Elf Yourself!

I think Camary makes a dang cute elf, don’t you? Check out these links, here and here.

Hosanna and Eggshells!

Last night, Xander slept for four solid hours. I was in heaven. It’s hard to believe that he is two months old now. I took him in for a check-up on Wednesday, and he weighs 8lb 9oz, and is 21 inches long. Woohoo! Camary got a check-up, too. She weighs 27lbs and is 35 inches tall. She was quite relieved that she didn’t have to get any shots. She did get princess stickers, which she stuck to her forehead. She still has red marks from when we had to take them off.

Last Friday, Rusty turned twelve. He was ordained a Deacon on Sunday, and got his Faith in God award from Primary. On Tuesday, he got braces on his teeth (with red and green bands for Christmas). They are still a little sore, but I think he can chew again today. He’s been going to the orthodontist for four years preparing for this, and had so many teeth pulled, I’ve lost count. The orthodontist said it has made a huge difference, though. Finlay started seeing the orthodontist at six!

Tonight is Ryan’s band concert. I’m excited for it, especially because I had to miss his concert in October. Last Friday, we went to the last Marching Band performance. They honored the seniors and gave out awards. Ryan got an award for Outstanding Freshman! I was so proud.

In other news, I finished my Christmas story this week! I just have to type it and print it. It’s called “The Wings of Morning.” Here’s a tease: “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” Psalms 139:9-10

Camary likes to ask me to sing “Ding, Dong Merrily on High,” which ends with the phrase, “Hosanna in excelsis!” The other day I heard her singing it to herself. She’s quite a good singer, and she knew most of the words, but when she got to the end she sang, “Hosanna and eggshells!” I can only imagine what she thinks eggshells have to do with it.

Well, I’ve got to get typing!

Today’s quote from LDS Nuggets

“Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us—even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will. We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father won’t, for He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming.”

–Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, “The Great Commandment“, October 2007 General Conference

It’s Christmas Time!

I love Christmas, don’t you? Of course you do. You’re my family! It’s in our genes. We had a really nice Thanksgiving here at home. We got all of our Christmas decorations up last Saturday. I did my Christmas shopping last week online. It was great. I didn’t have to go anywhere, and I have almost everything bought. I am hard at work on this year’s story, too. I was almost done when Xander was born, and that slowed me down a bit on the whole writing thing. Yesterday we got a bunch of snow, so now it really feels like Christmas. Tracy and the kids spent a lot of time playing outside together.

I found a scripture in the Book of Mormon that sums up why I love Christmas. It’s Alma 26:35-36: “Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name. Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo.”

Have a great Christmas season!

Out and About!

I put an end to my self-imposed house arrest, and actually went grocery shopping today. It was kind of nice to feel like a “normal” human being again. Actually, I’ve been struggling with post-partum depression since we came home, but I seem to be past it now for the most part. I am even adjusting to the highly interrupted sleeping schedule, so I don’t feel like a zombie so much anymore. (As long as I can manage at least 7 hours before the night is through, then I’m okay.) I think the depression and the lack of sleep were closely related.

I also took Xander in for his weigh-in this afternoon. He’s up to 6lbs 5ozs. Yeah! Go Xander! The other kids are doing well, too. I feel bad that we hardly mention them in here. They all got straight A’s at the end of term a couple of weeks ago. Ryan and Rusty went to Merit Badge Pow-wow at BYU and earned (or are close to earning) some of their required merit badges. Ryan is a Star in rank now, and Rusty just earned his first class. Hard to believe that in just three weeks, Rusty will be ordained a deacon! Sam is doing Cub Scouts and is keeping us all laughing with his sweet sense of humor. Finlay is doing great in school and having fun playing with friends. (Gee, this post is starting to sound like a Christmas newsletter.) Camary and I enjoy watching Star Trek together in the evenings. Well, gotta go run kids to scouts. Until next time …

Back to the Grindstone

See, this is why we never had a blog before. Our lives are dull. Especially now that the preemie-baby thing is pretty much over. I suppose we could just type up an entry whenever something exciting happens, and you’d get maybe one or two posts per year.

I’m back in the office again for the first time since October 10th. I realized this morning how much I really love the commute. I missed it terribly.

Xander’s doing great. He was up to 5lb 9oz (or something around that) last Thursday (or sometime around there). I think he looks most like Sam at the moment. He has the most hair any of our kids had at birth. We’re taking bets on the color of his eyes. Any chance they won’t be blue?

Life at Home

Well, we brought Xander home on Wednesday last week. He’s been doing good. When I took him to the doctor on Thursday, he weighed 5lbs 1oz. We go in to check his weight again next Thursday.

Coming Home!

Hooray, hooray! The doctor is going to discharge Xander from the hospital tomorrow morning. They took out his feeding tube yesterday and he has been eating all his feedings on his own. We are planning on coming home tomorrow. I am so glad. I can’t wait to all be together as a family again.

Signs of Improvement

Xander is slowly making progress. He has been moved from the warmer to a crib, so he is holding his temperature now. He gets every other feeding by bottle (instead of every third), and he has been eating most of his bottle feedings all on his own. Yipee! He has gained weight, too, and he’s up to 4lbs 11ozs. He is just as cute as can be, but I don’t have any more recent photos. We’ll get some tomorrow. The doctors have been doing lots of tests to rule out any potential problems, so I am happy to report that his brain and heart are both perfect. He’s just a pokey feeder, but he’s getting better at that.

Tracy spent the weekend at home with the boys and Camary and they all had a great time. He’s back in Vegas tonight and the boys go back to our awesome neighbors, the Kimbers. Three cheers for the Kimbers for taking such good care of the boys! I miss them, but I hope we’ll all be together again soon.

Earlier than thought

Xander turned the corner over the last day or two and started gaining weight. He was back up to 4lbs 5.5oz on Monday night. We talked to the pediatrician last night and he thinks he was earlier than we thought, probably 5-6 weeks instead of four, which means he could be in the hospital another 7-10 days. Of course, the time it takes is completely dependent on how fast he gains weight and starts to eat better on his own.

Meanwhile, the boys are staying with some friends back home. I took them home on Sunday and came back to Vegas Monday. The ward here has been feeding us dinner and there have been lots of volunteers to run the boys to their activities in Elk Ridge. Just another perk of being LDS!

I’ve posted more pictures in our Gallery.

Vegas vacation?

Last Wednesday we left home at about 7:30pm to head for Las Vegas to visit Angie’s family for a few days. The original plan was to come and visit for Thanksgiving, but we decided that would be too close to Angie’s due date. So, we arrived here at about 12:30am and got everyone to bed. The next thing I knew, Angie was waking me up saying her water had broken. A few hours later, Xander Gabriel Lofthouse was born via c-section, a full four weeks early.

So, our little vacation has turned into something completely unexpected. Xander will probably have to stay in the hospital for a week, possibly two. He is doing well, but because he is so small (4lbs 9oz at birth), it’s going to be a struggle for him to gain weight and get stronger without close supervision. He now has a feeding tube because he doesn’t have the energy to eat what he needs, and he’s frequently under a warming lamp to maintain his body temp, but those are normal issues with a preemie. His lungs are strong and everything else functions properly, so it’s just a matter of making sure he has enough calories to keep warm and grow.

Angie is doing well, too, and will probably be discharged tomorrow. The whole thing has been rough on her, but she’s hanging in there.

The most pressing question now is: What do we do with the boys that are supposed to be in school next week? I’m going to take them to the BYU-UNLV game and deal with that problem later…

Hello World!

Sigh. Well, we’re back. Sort of. A hard drive started going south a couple of weeks ago, and it has taken awhile to get the server back up again. Things still aren’t where I want them to be, but I’ll get there eventually…