Post #2 for the week

We had a very busy March beginning with Shannon's unexpected arrival on February 28th. Conner's birthday was the 7th of March, Steve's birthday was on the 24th. Conner had surgery on March 17th, we had about 10 doctor appointments between everybody throughout the month and we moved on April 2nd. Still trying to get everything settled in our new house. 

Shannon did fail that hearing test on March 21st and was sent to a specialist to find out what was going on. The screenings done at the hospital are either pass or fail. They don't give you an understanding of what is going on. We didn't know if she was completely deaf or it was temporary. I was scared when I first heard the news not knowing if my daughter would ever hear my voice or if she would ever be able to speak Our family was incredibly supportive. We had a family fast the weekend before Shannon had her appointment with the specialist. We even had neighbors and friends join in. One of my sisters put Shannon's name in the temple in Dallas, we had a couple people put her name in the Timpanogas Temple and some friends put her name in some of the Salt Lake area temples. We were so humbled by everyone's kind thoughts and prayers. Steve and his dad gave her a blessing the night before the appointment. The test was done in Salt Lake and lasted a little over an hour and a half. We were grateful to find out that Shannon only has a partial hearing loss, a ten to fifteen percent loss. My first reaction was, oh that is great that is nothing. Then the audiologist had us listen to an audio recording of what a regular hearing person can hear and then had us listen to it again with the 10-15 percent hearing loss. I was very surprised, I couldn't hear all of the words and I had to concentrate so hard just to hear what he was saying. She said that Shannon will need hearing aids. We go back on April 21st for one more test and then we will get her hearing aids. I am grateful to know that she can hear me say how much I love her.

Conner's surgery went very well. It was done at Primary Children's. He has had a blister on his belly button pretty much since he was born. None of the doctors could give us a clear answer as to what was going on. Finally we were referred to Primary's and a surgery was scheduled for the following week. We knew Conner had a hernia that was needing to be fixed but weren't sure what else they were going to find. After it was all done the doctor came out and said that not everything had detached from the inside when his umbilical cord came off. That is what was causing the blister. He has a couple of scars and still lifts up his shirt to show everyone and says, "The doctor fixed it."

We also had Shannon's two week appointment and Conner's two year appointment. They are both doing well. At Shannon's two week her stats were: 

18 1/2 inches long-3%, 

6.3 lbs-3%, 

and 31.75 cm head circ.-3%. 

I don't think Conner ever had such low stats but, she was a preemie. 

Conner's two year stats:

28.14 lbs-50%

35" tall-75%

49.4 cm head-75%

Conner is a good size kid and is so intuitive. The other day I was sitting on the couch and was a little sad. He walked over to me and said, "What's the matter mom." I said, "nothing I am fine." Then he said, "Then why are you sad?" He is very aware of people's emotions.

My computer isn't reading my SD card so I can't upload pictures right now but believe me I have taken a lot and will hopefully be able to upload soon. Life with two kids isn't as hard as I expected it to be. Give it a few months and I am sure it will get harder because Shannon will be a little more demanding of my time. Conner seems to love Shannon. He is always asking to hold and cuddle her but he is starting to show some signs of jealousy. Yesterday he told me to put Shannon in the car seat and hold him. Shannon has had issues with acid reflux and has had a lot of gas so she needs to be sitting up and has needed to be held a little more to be comforted.

I love our new place. It is in American Fork. It has SO many windows which is really benefiting me right now. I need the light! My post partum depression hasn't been as bad this time around. I thought I was doing really well so I took myself off my meds for a week and then realized it wasn't me that was doing well. I plummeted and got back on my meds, now everything is wonderful. I am even excited to have more kids already, but I will wait on that so I can have some time with Shannon and just enjoy her since I missed out on this time with Conner because of my emotions.