PUPPIES!

I never would have thought but we're currently the proud "parents" of a litter of puppies. Eric's oldest sister, Amy, and her husband Sam own a female border collie named Felina who gave birth to four beautiful little puppies just over a week ago. Amy and Sam didn't even realize Felina was pregnant until about 3 weeks ago, and it didn't come as good news because they're moving to New Mexico soon and they're only allowed one dog in their apartment. They're temporarily living here in Boise for another week so the puppies have been staying with us. Out of worry for the puppies futures, Eric and I volunteered to bottle feed them until six weeks when they'll be mature enough to go to homes of their own. After only a day we grew so attached that Eric and I have decided to keep one of the puppies. The puppies are half Border Collie, half Australian Shepherd, with coincidentally two of them looking just like their father and two just like their mother. We're planning on keeping the only girl, and Eric's brother Nate is going to keep one of the boys, but we're still looking for good homes for the other two. One is speckled like the father and the other is black and white like Felina. They should be great dogs since both breeds are very smart, obedient and fairly easy to train. My parents own a Border Collie/ Australian Shepherd mix and he's been a wonderful family dog these past six years. If anyone is interested in taking home one of these puppies in about five weeks, just let us know.

This is the puppy we're planning on keeping. Any ideas on a girl puppy name?

It's a girl!

This is a little belated, but we found out about a week ago that we're going to be having a baby girl! Before the ultrasound Eric and I made our guesses as to the gender and I was victorious. I honestly would have been just as excited about Logan having a baby brother to play with, but I was really hoping I was having a girl because this pregnancy has been different than my last. I was way lucky with Logan, with hardly any pregnancy complaints (besides 5 months of heartburn) but this girl has thrown me for a bit of a loop. For most of this pregnancy I've felt a little "off", with a bit of food aversion and of course some heartburn. I was really hoping that these general feelings of icky-ness could be a sign in the future to let me know early on if I was having a girl, and not just a sign that all pregnancies from here on out were going to be increasingly worse. Who knows if my system will actually work in the future, but for now I'm feeling pretty good about it. All in all though we're really excited to be welcoming a little girl into the family to even things out a bit. Now we just have to come to an agreement on a name. Wish us luck on that venture! :)

Oh Baby!

Baby Channer #2 is on the way! We're way excited about the newest addition to our family, and we're pretty sure Logan will be too. Since leaving Utah and my cousin's kids, he's been getting a little lonely without small people to play with. We're keeping him busy, but I'm sure he'll enjoy a playmate, be they girl or boy. As for me, I'm just starting the second trimester and I feel like a whale already. The baby's due November 11th and already that date can't get here soon enough. Yay for babies!

Way too excited

Our countdown is nearly over. Eric has one final left tomorrow afternoon and we'll officially be done with school! We've had a paper chain going for about 12 weeks now and there's only one link left. Both mine and Eric's parents will be coming for graduation and then we'll be saying our final farewells to Utah this Saturday. We're super excited to be progressing in life, but a little sad as well to say good bye to a lot of good friends we've made here in Utah. Hopefully we'll see many of them again, and if not, know that we'll miss you and we'd love to stay in contact. If any of you are ever in Boise, make sure and look us up! :)

"I've got not strings, to hold me down..."

Pinocchio's song pretty well describes how Logan was feeling once his IV, air tube and numerous other health monitors were removed right before we left the hospital this past Wednesday. Yes, Logan, Eric and I spent the first half of the week in the Pediatric ward of the hospital in Provo. Logan started coughing the previous Friday night, was still coughing and sounding kind of raspy and wheezy by Saturday afternoon and was downright struggling to breathe by Sunday evening/Monday morning. We had a nebulizer and breathing treatment medication on hand from Logan's brief sickness when he was a few months old, so we tried that for a day or so, but by Monday morning he woke up with blue lips and grayish skin so I took him directly to the doctor. I could tell that he was having difficulty breathing but I didn't realize how serious it was until the nurse took one look at him and rushed to get the doctor and an oxygen tank. It was one of the scariest experiences that I've gone through. Doctors and nurses suddenly filled the small room, checking his breathing, giving him oxygen and breathing treatments, and quickly announcing that Logan needed to be admitted to the hospital. A nurse drove over to the hospital with me, holding an oxygen mask on Logan's face in the back seat and helping me rush Logan to the pediatric ward where they were waiting for him. This is where Logan was quickly hooked up to every monitoring machine imaginable. Through tears I answered all of the doctors questions as they worked to diagnose Logan's breathing problems. They were pretty sure asthma had a part in it, but were also concerned about pneumonia and possibly RSV. Logan was essentially moving no air through his lungs when he showed up at the doctors office, and was only doing slightly better after they filled him with a bunch of medications and put him on 100% oxygen. It was the scariest thing to watch my baby hardly moving in that hospital bed, listening as the doctors and nurses made comments about the severity of his condition. For the first few hours they worried that he might have to be transferred to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake to be hooked up to a respirator, but luckily his breathing was showing a little improvement and his lungs didn't look like they were going to give out from exhaustion. That was comforting, but what could have made it MORE comforting would have been if Eric were there. Yes, Logan was admitted into the hospital at 10:15A Monday morning and Eric didn't find out until nearly 3:00P. We have just one cellphone, and generally Eric takes it to school so I can contact him, but that day he'd left it with me to contact the doctor and set up an appointment. I knew Eric was probably somewhere in the Tanner building only a few blocks away, but I had no way to get a hold of him and the doctors highly recommended that I not leave Logan's side at all. Luckily my mom was inspired to call me, and in a round about way my dad emailed Eric from work to let him know the situation. Eric hurried on over and spent the next few evenings doing homework from our hospital room. Besides Logan's improving health, we were super blessed to have so much love and support coming from friends and family. There were so many acts of service and prayers being said on Logan's behalf, and I'm convinced that those prayers and the his wonderful doctors lead to his amazing recovery. Doctors and nurses who'd worked the early shift and looked after Logan when he was first admitted couldn't believe he was the same kid when they came back on shift Tuesday morning. By Tuesday he had regained a lot of his energy and appetite, which was wonderful but made his inability to run around or leave his metal crib quite frustrating. All those monitors attached to him made it difficult for him to even move around in his crib without disconnecting one or two. I can't even count the times he tried to rip out his oxygen supply and his IV. By Wednesday I was going stir crazy from not leaving the room, and we were all ready to be discharged. The final diagnosis was that Logan had asthma triggered by a virus, and was potentially starting to get pneumonia. We were discharged around 3:00P, and after leaving Walgreens with a portable pharmacy we made it home at last. Logan's still on a pretty strict schedule as far as medications go but he's doing much MUCH better. With only some bruising left over from being pricked so many times, it's kind of surreal to think that it even happened at all. Here are a few pictures we took of Logan in his little hospital gown.

Spring Teaser

What a glorious week! We had a little bit of snow last weekend, but since then it's been nothing but beautiful and occasionally breezy. We've been trying to take full advantage of the sunshine by leaving doors open, wearing shorts and flip flops, doing yard work and having BBQs. After being cooped up way too long in the basement, Logan's enjoying the change of scenery as much as everyone else. Here are some pictures of playing at the park and in the backyard.

Let's Be Positive :)

Sorry, my last post was pretty negative and I hope it didn't rub off on anybody. How about a little bit of optimism/good news to shake things up a bit? ;)

While this last month didn't run the smoothest, it really wasn't all bad. For one, we got to celebrate both Logan and Eric's birthdays (turning one and turning 25). We invited over some family to celebrate the occasions and had a blast. Logan tried birthday cake for the first time and seemed to like it okay, but didn't actually get that messy. I baked the cake in the shape of a bear holding balloons (thanks again Mom Channer and Camille for the cake decorating book) and gave Logan his own cake balloon to destroy/eat, but he barely put a dent in it. He's so used to us feeding him that it was almost like he was afraid to touch the cake or get his hands dirty. We poked his fingers in it, and once we gave him a toddler spoon, he realized that yes, he does like cake and went to work.

When Eric's birthday rolled around a week later, we were pretty sick of eating cake so we made a birthday monkey bread ring instead. It tasted great and still held the candles so voila.
In terms of the weather, this month has actually been pretty nice. In the midst of winter I totally forgot how a nice dose of sunshine can turn your day around. There have been a handful of days this month when it was so nice, we practically had to go outside and enjoy it. Logan was still pretty clingy, but with footballs, soccer balls and sunshine calling his name, he was willing to get off my lap and wander a few feet away. It actually got me excited for this upcoming summer, watching him playing and walking around the backyard.

Speaking of Logan walking... he walks! He walks all over the house, and has even tried to run a few times. Both times quickly ended in a face plant on hard wood floors, but hey, he's getting there. He's also picked up saying a couple words, including "ball" and "uh oh". He's particularly fond of that last one. He's hit a phase where he throws just about everything, and right after he throws it, he says "uh oh" clear as day. It's super cute but slightly aggravating at the same time. While he doesn't comprehend the full meaning of "uh oh", sometimes I swear he does and he's saying it sarcastically after throwing his binky out of the crib. Another "trick" he's picked up is waving and pointing, the later helping us understand what it is he wants a little better. And lastly, drum roll please... he's super close to being transitioned from breast milk to cow's milk. Well, strawberry nesquik flavored cow's milk that is. I tell you what, no one is happier about this transition than me. I set a goal to make it a full year, and through all sorts rough spots, Logan and I made it and I'm ready to move on.

Another good thing that came of February was New Moon making it to the local dollar theaters. I decided a while back that I'd hold out seeing it until it came to the dollar theater, and then I'd make Eric go see it with me. There were a number of times I really just wanted to go see it, but I'm glad I waited because watching it with Eric in a half full theater at the spur of the moment was really nice. I won't go much into it, but I think my two favorite parts (for laugh out loud reasons) were: 1) Jacob suddenly taking off his shirt to dab at Bella's minor head wound, and 2) Jasper's response to Bella asking if he thinks she should become a vampire. It was something to the effect of "Yes, because I'd really like to not want to kill you all the time." Overall I thought it was a pretty good movie and there were a number of scenes, especially locations, that were almost exactly how I'd imagined them looking in my head. I thought that was pretty sweet since that's one reason I've been disappointed in a number of other books made into movies.