the lights aren't shining anywhere but there...

ok I watched meet me in st. louis a few too many times as a child. 

We had so much fun going with the moodys and Matt and Sawyer at the fair this year! Max thought it was so cool and LOVED the rides... except for the tea cup-esq ride that Matt almost made us puke on... we forgive him. Anyway, you can't beat fair food and friends and I loved seeing everything through Max's eyes. I also to a bajillion pictures (consider yourself forewarned!) because I wanted to practice using my camera at night with the fun lights. Please excuse the 80 pictures of the ferris wheel. Just playin with shutter speed and some various types of processing. 

{for the photo curious, I had my ISO at 2000-3200 , shutter at 100, f 1.8-2.8. I did NOOOOT use a FLASH. ever. Because that was the whole point). 

little guy getting big

Max is changing so much right now! Every day is something new with him. I thought I would share a few things that he is into at the moment. 

Crawling: a thing of the past.

I was so happy to see that when I got home from Seattle and Max and Danny got home from Rexburg, Max suddenly decided to go full time with walking. Yay! I am happy to say goodbye to filthy hands and jeans worn thin in the knees. And he still crawls every now and then, so I still think he's kidof a baby...? right??! just say yes. 

Little Bookworm: Max is totally into his books these days! He says Book "booo" or "booot"

His favorites are his Piggie Book (he giggles ever time I even mention it) and any book with animals. 

Heather: something else he's totally into!

He points to her house alll the time and gets so excited when we go play. Sometimes if she's not home when we knock, he cries. It's hillarious. They play SO well together, it's adorable! They are totally best buds. Although I don't think he knows it,  Heather's got a crush on DANNY! It's so funny. She says she loves him and once when Max and I weren't home, Heather was dragged back home yelling "Daaaaannnnnyyyyyyy...." Haha! We don't tell Max that though! 

I catch him under his crib all the time, it's his favorite hiding place! Also he has started to become more attacheed to his blankets and stuffed animals (as you can see).

I always say "where's Maaaax?" and he promptly pokes his head out. =) 

Love that face!

Just for fun, here's Max with cute Lauren at her birthday party! What a babe. He's lucky he got to hold her hand! 

photoversary

to celebrate my one year photography anniversary, I am giving away secrets. 

see the details HERE.

home.

{sister}

I just got home from Seattle yesterday and it's so nice to be home! Max and Danny got home from Rexburg this morning and I was so happy to see them! I missed my boys so much. It's nice to get back into the swing of things, even though I have so much work to catch up on my head is spinning!

Karson update: Mr. Karson Riggs is coming HOME today!!! We are SO 

excited for him to get back into the swing of things too. =)

what a babe.

Dear Max. I am obsessed with this cute little picture of you being such a big boy at the fair! Thanks for being the sweetest little boy on the planet, for letting me drag  you around all the time and putting up with me. I love you. I love dancing with you, reading with you, chasing you. I love your little kisses and the 30 second delay on the "smack" sound that goes with it. I love the way you laugh when somebody toots ( like mama like son). I loved how you insisted on using your fork to eat peaches tonight and sitting with you at our cozy table. I love your animal sounds and when you talk to yourself really loud at restaurants.  I hope you have fun with your Daddy in Rexburg this weekend while mama takes some pictures in Seattle. Be a good boy, ok? Don't bite your cousins and make sure to get reeeeal dirty (Daddy will clean you up). Also, be sure you miss me, at least a little. 

Love, 

mama. 

p.s. I don't think you could possibly look any more studly than you do in your daddy's boots and your new shirt from Nana. Thanks for being my human doll. Speaking of Nana, you have NO idea how mad she is at me for not bringing you with me this weekend!

BABY KARSON UPDATE!!

Just wanted to give a little update on my visit with Karson today! We needed some good news, and today we got some!

A few days ago, Karson was taken off the ventilator. Many of the doctors and nurses thought it was a bad idea and were pushing Darren and Jody to either give him a tracheotomy and vent him permanently or take him home to pass with his family.

Thankfully, Darren and Jody are prayerful people and felt like they were making the right decision. With the help of a couple of amazing doctors and nurses, they were able to take him off the vent and get him through the first 48 hours (which are crucial to determining how a patient will do once taken off a ventilator). Again, most of the MD's thought he should just be intubated again, but this little guy is a fighter!

Karson had remained on his bi-pap constantly (another much less invasive breathing machine) and was unable to keep his stats up when it was taken off, and things were not looking optimistic for the little guy.

Until today.

Karson was able to go off his bi-pap for thirty minute increments THREE TIMES TODAY!!!! This is amazing news and a huge step in the right direction. He still has a long way to go before he can come home, but this is HUGE! I am so happy that this also happened to be a day I came in for a visit/photo shoot. He needed some new pics, especially since he is going to be spotlighted at the Real SOCCER GAME this saturday!!!! yipee!

Thank you blog buddies for all of your kind words and support. The Riggs (and us) have been amazed by the outpoor of kindness by so many people who have never even met them. Jody felt very impressed that Karson was able to come off his vent because of the many people praying for him. So THANK YOU and keep those prayers coming! We are hoping for a few more miracles. =)

Here are a few pics from today. We were pretty limited being in a hospital room and needing to keep K hooked up to his monitors and iv's and all. But I think we got some pretty dang cute ones!

my FAVORITE. I can not put into words how happy I was to see the little guy with no tubes or anything on his face. It has been MONTHS. I just kept saying how happy I was to see him like this and keeping his stats up like such a good boy! It was amazing to see this after struggling for so long. I just couldn't get over it. We were all ecstatic!

Karson and Hadley. Gee, do you think they look alike??

She is SUCH a sweet and loving big sister. Can you believe the EYES on these two??

All done! Karson was pretty annoyed with us for moving him around and changing his clothes so much (he hasn't even worn clothes in quite a while!). But we got him all comfy and back on his bi-pap. =) I love this shot because it shows him moving his arm a little!

jordan the mish.

ELDER JORDAN RANDS, reporting at the MTC!

look how sharp! Clean shaven AND short hair!? wow. 

So two weeks ago (right before max got sick, sorry for the delay) we had the privilege of taking Jordan to the MTC with my family! It was such a great experience. Hard, but great. The day and morning before, Jordan just kept saying he wasn't nervous, just ready. We had a great dinner the night before with our family and friends at Melissa Comries house, and the whole evening was perfect. He got to say adios to his friends in Utah, which I know meant a lot to him. 

I think we were all anxious sitting at the MTC during the video and short talks. As soon as the prayer was over and it was time to part, Jordan stood up and said, "well, giddy-up!" I loved that he tried so hard to remain upbeat and funny. I loved even more that he couldn't do it! As soon as we started hugging, we were ALL bawling. It was really hard and sad to say goodbye for TWO YEARS, but we were so proud to see him walk through that "missionionaries this way" door and yell back to us some funny remark about "Harrah Israel" or something like that. We know that Jordan will be a great missionary and that he will do so much good in Madrid, Spain. He is so excited! We have already gotten our first letter and it was so sweet, touching, and of course, hilarious. 

A few quick highlights:

- his companion is a nice guy, but is apparently a living sports encyclopedia. 

- He was called to be "companion to the district leader (whatever that is)" [his words]. They made a big deal about the two of them setting a good example, and Jord says that it is helping him keep the rules that he thought were really silly at first. 

- He is very happy that he was placed in intermediate Spanish, which is very difficult! He's happy not to have to relearn everything though. 

- He really loves the elders he is serving with and feels like they are becoming good friends very quickly. He says the fat guys are the best- they are the most diligent and most humble. If you know my brother, you know that he is blunt (obviously) but he was being COMPLETELY genuine about this! haha!

- He misses us but says he is NOT homesick. =)

- The food does not suck. 

- He says the amount of information that is thrown at them is overwhelming at times, they really push the language hard at his level.  Within the first couple days they had to prepare a talk in Spanish and be ready to give it if called on! He knows he has a lot to learn, but he is working really hard. "Besides, I think I am at my best when I am coming from behind anyway." (mom of course starts crying while reading this to me. It's going to be a long two years my friends).

I really get the sense that although it is hard work, he is so happy and loves what he is doing. Which is the best you can ask for right? Here are some fun pics from our MTC experience.  

don't worry. just as goofy as ever. 

jord and the parents.

jord and the kenz.

 

me and my bro!!

jord, danny, dad. the golf trio. 

on the inside: check out the new tag!

max thought it was pretty cool too. 

PINNING OF THE BADGE:

apparently it's tradition for the mother to put the badge on her son for the first time. like they WANT you to start crying right away or something!

tears, of course.

good luck jordan- i mean, ELDER! We LOVE you so much and are so proud of you. 

Kick some butt out there.

today we

...did  a whole lot of this (Sesame Street on the couch) with our favorite blankie, a sippy of pediasure, and the lion (aka uvuff. don't ask).

and no wonder! max has an insane amount of sores in his mouth from the H.F.M. Look how swollen his mouth is! Since a few of you have asked, it is a viral illness that is VERY contagious. It is passed by direct contact with the stuff (i.e. drool, snot, fecal residue- that means wash up reeeeal well after diaper changes and the potty). Luckily it is a bit like chicken pox, you only get it once usually.

... we played a bit with these

... MOSTLY did a LOT of this. poor kid. 

... are surviving on this! Max's mouth hurts to bad to eat anything. 

...were much happier when we sat on the front porch, cuddled and read a book and watched the rain fall.

... we always love these


... looked for our friend Heather

...even managed one or two smiles!


....loved these..

... and these from the garden

...perked up when we played in the office/kitchen and listened to Alanis Morisette acoustic. Max decided to switch it to Aerosmith (supposedly on accident) and started dancing! I swear it looked EXACTLY like he was headbanging! I always hoped he would be a rocker. 

I hope you feel lots better tomorrow baby boy. Otherwise, I'll be there for plenty more popsicles and Grover. Meet you at the couch. 

hand. foot. MOUTH!

{max. the calm before the storm.}

I have a ton to catch up on so this is a bit out of order, but I had to write a little post about my little sicky! 

On Friday afternoon, a bit out of nowhere, Max seemed to get a bit of a fever. No other syptoms but  a bunch of drool. Here we go, more teeth. yay. So I was feeling bad for my little teething dude, but he seemed to be handling it well, aside from the loss of apetite. So we left Saturday to go up to Park City with our friends Chris and Tiffany and their two year old, Noah. We put Max to bed, everything seemed to be fine. Until about two a.m. 

Max could NOT sleep! He cried in his pack and play and just wanted to snuggle, so we brought him in bed with us, thinking his tooth was probably making an appearance. He tossed and turned and kicked us in the face, but could just not sleep! Finally at 5 a.m. I just took him into the living room and we played with the phone and watched some random early morning cartoon.  I switched shifts with Danny so I could get a little sleep too!

At about 10:30, I went for Max's tooth brush. He really resisted the brushing and his gums seemed to be bleeding. Danny wondered if cutting teeth could make your gums bleed...? Max opened his mouth, wanting to suck on the tooth brush and I got a little peek inside his mouth. I didn't find a new tooth, I found a cluster of BLISTERS on his tongue! I of course FREAKED and found some more on the inside of his lips and few on his gums (all of which are swollen). 

So after a little help from google and the on-call pediatrician, we figured out that Max has hand foot and mouth disease, a viral infection that causes a fever, excessive drool, and mouth sores and a rash (no rash yet, crossing our fingers! Some kids don't get the rash and mouth sores). Not serious, she says, just painful. 

No kidding!

My poor little guys mouth is totally swollen and he won't eat much of anything- thank heaven for frozen go-gurts and  pedia-sure. 

The other bad news, it is SUPER contagious for kids under three. I'm thinking "great" as I look over at the pile of toy cars that Max and Noah had been playing with (and Max had been drooling on) earlier that morning. Now we just hope that little Noah doesn't get it too! It made me want to cry just thinking about it. I feel AWEFUL. 

We will be going to the pediatrician's office tomorrow just to confirm the diagnosis, but chances are, I will be canceling my play dates this week. Here's hoping that the oragel/ motrin/ benadryl helps us all get a few winks tonight. =( I feel so sad for my little dude!

little fighter

We were visiting this little man on Saturday with two of our BEST FRIENDS, who just so happen to be his parents. His mom Jodi bent down to give her little fighter Karson a kiss goodnight as we were leaving. The lights were off, everything was quiet, and luckily I hadn't put my camera away just yet. She didn't realize I had taken the picture and later she told me that she had whispered in his ear that she loved him, right at that moment. I think we both cried when we first saw this shot.

Please keep this little one and his family in your prayers right now, he can use some extras this week.

karson's newborn pictures. he is SO sweet! look at those lips!

Karson was born on April 12, 2008 and seemed to be a happy, healthy, serene newborn. However, by the time he was six weeks old, Jody was somewhat concerned that he didn’t seem to be building the strength that he should. On June 2nd, at his two month check up, the Riggs family received devastating news with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) type I. SMA is a genetic disease that is the number one genetic killer of children under the age of 2. Basically it is the infant form of Lou Gehrig’s disease that affects the infant’s muscles. While mentally he is a perfectly healthy, curious, alert baby, his condition weakens his muscles to the point of being unable to move his limbs much or support the weight of his own head. Particularly devastating is that he lacks the strength to breath well or cough which makes even the tiniest respiratory infection life threatening. Currently, our little buddy is admitted at Primary Children’s in Salt Lake, fighting to just keep breathing.
Darren and Jody believe that our Father in Heaven has a plan for their son, for their family. We all believe that he is on the earth and a part of the Riggs Family for a reason. We have learned so much from him and he has touched many lives in just 4 months already. His patience, his strength and his courage is inspiring. You can not hold this beautiful baby or look in his eyes withought feeling his sweet, calming presence. We believe that someday, after this life, we will see Karson again, in his perfect state.

Karson and Hadley on his blessing day, the day before he was diagnosed. We couldn't wake him up for ANYTHING! haha!

Facing the eminant loss of a child is something I cannot even begin to comprehend. The sadness I feel as an "aunt" is overwheling, so as a parent it must be 100 fold. Furthermore, Darren is a full time student at Weber State University and up until this point, Jody has been working full time and was the primary bread winner. Because of Karson's need for constant care and since the time Darren and Jody have with their son will be very limited here on earth, Jody has not yet been able to go back to work. As you can imagine, the expenses of having a baby in the hospital for weeks at a time and the need to be with him constantly are emotionally and financially devestating.

First and foremost, we ask for your thoughts and prayers on behalf of the Riggs family. If you would like to make a financial contribution to Karson's support fund, click this button on my sidebar. Our hope is that we may lighten the load for our friends in any small way possible, especially if it means we can help maximize the amount of time Jody, Darren, Karson and his proud big sister Hadley can spend together as a family.

Hadlee is such a good big sister.

Words cannot express how much I love the Riggs family and baby Karson- they are family to us. We were so excited for him to get here, I already had him dubbed Max's future best friend and partner in crime before he was born(still is!). The night we found out about his diagnosis and sat together in the hospital is a night I will never forget. I realize that I just barely posted about Nie Nie and encouraged everyone to get involved with contrubuting to her cause. Obviously this is out of the ordinary, but because of the recent turn of events with Karson's current hospitalization (he was life flighted last week to Primary's), I felt that this could NOT wait. Any form of support would be greatly appreciated. Thank you SO much.

Stay updated on Karson by checking in periodically on this blog or the Riggs Family Blog
We will also be doing a MAJOR fund raiser closer to the holidays. MORE INFO NEXT WEEK!
Learn more about SMA here

Karson and Jody. (photo courtesy of Darren Riggs)