neurologist talked to Zach and told him to give her 4 mls of the Keppra, morning and night. Zach called and told me and I freaked out and said I would NOT give her that much! I called the Neurologist back and told him that that was way to much. He quickly went back through his notes and started apologizing profusely. He forgot to add the decimal. She needed only .4 mls. He felt so bad and thanked me over and over for calling him back about the dose. He's like, "We would have given her 10 times the amount she needed." That was a close one! Geez! I don't even want to think about what that would have done to her. AND... poor Sterling fell and bruised his cheek.

So, yeah, it's been a tough week. Not much fun. Thank goodness we had a fun weekend to settle us down. My mom called me Saturday night and asked if I wanted to get out of the house, so I went down to her house and we ate Cafe Rio, painted our toenails and watched the Olympics. I haven't painted my toenails since I was pregnant with Sterling, so it was nice. I also painted Kaizley's for the first time. Soooo cute!

(Yes, I know my feet are freaky, but cute flowers, right?)

Oh! When I first got to my Mom's Sterling went running off to play and I was talking to my Mom and realized Sterling was so quiet and no where in sight. I walked into the family room to see my son shoving peanut M&M's into his mouth. So cute, but so scary! So I scooped them out as fast as I could and the little Monkey bit me! Not being mean of course, just trying to eat his yummy candy he found, with his Mommy's hand down his throat. He had 8 in his mouth!!!

Then Zach came over after work and we all just stayed up and watched the Olympics while Sterling was being a little monkey and climbing all over Nana.

Sunday we all went over to my Mom's house to eat dinner. It was so nice to see Andrew and Leslie. They've been going on vacations recently, so we hadn't seen them for like a month. Sterling was, of course, the best part of the evening, just being his silly little self.

I really needed a good weekend!

Kaizley May Madsen's Story

2010-02-08T21:31:00.000-08:00

I’ve wanted to tell Kaizley’s whole story for a while, but it’s just been too hard. Now that she’s doing so well I’m happy to. I’m so proud of my little girl, for her strength and for her endurance.

Two days before Kaizley was born, I woke up in the middle of the night and I could have sworn that my water had broken. I woke Zach up and told him, but I just wasn’t quite sure and so I went back to bed. Woke up two more times, but thought it could have been something else, seeing as how Kaizley was sitting so low toward the end of my pregnancy. Plus, there were no contractions. In the morning I lost all sense of feeling. There was fluid, but I couldn’t tell if I just couldn’t control my bladder anymore or if it was amniotic fluid. I called the hospital and they told me to come in just in case. Luckily it was Zach’s day off, so he Sterling and I went to the hospital. The nurse that was working that day said that there was no need to do the strip test since it gave false positives and so they just did the swab test and….. it came back negative. I felt so stupid. In my heart I knew differently, but the test came back negative, so what more could I do. We left the hospital.

(Driving to the hospital)

We were debating on buying our house from my Dad or moving somewhere else, so we decided to look around at some houses all over Utah Valley. We drove around and walked all through different houses all day long, with frequent stops at gas stations, since I couldn’t tell if I had to go anymore. By the end of the day, we were exhausted from walking around so much. We went home.

(Here you can see my big baby bump, while we were out looking at houses)

The next night was horrible and I was up every hour, thinking that I was just having “accidents”. By morning I had the worst feeling and even though they told me that my water hadn’t broken, I decided to go in again anyway. I called Zach at work and told him what I was doing and that I’d let him know what happens. Sterling and I packed up, picked up my Mom so she could watch Sterling there and it was off to the hospital again, feeling stupid, yet knowing that it was something.

A different nurse did the strip test and it came back positive and so they did the swab test and guess what…. It came back positive too! I knew it! The nurse said that the last test must have been a false negative. My water had been broken for over 48 hours! She said, “Are you ready to have this baby today?” “Yes!”
I called Zach and couldn’t help but cry. “Our baby girl is coming today!”
“Really?! I’m leaving now, I’ll be there in a sec. I love you!”
He was there within 15 minutes.

They informed my Doctor and started the Pitocin right away. Finally, I felt the contractions start. It was finally happening. I knew this feeling. Even though it’s painful, with each contraction you know you’re getting closer and I loved it. Around 10:00pm I was ready for my epidural. I sat up and hung onto Zach and just started to sob. With Sterling, they hit a nerve and had to prick me twice and the thought of that came back into my mind. Too bad crying couldn’t stop it from happening to me once again.

I was, however, contraction free and it was so great to see all my family. I started itching around 2:00am, which was a side effect of the epidural. Not that big of a deal though. Zach would just catch me scratching and help me stop. A little after 3:00am my nurse said that she just gave me something that would stop the itching. 10 seconds later, I could hardly breathe.
I was given Nubain. It’s not typically given to pregnant women, because it basically goes straight to the baby. I didn’t know this then and if I was asked if I’d like some medicine for the itching, I would have said no. I remember waking up and Zach would be in the middle of a conversation with me. I couldn’t stay awake and I had to keep reminding myself to breathe. I felt like I was in a dreamy state and couldn’t shake it.

(Me, out of it)

Soon they checked me and I was ready to push. The nurses had me push once and then said they were ready for the doctor. He came in and I pushed three more times. Then he told me to stop and that we’d let Kaizley do the rest. And she did! She just slid right on out and Zach cut the cord. The doctor held her up and I smiled at her and she cried the cutest little girly cry I’ve ever heard. As she was being whipped off by the nurses I looked over and saw her and I remember telling everyone that she was so beautiful. Most babies look a little odd at first, but she was gorgeous from the very first moment.

They were done whipping her off, but yet they were still looking at her. I kept asking if she was ok, but the nurses never said a thing.

After about ten minutes, she was given to her Daddy and then he handed me my baby girl. Her nostrils were flaring and sometimes I thought she would stop breathing, but the nurses didn’t act too concerned. I continued to hold her for about 15 minutes and then I handed her to Zach. He told the nurse that the flaring was getting really bad and they looked at her and about 5 minutes later they took her down to the nursery to give her, her first bath. About an hour later, Zach came back with Sterling. I didn’t think anything of it. I was so happy to see my little boy. All I wanted to do was hold him. Zach put him by me so he could give me hugs. He was a big brother!

(looking in on Kaizley before coming to see me)

I looked at Zach. I knew there was something that he was keeping from me. After a while, he finally told me. When he had gone to give Kaizley a bath, she stopped breathing twice and had to be resuscitated. She was ok now, but she was in the NICU, hooked up to machines and hooked up to a ventilator. Kaizley also was born with hypotonia (low muscle tone).

At 3 days old Zach and I were sitting next to her and her eyes rolled back and she stuck her left arm out and she shook. I asked Zach if that was a seizure. He said that it wasn’t and that she was fine. We just figured it was a weird baby thing. Zach and I decided to go out to lunch with his Mother that had been watching Sterling. As we were eating, Kaizley’s doctor called and said that she had two seizures and that they put her on an anti-seizure medication called Phenobarbital.

Test, after test, after test. Everything came back negative. She was then transferred to Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake. More testing and more testing. By the end she had numerous, blood tests, two MRI’s, urine tests, four spinal taps, and not one came back positive for anything. Sometimes I would just wish that something would come back negative, so I would know what was wrong with my little girl. The worst thing in the world is the unknown. If I just knew something, we could begin working on it.

Everyday I would drive up there and just sit with her. Zach would drive an hour up there every night after he got of work around 9:00pm or 10:00pm and we’d stay and give her a bath and feeding and then say good night and then we’d drive home. Sterling would have many sleepovers with his Grandparents taking turns watching him. They would bring him up to the hospital so I could see him and give him a million kisses. Every day I felt like a horrible mother, not being able to be with my children constantly.

Kaizley just kept getting worse and I would find myself blowing up at nurses and residents all the time. One nurse actually ripped Kaizley’s NG tube completely out! She moved her way too quickly and it was caught on her bed. I’ve never heard my baby scream so loud. They kept giving her different medications. (Keppra and Topamax) Nothing was helping and she continued to have apnea spells. I was holding her once and she had a seizure, I turned to tell the nurse that she was having one and when I turned back around and looked at Kaizley she was dark blue and had stopped breathing. I screamed and the nurses came over and started to give her breaths in my arms until she started breathing again. I’ve never in my life gone through something so hard. If something were to happen to me, fine, great, I can handle that. But when it’s your own child? I can’t even put into words how scary and how hard it is.

We were finally sent home, after a month and a half with not one answer. They told us that she will be affected by the seizures and that it could be anywhere from, mild to extremely severe. I wanted her home, but at the same time I didn’t. I was so scared that she would have a seizure and stop breathing at night without me hearing.

Kaizley’s seizures got really bad and more frequent after we got home and she’d scream like it was excruciatingly painful. She would have attacks where she would have 15-20 seizures in a row and would stop breathing and I’d have to give her oxygen. I always kept that near by. For months all I did was cry and pray that Heavenly Father would just make it all go away. After a while and I don’t know why, but all I wished for was that she and I will one day be able to drive down the road together singing, and dancing to Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I know that’s silly and insignificant, but I want it.

At one of Kaizley’s neurology appointments she had a seizure and the neurologist said that it frightened her and asked how in world I could stand it. One miracle took place. Kaizley would not eat in the hospital. We worked on it constantly, but by the time we were leaving she wouldn’t drink from a bottle at all. Although when we got home, it was only a month before we were able to take her NG tube out and she could drink everything from a bottle. Maybe because it was now only Mommy and Daddy feeding her, I don’t know. Most babies with low muscle tone can’t drink from a bottle, but she’s doing it!

Zach and I have done a lot of research on seizures and on the medications she’s taking. Zach read that one medication she’s on can cause seizures. We asked the neurologists about it and they said that they’d never heard that, but that they would support our decision if we decided to take her off of it. So we did. With seizure medication, you have to wean the child off of it very, very slowly or they can die. She was having 30-40 seizures a day. Once she was finally taken off of it, she was only having about 15 a day. We then started taking her off the Topamax and the Phenobarbital. It got to the point that she would only have the seizures right after we would give her the medication, but I would have to keep giving it to her. After giving her the medication, I would just hold her and wait for about 15 minutes. She would have 4-6 seizures and then go to bed.

I read one day that a deficiency in vitamin b6 can cause seizures, so when she was down to only a small dose of Phenobarbital we started giving her b6 and her seizures have stopped. Vitamin b6 causes the level of Phenobarbital in the blood to go down as well. February 4th was the last day I gave her any Phenobarbital and it’ll stay in her system for 2 weeks. After the two weeks, we will start to take her off the b6. If the seizures start up, we will know that it’s the b6 that is helping her. If she doesn’t have any seizures and is off everything, then there is a possibility that she never needed to be on any medication.

Seizure free! I kneel on my own everyday and thank my Father in Heaven for helping my little princess. Kaizley is doing so well now. She has physical therapists that come to our house almost every week and we work on strengthening her little hypotonic muscles. She hasn’t hit any milestones yet, in fact she still acts as though she were a newborn and we were patiently waiting for that first gorgeous smile until this morning…

I love my Heavenly Father! It’s only by him and our Savior that we can be truly happy and find peace in the darkest of times. I couldn’t be happier! I have the most beautiful children in the world! And a husband I cherish more than anything. I love you Zach!

Our counselor at Primary Children’s told us not to think about Kaizley’s future, because it isn’t fair for her. We need to think about her as if she were a book being written. Each day is a new page and to just focus on each page at a time. I love my little Kaizley and though I don’t know what will be written, I know that it will be a beautiful story.

Our Little Bald Man

2010-01-18T10:27:00.000-08:00

First I just want to state that we are not horrible parents. Yesterday after church, Zach and I decided to shave Sterling's head. We've heard that if you do, the hair will grow back fuller and fast, so what the heck. He barely had any and it was super short on the top and getting pretty long in the back. So hopefully it will grow back all one length. He has the cuttest bald head! I had even forgotten about his little birth mark on the back of his head. He needed a nap and so at first he was in the worst mood and was SO sad. After a while though he started having fun with his Daddy.

Kaizley's Blessing

2009-12-30T10:47:00.000-08:00

Kaizley was blessed at church by her Daddy on December 27th, 2009. They let us bless her not on a Fast Sunday because Ross and Jodi were in town . It was a beautiful blessing and she looked so pretty in her little white dress.

What we're up to...

2009-11-30T12:52:00.001-08:00

We are all doing pretty well here. Kaizley's seizures are getting pretty bad and we're thinking that one of her seizure medications could be causing some of her more severe seizures so we're starting to ween here off of that. I tried putting her in Sterling's old infant swing for the first time and it caused her to have a seizure attack. She had sixteeen seizures in a row and stopped breathing twice, so I had to give her oxygen. Never using that thing again. Obviously too much motion isn't good for her. She's starting to get stonger in her upper body. She's still really floppy, but she moves her left arm a lot and lifts her head sometimes. Here she is in her crib that she takes naps in during the day.

This is her basinet that she sleeps in at night right beside our bed. Her basinet is one that the Madsen's have had in their family for three generations.

Here's Kaizley with her Daddy.

Sterling is SO BIG!!! I love him SO MUCH!!!

He's walking so much now that his little body is getting badly bruised. Here's an owie he got a few weeks ago on his upper lip. So sad!

STERLING'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

2009-11-05T13:13:00.000-08:00

We finally celebrated Sterling's birthday. His birthday was September 12th, but Zach wanted to wait until our whole family was together before we had his party. Sterling's first word was duck, so that was the theme of his party.

Sterling had two cakes. His duck cake was for everyone there and his bear cake was for him. It's a tradition on the Madsen side that each kid gets a bear cake for their first birthday and it's tradition on the Flake side that each grandkid gets their own cake to destroy, so I made Sterling his very own little bear cake.

Sterling was pretty hesitant at first to eat his cake. But he went crazy after a while.

Halloween!

2009-11-05T12:47:00.000-08:00

It was so much fun dressing Sterling and Kaizley up for Halloween this year. Kaizley was a gorgeous princess and Sterling was the cutest little monkey. We stayed home the whole night just passing out candy cause we're too afraid of Kaizley catching something. She's so weak and when she gets sick her seizures get out of control. We tried to walk over to our neighbors real quickly so Sterling could go trick-or-treating, but on our way over he face planted into the concrete and that was the end of his night.

Sterling with his Nana.

Sterling and Aunt Misty.

Update on Kaizley May

2009-09-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

Kaizley is now twenty five days old! She's still at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake and still the doctors have no idea what's wrong with our little girl. She was doing really well for a few days with no episodes and then the seizures came back all at once, more intense and about every 3-5 minutes. They're still trying everything they can think of and we have a lot of tests that needed to be sent out that we will be getting the results from back in a week or two. Please keep our baby girl in your prayers. She needs them so much.

Sterling has been so perfect during all of this. He's been having lots of sleepovers, with his Grandparents taking turns watching him. He's such a sweetheart and loves everyone so he's very easy to watch. He's usually at the hospital with us, but just in the waiting room. He still hasn't met his little sister. He turned one while she was in the NICU and we're waiting till Kaiz gets home, before we have his big birthday party, so our whole family can be together for it.

Kaizley May Madsen

2009-09-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl is here!

Date of Birth: September 4, 2009
Time: 3:58 am
Weight: 6 pounds, 1 ounce
Height: 18 inches

Hogle Zoo!!!

2009-08-05T12:51:00.001-07:00

Sterling didn't really care for a drink, he just wanted to play in the water.

We went to the Zoo about a month ago and didn't really think that Sterling would really care, but he LOVED it!!! He especially loved the monkeys!

4th of July

2009-07-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July was so much fun. Traditionally, we went to the hill to watch the fireworks at BYU. Sterling was adorable watching the fireworks. He just stared with his mouth open in awe the entire time. He wouldn't take his eyes off them and with how loud his Daddy listens to rock music while we drive, I knew the loud bangs wouldn't even phase him.

And here's a little shot of Kaizley!!!

9 Month Doctors Appointment

2009-06-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

Waiting in the waiting room....

....gets his toe pricked and didn't cry at all...

...Yea! An Elmo band aid, but can't get the darn thing off...

...after so many tries and close investigation...

...goes with last resort!

After all of his 6 shots and screaming his heart out, he gets his bottle and calms down instantly. Later at home, I get the biggest scare of my life! He's worn out so I put him to bed. It's a little warm in his room so I take off his clothes and put his blanket on him. I go out to get the mail and come back in and hear him choking, so I run upstairs and he sits up and looks at me like, what are you doing Mom and smiles. Then opens his mouth. He had a huge band aid in his mouth from off his thigh. My gosh!!!! It would have been hard for ME to take that band aid off. I should have known that he would, of course, with how determined he was at taking off the little band aid that was on his toe.

Zach's First Father's Day

2009-06-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

Zach's first Father's Day was soooooo much fun! I tried to make it as special as I could. He of course had breakfast in bed and lots of presents from me and Sterling. He talked me into giving him his big present at midnight Saturday night and we stayed up till 4am playing it. After church the next day we went down to Zach's family's house and spent time with them and Grandpa for Father's Day. I got all three of them shirts they had to wear for the day. Zach's and Bob's say Dad and Grandpa of a silly little monkey and Sterling's says, I'm a silly little monkey. It was way fun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BASEBALL!!!!!!!!

2009-06-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

Zach and his Dad LOVE baseball!!! Not really for one specific team, but my goodness, they know everything about every player! They love collecting cards and we all love going to baseball games, especially with Grandpa! For Bob's birthday, Zach, Sterling and I took him to a baseball game in Salt Lake. Sterling's first game! Before the game Zach had to buy Sterling his very first set of baseball cards for the year he was born and of course we had to go with Boman "Sterling's". Even though Sterling isn't smiling in any of the pictures, he did have a lot of fun, especially when we let him try cotton candy!

May09 BATH TIME!!!

2009-06-08T11:14:00.001-07:00

I've just started letting Sterling sit up in the bathtub. He loves baths and is always splashing! He's so cute and chubby! "He's my little Rollie Pollie!"

Sterling's getting so BIG!!!!

2009-06-08T10:51:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated my blog in like 4 months! I'll try doing better, but here is the little monkey that i'm sure you all want to see! He's gotten so big! Here are just a ton of pictures of him from the last couple months. As you can see he can sit up all on his own now without constant supervision. He can move from sitting to his tummy and every other position you can think of! He hasn't started the normal crawling yet, but he's lightening fast with his little army crawling! Just two days ago he started getting his first tooth. So his little fountain is now a mini waterfall!

Yummy Toes!!!

2009-03-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sooooo Cool!!!!

2009-03-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

My Mom, Sterling and I went up to Park City one day during spring break while Misty and Leslie were in California and so I finally had a chance to have Sterling wear his cool sunglasses around. He was adorable and left them on the whole time. He knew he looked good!!!

Oh, that tongue!!!

2009-03-18T14:28:00.001-07:00

For the past two weeks Sterling will not keep that tongue in his mouth! It's so cute! He's growing so quickly and learning and discovering new things everyday. He also just started to say, "da, de, ba, and ga". I made the mistake of teaching him to blow raspberries. It got out of hand the first day and he wouldn't stop and kept spitting all over. He LOVES his feet and is starting to sit on his own for a few minutes. He thinks it's just so fun to fall over though, cause he knows Mom and Dad will always catch him.

Nana's Grandkids

2009-03-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Zach and I finally got a grandkid to throw into the mix! All those boys are so cute! We finally got a picture of all of them at Christmas time. Trich did such a good job of getting that little wiggle worm, Rhys, to stay still and Gavin was so excited to hold his cousin. Only six more months and we'll have another little one to add to the bunch.

Christmas!!!

2008-12-26T12:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas was so much fun this year! My brother Ross and his family came to visit from Chicago. Our nephews have gotten so big! We got to talk to Zach's sister Katie, the one that's on a mission in Chile, for a little while! She'll be coming home at the end of March!

We miss all of our family so much and hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We love you all!

Sterling's Blessing

2008-12-15T09:38:00.000-08:00

Zach blessed Sterling on Sunday December 7th. A lot of family were able to make it and some of Zach's close friends came.

Family Picture

2008-12-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

Nativity

2008-12-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

We were asked to be Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in our church's Christmas play. Thank goodness Sterling slept through the whole thing. That wouldn't have been very realistic if baby Jesus had to have a binki. It was a lot of fun.

Sterling's Duck Towel

2008-11-17T11:26:00.000-08:00

He's just so darn cute in his duck towel!

SMILES

2008-11-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

Sterling is smiling and talking tons now! I love it! His personality
is really starting to show and I can already tell he's going to be so
much like his Daddy.

HaLlOwEeN

2008-10-27T05:07:00.000-07:00

We carved pumpkins a few nights before Halloween and Sterling was just the right size to fit inside Zach's pumpkin. He didn't like it and kept trying to eat the side of the pumpkin.

Sterling was a bear for Halloween. It was the only costume I could find that came close to fitting him. He's still so tiny!

1 Month Old!!!

2008-10-15T18:34:00.001-07:00

Sterling (2 Weeks Old)

2008-10-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

Black and White Pictures

2008-10-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Sterling (1 Week Old)

2008-10-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

Everyone with us at the Hospital (Thank you!)

2008-09-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

Sterling Ford Madsen

2008-09-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

DATE: September 12th, 2008

TIME: 4:52 am

WEIGHT: 6lbs, 8oz

LENGTH: 18 1/2 in