Once Again...

Jeff and I were getting ready to leave yesterday afternoon and walked outside and found 2 more cans of formula sitting on our front steps. I am so amazed by people's generosity and kindness. I don't know if this is the same people who did this last time, or if it's someone else. But whoever you are THANK YOU. You really have no idea how much this helps us out. We are so appreciative of your kindness and want you to know how touched we are. Like I said before, I make an amazing batch of chocolate chip cookies that I would LOVE to bring you, if only I knew who you were.

Gosh I'm Lucky

We had our family pictures done by Michelle and she did such a great job. As I was going through them I just thought, dang I have a cute little family. I have been so blessed to have a mom and a dad who love me unconditionally. I adore my brother and sister (and I think they kinda like me too!) We all get along so great and enjoy spending time together. There really isn't ever any drama that goes on with us. We truley are blessed to have each other.

Playing In The Snow

After it snowed on Saturday, the girls wanted to go out and make a snowman. The snow wouldn't pack, so they decided to make snow angles instead.

Annual Christensen Family Christmas Party

Yesterday afternoon we had our Annual Christensen Christmas Party and it was a lot of fun. Jeff's family was in charge of it this year and we had soup and salad, rolls and lots of cookies. A few years ago Jeff's parents made these awesome chimes that are all different lengths. And then each chime is numbered. There are music sheets that have the numbers on them. You read the papers like sheet music and when your number comes up, you ding your chime. Jeff's mom had people come up and she gave them each a chime and then we would have to guess the song they were playing. It was a lot of fun even though the families chime dinging skills could use a little work!

We also had a special visitor come to take kids requests for Christmas. Hallie was scared to death last year, so I wasn't sure how she was going to react this year, being it her first encounter with him since last year. But as soon as he came in she followed him around and was yelling,
"I want you to bring me dress-ups!" She wasn't scared this year at all.
Korver got to sit on Santa's lap for the very first time this year. He told Santa he would like a high chair. Just a side note: Santa if you're reading this, if you could have your elves "make" some of that really expensive formula, that would be AWESOME! ;)

Abbi asked for a Littlest Pet Shop Gym that she's been eyeing up at the store.

Every time the Christensen's get together it amazes me to look around and think that two people started all this. Now there are so many people that we fill an entire cultural hall. Everything turned out really great and I'm sure that Jeff's mom and dad are glad to have their turn over for a few years. I think everyone had a lot of fun.

And In Other News...

Mr. K is smiling! He loves it when we talk to him and gives us a big open mouthed grin every time we do. I even got him to giggle for the first time yesterday. I tickled his neck and he laughed and laughed. It was so cute! This is the funnest part of being a parent, I think. I love each time my kids learn or do something they've never done before. It was almost as Korver was just as surprised as I was at the noise that came out of him. He is such a fun baby. He's so content and happy most of the time.

This is my favorite picture of my two boys having fun together.

A New Friend In Our Home

Last Monday night, our family was sitting in the family room watching t.v. when we heard a knock at the door. The kids ran to see who it was and found a box with a big white envelope addressed to us attached to it. We opened the box to find a special friend who will be staying with us this Christmas. It was an elf who we had to name and adopt as our own. The name we choose for her is Rosie. Rosie watches us all day and then at night, she goes back to Santa's workshop to help Santa make toys and report on how our family is doing. She's a funny little elf in that she's forgetful and forgets where she was last in our home. So each day when we wake up, we have to search for her. She has been in the craziest of places. We have found her hanging from decorations, on top of the cupboard, hanging from the light, and doing a headstand on our banister. It's always fun to look around the house and see where Rosie has wound up. Rosie can't be touched because she will lose her magic. And we were told in the letter that if we are good, Rosie will return to us next year. The kids (and us) are having so much fun with her. I really hope that she keeps coming back to us.

I Love These Two

I just want to take a minute and blog about my awesome parents. I love them so much. They are constantly doing things for Jeff and I. Whenever we need someone to tend they are the first in line. My mom always goes the extra mile to make things fun at holidays. She's an amazing cook and an unbelievable mom and grandma. My dad is so funny and caring. He's so great to play with my kiddos when they are there. I seriously couldn't ask for better parents and I'm so lucky. Michelle took our family pictures last Sunday and she captured exactly as I see my mom and dad. I absolutely love this picture of the two of them together.

Lunch Anyone?

A few months ago Jordann had such a good idea to get together with all 3 of the kids birthmom's and go to lunch. We finally were able to nail down a date that would work for all of us and meet together at Olive Garden. It was so much fun. I get a little emotional looking at these pictures thinking that all 3 of these special girls chose me to be the mommy of their babies. ME, out of all the other mom's in the books. I truly feel like the luckiest person in the world sometimes.

This picture was taken by my-up-and-coming photographer daughter, Abbi. That's why we're all kind of looking down.

Hallie, Jordann, Abbi, Teressa holding Rain, Michelle holding Korver.Teressa and Abbi

Jordann and Hallie

Michelle and Korver

It was so much fun to all get together. They had never met each other before (Michelle and Jordann had met once, briefly.) We had a good time chatting and hanging out. We decided that we're going to do it once a month and I'm really happy about that. It was fun having them all together.

Finding Our Perfect Tree

Last year Jeff and I decided to start some traditions with our kids. One of which was to go cut down our own Christmas tree. So the day after Thanksgiving we headed out to find our perfect tree (after buying a permit, of course.) After we found a patch of pines, we found one pretty quickly. We were able to put the truck in 4 wheel drive and drive right up to our tree. The girls got out with Jeff to help him cut it down. Korver and I stayed inside the truck where it was warm.

I love this tradition that we've started and hope that Jeff is up to keeping this one up. It's kind of a long drive, but the kids had fun watching Christmas movies on the way there and back. We always grab something to eat on the way and some treats for the ride. I love the tree this year, too. It was the perfect size for my tiny little house. I tease with Jeff that when I get my bigger house we're going to be like Clark Griswald in Christmas Vacation and have to tie it to the top of the car to get it home.

This Kid Melts Me

One day Abbi and I took a bunch of pictures of Korver. He pulled so many faces in a matter of just a couple minutes. He's getting so big I can hardly stand it. I just want him to stay little and cuddley forever. But I know that won't happen. I can already see it in his face that this kid is going to go places.

I LOVE the look he gets on his face when he cries. I think it's the cutest thing ever.
Big yawns.

Korver is starting to smile so much at us. I'll be holding him while watching t.v. and look down and he's just grinning away at me. Then when I talk to him he talks right back. He is such a cutie.

Twist My Arm

My cute sister in law, JoAnn, asked me to take some pictures of her family. I usually don't love taking pictures anymore, but I was actually excited for this one. Her kids are all really fun and they are an easy going family. I thought I'd post just a few of my favorite ones.

From The Bottom Of My Heart

Last night I was making dinner and someone knocked at the door. I went to answer it and found 2 cans of that expensive formula we have to use. I just want to say that whoever you are, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! I can't express how touched we are by this. After I came inside I started crying and couldn't stop. To think that someone out there did this for us is amazing. I really wish I knew who you were, because I make a mean chocolate chip cookie that I would love to thank you with! From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

He's All Better

I know lots of you are wondering how little Korver is doing. It was his formula that was the problem. We had him on Enfamil and they switched him to Similac Alimentum which is a hypoallergenic formula. Also very pricey. $25.94 at Wal Mart to be exact. And that's the small can people. He goes through about 2 small cans a week. You do the math. We're thinking about putting those little donation boxes around banks and grocery stores so people can donate to the Feed Korver Cause. Kidding, but honestly that's a lot of money for one tiny can of formula. Korver is well worth it and we're so glad he's feeling better. We're also glad it was an easy fix. He reacted to it in about 4 hours, which is really good. Sometimes I guess it takes 3-4 days before you start seeing results. And they weren't going to let us leave until the bleeding stopped.

Here is the little guy all hooked up to the monitoring machines. Korver was so good throughout the entire hospital stay. He was content and happy. Just like I said in the post before, you would never know anything was wrong with him unless you looked at his naked bum.
I just want to thank everyone for your support and prayers and kind words. I know they helped. We are so thankful for modern medicine and really smart doctors. Within an hour or so the doctors at Primary Children's had everything all figured out and narrowed down to what they thought it was. We were thankful to be up there where they could monitor him and make sure that he was okay.

Warning... Read At Your Own Risk

Some of this is kind of gross, so don't say I didn't warn you. About a week ago Korver started to get a rash on his bum. I really didn't think anything of it and rushed to the store for some Desitin. After slathering his cute butt with the ointment I thought it would be taken care of within a few days. He also had a little bit of diarrhea which I also thought was no big deal and would be gone in a day or two. Well, the rash kept getting worse and worse. My little sister is a pharmacy tech and mixed me up a concoction of stuff to smear on his bum. It started looking better, so I thought okay, we're good. Friday afternoon I was changing Korver and noticed some blood in his diaper. I thought, oh great his bum rash has started to bleed, that can't be good. I put gobs of the ointment on the rash and checked him again in an hour. He was good to go, so I was relieved. We left for a date and came home to a sleeping baby. He did fine through the night and Jeff said that he didn't notice any blood (any of you who know me, knows that Jeff has always been the one to get up with our babies during the night, I now he's a catch.) The next morning when I was getting him ready for the day I noticed that the blood was mixed in with his stool. You can imagine my thoughts. This really can't be good. I was wiping him down with the ointment again and blood started dripping; and it definitely was NOT dripping from the rash. I immediately called the on-call doctor at the clinic and was told to bring him in. The doctor examined him quickly and told us to go to Primary Children's. I started bawling. I didn't want my poor baby to be sick. So after a quick trip home to grab what we needed for an overnight stay, and after taking my girls down to my wonderful parents, we headed up to Salt Lake. After we were admitted, the doctors at PCH took some blood tests and a stool sample. What they found was that Korver is probably allergic to his formula. And that's the reason he's had diarrhea and from that comes the bum rash. They said that the formula has probably upset his bowels which has caused sores which is where the bleeding has come from. They switched his formula and so far the only thing that has changed is he's not spitting up nearly as much as he did before. Korver still has the bum rash and still has bloody stool. Now he's a little dehydrated to boot. They have him hooked up to all these monitors and it's really sad. I feel stupid for not making a bigger deal out of getting the rash taken care of. And also for not being more aware of how serious the diarrhea thing was. Who knows, all this could have been taken care of if I would have just taken him in sooner. But I'm just not one of those moms that takes their kids to the doctor over every little thing. I guess I better be one of those moms, right. Anyway, here we sit in a quiet hospital room. Korver is sleeping and has only waken up to eat and have his bum changed. He's been such a good kid the whole time we've been here. Not much crying at all on his end (a few tears have been shed on my end.) Unless you looked at his bum, you would never know there was anything wrong with him. Jeff and I have taken 4 hour shifts through the night since there's only one bed. He's also sleeping right now. I will keep you posted and I will also take some pictures of the little guy, cause don't think in the hustle and bustle that I didn't grab my camera. Hopefully my next post will be from home and it will be only a few hours from now. But they won't let us leave until the bleeding has stopped and he's no longer dehydrated. I feel really lucky to live in Utah right now where we have Primary Children's and all these great doctors that specialize in children. And to only live an hour away (even with Ute football traffic on Saturday.) I can't imagine living far away and having to travel a long distance to get here. We really are so blessed.

I Just Have 5 Little Letters For You...

N.K.O.T.B. That's right I went to New Kids On The Block last night compliments of my friend Katie who won tickets.

She invited Lindsey, Loni, Jaimie and me. It was so much fun. When I was about 11 years old I had a major crush on these guys. My favorite was Danny. I went to their concert when they came to the Marriott center in Provo and I was sure that Danny was going to single me out of all those other girls, blow me a kiss and fall madly in love with me. He would wait for me until I was old enough to date and then we would date and get married and have 4 kids and live happily ever after. Like I said, MAJOR crush! I don't care what anyone says, these guys can still move. They did all their old dance moves and everything. Danny even did a break dancing number and spun on his head a few times. I was giddy like I was when I was 11. It was AWESOME. Thanks so much Katie for a fun night. I had a blast.

Dinner with Rain, Teressa and Jenny

Tonight we had Rain, Teressa and Jenny over for pizza and a little visit. Teressa is Abbi's birth mom, Rain is Abbi's sister and Jenny is Abbi's birth grandma. Jenny hadn't met Korver yet and wanted to see Abbi, so they decided to come down. Abbi loves whenever she gets to see her sister, Rain. It was a short little visit, but it was really fun.

Abbi helping Jenny feed Rain.
Abbi playing with Rain.

Teressa, Abbi holding Rain, and Jenny holding Hallie.

The Greatest Invention In The World

My friends Janean and Kellye got me this awesome chair for Korver. I LOVE it. It's called a Bumbo and if any of you have a baby and don't have one of these, run right out and get one. I hear they are pretty pricey, but I've only had it for about 4 hours now, and it's well worth it. It is made to fit really small babies and help them sit up. Korver loves it. He thinks he's a big boy. I guess they make trays for them, too, so that you can use it as a high chair when they get a little older. I love this thing! Thanks girls for a great present.

Another Meltdown

We've been experiencing a lot of meltdowns at our house lately with Hallie. Usually we've reached about 3 before 9:00 in the morning. If things don't go exactly her way she cries uncontrollably. And at breakfast if she spills a little milk on herself, you guessed it. This little girl thinks she is picked on. How sad it would be to live in a world where you have to play Barbies and babies all day and dress up in princess clothes. It's a hard life to live.

It's Just That Easy

I'm just as confused as she is.

My Cute Trick-Or-Treaters

I love dressing my kids up for Halloween. This year Abbi wanted to be a bat, Hallie wanted to be Snow White, and I wanted Korver to be a Dalmation. In my opinion, they don't come any cuter than these 3.

Seriously, I could just eat him up. Korver made the cutest dog.
My sweet Hallie was SO excited to wear her costume. She asked everyday for a week if it was time for Halloween. I wasn't planning on having her wear her costume until night, but when we got Abbi all ready to go for school, she just had to wear it.

And isn't this the cutest bat you've ever seen? We had a hard time finding a bat costume so we made one up. Abbi loves bats for some reason and is always reading bat books at school. She knew exactly what she wanted her bat costume to look like. I think it turned out pretty cute.

The tutu was a present from Michelle and Ariel and it worked out perfect to have her wear it to complete the bat costume.