Modern Day Miracles

Surgery number three is done and hopfully it is the last. Reggie did so great. They found out that the blockage was from scar tissue. The tissue from the second surgery wasn't healed enough so it scared and constricted. So they did have to take out some more of my little guys intestine. That is the bad news but, the really amazing thing is they found 40cm more. They told us that the intestine will not regenerate but it can grow a little with how small he is. They were talking like 10cm and Reggie grew 40cm!! We trully believe that it was do to all the prayers on his behalf. I prayed for a miracle and the Lord did bless me greatly with one, who my kinding with many. Since then he has progressed remarkable well. He has been able to do more in the last week than he has in the last month. He is finally taking milk out of a bottle(only a very small amount not even an ounce yet) and pooping! Yes poop is very exciting when you have lost a huge portion of you intestines. He gives lots of smiles,wants to play, kicks, checks out is environment, is very alert, and all those normal baby things. They are slowly increasing his feeds every day and monitoring him to see how he does. It is a slow process but it is now going forward. That is the update in a very small nut shell but it is late and I am very tired. I will keep the updates coming. This is a picture before his third surgery and he no longer has that nasty nose tube.
I wanted to get a picture of his war wound for his baby book. Sorry I don't have a current picture my battery died on my camera.

Halloween

Holy insanity Halloween was so crazy!! The night was stressful for me but fun for the kids and that is the most important. It was go go go and then crash. Cory was with Reggie so it was just me and the other three. They were candy monsters and just didn't want to quit. I was very glad that the rain let up for the perfect amount of time to get in some great trick or treating. Did I mention that Jordyn loves Mini Mouse:) This is her doing the "Hot Dog Dance".
My hard core boys.

Me, my kids, Tiffany, and her kids always get together if only for a moment or two. Tiff is a much cooler mom than me she gets dressed up and what a cute Dora she made (even though she was freezing because she said a coat didn't go with the costume).

Happy Birthday Jordyn

Ok ok my baby girls birthday was over a month ago and I am just getting to this but I do feel like I have a good excuse. Even though we have been busy I still wanted to show how much Jordyn enjoyed her fifteen minute party.Very Excited!!!!

Making her wish with her Tinker Belle cupcake

Yes she is her mothers daughter she loves sugar

She is officially two and a true two year old at that. She cries and throws temper tantrums when ever you tell her no, she says "back off", gets into everything, and doesn't like you one minute and adores you the next. She is a charmer also so the bad things don't seem so bad. She loves and I mean loves Mickey and Mini Mouse. She is already like her mother trying to keep up with her brothers playing karate, and anything else that is rough housing. She is one of the most polite two year olds I have ever seen. She says "excuse me" when she burps, "no thank you" if she doesn't want something, "your welcome", and "please" with a big grin when she does want something. Jordyn is my joy I adore her so very much and am so blessed to have her for my daughter.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!!

Family Road Trips (life part 3)

All set to go to our family reunion

Cory was getting ready to take Jordyn on a canoe ride and she hated this life jacket. We all were laughing so hard at her waddle.

Who doesn't love ice cream

Is this a really big chair or did my children shrink?

Finally we caught Fish (life part 2)

We have tried on a number of occasion to go fishing and after many tries we finally caught some. It did take a stocked pond made for kids but, hey you got to start somewhere

Jordyn loved eating the velveeta more than the actual fishing

Ashton showing off his catch(Jordyn was so proud of him)

This is how Jordyn fished

When life was simpler:) (Part 1)

I figured that life has been so crazy for quite some time that I haven't put some of the fun summer things that we did on my blog. Now that things are a little stressful I wanted to put on some fun happy things. It lifted my spirits so here you go. These are pictures from a splash pad in Highland I heard about it all summer and finally found it. The kids LOVED it!!! We will deffinately go next year. What is better than fun and free:)

Surgery number three:(

We just found out that Reggie is going to have to have another surgery. He hasn't been progressing like he should so they did a dye test and found out that he has some kind of blockage. They think it is scar tissue that is blocking his intestines. At this point they don't know if it is scar tissue on the inside or on the outside from the insicision or some of the stomach fat that they cut into before. We hope that no more of his intestine have to be cut out so best case is that it is scar tissue on the outside that they can just cut out. But, either way we hope this will be the final surgery and then we can move forward and get him eating so we can bring him home. Thank you again for all your prayers, concerns, phone calls, food, and everything else on our behalf. More details to come later.

Update on Reggie

Well the last few weeks have seemed like an eternity but, things are going in the right direction. The Doctors say they are please with his progress. My sweet little guy had his second surgery and it ended up being best case sinario. Out of his 200cm of small intestine the Doctors were able to save about 57cm. Now it has just been a waiting and healing time. We feel very encourage about how well Reggie is healing. Even though we still have a long road ahead it is so much easier to go down when it is not IF we are bringing him home but WHEN. We are still waiting for his intestines to wake up and to see what they are able to do. Every Doctor says this just takes time. Once he can start eating we will be able to see how much longer it is before we get to bring him home. I get to hold him now and he keeps getting one tube out at a time which makes me happy. On the outside he looks perfect (minus the big cut that is healing on his tummy:)) he is very handsome, alert, smiles, cries, and holds my finger. Thank you all again for your prayers, kind words, and help on our behalf. If it isn't asking too much we would love the prayers to continue until our little Iron Man is home healthy and happy.

Life, Love, & Hope

Sheree and Cory welcomed their 4th child, a beautiful baby boy on Friday, October 1st at about 8:30pm. Sheree was induced and everything went smoothly (and relatively pain-free.) The cute little guy weighed in at 7lbs 14oz. It took a few days, but Sheree and Cory finally agreed on his name--definitely a name fit for a future football player--Reggie James Russell. The boys are excited to have a little brother, and Jordyn, will be pleased to maintain her status as family princess! Reggie is such a joy to the whole family!

A few days after his birth, he began to show signs of some problems. After a few hours of inconclusive testing, the doctor decided that Reggie needed to go to Primary Children's Medical Center right away. At PCMC they determined that he had a kink in his small intestine, much of the intestine had died and needed to be removed because it was causing infection (sepsis) throughout his body. The intestine was too unhealthy at that time to stitch back together and the swelling was so significant that the surgical opening could not be closed at that time. This means that Reggie has to have another surgery, and if the intestine has improved it will be able to be reconnected.

This will be a long road for the Russell family and little Reggie. If all goes smoothly, if the surgeries are successful, and there are no other problems, Reggie will come home in 4-6 weeks. It is too early to know what the long term prognosis will be. Right now they are just taking life one day at a time. What a precious life it is!

Sheree and Cory have been so overwhelmed with appreciation for the outpouring of love and support that has come from friends, family, ward members, and neighbors. They want to thank everyone for their concern, their compassion, and their efforts to help and assist in any way they can. They have felt the very real power of fasting, prayers, and priesthood blessings. They know that their prayers are heard and that the Lord truly has them, and Baby Reggie, in the palm of His hand. Please remember the Russell family in your prayers.

Please check back on the blog for updates. Sheree doesn't have the time to blog right now, but we know that a lot of people are concerned and pulling for little Reggie, so I (Tiffany) will try to keep you all updated. Thank you again for your love, support, and prayers.

Jordyn's new Pics

I have been a total slacker and haven't got Jordyn's Pictures done in over a year so I figured it was about time. She is almost two and the last time we took them I think she was around nine months. She was a pro they turn out soooo cute, a big part was due to Bryndee the photographer also. These are some of my favorites!!!!

Such a little girl admiring the flowers

Bryndee must have said something hularious

This is my favorite face she makes lately it is her hmmmmm face

Uncle Joe's favorite

Last but not least DADDY's favorite

Hope you enjoy them and think they are just as adorable as I do:)

My adorable q-tip

I just had to put these pictures on here so everyone can see how beautiful Jordyn's hair is in the morning. I get to tame this beast everyday and it is not always an easy task. I love it to death though I wouldn't change it in a heart beat.

This is her latest "CHEEEESE" smile makes me giggle

STADIUM OF FIRE!!!

My dad is now retired from the Military but he was still able to use his connection to get us some really cheap Stadium of Fire tickets. We were so excited because we really wanted to go but it was just too expensive. So I guess it is about who you know sometimes:) My camera and my photography skills are not that fabulous so I just got some pictures of us enjoying the show. I would have got pictures of Carry Underwood but it would have just looked like a piece of rice. She put on a good show though she definitely has real talent because even being live she sounded amazing!

My hot husband and his look alike son.

Me and my look alike son.

Ryan and Ella ( she did awesome, not even one cry just some hand clapping)

After the show on the long walk to the car a lot of people got another show of my very tired son and his plumbers crack.

A Day Out With DAD

On a Thursday afternoon I get a phone call from my hubby and he said that he had to go to a meeting on Friday for work in the morning and then he would be off for the day. He thought it would be a great idea for me to meet him in Salt Lake with the kids when he was done and we could go to the ZOO. The kids and I were all very excited!!! We don't get to do a lot of outings with dad in the summer because he is sooo busy. So this is our fun day out.

Little miss Hollywood

This is the closest I have ever seen the Rhino it was cool. He is a big GUY!

Jordyn and Cory thought the Rhino was pretty cool too.

How does she measure up?

The giraffes are my favorite you get to see them so close up. This one made me laugh at his awkwardness. I wouldn't know the struggles of being so tall.

My Three BIG Apes:)

Thanks DAD for the wonderful day we always love playing with you.

AND THE DOCTORS SAYS.........

This last week I had my ultra sound. Everything looks good and healthy. We saw two arms, two legs, all the vital organs, and drum roll please...... a little(sorry Cory, a huge) male private part!!!:) So my little baby girl gets to stay queen of her thrown. She will be surrounded by boys but hey I survived it didn't I? I actually really enjoyed having all brothers. I never had to share my clothes, my room, my bathroom, and my girly toys (well that I knew of maybe Ryan was stealing them when I wasn't' looking ;)). But, now I have to pray more than ever that Jordyn will be my best friend, because she is the only other girl, so we've got to stick together. Part of me wanted another girl because as Tiffany says I need to experience what sister are. The other part of me is ok with another boys because lets be honest I always was more comfortable around boys. Either way the decision is made and we get to be blessed with a healthy little one THAT I am thrilled about! Now the hard part is to think of a name and to make Jordyn's room gender neutral or half and half. I may have to talk to my Sis Kathi to rack her creative mind. I'll have to put up pictures later when we figure it out. But, ta ta for now.

My little Rembrandt

I had to post this picture of Ty's artistic abilities. You may not be thinking it is anything great but, I think it is wonderful. He just turn four years old and I was very impressed by his details. They have fingers and toes and most of them even have five, they have belly buttons, ears, I mean come on I still draw in stick figures. I just thought it was well thought out and cute so I thought that I would share:)

******Ashton's Birthday******

I know that I am a total slacker, Ashton's Birthday was almost a month ago and I am just now getting this on my blog. Hey better late than never right? This year we gave Ashton a choice to either have a big family party or to get a big gift and he chose a gift. I think he made a good chose because he really needed a new bike. This was the bike he had before and if you can tell it is very small for my BIG six year old.

Yeah this is his new bike that Grandpa and Grandma Slade pitched in to get and it was daddy's job to get it put together. This was way after bed time but he was too excited to wait so he talked Cory into putting it together.

How many men does it take to put a bike together?

No Birthday is complete without a icecream cake YUM!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BIG SIX YEAR OLD!!!

(Where does the time go?)

Survival Mode

Sorry that it has been awhile since my last post. The last month I have been on what I call survival mode. As you can see by the little baby ticker that I am pregnant with our fourth child (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!). With every new child there comes a wide range of emotions... excitement, fear, a prayerful heart, nervousness, love and many more. But, in the beginning it is feelings of nausea, exhaustion, being overwhelmed, and feeling like a horrible mother because my other three kids kind of survive on there own in a way. So to say the least my blog has been put on the back burner until I can get past the worst of it. I am not there yet but, I am hoping to see the bright light very soon:) I am due in September and if this baby is as healthy, energetic, adorable, and fun as my other three than I will feel very blessed and overjoyed.

MY BIG FOUR YEAR OLD

My baby boy Ty turned four years old on February 13th! We decided to take him to Pirate Island because we have not been there yet and he thought it sounded like a lot of fun. It turned out to be a BLAST!!! We invited everyone in the family that wanted to join us and to our surprise we had about 30 people there. One of the gifts he got was a Bumblebee outfit he has worn it every day since.

Doesn't Ty Aunt Brooke look hot in her Pirate Hat! His cousins Logan and Beckham loved the place too they kept raiding the souvenir shop it was so funny.

Isaac looking on as Ty opens his gifts.

Here is Grandpa and the boys playing games it was hilarious Grandpa had just as much fun as they did. We ended up with 977 tickets in the end and around 600 or more were from Grandpa. It was a really good day lots of family, lots of fun, and the food was way better than Chucky Cheese, we will definitely do it again sometime. Happy Birthday to my (little sorry big boy) Ty!!!!!