Thanksgiving

LET"S ALL JUST SAY BEAUTIFUL!!

I know is that not the most beautiful turkey you have ever seen. I couldn't believe it myself. It was my first time cooking a turkey and I went all out to do the bacon wrapped one. Thanksgiving was great to see all of Greg's family at the church it was wonderful to have it at the church because of the room and the kids could just run in the gym.

I have so many things to be grateful for especially this year they have come into play. 1. first and for most family and the gospel. They have to go together. You can't have one with out the other. Well you could but you wouldn't want to. 2. Atonement- this has played a big part in our lives this year as it should every year. But especially because of Jonah. How much Christ did for all of us and what he has made possible to be together forever. 3. Greg - He is a hard worker and everything I wish I could be better at. That is how it should be but I need to try harder to make us equal to have him is a blessing. 4. Kids - I know family was number one but they are all important as individuals too. What can I say they make you grow each day to better yourself and to be an example. Even though most the time they are the examples to you. 5. Support- In all aspects of our lives this year. 6. Service- the greatest thing you could do for others. That was definitely been applied in our lived and being served. Makes you very humble.

I could go on and on and on but I am so grateful for all the blessing Heavenly Father has shown me and given me this year through our struggles and hard ships. Part of that is because he can't bless us enough if we don't have experiences or trials that make us better. Thank you to him and all of you for your help and support. Love all of you. Happy Thanksgiving.

Halloween

Snow White - that is all Faith wanted to be for Halloween. So of course we made it and she looked beautiful. She loved it and after we finished she said lets make Belle.

Penguin - Jonah made a cute little penguin. I had bought it last year when it was really discounted and it fit perfectly. We love them.

Long Time No Blogging

It has been a while since I have updated my blog since we got home. Things have been going well. A huge thanks to all those who helped and supported us through that hard time. Jonah is doing good. We are still going in for weight check each week to make sure he is gaining weight. But it is really frustrating because he is down right now an ounce. But who really knows if that is true because of the scale. We have done this multiple times once they weighed him 4 different times on same scale same day and there were 4 different weights. They did thins last week again twice same result. I am getting super frustrated with the whole weighing thing.. I need to talk to the Dr. and see what we can do. Besides that He got hiss stitches almost all out and that was a nightmare no joke 1 hr of screaming and me holding him. He still does have two left that will hopefully grow out we are just watching them.

Jonah is our little miracle baby we love him and are so blessed to have him in our family. Right now we are just stying close to home to avoid germs and sickness. Jonah cannot get any immunizations or flu shots things like that until six weeks after surgery. That would be the beginning of Dec. It is coming up soon though hurray. We are doing great and are getting excited for the holidays to come. Faith for sure cannot wait for Christmas.

HOME!!

There is never any place like home. We have our little family back together. The trip home seemed long only because I was anxious to get there. Thanks to my mom she decorated the house and made a sign that said "Welcome Home my Fam-o-wee" this is how Faithy says it. Loved it. Great to have family that supports you so well.

Now for the healing part for Jonah. He is doing good but will not eat very well and that is not a good sign. We have Dr.s appts. today and Thursday for him to get his stitches out. I will have to post some pictures of his battle wombs they are not very pretty right now.

Well it is great to be home!

Jonah Updates Again!

Things are going well. We have found out that his left vocal cord is not working. The Dr. said that it is one of the things that could have happened during surgery. His pace maker is in and working well they said. We have one more chest tube to get out before we can go home. This means we will be able to come home with in days. Wahoo!!! I can't tell you how much I am ready to be home.

They moved us up to 3 west on Wednesday. This is one step closer to going home also. I talked to Faithy and asked if she was ready to go home she said yes and wants to play with Jonah. How sweet is that.

Greg and I took a break from the hospital and went up to San Fransico today to see some sights before we went home. We were this close why not when you have a babysitter that is getting paid to take care of your kid. (JK) The nurses here are great and we love them.

First signs that jonah is coming back to his self. There are about three nurses that are now his girlfriends and they fight over who is going to take care of him when they are on schedule. It very funny we have become the party crib the nurses come over and talk and watch Jonah when they don't have andy thing pressing.

This is the first time that Mandi got to hold Jonah form the time that we got here at the hospital. It was a good day for all. The nurse let Mandi hold him and later the docs said that it was maybe not a good idea because the pace maker wires are still in.

Pace Maker

We came in today to the CVICU where Jonah was and plans have changed. They were going to take him for a pace maker on Tuesday and do a swallow study today. Well the nurse came in and said that they were doing the pace maker today at 2 or 3:00pm CA time. So they are postponing the swallow study and will do that another day. They are also going to do an ENT test where they put a scope down his thoat to look at his vocal cords. Which will be good to see how things are working because they have been thickening his formula because it is easier for him to swallow and not cough everytime he eats. But besides that I think Jonah is really sick of just laying in his bed for 12 days now. I can't hold him because of the pacing wires. But secretly one of the Dr.s let me hold him for 10 minutes while he was standing right there. YEH! I will let you know how the surgery goes today. Also try and put more pictures on somewhere.

Thankfulness in small things

Being in California you take for granted the things that you have convenience in. Such as family being close to see and to know where they are supporting you all the way. Not saying they are not but the closeness is great. You also know that there are others that have the same beliefs you do. So therefore to give priesthood blessings and church especially seeing General Conference. We are so grateful that Jonah is here and has made it through everything he has. Having a pace maker is not the end of the world but it would be much better to not have one at all. We gave him a blessing last night and it was good. We hope and pray all will work as needs to for him. Getting a pace maker will just delay his recovery and we will be here a little longer for that reason. He doesn't have anymore chest tubes YEH!

You also realize that when you are in the hospital you are grateful for the trial you have and not others. Also for the beliefs that you have and the love and support you have from others. There are people here from all over the world and are here alone. Thank goodness for family and loved ones.

I do really miss my little girl. I know she is being well taken care of but it just isn't the same having her so far away.

Thank goodness for our life's and for the faith we have in our gospel and Heavenly Father. I hope non of you take that for granted.

Jonah's Pictures of Surgery

Here he is without the respirator. YEH! Now he really looks like my little boy. He is doing well just two big hurdles to over come. Keep him in your prayers and all will be well.

Little Jonah right after his eight hour surgery. Brings back a lot of memories. But he looks a lot more pink than he used to.

This is Dr. Hanley the one who did the surgery. He was awesome and took care of all the things that needed to for little Jonah. Love him.

This is the little gown they gave him to wear right before surgery. It had lions and tigers and bears. OH MY. Way to cute for going into surgery to prepare them.

Here is Jonah on his first airplane ride.

Jonah Updates

Jonah is doing well he got one of the chest tubes out this morning and they are going to take the repirator out some time today. YEH! Then he won't be so sudated. The heart block still has not come back. Hopefully in a few days when the swelling gets to minimal. All is well Greg flys home today which will be hard. But that is life and we will be fine. I am still trying to find somewhere to put pictures on. Sorry for the delay. We also can't find General Conference. Hope it was good we will read it when it comes out.

Surgery

As we left for CA the leaves look glorious in the canyon with the change in color. It made me think that as we were leaving how are lives will also be changing all in a good way. We all did good on the flight and all arrived safely.

Surgery we good and Jonah is doing great. The Dr. said that he accomplished all that he needed to. We will post pictures later but as far as an update. Their are only a couple of concerns. 1. is heart block which is when the conductors in you heart are not responding to each other to make the chambers pump the blood. He is right now on a pace maker but the Dr. seems very confident that it is only from swelling that they cannot read or respond to each other. 2. is when they repaired his arch that the left vocal cord goes around it and may have been damaged. So we will see when they take the respirator out how things will go with that. It is not life threatening and can be fixed. Dr. said that it may be alright at the same time. Only time will tell. (of course that how it is with everything.)

We did get into the Ronald McDonald house so we will be going there today. What a blessing. I know that our prayers have been answered that everything has been going well. You can see the daily Miracles that Heavenly Father sends each day. Love you all and keep us in our prayers.

I will put pics on soon.

New Family Pictures

These pictures turned out awesome. Thanks to Danielle my cousin. The kids are getting to big to fast. I can't believe how fast the year has gone by and I am sure the rest of it will fly by.

I am so grateful for my family. They are so cute. I am also grateful for extended family and friends for their support and love with prayers and fasting. We pray that everything goes well with Jonah in a week. The time has been passing by quickly but yet it seems long. When the only thing that you think about is the surgery and what he and all of us have to go through again. This is the time where you appreciate the things you believe in and know are true. I am pretty sure if we didn't have the gospel this whole experience would be worse. Now the only thing I need to learn to do is to trust in the lord and give him my son and know that what ever happens is for the best. I love my savior and am truly grateful for him and what he did for all of us. I know that we can see him and other loved ones forever and that is what we have to believe in. I am most grateful for my little family. I hope that we learn the things we are supposed to from this experience to make us stronger and grow closer together. Thank you to my beloved husband for putting up with me this last little bit. All the pressure can really get to you in stressful trial. But through all of this there is no one else I would rather be with then him. (LOVE HIM.)

I hope at this time when conference is coming that all of you take the chance and thank you Heavenly Father for all the blessing that he gives you and the little miracles you receive. I know that Jonah is our miracle and I thank my Heavenly Father for him everyday. Love all of you and thank you again for your support.

Friends far from Home!

Well moving to a new place (almost 1 whole year in November) it seems like we haven't been her and feel a little disjointed from the people around us. That is why you always have friends, but they seem to be all far away. I would like to thank one friend especially today. You are awesome and I miss seeing you all the time. I wish you were my neighbor next door. I will be looking for a job for your hubby if possible LOL. Friends always seem to say the things you need to hear, but more importantly they just listen to all the troubles you are having. It seems as though our lives parrallel each other even though we don't know it. If we don't talk to often. It seems funny how that happens in our lives. I love all my friends and just wished they lived closer and not so far away. Thanks for the listening ear you know who you are. Love ya.

Summer Fun Staycation!

Here is what we have done this summer. I have been slacking and definitely not been updating my blog. So here was our summer. We went to the Palisade Lake where our family has a cabin with the Johnson clan. It was great to be together just as our family. As you see Faith got a little hair cut or say that a 5 year old niece had a hair cutting party with her cousins. Yes she was a victim. Faithy also took swim lessons which helped her not be so afraid of the water and got better aquainted with it. We also rode the front runner train from Ogden to SLC a couple of times. She loved riding on the train.

We went to the Childrens Museum at gateway with Holli my sister and her kids. Thanks to Primary childrens for giving us a pass to go for free. Little benefits of having a child that has been at Primary Childrens. They dressed up and acted out a play. They also played the part of a life flight team. So there is a pic of Faithy with Jonah because that is what happened to him. We also rode the Front Runner down to SLC to go the museum. The kids loved that. As a Archibald Family reunion we went to Cherry Hill for a little family fun. Faith could not even stop sliding on the kids slide into the pool it kept her busy all day.

We had our 7th wedding anniversary. I can't believe that is it has been that long already. Then finally Zach and Karli go married on Aug. 18th. They were excited all summer to get ur done. It was a great day and we were happy to be able to be here for that.

As you know we have been awaiting news on our little Jonah. Well we have finally got it. He will be having his next heart surgery on Oct 1st in California at Standford Childrens hospital. We are way excited that they will be able to fix his heart to have a longer life span. But at the sametime it is very difficult to just had your baby to a surgeon and hope for the best. This surgery will be a high risk surgery but after that only minor things will have to be done as he grows. We are so grateful for our little family. It puts things in prespective sometimes of how fast life can fly by. Always make sure you are doing the best and the most you can for your family everyday for you may not have them in an instant. We love this gospel and all the support we have received so for. Please keep our little Jonah in your prayers and pray for the best. We love ya.

Life Might Get Back to Normal

Hopefully for a couple of weeks we might have life back to normal. Jonah I think was missing the hospital and the one on one time he got. He got sick with the stomach flu and Primary's told us it could be a sign of heart failure. So we rushed to Primary's again and had to stay for 2 nights. Jonah did good until the moring of monday and he threw up again and they made us stay and other night until tuesday. But all was good to be there to support Angie and Jac while Makayla was there because she kept having seizures. All is going well. Life is just Crazy busy all the time.

Update on Jonah

Well we went to the Dr. on Wednesday the 28th of May. This was his first Echo since he had left the hospital. The concern was if his mitral valve was good enough size to function correctly to be able to make his heart a four chamber heart. Also to see if his left ventricle was a good enough size and funcitoning correctly.

Good news is that the mitral valve looked awesome and so did the left chamber. But there was another concern. His right valve in his right two chambers was really close the the hole in his bottom two chambers. The Dr. said there was some tissue that was connecting them. They are concerned that if they go to reroute the aorta into the left lower chamber that it is to close the that valve and it may ruin it. So their for. He emailed a Dr. in Boston at the John Hopkins Hospital there because he said they have more experience. He got an email back from him and he was interested in looking at our case. Our Dr. fedex all the file to him and was waiting to here from him. Then he was going to take it to the meeting where all the Cardiologists and the Surgeons get together and discuss each case together to decide what is best. The Dr. Arrington is going to call and let us know what they have decided.

The optitons are if they can make his heart a four chamber heart or to make it a three chamber heart. The best option is of course a four chamber heart. But they did say that if he had to have a three chamber that his life span would be greater than others because his left ventrical is a pretty good sized. Most three chamber hearts work only with on ventrical. So all of it is good new we are just waiting to if we go to Boston or here. The Surgery will probably be at the end of July or August.

Family Pictures

Finally, I am posting our family pictures that we got taken at the end of May. I think that they turned out pretty cute. As always we had our struggles to get their. We thought everything was going great. Greg was feeding Jonah and you guessed it he threw up everything that he had just eat. All over him and Greg their for we had to wash Greg's and Jonah's clothes and we were there for late. But good thing the lady just did it at her house and was a friend. But now we have cute family pictures for our new house. Yeh!

Faithy Being an Artist

Faithy got these paints from her Aunt Jill to borrow. She loved them and had to paint the next day with the paints. I put an apron on her so she didn't get it on her clothes.
She had a lot of fun and had to use every single brush that was with the paints. This is a picture she painted of her cousins. Love it.

Just the little things

Here is out little Jonah. Growing up fast and smiling like crazy. These are the little things that make you grateful for what you have right!

Here is Faith in her Easter dress you can see that she likes pictures taken and to show off.

I took this picture of Faith after having a bath. Because I saw it in a magazine and wanted to take a picture like that to put in my bathroom. It is different then having the kiddos in the bathtub. She looked so cute.

Easter

Easter 2009

Yes! I know I am a little behind in posting the pictures but things take time. Here are some cupcake pops that we made for Easter. These are my new favorite thing to make. They taste like Hostest ding dongs and are darling at the same time. Yes they are from bakerella.

Some of them took time but they turned out so cute. My sister Holli gave me the grass with the bunny, egg and flower in it but I added the cake pops and it was darling.

Faith had a good time hunting for eggs at the Smithfield city egg hunt and also at grandma Johnson's house with her cousins. I think I will throw some candy away all it has been is a fight every morning for candy.

What really made it a perfect day was to see a rainbow after we had egg hunted and rolled eggs down old main hill at USU.

But the best part of all is those two little kiddos that

makes life what is should be.
Family

Baby Animal Days

Yes, we went to the hectic baby animal days at American West Heritage Center. The kids had fun seeing all the animals and as you can see Faith loves the bunnies but would not hold it. There were a ton of people thereand we had to wait in lines. Faith was definitely worn out by the time we got home. Thanks to Margaret (Greg's mom) for watching Jonah that day. But for me the cutest little animals were the baby goats. They were so little.

Archibald Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree - Family reunion

Archibald Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Geneology - Dynasty

Here is Jonah having his first bath since he was born. I know we have only been able to give him sponge baths because of the broviac line and then everything healing. You can see that his chest scars are looking awesome. Hey!! He also just got him immunizations for 2 months and his cerc done. OOCH! He should hopefully be done with shots for a while.
These pictures I took of the kiddos one day. We are going to get family pictures soon and also just pictures of the kids to put in their rooms. And also to hang around the house because we have nothing on our walls.

He is worth it don't you think?

Home At Last Hopefully To Stay!

Here is Jonah hopefully for the last time to stay home for a while. He got staff infection and they opened his incision and cleaned it out. Then he had to recover from that we were back at Primary's for another week. We got home last Monday. Just in time for Greg's birthday on March 1st. He is doing lots better than last time. He is on antibiotics for 6 weeks and has a PICC line in his leg to put them in. But he is looking cute they say he looks like Grandpa Johnson. What do you think?

Almost Home

Here we are at the hospital almost time to go home from the hospital. Jonah has done awesome and passing all the test in flying colors.

Jonah ready to go home. We are extremely nervous but have learned a lot. I could possibly be able to be a nurse soon without going to school. We did go home with a feeding tube and oxygen. He is really little and looks tiny in the car seat
The first day at home. Yeh!! Faithy has loved being back home and being able to hold Jonah.

Her favorite thing to do is to hold him on the boppy and watch a show. Jonah loves his little big sister.

Our little family has grown. But our next adventure sure started way earlier than we expected. We were home for 4 days and it got a little stressful at the end. Come to find out poor Jonah got staff infection in his incision. We went back to Primary Childrens on Saturday. They did another surgery at 11:00pm that night to open him up and clean out the infection. We have now been here for another week. But he is doing lots better. We will be coming home one more time and without oxygen. Jonah now has a pic line in his leg for antibiotics that he will have for six weeks. The bad thing is he will not be able to have a bath still for another 5 weeks. Lots of lotion is going to be used to make him smell good. But we are all greatful for the support and love that everyone has given us. Also greatful for Jonah and being able to be healthy as can be.
Jonah ready to get home from the hospital for the 2nd time along with Mom and Dad. We all need a vacation.

The Archibald Adventure

Well you are all probably wondering what has been going on. Well here we are on our adventure early. Yes! Jonah Theron Archibald came on January 23, 2009 at 7:05pm weighing in at 5lb 13oz. and 18 1/4 long. He was then taken over to the NICU at Primary Childrens by the life flight team. He was in the NICU for 3 days.
Here is where it was the first time we got to hold him. You could only hold him 1 time a day.
On Monday January 26, 2009 the Dr. Burch (in the picture) decided that he was ready for the heart surgery. He was in surgery for about 7 hours. They started at 7:30am in the morning.

This was him the day of surgery before they started. Isn't he cute!
We got to go up to the PICU at about 5:30pm that day and here he is. This is how he looked right after surgery.They closed his chest on Wednesday January 28. Here he is after they finished it took them about an hour and a half before we could go back and see him again. He looks a lot better not with a bulging bandage on his chest.
Here is his little foot they haven't taken foot prints yet because of all the things he has had on his feet. But his little feet are really dry and need lotion.
This was on January 31, 2008 He is looking lots better. He has been loosing fluid to make him look skinnier. They also have given him a feeding tube so that he can start eating YEH! He doing great the nurses say and Dr.'s. Jonah is already a obedient kid and doing all that he is supposed to. He is our SUPERSTAR!

We are all doing great Faithy is staying at aunt Holli's and is doing well we call her everyday and she is usually to busy playing to want to talk to us. Thanks for everyones support and prayers we are not done yet but getting there. We love you all.