Vacation

We are taking a trip . . .

in THREE days!!

We are very excited about this trip!

Because. . .

We are going to DISNEYLAND!!

We got this package in the mail

 open it up to find an envelope which says, "Your Happier Is Here"

 And all the goodies inside!

 Four 3-day park hopper tickets! (the fourth one is for my mom because Isaiah is still 2 and therefore FREE!) and four meal passes to eat with the characters at Goofy's Kitchen!

We also decided to splurge for the photopass+ so we don't miss a thing!

We will be going on August 18th and are staying through the 21st. I am so excited to be able to take the boys to the happiest place on earth!

Our Anniversary!

Three years ago today Heath and I were married!
It's hard to believe it was only 3 years ago. It feels like we have been through so much together, in marriage, and yet we are only hitting year 3. We have learned and grown so much together. I look back at all we have been through and it makes me proud to say we are still together, still married, we still love eachother, and we love our children dearly.
Looking ahead, I am excited to spend another year figuring out this journey we are on. I pray that we find more time for eachother, more time with our family. I pray that our relationships with God flourish both together and separately. I am excited to carry on and Love my Husband :)

Just us . . . 

Our Journey to our Family . . .

We Make Life Fun . . .

MIA

I have to appologize for being MIA for over a month now. I realize, after reading my last few posts, that I left in a pretty rotten spot in our lives. I guess I owe you all a little catch-up on what has been going on since my last posts.

Owen had a pretty scary hospitalization last month. My head was not in a good place and Owen was extremely sick. He was fighting a terrible infection and his body was taking a beating. Amazingly, once they removed his broviac, the infection was cleared quickly with antibiotics. It showed us that the infection was clearly growing in the broviac and probably had been for several months. They were able to place a new broviac after only 4 days. He came home soon after that on antibiotics.

Since Owen's last hospitalization, Heath and I have been trying to get our life back on track. We have had a very personal and very emotional month. The roller coaster we ride on is never ending but we are learning to cope with the aches, pains, and nausia that come along with riding a roller coaster that doesn't stop. Our family life is starting to slow down and feel a little more "normal". This blog is usually my escape, my place to talk about our struggles and daily battles. However, the past month I couldn't really understand my own throughts and feelings. We have been through a lot and I thank everyone who reads for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

I am now back to the swing of things and will be blogging more regularly again. Stay tuned . . . my blog post tomorrow will include some pretty cute pictures!

The Future?

Owen had a GI appointment yesterday. It was a meeting he had about a million times last year. 

Last week, after Owen's antibiotic was completed we changed his formula from neocate infant to neocate jr. We have been trying to get him on neocate jr for probably about a year now. Neocate Jr starts at 30calories/ounce. Owen came home from the NICU on neocate infant at 22calories/ounce. Up until last week, he was on 27calories/ounce. A lot of things go into why it has taken so long to increase his calorie intake. The main reason being that his bowel simply cannot absorb the calories when they are given in larger quantities. I wish I could go into it all, but really, you just need to know that every calorie/ounce is a huge step for Owen.
When we switched Owen to the neocate jr last week, his belly began to be more distended and gassy. He started to throw up daily, which is what he was doing about every couple months before we started TPN at home. He hasn't had a GI upset in a while, but the neocate jr was a huge step that, I guess, he wasn't quite ready for.
Before, when Owen would have a GI upset, he would be in the hospital getting poked countless times so that they could keep him hydrated as his gut had time to rest. Now, he has his broviac and is on TPN so he has not had to be hospitalized, Thank God! For now, he is on a pedialyte only diet until Thursday and then we will add a cup of formula a day.
Next monday, Owen will have an endoscopy so that they can get samples of the bacteria growing in his intestine. They are hoping to get the exact bacteria that continue to cause his gass and distention so that they can better tailor his medications.

This appointment really got me thinking.

Owen goes back and forth. We know that. I guess we were just hoping that something would be more "normal" by now. Our life is centered around when the next doctor visit is, when his next sickness will come, etc. We will live like this as long as Owen needs us to but at what point do we try to accomplish our goals while living day-to-day, hour-by-hour. With the new year and thinking about what we want to accomplish this year, I can't help but think of all the things Heath and I want to accomplish as a family, as a couple, for our future. Many of these things seem to be unreachable. We have been trying to figure out how to move forward in life while keeping everything Owen needs. Maybe there is nothing more we can do for now but we are thinking about it a lot lately. Maybe living day by day, hour by hour, will be the best thing we can do for Owen. I'm not sure. I just feel like we should be doing more.
There are two huge things that are always in the back of our minds but seem to be things we won't be able to accomplish, at least in the near future.

I would love for Heath to finish his education. How can that happen? We need to support a family. I could go back to work but we would have to hire and train a Nanny which might cost more than its worth. Plus, when Owen is in the hospital, do you think I will be at work? No way!

I would love to get our own place to live. This can't really happen until Heath has a better job, a career, something we can count on. We are so blessed by my mother who is letting us live with her rent free, while basically taking over her whole house, but it would be nice to have our own space and be able to use Grandma as a babysitter every once in a while.

These two things will continue to be in the back of our minds. Hopefully we will find a way to accomplish them but we have to keep Owen's health at the top of our list.

One Busy December 2010

I know this is a little late but - better late then never :)

1. Dec 6th - OUR FIRST ANNIVERSARY!

Looking back on our last year I see so many wonderful moments, scary moments, lean-on-me/lean-on-you moments, sad moments, exciting moments. We have been through so much together already. Looking back I only get excited for our many more years together. I thank God for such a wonderful husband. Heath, thank you for all that you do for me and for our children. I am so excited to see you with them as they grow up :)
For our anniversary my mom was nice enough to take the day off and watch the kids. Heath and I went up the hill and played in the snow, then we went to see Tangled in 3D. To top the day off, we went to dinner at applebees and did what we used to do before we had kids, played cards. Once you have kids to bring with you to dinner, you don't really have much time for cards lol.

the drive up to the lake a nice shot of us and the lake :)


having fun in the snow, we were making snowballs like buddy the elf!

a little time for cards at applebees :)

2. Dec 6th - Owen is officially one year old!

Owen was due on Dec 6th of last year. So, although he was almost 16months old on December 6th, he was really only 12months old. I love my little boy so much. He has been through so much in his first year of life. I only hope that 2011 brings health and easy living :)

3. CHRISTMAS! in Sonora

This Christmas was very special in our house. It was Isaiah's first Christmas, Carson (my nephew)'s first Christmas, and Owen's first Christmas home. It was so great to look around at all the little boys with Christmas presents all around them as they sit in their Christmas pajamas. Owen had such a great time with the wrapping paper. Santa even brought Owen a red wagon. We took him outside with it right away. Nobody was on the road so Heath took Owen in the wagon down the road - he loved it!

Our Family Stockings

Owen and Isaiah - Yay Christmas clothes :)

Isaiah under the tree - our little present

Owen opening presents - he had so much fun!

Owen's wagon from SANTA

Merry Christmas

Love, The Hill Family

4. CHRITMAS! in Diamond Bar

We had a great time with Heath's family in and around Diamond Bar. We got to spend lots of time with all the little ones! Can you believe there are 7 grandkids under 4 years old?! Lots of fun :) We drove down on the 23rd after spending the day with my mom for her birthday. We arrived at Heath's parents house around 10p.m.

The next day we just got to hang out with the family. Heath's Dad was still in the hospital due to his week of chemo. Heath and his mom went to visit him in the hospital. Meanwhile, Me, Holly, Heidi, Dustin, and all the kids stayed at the house. We found out that Heath's Dad would be home later that night. We were so happy for him to be home. He needed some rest so the rest of us stayed down stairs watching movies, drinking hot chocolate and finishing up last minute christmas things. Heidi was making an apron for one of her Aunts so I got to learn a little about using a sewing machine :)

The next morning we woke up to Christmas day! Hadyn, Heidi's 2 year old daughter, was so excited to see all the presents. We spent the morning in our PJ's again, drinking hot chocolate (at least Heath's mom and I were drinking it lol). We all waited for Holly, Donny, Sienna, Chase, and Cambria to arrive so we could open presents from eachother. The kids went first, opening all their presents. When we were done with presents, the chaos began :) We all got everything together to go to the next destination for Christmas day, Heath's Dad's parents house for Christmas lunch. I hadn't met most of the family on this side so I was excited to meet them all. We had a really great time with his Grandparent's and other family members. They had a lot of traditional games they played, I'm sure, each year. Next, we had to drive over to Heath's Mom's parents house (meme and pepe) for Christmas dinner. I had met most of this side of the family before so it was good to get to see them again. I had a great time getting to know the traditions there. I just love getting to know all the different Christmas traditions. I grew up going to many different Christmas' so it was fun to learn more traditions. We got home extremely late and the kids were extremely tired.

We had planned to go to the Church Heath went to growing up but Owen (our alarm clock lol) didn't wake us up in time. We woke up late but Heath still wanted to see everyone. So, we went to church anyway (we got there when church ended). Everyone was very excited to see Heath and meet his family. They hadn't met me, Owen, or Isaiah yet. Heath had a lot of fun showing me around and telling me different stories from when he was growing up. We went home and the rest of the day was just filled with spending time with the family. Relaxing and talking with eachother.

We needed to leave on Monday but we decided we didn't need to leave until about 2 or 3. Heidi, Dustin, the girls, and Harmony and Travis left around 11am to go sailing. So, after some time hanging out with the family on Heath's mom and dad's bed, they headed out. Heath and I stayed and got to spend some time with his parents alone before we had to leave. It was good to get some alone time with both of them. I know Heath was happy to spend as much time with his dad as possible.

(We didn't take ANY pictures during our trip - how crazy?!? - I hope to put some up if I can get any from the family)

5. New Years Eve

On New Years Eve Owen was not feeling well. Heath and I decided to stay home with our family. My mom, sister, and brother-in-law all went to bed early (so did we). Heath was tired from working. I stayed up to watch the ball drop. I woke Heath up when it turned midnight to wish him a happy new year. He kissed me, said happy new year, and went right back to sleep :) I sat there in bed, next to my husband. Isaiah was sleeping in his bassinet, and Owen was sleeping in his crib in the next room. I couldn't help but think about what I was doing the same time last year. Heath and I were in bed. Heath was sleeping and I called the NICU and told the nurse to wish my baby a happy new year. Wow, what a year. I have two babies home with me as I lay next to my husband asleep in bed. I am so thankful for this moment. It was a wonderful feeling.

Happy New Year

Have a wonderful 2011!

Happy 21st Birthday Heath!

Today is my husband's 21st birthday! Can you believe it? He is so excited about turning 21. It got me thinking about what we were doing and who we were this time last year. Wow. Lots to think about. 1 year ago today we were very different people. We were just little kids not knowing what the next year would bring. 11 days later our son was born 4months early and we were taken for a ride. God knew what we needed to learn and just how we were going to learn it. We have grown in the Lord, as individuals, and as a couple so much in the past year. I am so proud of the Man Heath has become. He is so proud of his family and works very hard to support us.

Heath,
Thank you for all that you do for your family. Watching you each day with Owen brings joy to my life. We have been through a lot in the past year and I am so proud of how we have turned it into a positive learning experience. Every day is a challenge but you keep me strong and positive. You have taught me to take life as it comes and to stop worrying about what might happen in the future and I thank you for that. You are the most amazing husband anyone could ask for. Thank you for all your love and support. May God lead us each day closer to Him and closer to each other. I look forward to the many years ahead with you by my side. I love you very much.
Kathleen

26 weeks and counting :)

We are now 26 weeks~ yay! We have officially passed Owen's gestational age when he was born. We know that each day is a blessing. It means so much because they grow so much even in a day. I now look at the pictures of Owen. It helps me to see how great it is to be able to hang on to baby Isaiah a little longer. Here is a picture of Owen when he should have been 26 weeks.

I am so thankful we have made it another week. I went to the doctor today and he said I am still dilated. Thankfully no more than I was last week. My doctor will be gone next week but I have an appointment at the birth center. They will hook me up to machines and monitor the baby and I for a couple hours. They will also do a test that somehow shows them if I will go into labor in the next two weeks. Its some kind of hormonal test that is new but prevents me from having to stay in the hospital. My doctor really believes in it and I trust him.

I finally took a couple pregnancy pictures. I feel fat so I don't like to take a lot of pictures but here are a couple.
We are such proud parents :) We just had to take a couple FUN pictures lol

as you can see. . . proud

On another note: Owen is doing sooo great! Each day I get up and still can't believe he is home. He is 9 months old now and has been home for over a month. He loves to stand up (not on his own) his face just gets this cute proud look on his face. He is also getting better at sitting up. Here are a few recent pictures of my awesome little man.

such a serious face :)

standing up with a little help ~ such a proud boy

Auntie Kassidy playing with Owen. He was laughing so hard at her. I think he is excited to be a big brother :)