And MY Girls

This has been a great year for all of my wonderful girls. Miss Cheyanne growing more beautiful and responsible every day. She continues to get good grades and flurish in her social life. She is in 8th grade and played volleyball in the fall. Now she spends her time helping mom and hanging out with friends. Her intersts are every changing as a they should being an amazing creative teenager.
She loves photography, music, fashion, and being pretty. She is also the best big sister to her little sisters.
Miss Ellie boy is she a character. That little girl has the biggest heart ever.
She is so wonderful and kind. She is in kindergarten this year and has already had her first crush. She spends every day writing notes and letters to all of us that she loves.
That brings me to my wonderful energetic amazing daughter Madeline, otherwise known as Linnie. She is a cuddly little monkey who never stops unless she is giving a big hug and a kiss to whomever she comes across. Her and her amazing spirit light up the room and the world is her stage. She has come to realize when she is not drawing on everything in the house she is dancing with the wii. Perfect strangers come to our home and she has them dancing.

Quentin the Wonderful

So my oldest son has had an amazing year. He will be 17 in a little more than a month. This past summer he grew an amazing 5 inches and gained 40lbs. He is no longer my baby boy he is a awesome young man.
In June of last year he attempted to get his license only to realize he had not practiced enough, but after spending the summer driving me all over the country he was able to pass in October. His summer also brought about a romance that had been in the works quit some time. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, so after spending almost the entire summer away from his good friend Rachel the two started dating in August.

Fall brought about some exciting times for my pride, Quentin decided to play football as a junior. Tears filled my eyes every time I heard them announce his name. He did a fabulous job.

We had a pretty big scare with him that shook my core. At the end of September I took him to see an OP to look at what we thought was a shoulder injury. The Dr. ran some urine tests and found blood in his urine, at a follow up a month later again they found blood in his urine. We then followed up with his pediatrician, who sent him for a multitude of tests including an ultrasound of his renal area. The ultrasound came back with images of his spleen being enlarged and near his kidneys.It was the day before Thanksgiving that our pediatrician gave me the scary news, Quentin may have cancer. I was floored, I kept my cool the best I could at the time I was in the hospital monitoring baby Hope's progress. It was difficult to grasp but this all meant further testing at an already difficult time for our family. We were able to get up to the children's hospital and have MRI and many other tests and a consult with a pediatric oncologist. I would like to say that we are so very fortunate to have the most amazing group of doctors ever. They got us the results back in record time and cleared Quentin of everything. They do want to continue monitoring him but for now they believe this all could have been caused by a virus. Thank the lord, he continues to bless me every day.


So during all this crazy stuff Mr. Man thought he could slack off on his school work but is now doing better since "he's not dieing" :). Then in January he got his first car, a cute little pickup. After learning the hard way the cops don't mess around and they will fine you he had to get a job. He loves it, he loves working, he is all but totally grown up and I am the proudest mommy in the world.

Hope Trinity Cruz Scott has arrived and the roller coaster ride of emotions continues

So according to plan we delivered Hope on December 16Th. Hope was born at 7pm, weighing in at a whopping 7lbs 1oz and 18.5in. She is beautiful, looked exactly like Ellie, perfect. She is such a miracle a little angel straight from heaven. Love at first sight, not that we did not already love the little bug.



So the little rolly-poly was super strong right out a the shoot. Hope was able to lift her head and push herself off my chest right away. Nursing like a pro, she had such a strong suck she was able to get my milk in within 24 hours. I had my first scare when the doctors wanted to keep her for observation for a few extra days due to high pressures in her lungs. I thought she had a new condition that I had not prepared myself for, turns out it was what was to be expected just not explained to me very well, or should I say the same way it originally had been explained. Hope was a trooper though she was putting weight back on by day two.




We had some amazing nurses at Sacred Heart at Riverbend, mom and baby unit. Love you guys. We were able to be home before Christmas, best Christmas present for our entire family.




Our first few days home seamed to be going well, we were eating non stop and sleeping good. We had our first appointment with the cardiologist at a week and a half old. The cardiologist gave us some great news, they told us that she had every defect possible, but they were are very small and that instead of planning a surgery before 4 months old, it would not be until she was between 2 and 4 years old. Wow, how amazing is that best news yet.


It was not until about day 4 I realized Miss Hope was not her normally strong self so I decided to start pumping and feeding her with a bottle to see how much she was getting. In the mean time we had a few weight checks and her weight seamed to drop a bit, down to 6lb 10oz, then a week later to 6lb 9oz, so on January 8Th we had to take her up to be admitted to Doernbecker children's hospital. I was so frighted, fear that my poor baby would have to go through uncomfortable testing, and possibly being put on a feeding tube.

We arrived at the hospital in the early evening my dear friend Amber took miss Hope and I up so daddy could stay home with our young ladies. I am so grateful for Amber and her calmness and reassuring way that helped to set me at ease as to what I would expect.

Soon after arriving the wonderful nursing staff and fabulous doctors (the entourage) were quick to reassure me that they were going to do everything necessary and figure it out. They too quickly set me at ease by letting me know that for the most part they would just observe her and maybe tweak her feedings to help manage her nutrition. My fear quickly changed to relief and we were able to get an ounce and a half on her the first night. Simple changes like adding a different fortifier to her breast milk and a little thickener to help slow down the flow and we were on the right path. By day two she had put on 3 oz., one more day for observation and she was given the OK to head home. Just in time for a visit from Gran pa.

When we got home we went to our next weight check and it was the first time anyone could hear her heart defect. Her doctor finally could hear it, we thought that was a good sign that the pressure in her lungs had gone away. I was so excited.

At five weeks we had our second cardiology appointment, this time we had mixed reviews. Her doctor informed me that the pulmonary hypertension was not gone and that if it did not go away soon it could cause damage to both her lungs and her heart. Our hopes and prayers are that the pressure goes away asap, at least before four months of age, if it doesn't they will probably have to give her an open heart surgery to correct defects before she is six months old. The good news was if it does go away then we might never have to have a surgery. Her defects are so small that she may be just fine. The only defect they will watch is one of the valves has a cleft in it, if the cleft begins to allow blood to leak through it we would then have the surgery, but if not she may never need one.

Hope is now 6 weeks old, she is 7lbs 11.5oz and 20in long. She is such a joy and a fabulous baby. She is already rolling over and is just amazing. We are so excited for each of her milestones and are ready for anything that comes our way. She will be just fine, we have an amazing group of friends and family who continue to pray for our angel and she will grow to prove to the world just how amazing she is.