sweet baby

my darling nephew,

David Steven Jackson

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welcome to the world little one

be MINE

we've had a lazy valentine's.

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the day has mostly been spent in bed, watching plenty of disney, taking several doodles, eating lots of coversation hearts,

and of course plenty of love to share...

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sisterly love

baby love

toddler lover

and gerneous amounts of love for a paticular Fancy Nancy purse.

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{Happy Valentine's}

snow day

let me just preface this post with saying that i am so over winter... i am fighting some serious winter blues, and wish to the very fiber of my being that spring would just come early.

.

HOWEVER....

living in Utah always means a late winter, so tuesday minsie, poptart, and i just decided to deal with that fact. we headed down to nannie's for our first snow day, and of course kennan, jude, and pretzy joined us. i have found that my only key to surviving life with two babies is to get out of the house. it breaks up my day, always gaurentees a good nap, and somehow keeps the girls on a more structured schedule... go figure. Anyway... Minie it absolutely in love with her darling little snow suit, and these wretched hand-me-down moon boots from jude. she is always dragging them out of her closet and trying to dress herself in her winter attire. i thought that because of this little habit, she would adore playing in the snow. i have infact caught her a couple of times shoeless, and sockless enjoying herself a little beligerent snow time. i knew that combining these two loves of her would be a major succes.

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of course, as par for course.... i was proved wrong.

the second i had minie adorned, she immediately toppled over in a fit of whining. when i let her down in the snow, she flopped to the ground and cried. in her defense, she was bundled pretty tightly.. but what could i do? it was freezing!

after about 10 minutes of coaxing and watching jude frolick about, she finally attempted movement and actually succeeded in standing upright by herself. she was so proud of herself she even took a few steps, and by the end of our play she had warmed up mediocrely to it all. she can be so moody.

i love that smoosh.

it's hard to be her.

success!


he had nothing but love

oh.. remember him?

yes, he is still around

what could i do??

i love me a little snow playing myself.

while minie was crumpled in a snow drift, kennan and i still enjoyed.

.

.

,

and please..

this is why everyone should get to know kennan....
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.
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she gives you this....

and this....

and a little bit of this...

at any given moment.

:)

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i know... next time i will invite you.

just because...

it's been a while

huppy BiRThdAy DusTy!

i love you to the moon my man....

and here are some reasons wHy!

-he is the number one pest. he has this uncanny ability to annoy anyone and everyone (espcially me!) yet still is so charming. I love him all the more for it... it's just my dust.

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-he likes to sleep on this nasty goose down pillow that was scavenged from bear lake about 100 years ago. it smells yucky, looks yucky, and very well could be the culprit of his ICU hospital stay......yet still, he is curled up to it tonight like a teddy

-he can get Minie to laugh so easily. as soon as "Daee!!" walks in the room her world lights up.

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-he takes care of me. all the odds and ends that I "wish" to be done, magically do get done, and in a tidy odrer might add.

and he does it all for me :)

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-he loves to set the alarm to go off 30 minutes before he actually needs to get up.

(i sort of hate this one :) )

-he loves eating out, and so do i... see?? I LOVE LOVE LOVE him

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-you can always count on him to be silly with you when you've had a bad day.

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-he always %100 backs up my photography, and allows me the time and space to do it
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-he is absolutey crazy. really he is

-he hates reading, but ever so valiantly trys to enjoy it

-he lays his clothes out each night before work, all ironed, pressed, and ready to go for the next day.

-it takes him FOREVER to get ready. he trys everything on, and the just settles with what I like to just call his "uniform"... oh Dust


-he loves to cut his fingernails down till they are practically gone and bleeding... yummy, i know!
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-it takes a lot to see this boy cry, but when he does, it will melt your heart with his sincerity
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-he holds us together like glue
.....
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and baby that's why i love you much...
Happy Birthday!!
You are my man <3<3<3

Normal

That's what I crave.

This past week has been insane... surreal.

Who gets so sick that they end up in ICU... for five days?!? My husband... Man... he is in some trouble with me. I have never been so worried, or ever felt so lonely. Just the mere thought, and slightest taste of actually having to live my life without him has been wretched. I love this man so much.. he is so much. Our family doesn't function without him, and I thank every last one of you for your thoughts and prayers these past few days.

I know that's why he is getting better.

Thank you,

thank you,

THANK YOU.

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Dustin was finally released from the hospital this afternoon.

He spent Sunday-Thursday up at LDS in their Intesive Care. Monday was the roughest day as it was probably his sickest. First thing Monday morning the pulmonologist did a bronchoscopy to try and detect exactly what was happening in Dustin's lungs. He was on heavy o2, and wasn't too coherent for the better part of the day due to the heavy sedative they gave him combined with the energy he was exerting to breath. His chest x-ray still looked terrible, and after 24 hours of waiting for the culture from his lungs to grow something, nothing ever did. Over the course of 5 days he was pumped with three different types of antibiotics, and was given alburteral breathing treatments every 4 hours on top of all the oxygen he was recieving. No answers were really ever answered, but slowly Dustin started to improve. His doctor believed that because Dustin had already been diagnosed and treated with antibitocs a week before his ICU stay, they were already doing there job of killing any bacteria or virus that might had shown up on a culture. When he did the scope, instead of seeing a lot of fluid, he saw terrible inflamation which was causing the upper lobes of his lungs to collapse. Although we haven't gotten a specific daignosis, after doing some reading and internet surfing I strongly believe he had this. I think Dr. Gregory House would agree :)... But for real, I really do think this is what he may have had.

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This whole experience has just been so wild. Not that a crisis ever is normal, but this literally came out of left field. I am frightened to think of what could have been...last Friday when this all started getting hairy, his doctor was just going to send him home with some phenegren and codeine and have him "sleep off" his illness. Thank goodness he decided to dig just a tad deeper. If Dustin would have just gone home ans drugged himself up, he probably would have conked out and stopped breathing in his drug induced slumber.

*shiver*

All I know is that I got just enough dose of reality to count myself EXTREMLY blessed. All I want is my normal back. I want a husband around, I want to go bed with him beside me, I want to know he'll be walking through the door at 5:30.. to know that he will come home. I am so grateful he is home again.

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Everyone has been so supportive and kind during this whole ordeal. My Mom and sisters took the girls when necessary, and my Mom, being the saint she is made it possible for me to spend every day at the hospital with Dust. She does my job better than me, and Mins is still asking for her Nannie.

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I'm just so glad and so grateful this is behind us...

I hope to never see the inside of an ICU again.

Not so great update

I just wanted to post a quick update on my poor Dustin.
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Last night he took a turn for the worse, and he had to make yet another trip to the ER this morning. Alice took him because I had to stay with the babies, and I hated every second of that. He was in a bad way he finally made it back up to LDS hospital, and once they took his vitals his oxygen saturation level was only at 50. Alice said everyone on staff were all really concerned, rushing to get him stable, and after having a CT of his lungs, he was placed in ICU.

They don't know for sure what is wrong. He is still in the ICU and probably will be for the next day or so. They are not sure that it is actually pneumonia, but couldn't do further testing today because he is just too sick, and is requiring too much oxygen.

I am scared beyond reason, and have a constant knot in my stomach. Seeing my husband.. the father of my babies hooked up to so many machines, and feeling so weak, is a terribly frightening thing.

So far we don't know much... The doctors just keep saying that he is really, really sick. They are going to attempt more tests tomorrow when he is hopefully doing better.

My poor husband... he needs our prayers. I will keep giving updates as I know more.

Man Cold vs. Pneumonia

**WARNING**...

great wife alert

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So.... Dustin has been home sick all week, and after I was positive he just had a bad case of this, he was admitted to the hospital Friday. eek. I know!

All week long I have been border-line irriatated with him mopping around, and thought he was being slightly dramatic when he drove himself to the ER Monday night. IN MY DEFENSE, they just sent him home with a diagnosis of a cold, and gave him what I considered pity antibiotic. I mean, since when did they start treating a simple cold with a z-pack?? Anyway...a second trip to the ER on Tuesday produced a diagnosis of Atypical Pneumonia and I started sympathizing for him a tad bit more.. just a tad though. I pretty much left him alone to sleep all week, but Friday morning when he was still feeling terrible with some seriously labored breathing, I made him go see my doctor. The doc re-confirmed the pneumonia diagnosis, and was about to send him packin', when he decided to check his blood oxygen level just in case. TURNS OUT, Dust was barley oygenating.. his level was at 82, and boy, how Doctor Pneumonia's demeanor changed (and mine mind you). Within 30 minutes Dustin was arranged for admittion, and by the time we got to the hospital his oxygen was down to 75.

Yuck... the whole experience has been terrible. They admitted him to the most inconvienently located hospital ever, making my juggle between staying with him while also caring for our children nearly impossible. There was NO WAY I was going to bring my 2 month old to a hospital floor housing all manner of illness.. and the fact that I am her sole source nourishment left me leaving Dust alone the majority of his stay :(.

Luckily he only spent about 24 hours there, and after some IV antibiotics and 12 hours on oxygen he is now home feeling much better.

So that's that.

FUN.

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and now here I am, justifiably so, stroking his forehead and telling him,

"Poor little bunny..."

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Thank goodness it's the end of this week

Little Miss Eliza

this tiny thing gave us a run for our money...

but, oh so worth it in the end :)

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tiffany, eli is beautiful.

thank you for letting me capture her.

chuck-e

cheese.

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today kenna and i took the chillans to the highly acclaimed Chuck-E-Cheese. jude is scheduled to go in for another lazer treatment tomorrow morning, and his Mama wanted to make sure he got exactly what he wanted today.

so off to the ChuckE it was :)

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my mom, and vanessa and her girls joined us for our afternoon of fun as well. nannie ever so kindly offered to pick up the lunch tab, which was very unessecary, but very nice...

so yeah, 70 whoppin dollars later, we had our self some NASTY funk, rubber-esqe pizza that i am convinced must have also had truffle oil infused somewhere in it's crust to justify that price.

YEESH!

i'm sorry Mom.. we should have just eaten some where else :(

.

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jude.. sweet boy
today was his day


and crazy horse will always be there to tag along because...


they are best friends.

hey, HEY, hey!!!

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wonder why ?

:)

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it was a really fun afternoon and the moodles enjoyed herself to the moon.

good luck tomorrow judamakins! we love you to peices!

a LittLe bit Minie...

at 18 months miss mins...

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.loves the word "No!"

.loves elmo...

.loves ming ming

.follows mama's every foot step

.pokes sissy's eyes

.makes incredible messes

.eats mini pancakes every day

.still loves hot dogs

.has a major opinion about what she wears

.loves her "B" (binks)

.has teeny tiny feet

.laughs adorably for no reason

.loves to "make" food in her kitchen

.dances at any given excuse

.loves her daddy

.doesn't look at the camera anymore :(

.is an excellent sleeper

.removes her socks and shoes as soon as she is in the car

.crys at the doctor

.yells at duke

. hides in corners, closets, and beneath tables to poop :)

.charms everyone she meets

.melts her mama's heart with her cross bite smile

.lights up to see her sister come in the room

.lights up any room

...

and...

.is SO loved by me

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my first baby.

my best girl.

my own little shadow...
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how did i ever live life without you?

you have given me the best 18 months of my life.

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i love you smooshie...

xoxo,

mama

fyi

i am up and running with oliverminie j. again, so for all of you people inquiring, please check out the updated blog at http://oliverminiej.blogspot.com/ .

that's all.