Sugar Bowl Fever!

Cassie and her mom Lorna surprised Chris and Dan (Cassie's Dad) with tickets to the Sugar Bowl this year for their Christmas present! They are so excited. Cassie will post pictures when Chris & her dad gets back on Sunday!


GO UTES!

Santa Baby!

We received this outfit for Kylee after she was born from Janine & Lisa. (Cassie's co-workers at the SLC Dept. of Airports) Cassie couldn't WAIT to put Kylee in it! Thanks Janine & Lisa! Here she is!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cassie's Health Update

I have received quite a few emails asking how I am doing and asking for updates so here it is... after giving birth to Kylee on Sunday I came home on Tuesday. I wasn't feeling well by Thursday and was swelling pretty bad so my mom and dad watched the girls while I went into the hospital per my OB's instructions. It was then I found out I had congestive heart failure (same thing I had with Courtney) and my heart was having a hard time pumping. So I was admitted and the doctors ran some tests. I went from an OB doctor's care to an internal specialist to a cardiologist. Finally the cardiologist told me that my heart was pumping 20% and a normal heart pumped 45% to 60%.

I had a cardio cath (a small camera was placed in a vein in my leg and ran up thru my heart) to see what was causing the problems. It turns out my mitral valve (between the left top and left bottom of my heart) was damaged. When my heart pumps, blood that is suppose to pump out to my body from the bottom left chamber leaks back into the top left chamber. I was put on some lasik pills to get the excess blood/water off my body from being pregnant, and given some heart medications and sent home on Sunday (a week after having Kylee).

A few weeks later, and after some more tests, the doctor concluded that the damage to my valve was a stage 3 (moderate to severe). At stage 4 I would need a valve replacement. I will eventually need a heart valve replacement but will find out in 6 months at my next appointment (after another heart ultrasound) just when it will be done. It could be a year, it could be 5 years. It will be an open heart surgery and I'll get a mechanical valve (and be on blood thinner for the rest of my life) or a pig's valve (tissue valve that has to be replaced in 10 years). Until then I take my blood pressure morning and night. If it is too high I have to call the cardiologist. I also continue taking two different heart medicines to help my heart stay strong.

The cardiologist seems to think that the lining around my heart was damaged when I had radiation to my chest 10 years ago while battling Hodgkin's Disease (lymphmatic cancer) and my heart couldn't expand like a normal pregnant lady's heart does for the extra blood while carrying a baby.

We feel very blessed to have our too little girls, but unfortunately if we would like more kids we will have to adopt or have a serogate mother. We are very blessed that having Kylee didn't end my life and I have been given yet another chance to live. I have a long road ahead of me but I am determined to be here to raise my little girls and take care of my husband. :) He needs me to keep him in line! :)

Smiley Kylee!

Kylee is just learning how to smile and her precious smile says it all....

I am so dang cute!

Christmas Castle

It has become a new family tradition to decorate a gingerbread house every Christmas season and display it on our dining room table. Last year Courtney ate more icing (age 2 1/2) than ended up on the gingerbread house but we thought this year might be different. Well she spotted a Princess Castle Gingerbread house and that was the only one she wanted. So, we had a pink gingerbread house this year and she still eats more frosting and candy then she puts on the house, errr I mean castle!


Applying Princess Candy Portraits


Courtney eating Hot Chocolate while dad frosts the castle.


Ta da! One Princess Gingerbread Castle!

O Christmas Tree!

Courtney was so excited to decorate the Christmas tree! Needless to say...all the bulbs are at the bottom of the tree! :) Good thing they are unbreakable! Quite a few went rolling around on the hardwood floor!

Chris's Utes Shirt

Okay, Chris went shopping for Cassie at the mall. Well he walked by a Fazz shop and spotted this t-shirt and decided to buy it for himself. He goes to the register just as the announce there is a guest in the house and it was Matt Asiata from the Utes team! Chris was stoked! He asked if Asiata could sign his shirt and he did. SWEET! Courtney has said "Go Utes!" since she could talk! We are definately a Utes household!

P.S. He did manage to buy something for Cassie for Christmas even though he got a little distracted! :)

More Blessing Day Pictures

Uncle Jason & Kylee


Aunt Haunani, Uncle Craig & Baby Kylee



Kylee Rose Fairbourn 7 weeks old

Kylee's Blessing Day

On December 7th, 2008, Chris blessed Kylee at our church in Draper. Both set of Grandparents were there as well as Chris's sisters Jenny, Rochelle, Caroline and Rozanne with their families. My aunt Haunani and her family also attended along with my brother Jason. Our friends the Garcias also came with thier three beautiful girls! We had so much fun visiting with everyone!

Kylee is such a sweet blessing! We are so glad she is here and we love our two girls! These pictures below are from Grandpa Dan's (Cassie's dad) camera. I'll download my pictures and post them later! :)

It's SANTA!

Courtney and Kylee with Santa

Christmas 2008

Cleaning . . .

We sent Courtney to the bathroom to clean up after dinner and this is what we found 10 minutes later . . .

Mommy's little helper! She also had the toliet brush just sitting in the bowl but took it out before I got the picture. Good thing I had just cleaned!!!!

I'm a BIG Sister!

Courtney is so excited to be a BIG sister. She even wants to feed Kylee but only for a minute. :)

Happy Halloween!

Courtney (aka Belle from Beauty and the Beast) and Kylee (aka Little Pumpkin) had a great Halloween! Hope you did too!

Happy Birthday Kylee!

Kylee Rose Fairbourn was born on Sunday, October 19th, 2008 at 5:44pm. She weighed 6 lbs 3 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. Her little cry was more like a squeek. She doesn't cry much now except when she is hungry, mostly she makes squeeking noises and when she hiccups it sounds like she is a squeek toy. Too cute. Courtney loves her little sister and it is fun to watch them together. Kylee just stares at her and Courtney kisses her forehead. Here are some pictures of the past 10 days.

SNOW DAY IN OCTOBER!!!!

Today we woke up to 2 inches of snow and Courtney thought it was Christmas! She couldn't wait to play in it so Chris took her outside to play before breakfast. She loved it and loved making snow angels and seeing her "footprints" in the snow! Too bad it is almost all gone already!

Pumpkin Painting

Chris brought home a pumpkin the other day and Courtney has been begging us to let her "cut" it. Since it was too early, we let her paint it and she had a blast!

Ballerina and Tap Dancer

Dance class on Saturday was a HUGE hit! She kept looking over at me thru the window (the parents sit outside the class and watch thru a large window) and she smiled and just beamed. It made me tear up to see her so happy. The other moms commented on how big her smile was and how hard she was trying. After class, when I told her it was time to go, she said "Mommy, we have to go to the next class over there!" and pointed to the studio next door where there were older kids. lol She didn't want to leave! Below are some pictures of her trying on her dancing outfits and shoes this week before class.

Our Ballerina

Courtney loves dancing in front of the mirror, tv or us. On the weekends she tells me "I want to wear something to dance in". The dress she has on in these pictures is from her cousin "my friend" Elise. I talked to a co-worker that lives in Draper and she told me about a dance studio she takes her girls for lessons. We signed Courtney up and she starts this Saturday. When we took her to the studio she just stared at the girls in the class and said "Oh Mommy, those girls are dancing!" :) I am so excited for her!

Puzzles and "Cooker Maker"

Lately, Courtney's favorite things to do is assemble, disassemble, reassemble puzzles. She LOVES them. And she is so proud that she does them "all by myself". Recently she has been into helping us in the kitchen. She calls it being a "Cooker Maker". She wants to stir but mostly she wants to eat what we are making. We stepped back to take a picture of her making brownies and she starting eating the batter! She is so much fun and such a big helper. I know she'll make an awesome big sister!

Bed Rest

Good morning to all our friends and family! Just an update on Cassie's pregnancy . . . Cassie went into pre-term labor on Friday (09/05/08) at 32 weeks. The labor was stopped with medicine and she got sent home to be on strict bed rest until Tuesday, Sept 10th when she'll see her OB. A test taken at the hospital (FFN) showed that her body is releasing the protiens that tell the body to get ready for labor and she could go into labor within the next 7 to 14 days. Very scary to say the least. She was given two steriod shots (one Friday and one Saturday) to mature the baby's lungs incase she did go into full blown labor. She has had contractions mainly at night but have been prescribed a pill to take at home to help control them. Chris is being an excellent help with Courtney, washing dishes, cooking and doing laundry. It is so hard for Cassie to sit and do nothing but it is very necessary at this point. We'll keep you all updated as the next few weeks unwrap.

New Big Girl Bed

Courtney kept crying in the middle of the night and coming into our bed. We finally figured out that she was too TALL for her toddler bed. We went and bought a twin bunk bed for when the girls are bigger but could use the bottom bunk for Courtney right now. (Chris is always thinking ahead!) She LOVES her new big girl bed. She has not come in our bed since! :) She can sleep on it width wise and not fall out. Most mornings we find her in the top corner snuggled to the wall. :)

Logan Trip

Cassie's Cousin Emma was baptised in Mendon, UT the first weekend in August. Courtney was excited to play with the kids but wasn't quite sure why Emma was being "dunked" in the water by her daddy. We tried to explain but she still isn't quite sure. :) We stopped at the Logan Temple on the way home but unfortunately it was closed. :( We took some pictures in front. Courtney kept calling it a "castle" because it doesn't look like the Temples near our house. :)

Our Little Doctor

On the 24th of July, Courtney wanted to play with a doctor's kit at Grandma and Grandpa Fairbourn's house. She tested it out on Papa Fairbourn. :) Mommy and Daddy used to play with this Fisher Price Doctor Kit when they were little!

All Grown Up!

Courtney looked all grown up when I curled

her hair for church. She is not my baby anymore!

Happy 4th of July!

We spent the 4th of July in Southern Utah with Cassie's parents. Small town parade, dinner and fireworks were great. It was nice to see family and friends from home too.
All dressed in Red, White and Blue for the Parade!


Relaxing before the fireworks!

SPARKLERS!!!

More SPARKLERS!!!


Playing at the park!