Mini Miracle...

July 18th:

3 years ago, almost to the day, we were told our sweet baby girl had a syndrome (Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome). As her mom, my greatest heartache came from not knowing if she would be able to communicate. Would she know how very loved she is? ...Would she ever be able to show us she loves us back? Then there were the smiles, and then hands on our faces, and then Reagan kisses, and then REAL hugs! If you've ever met her, you know! :)  She LOVES so much! And then tonight, she SAID IT! She kissed her dad goodnight and said "I love you"!!! I think my heart might have actually stopped! :) 

...And then miracle of miracles... she said it again!  :)

 

The Greatest Show on Earth!

We thought since we weren't going anywhere all summer, we would do something kind of special and fun with the boys here in Tucson.  And it just so happened that the circus rolled into town. :)

They were not so sure about it before it started, but they ended up really liking it. 

Jackson said his favorite thing was the tigers (one of which really wanted to eat his trainer!) and the human cannon ball.
Harrison's favorite was also the cannon ball and the elephants.  (The elephants were my favorite too ;))

It was really fun to get to take them, just the big boys and mom and dad.  I loved that they are so much fun to do things like this with!  :)

Mr. Grant

Newborn Pics:  4 weeks old (June)
I don't have much to add.  :)  He is a sweet sweet boy! 

And he was very tired. ;)

 

Summer Goodies!

In truth, I was pretty much dreading this summer!  I was going to have a newborn, 2 big boys and Reagan all stuck in the house for 2 months, 24/7.  It sounded like something I was going to have to... survive.  But reality, like it usually does, turned out to be much better than my scary prediction! (For the most part!) ;)

So we got creative...

 And there was a lot of fun with Dad!!

They are like a flock of seagulls!!  Hide your food, people!! :)

There were lots of moments like this, with them all huddled together in Reagan's room watching The Princess and the Frog.  Hahahaha.  The boys would be so embarrassed if anyone found out!  ;)  But it's her favorite movie (other than Tangled) and according to them, they didn't want her to have to watch it alone.  Awww!

Harrison watching with her again. :)

They have really loved having a new baby brother to cuddle and feed and make smile!  (Even though he is a screamer!  He is still pretty cute!) 

This girl has just taken off and made huge developmental leaps and bounds!  She went from cruising along furniture and taking a few steps at a time... to just walking... everywhere!  :)  It's kind of one of my favorite things right now, to just watch her!  :)

She is also talking a LOT!  And signing even more!  She pretends and plays with her brothers with toys and colors with crayons and plays with play dough.... she's SO grown up!  And she has found this LOVE of the water and swimming!  :)  It's SO much fun!  (I don't have any swimming pics, it takes one person to "swim" with Reagan and one to stay with Grant.  So hopefully sometime soon, when Grant can come too! ...So here is one of her loving her Dad!)

And there is this cute Grant kid!  :)  Also known as Shark Bait - OooHaHa.  We lovingly dubbed him that because of a shirt he has and because it's funny. And he is the smallest. (For now.)  And then there was some Shark Week action going on at our house, so we were on a kick!  :)  (And neither of these are the shirt I'm talking about.) ;)

He really is getting to be a sweet little thing, even with the temper!  ;)  And we really love having him!  He is growing and changing too fast already!  I feel like I'm missing it... but I am trying to hold on to every second I can!  The tiny baby stage is hard for me and I usually look forward to moving past it.  But knowing he is my last tiny baby makes me cling a little more, and sad to see these moments pass. 

But who am I kidding, time is slipping through my fingers with all of them!  I can't help but be a little sad!  For every moment I caught, I missed a dozen more.  I am hoping that with more sleep under my belt I can focus on being a more "present" mom!  I just want to soak them in!  Because before I know it... summer will be gone! 

Crazy BoYs!!

A week after getting back from their UT trip, and me alone with all 4 kids, Jackson and Harrison decided 8 years of kids without any emergency stitches was long enough...  :/

After a frustrating morning with these wild boys stuck in the house and bored with way too much energy and no ability to listen or follow instructions, the boys were sent to their bedroom to sit on their beds in a "Time Out".  It hadn't been more than 5 minutes when Jackson came to get me, hysterically crying and panicked, followed by a very bloody Harrison who seemed to be more in shock.  I took Harrison in the bathroom to clean him up and had Jackson follow me to explain. 

It turned out that while they were stuck on their beds they thought it would be funny to throw things at each other.  "Funny" was the word Jackson used.  The toy they were throwing was a foam covered Thor hammer.  Covered completely, except for the very tip of the handle, where a very hard piece of plastic pile stuck out.  That piece of plastic was the precise part of the hammer that happened to hit Harrison in the head!!  (It wasn't very big, but it was pretty deep and kind of hung open.)

Jackson was obviously pretty traumatized by all the blood, and he felt pretty bad.  I told him Harrison was going to be fine but would probably need some stitches and to go wait on his bed until I came to get him.  He seemed to calm down, but he was still pretty worried.  Good!  Stinking kids don't think about what would happen if what I am always telling them is going to happen... actually happens!  Seriously, I don't talk just to hear my own voice!  Sigh....

Funny enough, Harrison was very calm about it all... until he saw himself in the mirror!  He was standing facing the mirror and sink while I was cleaning his face off, and few seconds after looking at himself, he told me he was going to be sick!  Hahaha. I probably would have actually laughed out loud if he hadn't gone pail as a sheet.  But it was kind of funny.  ;)  He was fine after a minute on the floor, so we finished cleaning him up and stopped the bleeding.  He still didn't feel very good, so I sent him to his bed too.

With them both on their beds, I sat down to talk to them about what happened and what it meant to need stitches.  I thought their eyes were going to bug out of their heads when I explained it.  So naturally, after waiting for Patrick to get home from work, I made Jackson go to the Urgent Care with us to watch!  (I know, I'm mean!  But we were going to learn from this if it killed us!) 

After attempting to glue it (that's the purple stuff, it's not a bruise), it had to be cut back open and then stitched shut.  Harrison was incredibly brave!  He cried for just a second when they started numbing him, but he just squeezed my hand and kept his eyes closed!  Jackson nervously talked the nurses ear off and paced the room.  Hahaha. 

When it was all over, Jackson was very proud of Harrison, and very glad it wasn't him who had to get stitches!  And Harrison was pretty sure he should get a prize for being so brave!  Hahaha.  Nice try Bubba.  He seemed to think he wasn't at fault in any of this, so we talked in the car about it again, what had happened and what they had learned, their responses were these:
Harrison:  "We don't throw toys!  Especially at our heads!"
Jackson:  "Listen to Mom!"

It wasn't a cheap lesson, but at least they seemed to sort of grasp it!  ;)  At least until they get carried away again! 

BIG BoYs!!

After the baptism and blessing, Jackson and Harrison got to go back to UT with Grandma and Papa Salisbury.  They had a lot of fun camping and playing, they even collected a LOT of treasures to bring back home.  :) 
 
They love going to visit because all of our family is there.  So they spent some fun time with Grandma and Pops Swain too.  :)  And Uncle Kenny and Uncle Eric took them on some adventures too.  :)   

They had A LOT of fun!  ;) 
 
After 2 WEEKS away from mom and dad and Reagan and Grant, we were ready for them to come home.  I'm not sure they were ready, but we'll pretend they missed us too. ;)  And then they got to go on their first airplane ride (that they remember).  Grandma, Uncle Cameron, Aunt ReyAn, and cousins Sam and Erica came back with them for the weekend!  :)  So naturally the party continued all weekend! 
 
It was a busy couple of months, with a lot of people coming and going, but it was so much fun to see so many of the people we love and miss!  I, of course, didn't get very many pictures.  (Which bugs me to no end.)  But we remember it all just the same, right! ;)
 
Thank you to everyone who took time to be part of this crazy special time in our lives!  And thank you to all of you who were with us in spirit!  :)  We are very blessed and we love you all!!

Grant's Blessing

While we had our parents in town, we decided to make every second count, so we blessed Grant on Sunday, June 2nd, 2013.  :)  He was super cute in his outfit, even though it was a little big on him.  (He was only 3 weeks old.)  But all went well and Patrick gave him a beautiful blessing.  :)

We felt very loved, we had so much support!  It was a busy weekend, but a wonderful one!  I couldn't help but get emotional at the drop of a hat.  :) To have this era of our lives summed up in a weekend that had our oldest being baptized and our youngest being blessed was very surreal.  And I couldn't help but look at these people that are mine and feel a little overwhelmed and very blessed!  We have our family, our whole and complete family.  It's a wonderful feeling! 

I love my little forever family!  :)

Jackson's Baptism

Such a handsome boy!  :)  That smile pretty much says it all! 

The big day was June 1st, 2013. 

We were joined by so many wonderful family and friends!  And he was extra lucky to have his grandparents here too!  It was a wonderful day!  And he seemed to really love every second of it!  We are so proud of him for making this decision!  He is an amazing kid and we are humbled to have him!
 
For the record, this was his program:

Baptism of

Jackson Swain

June 1, 2013

Sahuarita 4^th Ward, Sahuarita Stake

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

 

Baptism Program:  Sahuarita Stake

Baptism Ordinance

Jackson Swain

Baptized by his father, Patrick Swain

Witnesses: Brent Salisbury - Grandfather

George Swain - Grandfather

Conducting:  Brother Hoenes

Baptism Thoughts & Testimonies

Please write your thoughts or testimony on baptism as a

keepsake for Jackson on his special day

Holy Ghost Talk:  Jennie Swain - Mother

 

Confirmation

Jackson Swain

Performed by his father, Patrick Swain

 

Primary Welcome

Bishopric Welcome

 

Closing Song:  Praise to the Man, Pg 27

Chorister:  Debi Salisbury - Grandma

         Closing Prayer:  Lynette Swain - Grandma

 

Standing in the circle for his Confirmation:  Patrick Swain, George Swain, Brent Salisbury, Bishop Elam, Brother Hoenes, Darin Elam, Steffen Weech, Nick Bogle, Mike Christensen, Jared Harris, Ryan Workman