Cruel RSV

Jake started out with a little cough and runny nose. There never was a fever and his oxygen saturation levels appeared to be normal...

Thanks for playing, Jake, you are now the winner of helicopter ride to Primary Children's.

The nurses and Dr. Berg were fantastic. We're so grateful for their help.

There were nine of us getting him ready for his big ride. One pilot, two Life Flight nurses, four of the nurses from the Hospital, the Doc, and, most importantly, Mom! I had to send him off with tons of kisses and a huge lump in my throat. I was trying to be strong, but after they took off, I completely lost it. Fortunately, Taylor had arrived 30 seconds before lift off, so he was there (taking pictures...I'll post later).

Here he is resting in the Pediatric ICU. The upper lobe of his right lung collapsed, leading to "respiratory failure". Thank goodness for modern technology, and intubation. Now he's the proud recipient of a breathing tube and ventilator. Hopefully he'll be able to breath on his own again in a few days. He's so worn out from trying to breath, that he's slept the past two days.

However, late this afternoon, before I left, he awakened a little and I was able to hold him, tubes, wires and all. I know that he, and all of the little ones in this hospital, are surrounded by angels. We are so grateful that he is in such great hands.

Thank you everyone who has offered prayers, thoughts and well wishes in our behalf. I know that is what's getting me through, and Jacob is so protected and watched over because of all of your faith.

Thank You!

Little Luke

What a sweet boy--so very precious!

This photo was taken on our 10th Wedding Anniversary.

Special Delivery

Introducing our special delivery:

Jacob Gordon

5 lbs. 13 ozs., 18" long

Since we've tried to name our last two babies Jacob, it seemed appropriate to use it this time. But, I wasn't sure it'd be the right fit. While trying to overcome my apprehension of being in this critical situation again, I had a reassuring feeling that this would be our Jacob. So, we call him Jake, Jacob, Jakie and a myriad of other pet names.

His middle name took more time. Actually, it took until I was leaving the hospital (because at this hospital, if you don't turn in the yellow form, you may as well kiss a social security card and birth certificate good-bye). Anyway, Gordon is my dear Grandfather's name, on my Dad's side. He was a remarkable man who triumphed over crippling rheumatoid arthritis. Yet, in spite of his daily pain, he still got up, showered, shaved and went on working, reupholstering furniture (very detailed) right up until the end.

We are so excited that Jake is here and that he is doing well. Now we're working on getting him out of the NICU and back home where we all belong.

2009: A Year in Review

by Taylor

Our big news is that Sara and I are expecting our fifth son in February. Yes. Five. Surprise! Let’s just say the Swiss Alps are very romantic. Which brings me to chapters closed. This August I finished BYU’s two-year EMBA program, and thus Sara got her husband back and I got back my family and my Tuesday and Thursday nights. The program ended with a foreign business excursion to Europe, and we were fortunate enough to both go. We started in Switzerland where baby #5 was, er, uh, yeah. (We’re considering “Dieter” or maybe “Magnus” in honor of his Teutonic launch.) Two weeks took us to Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and London. It was Sara’s first trip to Europe and my first time in three of those countries. It was as much fun to see how much Sara enjoyed it as it was to visit these wonderful countries.

Ethan took care of the household for the two weeks while we were on our trip, with a little adult supervision from great family and friends. Ethan is a wonderful helper: careful, conscientious, caring. I fear we might often expect too much from him. “Ethan, after you drop the kids off at school, could you get started on our tax returns?” The poor kid will have Alzheimer’s or break a hip by the time he’s nine! Ethan’s big milestone this year was his baptism on the 4th of July. We were thrilled and grateful to have most of our family and dear friends attend Ethan’s Baptism/4th of July Extravaganza. (“No fireworks in the church, Michael.”) This Fall he started third grade and his mind has bloomed. He reads everything and, when he finally starts it, finishes his homework before I can even get to DEFCON 4. “Now that you’re done with your times tables, do you mind helping me with my Finance homework?” He’s a good older brother to his younger siblings, especially with Christian, for whom he often translates – but not without rolling his eyes at Mom and Dad for being too dense to understand all ChristianSpeak words. The trade-off for his help with everything is his five-year head start on his teenage attitude. Better to get it out of the way now!

Christian is our best friend to the neighborhood. He’s happiest when he has three or four neighborhood boys in our unfinished basement, leading them in toilet paper mountain construction, and in creating Oreo/Fruit Snack… things. Slowly his speech is improving and he’s learning his numbers and letters in Kindergarten. But don’t let his beaming smile and easy-going demeanor fool you. He is clever, with a delicious sense of humor. One night during song and prayer Sara asked that we sing a song about loving each other. Christian replied, “Oh man. I don’t want to kiss anyone tonight.” And he’s very creative. Instead of making a Christmas list, he circled all the toys in a Toys R Us catalog he wanted. For extra credit he wrote Ethan’s initials next to all the toys he thought Ethan should get, which were all the girls’ toys. So helpful! And recently before a road trip to Boise, we asked the boys to race inside for a final bathroom visit. Whoever got back to the van first would get the first M&Ms. While Ethan and Michael tore inside to fight for bowl space, Christian ran to the snow bank outside the garage and, er, made yellow snow. Needless to say, he got to the van first and got the M&Ms. And just a few weeks ago, while Sara had him at the doctor for his regular checkup, she wanted to show the doctor how smart he is. So she asked Christian, while holding up two fingers, “What is one plus one?” With a grin Christian replied, “Eleven.” At least we know he has a future in Congress.

Currently, Michael is only happy when he’s getting under our skin, at which he is unusually adept. It’s uncanny that whatever we ask him to do, he wants to do the exact opposite. His Christmas season started with Sara asking him to make a Christmas list so that she could start crossing things off it. Oh! But in his teaching us patience there are little gems of Michael’s personality that give us hope. He is a consummate singer – primary songs, Thomas songs, Christmas carols. It’s great to hear him sing. And when we finally get him to primary and pre-school, he loves it. It’s getting past the fact that it’s Mom or Dad who want him to do it. We’re hopeful, though. The other day Christian and Michael were wrestling in the kitchen – a great knot of boy in the center of the floor – and from the pile Christian begged Michael to let go of him. But Michael wouldn’t let go until Christian said the magic word. “Say please” he growled through gritted teeth. “Pweeeashe,” sang Christian. And Michael let him go in an instant. Something is sinking in! He is sweet and darling with Luke, and he looks forward to his new baby brother. And when it’s his decision, he is an awesome helper. If we can just make it past his gargling the sacrament water (yes, really) and playing “action heroes” with the nativity scene (my money is on the angels), we’ll stay out of the nut house.

As Sara often says, Luke is our Balm of Gilead. He loves to dance, he loves baths, and he is desperate to be big like his brothers. He also must be in the middle of their games or in the middle of Mom’s dinner preparation, and we love it, usually. Like it was for Christian, the sound of running water is Luke’s siren song and he must be in it, or try to play in it in the case of the toilet. Yup, it looks like everything will be okay after his rocky start to life. He just started Nursery the beginning of November, but he’s not quite ready to let Sara or me off the hook. The one thing Luke loves more than anything is cars. Real ones. He loves pretending he’s driving the van – I think he’s happiest to see me come home from work because it means the door to the garage will be opened and he has a chance to play in the van. Shortly after Luke could walk, I found him in the garage hugging the front passenger tire. He'll also sing (la na na ne ni la na nee la) himself to sleep, it is so sweet. But most of all, he just loves you and beams you with his snaggle tooth grin.

Sara's Note: To say the least, 2009 was full from beginning to end with family events (seven new cousins, three baptisms and more birthdays than we can keep track of), romantic trips and road trips, broken trees and tons of weeds, lost teeth and new teeth, squash, squash and zucchini, family, friends and new friends. Our hearts are full as we look forward to 2010 with renewed hope. Church will start at 11 AM and, although it is during nap time, we may actually be on time! We hope this year won't fly by quite as quickly as last and we're 'excited' about the adventures that lie ahead.

Looking Forward to 2010

There are very few dull moments in our home! Truthfully, if there were, something would probably be wrong. It is trying to keep track of everything that makes life challenging, and maybe even exciting?

It seems that the end of 2009 has been so busy with Christmas and family adventures that we haven't had much time to reflect on our amazing blessings. But then, I must consider that these family adventures are part of these blessings.

Late Wednesday night we returned from a 'never-a-dull-moment' trip to visit Taylor's family--Mom and Dad, ten siblings, seven spouses, and twenty-one grandchildren. What a group!

It was a quick trip, but the boys had a blast playing with their cousins and energetic Aunts and Uncles. They ran up and down the hallway at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and jumped on/from the beds in the hotel...which they were asked a million times not to do. They learned some Beatles songs--thanks to the really fun gift of Rock Band from Uncle Drew and Aunt Stacey (that will be fun for a long time). We all even survived a family photo shoot, that went remarkably well. What a blessing family is!

Road triping: 3-D style

After a rather miserable ride home, I thought I'd go visit my friend Cami at the hospital for the rest of the night. I was having contractions, which fortunately were not causing me to dialate, but still consistent and it is too early for this little guy to come. So after a restless time in the hospital, with three bags of iv fluids, four doses of Nifedipine and plenty of jaunts to the restroom, my Dr. put me on bed rest (aaarrrrgh!) until I'm 36 weeks. I returned home to my sister, Jessica, rescuing my boys, so Taylor could get to work. Needless to say, my New Year's Eve was a dull day spent sleeping.

I can not deny that I'm grateful for the end of 2009, it is always exciting to have a reason for a new start. This 2010 we look forward to welcoming our fifth, and final baby. Wow, we will be a family of seven! One way or another, we have to finish the basement, because we're out of room. And, because they are inevitable, we also welcome any additional opportunities (aka challenges) that are sure to come.