Lila needs a sibling!

As many of you know, I have finally been accepted into Optometry school at Indiana University! We are very happy and excited for our new adventure, but that is for a different post.

For the past 2 years, I have been fortunate to work at Sugarhouse Vision clinic where I have learned all there is to know about the world of optometry. I have been able to work closely with the doctors to help me get a good feel for the profession but the person that has pretty much taught me everything I know is my office manager, Quinn. I can honestly say that any success I have in the first few months of school will be thanks to him and all that he has taught me. Also, down the road after graduation when I operate my own clinic, I will be able to utilize many important skills and lessons that he taught me as well. (He doesn't know our blog address, so don't think that I'm writing this to suck up)

Shortly after I started at Sugarhouse Vision, Quinn and his wife Kristi were blessed to have a little baby girl, Lila. Unfortunately from day 1, she had many complications and obvious special needs. This caught them completely off guard as there were no indications that there was anything wrong with her during development. It seemed that every week, they discovered something else wrong with Lila- cataracts, missing corpus callosum, hypotonia, seizures, and constant infections. Over the course of about a year, they were given a few different diagnosis and sent to various specialists. But it wasn't until Kristi google-searched all of Lila's conditions and came across a condition called Vici Syndrome. This is such a rare condition that none of the doctors even knew what it was but decided to look into it. After having their neurologist read some studies about VS, he was able to confidently and correctly diagnose Lila as the 20th documented case in the world. Although this was a relief to finally know what they were working with, it was also a death sentence for Lila as the average age of kids with VS is about 2-4 years.

Fast forward to today and because of Lila, the amount of VS research has more than doubled. Geneticists in England were able to use Lila's DNA to exactly locate the genes responsible for her condition as well as shed light on other fundamental complications of the disease. Most importantly for Quinn and Kristi though, because of Lila, families effected by VS are now able to have healthy children of their own through In Vitro. Thanks to research performed on her DNA, geneticists are able to identify which eggs carry the recessive gene and exclude those from the fertilized pool.

That brings me to the point of this post. Despite the mountain of medical bills that have incurred over Lila's lifetime, Quinn and Kristi feel it is time to move ahead with their family and perform In Vitro. In an effort to lessen the blow of the cost that awaits them, I have set up an online fundraiser in their behalf. In all honesty, I feel that this is the least I can do for Quinn to repay him for all he has done for me the past 2 years.

I'm not posting this in an effort to pander for donations, but to get the word out about. I mean, if you'd like to donate, great- but if you can't please talk to people about this cause and try to spread the word!

Bensen's Lair

We are planning on moving out of our condo sometime and hopefully within the next year, so we were not planning on painting or doing a lot to decorate Bensen's room. Well, I found this great idea on the internet (before I even had pinterest) that I loved with the alphabet in different shaped and creative letters. We decided to try to replicate it in our own way and keep each letter costing between $0-10 but mostly under $5. Bensen loves the wall and will lay on his changing table for minutes, staring and giggling at all of the different letters. It was a fun scavenger hunt for the last four months and this is how it turned out:

The dresser was Jeph's growing up and was looking a little dated. But we kept it around, refinished it and I think it just looks adorable in Bensen's room. The knobs are from Hobby Lobby and we love what they add to the chest of drawers. We found these curtains at Ross (which are really shower curtains) and I really liked them and decided to base the rest of the color scheme for the room on these curtains. Looking back, I would probably choose curtains last next time as it made it quite difficult to find stuff that matched. Of course our splurge in the room was the rocker/recliner. My parents help us buy this and it has been the best purchase ever! We absolutely love it. When looking, we had to find the smallest chair any store had. I was 8 months pregnant and very large when we were looking so it had to be a chair that was easy for me to get in and out of at that point and I think that was a wise decision as it has made getting in and out with Bensen in arms so much easier. I love it! Thanks Mom and Dad and Jeph for the splurge!

Jeph had a brilliant idea to paint these squares on the wall and put up some shelves. They turned out pretty awesome and have definitely become a favorite. I thought it would be so easy to find bedding, but in fact, it was impossible. So I did the craziest thing ever and embarked on making a crib set. I must admit, I am pretty proud of how it all turned out.

Most of our furniture was donated by Bensen's Aunt Debbie. She has five kids and has decided that she is done with that phase of her life. Therefore she gave us the crib, changing table, two car seats, a stroller, play pen, and a walker. We cannot even imagine who much it would have cost us to buy all of this furniture so we are super grateful. We did refinish the crib and the changing table.

We also had some extra material from the crib set so Jeph recovered the car seat and I made a cover that matches. This is how they turned out:

We still had extra material and I wanted to start a growth chart for Bensen that we could take with us as we move around. I wanted to get started now as we have his first few doctors appointments and I wanted to keep track of his growth from now and for the rest of his life. So I threw this little chart together and hope it is something he will enjoy the rest of his life.

The room was something fun for us to work on while waiting for our little man to get here.

2 week pictures

Bensen is lucky to have a step-aunt Michelle who is a photographer and asked Bensen to model some hats for her. She was kind enough to give us a copy of the pictures. They turned out pretty awesome.

We had already scheduled a photo shoot at a local place called Fotofly for our Christmas cards and we got some great pictures from them as well.

Bensen was little but it will be fun to have so many pictures of him at two weeks old.

2 Months

Bensen is 2 months old today. He is quite the kid. We went to his two month check up on Monday and he weighed 12 lbs. He is 23.5 inches long and his head is 39 centimeters. He went from the 25th percentile last month to the 75th percentile.

1 Month

Bensen went to his two week doctor's appointment on December 9th. He weighed 6lbs. 14 oz. He was 20 inches long and his head circumference was 35.5 centimeters. He was still small and only in the 25th percentile, but the doctor thought he would catch up quickly. Bensen turned 1 month old on Christmas.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Planned Thanksgiving festivities: Thursday: 3:00pm Dinner at Mimi's Cafe Friday: 5:00pm Simmons Family Dinner Actual Thanksgiving festivities: Thursday, November 24, 2011: 10:00am French toast breakfast with the Bailey's provided by Jeph 2:00 pm Water breaks a little at the Baileys'. Jeph thinks V peed her pants. Go home to shower and change. 2:30 pm Debate if we should go to dinner at Mimi's or to the hospital. More water leaks. Decided: Hospital. 3:00 pm Check in at hospital. Nurse declares that water is in fact broken and that we should have gone to dinner first because we will not be eating again until baby comes. Dilated to 1.5. 5:00 pm Lynn, Mike, and Kim come to visit 6:00 pm Jeph goes to get dinner and take Co6aka to Mike and Kim's 10:00 pm Still no labor. Dilated to 2. Started on Pitocin. Friday, November 25, 2011: 2:00 am Dilated to 3. Contractions suck! Epidural received. Jeph almost passed out. Sleep! 6:00 am Dilated to 9. 8:00 am Dilated to 10. Start pushing. 8:30 am Stop pushing. Nurse calls the Doc. 8:50 am Doc arrives. 9:07 am Baby Bensen is born. Jeph didn't pass out and he cut the cord! 18.5 inches 6 lbs. 11 oz. 10 fingers and 10 toes (even though the footprint they took at the hospital only shows 9) 10:00 am Doc rushes away to the U football game

Grandma Simmons

Maurine Simmons |

1914 ~ 2011
Maurine Robinson Simmons, 97, passed away October 9, 2011 surrounded by her loved ones at the home of her daughter, Deanne. The oldest of ten children, she was born February 22, 1914 in Oakley, Idaho to Loren J. and Rosetta B. Robinson. In high school she excelled as Student Body Secretary and Valedictorian. On November 27, 1937 she married the love of her life, Raymond E. Simmons, in the Salt Lake Temple, and they were blessed with four children.
An active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Maurine endured to the end with steadfast faith in the Savior and a strong testimony. She particularly loved her calling in the Relief Society presidency with Barbara B. Smith and Phyllis Duncan, and her service in the Stake Primary presidency.
Maurine was politically astute, an avid reader, and physically active; she went to aerobics three times a week into her 97th year. She was particularly known for her expertise and love of fine children's literature. She became a charter member of a children's literature group, which she led into her 96th year. Her love of children's literature became her passion, and throughout the years she gave thousands of choice books to family and neighbors.
Words cannot describe the impact Maurine has had on the lives of those she has touched throughout her life. She was without guile and a true example of Christ-like love and selfless service to her family and friends.
She is survived by three of her children, Deanne S. Evans (Steve), Paul T. Simmons (Barbara), Bonnie S. Curley (Tom), daughter-in-law, Lynn S. Bailey, eighteen grandchildren, and forty-nine great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, beloved husband, Ray, son, John L. Simmons, Jr., brothers, Merrill B. Robinson, George B. Robinson, and sister, Arva R. Lovell.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, October 20 at 11:00 AM in the Edgehill Ward (1750 South 1500 East). Friends may visit at the Edgehill Ward October 19 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM and before the funeral, October 20, from 9:30 to 10:30 AM. Interment: Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. Messages and tributes to the family can be posted at: www.holbrookmortuary.com

Published in Deseret News from October 16 to October 18, 2011

Halloween

For Bensen's first-ish Halloween he was a bun. That's right, a bun. And I was the oven and Jeph was the baker. I must say, we all looked pretty dang adorable!

Just because he's cute...

We sure like this little puppy. It'll be interesting to see how he does with the upcoming changes.

Labor day weekend / anniversary celebration

So really for our anniversary we took a quick trip to Denver over Labor day. We had to decide between going to 'the gorge' in Washington state again to see Dave Matthews Band or going to 'red rocks' in Denver to see Allison Krauss and Union Station. Surprisingly, Allison won out over DMB. Getting to Denver was quite the adventure. there were thunder storms in Denver when our plane was supposed to be landing so we were detoured to Steamboat Springs to refuel and turn around and try to fly into Denver again. It then took us another two hours to rent our car and drive out to the amphitheater. We missed the opener and a the first few songs, but what we did see of the concert was amazing!

We spend the rest of the weekend relaxing, eating good food, touring downtown Denver, and staying about two miles from the Phish concert venue. We decided to drive by one night to see if we could hear any of the concert going on and from a mile away we could smell the sweet smell of hippy smokes. We did drive right up to the stage and could hear them singing "The Moma Dance". We had to avoid the sight the rest of the weekend so that Jeph didn't feel bad for being so close and having to miss this once in a life time experience.

It was nice to get away and enjoy a weekend together before that isn't so easy anymore.