The Miracles of Modern day Medicine

Our family has been pretty blessed. We began this year with the miracle of medicine for Julie, the middle of the year with a miracle of medicine for Walter, and end this year with the miracle of medicine for Seth.

The beginning of the  year I was blessed to take medicine to ease the pain of child birth. A month or two after child birth I was having a few complications and was able to get medicine to help me get back to 100%.

Half way through the year Walter became very sick, with a terrible cough and fever. Unfortunately we were in New York so we did not have the luxury of taking him to the doctor (which is what every mother wants to do with anything that happens to a newborn). However, we did have the luxury of our choice of six different stores carrying medicine on our block. So I went to the store bought some medicine and wa-la Walter was able to have some comfort during his first sickness of his whole life.  He got better shortly thereafter.

And here we are at the end of the year, Seth had a tonsillectomy on Friday and we are again reminded how medicine is a modern day miracle!  Seth was able to be unconscious through his whole surgery. He was able to come out of having his throat sliced and talk to me an hour later!!! He was able to come home and hang out on the couch with relative comfort. Can you imagine what life would be like without medicine?

Seth and I have come to believe that one should NEVER use medicine unless it is completely necessary and under careful moderation. We have taken special precautions to ensure that our family is careful we would strongly suggest that ALL families set up precautions for their situation.  
 
I am writing this post because I am made aware of the blessings and miracles in my life. And I believe medicine is definitely one of them (well and having a doctor in the family :) thanks matt) The last couple of days have been hard but I cannot even imagine how hard they would be without medicine. I am really struggling with keeping Walter on his schedule because, all of the sudden I have another mouth to feed and constantly tend. This morning was probably the worst in pain Seth has been in. He could not even swallow without gagging. We finally decided to increase the amount of medicine to see if it would help. Within about 30 min. the medicine fully kicked in and he was able to swallow without throwing up, he was able to eat a whole bowl of mashed food, and now he is sleeping soundly on the couch (and to think I take all of those things for granted). 

Twinners.....triplets?

So one beautiful Sunday afternoon I thought it would be cute if Seth and Walter wore the same outfit. I asked Seth to put on his blue shirt so they could be twinners. Seth regrettably informed me that it was in the dirty laundry. ah shucks, i thought, well at least he can wear it after we do the wash. So we headed to the Call house for Sunday dinner. When we walked in my sisters quickly laughed at how cute it was that Walter and MY DAD were wearing the same outfit. HA. So after the laundry was done we took this picture to mark this serendipitous moment.

we tried to put something in each of their shirt pockets so you could see how their shirts were almost exactly the same.

Nap Time= Quiet Mommy Time

Oh I love nap time. Don't get me wrong, Walter is a good baby; yet, I do like having a few hours in the day to spend getting things done or doing things that I know I should be getting done.

So in my one hour of quiet time this afternoon I would like to catch up on a few things we have done.

Summer Internship in New York:

  I was sad to leave all of the things to do and places to go, the hustle and bustle of so many lives living in such a small proximity was exciting for me. Needless to say if I was ever bored there was a plethora of people watching that could be done by Walter and myself. If you know Walter then you know that he has a sober stare that glosses over his face when he is in his people watching phase. We did a lot of things in New York that were a first for me and the fact that there are still a ton of things that could still be a first for me is what makes New York so fun. If you haven't heard Seth has been offered a full time position in New York!

We came back from New York at the beginning of August:

From there we had little time to sleep before we had Sainsbury family pictures taken. Here are just a few pictures of that photogenic day for Walter.

This first picture is great. While looking through our family pictures I noticed that it didnt really matter what Seth and I looked like because you cannot take your eyes off of that cute baby face!

 Here is the WHOLE Sainsbury clan. Such a cute family, if I may say so.

 gma and gpa sainsbury with their grandkids

 And lastly a picture of just the Sainsbury siblings. Seth is the most attractive and that is why he is in the middle. :) okay fine it is really done from oldest to youngest. such a good picture everyone is looking at the photographer...oh wait there are no kids in this picture :)

 After family photos we headed to the Sainsbury Reunion 2012 in Woodland Utah:

This was such an amazing experience! I had so much fun and was so relaxed it was great to not have to come straight back from New York and worry about moving again. This house was huge and had so many fun things to do: there was a pool, hot tub, pool table, awesome themed bedrooms (we had an awesome bathroom IN our bedroom), amazing showers, huge dining room table (like from beauty and the beast), a razor, three garages (maybe more?), big flat screen tvs everywhere, a nice deck, a fire pit that was electric (WOW) a theatre room, plenty of space to play ghost in the graveyard or green ghost as the sainsbury's call it...im not quite sure why. We were there during the olympics so of course we watched some of that too.  We also had fun going to the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake that was SO cool if Walter was a little older and not crying the whole time it would have been just a little bit more fun. we also went up to heber girls camp for part of the Moody/Anderson reunion. We took the razor and a four wheeler up in the canyon and did some crazy speeds....okay well some people did crazy speeds I was okay hanging out at the camp site. Well if you cannot tell from this description how awesome it was then you don't know awesome! I don't know if I just did not take any pictures or if they are some where else (which makes me so sad).

Third week of August to present:

We finally moved and settled into our Provo apartment. It is kind of lonely here because I don't know anyone but that was the point in moving somewhere new. It has been kind of hard because we have not been going to our actual ward for a while.

We had a farewell to go to, stake conference, the brigham city temple dedication, and then we went to our ward this last sunday, sort of. We both thought that Church started at 9 so we strolled over to the church at 8:55 noticing how eerily quite everything was, once we got inside I notice that everyone was already there (again weird).

We were looking from the doors so that we could find a seat without disturbing anyone. While looking I was trying to figure out what part of church services we were walking into...everyone was quite like the prayer was about to start but the silence went on for a long time. then someone got up and bore their testimony....so apparently church started at 8:30 and it was fast sunday (we seriously need to get with the program).

Other than that awkward experience here are a few other things we have done:

Moved into new apartment and started feeding Walter more varieties of baby food. This is a picture of seth feeding Walter. wierd huh? well it is because we dont have a high chair :) do what you gotta do.

 Seth started school...this is Seth doing homework with Walter.

We went to Two Buck Tuesday at Thanksgiving Gardens with the Englands and Rachel, it was so pretty. I need to find those pictures! 

We have gone to several recruiting events and other formal dinners. Seth is still in the Presidents leadership committee. He is also doing intramural flag football and soccer with his cousins.
 

We went swimming with the Chenns at their new place

 We were eventually kicked out because of lightning haha

 We watched some football games

 We hung out at home!

 We had a visitor! Yes, Jennifer and Walter are almost the same size haha jk

 We went camping??

 We were up at Payson lakes it was super fun and a little chilly notice walters winter coat (I may or may not have been a little over the top with how cold he was)

 We had some visitors up at our campsite who provided a delicious STEAK meal. How many people can say that when they go camping.

 Here we are in the morning- yes walter woke up every other hour- but we still managed to have a good time in our two man tent that was wall to wall full of our airbeds . Fact- you can try to make it as easy as possible on yourself when you are camping.

 After packing all of our stuff up we went to one of the Payson Lakes so serene!

 We then decided to go on the Nebo Loop, which is something Seth has been wanting to take me on since before we were married. Three years later we finally did it! I loved the beautiful colors of fall. I would definitely recommend this scenic byway to everyone. This picture is just a small portion of what the whole time was like.

 I tried to make caramel dipped apples....with homemade caramel. they were supposed to turn out like this...

 but turned out like this....

 We went to Kiddie Kandids and took his seven month pictures. This is in the waiting area because they do not let you take pictures in their studio.

 We have gone to the library for reading time. And we do reading time before bed too!

 Last but not least we go to gma Calls house every Monday to visit/do laundry/help out/ hang out with Grace aka be beat up by grace. I was trying to upload a video of the last time Grace was "playing" with Walter but it isn't loading right now so...until next time.

Seth and I have had a wonderful time keeping busy and going out and doing things! I have realized now that I don't have a job or school to take up all of my time that I need to get out and do things for my sanity and for Walter's education. I am excited for all the things that we will get to do this coming month. October is going to be busy and very halloweeny. I am so excited to spend this time of year...or any time of year with my family and with the Call's and Sainsbury's.

And Walter is now awake so the posting time is over, until next nap time!

Standing alone

So recently I have been going through some of the mormon messages videos. I do not know if I have ever watched more than two in my whole life. Well I decided that I wanted to see what they were like and have found myself sitting in front of the computer watching one after the other. They are so inspiring and uplifting!  I absolutely love this story that the Prophet shares. When I first clicked on it, I thought that it would be about cursing in the Navy because I have heard and loved that story.
This is not the same story but it was still such a great message. I was crying half way through because I realized how sometimes I have felt alone but I never really am.
These messages are a wonderful way to get the word out to those around us. Even if they are already members, it is so important to understand that we are God's children and we have worth even when the world would have us believe otherwise. I am grateful that the Church has put these messages together because they bring life to the stories that we can read on lds.org. If you have yet to watch some of the newer videos I would highly suggest that you watch them they are amazing teaching and personal study tools! I love this Gospel and am so grateful for a Church that inspires me to be the best person i can be and reminding me that there is so much more to life!

unfortunate story continued

"Saweet!".....We need to make sure we are the first ones on to make sure that we get a seat. So we rush onto the train and I hurry to sit down. This all happened within five seconds. Second number one: I am motioning to sit down. Second two: As I am sitting down I realize that there is a guy lying on the seat and that kind of creeped me out. Second three: I immediately stand back up and move to a seat directly across. Second four: I almost gag, "what is that horrific smell!?" in fact, yes I actually said to Seth, "blah what is that smell?" The stench seemed like layers and layers of B.O. and trash and alcohol. Second five: I am starting to realize that the smell is emanating from the man.

Whoa that was a lot of stuff to go through in five seconds!

So I notice everyone else who was getting on after us go through that same five second realization but they have enough time to turn around and get into a different compartment....Since we were the lucky first ones on, we were also the very unlucky ones who would be last to get off. Unfortunately, we weren't that lucky. The doors started closing before we could get out and so I move our little family to the opposite side of the compartment, next to the air conditioner, and I hope it blows good smelling air towards me. At this point, second fifteen, I hear Theresa's warning rattle through my brain..."if a train is empty there is probably a good reason why. Try to avoid those." And NOW I know why. I was kicking myself for not remembering her advice until it was too late.

During this memory recall I watch the man out of the corner of my eye just to make sure that he is not dead, or hurt and that is why he is laying motionless on the bench. (Now if you have been to New York before you know not to lock eyes with homeless people because they can react in a ton of ways; they can curse at you, be really adamant about how you don't need your money but they do,....and other more scary things I've heard stories about). This sounds heartless; but, when you are traveling with a little baby the situation is a lot more scary. You cannot anticipate what they will do and you are twice as slow as regular people because you have more things to carry.

Back to watching the man....He was breathing and did not seem to be hurt in any way. So I felt that it was definitely okay to leave this compartment. I start looking through the windows of the other trains and realize they are so packed there is no way our family would fit in there. So we sit in the strangling stench for two more stops. And at every stop I notice some unfortunate soul go through the same five second realization.

 What does one do in this situation? do you get out and walk the rest of the way home? twenty blocks? Do you call 311 and say there is a smelly man on my train?  Obviously there was not a lot we could do. We finally reach our stop and notice the man get up and stretch...oh but our story doesn't end here. He gets off at our stop. This is a terrifying thing because we use the elevator to go up three flights of stairs. And if you have been in an elevator in the subway before you can smell a very similar smell to that of the man (although I don't want to think about why) so we rush to the elevator and start pushing the button a million times (because that really does make the elevator come faster HA) We get in and notice that the man did not follow us but started rummaging through the trash, whew.

Moral of the story: advice can be as good as gold, but I guess you wouldn't know its value until you didn't use it.

Advice is worth more than what it costs

So having moved out to nyc for the summer I have been thrust into a whole new world. In order to make it a little bit easier on us I have tried to get as much advice as possible. And man can I tell you that I have received a lot of advice...and every day I learn to be grateful for the advice I have received. Most of the time I have made the mistake that I was forewarned about and I say to myself ..."gah why did I do this? I was even advised not to!" One specifically poignant example was a night after Seth, Walter, and I were coming back to our apartment using the subway and I was pretty tired so I wanted to find a compartment where there were seats available. So I watch as the train goes by and I notice that a lot of them do not have any seats available. The train is getting closer to stopping and I notice that the  compartments are getting fuller and fuller...but then there was one that had quite a few open seats, and I think "SAWEET"............and now I'm going to have anybody who reads this leave a message of what advice they think I was given and why (I will finish the story next week).

five months *almost

wow I cannot believe how time has flown by! Walter is growing up so fast. I am so excited for the next stage but at the same time I miss the cute stages he has been in and is in now. Can you believe this was my cute cuddly baby boy just five months ago?

Well this is what we have been up to lately....

The Museum of Natural History. You will notice that I am standing in front of the largest meteorite on display in the whole world. My favorite part of the day was going to the rock exhibit...that's where the diamonds and jewels were!!! We also saw some glow in the dark rocks it was pretty cool! 

 After the Chenns left New York, Seth and I went on our first adventure by ourselves to the 9/11 memorial. It was really amazing to see the pools and the new building that is going up. Unfortunately, it was super hot that day so all I wanted to do was go into the air conditioned museum....which was closed :( So we did not stay for too long but we stayed until we found the tree in the following picture.

 This is called the "survivor tree" it was originally on the top of one of the twin towers and they found it in the rubble and it now sits right next to the empty holes of where the twin towers once stood.

 Right after the memorial, we were in the mood for some chocolate at Max Brenners!! So we walked to the subway got out at the stop we thought it was at, walked down a few blocks, realized we were lost so we called Doreen. She told me two addresses and I told her to give me one of them so we backtracked then went up a few blocks and over four long blocks and realized we were lost again. So we called Theresa and luckily she was able to give us the address that I told Doreen not to give me (haha) After a forty minute detour in the 90+ weather we were tired and sweaty so of course warm chocolate did not sound very good...nothing really sounded good except water. so we ordered lots of water. After we had two glasses of water and had been sitting in the air conditioned room for twenty minutes we were ready for the chocolate. We ordered a chocolate fondue, a special chocolate shake, and some frozen hot chocolate (we love chocolate!!) You cannot tell very well from this picture but in the background they had jars lining the walls full of CHOCOLATE!! To be quite honest I was a little disappointed, I was expecting willy wonka...with treats that would be so sublime we would feel like we were in a magically land :) The only thing that made us feel like we were at the doors of the willy wonka factory was the shake. It was delicious we wish we had only ordered that and four times as much. Sadly drinks here in New York cost almost as much as getting small meal. Needless to say we enjoyed our night out. I think Walter liked it to especially when dad let him grab the fondue stick and almost stab himself.

On one of our Sundays here we decided to go up to the Sun Terrace here at the apartment it has an amazing view! We went up for the sunset, it was great to get out and see the city from a higher vantage point.

The 4th of July!! Seth had work off and the Bronx zoo had a suggested donation day on that day so we made the long trip up to the Bronx and Seth got to see many amazing things for the first time (this was my second time to the zoo). Seth did not know that this animal existed. if you can tell there is an Okupi in the background. pretty sweet! 

 This is daddy and Walter in front of two grizzly bears (that are playing in a pond of water to the right of them) and yes, Walter is asleep in this picture

 This is Walter on his first carousel ride EVER! He loved it, or he loved the gold shiny pole in front of him. This carousel was a bug themed carousel so he is sitting on a preying mantis.

 Later we toured Asia and got this sweet picture with a jaguar napping in the background. The Bronx Zoo is really amazing! It sits in a scary part of town but is truly spectacular in how much space they give their animals and the beautiful scenery they put their animals in as well.  This was the same area where we saw BATS in an open exhibit (meaning they could swoop down and attack us if they wanted, luckily they didn't want to)

This picture was taken at the station right before we got on the train to take us back to Manhattan. A lot of the Bronx stations had these beautiful stained glass windows, I thought they were amazing what a cool little treasure to be found amongst all the spray painted buildings.

 Later that night I made a very patriotic fruit pizza. Very delicious!

 We went up to our Sun terrace to watch some fireworks. There were fireworks going off all around the island. We were hoping to see THE new york fireworks but they were too far away so we went back to our apartment and watched them on TV. They were just as small as they were from our sun terrace so we didn't feel like we missed out on them.

 We have had a blast so far in New York there is so much to do and to see. I wish I had more energy to go out  and be outside all day to see things but it is so hot and Walter is a pretty heavy guy so we enjoy an occasionally site seeing trip but mostly short walks around the area. luckily there is a ton of stuff to do just right around here. 

New York City!

We are finally here! Our little family has been so excited for this trip! We have loved the time that we spent with the Chenn family! I miss them already but I am so excited for them as they have new adventures in Utah.

Since we have been here we have loved trying different foods and going to new places. I never thought food could taste so good. More specifically, I have grown to have a love for pizza here. It is so different from our former favorite ( haha :) little ceasars) I could probably eat pizza by the slice all day here! In addition to our food extravaganza we have really loved seeing Walter grow up here. It is amazing what a few days with Maddy, Eva, and Owen can affect Walter. Of course I loved the constant battling over who could hold him and who would push him in the stroller (I never thought I would see an argument over that!) It was really cute and as a result I have them to thank for this cute little video.

Walter has definitely found his voice! My favorite is everyday I'll set him down to get something done and he will coo and goo and ga. It is a very welcome change. I cannot believe how much he has changed in just four months! We are excited to see what else is in store this next month.

So far I haven't done a lot of touristy things but have enjoyed being here and experiencing new things. This is a picture from our apartment. It is a beautiful view!

 Unfortunately what you do not see is a hospital right next to the white building so sadly I am realizing how loud it is here in NYC. The police and fire engine noises are so different from Utah. seriously! (that was for you marc and Theresa) I will have to record it sometime and play it for you. I am also positive that I have heard an alarm at least once every single hour here morning and night(I hope I get used to it soon) .....I hope Walter gets used to it soon. 

Today was my first real day without family and without Seth. It is just Walter and I during the week now. I decided to start our first day off with getting a new toy for Walter. So I went on craigslist and found a bumbo for five dollars. I went and picked it up today (my first time going anywhere without someone else) Here he is

I think he loves it...well at least for about five minutes and then I think it gets too hard for him to hold up that 'uge 'ead. When I went to get the bumbo I have started to realize how crazy the weather is here this morning it was pouring. It lightened up a bit when I went to get the bumbo. Then it was blue skies for a few hours and now it is pouring rain. Theresa has told me that this is pretty normal so I will just have to get used to it but for today I will stay inside and relax and make a plan for what I want to do for the rest of our time here. :)  If you have any advice for a mother touring NYC let me know.

Seth is enjoying his internship and is making a lot of friends :) I will probably have him post about it later.

we love our family and are thinking about you out here

A visit from The Kenney's!!

so last month Mary, Jared and Noah came out to visit! It was so good to see them and to spend so much time with them! They were busy busy out here in Utah building playgrounds and gazebos, recording stuff, catching up, and playing games. I did not get a family picture of them but did get a picture with Mary....arn't we so cute? That is Walter btw

Unfortunately, on the last day mary and jared were here in Utah I told Carol to get a picture of them playing games with the family (because I was busy with Walter) and these were the pictures she took.....

Mary playing games with seth's head in the photo

Mary busy playing games.....

  

Seth posing in a picture with Mary playing games in the background...

 

And finally a picture of them both playing games together!

 Hm...not sure she knew what I was looking for.....almost all of the family was over that night to say goodbye. fortunately for the sainsbury's it looks like we are the only ones who hung out with Mary :)

it has been difficult getting used to a new schedule with Walter and with not always having access to a car but I am getting the hang of things and I am excited to find more things to do.

I'm so tired.......


life has been awesome with our little guy, but I cannot believe how little sleep I get. To be honest it was much worse his first two weeks. Yet after reading a few baby books/web pages/ blogs, I feel like Walter should be sleeping better and longer. When is his schedule supposed to be seven hours of sleep consistently?

sometimes i get so frustrated but who can stay frustrated at a face like this...

Walter is our handsome little man and makes me thank my heavenly father for every second of everyday I get to see his smiling/crying/upset/hungry/ tired face. :)

Baby Walter

The greatest blessing to our family! Walter was 8lbs 11 oz, and today at week two he weighed in at 9 lbs 12 oz. I have a bad feeling that all of my babies will be born toddler sized. :)

We have been greatly blessed to have a lot of family to love and support us! Thank you to everyone who called, visited, and prayed for us! We definitely needed the help.

Here are a few pictures for those who haven't been able to cuddle this handsome boy yet!

we would have posted a picture of us going into the hospital but i was in a lot of pain and probably would have yelled at seth if he would have suggested a photo op.

so here is a picture of us five days before walter was born, this was the day we celebrated Seth's birthday at the Call's Sunday dinner. I made a cake and specifically decided not to focus in on it; however, you will notice that it is present in the picture. it may or may not have looked very similar to the cake that Hagrid made for Harry Potter.

So I never thought I would walk into the hospital when I would be having labor contractions but I did. Seth offered to pull up to the front and get a wheelchair but I was too worried that the nurses were going to check me and I would be dilated to a two like at my doctors apt four days earlier. I was in pain for sure, every 4-5 min lasting 30 seconds but I guess Hollywood makes everything look a lot more dramatic.

This is us, probably an hour before delivery! Look how happy we are, I would have been screaming at this point had it not been for the epidural. I did notice before the epidural that with my contractions I felt a lot better if I just didn't talk, move, or think. Once I got the epidural I could not believe how good I felt! 

I pushed for about twenty minutes and yay! we became parents to a healthy baby boy

post hospital pictures.....

we were trying to get a good picture of him next to this cute rhino we were given by Sherie Dotson and couldn't quite put him next to it so here is our best attempt to measure 1 week old walter

Amanda and Chase came and visited with their two precious children yesterday. We just had to get a picture of the two baby cousins. Baby walter is a few weeks younger than baby logan but I can see him outweighing his cousin very soon.....

Last but not least! Seth is the cutest dad! he is always so willing to help out with the baby even at 3 in the morning when he has class at 8 am! I love him and I am so grateful for a husband that loves hanging out with his baby boy