The Irish life

toothless wonder

2011-02-06T14:30:00.003-07:00

So Niamh is now our toothless wonder. Both of her front teeth have been loose for about a month, one more than the other. We finally got one out. A week later we needed to work on the other. It got to the point where it was literally dangling. Pretty gross. She didn't want us to touch it because it was hurting. She went down for her nap one day and she came out holding the tooth. She said she wiggled it with her tongue and it came out. She was pretty excited. It's amazing that teeth can make such a difference. She looks like a big girl now. It is sad how fast they grow and change. I need to take in these moments because they are flying by. The 3 girls are sitting right by me with all of their barbies. I just put a dress on Bergin's barbie. She went over and put her in the car. She then put Ken in the car and said, I am putting my pretty handsome boyfriend in and we are coming over. We all laughed so she keeps saying it. She is a funny girl. I love my kids.

what's a happening

2011-01-28T12:45:00.016-07:00

So I am behind once again. We had a good Christmas. I got my tonsils out 3 days before Christmas. My sweet friend made a giant gingerbread boy out of jello. It tasted so good. I had my bad days but overall it was not too bad. One regret is that I wish I took more pictures. It may seem like I did take a lot, but I didn't take any with our families. We went to Idaho Falls. We stayed at the Reilly's the few days before and through Christmas. We actually left to Idaho Falls the day I got my tonsils out. I was taken care of very well. Dennis and Sharon were very nice to let me take over their bed during the day. They were good nurses. The holiday started with a party watching "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" at grandma Reilly's house. It is a tradition every year and always fun. The kids get to play bingo and have food and a concession stand. One day there was a knock at the door and a cute little snowman was standing there. The girls got a kick out of him. We spent time with both families opeing presents and eating good food. The girls were super excited for Santa. Liam didn't really know what was going on but enjoyed himself. Danny had to head back to work. Me and the kids took advantage of my mom and dad on their break (once again)and stayed at their house for 5 nights. They took super good care of me and the kids. We just lounged around. My mom made me homemade tapioca. It was the BEST thing I had during my recovery. She made it a few times which was very nice considering the fact that you have to stand at the stove for 20 minutes and stir. I am so thankful for my mom and dad and their great care. I am thankful to my sister too who let my girls rule their basement with her kids as well. It is fun that they live next door to my parents because it makes it nice for the kids to be so close. We had a great time there. We came home and spent the rest of our Christmas vacation playing with all the new toys. Danny brought a lot of things back home when he came back for work. It was a great break. It is always fun being with our families and the cousins all playing together. We are truly grateful for good family. There are some people who live two streets behind us and every new year at midnight they light off fireworks. I'm not talking little dinky ones, well I am not talking Melaleuca either, but they are actually really good. They last about 5 minutes. The best part is that it is right outside the back window. It is always a good way to ring in the new year, then off to bed we go. We are getting old.

This plus this =

2011-01-28T11:35:00.002-07:00

So what do you get when you combine our sweet little Bergin and my blue razor? One night I decided to shave my legs since I hate doing it in the winter. I grabbed my blue razor and put it on the bathroom counter then went to turn the movie on for the girls. Bergin came down screaming with a bloody thumb. I asked her what happened and she said nothing. She has recently quit(for the most part) sucking her thumb. She has a nice little sore on her thumb so I assumed it was from that. I told her that is why she can't suck her thumb anymore and she would say I not sucking my thumb. She would not stop crying. We got her a bandaid and she finally stopped. I told her again that she can't suck her thumb anymore and she was sure that she wasn't sucking her thumb. She finally said, "the blue thing." The light bulb went off. My razor up on the counter. So I asked her if she touched mommy's blue razor and she said yes. I told her not to touch it anymore. I went and shaved my legs. Liam was on the floor right outside the bathtub the whole time happy as can be. I finished and got out and picked him up. I noticed a nice nickel sized bald spot on the top of his head. It was not bleeding, just red. She definitely got the hair off. She put the razor back on the counter thankfully. If she would have left it by him he would have grabbed it and put it right in his mouth. There was skin from her thumb in the blades. It could have been a lot worse than it actually was. Bergin learned her lesson and Liam's bald spot has grown back just fine!! I guess I should say I learned my lesson as well. The picture of Liam doesn't really do it justice, it was totally bald.

Timber

2010-11-16T15:18:00.009-07:00

The annual cabin trip has come and gone. It was a quick one this year. There was the worldwide church traing that involved quite a few in our family, so we had to make it a quick trip. We missed Mitch, Sarah, and their family. Pip and Skip, aka, Ty and Ash, and we also missed Matt and Ash. We still had a good time. It isn't the same without all the family. Danny and I got up there first. We had to take a couple of pictures of cabins in Island Park for Danny's dad. We were on our way and Danny looked out and saw a bald eagle on the top of one of the pine trees that was flocked with snow. It was so pretty. On the way to another cabin Niamh said, look a wolf. There wasn't a wolf, but there was a fox. He just slowly made his way across the road. It was cool. It was the first time Danny had seen a fox out in the wild. We went to the cabin to get it all ready. It was SOOOOOOOO cold. We could see our breath. Thank goodness for heaters and furnaces. It took about 10 minutes to get a little comfortable. By the time everyone else came it was nice and toasty, some say maybe a little too toasty, which was true. We roasted hot dogs and had smores. We always bring our Christmas movies for the kids to watch. It is always so much fun. The kids always have something to color and they always play games with mamie. We got all bundled to go find the perfect tree. One time as dad was cutting a tree we thought we knew which way it was going to fall. We didn't quite know so we all quickly got out of the way while Niamh was calling out "timber." It was cute. The kids all put on a play. They picked someone to be Rudolph and all the others were the reindeer. Then they all got in a line while Parker played santa and they all ran off to go flying. They always have fun finding little hills to slide down. Mom and dad always get us our tree and we appreciate it. It is always a good time. We appreciate all they do to make the cabin so much fun and so full of memories.

Liam's Blessing

2010-11-16T15:00:00.008-07:00

Liam had the opportunity to get blessed this past fast Sunday. It was a wonderful day. We had all, with the exception of 6, of our family here. Kara's husband Jerry and their son Truman were not able to make it due to sickness. My brother Mitch, his wife Sarah, and their kids Ari and Jack live in Vegas, so they also were not able to make it. Danny did a wonderful job on the blessing. I am grateful to have a husband who is worthy of the priesthood. What an honor it is to be a member of the church and to live on the earth now when the gospel and priesthood have been restored. We are blessed to have such a wonderful family who are always so supportive. We had a nice dinned at our house after church. We took a lot of pictures, so I just decided to put the one big group one on. Matt and Ashley went to visit a mission companion before he went to church so they weren't in the big one. Jill and her family and my grandma Landon stayed at our house. I had to get a picture of ALL the kids eating breakfast. Cousins are the best. After lunch my brother Tyler was holding Liam. Liam was in a dead stare for about 2 minutes straight. He didn't even move. He just had his hand in his mouth and was making some litte noises. It was too cute!! It was a nice day. We love Liam so much. We are so happy he is part of our family.

Fall festivities

2010-11-16T14:11:00.008-07:00

It seems like we have been so busy this fall, which has been great. Niamh played soccer again and enjoyed herself. She is getting more and more aggressive and we hope she can get EVEN more. She is the fastest one out there, but gets a little timid when the ball is right there. Ryan has had a few field trips at preschool. Bergin, Liam, and I have joined her. Her first field trip was to the fire station. She then had her fall field trip, which is also where she had her school pictures taken. They had a ton of fun. She is a shy little girl but it is so funny to see her open up and kind of take charge. Bergi loves to be a part of all the action. Matt is getting married in 3 days. My mom, Jill, Ashlee, and I put on a bridal shower for Ashley(Matt's). It was a lot of fun. She got some really nice things. My dad came to help set things up. He ended up holding Liam for a bit. He had a white chocolate covered pretzel and was letting Liam lick it. I think he liked it since he sucked it right to the pretzel.
Next came Halloween. What would a year at the Reilly house be like without having princess costumes? I figure that they won't want to be princesses forever, so I might as well let them. Ryan did branch out a little and she was a rock star. It rained for the first part of the night. We always get a lot of trick or treaters so we like to go out early, then stay home. Our friends came over for the last part of the night and we just hung out and handed out candy. It is always a fun night.
We had our ward party one night and we all dressed as M & M's. My friend let us borrow the bags(me and Danny) and the kids were M & M's, even Liam. My friend made him a small one to match the girls. I hope to get the picture soon from the photographer that was taking them that night. It was fun to see all of our ward members and their crazy costumes.

New shelves

2010-11-16T13:52:00.005-07:00

We have been wanting to get shelves in our garage for awhile. We have a very talented neighbor who happens to be a master wood worker. He built our shelves and we love them. The girls(and his, who are all te same ages) loved playing on the wood and having parties until it was time to start. We have put them to use.

Button button, Liam has a button!!

2010-11-16T13:45:00.004-07:00

So Liam had a g-tube placed when he had his surgery. They told us it would be switched to a button about 4 weeks after surgery. The Dr. here in Ut. said it had to be 8 weeks, so 9 weeks it was. I was so anxious to get it out. I heard horror stories of g-tubes falling out and having to be surgically replaced. So, I was so excited to get it. The tube was 2 feet long before and we had to pin it to his diaper and stuff it into his onesie. Now you can see that the little button is so much better. The top opens up and we connect his other tubing to it every night at 8 and take it off at 8 in the morning. We can get it wet and pretty much act like it isn't even there. It is soooo nice.

We have grown

2010-10-20T14:21:00.009-06:00

My mother and father in-law went to Ireland a few years back. They met someone there who told them about a very nice tradition that was passed on to the Danny Reilly family. They planted a tree and took a family picture by that tree every year on the same day. They were able to see the tree and their family grow. We did this 4 years ago on our anniversary. Each year on our anniversary we can take a picture and see the changes. It is amazing to look back at our first year and see the difference. Bergin was one month old. It is a fun tradition that I look forward to doing each year.

I just had to put on a few funny things the girls have said lately. Ryan is going to the same preschool that Niamh went to last year. There is a boy named Porter that was in Niamh's class. On Ryan's first day she got in the car and was so excited to tell me that "Quarter"(you'll see why I spelled it that way in a min) was in her class, and that she remembered him from Niamh's class. Later that day she said "Niamh, penny is in my class."

We have been listening to a Little People Halloween CD the past few weeks. There is a song called "Dem Bones." It is the song that talks about the leg bone is connected to the hip bone and so on. On the part that says, "the knee bone is connected to the..." Bergin always says "Niamh" because she thinks it says the Niamh bone. She was sitting up to the counter the other day and turned to me so excited and said as she was pointing to her finger "mom, dem bones." Funny girls
2007
2008
2009

2010

Danny My Love

2010-10-10T15:29:00.007-06:00

Today we celebrate 7 years of marriage. The seven year itch? No. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful husband. There are soooo many things that I love about Danny.

From the beginning he has loved me for me.

He is not afriad to dress up in fun costumes to make all of his cousins laugh.

He is funny. You can always count on him to be the life of the party and make things fun.

He can get us around where ever we need to go and he will never get us lost.

He is such a good dad. He loves to play with the kids and make them laugh.

He is a hard worker. He always does a good job with whatever needs to get done and he makes sure it is done right.

He is charitable.

He loves his family.

He loves to make his mom laugh.

He makes good treats. Whether it is no bake cookies, homemade lemonade, lemon meringue pie, the list goes on. He makes great treats.

He makes the best faces. I can always tell if he is lying, when teasing me. I can always tell when he is serious about something. His face makes a nice little quiver. It is a Danny Reilly original. Those who know him well, know the face.

He has a strong desire to do what is right.

He loves going to Priesthood session which makes me happy.

He is sentimental.

He likes shopping. Whether it is for food, clothes, or anything else random, he likes to do it.

He could be a river dance dancer. He makes a dang good impression.

He has good taste in clothing.

He is a good athlete. He is good at all sports that he plays. He is good at playing games and it seems like he always wins.

He is a WONDERFUL cook. He is not afraid to try new things that he knows I will like.

He likes Mt. Dew, especially when they are running fun little promotions. It probably helps that he has won a few contests they have sponsored.

He is creative. He could take on the calling of relief society meetings(used to be known as enrichment) and he would make any lady in the church jealous, and I am not kidding.

He loves music. He likes to sing his favorite part in a song. You should hear him sing the princess songs.

He was a great missionary and still loves the Japanese people and their culture.

He has the best calves, and he knows it. Ask him about the german shepherd dog bite.

He likes to wash our windows and does a great job.

He is a charmer. People like him, especially all the grandma's and grandpa's at work.

He loves to make our lawn the best on the street. He loves to look at it at night when the sprinklers are on it after a hard days work.

He can always make me laugh even if I am mad at him.

He is a good listener and always has good advice.

He has a strong testimony. He has a lot of faith in Jesus Christ.

He is my ROCK. He was there for me this summer when I needed him the most. I am so grateful that I am married to him. I love him so much and I am grateful we can spend eternity together.

I love you Danny and I am grateful for the wonderful man that you are.

Home Sweet Home

2010-10-01T14:32:00.011-06:00

So we are home and have been for a few weeks now. I have not had a second to sit down and do this post. I finally got all my things done today so I can catch up. We have loved being home. Life started right up when we came home. We got home on a Friday and Saturday was Bergin's 3rd birthday. It was a great day. We just enjoyed being at our house. It was so nice to go back to our ward. We are so blessed to be in such a great ward. Our awesome neighbors put together an open house for us. Many people from the ward came to welcome us home. It was a great night. Life truly began on Monday. Niamh had already been going to school, and Ryan had her first day of preschool. Danny went into work late that day so we could have the day of "firsts." It was a good morning. I still can't believe that school is in and summer is over. It really went by fast. Big Blue, who is Utah States mascot, went to Danny's work. We went to see him. He had a bday balloon and party hat for Niamh, and he had a cute little bag filled with Utah State things for all the girls. They were thrilled (thanks to Danny for getting the stuff to give to him). It took the girls a few basketball seasons to get used to him. Bergin still wasn't quite sure, but she was excited to give him "hugs and high fives." We made it through the first week of being home. We celebrated Niamh's 6th birthday. We got together with the Bott's and the Whitaker's(our neighbors) and had a little BBQ and cake. Niamh had said that she wanted to go bowling and to the pumpkin patch for her birthday. We did just that. It was a fun day. We have been going to the pumpkin patch for the past few years. It is a fun tradition. The girls had a blast. They added a hose off your pumpkins place this year. The girls had so much fun getting all the dirt off.
Liam is doing good. I give him a shot at 8 a.m. and at 2 p.m. At 8 p.m. he gets hooked up to his sugar water until 8 a.m. He has a gtube into his tummy. It will get switched out to a button in a few weeks. The button looks like a button that is on an inflatable beach ball. It will be so nice to have. Right now the tube is 2 feet long. I keep it tucked into his onesies which is nice. His sugars are where they need to be which is all that matters. He sleeps all night which is nice. The girls all started sleeping all night at about 7 and 8 weeks. CHOP doesn't track a lot of babies after they go home just because they follow up with their local endocrinologists, which is what we will do as well, but we will also go back about once a year. One baby that went home on the same regimen as Liam just recenlty went back and had his gtube pulled. He needed the shots until he was 18 months old and was 5 years old when they pulled his tube. We don't know what will happen with Liam, but we know that as he gets bigger that things will change. He is not diabetic. He is hypoglycemic. He is still producing too much insulin, even with 2% of his pancreas. They say that as he gets bigger, the cells start to burn out and also as his body gets bigger, there is more mass for the cells to shoot out to. Only time will tell what will happen. We have a nice little accessory to atatch to us at 8 p.m. every night. They provided us with a little red backpack that all the tubing goes in. It keeps it all contained.
It is so nice to be home and back to normal life. As normal as life is at least. Soccer, dance, and car pooling is in full swing. As crazy as it may seem, it is so nice to be doing all these things. Adding a 4th to the mix hasn't been that bad. The girls have been so good since we've been home. My mom had brought them home for Niamh to start kindergarten. They just stayed here for the weeked with her then stayed at the Whitaker's (neighbors) for a few nights. Then my mom and dad came back to stay with them the night before we came home. I know it helped having them at home before we got home. It got all the excitement of being home out of their system. They grew really close this summer. It is amazing that they did as well as they did. I know Heavenly Father blessed them while we were gone. I know they had their moments, as we all did, but overall they did great. Their summer song was "Hey soul sister" by Train. They love that song and sing it as loud as they can every time they hear it. I love it. They (and Liam) make life worth living each day. They bring us so much happiness.
This past summer was the hardest time in our lives. There were days that came where I thought that there was no way I could go on. There was an amazing strength that we were blessed with. We have no doubt where all that strength came from. We met so many wonderful people who said they would pray for us. Those prayers were added to all those of whom we know and love. Our family name was on so many prayer rolls across the United States. One week I was at church and the lesson was on temples. A question was asked "why do we go to the temple?" At that time I thought of the prayer roll and it made me think about the special prayer said on behalf of those names. It was so neat to know that we were being prayed and fasted for each day. As I said earlier, this has definitely been the hardest thing we've ever been through, but it has also been the BEST experience as well. It has made me think more about the resurrection and how we ALL will be made perfect. I am so so so thankful for my elder brother Jesus Christ. Life is so much easier because of Him and the life He lived for each one of us. I love Him so much.
Since the day Liam was born, many reached out to help. I do not know what we would have done had our family not stepped in to help with the girls. They were taken care of so well. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family that supports us in all that we do. We are also blessed with great friends. There was one day when Danny and I came home from the Logan hospital and our house was spotless, Liam's room was organized, and dinner was ready. We heard our lawn still looked the best on the street even though we were gone. Danny takes great pride in our yard. It is a fun on-going battle with the neighbors to see who can keep the greenest lawn. When we got home there was a nice banner on our railing. Our fridge was clean and full of food and our pantry was stalked full as well. We can never thank our neighbors enough to let them know of our deep love and appreciation for them. We count them as our closest friends. Danny's work was so wonderful as well. He was able to take personal and vacation time while we were gone. His work stepped right in to take care of his load. They sent us a couple fun packages as well. They set up a benefit dinner at Texas Roadhouse and set up an account at Wells Fargo for our family which will help tremendously with our medical expenses. A couple very kind people donated their Marriott reward points which allowed us to stay in the same hotel the whole time. There are so many other kind acts that have not gone unnoticed. We met some wonderful people at the ward there as well. A kind family brought us a nice home cooked meal twice, who ironically enough was friends with Danny's first cousin. Danny's other cousin who is living in D.C. came to visit us. We were at church and the guy reconized Danny's cousin and made the connection that he was friends with his brother. It is a small world.
As I finish this post, I am listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing "Tell me the stories of Jesus" from a conference re-run and my heart is so touched. We are so blessed to be members of the church and have the knowledge of our Savior and the great plan of salvation. We wish to thank EVERYONE for all the help, prayers, love, support, and contributions. We will be indebted to you all forever.
I have put on a couple pictures from Philadelphia. A beautiful "big city" sunset, a super, super kind Amish man that will be a friend forever, who has a wonderful bakery, our daily mode of transportation, a LOVEly picture of me and Danny by the famous "LOVE" statue, the hairdo of every black little girl walking the streets, and a not so great looking picture of us enjoying a "water ice" at Rita's. It was probably one the hottest days there and we had heard about water ice. We went and got one to cool us off. I can't describe how they are made, but they are so good. It is a mix between an icee and a slurpee, but a million times better. We had a good time in Philly. I am so thankful that I could spend it with my best friend Danny. I love him and I am so thankful for the good husband and dad that he is. I am grateful that we can be an eternal family.

Wonderful grandmas!!

2010-09-03T09:17:00.004-06:00

This post is dedicated to our wonderful moms. July 5, 2010 Danny and I were at the hospital anxiously waiting for time to pass so we could walk down to the surgical room and begin our c-section. Both of our moms were in the room with us waiting for that time to come as well. We left and they stayed with our girls. Liam was born and that is where our journey began. We spent the week in the hospital until I was discharged. We were in and out of the NICU the first week, making it so we couldn't be with our girls. That is where our moms took over. The girls were in Hyrum for the first part, then sent to I.F. with a small vacation to Jackson, back to I.F., then back to Hyrum, then to Salt Lake, then ultimately to I.F. while we came to Philly. Our moms did all they could to help us out in whatever way we needed, and they did. They both said "I will do whatever you need me to do to help you out the best." Both of our moms spent time in Salt Lake while we were at Primary's, so we would still see the girls and do some things with them. My mom only has a few weeks of summer vacation from school(her work) and she spent the majority of it watching our girls. She still had some things to do at work, so she wasn't able to make it to Philly for a bit. Sharon works at the temple once a week, but she was able to get someone to cover for her so she could come out with us. We headed to Philly and Sharon came the first day. She wanted to be here for me and Danny so we could take a break when needed and she would still be with Liam at the hospital. I am not going lie, the breaks were needed. It has been a VERY long road and I am ready to be hospital-free. I am thankful that Sharon has been here to support us. It has been nice to have her here with us and for her to willingly sit with Liam so we could get out for a bit. She was here for our sanity and we appreciate and love her. My mom knew she wouldn't be able to be here the whole time because of work so she said that even though she couldn't be here with us, the most she could do was take care of our girls, (the griddles, as she calls them)which to me was WONDERFUL!!!! She did get to come to Philly. It was during her school registration, but her boss let her come out to support us. It was such a wonderful week having our mom's (and Dennis) with us. When we first found out we would be coming to Philly, it was nice to know that our parents were going to support us in any way. Even though we are old and married, we still need our parents.

Our journey is almost coming to an end. Today is Sharon's last day to be here(she is watching her daughter's kids while she is on a cruise) and today is Niamh's first day of kindergarten. My mom was able to take today off so she could take Niamh. It probably would not have been too big of a deal if she missed, but my mom knew that I wanted her to be there so she took her to Hyrum last night and got her ready to go for her big day. She sent us a picture on her phone and Niamh looked so pretty. Jill helped out by braiding her hair last night so it would be curly for today. Kara is helping out by posting these pics to the blog.

I am so thankful for the care of the girls. I am thankful for our mom's, dad's, the Taft's, Petersen's, Ryan Reilly's, Matt & Ashley, grandma Landon, and everyone else who offered their support and their summer vacation to help us out. We are so blessed each and every day. I want my mom and Sharon to know how grateful I am for them and dedicating their summer to helping us out and lending their support in any way they could. It will be a summer we will never forget. I love you both!!

Liam's Video

2010-09-02T10:44:00.002-06:00

This is a few of Danny and Rachel's friends hijacking the blog. A fundraiser was held on August 23rd for the Reilly family. Check out all of Liam's friends in this short video. An account is still open at Wells Fargo for anyone wishing to donate. The account to reference is "The Reilly Family Donation Fund".

It's the final countdown

2010-08-31T13:12:00.002-06:00

Things are going great. We were moved to the floor yesterday. He left the nicu without any fluids going into him. He still has his picc line but that is coming out tonight. He is nursing on demand and doing great. They check his sugars right before he eats. He was on a little insulin in the nicu which is normal after surgery. If he has two consecutive sugars over 250 they start him on a little insulin. He hasn't had any over that. We just are waiting to see how things go. He will eat for 5 days then do a fast. We are looking at the fast finishing on Sunday then seeing what he will need from the fast results. It is so nice and comforting to know he is in such good hands. The Drs and nurses are so knowledgeable with hyperinsulinism or "H.I." as they call it. He has been so happy since he got up here. It is almost like he knows the end is in sight. We hope this week goes by fast and that things continue to go well.

Bigger steps

2010-08-29T12:32:00.003-06:00

Liam had gone 11 days without eating milk. He has been on a yellow fluid, which is referred to as his Gatorade. It has all his vitamins and nutrients. He has another one that is white, and that one is his fat. Before they could give him breast milk, his digestive system had to be working fully. He was able to get 10 cc's of breast milk with a bottle two days ago. They did that every 3 hours for about 24 hours. He tolerated it well. Who wouldn't after not eating for that long. They moved him up to 1 ounce by bottle and did that for 24 hours. He did well, so they moved him to 2 ounces about three hours ago. I was talking to the nurse about possibly nursing him. She talked to the ones calling the shots, and they said I could. They just don't want him to get too much. They will weigh him before and after just to see what he got. Their whole thing is to just make sure he is tolerating what he is getting and they don't want to do too much. He has been excited to eat for a week now. He would root around every time I held him. There were a couple times I almost had to stop holding him cause he was wanting to eat. I am excited to feed him. That is what will get us home. He has to be eating just from me so they can see what his sugars are going to do. Things are going well. He is a happy boy. He is starting to smile a lot and make noises every once in awhile. Danny and I are hopeful that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are so anxious to see the girls and get home. We are so blessed with ALL we have. Good family, neighbors, friends, and a great ward. We count our blessings every day and know our Father in Heaven is mindful of us and continues to bless us. We have even been blessed by the wonderful people of the Philadelphia 1st ward. Where would we be without the gospel? I am sooo thankful for my testimony and know that is what gets me by.

Yes, Liam is now bald.

Life is Good and So are People

2010-08-20T14:16:00.005-06:00

This is Kara. I have been terrible at keeping up with posting pictures. I guess I have an excuse since I have eight children to bathe and feed every day now. I'm pretty sure these pictures are in reverse order. Mamie finally made it Philadephia, so now Liam has both grandmas to dote on him. He's doing great. I know Danny and Rachel have finally been able to get out and see the sights in Philly.

One of the pictures is of a quilt in the waiting room of the NICU. The other picture is of an Amish bakery. They said they went there to get some food and when the owner found out why they were in Philadelphia, he told them the order was on him. They were so touched by his and everyone else's goodwill. They also said it was the most delicious food they've ever partaken of.

Thanks again for everyone out there praying on his behalf. We appreciate you.

Pictures

2010-08-19T20:49:00.008-06:00

Before surgery.

Waiting while Liam is in surgery.

Liam's life sustaining equipment.

Post-op. Heartbreaking.

Breathing tube has been removed. It may need to go back in if he doesn't stop holding his breath. Liam is highly uncomfortable.

Aren't kisses supposed to heal all boo boos?

Liam is in bed 28 of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's NICU.

Sometimes the unexpected happens in this life. Whether it's by someone's fault or no one's fault, we all encounter difficult and seemingly unfair trials. But we can all be strengthened by them especially if we rely on our Heavenly Father. Here's another amazing example of a man who lost everything, but found strength to rise above it.

Liam's big day

2010-08-19T08:07:00.007-06:00

We are sitting here in the nicu the day after surgery. Yesterday was a long day. His surgery was scheduled for 12:30. They came at 12:25 to pick him up. We walked down to the pre-op area and waited. They came about an hour later to take him back. His tiny little body looked even tinier on the big bed. He is a big boy but he is still a little baby. We headed to the waiting room. We had a nurse come in every so often to give is an update. Every time the door opened we would look at the door to see if it was her. She didn't have any detailed information, just told us each time that everything was going okay. The surgery didn't start until 2:48. We eagerly awaited the end. The preliminary tests from Friday showed that it was focal which was just a small area producing too much. The dr and surgeon both thought it looked focal. A radiologist had looked at the pet scan and thought it looked difuse which is spead out. We knew there was a chance it could go either way, but we got our hopes up when we were told by the dr that he still thought it was focal. He had also told us that when the scan shows focal it comes back focal. That nurse pulled us into a different room and said dr adzick was just finishing up and he would be in to talk to us. This was about 5:00. He came in about 15 minutes later. I was nervous, had butterflies, and was very anxious. He came in and sat down and told us it went well but that it was difuse and he had to remove 90% of the pancreas. Talk about taking the wind out of our sails. He said he was disppponted as he could tell that we were as well. They had taken biopsies of each part of the pancreas and saw that they were filled with the cells producing too much insulin. We were surprised, disappointed, and relieved all at once. With difuse disease there are three outcomes. One, he will be totally fine. Two he will be treated with medication for I don't know how long. Three he will become type 1 diabetic sometime down the road. We won't know exactly what it will all turn out to be for a bit. As the dr said as part of his parting words "it is what it is" which is so true. We now at least know and can continue on. We headed to the nicu waiting room until it was time to see him. We were able to finally go back after what seemed like an eternity since we has seen him. We walked up to his crib and that is when I lost it. I had just witnessed the saddest thing in my life. My tiny little boy laying there with a breathing tube down his throat, a tube in his nose, a tube coming directly out of his tummy, and the steri strip on top of his incision. I burried my head and sobbed for a few moments. He lay there completely helpless. His mouth was wide open and you could tell that he was crying but no noise was coming out because of the ventilator down his throat. He was in a lot of pain. My heart was broken. I am glad my dear husband was by my side to strengthen me as he has every step of the way. We just sat by his side and held his little hand. He would just grab on and not let go. It's amazing to know that he knows us and was clinging to us for comfort. A couple hours went by and they were able to pull out the ventilator and switch over to oxygen. With all the medication in him it makes it harder to breathe so it is all pre-cautionary. He has all sorts of tubes and fluids going into him. He had an epidural in him which was helping the pain. They took that out this morning because the dressing was coming off so they didn't want to risk infection. His oxygen came off as well. He moans and makes sad little raspy cries while just laying there. It is sad. He is on morphine so hopefully that will help him. He also has no food either. He is on the sugar water but it will be nice for him to get fed through his picc line.
We are so so so blessed to be here. All the drs and everyone caring for him are so great. They know what they are doing which is so comforting. Danny and I have felt and known from the start that all will be well. We are so blessed to have the Holy Ghost to comfort us. Yesterday I went in to pump while we were waiting to see him in the nicu. I started praying and felt so comforted. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us and what we are going through. This has been the hardest thing we have ever experienced. There are those frustrating days where I just want it to be over but I am always blessed to know that all will be well. We are hoping for a quick week. I am not able to nurse him while he is in here until his body has shown that it's ready. I am hopeful it will be sooner than later.
And again we are so thankful for the prayers and fasting. We will be here for 3 more weeks at the most. We are hopeful that it will be quick and short. We are thankful for our family who is helping out with the girls.

Blessings

2010-08-18T19:47:00.003-06:00

We are grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the priesthood. Rachel will post an update on Liam's condition soon.

First Impressions

2010-08-17T13:29:00.002-06:00

It's Kara again. This is the exact email that I just received from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia:

Dr. Adzick - King of Surgeons, The Guru, Top Notch, #1, etc.

Liam is looking really relaxed in this picture. Dr. Adzick came in to see Liam for the first time today. By all accounts he's very shy, quiet, and handsome (my mom has a slight crush, I think). It's hard to believe that in less than 24 hours, we will know a pretty definitive prognosis for this little man. Reports from Philly include Danny, Rachel, Liam and Grandma Reilly just chillin' at the hospital. They really haven't done much sightseeing unless they were able to get out on Saturday for a bit. Rachel has set world records for producing pumped milk and has quite the stockpile built up. She could singlehandedly feed all the babies at CHOP. Way to go, Rachel, we're so proud of you! They all seem to be in good spirits and anxious to get the show on the road.

They visited the NICU today where Liam will reside for about a week after surgery. It's a very state-of-the-art facility with two babies watched at all times by one nurse that monitors everything right there with a computer. She told them in no uncertain terms that visits should be short and sweet (that means Danny & Rachel, too). Only two people will be permitted in at a time, and the nurse, who called herself the "enforcer", will make sure they don't stay too long. Rachel will be unable to nurse him for a week, so they mainly want Liam relaxed and not stressed.

I received a recording of Liam snoring, but couldn't figure out how to put that on this blog. So if you want to hear it, please go to my blog here. It's absolutely darling.

As always, thanks for the prayers. They have been heard. I think that perhaps Niamh, Ryan & Bergin need a few special prayers sent their way. Poor little things are experiencing a shock to their systems as they have been uprooted from their normal routine. Overall, they're doing great, though.

All right, that's it for now. The surgery will be sometime tomorrow afternoon Philadelphia time. We should have a report by tomorrow night.

EDITING NOTE: My dad took offense that I mentioned my mom had a small crush on the doctor. He pointed out that she has a crush on all doctors. And Danny mentioned that he probably has a bigger crush on the doctor than my mom.

Footloose & Fancy Free

2010-08-14T12:28:00.005-06:00

This is Kara, again. I've been getting quite a few pictures, so I thought I had better post them. I should leave the updating to Rachel, but Liam's PET scan at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was yesterday, and the preliminary reports give us hope that he has focal lesions in the head and neck of the pancreas. They will know more on Monday when the expert sits down with them. While we don't know for sure if that's the case, it's promising.

From these pictures, I gather that the I.V.'s are out of his feet and he's down to one picc line. That's wonderful.

He sees these faces everyday in his crib.

I personally love the posters at the hospital.

I wanted to add another quick inspirational video on hope, faith and prayers.

Wires, wires, wires

2010-08-12T14:27:00.003-06:00

We are here at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia sitting in the room. Yesterday was a big day for Liam. He had to get a new picc line put in. His picc line from primary's was not central which means it wasn't all the way in where it was supposed to be. They put a picc line in that has two ports. One port through one vein and one through another. One has the sugar water flowing through it and the other has his medication. They don't like to put two fluids through one port. They kept his other line in just in case they needed it for an iv. They had placed iv's in each feet as well. So he had some sort of wire coming out of each extremity. They took one iv out of one foot and will probably take the original picc out tomorrow after his big scan. They have put these things around his new picc line and the iv in his foot called no no's. The first night we were here an Asian lady came in to place a new iv in his foot. After she finished she told us to put on a no no. We really couldn't understand her and we asked her what she was saying and in her cute little Asian voice she said "no no like no no touch". It was cute. We still didn't understand what she was talking about. So he has these braces on one arm and one leg. They also have these cute little soft gowns for the babies to wear. The hospital had to make sure they were treating him for hyperinsulinism so they had to take him off his fluids and medication so his sugars would drop and they could get some blood to be certain it was low. They then gave him a shot of the medication to make sure his sugar came up. It came up quick. To do the picc line and find out it was hyperinsulinism he had to be fasting. He ate at 5 am and one ounce at 11 am then not again until 6pm. He was excited to eat. I am pretty sure he knows his mama. He is such a sweet little boy. Tomorrow is the big test. He will be put out completely. The scan will be about 2 hours from start to finish. We hope to get results tomorrow night. If not they won't be read until mon. They said they are usually back by that night. We are anxious to find out. He has had a quiet day today just eating and sleeping. I will update about his scan as soon as I hear any results. I am glad he is a baby and doesn't know any different with all that is being done to him. We consider it a true blessing to be here. We know that Heavenly Father has truly been aware of us. The nurses and staff know exactly what they are dealing with. They have worked with babies like this on a weekly basis. We have faith that all will be well with him.

Hello, everyone, this is Kara, Danny's sister, again. I will be the one posting the pictures they send me via their phones. I also wanted to include a personal note from my parents and our family. We are all so grateful for the faith and prayers offered on behalf of Liam, Danny & Rachel. We know there are many of you out there that have knelt down to ask Heavenly Father for blessings to be bestowed on this beautiful little family. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and may God bless you, too.

I feel prompted to share a beautiful message about hope and love. Many of you may have already seen it, but we can all be reminded that although there are obstacles in this life, Heavenly Father is still mindful of each of us specifically, and He will love us through them.

The city of brotherly love

2010-08-10T13:47:00.004-06:00

We all made it here to Philadelphia. Danny came straight to the hosital with Liam. I checked in to the hotel then rode the subway to the hospital. Liam was excited to eat. We got him all settled and the nurses got him all hooked up then we stayed with him for a little bit. We headed back to look for some food. We got back to the hotel and asked how much it was to park and the guy told us $42 a night. We didn't believe him but he was telling the truth. Danny's mom was getting in at 11:30 pm and she was going to pick up the rental car. Luckily she had called Dennis who had told her how much it was for parking. She cancelled the rental car. Today we got passes that we can use for the train, subway, and busses. I can't believe how much parking is. I feel bad for people who have to pay that much. We met liam's team of dr's who will over him. His dr and the others are very nice. They answered questions and made sure we knew what the plan was. My good friend made a darling picture of the girls to put in liam's crib. When the nurse saw the picture of the girls she said she had already seen them. Since I had mentioned children's hospital of Philadelphia (chop) it automatically sends the pr people of chop an alert that they are mentioned on someone's blog, if it is not private. It was funny. So hello to the pr person who may be looking at this. I think they do it for tracking purposes. They have to redo his picc line tomorrow. We are kind of just playing the waiting game until his big test and surgery next wed. His test will be on fri. The test will be fri at 1:00. It could take a couple hours. We may find out the results fri night and sat morn for sure. We are thankful to be here where everyone has worked with a baby with his condition. Everyone here has been very nice and helpful. Thanks for the love, support, and prayers. We are grateful to everyone. A special thanks to our good friend who got us our hotel at the marriott residence inn. We appreciate his kindness.

Sugar baby

2010-08-06T08:36:00.003-06:00

I am sitting here at primary childrens hospital typing on the iPod so this will be a short quick update because it is hard to type on this little thing. We are still going to philadelphia but we won't leave until monday morning. The children's hospital of Philadelphia (chop) is sending their plane. Danny is going to ride with Liam and I am taking a commercial flight. We are excited to get there and see what is going on. They have a test they do on the pancreas which will show the cells and if they are spread throughout or centralized. He will have to have surgery to take out part (if centralized) or the majority (if spread). This test will determine his outcome. 95% of centralized cells that are removed result in a cure which is what we are praying for because it is the best case scenario. If the cells are spread throughout they have to remove the majority of his pancreas which would most likely cause type 1 diabetes later on down the road. So we are anxious to get there and have the scan done. This hospital and one dr there is the only place in the nation that does this operation. This dr is on vacation until aug 16 and he will not let any other dr operate on a baby. That is good to know that he will be in the best hands. We don't know when the surgery will be. We have been told that the post op is 4-7 days. In the meantime he is still enjoying all the sugar water being pumped in. He is doing so good. His sugar levels are great. We are getting taken care of. This is a great place. We have loved our dr. We ran into elder rasband of the seventy the other night. He has a grandson in here. He was very interested in Liam and wanted to know how to spell his name so they could pray for him and we could pray for their grandson. It was a very spiritual conversation. We have been and continue to be blessed. We have had so many people do so many things for us. We are truly truly blessed and we thank all our family and friends for all they have done and will do in the next few weeks. Our heavenly father is so aware of us and our family at this time. We love him dearly. I will try to update more regularly. Liam is a little sweetheart and we are so blessed to have him. And I guess it isn't as short as I thought it would be. This thing is easier to type on than I thought.

Update On Baby Liam

2010-08-03T09:53:00.004-06:00

Baby Liam and his cousin Piper on July 27th at Danny and Rachel's home.

Rachel's blog has been hijacked again. This time by Rachel's sister, Jill.

We wanted to give everyone an update on Baby Liam.

He was sent to Primary Children's hospital last Wednesday after he was sent home and still had low blood sugars. After some more testing at Primary's, they have found that there are more tests that need to be run to determine just what is going on. These tests can only be done at three different hospitals in the United States. Primary Children's has worked with doctors at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia so that is where Liam, Danny and Rachel will be going.

Liam has a Picc line which is giving him fluids and medication to regulate his sugars. Due to this, he will be medically transferred.

The tests that will be run will determine what is going on inside the pancreas. There are cells inside the pancreas producing excess insulin. The test will see if the cells are localized to one spot or if they are spread throughout the pancreas. Either way will result in surgery whether it is to remove the centralized cells or to remove most of the pancreas.

Rachel and Danny's spirits are high and they are very confident in their doctors. The girls are being taken care of by both sets of parents and are doing great. Your prayers and love are very appreciated.

Liam Hugh Reilly

2010-07-06T22:19:00.015-06:00

Hi, everyone. This is Kara, Danny's sister, and I have hijacked Rachel's blog. I'm so pleased to announce that "Little" Liam is finally here. And I use the term "little" VERY loosely. He weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs. 9 oz. and is 20" long. Danny told the surgical team that Liam's high birthweight is due to the nature of his very large boy parts. Typical Danny. I had given Liam some newborn jammies as a gift, and he's already outgrown them. He's the first baby I've know to have hand-me-downs at birth.

Rachel is doing pretty good, but Liam was admitted into the NICU today. Because he was obviously well fed in utero, he's having withdrawals since his food supply was instantly cut off. He's having a hard time maintaining his blood sugars, therefore he's having the shakes and is unnaturally lethargic. Hopefully all the prayers on his behalf will get him out of there soon. He's such a peaceful guy.

He's just a cutie and really has his own look even though there's a slight resemblance to the girls (Bergin's nose). I guess it's just enough to reassure everyone he belongs to Rachel and Danny. I'm so excited for their family and the opportunity they have to experience this new adventure. So without further ado, here he is . . .

These other pictures were taken through a glass window. I have to say I am not a fan of the Logan Hospital. They are very visitor unfriendly.

I just love this picture of Grandma Landon. It looks like she's checking to verify Liam's really a boy, but she was really just adoring the baby feet. Doesn't everyone just love baby feet?

Semi-annual update

2010-04-24T09:21:00.034-06:00

Well, it seems like I do this all too often.....what's that? I don't update enough and then I have a million things to catch up on, which equals a million pictures, so sorry but we have been busy. It all goes back to March when we were able to go on a little family trip. Danny had a work conference in St. George so we took off a couple days early and headed to Las Vegas to stay with Mitch and Sarah and their family. The girls had a their little dance recital on Friday night. They have a mamie who loves them very much because she drove to Logan to see 2, 2 minute dances and then she turned around and headed home. It was so nice of her to come support them. They were so happy to have her there. We took off from there and got to Mitch's house at about midnight. We had a wonderful time with them. They have such a nice home. We spent the day shopping and eating. The whole trip though I have to say, would not have been complete without a visit to Yogurtland. I wish we could have stayed a few days longer to have a few more visits. I could not stop talking or thinking about that place. We went to church with them and Jill's family, who was doing spring break in St. George. It was that day that grandpa Landon was in his worst condition. We all knew it would be that day that he passed away, so it was nice to be all together. We headed back to St. George. We checked in to the hotel then went for a little drive. We drove around the temple a couple times. The Christus was all lit up and beautiful. Niamh, out of nowhere, said she didn't want grandpa Landon to die. We were able to have a wonderful talk with the girls about death and Heavenly Father. It was about 10 minutes later that mom called and told us that grandpa had passed. It was a neat experience for us to have been right at the temple when he passed and were talking about the great plan that Heavenly Father created for all. It was sad of course to have grandpa pass away. He was a wonderful person, and most of all, a wonderful grandpa. Tyler called me on a Wednesday, just after grandpa had gone into the hospital, and asked me if I wanted to go with him to IF to see him. Danny could not go, but the girls and I loaded up at 4 in the afternoon and headed for the hospital. Grandpa had a breathing mask on his face so it was hard to understand him talking. He was pretty out of it when we got there. He perked up after a bit and became the grandpa that I rememeber. They pulled some pillows out from under him to readjust him. He took one of the pillows and picked it up. It looked like he was going to throw it, but he took it and hit Niamh with it, from across the bed. He did it a couple times. He took his hand and was pinching the girls as they were standing next to the bed. It was neat to see him in his own element, teasing his grandkids. We had already taken a picture with him earlier. We were all standing around and he was trying to say something. I went over to him and he was asking for another picture. So, we got to take one more picture with him. I truly feel like Ty was inspired to want to go visit him. We left to Las Vegas 2 days later, and he passed while we were gone. I am grateful for the knowledge that I have that families will be together forever after this life. I am grateful for the Savior, who made it all possible.
We spent the next couple days in St. George. We went swimming and shopping on Monday. Tuesday Danny had his conference. The girls and I went and picked up Jill and went to the visitor's center. It was a beautiful day. The girls loved touching the temple and smelling the beautiful flowers. The temple is so pretty. It is so white it almost hurts your eyes. We headed to Jill's condo and went swimming. It was fun. We picked Danny up and headed home. Niamh had preschool the next day and we left to Idaho Falls when it was over. All of my siblings were there at mom and dad's house. We had the viewing and the funeral, which were both very, very nice. All of the Landon family was there except two cousins. It has been a very long time since we have all been together. It was fun to see all my cousins. We headed home from the funeral for a night, then headed to Salt Lake the next morning after the first session of conference. Danny''s parents were there and got us a hotel room. We watched the 2nd session of conference, then Danny and Dennis headed to priesthood session. The girls and I went shopping with Sharon. We had dinner then headed back to the hotel. The girls couldn't wait to go swimming.....again. That was the 3rd time in a week. It was fun. The next day, Sunday, was Ryan's birthday. Dennis has nicknamed her "Lucky" because she shares her birthday with him. She is lucky too. It was also Easter. As we were heading out of the hotel, after the morning session, we saw the Easter Bunny. He even knew it was Ryan's birthday. The girls gave him hugs and he gave them an easter egg with candy in it. They were thrilled. They asked the Easter Bunny if he remembered to stop by our house even though we were gone. He said he had. We got home with 10 minutes to spare. The girls looked for eggs and got their baskets. We watched the afternoon session of confernce. We then got to open Ryan's presents. She was pretty excited to get a boy racetrack. She had said that she wanted one for Christmas. We spent the afternoon playing and relaxing. Ryan had a birthday party the next week with all of her friends. When we were in Idaho falls we stocked up on candy. Ryan wanted a pinata. We got plenty of candy. The girls could not wait to put the candy inside. Ryan was thrilled to get a "pilly pocket" pinata. She picked it out with Danny. The kids came over and played some games, in the garage, since it was freezing outside. They got to decorate their own cupcakes. They all stood in line and waited for their turn to hit the pinata. After a few times down the line, we knew it was going to take a little more than just 4 year olds to break it. Danny took a hold of the bat when it was Ryan's turn. The 2 pictures are blurry, but if you look closely, you can see little Ryan's face in between Danny's arms while he hit it. I told Danny that he needed to move Ryan out of the way because she was getting hammered. He hit it a few more times and it finally broke. The shower of candy came falling down. The kids had little bags that they jammed full with candy. We opened presents and Ryan made the same face every time she opened a present. It was a fun little party.
That about sums up our adventures. Niamh has started soccer. It is fun to watch. She is still a little timid, but we are hoping she follows her dad's example and becomes a little more aggressive. If not, oh well. She is having fun and we enjoy watching her. This past weekend, Jill and her family, along with Matt's Ashley and grandma Landon came to our home. Paker, Pacie, and Ashley had a dance competition here in Logan. It was so nice to have them here in our home. It was grandma's first outing since grandpa had passed. It was so fun to have her in our home. She said she felt like the queen, we told her she was. She helped get my girls ready in the morning. I was out of my baby lotion, so she got some of her nice smelling lotion and put it on them. She brushed their hair and played barbies with them. We went to the dance comp. The girls did great as usual. They are fun to watch. Niamh had a soccer game. Grandma came to it with us. It was during the dance. She went to Sam's club with us. She treated us to lunch. We went to a little park for a picnic. She is great company. I had asked Ryan earlier if she wanted to wear shorts or pants. She said, "Is grandma wearing pants?" I told her she was, and she said she wanted to wear pants too. They always wanted to hold her hand and be with her. I am so glad she was able to come. She has always been a woman with a firm testimony and very strong faith. She never ceases to amaze me. She is a wonderful example to all of her family. We finished watching the girls dance. We got some ice cream then headed home. We are lucky to live close to family and be able to spend time with them as often as we do.
We are blessed to have such a wonderful family, on both sides. It is nice to have a family who supports us in all that we do.

Blue is the new pink

2010-02-24T15:34:00.010-07:00

So if the hint hasn't been taken, we are having a baby and we are having a boy. It looks like we are going to have to start buying things other than pink, barbies, polly pockets, dress-up, jewelry, dolls, tea party stuff, and everything else girl. I don't know what I am going to do with a boy. I am so used to girls. I thought back to my childhood days of playing with my brothers and all the matchbox cars we used to play with. We used to make tracks in the carpet and drive all around. This little guy will have 3 big sisters that I am hoping will like to make tracks in the carpet with him, as I loved doing with my brothers. We are thrilled to add a boy to our family. After we found out what we were having yesterday, the girls kept saying, "Good, we need a boy in our family." They are excited for the new addition. Ryan has been saying all along that it was a boy. Niamh went back and forth, but is now saying that she knew it was a boy too. Danny would say she takes after me.
I think one of the biggest thrills is that Danny has entered manhood. He always said that it takes a man to make a man, hence the 3 girls. I was happy to welcome him to the joy of true manhood yesterday. He deserves it right? He might have thought that all the tears yesterday were on his behalf, but I'm sorry to say it was for the boy. He is going to be a great dad. We can't wait to see what a boy version looks like. I am due July 10, but will most likely have him on July 5, since that is my doctor's c-section day(Monday). These are two of my favorite pictures from the ultrasound. He is a mover. He was moving all around while she was measuring and looking around. The girls were loving it. We can't wait to welcome our little irish boy.

His little feet that were crossed
A nice profile picture

Our fun holiday

2010-01-19T17:09:00.010-07:00

Christmas has come and gone. My Christmas letters still sit in their envelopes, addressed, picture in place, ready to go, minus the letter. Waiting for Danny to find the time to write it. I get tempted to do it, but that would be a disaster. I thought I would wait as long to update my blog, but couldn't hold out. I was sick of feeling guilty that I hadn't been on the computer, and I remembered that I had Christmas music on my playlist....motivation enough. We were able to go to Idaho to be with family for a few days. We stayed at the Reilly's. The fun started with a private showing of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" at grandma Reilly's. Movie tickets, hot dogs, popcorn, and candy made it a wonderful time for all.....I hope grandma felt the same. She had all 12 grandkids by herself. The girls said it was great. We went to my parents house on Christmas eve. Mom and dad ordered from Hong Kong. It was so good. Tyler and Mitch went to pick it up and came home looking like men from China. They got some felt mustaches and sick moles out of the quarter machine. The little kids were so scared. This was the first time all my family has been together since we got married 6 years ago. It was so nice to have everyone together. We had fun opening presents and remembering old times. Mom and dad have been remodeling their house. I guess I should say, dad and Matt have been doing it. It looks so good. They work so hard and it certainly shows, and definitely has paid off. It will be so nice when it is all done. We had a very nice Christmas eve. We talked of old times, ate good food, made food for the reindeer, and just enjoyed being together. Grandpa and grandma Landon came down to spend the evening with us. It was a very nice night. I love Christmas Eve and have very good memories of being at home. It was nice continue creating good memories. We headed back to Reilly's before Santa came. We got the plate of stuff ready for Santa and put the reindeer food out on the driveway. Santa did come and everyone was happy. The girls loved to open their things. We played with our new things and relaxed. Ryan and Kara and their families came over. We had a good dinner and opened presents. We always have fun together just sitting and talking. The kids are at a good age to all play together and they always have fun. It was a nice day. We then headed back out to my mom and dad's house. We opened more presents and all the kids played. They all sat and sang Christmas songs and had so much fun together. It is always fun to be together with our families. We went bowling with the Reilly's on Saturday morning. It doesn't get any better than good ol' Skyline lanes, and their grill. We kept the poor girl busy. We just had an open tab, thanks to grandpa, so I think almost everything on the menu was ordered, maybe even twice. Bowling was fun, even though it is not my sport. Looks like Niamh has taken after her dad and is good at it. He is good at everything. Bergin had so much fun. She got so excited after her turn. She would raise her hands in the air and cheer. After bowling we headed to the movies with my family. We had tried to go to "The Princess and the Frog" on Christmas Eve with my family, but it was sold out. We went on Saturday. We saved the whole top row. It was a cute movie. It was fun to all be there together. We headed home. Church responsibilities called us home. I love the Christmas season. There is more love in the air and a wonderful spirit of giving. I am thankful that we can celebrate the birth of the Savior. I am thankful for Him and His life. I am so blessed to know that He lives and because of that, my family is blessed. We spent New Year's with our good friends Benji and Krista and their kids. We had good food and just sat and enjoyed the night. We are hoping for a good new year. It is always nice to be home for the holidays. It is always hard to leave, which is one downfall of living away. It is only 2 hours though, it could be worse. We have wonderful families and we always have good times with them.

The Reilly's are blogging? It's a Christmas Miracle

2009-12-22T19:26:00.026-07:00

Pretty sad that I changed my background before updating. My brother told me months ago that I needed to update. I didn't do it and then my computer crashed. Luckily my brother Tyler got everything up and running. I have a lot to report. So, there will be a lot of pictures and writing.

So my little girl, who I am realizing is changing from a little girl, turned 5 in Sept. It seems like yesterday that I was laying in my apartment having contractions all night, awaiting the arrival of our first. She spent her special day having fun. She had a birthday party and got to invite whoever she wanted, and she did. It was fun, but we were worn out by the end. She got some fun presents. Barbies+barbies+barbies=a happy 5 year old girl. Our cousin was running a marathon here the next day, so they came with their family to stay. We went to eat with them. It was fun to have them here to celebrate. My sister and her family came that night as well because we were making salsa the next morning. How much better can it get to have cousins here on your birthday? (The salsa turned out great and it was fun. Our friend Leanne was here as well to do the salsa) Niamh is such a joy in my life. Niamh is full of life. There is never a dull moment with her. There are times that she can be a little dramatic, but I will take it. She is such a good helper. She is a great big sister. She loves to play, color, look at books, and put puzzles together. She is in pre-school and is getting excited to read. Last night she read her first book, granted it had 8 words throughout. But she did it all by herself. She sounded out the words and felt so accomplished at the end. I was a proud mom. I am thankful to have her in my life. She makes me happy, almost all the time. They all have their moments, right?. She loves to go to church. I love to be in primary so I can watch her. Happy way belated birthday to my Sweets.

Halloween was fun again this year. We go to Danny's work for trick or treating during the day. Our friend Julee came with her twin girls Macie and Chloe. They were hillarious. They would immediately open their candy to test it out. It was fun to have them come with us. The grandma's and grandpa's hand out the candy. They love to see all the little kids. The girls leave with sticky or chocolate fingers or costumes, and full buckets. We take the girls around our neighborhood then come back and hand out candy. It was a fun night.

November means Christmas trees. We headed to the cabin on Thursday. We always love to go to the cabin. It was just our family for the first night. We went to Yellowstone the next day to go to the bear and wolf exhibit. It is fun to see them up close. It was freezing but we were ready for the cold. We went back to the cabin and watched movies and waited for the rest of the crew to come. Mom and dad, Jill and Scott, and Matt and Ashley came and we all had dinner. Ty and Ash came a little later. Mom and dad always give the kids a little something. They all lined up waiting anxiously. They each got a Christmas coloring book, A Christmas Carol book for the family, and a darling Christmas shirt. Mamie makes it so much fun for all the grandkids. She makes sure each kid has the perfect thing for him/her. It is always fun to see what they get. We took the annual sit on the stairs picture. Fun traditions!!The cabin and the game tripoly go together. One is not complete without the other. Matt's Ashley had never played it before. You would never know. She was on fire. Of course there had to be one winner. It came down to me, Ty, and Matt. We stayed up until 4:30 to finish. If I recall, it was me who was the winner, which never happens. We were all very tired so that added to the fun of it. We always have a great big good breakfast then get ready to go get the trees. This year mom got to come. She has always stayed to watch the little kids. All the little kids were big enough this year. She got all geared up to go. I am so glad she was able to come to share this experience with us this year. She was a pro. She thought we went clear out into the woods and that the snow was clear up to your knees. We can spot trees pretty close to the road which makes it nice. The snow wasn't that bad this year, until it came time for the minivan to leave, then it was bad. I had a hard time finding a tree that I liked this year. I tend to be a brat and turn down every tree Danny picks out. I have an ideal tree in my mind. I promised him that next year I would look at his trees. We were getting 2 for us and one for our neighbor. Since I have such a wonderful husband who stayed back to watch the kids I was out with my dad. My sweet dad is always by my side helping me. It seems like it is always me and him who end up helping eachother out. He knew I was getting to the desperate point. He turned down a few trees I pointed out. We finally found one and cut it. We left it there and said we would come back for it. Well, we traced our steps, which turned out to be other's steps and the tree was lost. We searched and searched. NO luck. Back to looking for 3 more trees. Everyone else was done at this point so that made it worse. We found one and cut it down. We were dragging that one, which would be for the basement. We were like the pioneer children who sang as they walked and walked....we didn't sing though. We came to this tree that was gigantic. It was almost as big as the tree that Clark finds on Christmas Vacation. I saw it, and it was so pretty. I saw dad look at it, then look again, then again, all the while I was thinking, there is no way. That thing is huge. He turned to me and said, " We found your tree honey." We put the tree in the vault so it can be tall. It was so tall. We cut it there then had to cut it again. And then I had to cut it twice when I got home. Thanks to my wonderful dad for sticking with me to find the perfect tree. He never complained once. The other group went out to look for the other tree. Mom was with us when we cut it down , so she gathered everyone else and they all went in together and found it. So nice. We went to leave and the van totally got stuck. Dad, Ty, and Scott were pushing and no luck. A suburban was sitting behind us waiting and the guy came and helped. It was free finally. Note to self, don't take the van in next year. We went back to the cabin and had a wonderful turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Tyler has a smoker and smoked the turkeys. They were so good. Mom and dad always make sure everything is nice. The cabin is always fun. We make fun memories every year that will last a lifetime. We are so grateful to mom and dad and all the time they put in to make the cabin so much fun. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the wonderful time. We appreciate everything they do and all they provide to make the cabin trip the best!!!!

Mitch and Sarah came to Utah to bless Jack. We went to Farmington to Sarah's sister's ward. Mitch did a wonderful job. It was so much fun to see them. Jack is such a cute baby. He is so content and loves to smile. Are is such a cute big sister. It is cute to watch her with him. We went to her sister's house after church for lunch. It was so much fun to all be together. It has been a couple of years that our family has been together. Mitch and Sarah have a beautiful family and they are such good parents. We were happy to be able to share their special day with them. We love them and miss being able to see them often. We are looking forward to seeing them at Christmas.

Thanksgiving was with the Reilly's this year again. We headed to Salt Lake on Wednesday to stay at the Hilton, compliments of Dennis and Sharon. We met up at PF Changs for dinner which is always delish. We then went to Boondocks. My girls were thrilled and counted down the days, LITERALLY on their calendar. They couldn't wait to go to BOONDOGS. It was a night full of go-cart racing(I was the winner of my heat I just have to add), arcade games, a game of laser tag(which our team got slaughtered), and the winning of many coupons. It was a blast. Thanksgiving morning Danny goes with the Weeks boys and kids to play roller blade hockey. He didn't dress to impress this year. If I can find the picture, I will post it from last year. Meanwhile, the girls and I get ready while watching the Macy's parade. We headed to Little America to eat. Dennis always heads over to wait in line. He is a true champion to stand in line for a couple hours for all of us. Dinner was soooooo good. It always is, but this year was even better I think. We headed back to the hotel and had a good nap. We went to Aunt Jo's to hang out with everyone. Pie, leftovers, games, ads, and talking is what takes place and there is nothing that could make it better. Aunt Jo and Uncle Rich are sports to want so many extras in their home. Black Friday...what a day. Dennis takes all the potty trained kids from 9 AM to 5 PM(this year). Last year it was 4. I told him that Bergin miraculously got potty trained that week. He told me it was too late. Better for him. She is not potty trained. She is crazy and that is probably the best word to describe her. The kids went to breakfast at the hotel. They went to Hogle Zoo, lunch, the movie Planet 51, then to the bookstore to pick out a book. We all met up and had dinner. You would think that after being with 10 grandkids for 8 hours, he would be ready to get us out of his sight. We were invited to their room for the 1st annual Bingo. Everyone won a prize. It was so much fun. Dennis makes it so much fun. He will tell us that if we have the next #, we get a piece of candy, and it is always good candy. Niamh won a suitcase of makeup. Ryan and Bergin won baby dolls. Danny won a juicer. It is an old one that matches our old malt machines. It will come in handy this next summer for homeade lemonade. We become the favorite house on the block when Danny makes his lemonade, courtesy of the Kansas City Royals game he went to earlier this year. He and Dennis found out how they made it, then mastered it. Add a little fresh fruit, and you are hooked. I was the winner of the ipod touch. We all were very pleased to say the least. That was the end of the eventful vacation. I don't know what happened, but this year there were no photos taken. I had a couple from dinner at PF Changs, and I forgot about the camera since then. I wish we had more pictures. Next time we will have to document better. There are not enough thanks that can be said to Dennis and Sharon for the wonderful time and EVERYTHING included.

The girls are in a little dance class and had their dance recital. Mom and dad were going to San Francisco so they wouldn't be here but they were coming through on the night of their dress rehearsal. They came to watch. Ryan is our shy one so I was curious as to what she would do. The curtains opened and she had a big grin on her face. Of course, the only people watching were me, my mom and dad. It was so cute. You could tell that her and Niamh were thrilled. After the rehearsal, we headed to Salt Lake. Danny was there for work. We had tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Concert featuring Natalie Cole. Ty and Ash watched the girls for us. They are so nice to help out. They went swimming with the girls and then took them to eat at Olive Garden. We went to the concert with mom and dad. It was so good. There is such an amazing spirit in the conference center. The entertainment was great. We had a good time. Friday night was the actual recital. I was still wondering how the girls would do since there were a lot more people than me and my parents. Ryan kept the grin on her face. Niamh is totally opposite. She loves to perform. It is funny to see how different the girls are in dancing. They did such a good job. W were a happy mom and dad.

Since Christmas is in two days, I thought I better update now. I know this is super long and may be boring, but I had to keep reminding myself that this is for me and I couldn't leave anything out.

Window washer anyone?

2009-09-12T16:32:00.010-06:00

Danny decided that he wanted to wash windows for the second time this year. He did it earlier this year and did such a nice job. Surprisingly, he did it all on his own. You would think he had a griping wife to drive him to do it, but he likes to do it, at least he has totally fooled me into thinking that. He did the inside and out. I appreciate him and his hard work and I am thankful for his desire for window cleaning.

Happy day Bergi!!

2009-09-12T08:26:00.011-06:00

What a happy and good day it was, 9-11-09. It was Bergin's birthday. We celebrated and had a great time. Bergin turned 2. She learned how to hold up two fingers and she says she is "three." I am still not sold on the "one year older and wiser too" phrase. I know she didn't realize that it was her birthday, but she did know that she was special for some reason. Grandpa and grandma Reilly came the night before her birthday and stayed the night. They stayed for a little bit in the morning, then headed home. It was fun to have them here. When she opened presents, she couldn't have been more excited. They gave her a Snow White baby and some shoes. She immediately turned into mommy mode and tried to feed her baby. As she held the bottle to the baby's mouth, she had her lips puckered. It reminded me of parents feeding their baby some baby food and taking bites into the air while giving their baby a bite. I know we all have done it at least once in our lives before we realize what we are doing. I guess that starts at a young age. Needless to say, she loves having her own baby and her own baby bottle. She tried the shoes on then wanted to see how high she could jump in them. They are both cute shoes. Mamie and gramps(Landon grandparents) had given me her presents last week. They gave her a dress for church and a little outfit which are both so cute. She got the dress early becasue she wore it to church last week. It looked so cute. Her grandparents know how to shop for here. We then opened presents from us. She did not want the girls to touch her present, and she did not want ANY help from them. We ended the night with birthday cake. The local grocery store has a program to sign up for free birthday cake, so we signed up. I told them to decorate it with girl colors since they thought Ryan was a boy and put dinosaurs all over it. It was a little funny when Ryan got her cake. She wondered why it had dinosaurs on it. Well, it was probably more Niamh wondering why then Ryan. Our neighbors came over for cake. All little girls. The boys are out-numbered quite a bit. The boys across the street got home and came over and joined us. We are blessed to have great neighbors. It was a great day. After we sang happy birthday to Bergin, I heard her singing a few minutes later, "Happy Day to Bergin." She always says Happy day for birthdays. It is pretty cute. We love Bergin. She is so much fun and makes every day a blast.

To be informative

2009-09-08T17:46:00.004-06:00

So my sister-in-law who could be classified as one of the "World's best and creative bloggers" told me that I should tell how my daughter's name is pronounced. Her name is Niamh. It is pronounced Neeve. It is an Irish name and it has the original Gaelic spelling. So thanks to Kara for the inspiration.

Take me out to the ball game

2009-09-08T14:41:00.026-06:00

This summer has been filled with softball. Danny played on a men's and co-ed team. He loves playing and he has some great cheerleaders. We love to watch him play, despite what he thinks. I decided that since the ball field was our third home(the pool being second)that I should take some pictures of Danny in action. It is a good thing I didnt' wait until the last game because he pulled his hamstring running to first in the second inning I believe, and he was basically worthless the rest of the game, no offense Danny. He had to pitch and since they lost that game they were done. It was a good season overall. The team is made up of old friends, the literal meaning of OLD. I wonder if the pulled hamstring had anything to do with that? They all have fun together. We love cheering him on and we are sad when it is over. Until next year...

waiting....
Got it
Going
Going
Gone

This is my favorite picture. Danny said
"Do I really look like that when I run?" But of course
Poser
Danny is a man of many talents.
Sometimes rocks are more interesting
The cutest fans

Danny and Benji

I am technically challenged

2009-09-05T15:33:00.001-06:00

Okay so something has come over me. In the course of one week, my two daughter's have started a dance class(hopefully they don't get their mom's rhythym, she has none), and I have started a blog. I have no idea how to even do anything on here. In fact, this is the second time I have typed this. Somehow I deleted it. I am at my sister's mercy and she is not answering her phone. I guess what matters is that I have a blog now. Hopefully I can be dilligent like my sister and sister-in-law, who are awesome bloggers. For now, this will not be cute and it will be boring, but my plan is to keep updated on the Irish life.