First REAL Smile

Saturday Tanner turned 6 weeks old, and you know what they say...most babies start smiling for REAL at 6 weeks. Well, since he was 5 weeks early, I really didn't think it would happen. After I fed him, I was smiling and talking to him and he smiled-a big REAL smile. He was totally looking straight at me and smiled. I yelled for Ben to come over and accidentally scared him so he wouldn't do it again, but I swear it was real-at least, I will continue to keep believing that. :)

This is a picture that one of his favorite nurses (Cori) took at the NICU. She actually got a picture of him smiling. We had some wonderful nurses that took care of him. His other favorite nurse was Erica. It's nice to know that even though I couldn't be there all of the time, there were great people taking care of him.

School 2008

Wow, I am way behind on my blog, but since I want to print this out someday, I figured I better try to catch up!

I had just found out about a week before school started that Payton was going to have to get glasses-his eyes are actually worse than Parker's. I feel very blessed to have found this out since I really didn't think he had a problem. I had decided to take Parker in to the eye doctors to make sure his prescription hadn't changed before I bought him some new glasses and since I had insurance for Payton as well, I thought I might as well get his checked out. Payton was SO upset that we was going to have to wear glasses. We weren't going to have the new glasses though until after the first week of school had already started. I didn't think it was going to be a big deal since Parker has glasses and his good friend Austin has glasses. Well, he didn't want anything to do with them. Luckily he has great friends and cousins that told him how cool he looked and that they wished they had glasses too. The picture of him on his scooter was the first day he wore them to Kindergarten. Things have been going great ever since and now he thinks that they are really great! He even said the other day that he hopes Tanner is lucky and gets to wear glasses too! Wow! We have come a long way! These other pictures are from the first day of school for both of them! Payton's teacher is Ms. Robbins and Parker's teacher is Mrs. Tanya. I was really worried about Parker going to preschool this year, not because he would be nervous, or that he wasn't ready or anything like that. I felt like he was ready in every way (and probably could have gone last year even-he really wanted to and would cry every time I dropped Payton off at preschool because he couldn't go), except that he wasn't potty trained! He absolutely would not go poop in the potty! I had tried everything and he was so scared! I was so worried that he was going to poop in his pants (he is VERY regular) and that they would kick him out of preschool. So everytime I took him to preschool I would say, "Parker don't poop in your pants, or Mrs. Tanya will be mad." He always said OKAY or I KNOW! And then every time I picked him up he would say, "Mom, I didn't poop in my pants!" (loud enough for everyone to hear). Luckily, the dreaded deed never happened, but, he still wouldn't go poop in the potty. I am happy to say that within the last 2 weeks, it has finally happened! He is FINALLY potty trained! He finally got over being scared (I won't mentioned how we got that to happen) and he is doing great!!! It's about time!

Tanner is home!

We finally brought Tanner home on Monday November 17th after 3 weeks and 2 days at the NICU. Unfortunately Parker was sick with a bad cold so we had to send both him and Payton to Ben's parents house. I felt really bad since they hadn't been able to see Tanner yet except for a brief moment the first day at the hospital (we couldn't bring them into the NICU). We were super excited to see their reaction when they finally came home a couple of days later. They had been asking about him a lot and I was certain that they would be so excited. But, since Payton had already missed a couple of days of school and his friends were meeting to go to school right when he got home, all he could think about was going to school. It definitely wasn't the moment that I had been thinking it was going to be. Things have been much better since then and they are both in love with Tanner. Actually the very next day, Payton even asked to stay home from school so that he could be with the baby (that was HUGE for him since he absolutely LOVES school). Every free minute Payton is in looking at the baby. Parker is doing really good and doesn't seem to jealous so far. He always says, "he is SO cute". They love to hold him and help feed him. Tanner is a really good baby so far. Everyone thinks he looks like Parker, and I am constantly calling him Parker as well. If only he would eat better...oh well. I think I'm in love....

Still working on it...

Since Michelle isn't doing her due diligence and updating this page, I'll give a quick run down. Tanner is still in the NICU learning how to eat. We expect he'll be there another week or so. He's getting cuter and a little more feisty with each day.

Tanner Dean Armstrong

Well, after months of being pregnant and a few days in the hospital, we have FINALLY decided on a name for the baby. We've decided to name him Tanner Dean Armstrong. He is such a little sweetie. The boys both loved seeing him briefly on Saturday when he was released from the NICU. Unfortunately, since he has been readmitted to the NICU, they won't be able to see or hold him until we bring him home. Sad! Quick update on him: He is still on IV fluids, but they are starting to feed with him a feeding tube today and will hopefully have him weened off the IV's within a few days. He still is not eating (breast or bottle) by mouth very good. We have had one good feeding for about 4-5 minutes last night when he did pretty good. Hopefully as he gets off the bili lights he will get more energy and become more interested in eating. He is currently on antibiotics for an infection as well, but seems to be doing really good. He also is off of the CPAP machine (for his respiratory rate) and is doing really good! Overall, he looks great and we hope that we can bring him home within a week or so!

A few pics....

Here's a slideshow of some of the pics I took yesterday.

Dangit.

Michelle is snoring next to me so here is the latest update. She doesn't even know what's going on, as the drugs are working their wondrous powers on her.

The short version: The baby is back in the NICU after the doc ordered chest x-rays and determined his lungs aren't quite up to speed yet. They also did some blood work and found that he *may* have an infection. Ack. Just when I started to think we may have a semi normal delivery and hospital stay. Doc said the baby will be in for at least 3-4 days more, with the potential of being in for another few weeks. Just what we wanted to hear.

Another night on the chair/bed/torture device awaits.

Baby number three has arrived...

Last night at about 11:00 Michelle's water broke. We were at the hospital by about 12 and the baby was born about 2:00 AM this morning via C section. Mom and baby are both doing great. Baby weighs in at 5 lbs 13 oz, our biggest to date. He looks like a toddler compared to our last one, who was half that size. Baby doesn't have a name yet. We'll see who wins that battle. Stay tuned for more news, probably next time from Michelle.

Tagged!

Two names you go by:
1. Michelle
2. Mom

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. Red velour pants
2. Red velour jacket

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. my shelves finished in my cold storage room!
2. my belly to stop hurting from being stretched so far!

Two things you did last night:
1. Went to Ben's parents house for dinner and FHE
2. Watched Cold Case when I got home

Two things you ate today:
1. Cheerios
2. Chocolate covered toffee (I know, its only 10am I already had to have a treat!)

Two last people you talked to:
1. Ben about our 401k's
2. Sparky about a family reunion for next summer

Two things you are planning on doing tomorrow:
1. Going to do a Non Stress Test at the hospital
2. Going to Payton's last soccer game for the season

Two favorite beverages:
1. Water
2. Chocolate Milk

I tag: Jenny, Brittany, Shea, Emily, Kellie, etc....

Lake Powell

Wow! What a fun trip it was to Lake Powell this year! My parents now have part ownership on a houseboat so we went for 1 week in August. Payton and Parker had so much fun with Rhett, Cody and Jared. They constantly fought over who got to ride the 3 man tube. Originally, Payton only wanted to go slow on it, but when I told him the he had to get off so that his older cousins could go wild and crazy on it, he said that he wanted to go wild and crazy too! I was such a nervous wreck watching from the boat, but Payton was having the time of his life out there. They went over a huge wave and I was screaming because I thought he was going to die, but when we stopped and talked to him, he was laughing and saying how awesome it was! I guess my little boy is growing up! The place we stayed had some fun cliff jumping right next to us that they kids and my sisters kept jumping off of. Parker loved the boat and would take a nap on it every afternoon-so sweet! Ben couldn't get the entire week off of work, so he planned on meeting us during the middle of the week. I talked to him the day we were supposed to meet him and he was just leaving the Hole In The Wall. Great! He should have been there in less than 1 hour! Me, my mom, Amy and the boys drove the boat to the marina to meet him a little while later. After sitting in the hot afternoon sun for over 2 hours, we finally came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to be there anytime soon. Every time I tried to call him, the phone went straight to voicemail. I was SO stressed out! I called the state police troopers and 911 wondering if there had been an accident. They didn't know of any so all we could do was to go back to the house boat and try again in another hour. It was so stressful! What a sweet surprise it was that once we got back in phone service an hour later there was a message from Ben saying that he was finally here. He had taken the wrong turn and went 100 miles in the wrong direction! What a nightmare! Everything went pretty great the remainder of the week until we decided to leave on Saturday. The houseboat was stuck on the shore because the water level had dropped, so it took over an hour to try to get it off. Once we got all gased up, etc we went to put the boat to the buoy and then found out that the generator had stopped working. After Jared and my Uncle Mark worked on it for a couple of hours, we decided that we had to leave. The next day, I called my parents to see how the drive home went. Well first, someone had hit their boat trailer when it was parked and broke a tail light-luckily my Uncle Mark and Jared were there to help them. Then, while they were driving the tread came off of their boat tire and so they had to change the tire and also it banged up their truck pretty badly. Once and Jared and Uncle Mark were able to help them out of the disaster. They are probably thinking that they never want to come to Lake Powell with us again! We must be jinxed! Thanks you guys! You saved the day!

Some funny quotes from Parker:

I was eating lunch when Parker came up to me and said:
Parker: "I'm so sorry!"
Me: "Whats wrong?"
Parker: "I'll fix it tomorrow okay?"
Me: "What happened?"
Parker takes me out to show me a chain that he broke on the houseboat. He then turns to me and says:
Parker: "I want to say I'm sorry."
Me: "Okay."
Parker: "SORRY!!"


Another time all of the kids were watching a movie in the back room while the generator was on. Parker was sitting on the couch and didn't have a diaper on under his swimsuit. I told him not to pee while he was on the couch. He said "okay mom, I won't, I promise". A little while later I saw him peeking out through the door to the room I was in. I went over to him and he said:

Parker: "I didn't pee on the couch mom!"
Me: "Okay, is everything okay?"
Parker: "I peed on the floor."
Me: "Great."

Going "wild and crazy" on the tube.

Payton trying to balance in the boat as it went over a ton of waves.

Taking his daily nap!

Sisters taking a "bath" and washing our hair!

"Blue Steel" pose.

25 weeks prego!

Ben & the boys on the tube.

Ben brought a ton of fishing equipment that Cody, Rhett and Jared loved using!

Parker and Payton pretending to drive the houseboat.

Jared thought it would be cool to see what would happen if he punched a catfish-not such a good idea-he hand totally got swollen and hurt really bad!

Cliff Jumping

Jared helping Payton get to our boat.

Me hanging out in the boat while everyone went cliff jumping.














The kids making smores one night.

Utah Lake

My dad took me, my mom, my sisters (Kim and Amy) and Payton and Parker out boating on Utah Lake. It was alot of fun! The boys hadn't been on the boat for a couple of years and last time Payton was super scared of it. I was glad to find out that he now loves it! Good thing because we were leaving for Lake Powell a couple of weeks later! My dad bought a cool tube thing from Costco that the kids loved. I didn't go on because I'm pregnant and figured it wasn't the best idea.

Armstrong Family Reunion

Every year Ben's family has a big fun family reunion. All of his Aunt's and Uncle's and their families come too. It is usually from Friday through Sunday and is fun for everyone. This year it was at a cabin just outside of Logan. It was great to see everyone and be able to relax and enjoy ourselves. Payton and Parker had a ton of fun with their cousins. The slip n slide and water fight was one of the highlights for them.

Random Summer Pictures

We had a great summer that went by so fast! It was so nice being able to stay home with the boys and get to go swimming and just hang out! The best purchase we made was definitely the trampoline we bought from Costco! It was a hit with the whole neighborhood! Everyday the kids would get their swimming suits on and put the sprinkler under the tramp to stay cool-it was a great investment.

One day Tiffany and I had gotten a babysitter to watch all of our kids while we went to lunch with some people from our neighborhood. When we got home the babysitter had all of our kids in dress up clothes-it was pretty funny seeing them all dressed up in dresses!

The gang that played everyday from sun up til sun down.



Me and Jenn at the Baby Shower we threw for her.

My sister bought a new scooter when gas prices sky rocketed-the boys loved going for rides on it!

Their new favorite food is Top Ramon (noodles). Parker looks like a little piggy when he eats it!


Payton trying out some crutches I had to use for a few days when I couldn't walk on my foot.