What is a mom to do?...

Severin does a fantastic downward facing dog BUT.... This is not good for him. His last surgery rerouted the returning blood flow from his head to go into his lungs. It "flows" by gravity. So you see being upside down is not the best idea for him. He does it anyway, and his face turns purple. I guess if he does it long enough he will just pass out and then when he flops over the flow will equal out. He is just a crazy boy! He doesn't know he has a bummed heart- I hope to keep him in that mind set for life- no limits to his abilities.

and life goes on and on and on...

I have been so consumed by life I haven't taken the time to update. Well Severin is officially a crawler! And with crawling comes efforts to CLIMB! He has two bruises on his big noggin. He has fallen down the stairs, ran into numerous door frames, and even took a spill off the couch ( Johnathen thought it would be a good idea to have him sit next to him and watch cartoons). Have I mentioned his two little razor sharp, piranha like teeth? They are about half way in. He shoves Neleh away when she is bugging him. There is about a two pound difference between them. I think Severin will catch and pass Neleh up in size. We do not have any scheduled Dr. appointments until the end of June. We have loved getting out for the brief glimpses of spring so far. We plan on really enjoying this Dr. free month. Hopefully the weather hears schools out and it warms up!

I can't believe I forgot to post on Johnathens Birthday!

Johnathen turned 6 on April 3. It was Conference weekend just like the weekend he was born. We can't believe our boy is getting so big.
oops sorry about this one, you will just have to tilt your head to the side. Johnathen and Chuck- E- Cheese. This was a big deal. He has always been terrified of Chuck and all other mascots. At the end of our night Johnathen was finally brave enough to get a picture.
This is where Johnathen was when Chuck- E- Cheese first came out. Yes he is under the table-hiding.
Johnathen LOVES his new set of golf clubs "just like Dads!" now if we can get a little sunshine maybe they can go to the golf course.

Severins first Criminal Offense...

Everyone has been raving about the Carl Bloch Exhibition at BYU to me. Carl Bloch is an Artist from the 1800s. His paintings of Christ are well known in the LDS community. So I finally got tickets, down side they were for 9:30 PM! No worries I made sure the kids were fed, rested and we were off.
Severin being The Severin who hasn't been out much, was a bit "excited" to see so many people, lights, chairs, movies, wood, you get my point. I kept sushing him, giving him his bottle, in HIGH hopes he would fall asleep. No such luck. As I was reading about one of the large pieces of Art, Severin had had it and started talking in his loud voice. Personally I think he was looking at Christ and saying"I know HIM!, I love HIM, HE is my friend and my pal! I miss HIM so much!" Unfortuantly a Gallery Volunteer did not appreciate Severin talking to Jesus. She asked me to go stand in this cubby hole and calm my baby down, "We just can not have him being noisy in the Gallery." Well then they should not have made it so echoy! I went to the cubby hole and it smelled like farts. When I call people artsey fartsey I didn't mean it literally! But I was not going to stand in that stink hole! So we went out.
That's it Severins first criminal offense-disrupting the peace in an Art Gallery at 10:30 at night.
Lessons learned: The Artsey Fartsey really do stink, and they do not like children at their events, talking to their pieces.
Thom did trade off with me so I was able to see all the art. Carl Bloch did a beautiful job depicting the life of Our Savior.

Happy Easter! Love The Quists

Neleh had to jump in the picture too
I bought the boys matching ties. I wanted a picture, this is what I got before Neleh joined in. Severin is pulling fist fulls of Johnathens hair, notice the wincing smile.

NINE month well baby visit

Here is Severins current Stats:
WEIGHT: 18.2 over all percentile 13%
HEIGHT: 27 inches over all percentile 10%- so he is a bit short, but have you met Neleh!?
HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE: 50 percentile!
There is a window of head growth that must happen for proper brain development. Severin was on the boarder of this growth when he had his last surgery. Thankfully his head growth has continued to make vertical marks on the growth chart. Good for the brain. The things I never have had to worry about before. We do not have to see the Ped. until after his 1st birthday! Cardiology is the end of June. We just may get to be Dr. free for a few months!
Severin was gnawing on my finger and I think I felt a tooth! Can it be? He is finally getting teeth! All this drooling is paying off.
Aside from being Dr. free it has been an amazing 9 months. He has been out for as long as he was in. I didn't know 9 months ago if I would ever have this day. I am so grateful for Severin. I am grateful for his heart. I am grateful for the growth this has given to our family. Everyday is a blessing. Too many times in life we say the "ifs". How lucky are we to be able to enjoy the moment and truly treasure it.

A beautiful Sunday

Thom and Johnathen are hitting golf balls in the back yard, with Johnathens new set of clubs. Neleh is crying in the kitchen because she doesn't want to eat- typical, dinner was over an hour ago. Severin is next to me on the floor trying to crawl. He does a great downward facing dog. Morgan is winding down her Nic & Carrie weekend- I will soon leave to get her. Yesterday was a beautiful Utah spring day. We worked out in the yard, and let the sun kiss our skin. I spent the majority of last week with the kids in Mt. Pleasant. It was so great to be with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Fred. The kids were introduced to "can hunting". Johnathen likes to collect cans and recycle them for money. My parents took us on a dirt road to "hunt". It turned out to be quiet the nature adventure. The kids learned a lot, maybe too much. There was a lot of dead things. Now I really need to go to the recycler. The best part was Severin did NOT need oxygen during the day! I was so thankful. He maintained as good as he does at home. He still needs O2 at night. He did start with croup again before we left. I took him to the Ped. and he gave me some steroid tabs for future croupie times, THANK-YOU! It saves on the ER trips. Back to the "normal" groove next week.