Sooo Busy!!!

Our life has been crazy lately! Mike and I are both finishing finals, and getting ready to just enjoy the summer break. We can not wait to make some really fun memories with our little Champ. Mike's little brother comes home on May 19th (whoot!) and there is so much going on before that, that time will just fly by! Our little Champ is so sweet. We just love him so much. Today, we came home from some errands and he was so tired. So I was holding him, and singing to him "You are My Sunshine" when he just busted out in smiles and coos. Now he has smiled before and cooed before at me, but never like this. I was in Heaven!!! He is so sweet. He did it again when I was just barely laying him down this evening, and I was singing him "The Rainbow Connection". I love him! He has dimples on both sides of his cheeks and he is just simply adored. He is already sleeping about 6-8 hours a night, and really, we could not ask for a sweeter guy! I'll post some pictures soon, because we can not help but share our yumminess!!!

Something to Get Excited About

As a little girl growing up in Ohio, my Mom was always doing craft shows. She still does a ton of humanitarian work, specifically hospital procedure dolls that the little children going into have procedures done are given, and little activity bags that are also given to the sick children at the hospital (and sold at the Festival Of Trees!) So as a little girl, she would put together trees to be sold at the Festival of Trees in Ohio. Every year, I would admire the tree and beg her to leave it at our home. We are part of an amazing and supportive heart group called Intermountain Healing Hearts. This is a support group that gives a place for heart families and individuals to ask questions, gain empathy, and just really feel the support of others experiencing the same trials and hardships. I am also part of the angel group. These women have seen me through the first missed birthdays, where we celebrated with no baby, a trip to the cemetery, and a cake that will never be demolished by a one year old. They have loved and understood, and even validated when times were hard. I have an incredible testimony of how wonderful this group is. The members are some of my dearest friends. You are probably wondering how all of this ties in. After Lilly and Ryker passed away, I had thought about doing an angel tree and donating it to the festival of trees. It just never worked out. So fate would have it that our group, Intermountain Healing Hearts needed someone to fill in and oversee a tree sponsored by Intermountain Healing Hearts. I am excited and think it will be awesome. I think the tree needs to be about all those that have been affected by congenital heart defects. So, what I want others out there to get excited about is sharing any ideas, thoughts, and even maybe donating towards this dream (did I mention the group in non-for-profit and donations to the group are a very nive tax deduction? A great way to make the world a little better!) So put on your thinking caps, and stay tuned for a really exciting and rewarding project!

Our Love of Adoption

Adoption is something near and dear to our hearts. Even before Mike and I were married, and we were talking about the children we would have, we talked about how after two or three, that we would look into adopting a child. How naive and young we were. When Lilly was born, I knew that I needed to be a Mom again. I knew that the joy she brought into my life would be magnified with every child. When she passed away, I told Mike that we needed to consider having another (and soon!) When Ryker was born, and with everything we faced with him, and after he passed, our hearts were broken. I did not think they could ever really heal again. I knew for sure that I still wanted to be a Mom and Mike was unified in our desire to be parents. What I did not share is our journey to get where we are today. I pumped the whole seven weeks after Ryker was born. Subsequently, I think my body was a mess (between the pumping and my two c-sections in less than a year) my body changed. I was able to get pregnant so easily with Lilly and Ryker, so it really threw me for loop when we were all of a sudden dealing with really unexplained infertility. After "trying" for 2-3 months, we decided that maybe we should look into adoption. We sat on the fence for a few weeks, and than we were approached the birth mother we were supposed to adopt from. It pushed us off the fence, and we got our paperwork into LDS family services. During this time, the birth mother that we were going to adopt from decided to parent. It broke our hearts. During the time we were putting in our adoption paperwork, we decided to not try to get pregnant. After everything was in, we decided we would continue to try to get pregnant. There were some frustrating months, being frustrated with adoption and failed attempts to get pregnant. Some months, we would just not even try. (By the way, infertility is VERY hard!) It was hard having friend and family members get pregnant when our arms were so empty. We continued to feel such a pull to put our effort into adoption. I can not go into our little Champ's story quite yet, but someday I will. I just really feel that our un-explained infertility was because our Champ WAS supposed to come into our home. Had we not lost Lilly or Ryker, we would not have our Champ in our home. Things truly do happen for a reason. We will forever be grateful that our birthmom chose us and things worked out that Champ can be ours. Our next step is waiting 5 more months to be able to finalize the adoption. It will be a wonderful week, when that does happen (we are hoping sometime in October!) But for now, we just enjoy our sweet guy!
*Just wanted to say congrats to my best friend and her hubby on their arrival of sweet little Xander! He truly is a miracle (how many baby boys do you know that are born at 33 weeks and do not even need oxygen?!) So keep them in your prayers, because Abby is still pretty sick (Xander is actually doing better than she is.) It is kind of scary on her end, because she is one of the sickest Moms I have ever seen (and I see a lot of Moms in my profession!)
**Also, I just wanted to help some of our friends that are hoping to adopt. Spreading the news is MAJOR when it comes to adoption, and since we have had some awesome friends that helped spread the word for us, we would like to pay it forward. So you can e-mail us with a button or your story/info/ picture and we will do our little part to spread the word for you!

I'm a Lame Blogger-Apologies!

You will have to forgive me. I have not been a diligent blogger. You see, this cute little guy has stolen my heart (and my time, my sleep, all that good stuff!:) I LOVE being a Mom and love being able to be home (for now) with our little guy. He is growing so fast. He turns two months on Wednesday, and I think is right around 12 pounds. He has been doing SOOO much better at nights (slept his first straight 6 1/2 hours last night!) and smiles a bit more at us every day. He LOVES his baths, and I can not wait to take our little Champ to the pool! He is getting better about not screaming once he is pulled out of the water, and also DESPISES haivng his hair brushed or lotion massaged into him. His hair is growing so fast (his first haircut is quickly coming!) and he is cooing and making noises when he is content or when he plays with his toys. He is adored by all. He pouts when he cries, and loves to be held. The colic is MUCH better (thanks to our wonderful Moms!) and he gets all his shots on Thursday (I'm already prepared to give the tylenol before and am also bringing a bit of sweet-ease (sugar water) along for the ride. I go back to work in a week and half and it will hard to leave my little guy. I adore him, and Mike and our Champ are my life right now. So I will try so hard to be a better blogger, but Champ is not the most understanding of my need to blog.
*Voting for our niece Gracie and her family ends next Thursday, so you can still vote!
**E-vites were sent out for those of you who want to come to the shower for Champ. If you did not get the e-vite, let me know and I will make sure you get one! (BTW, for those select few of you who have never been to aVallen party, please come hungry and be ready to laugh. We are a pretty fun group and I know you will just have a great time! Plus, you get to meet our cute little star of the party (and no, I am not refferring to myself!)

An Odd Request

This is really last minute (our family is NOTORIOUS for procrastinating!) but my sisters are throwing a baby shower for our little Champ. I know it is spur of the moment, but they figured sooner was better than later. So, for those of you who know us personally and are interested in coming, you can e-mail me at littleforeverfamily@gmail.com. I hope this does not sound like I am fishing for anything, I just feel uncomfortable and out of my comfort zone making a request like this. It will be this Saturday at 12pm. The main reason is we just want to celebrate with food and fun our little miracle. So if you love food, come and celebrate!

One Month Left

This handsome young guy, who is also hilarious, kind, tender-hearted, energetic, and obedient, happens to be Mike's brother (my brother-in-law). We have not seen him in 23 months. He is not missing, he is just on a two-year LDS mission to Campinas, Brazil. He will be headed home in a month, (although if he had his way, he would stay another month to continue serving the great people of Brazil!)

Chris is the youngest in Mike's family, and definitely is the baby of the family. He is spoiled and loved by all, and will sucker you in for a good old back scratch anytime. Chris is such an amazing brother-in-law. He loves being an uncle, and is so excited to meet his two new nephews and new niece. He has such a love for Lilly and I love the bottom picture. He has such a sincerity while holding this heavenly little one.

One of the hardest parts about Chris being gone is that Ryker was born and passed while Chris was gone. We were able to call him, and talk to him after Ryker passed away. It was very hard to not have him here for the funeral, but we know that he is where he needs to be. Mike's family is so excited and we cannot WAIT for Chris to come home, and spend the summer on the boat, relaxing, having family barbecues, and camping up in the mountains. We love you Chris, and are anxious for your homecoming!

It's Time to Vote for the Give a Smile Program!!!

Remember this sweet little girl, and how she had heart-surgery at just a few days of age? Remember how she had to live at Primary Children's Medical Center for nearly the first 90 days of her life?



Remember how after being at home for only 4 months, she had to return to the hospital again for another three heart surgeries, countless procedures, and spend another two months of her life, and how our AMAZING sister-in-law Deanna is, to not only be a wonderful mother, but also play the role of full-time nurse to Grace, a play-mate to Morgan, and also is a such a wonderful sister and friend to many?



Okay E-BFF's out there: We need your help! You can see how AMAZING our niece Gracie, (whom was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome which is the same heart defect that Ryker passed away from) and how she truly is a living miracle! Well, Gracie's family have been selected as a finalist to win an amazing photography session (free photoshoot, copyright CD, and 11x14 print)! Because Gracie has a non-existant immune system, they have not been able to take her out and get professional pictures. This would provide them with an amazing opportunity to have some really nice family pictures taken. So I am asking that you PLEASE use all e-mail addresses that you have (we used three!) and take an opportunity to vote for Grace and her family. You guys rock! Click HERE to vote!!!
* Also, for those of you who have been touched by Grace's incredible journey, could you please maybe also make a post and give a shout-out for this amazing family? Thank-you all so much!

My Guys

This is our dog Skip. Note that he is laying upon C's play yard, and thinking that he is still the one-an-only kid in our home.
I am outnumbered, and have been since a month after we got married and acquired our "first child Skip" (honestly, ask our family and they will attest to Skip thinking that he is our child, which makes him human!) He has seen us through a lot. When little C came home, I was even more outnumbered, which makes it 3-to-1 in our home (even with Lilly, we are still outnumbered!) Our little guy (I still need to think of creative name since we can not currently use his real name, any ideas?!) has a bit of a cold. He is eating great still (has already gained 1 pound in just 10 days, weighing in at 11 pounds) and it actually seemed like we got some sleep last night, either that or we are getting used to being sleep deprived. We have been working on finding a good bottle. Here is our little guy, trying to be big and hold his own bottle:


We have been feeding C with Dr. Brown bottles, but even though we do not fill the bottles past the line, we still seem to get a lot of leaks. So today, I went out and bought two different bottles to experiment and see if either will work better. So we will try the PLAY-TEX Drop-Ins, which hopefully will be a temporary fix until he grows out of his Colic.

C is growing so fast. He gets better and better each day at holding his head up. He is also smiling at us, a bit more each day. He seems to still have a witching hour, which some days is better than others. We've started C sleeping in his crib. He seems to be doing GREAT with the quick transition, and hopefully he will continue to do so (as I write, he has already slept for three hours, where he previously would only sleep two hours in his swing!) I know that all too soon, we will be planning his first birthday and he will be running and than heading off to his first day of school. Makes me sad, but enjoying him while he still is little.

I love this picture, because these two guys are two of my favorite people in the world. Gotta love the good-night snuggling!
Easter was wonderful, because we were able to spend it with our little guy. But at the same time, it was hard because we kind of had a fussy guy. I think he was just not feeling so hot, but was quite the trooper until the last hour of church. Everyone just loved him and I'll be honest, despite not being his usual self, he still looked pretty freaking cute!


We never did get a picture of all three of us, because our little guy was not feeling the best. But Mike did snap one of C and I, which if you know me, I am not the person getting photographed, I am the photographer! But Mike insisted, and I had to oblige.

I just love having C in our home, and I am really not looking forward to going back to work, but at last, it is time. So Wednesday, I will leave my cute guys to be all by their lonesome and return to the daily grind. Sorry this was a longer post, but I just love to share our cute little one!

The Sickies.

Since Mike has had pneumonia and I had bronchitis (remember us being REALLY sick the week we picked up our little miracle?) I have been worried about C getting sick. All weekend, he has been stuffy and since I am one of those weird Moms that although hates to antagonize their little ones, LOVES to suction out their little noses (*Please also remember that I do work with new babies that need to be suctioned all the time!) I know it's gross, but I also know there are other odd Moms out there like me. I felt like C was finally getting better with his Colic, but than yesterday he was just inconsolable, congested, and miserable. (Although I will say that a lot of crying yesterday made for one tired boy during the night!) So off to the doctor we go this morning, to make sure things are good and that he does not have RSV. I am hoping it is just allergies or maybe a little cold (because everyone in our two families has had the sniffles of some sort!) So call us the sickies and hopefully with me cleaning and airing out the house today, we can get rid of some of the germs!

Coming Home: Part 2

So I left off with us bringing C home. We took C first to see Mike's Aunt and Uncle. You would think that strange, that of all our family, we would take C to first visit and Aunt and Uncle. But here's the thing: when we have gone down to Southern Utah, they have let us stay for free in their condo. We are VERY appreciative for their generosity! We took C home. We were hoping to get settled and give C a little bath before our families came, but the G family is not known for their patience when there is something (or better someone) exciting and new! It worked out, because although we told both our families to come at 7, EVERY G family member (that was able to come) all came right at about 6, and then the Vallen family came at 7. It was just so neat to have everyone meet our little miracle. Everyone LOVED C and needless to say, he had a lot of snuggle time!!!

It was cute to see all the cousins love on their newest cousin! Here are a few more pictures, but since this is kind of the end of the party aspect of everything, I will sign off. The last part of the story will probably be the funniest, because of EVERYTHING that went wrong that first night! Also, just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter! We are grateful for our recent many blessings and grateful to be able to have the best Easter gift (besides the ultimate Easter blessing of a loving Savior that sacrificed his life for us, that we might be able to return to a loving Heavenly Father!) : being able to share Easter with our son. We've never been able to have our kids during Easter, so it makes it that much more special! So enjoy the pictures. You can see the adoration of his family and just loving on our little guy!

Beautiful. Simply Beautiful.

Through our busy times (and as many of you know, newborn babies ARE a lot of work but oh so yummy and cute!) I still wonder what Lilly and Ryker are thinking of everything. I know they love their little brother and watch closely over him. But I am always thinking: what would our life be like if we had NOT lost Lilly and Ryker? We would not have our sweet C, we would not know the pains of loss and the pains of childlessness, and would not be able to empathize and understand the true miracle that babies are. There are a couple of really awesome people that live across the world. They have experienced the pains of losing a child, but yet, they step outside of themselves and do something more for others, who have suffered losses too. Here are their tributes to our angels:

I love these, and have been waiting to share them. These were done along the Australian Coast. They are simply beautiful, just like our angels. We miss Lilly and Ryker everyday. There is not a day that goes by that we do not think about them and miss their cute little butts!!! Our sweet C does buffer that pain, as our arms do not ache like they did, just a short while ago. So today, Lilly and Ryker, we honor you. We are grateful for eternal families and can not WAIT to have C sealed to us for time and all eternity!
*Click here to view the amazing blog and actual post that honors our sweet angels!

Pre-Easter Celebration

Since Mike's parents are going to be out of town this weekend (Easter Weekend) we celebrated and early once this last Sunday. Here are a picture of the current Grand-kids.

From left to right, Morgan, 'C", Caden, and Gracie!!! Yep, Gracie came home, just the day after C came home, and that meant party time (or sleepy time, because we wore her out a bit!) It was cute to try and get all of them to look at the camera (or the 20 people jumping up and down and hollering for them to look over this way!) Since there is only one grandkid old enough to enjoy Easter, the last few years have been the adults getting the eggs. Last year, they tied our legs together. This year they blindfolded the G kids and had their spouses tell them where the eggs were. It was hilarious, needless to say!!!


The beautiful thing about this pre-Easter celebration is that with the exception of Mike's brother being on an LDS mission in Brazil (and just about a month left till he comes home) it was the first time in a long time everyone was there for family dinner. I love this picture of Grandpa and C, he just loves to look at faces and really seems to love his family!!! We are still adjusting to parenthood, but are just loving our sweet little boy. His little smiles just melt our hearts. And today was a HUGE day, and because of todays events, we will be able to adopt our little boy this fall!!! It is a GREAT day in our little family, in so many ways!

Gotta Love Being a Mom (and a Dad!!!)

I will find the time to post part 2 of C's coming home, but I just wanted to post about the fun stuff that has been going on. C is so sweet! Those of you who have met him and held him see how cute and snuggly he is. The evenings are what we deem the "witching" hour, when his Colic seems to rear it's ugly head. We have tried Mylicon, swaddling, etc, and just purchased some Gripe water and it seems to be working. Every night seems to bring a bit more sleep, and although we are tired, we just love to hold sweet C and share our love with him. C loves to be held, and loves to just watch and stare at the faces of those holding him. He will even sneak a little smile if you are lucky!!! He is spoiled and sleeps in a swing, but it is our only salvation and way that we can ensure a few hours of sleep. Mike and I LOVE being a Mom and Dad, and are all too happy to hold our sweet guy. He loves to eat, and he weighed in at 10 pounds last Friday, when I took him to our pediatrician for the first time. He is being fed "the good-stuff" and it REALLY cuts down on the symptoms of his Colic. I wish you all could see him and hold him, because everyone who does just falls in love with C. He has adoring aunts, uncles, Grandparents, cousins, and of course, parents and siblings. He loves to stare at a picture of the Savior on the wall, and just melts your heart with his smiles!!! His little cry is darling. We love to dress our little guy (okay, I love to dress our little guy) even though he hates it at the time. C has monkey-hair, and it does whatever it wants, no matter what you do with it. He has long eyelashes and big baby-blue beautiful eyes. We could not love him more and can not wait till he is an official part of our family, for good. We are grateful to so many that we are blessed to be able to have his sweet spirit in our home.

Coming Home: Part One

I figured the easiest way to share some of our favorite pictures and stories is to share everything in parts. So this is the first part. This is our first family picture, with us finally a happy little family! We picked C up from Southern Utah on Thursday. When he was handed to us, our hearts were full, and felt such a mix of emotions because although this was one of the happiest days of our life, it was pretty hard to know that there were others with empty arms. They will ALWAYS hold such dear places in our hearts. We had to sign some papers, but were on the road within the hour. Now C is a funny kiddo. He usually DESPISES his car seat, but for the four hour drive, he slept the entire time.

I love this picture of him, all snuggled in and ready to come home. He is such a sweet boy, and although it was a long ride, I do not think that either Mike or I stopped staring (Mike when he could get a glimpse) and I just sat there, looking at the beautiful miracle that is our little boy. I know you guys want some more pictures, but we have had a long couple of days (just wait till you hear the story of our first night home, it was NUTS!) But I need to get our little sleepy head off to bed and try to regain some of the organization that my home once had (but that I am happy to no longer have because I would not trade C for ANYTHING!!!)

*P.S. C seems to do HORRIBLY with formula (it is even a sensitive one), so his pediatrician wants us to try and strictly feed him breast milk. It has made such a difference with his colic, and he is a much happier baby with the good stuff. So thank-you to all the wonderful moms that are giving him the best start possible!!! And can I just say, there is nothing better than a smile from such a cute little guy!!!

The Perfect Ending to a Perfect Day.

Our family and sweet friends welcomed our sweet boy home. Welcome home C~we love you so much!

Best Day Ever!!

I can't believe the day we have had!! We are finally home w/ C!! I think we both cried this morning when the adoptive parents left! We were so blessed to have no complications w/ the process! Em sat in the back the whole way home while I drove, and loved every minute! He slept most of the way home, and only cried when he had to be changed. We are so happy and will post more after it has all sank in! Thank you for the prayers and support!
Mike

Can Not Sleep, Again!!!

You would think that on my second to last night of being able to sleep through the night that I would be able to sleep (plus I took two Benadryl, two Tylenol cold night time, and still woke up at 2:45 a.m., WIDE awake! Oh joyous. (Did I forget to mention that I have to work at 6:00 am this morning?) I think I will be drinking a good ol' can of some Diet Dr. P to keep me awake during morning report! I think I am excited, and nervous, and just wanting our baby so bad that my body is off and hence the reason I sit awake. But I only have to work till 12, and than we are off, to finally bring home our little boy. Whoo-hoo! We have a lot of fun stuff planned for the next few days. There are even talks of our niece Gracie coming home maybe bext week. We are going to have a lot of welcome home parties around here, and I am happy to see our families growing and coming together! We also got some extra exciting news yesterday, we are going to have another nephew in August! My older brother and his wife are welcoming their second little boy this August, and we are thrilled for all the fun that will be had. (Just a little F.Y.I.: on my side of the family, there are going to be 5 Grandsons-one of them is Ryker, and the only Grandaughter was our first, Lilly.) I think she just wants all of the spoiling to be done on her! So keep us in your prayers, and also the family that has been taking care of C, because it is hard to say goodbye. The weather leaves something to be desired, but hopefully our drive will be safe and once we get out of our area, the weather will be nice!
P.S. I will update with Twitter, which can be seen by either going onto Twitter or by viewing the left hand column of the blog! Until tomorrow, so long!