Poor Baby Maeli!

Alright, for those who don't know already here is an update on our sweet Maeli. She is 6 weeks old today and has been a joy to have in our home. She is so sweet and just peaceful. My body has not been cooperating with recovering so it's taken us a while to get back into life, but I was determined to make it to church this last Sunday. I am a wimp and it took us FOREVER to get ready and out the door, but somehow we made it. I was pretty nervous to attempt it all with 4 kids and no husband. Allen was called to the bishopric when Avery was only weeks old and I remember being scared to death to sit through sacrament meeting without him and 3 kids. And, Avery has always been a handful so I had my work cut out for me, but we have survived the last three years somehow. Now we get to dive right back into it all with an Avery on the loose and a baby. But, things went pretty well....for the first 1/2 of sacrament meeting. Avery had to go out to use the bathroom twice and soon Caleb turned to me and said he wasn't feeling well and needed to go home. Allen is up on the stand watching things go bad fast. I thought maybe Caleb just wanted to go home and I had put 3 hours into getting ready so I didn't want it to all be for nothing and tried to figure out if he was being real with me. I decided he really did need to go home and started to head out to the car with him when he crouched down and looked up at me with such a hopeless look on his face. I knew then we were too late. I dashed for a garbage can and he lost everything his little body had to lose. Most of it made it in the trash, but there was a good mess to clean up. There were sweet people all around us jumping into action and busily taking care of us. I was able to scoop up Caleb and Maeli and head out. Caleb continuted to puke every half hour or so and was just miserable. Allen got it the next day, Avery got it the day after that and Maeli ended up with it in the middle of the night Tuesday. Her fever went from 99 to just under 104 within 3 hours. Our pediatrictian quickly admitted her to the hospital and we've been here ever since. We had plans to bless her this Sunday, but fat chance. We are hoping to be released by Saturday. She has really perked up in the last 12 hours and I am so greatful for the care she is able to recieve. Things went bad so quickly with her it was scary and it's good to see her be herself again. It is nice to have time to just hold her and love on her, but hard to have sick kids at home I can't take care of.

That picture at the top is of her in the hospital with her IV in her head. It shows how well she's doing so quickly. She was so out of it on Wednesday and it's great to have her coherant again.

Since I have some time on my hands I thought I'd post some more recent pictures.





















We think these two pictures are hilarious. You can already tell she's got a fun personality, she is always pulling the funniest faces. She smiles all of the time and is just a content little baby.



















Abby and Maeli at happier times. Abby loves to care for Maeli and is a HUGE help to her mom and dad.








Caleb and Maeli just hanging out. He still just dotes on his baby sister. He has been worried about her and wants to come see her every chance he gets. They have a special little relationship and I know he will always take care of his baby sister.

























These are some that catch the essence of Avery. This girl has so much personality she keeps us laughing (sometimes crying) everyday. The things that come out of her mouth! We always say she's 2 going on 16 and that's Avery in a nutshell