Ashtyn's Blessing Day

October 9th, 2011

Have you ever seen a more beautiful baby girl?! Ashtyn's blessing day was so good. We had a huge turnout of family and friends. We had the pleasure of having Jake's brother, Travis, bless Ashtyn. This was extra special in that he was able to give Ashtyn her name, Ashtyn Arianna Lane. Travis is the father of a very special little girl that we all lost last year. We have the great honor of naming our little girl after an Angel, Arianna Lane. I will forever be grateful that Travis was willing and able to do this for us.

We had most of both of our families in attendance for her blessing. It was great. After her blessing, we invited everyone to our home and had cupcakes and juice. It was great to visit and mingle with everyone all together.

Ashtyn had a little bit of everyone in her blessing attire. Her beautiful dress was made by Jake's mom, her slip was made by my Grandma Bottema for me when I was blessed (so she had a part of me in her slip,) her booties were made by me, and she had two blessing blankets, one made by my Grandma Coates and the other made by my mom. It was amazing to have that many people contribute to such a gorgeous blessing gown and blankets. I am very appreciative to all who took the time to make such beautiful items. I know that a lot of love and patience went into each piece.

Helmet Baby!

I haven't taken the time to do a specific blog on Ashtyn's helmet. These first couple of pictures are of when we had to go have her casted for the helmet. They took a woman's nylon sock and cut a small whole for Ash's face and arms. They put that over her head and then wrapped the cast stuff around that. She did ok, until they had to hold her head completely still while the cast was hardening, which was only about two minutes total. But by the time they were done taking it off, she was VERY mad. She cried the whole time we were putting her clothes back on and then whimpered the entire way home. She doesnt even act like that when she gets her shots. We have had her helmet for just over a month now, and she is doing pretty good with it. She was doing fantastic, we were up to sleeping in it. But then she got a really bad cold that lasted 14 days, and now we have to start the transition period over. She does really good with it during the day, even taking naps. But then when it comes to sleeping during the night with it, she sweats really bad. Just now I had to go take it off of her and she was literally dripping sweat off the back of her head. The doctor told us that sleeping at night might take more adjusting to because of the sweating. Since we dont have control over the heat, our room is either hot or cold. There isnt very often an in between.

Even with the setbacks we have had with her helmet, we can totally see a difference in the shape of her head. She is starting to have a round head instead of completely flat. I am pleased with the results so far and we still have a long road ahead of us.

I love that her helmet still looks so cute on her. She definitely wears it with style. :-) I like to put bows and flowers on the side to cover up the strap that keeps the helmet tight. It gives her a little bit of bling. I also have some vinyl and I want to make some cute lettering and symbols to put on it, I just haven't done that yet.

I cant wait until she doesnt have to wear it anymore and we will have this beautiful (not that she isnt already... I think so anyways...) round little head to admire.

Mmm... Oreo Pizza

Steph, Ashtyn and I went out to lunch on Thursday and we went to Pizza Pie Cafe. As of lately, that's a favorite of mine... and obviously... for Ashtyn too! As soon as she saw the oreo pizza she was grabbing for it. She LOVED it!!

It has been so much fun to be able to give her other foods. It's really neat to see her personality come out already in things that she does and doesn't like. My mom gave Ashtyn a sippy cup and all that I put in that is water, but she knows how to drink from it already and seems to really like it! When she is taking baths we take her sippy in their with us and she drinks from it the whole time she is bathing... (we put clean, bottled water in her sippy. Not bath water :-))

Other things that we have noticed her liking is pizza crust, crackers, fruit flavored baby food, spaghetti noodles (or anything long and stringy,) Pedialyte (Jake keeps wanting to buy this for her for a TREAT, as if she would know that's what it was...)

I cant wait to see what other things she becomes interested in!

8 Months

Our little miss Ashtyn is now 8 months old. Time is FLYING by! I can't believe it! She is the light of everyday for both Jake and I. We love that little girl more than we could have ever imagined we would. She has such a special little spirit. I love her cute little coo's and giggles. She has been such a happy little girl.

Ashtyn is still catching up to her age though, ha ha. She isn't sitting on her own yet, she is barely rolling from side to side. She gets those little legs going though when she is on her tummy, she just doesn't know that she needs to pick her arms up too. She looks like she is flying when she does it.

To celebrate her 8 month birthday, Ashtyn got to have a cold, a pretty bad one. I say this and some mom's probably think "oh you have no idea...." but this is her first time being really sick, so for us this is extreme. :-)

Jake and I don't really have anything new going on in our lives that I need to catch up on. We are both pretty boring people... but shhh... Dont tell him I said that with him included! :-)

We are still living in Grandpa & Grandma's basement apartment, and it's nice to be so close to them. We have been there to help them numerous times, as they have with us. I love being close to family.

Lately I have had this addiction to Pinterest, and I have created a few "crafty organized chaos" type messes. I think that I may be pushing Jake out of every space that he could possibly have. It will be so nice when we have a bigger place where we both can have our spaces. Mine will fill up quickly!!

Jake is still working for McNeil Printing and seems to like it for the most part. He delivers paper products to their clients. He gets to do alot of driving which allows him to spend alot of time listening to his book app on his phone. I am proud of him for taking interest in a book, even if it is being read to him. He has also started school at Stevens Henegar for Computer Technology. He is going to be so good at that. He has a real talent when it comes to computers, and he loves to do it. I cant wait for the next 3 years of schooling to go by so that he can be doing something that he truly enjoys.

There isnt much else to blog about right now. I really need to get back into the groove of this. I love doing it, and I would love to be able to have enough things that I can actually have enough to print at the end of the year.

Eight month pictures are soon to come! We have a hot date set up with some amazing photographers!

Ashtyn is ROLLING ... Yay!!

Our little girl is getting so big!! December 13th was her latest milestone. She started rolling on her own, to her tummy and back to her back. Its so weird to see her doing something like that. I still picture her as our little NICU baby weighing 4 lbs.



Being her mom has been the neatest most rewarding experience I have ever had. I love that little girl so much, more than words can express. She has so much personality and spunk. Lately she is starting to do more and more and it is amazing!! We both love her and cant imagine our life without her.
This past week has been a busy one, Jake has had a few different family members in town so we have had a lot of late nights. Vicki and Jaden are here from Alaska until Tuesday, December 20th. What a delight they are. We love seeing them. They had to fly out because Jaden has been having numerous seizures again and again, they don't know why. She has to come back in March to have another brain surgery. While we are excited to be able to see Vicki and her family more often that we normally would, we wish it was under better circumstances.
Jake and Kim & Travis and Haley with their families came up from St. George to spend time with everyone, that was nice getting together. Bobbi has had a hopping house while everyone has been here. What troopers they are for being so welcoming and willing to open their home to relatives. Spending time with family this time of year is always a little more enjoyable because you are more focused on what this season is for.
Jake has had an interesting past few days, yesterday morning he woke up early (5:30 am) to use the bathroom, and a few moments later I heard a very loud bang and then another one immediately after. I ran to the bathroom and he had passed out. He was sitting on the floor and didnt know what had happened. He hadn't been locking his knees, he said that he was moving trying to get the feeling to go away and then he held onto the bathroom counter to prepare himself, and blacked out. That is the third time he has done that in the past year or so. Its very worrisome. He went on to have a pretty normal day for the rest of it. He went to work with no incidents, came home, visited with family, worked out, etc. At the end of the day he went to take a bath and all of a sudden got a bloody nose. This would be the second one in the past two days. But this bloody nose was the grand mal of bloody noses. It bled with a steady stream for over an hour. We took him to the American Fork ER, where he was told that he had extremely high blood pressure (getting up to 186/90.) They did an EKG and checked all sorts of blood tests. Everything was coming back normal. We have a follow up appointment on Monday and hope that that may be able to answer some questions. The ER doctor did tell us that Jake may have a syndrome that causes you to pass out when urinating, but he didn't want to diagnose that until other things had been eliminated. How random... its looking like Jake may have to adapt to "sitting and peeing" like us girls!
Tomorrow is the Coates' Christmas party, and I am very much looking forward to it. It is always great to get together with everyone and visit. We only do it once a year where everyone is able to come. Even Uncle Rick and his family will be coming. There are a few that wont be able to be there. Uncle Mike and his family are out of state, Uncle Kelly is an inmate but will hopefully be with us for the next party, and Dad (Travis) is .... working.
I love Christmas, especially since I now have a little angel to celebrate with and for. I am so excited to have a child and be able to share this special season with her.
I know there is a lot to put in this blog, but I am severely behind and need to work on getting caught up. There may be a few posts of randomness!!

Our Beautiful Baby Ashtyn Arianna

I was able to work for almost three weeks. And then on Wednesday June 1st,2011 I was experiencing what I thought was just a bad back ache. I went to bed really tired. I woke up in the middle of the night to relieve my bladder, which had become a very normal thing for me to do. I remember checking the clock and it was 4 am. I was thinking that it sucked that I was going to have to get up in two hours to get ready for work. I was laying in bed when all of a sudden, my pants were soaked. I thought I had peed my pants. I got up and changed and attempted to go back to bed again. And again, my pants were soaked. At this point I woke Jake up and we headed to the hospital where we were told that my water had broke and we would be having baby Ashtyn six weeks early.

I was overwhelmed with feelings of excitement and fear. Fear for my baby that was coming into the world too early, fear for myself because I didnt know what to expect with childbirth, fear for Jake and myself on becoming new parents, and excitement to finally be meeting the little girl that had been kicking me in the ribs for the past few weeks. My labor was short and sweet, unlike what the doctor and nurses had told us to expect. I was told that I would be in labor for a few hours. I made the decision to get an epidural,which was a very interesting experience. The anesthesiologist had to put mine in twice because I couldnt relax enough for him to get it into the right spot. Once he did, it did its magic. It was then that I was told to expect a few hours until my labor would start progressing. Jake needed to run home (which was about 10 minutes away from the hospital) to get our cell phone chargers and a few other things from home. He was gone for about 15 minutes before I started to feel a slight pressure, the nurse came in and checked me and said that I was to the point that I could start pushing. I had to wait for Jake to get back and once he was there, I pushed for about 10 minutes, and then Ashtyn was here!

She was born at 2:06 pm on June 2nd, 2011. Born at 4 lbs 10 oz and 16 1/2 inches long. She looked beautiful. What a miracle!!

My mom got to cut the umbilical cord and she was soo happy to be able to do that!!!!

Ashtyn was born with only slight breathing problems. Our respiratory therapist was Mr. Bentley's wife from Sanpete. It was so awesome to have someone that I was so close to be there to take care of my baby. I knew that she was in good hands. I gave birth to Ashtyn at American Fork Hospital. The pediatrician that was on call said that they were going to give Ashtyn some surfactanct to help keep her lungs inflated and they would put her on a CPAP in hopes that that would be all that she needed to help improve her breathing. Unfortunately, he felt that she was going to need a respirator inserted to help her progress to the point of breathing on her own. American Fork Hospital didnt have the capability to keep her there with her needs, so they made the request to have her transported up to IMC Medical Center in Murray. So a few short hours after she was born, she was taken away from us. I had to stay the night in the AF hospital, and let my little newborn be taken by herself up to IMC. The next morning I was very anxious to get released so that I could get up to the other hospital and be with my baby. When we arrived at IMC, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that Ashtyn had only needed the respirator for the ambulance ride up to the hospital, and hadnt needed any other oxygen supports since then. She was progressing so well! The IMC hospital had parent rooms that we were able to stay in for free while Ashtyn was critical. I cannot begin to express what a blessing that was. I spent as much time with her as I could. I couldnt get enough of her. She was perfect!! Once she started to really gain weight, the doctors made the choice to transport Ashtyn back to American Fork hospital where she was able to be closer to home. We were so glad to have her so close. She only had to spend 17 days in the NICU between the two hospitals and then she was able to come home! Jake received a fantastic Father's Day present, his baby girl came home! We were very anxious to have her home with us, but nervous at the same time. The first few days at home were very nerve racking, every little sound that she made, I was there by her side to make sure that she was still alright. At nearly 2 and a 1/2 months, I cant say that that has really changed :-). She is my perfect little baby and I simply cannot get enough of her. I love every day that I get to spend with her, and I am so grateful that she is doing so well. She is such a little trooper, and I cant help but to think that that blessing is coming from her sweet guardian angel, Arianna. We are so blessed to be able to name our baby after such a sweet little girl. I know that our baby was able to spend time with Ari while they were in Heaven together, and I hope that that bond is held throughout Ashtyn's life.

I am very excited for the opportunity we have to be Ashtyn's parents, I am excited for the journey that we have started. I love my little girl more than I could ever express. She is so perfect in every way!

Our Life as of Lately... and the Past year!

Well Hello Blogger World!!! I think that it has been way too long since I have made a visit :-) I have so much that I have to catch up on.

This past year has gone by in a blur! My last blog post was announcing my first pregnancy,well that pregnancy was very short lived. I miscarried at 7 weeks. I know that I wasn't that far along, but it was a very rough time. For those of you that have had the unfortunate experience of a miscarriage you know that you feel the biggest feeling of loss and disappointment.

Shortly after my miscarriage, Jake and I moved to Ketchikan, AK. We drove the car on a 17 hour drive to Bellingham, WA, where we boarded the Ferry. It was a 3 day ferry trip from there to Ketchikan.

These are just a few of the pictures that we have from our ferry ride. We had alot of fun on the ship. It was like a mini cruise. We didn't want to pay $250 plus a night for a mini sized room to sleep in, so we slept in the theater room. They had cushions on the seats that came off and we used them as pads. I unfortunately, get motion sickness really easily and had to live on Dramamine. We met alot of neat people on the ferry ride, alot of them were retired people that we just traveling.

We arrived in Ketchikan on August 29, 2010. We were greeted by a very welcoming Ron and Vicki. It was so good to see them. I immediately started working the next day and The Gateway Center for Human Services as a Behavior Health Associate. That was an experience that I will forever be grateful for. I learned to be very appreciative of my health. I worked with many people that were struggling with mental, substance and physical abuse, and ages that ranged from preschool to adults. There were some clients that would come into our office so sad, and after having just an hour of therapy from any of our therapists, they would leave with a huge load removed from their shoulders. It was great to be part of such an amazing team of people.

We were welcomed into a great LDS ward, and we enjoyed every Sunday that we had there. They were all so great. I was called to be a primary teacher for the 7-8 year olds, and I loved it. Those kids taught me more about the Gospel than I did them.

Since I had had my miscarriage, we had been trying again to conceive, and in October of 2010, I had a positive pregnancy test. I was soooo excited. I was really nervous though, I didnt want to get myself excited and have the disappointment that followed if I were to miscarry again. I didnt tell anyone that I was pregnant until about 12 weeks along. That was a very hard secret to keep. I scheduled my first appointment and was very relieved to see a strong heartbeat. Our baby was real! That first ultrasound just looked like a little lima bean, but it was still sooo dang cute!

Soon after finding out that I was pregnant, I came down with a severe case of bronchitis. I was coughing non-stop day and night. And then I got another round of kidney stones... or so I thought! Jake had me go the ER for my coughing and pain from "kidney stones," after a quick urine test, I was told that I was only experiencing tendon stretching from being pregnant. Boy was I embarrassed. :-) They sent me home with an inhaler for my bronchitis and said to stick out with the back pain. I had spent the last week sleeping on the hardwood floor because it relieved my "kidney stone" pain. Ha ha!

I had the idea that i was going to try and do a natural birth with no drugs, but I was soon faced with reality when I found out that there would not be an option for an epidural if I stayed in Alaska. We made the decision to move back to Utah, not only because of the epidural, but that did play a HUGE part in the decision. We purchased plane tickets for me and ferry tickets for Jake and the car. The family flew Brian out to Alaska for Thanksgiving so that he could ferry back with Jake. We enjoyed a very good Thanksgiving holiday with Ron and Vicki, it was a nice send off for us. We thoroughly enjoyed spending the time that we did with them. It was great to get to know them, since I hadnt really gotten the chance before that.

The flight home was miserable, I was in the middle of my bronchitis which meant I had lots of nasal plugging. Taking off and landing made my ears pop and snap, which was very painful. The trip couldnt have gone faster. I was very relieved when I landed in Salt Lake.

Soon after moving back to Utah, my grandparents offered their basement apartment to us. That was such a great thing for us at the time, we were struggling to find Jake or myself employment. Little did we know, that was going to be nearly a 7 month battle.

In January we had to experience the loss of our niece, Arianna Lane. She had been fighting a nearly two year battle with LCH, and she lost that struggle in January. We were able to spend many hours with Ari and her family at Primary Children's hospital in Salt Lake. We were able to get to know Ari's sweet spirit, which is why we asked Travis and Haley's permission to name our baby after theirs.

For Valentines Day, my mom and Jake took me to Fetal Studios in South Towne Mall. We were there to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. It didnt take long for the technician to see that we were having a girl!! My mom had been telling me throughout the pregnancy that I would be having a girl, so all she could say was I told you so. Jake and I were both excited, it just took Jake a little longer to realize it!!

The next few months went by really quick and fairly smoothly. I made the decision to go back to Kroger in May and I was planning on working up until I had the baby, which was supposed to be nearly 8 weeks. But our little Ashtyn had other plans.