Utah

We moved to Utah about three months ago and it has been a whirlwind that has finally died down.  I'll go back (quickly) about a year...

Arthur graduated from BYU-Idaho in July of 2012 and we made the decision to move to California and wait to hear back from the PA programs he applied to.

After not being accepted this first round of application, Arthur started putting most of his energy into looking and applying to jobs all over the place.  He had been applying to jobs since we left Idaho, but nothing seemed to pan out.  

While we lived in CA, Arthur worked for ScholarWear, a uniform store for the Challenger Schools.  It was a great job that allowed us to spend a lot of time together and was very flexible; which was nice since Jett was on his way.

In July of 2013, Arthur rec'd some interest from a place called Strayer University.  We compared them to the east coast version of University of Phoenix.  He flew out to interview and within four days he was offered a job as an Admissions Recruiter/Counselor.  

We left CA on August 9th after packing up all of our stuff and stopped over in Tahoe for a few nights; there was a Busath family reunion going on there.

Me, Kade, and Jett traveled in the van and Arthur and Maya drove the moving truck.  Kade was a trooper.

We drove into Utah late on August 11th and moved into our apartment the next morning.  We still had so much to do before Arthur started his job on the 19th.  

We stayed very busy that week and we are so grateful for the opportunities that have been made available to us since we arrived here. 

Marvin

If you recall, this was the first picture on yesterday's post.  And if you'll notice, he has a big giant green monster, I mean, pacifier in his mouth.  Well, Kade is/was extremely attached to his paci.  

This boy was born to suck.  He got attached to his paci about four hours after birth, when I realized I couldn't feed him all...the...time.  

When I got pregnant with Jett, Kade was eight or nine months old (they're 17 months apart - do the math) and I (and kind of Arthur) made the decision to let Kade keep his paci after he turned one.  We took Maya's away the day after she turned one and she was totally fine.  But since Kade LOVES his pacifier, we thought he'd be better off during the transition of adding a new member to the family, and so would we;  we'd approach taking it away when we needed to cross that bridge.  With the new baby, we just let him keep it...and he kept it...and kept it. 

At about 18 months, we started only having it for naps and bedtime.  I was ready to just let him keep it until he went off to college, but at the same time knew that wouldn't be a good idea.  Finally, Arthur and I started discussing 'Marvin's' (we called it that so he wouldn't know what we were talking about) time frame about a week before his second birthday.

We did it...COLD TURKEY!  The first few naps and bedtimes were a nightmare and after about a week he didn't cry at bedtime and he didn't ask for it a million times.  It's been about a month and he only asks for it maybe twice a week.  We just tell him that the paci is no more and he asks for something else...like his soccer ball...lol!!!

I'll be the first to admit that I was one of those moms that couldn't believe someone would let their kid have a pacifier out and about after they turned one.  Well, here she is, in the flesh, taking back those feelings and apologizing to anyone I may have looked at funny or judged; my boy is, well was, the paci KING!! He still would be if we'd let him. 

I'm glad this part of Kade's life is over.  I was very anxious about taking it away, but relieved it went as smooth as it did.  Here's to breaking habits and creating new ones!!  You'll thank us one day Kade.

Little Mister

This sweet little boy turned two on October 10th.  We had a little celebration complete with blue cupcakes and a soccer ball.

We were lucky enough to have cousins come up and visit that day.  I didn't take any pictures of them here and I'm mad at myself for that.  Next time.

For about two weeks straight he asked me to help him put these on him at one point during the day.

This is usually what he does when I say 'SMILE.'  This is the soccer ball he got from us and he does not let it out of his sight.  He'll even sleep with it some nights.

Showing off his new swag.

We had such a fun night making it all about our sweet gentle giant.  He is such a joy to have in our family.

"Pumpkin spice & everything spooky."

Last week was Halloween and it was our first one in Utah.  Since we live in an apartment complex, we were really looking for somewhere to go so the kids could have a legit experience.  After talking with Arthur, we decided we would hit up his work Halloween party and then head over to my brother and sis-in-law's house to trick-or-treat around their neighborhood.

The day began like any other and as soon as I mentioned we were going to go somewhere, besides sit around inside all day, the kids were so excited.  The morning seemed to drag along, kind of like any morning would when you know there's something super fun to do later in the day.  We got in the car and headed to Qualtrics (Arthur's work) to do some pre-trick-or-treating trick-or-treating.

Our pretty princess

"I am Ironman."  He's lucky we found something for him...I almost put him in one of Maya's hand-me-downs, a pink cupcake.

No this is not a picture of Maya when she was a baby...but they do look very similar. Jett with the chicken outfit on.

Qualtrics provided dinner; broccoli cheddar soup in bread bowls and salad.  Broccoli cheddar soup is a favorite around these parts, so the kids were looking forward to gobbling some of that up!!  

There was a Minon wandering around the party that Maya was dying to go see.  We snapped this shot of her and 'him.'  There wasn't a whole lot of walking around to get candy...Russell from Up was sitting at a station putting handfuls of candy into kids' buckets, and I mean HANDFULS.  See the above pics...Maya had only been to Russell's station once and ended up with a full bucket.

After that, we headed over to west Provo and hung out at my brother's house.  

We had a fun group.  The cousins were a cowgirl, a painter, a friendly witch, a mouse, and a baby bear.  Their parents were Superman and a mama bear.

Our kids had so much fun trick-or-treating together; hopefully we can continue doing it until we have an awesome neighborhood like they do.

After the kids set out with the dads, sis-in-law and I went back to the house to hand out candy.  My parents flew in for baby bear's blessing and they made it a few days early to be a part of the festivities.  It was so fun to see them.

Halloween was definitely a success this year.  Maya, Kade, and Jett had a great time...let's hope to an amazing and fun time next year.

"Gratitude changes everything."

I honestly don't have the energy to think and write anything more than a few things that I am grateful for.

I'm grateful for a healthy body that allows me to do pretty much anything I want.

I'm grateful for a family that loves me unconditionally.

I'm grateful for technology.

I'm grateful for my husband's job.

There are plenty of other things that I'm grateful for, but I'll continue the list another day...and muster up some energy to write a bit more about the things I'm thankful for.

I hope we can have an attitude of gratitude as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday.  Let's also hope that that attitude will continue on even after Thanksgiving.

"They say everything happens for a reason..sometimes I just wish I knew why."

Last Mother's Day, May 12th, Maya fell off the back of our couch and broke her arm.

It instantly swelled up so we knew something was wrong.

It was late and she had gotten out of bed and wanted to hang out with us.  I had told her five minutes and it had reached the point where she had been told to go to bed two or three times.  She was playing up on the back of the couch and I mentioned she should get down because we don't sit on the backs of couches.  Well, she got down alright...she fell of the back.  Her arm swelled up so fast.  I was prepared to get mad at her, but when I came around the back of the couch I could tell that something was not right.  

Arthur gave her a blessing, we called a friend to come watch the other kids, and we were on our way to the ER.  The wait was terrible, and by the time we got in to see a doctor, Maya was exhausted, and so were we.  They took an x-ray, and they saw a small break so they put a splint on her arm and had us call the pediatric orthopedic office in the morning.

They couldn't see her until two weeks from then and I was concerned that that was too long, but she reassured me that they like to wait that long so the bone has some time to heal a bit and the swelling has gone down.

Once we got into the doctor's office, they took an x-ray and the ped ortho surgeon says that she'll need to have surgery because the break was a bone chip.  It was hard to see on the initial x-ray at the ER because of the swelling and perhaps Maya not remaining still during the x-ray.  She was scheduled for the day after Memorial Day to have two pins put in to place the bone.

She had no idea what was coming.  We got her all dressed for the surgery and they gave her a little cocktail of meds to settle her down.  When the nurse came in 30 min later, Maya was still super up-ity.  She was a little confused and thought she hadn't had her meds yet.  Well, she had and our little Maya just reacts to meds differently than other kids.  They have the opposite reaction on her...instead of sedating, they made her a little bit excited and hyper.

She finally settled down and they wheeled her out and I began to wait.

About an hour later, the surgeon came out and said everything went great and that they'd call me back to be with her while she came out of the anesthesia.  I'm pretty sure that is the worst thing for a mother to have to watch...their child coming out of general anesthesia.  She had no idea what was going on and she was in a lot of pain.  The nurse put some medication in her IV but it didn't help.  So, she pushed some more meds...nothing, Maya was still very agitated and sad.  The nurse looked at me and said, "usually kids are knocked out after I give them this medicine."  She put SOME MORE meds in her IV and still Maya was complaining about pain.  The nurse said, "I can only do one more dose. After than I'm not sure because I've never had a kid not fall asleep after one or two doses."  Oh geez, our little freak of nature.

She finally fell asleep and stayed asleep for about two hours.  I think they like to discharge an outpatient pretty quickly after they come out of the anesthesia, but since Maya had such a hard time and they had to knock her out, they had her recover in a different area of the department.  We finally were headed home after about six hours from the time we got there.

Car ride home - she was pretty out of it.

After about a week after the surgery, we went back to get another x-ray to see how the healing was going.  It was going great so they put another splint on and sent us off for another four weeks.

On July 5th, we went in to get her splint off and the pins removed.  She was so happy to have that thing off.  I was so happy that she could take a normal bath and finally go swimming.  It had been a hot summer and since swimming was out of the question, we had to get creative.

I wondered why she had to break her arm and Arthur kept saying to me, "If not now, then later.  Let's be glad it's now and not later."  I am glad it happened when it did, I just hope our gal can keep off the back of couches and her feet underneath her.

"Though she be but little, she is fierce." - Shakespeare

Maya one day old

Maya was born five weeks early; she measured at 29 weeks.  She was 3 lbs. 10 oz. and 17 3/4 in. long.  She was just a tiny thing and boy was I scared.  We call her our miracle.

I started having high blood pressure at 34 weeks.  High BP is a sign of pre-eclampsia.  This is dangerous for both mama and baby.  I was put on bed rest and a week later I was being told that my daughter wasn't thriving so I'd have to deliver her that night (or get the labor process started).  I was terrified.

She was born the next morning and rushed to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).  I was expecting that so I didn't feel confused or surprised.  Arthur went with her and the nurses got me ready to be transferred to the Mommy/Baby Unit.  It was strange having visitors and I didn't have anything to show them...my baby was down the hall where only parents and one or two family members were allowed.  

She spend 14 days in the NICU; a very long 14 days.  My mom and dad started making their way to Idaho the minute Maya was born.  During those 14 days, my mom was here for about half and it was so nice to have her around.  She drove me to the hospital to be a part of Maya's feedings and baths.

On Christmas Eve, Arthur and I went to visit with Maya, like any other day, and some of our friends, whose baby was in the NICU too, were there with their car seat and diaper bag.  I was so jealous that they were getting to take their daughter home.  Once we got settled with Maya and after saying our hellos to the wonderful nurses, they came over to us and said, "Would you like to take her home today?"  Um, yes!!!  So, Maya went through all kinds of tests to be sure she was ready to make the five minute drive home.  She had to keep her oxygen levels up, which she'd been doing fine already; she had to be able to ride in her car seat for an hour without her stats dropping, which she failed; and she had to be eating all her meals on her own from a bottle, which she had been doing for about six days.  

Since she failed the car seat test, they had a fix for that...they gave us a car seat bed.  

It's a pretty simple contraption, but it was such a chore getting her in and out of that thing.  I couldn't wait until she was big enough for HER car seat.  We took her home and she weighed 4 lbs. 8 oz.  We couldn't believe how much she had grown in that short amount of time, but she was still teeny tiny.

People who know her now, have no idea she was born premature.  She is a strong-willed, healthy little girl that pushes the boundaries everyday.  She knows how to get her brothers all riled up and knows how to have a good time.

Love you Maya!!!