Update No. 1.....

Once again, we have waited entirely too long to post any sort of update. And there’s a lot to update! We won’t do it all today, since there is so much, so be sure to check back for our other updates! (And since we are woefully behind on any pictures, I’ll just post a few random ones today)

First of all, WE’RE PREGNANT! I think most of our friends and family already know that, but it’s still worth announcing on here, I think =)

Our “due date” is December 10^th, and so far things have been going well! I had some pretty bad morning sickness for a while. Luckily, I’m not one to throw up, so there wasn’t any of that, but those of you who have experienced morning sickness know how debilitating it is, even when you aren’t actually throwing up. It was pretty awful, but the worst is past now, and things are going great.

We ended up choosing to go to a birth center close by, in Rigby, and so far, it has been the best choice EVER. After our experience in the hospital with Noah and the C-section, I knew that I wanted to keep away from the hospital, if at all possible, and birth completely naturally, VBAC and no interventions. And the center has been amazing! Every time I’ve come away from an appointment there, I’ve been so incredibly happy and excited, and the midwives are so wonderful – I’d recommend it to anyone in a second.

I am about 21 weeks along, but we won’t know the gender for a while. Because I am doing a VBAC, the birth center does an ultrasound at 36 weeks, to check for breech positioning, where the placenta is attached, etc., so that we can know what’s going on to prepare for the VBAC. That being said, the standard 20-week ultrasound isn’t strictly necessary for any reason, so if we want to have an extra ultrasound earlier than 36 weeks, so that we can know the gender, we have to pay for it out of pocket. So, we’ll be doing this the old-fashioned way for a while, staying in the dark as to the gender. But still hoping for a girl =)

(While I do have some strong opinions about birth, I’m not going to get into them here, so if you’d like to hear more about what they are and why I’m choosing to birth this way, feel free to ask me elsewhere =))

Scott graduated in April (yippeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!) so this summer has been great, having him home all morning for the first time…..uh, ever….so we’ve been able to actually have some time together as a family. We’ve had a lot of trips to Utah and family vacations, and we’ll update on those later. There’s too much to talk about on one blog post.

One thing that we want to mention: please take a look at the ad, on the right of the page, for Vivint. and the facebook contest that they are holding. They have a contest among various charity organizations around the country. Each region is competing within itself for a $100, 000 prize (cash). The Utah Prader-Willi Syndrome Association is a branch of the national Prader-Willi Syndrome Association, and they have been soooooo wonderful accepting us and Noah, and helping us to get all the help and support we need (and will need). The UPWSA won last year – it’s all done by voting on facebook, each and every day. The money is used to help with research and the enable the members (us) to meet with the various specialists that we need to, who can be quite expensive, as well as other important things. Funds like this are pivotal if organizations like the UPWSA are going to achieve their goals of helping and suppor

ting their members. If you are on facebook, please add us as friends, take a look at how to vote, and please help us get the votes that we need to win this! We are so close, and voting ends August 27^th. Thank you soooooo much!!!!

Check back soon! We’ll keep posting more frequently for a while, since we have so much to catch up on – love you all!

Big News for Noah

Prepare yourself, this is a long post…..

We know that it has been almost sinfully long since we’ve updated the blog. It’s really my fault, since I’m at home all day with Noah while Scott goes to school and works. But we’ve just been busy with a lot of things, that it kind of gets stuck at the bottom of our to-do list.

However, there have been some things going on with Noah that we feel need to be shared. I promise to put together an update on our entire family, soon, but this is more important.

As most of our family and friends know, we’ve had a lot of struggles with and concerns for Noah’s development, starting from birth. We struggled through a year and a half of not knowing or being taken seriously. Last November, I finally took some initiative and got in touch with the Infant Toddler Program (and it wasn’t easy, believe you me). It’s Idaho’s early intervention program. They have been simply wonderful – an answer to prayer. They came and did a full developmental assessment of him in November, and since then, things have been in full swing.

We have been working with a developmental specialist a few times a month, and she has helped us get in touch with a physical therapist that we’ve seen a few times. He will also soon be seeing an occupational therapist (other than the one at the hospital that we’ve been seeing since day 1) for an assessment of his oral motor skills, and hopefully, a speech therapist will be introduced soon, as well.

He’s been a part of the toddler-lab here at BYU-Idaho during this winter semester, which has been awesome. Not only do we get the break twice a week (a much-needed one), but he absolutely loves the interaction with the other toddlers, as there aren’t many kids his age in our ward or complex. They work closely with the Infant Toddler program, so they are great in helping him with his developmental delays, as well. And, we’re pretty sure that he will be able to participate again during this next spring semester.

Our service-coordinator helped us to arrange a couple different visits down at Primary Children’s Hospital in SLC to get some medical information flowing. First, we went to see an opthamologist for his crossed eyes. We took him to an optometrist here in Rexburg last year, and they put him in glasses, but there hadn’t been any improvements after six months. At Primary they got him the correct prescription, and it has worked wonders! Everyone at the toddler-lab immediately noticed huge differences in his focus and ability to participate. We still have a ways to go, but it has been great. We’ll be going down there again in May to check his progress.

Second, we went to see the pediatric neurologist at Primary. He was/is a wonderful doctor. That’s a rare occurrence, I’ve come to realize. He did an assessment of his developmental delays, and asked us a whole bunch of questions. Long story short, he asked us to have an MRI done, as well as two blood test for some more specific problems. The MRI is scheduled for May, after his opthomology appointment. The blood was taken about a week and half ago, and on Friday, we got the results.

Noah tested positive for Prader-Willi Syndrome (pronounced “praw-der willy”). Some of the people that we’ve talked to already knew what it was, but I had no idea what it was. It’s a rare genetic disorder that affects about 1 in 15,000 births, resulting from the deletion of certain genes from chromosome 15. There is a lot to it, and it’s a very life-altering syndrome, both for Noah and for us. The most severe problem is hyperphagia (compulsive hunger). The condition causes problems with the hypothalamus, where they cannot tell that they are full, and are obsessed with food and eating. It’s a serious cause of morbid childhood obesity. It’s not very commonly known within the medical field, as far as I can tell, which would explain why our doctors never thought to test for it, or took our concerns seriously. Reading about it is like reading about Noah – he has so many of the characteristics (for his age), it’s almost surreal how obvious it is. I asked our neurologist about the accuracy of the test, but he said that it’s at least 99% accurate. Sometimes they will do additional testing, but it’s usually not necessary – the symptoms speak for themselves and support the test result completely.

If you’d like to check out more about it, this is a really great site: http://www.pwsausa.org/ They have SO much information about it, in just the little that I’ve looked at so far. Go to the Be Informed tab, and check out the links at the bottom. There is a lot more to it that the very little that I have explained, especially when it comes to the future. Even the Wikipedia site is great, and gives a good rundown on the syndrome.

It looks like we have a very long road ahead. I don’t want to get too discouraged by it, because only time will tell how severely he will be affected, and we have been extremely blessed to be finding this out now, and not in two years, or ten. There is no cure, but there are interventions that can help us to keep it in check. The main one is administration of growth hormone, to help him gain muscle mass, which will help with his metabolism and his ability to grow (height). Otherwise, it will mostly be hard work on our part to condition ourselves in strict patterns of exercise, healthy eating, portion control, routines, etc., so that we are ready for his future problems with eating, which are almost guaranteed to come.

For now, things are going great. The hyperphagia hasn’t hit yet, so we have some time to research and prepare. It usually hits around 2-3 years old, from what we’ve read. He is still the most lovable, sweet, kind, and smiley little boy in the world. He is walking all over the place, close to running, signing a lot, and improving every day. If anything, Scott and I agree that our love for him has increased dramatically with this knowledge. We are so blessed to have been entrusted with his care, and while the road ahead will be a difficult one, it will also be a joyful one. We love you, Noah!

Quick Update From Scott

In case you couldn't tell from the title, this is Scott writing this post.

Yes, I know it seems like I've fallen off the face of the earth since I haven't personally posted in forever, but I feel it's time for me to break my silence with a quick update like Jenn promised.

As she said, I'm still working full-time at Melaleuca, which has been the biggest blessing for us. My managers have allowed me to come and go whenever I can as long as I get the prescribed amount of work done that I need to. The nature of my job is such that there aren't really any specific hours that I HAVE to be there. In addition, my direct boss did the same thing I'm doing now about two years ago. He knows exactly what it's like, and has been so great working with me. I really appreciate it.

As far as school goes, the IBC (Integrated Business Core) is a program where we have a collection of four classes; Organizational Behavior, Essentials of Marketing, Corporate Finance, and Operations Management. Each class is interspersed throughout the week and they're very considerate of the workload that we each get. On the side of being in class, we're divided into companies of about 25 members and we run a business for about 10 weeks. We've just completed our 2nd week of operation and we've already paid off our loan. We're doing pretty good.

Our company is called "Custom Kicks." We work selling custom-fit orthotics for our customers. You can see our logo pictured here.

We also have a couple of ads on YouTube.

You can find them at this link and this link (scroll over the word "this" to find the link). Personally, I'm very proud of our product's creativity (nobody in IBC history has ever done something like this), and its marketability. Everybody can benefit from them. If any of you are in Rexburg and would like to get set up with some of our inserts, feel free to contact me.We're able to offer them at a MUCH lower price than you would pay at a podiatrist's office for the same product.

We also have a page on Facebook. Check us out there as well.

Life is hectic right now, but it just makes us appreciate the time that we have together even more. I don't foresee things getting any easier, either. I found out a couple days ago that I'll be graduating in April! Woo-hoo! Here's for long hauls to the end. At least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In the mean time, we're surviving and loving life. We really are very blessed. We very much appreciate all the thoughts and prayers in our behalf to help us get through this stressful and crucial time in our lives. Thank you all. We love you.

First Post on New Blog!

Hey everyone, I just posted for the first time on my cooking blog. I hope you like it and keep coming back. I'll probably just put a quick update on this blog once in a while, when I put a particularly good post up.

Keep coming back to it - I'm going to try to put up a variety of stuff. Thanks, guys!

New Blog to Follow!

Hey everyone! So, I've been thinking about doing this for a loooong time, and the time has finally come.....

I have started a cooking blog! And by started, I mean just started. As in, I barely posted the first welcome post, and have yet to add anything that is actually about food. But I'm really hoping that I can be posting on a regular basis. I've been excited about doing this for a while, and I don't want to lose my steam before I can even get started.

I want to use this as an incentive to learn to cook more exciting things for Scott, to find more healthful recipes for me, and to keep learning and sharing what I know about cooking. I don't get many opportunities to share my love of cooking with anyone other than Scott, and I'm so excited! We added a link on the side of our blog. It's called Just Lickin' My Fingers, and I really hope you all take the time to visit it. Maybe on a regular basis.....=) Please support me! Love you all!
-Jennie

Fall Fun

Things have been a little quiet on the blog, so I thought I'd just make a quick update, to let you all know what we are up to!

Scott is still working full-time at Melaleuca. He LOVES his job, and his superiors really like what he's been doing in his position. They have been so understanding this semester of his responsibilities at school, and it's made our life much much easier. He basically needs to work 40 hours a week, but is allowed to break it up in to sections each day and change it up every week, if he needs to. We have to do that because....

Scott is also doing IBC this semester! For those of you who don't know, IBC is the Integrated Business Core. It is a program that combines four essential business classes together into one block everyday. The students are separated into companies, and within those companies they actually create and run a small campus-based business. I'll let him get on later and post more about that once it's in full swing.

Everyone warned us with doomsday prophecies about working full-time and doing the IBC program (12 credits, full-time) at the same time, but so far, we've been able to make it work fairly well. In fact, very well, as far as I can tell. Scott has been able to stay on top of his schoolwork and participate in everything he needs to, without cutting back at work. We've been very blessed.

The hardest thing for us is that we don't get a lot of time together as a family, and Noah starts to miss his daddy. But we try to make the most of every hour that he is here, and while it's hard, we're making it work. We can do anything for a semester, right? =)

Since I graduated in July, I am just a boring, stick-in-the-mud, stay-at-home mom right now. It's been great, I'm just still trying to adjust to having a lot of time and not much to do. Although, it's been wonderful to have the time to read, cook, bake, and play without feeling guilty about not practicing. I've been able to have a lot more fun with cooking and baking, and I really hope I can start up a food blog soon. Otherwise, my main job this semester is to make sure that Scott has the computer when he needs it, a ride when he needs it, a meal when he needs it, and a kick in the butt when he needs it =) Some days are worse than others, but for the most part I've been doing just fine. We'll see what happens when the snow comes...=(

Noah is, as always, perfect =) He's not walking or talking, yet, and while he is always happy as a clam, we're starting to worry a bit about is development levels. We are noticing that he seems to be falling further and further behind other kids his age (to make a long story short). We had a doctor's appointment last Thursday, and we are getting him back into physical therapy and in touch with the Infant Toddler Program (Idaho's early intervention program). We just want to get some evaluations done and be more proactive about his progress and development. Although, he had his first day in nursery today at church, and the leaders said that he was having a great time. At first, he just watched the other kids (of course) but after a bit was crawling after them and playing with them as best as he could. He definitely can't do what all the others can, but it was really great to hear that he did just fine and wasn't falling too far behind. We'll see what the other sundays bring.

Otherwise, he is wonderful. I love being around this kid all day! Well, except on the days that he won't take a nap. Any suggestions on switching a kid from two naps a day to one nap? He is just a monster about taking that one nap, when he used to take two naps just great.

Well, that's us this semester! So far, so good, just taking it one day at a time. We did get some family pictures done last month. They are WONDERFUL, and as soon as we pick our favorites (somehow...) we'll post a bunch of them. We love you all!

Jennie, Scott, and Noah =)

Summer Adventures

So.....summer is over =( This week is still pretty nice, but I have a strong feeling that Rexburg is barely holding on to summer. Our summer seems like it only just started. We only had the seven week break in which to do anything fun, so we tried to plan as much as we could. First on the list: Mesa Falls! We just planned a morning trip, since Scott couldn't get off of work. We left around seven a.m. and planned to take as much time as we could there. We started off with the boardwalk.
We found that there was a small trail that started from the lower parking lot and led to the lower falls. It was only about a mile each way, so we decided to do it. It was a perfect little hike for that morning. Especially because it allowed Noah a little nap =)

After Mesa Falls, we decided that we had time to make a quick detour up to Big Springs. Nothing special, especially since it was a little cloudy and cold, but it's always worth a look.


We also decided that the perfect end to that trip was a quick trip to Big Judd's. We didn't take pictures - use your imagination =)

Second trip of the summer: Jenny Lake! I think this is one of my absolutely favorite places to go. Scott was able to get the whole day off, so we made a day of it. It's only about two hours away, so we left around 10 am, giving Noah the chance to nap in the car. Here are the Teton's on the way to Jenny Lake after going through Jackson.

The hike to the ferry on the other side of the lake is about 2 1/2 miles, and just gorgeous. It's really hard to capture how beautiful it is on camera, especially without posting about twenty pictures, but we posted a few good ones.

Sorry, but I just love flowers =)


This is the waterfall that is on the way to the ferry. We were thinking about continuing the hike up to Inspiration Point, but we wanted to make the hike back, instead of taking the ferry, so we just rested for a bit, and then turned around.

The hike back seemed to be a lot shorter, and a lot easier. What's so great about it, too, is that everything looks different from the opposite perspective, so you can enjoy a basically brand new hike. It really was so much fun.

As is predictable, we soon had a sleeping Noah, despite his head bobbing along, and whacking his nose on Scott's back every once in a while. I swear, he could sleep through a thunderstorm in this thing. We borrowed it from Scott's parents since the one that we had ordered hadn't come yet. It was a little hard on Scott's back, but it served it's purpose. Of course, ours came the very next day. Of course.

On the way out of Jenny Lake.

Good-bye Grand Teton National Park! Until next year!

And, because we couldn't resist, we ended the day at Bubba's Bar-B-Que in Jackson Hole before we drove home. We've been here a few times on previous trips, and it's probably the best bbq that we've had. It's quite possible that it was the best part of the trip =)

And so ended our summer adventures =( We've got a lot planned for next summer. Hopefully Scott won't have to be in school, and we'll be able to spend more time as a family making more great memories. Good-bye summertime!

First Haircut

Well, we finally got around to giving Noah his first haircut. It's been looooong overdue. As you can see, he had quite the little rattail growing back there. It was actually pretty adorable at times, because it would curl into perfect little ringlets, but most of the time, he looked....well, we just desperately needed to cut his hair.


He was very happy at first, but as soon as we came near him with the clippers, he started freaking out. Understandably. But we got some good clips that we stowed away in a plastic bag for memory.


He wouldn't hold still for the camera later that day, but I got at least a couple of shots of his hair. He looks so grown up!





He also bruised his chin a few days earlier, so with the new haircut, and a black and blue bruise that looked just like a goatee, I could have sworn he was a teenager =)

Gotta love Noah smiles!

Graduation and Family Vacation!

We had quite the week and a half at the end of July. First: GRADUATION! (Jennie's, that is)

Scott had a really hard time getting the camera to work, and we either had really blurry pictures, or really unflattering pictures. I prefer the blurry.

My parents drove out from Wisconsin, so we went to St. Anthony on Pioneer Day to spend it with Scott's grandparents (no one in Wisconsin really knows what Pioneer Day is), watching the parade and pot-lucking.


Then, my senior recital! I have yet to go get the DVD of it from the music office, but as soon as I do, I will post more pictures, and hopefully a video of the recital. But for now, it was awesome! It feels SO good to be done and to know what I've accomplished! I love the violin!

THEN, we headed down to Utah the next day (at 5 am) to go to a Gergetz Family Reunion (Jennie's family). We stayed at Castle Valley Outdoors and had a great time, especially on the hikes. We haven't had many chances to do that kind of thing yet this summer, and it felt really good to get out. Our first one was to the San Rafael Swell.

It was raining that day, so we bundled up, but it was even more fun because of it .

Aren't they the cutest? =)

It really was so amazing. I wish we lived closer to these kinds of hikes. No, I wish we didn't have to work or go to school and could just travel all the time to do this kind of thing.


Noah fell asleep for the last twenty minutes of the hike - so funny! He just bobbed along and snoozed =)

Next hike to the petroglyphs! Yay sunglasses!



I wish we would have gotten a better picture of the petroglyphs. I'm also not exactly sure what they were called or where they were. Sorry! There are a lot of them in Utah...

And finally, home! It felt good to get back home and back to a normal routine after seven or eight days of chaos. We'll miss my parents (until next summer!), but it's always nice to get back to normal family life. Especially since school is out! We're going to try to spend our time off of school having fun and getting home stuff done. Hopefully we'll have some fun things to report soon =)

Field Trip and A Make-Over

It was Melaleuca Day at Tautphaus Park in Idaho Falls this past Saturday. It's the local zoo, and while it's nothing amazing, it was a fun day. All Melaleuca employees and their families got in free, so we thought it would be fun to take Noah. He didn't understand a whole lot of it, and the animals weren't very active since it was the hottest part of the day, but we had fun, and he enjoyed being in a new and different place. We'll definitely go again.

On a totally different note, Noah got a make-over! Here's the before shot......


And here's the after shot!


Noah got glasses! He's done really well with them, so far. Mostly, he just gets annoyed when he can't rub his eyes, but it's really funny to watch him getting used to them.


His right eye is crossed, but before they do any surgery to correct it, the doctor wants to try glasses for a couple of months. Occasionally it can correct it enough that surgery isn't needed. It's not a lazy eye, so hopefully, even if we do have to have the surgery, he won't need glasses afterwards. Thanks mom, for the bad eyes! =)

p.s. Sorry they are a little blurry! We have to re-size them so that they will upload. Seriously, blogger is a pain!

More Pictures

We got Noah's portrait taken a few weeks ago, and we thought we would share some of the results. We got an amazing deal, and a whole lot of Noah smiles. Yay for being one!












Also, Noah has FINALLY started crawling! We've been waiting and working with him for months, but this kid just had no desire to crawl, then TA DA! Crawling!

Everyone says that we'll regret being so eager for him to be mobile, but not me. He's been so frustrated for so long, and it's been so hard to have a cranky kid each day, that I'm so happy that he is finally able to get where he wants. He's also figured out how to pull himself up on just about anything. Of course now he's bonking his head on the floor every five minutes, but hey, live and learn, right? =)

Also, does anyone else have the hardest time getting the pictures and the words to line up right on these stupid posts? The post looks nothing like it does when I'm trying to create it. Stupid blogspot.....