Kylee's home!

It's been a while since I've updated and so much has happened, so I have a lot to catch up on. First of all, the biggest news of all.....Kylee is home! She has been for nearly two weeks actually. Life's just been a little crazy. But all in all she ended up being in the NICU for 2 weeks and 2 days. When they brought her home it seemed like pretty much our whole family was sick, so they actually had to stay kind of quarantined in their room for a while. So even once she was home we didn't get to see her very often. But we have FINALLY all been starting to feel better in the past few days and they've been able to bring her around us more and more. I've still only held her ONCE though since they've been home. Mostly because I've been sick and haven't dared hold her in fear of getting her sick and sending her back to the NICU, but also because it's a rare occasion if Kyle allows anyone to hold "his" baby. LOL Lisa and I joke that he's a baby-hog. The other day we were watching something on TV and Kyle had been holding Kylee, but he had to go get something and for some STRANGE reason he put her down instead of taking her with him. So Lisa picked her up and said, "I bet Kyle will say something when he gets back." Sure enough, as soon as Kyle got back, he sat down and looked at Lisa with a weird look and just said, "Why do you have her?" We all started laughing. Up until that point I don't even think Kyle realized what a hog he was with her. He just absolutely adores that little girl, and I'm pretty sure she feels the same way about him. She will not take her eyes off Kyle when he's holding her. They have a very sweet little bond.

So all in all things are good at our house, just a little crazier than usual. But we're all finally getting over our nasty colds and the weather is getting better so the kids have been able to get outside more instead of bouncing off the walls inside. Here's to hoping the weather keeps getting better and better.....instead of snowing like it did today!

Matthew and I got a chance to go see her and hold her a couple times while she was still in the NICU. Once we were even lucky enough to get there just in time to feed her.

Here's Kylee on her way home.....FINALLY!

My mom came to help me with my kids (I'd been having one of "those" days - thanks Mom!!!) the day before Kylee came home and we weren't expecting Kylee to be discharged when she did, so my Mom was still there when they brought her home. She was SOOO happy because she hadn't gotten to even see her yet.

I love when babies yawn and Kylee's seem to be even bigger and more dramatic than your average baby.

Here's one of her goofy faces that she pulls.

Peacefully sleeping....in her daddy's shirt. They're two peas in a pod.

One of the rare occasion that Lisa got to hold her. ;)

Auntie Lauren (Kyle's aunt) came for a visit.

I don't know if you can read her onesie, but it says "Daddy's Little Valentine", and in deed she was. She was barely discharged the day before Valentine's Day, so she was one nice, little Valentine gift. :)

Will you be my Valentine?

Apparently it's not too early for Matthew and I to start worrying about boys having crushes on our daughters. On Valentine's Day (actually the day before....the day they celebrated it at school), there was a knock on our door. September answered it and nobody was there, but on the doorstep was a teddy bear and a box of chocolates addressed to her! It was from our cute little neighbor boy, Dakota. He was too shy to personally hand it to her, but he did sign his name so she'd be sure to know who to give the credit to. I just adore the kid that gave it to her and thought it was such a sweet thing of him to do. And September certainly didn't seem to mind it either. I think deep down she has a little crush on him too, but she won't admit it to me. The boy that she HAS admitted to having a crush on though, did send her a candy gram at school. Let's just say, she was one happy girl on Valentine's.

Video clip of Kylee

For all of you who are dying to see Kylee in action, here's a clip that Lisa took at the hospital and Matt uploaded to youtube. They say that babies don't actually "smile" in the first few weeks of life, but here's video to prove that they DO! It's kind of dark because it was taken with a camera not a camcorder, but you can still see at least her pretty well. Check it out....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfHnEtcA1Yc

Latest pics and info about Kylee

Well, Kylee is STILL in the NICU. I'm getting a little bugged because I have my opinions about the NICU, but I went and visited Kyle and Lisa the other night, and as much as they agree with me about my opinions about NICU's, they have also seen the benefits that have come from the fact that Kylee has been in the NICU. So I'm trying not to be too bugged right now, and just trying to reassure myself that it's for the best and that they will for sure be bringing home a healthy baby girl. They still haven't given them a time frame for letting her come home, they're just taking it day by day. Kyle just came home to grab some stuff though and brought the memory card with some new pics, so here they are.....

This picture cracks me up! Apparently she didn't want anymore picutures taken of her! ;)

Happy Birthday, Kalun!

I just wanted to do a post about a very good friend of mine who is turning the big 3-0 today.

I've known Kalun now for 10 1/2 years and not only has he been one of the best friends you could ask for, but in a round about sort of way it's him that Matthew and I can thank for the fact that we ever got together.

When I first moved to Orem 10 1/2 years ago and went job hunting, one of the places I went was Papa John's where Kalun happened to be an Assistant Manager. He hired me and my best friend on the spot, and later told me it was because he thought I was cute and hey, who wouldn't want to hire a good-looking girl to work for him? We instantly became good friends and he was someone that I always felt I could go to and talk to about anything.....including having feelings about a certain co-worker.....Matthew Cluff. Well, obviously Matthew and I ended up getting together and getting married......but what would have happened had he never hired me that day???

Over the years we always stayed in touch and hung out every now and then. But when he and Kristi got married 6 years ago, we started hanging out even more. A year into their marriage they built a house in Lehi.....and a few months later so did we, just a few blocks away. A few more months later, Kristi and I were both pregnant....with boys. Then a couple years after that we both had girls. I know we always would have stayed in touch with them without living close to each other, or having kids of the same sex and age.....but those things sure helped. Now we seem to always be doing stuff together just about every weekend, and sometimes in between. We pretty much consider them family, and all of the kids just absolutely love "Uncle Kalun".

I've had plans to do this post for a while now and wanted to scrounge up some old pictures to post.....but I've been so busy lately I didn't ever find the time to do it. But I was able to find some random pictures....they're not that great because it always seems like I'm taking more pictures of the kids than the adults when we get together with the Merrill's (plus, he just recently lost quite a bit of weight and I don't think he'd appreciate me posting some of the pictures I have), but here are a few.

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, KALUN B MERRILL!!!

Update on Kylee

I know many of you, particularly Kyle's and Lisa's families, have been anxious to see more pictures so here they are. I'm sure many of you have already gotten updated information about what's been happening, but for those of you that haven't.....

They discharged Lisa on Friday, but Kylee was having some issues and had to be put in the NICU and she is still there and could still be there for a few more days. It all depends on her progress. They were able to give Lisa and Kyle a tiny room to stay in so that they could be there and not have to travel back and forth from home to the hospital multiple times a day.

There are multiple things going on with Kylee....all of which are not "extreme", but extreme enough for her to be in the NICU. I'm not very smart when it comes to medical stuff and I don't want to given any false information, so I don't want to explain too much....but enough to let people know what's going on. She has jaundice, and her bilirubin levels had been getting better until very recently but then they shot back up again. So they gave her an anti-anxiety drug. It makes her very sleepy, but it's supposed to "stick" to the bilirubin and come out in her poop. Sorry, TMI! Then, she's having some digestion issues, which is not exactly helping with the jaundice. And she's having a difficult time figuring out how to nurse.....which doesn't help with the digestion issues. So it's kind of a vicious cycle. Plus, there were some Rh incompatibility issues (a blood-type issue) that they had to treat. I hope I explained everything well and accurately. Oh yeah, they also had to do the antibiotics for the strep B, and she had an IV for that for like 2 days or longer. They also had to do a PICC line in her head. It's what they've used to give her all sorts of things, including the anti-anxiety drug. So at least it has been used for good things. The poor thing! We went up yesterday and got to see her for the first time. It breaks my heart to see her in the little incubator with all those tubes running in and out of her. But it makes me marvel to see how amazing of a time we live in where they have this type of treatment available to babies. What a blessing! I really wanted to hold her, but no can do. Not even Lisa and Kyle get to hold her very often. When they hold her it gets her riled up and she burns too many calories. They've had to give her something through her IV to give her extra calories. I'm a little torn on my feelings about this. I understand the need to make sure she's getting enough nutrition and calories, but I also believe that the human touch does wonders for sick children. And actually, speaking of human touch and doing wonders, that's the main reason we went up yesterday. Lisa and Kyle had asked Matthew if he would give her a priesthood blessing. They got permission from the nurses and they were able to take the top off the incubator so he could administer it. Lisa and Kyle say that already she seems to be improving. So hopefully it won't be too much longer 'til we get to welcome this new little miracle into our home.

This is her crazy toe. She'll thank you later for it, Kyle! ;)

How precious!

Kyle getting a little shut-eye. I'm sure it has mostly been sleepless nights. This picture was probably a rare occasion.

Check out those "sunglasses"!

Here's the lovely PICC line in her head. Ouch!

Me still not getting to actually hold her....but once again trying to pretend like I am!