It's past my bedtime...

I am going to try to get to bed between 9 and 9:30 for the next couple of weeks, I really am a happier person on more sleep... but I thought I should at least give a few details of what went down last Thursday.

My water broke at 3am and my mom came over to stay with Tyler. I got an epideral and some pitosin and had Ella by 1:00 pm. She latched right on- which is so much different than Tyler and has been eating pretty well for the last four days. I quickly ate some food right after and threw it up right away. Best to wait a little while next time- but I was so hungry. Anyway, The rush of events flooded and before we knew it- it is Monday night and things are getting to be some kind of calm. Thanks to my mom for taking Tyler all day, Ella and I worked on feeding all day today... I had to take her in for a bili test to see what her levels where... she is ok, but if she is still yellow on Wed, i will have to get lights and more blood work. She only spent a half day under the lights at the hospital - Unlike Tyler who spent a week and a half in the suitcase in our kitchen.

THanks for all the support and comments. I am sorry I am not calling everyone and sometimes it takes me a while just to return a phone call but I will get there. We are a happy family and I will pray for lots of patience as I think Toby is the most needy kid around here right now!!!

Ella's little foot with a couple bruises from drawing blood.

Welcome Home Ella

It's official. Baby Girl's new name is Ella Lynn Balls. She came home from the hospital with Amy Friday night, and since they won't let you leave without filling out the birth certificate papers we talked Tyler into changing her name from Ovaltine to Ella.

New Baby

Baby girl or as Tyler calls her (Ovaltene) was born today 3/27/08 at about 1 PM.
7 lbs. 8 ozs. and 19 in. long.
Mom and baby are doing well.

when it rains it...

I wont say it pours but it sure has been sprinkling on us. This baby WILL BE coming out soon and I will definately get induced if she goes late- but besides that we have had other fun activities going on. I have been battling a cold/sore throat/sick to my stomach for a week. Darren now has a sore throat also with a runny nose, Tyler just got over his runny nose. Our garage door broke and we had to replace the whole thing today. Then this evening, Darren was fixing his bike outside- Tyler just couldn't resist the wheels and pedals - Well, he was rotating the front tire, got his finger caught and luckily just sliced it really good- Thank goodness for that Easter candy- you cant cry and scream when you have a huge chocolate in your mouth. We dont think it is broken and the cut goes all the way from one side if his finger nail to the other but no stitches needed.

So our blessings far out way the negative- We had Pat and Seth here on Saturday- I have attached a picture of the AMAZING quilt she made our baby girls (also knows as Ovaltine if you ask Tyler- that is what he wants to call her). The picture doesn't do it justice but my back hurts and my stomach is not right and I just want to go lie down, so this will have to work. It is so beautiful, and full of fun details.


My sister Rachel is here from Seattle and so Easter Sunday was great with lots of family and cousins around. Take care and cross your fingers that you will hear again from us by the end of this week about a baby girl named.... who knows.... we will see!!

Whitney- My sister in Laws good news

I just wanted to share the good news about Darren's brother- Jason and his wife Whitney- there son's name is Jackson. This is the update - the good update- she just sent us!!! YEAH!!!

I MADE IT...again! Well my 100th day came and went on March 15th which was a huge Huge day! It was a day I have been looking forward to for a long time. Over the last two weeks I have undergone all those dreaded tests including another bone marrow biopsy..ouch...a pet scan, chest x-ray and several standard tests and exams and physicals. Tomorrow I have my big conference with my doctor to go over the pet scan and plan the rest of the future. However so far all my tests have gone well. My bone marrow biopsy came back good showing no harm to my bone marrow and no disease. They did blood work and to tell how much of Jakes cells have taken over my body and the results were great Jake's cells are 100%! This was welcome news and as I made my calls to my family it was great to hear the joy everyone had for the news. My mom sobbed for five min before she could talk.....it was great. I have joked around to my family that I feel like a mutant with a different inside than an outside....I should have gotten some kind of superpowers...like Jake's ability to make a great gourmet meal with just the contents in your pantry sadly I didn't but Jason and Cami have both made the comment that "I am back" I guess by having food cravings again and becoming a more "fiesty" as they would say. I am grateful for this new chance but still feel overwhelming anxiety that things will turn out like they did last time. But as I have said over and over I just have to live one day at a time and not think to much of the future....because as it was said a long time ago the future will take care of itself. I have officially moved back to Logan. Before we moved back though Jack went to Grandma and Grandpa Balls and Jason and took off on a trip. We went Vegas and then onto Arizona to check out some PA schools for Jason and then to St. George. It was a quick trip but it was good to get away and to be in the warmth. It was good to get away, away for the doctors away for the cold and the worries. We had a good time and most of all I ate a lot! I have been losing weight at least two pounds every doctors visit which is every week but after the trip I had gained three pounds.....needless to say it was good for me and I give most of the credit to all the Inn N' Out burger joints we visited during out trip. I am still struggling with the energy and I have some Graft vs. Host stuff going on in my mouth and on my skin. I have good meds and the doctors are on top of things so they keep me comfortable. So for now things are good...We are all home together and just enjoying and treasuring that. Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day and I promise the more news I get I will update!

two pictures

The first one is of Darren and Nolan after the half marathon in Moab- Darren did great. I am so proud of his determination to do well. He ran the 13 miles in in under 8 minute miles. So he has 5 more weeks until he has to run double that.

The second one is of Tyler and I in Rachel and Robs moving van. Tyler was so nervous to get in it but so excited to be in it. But Rachel at least got on smile out of him.

Our yummy dinner

Today would be Darren appreciation day. I just wanted to let you all know what a good guy he is. He cooked all of Sunday dinner- but wait- let me tell you how yummy it was. We had a delicious roast that he cooked over the stove in a dutch oven with onions and carrots for like 3 hours. Then he made gravy out of the juice from that. Then delicious real mashed potatoes and broccoli with cheese and seasoning over it. Then for dessert we had cake and ice cream.

When Darren has the time, he really loves to cook and cooks good things. BUT sometimes good things take time so we did wait until 7 p.m. to eat dinner but I guess it is like the license plate that says, Always Late But Worth the Wait- He is one good cook- Probably thanks to working at the Cottage in Logan through High School

Other news- I still have 2-3 more weeks. I can now empathize with those who get to enjoy the last month of labor. Getting rounder, fatter, water retention and more eager are not things I experienced too much last time.

A real haircut

Well, Since Darren is in Moab running a half marathon (and mountain biking with Rob Hyldahl and sleeping on the hotel floor of Dan and Katie....) Tyler and I decided to have some fun. We stayed up late and visited with Rachel and Rob and their great dog Jolene. Tyler got to sit in their moving van- they are going from Boston to their new home- Seattle -and wow, Tyler just thought that was so neat to have a moving van in front of our house for two days.

But today we went and got a real haircut. I have cut/trimmed it a few times, but when I have to sit home and look at it every day, I just couldn't take it anymore. He looks very handsome. The lady put some gel in it and spiked it a bit and it looks so much better than my uneven lines. Hope Darren loves it when he comes home tonight.

skiing at Alta

Tyler had a good time skiing with his dad two weekends ago. (Thanks to the snowmobiles wizzing by and all the other kids skiing) So here is footage of Tyler's last run.

Skiing

We took Tyler skiing for his first time last weekend. He didn't like the ski boots (surprise) and didn't care too much to have his skis on either. Luckily for us there were a bunch of other youngsters skiing nearby and he wanted to ski like them. So we grabbed hold of the tow rope and away we went, (he did seem to enjoy the tow rope more than the skiing down hill part). In the end he seemed to have a fun time and he talks about going skiing all the time now so hopefully it was a success.