Shameless Photo Shoot :]

The light was good in the living room, Joey was doing puzzles, and Sam was in a good mood...here's what happened...

{She started to turn Diva on me at the end, so we quite snapping pics :]}

Have a good weekend everyone!!

I Heart Sam!

So today we took Sammy to the heart doctor for her 1st check up since the doc had seen her on the day she was born...or maybe the day after {I was on pain meds, so I'm not sure :]}.  Anyway, her doc is at Medical City, so I took Joey to my mom's house to play while Sam and I went to see Doctor Laird!  She did really well during her tests...forgive the quality of the pics, I only had my iPhone :)

When we got to the office, we had to turn in our paper work, driver's license, insurance card and moolah.  Then they weighed and measured her...she weighs 9lbs 2ozs and is 21 1/4 inches long!!  Then they hooked her up with some stickers and wires for some sort of heart test!  This is where I wish Johnny would have been there because he remembers the names to these sorts of things...I call them "some sort of heart test"!!

{Here she is getting her EEG??  I can't remember what it's called, but they measure her heartbeat with this one...it took about 5 minutes}

Then we got moved to a room where we waited for a while for the technician to come get us for the next test...seemed like it took forever!

{Here she is getting her EKG...I call it a sonogram, but I'm sure I'm wrong...it's what it looks like though!  This test took about 20 minutes, and she was pretty happy the whole time!}

{EKG again...}

Then we were moved to an exam room to wait for the doc, although all the exam rooms were occupied, so we were put in a room with a treadmill in it!  I asked if I was supposed to have her running by the time the doc came in :)  They guy laughed and it made me happy :)  A few minutes and a diaper change later, we were moved to a real exam room to wait for the Doctor.  We waited, and waited, and waited!  

{Sam was worn out!!}

The exam room is so funky, and I know this has nothing to do with Sam, but it always bothers me when we go to the heart doc, so I shot some pics while we were waiting....I was bored!!

{Random sports pics}

{Dog poster and underneath are hot air balloon pics??}

{Why not some dolphin pictures in the same room???}

{Oh, and they are a Christian practice, so there is at least 1 verse in every room randomly placed}

{This is what really bothers me...the sink is so high!  The stroller comes to my chest, and the sink is practically at my shoulders!  Who was this room's decorator/planner????  Random posters everywhere and a sink for giants???  OK, I'm done, back with the news about Sammy :]}

So the doctor finally came in and listened to Sam's heart, and felt her pulse in her neck, arms and feet.  He said that all the tests came back really good!  Her Atrial Septal Defect is closed! Her Pulmonary Valve Stenosis is holding at 20% which means it's not getting any worse! He said she has a small Patent Ductus Arteriosus which is a vein connecting two main arteries. This is present in all babies while in the womb and usually closes completely within a week of birth.  Sam's is closed 90% of the way which is not where it should be, but was not concerning the doctor.  He said she could have it that closed all her life and it would not effect her at all, so not to worry. {I linked all the heart defects so if you want to read about them, you can!!}

All in all, it was a LONG {about 2 hours give or take a little}, but good appointment!

Once we were done, we headed back to get Joey and eat lunch!  I guess Nonny wore Joey out, because she fell asleep on the way home in the car and she very rarely falls asleep in the car!  I'll leave you with this picture, and a thank you to all who have been praying for our sweet baby girl!

Hawaiian Falls :)

So each year EWA rents out Hawaiian Falls for a few hours after the parks closing hours!  We get the park all to ourselves :)  That means no lines, and no one pushing your 2 year old down in the kids park!

Well, yesterday was the day, and we had a blast!  Sammy stayed with Grandma while Johnny and I spent some quality time with our first baby!!  Here's a few pics of our day at the water park.

{Stout family photo :)  Minus Sammy of course}

{Joey was ready to get in the water!!}

{Daddy catching her at the bottom of the slide}

{Brandon was teaching Joey all these funny things to do in the fountains like crawling under them, walking backwards in them and more...what a sweet cousin!!|

{Johnny and Joey coming down the big slide}

Side note.....they told us you aren't supposed to go down the slides with your children.  I didn't listen and took Joey anyway :(  I know, it wasn't right, but I did it.  We got to the end of the slide and I decided that the water would spray joey too much so I lifted her up to get her out of the water.  Well, the water at the end of the slide took me out and I lost control of Joey.  She hit her head on the slide and I hit my shin.  We both have crazy bruises, and I'm not winning the "mother of the year" award anytime soon!  Luckily her bruise is pretty much gone, but as for my bruise, it's here to stay for a while I guess...still a lump today!  On with the pictures :)

{Ok, there was just this last picture, but it was to cute not to share!!}

All in all it was an awesome day {minus the head bonk}!  Thanks Grandma for watching Sam so we could go to Hawaiian Falls with Joey!!

"Chippies"

So one day this past week, Joey was hungry and I wasn't moving fast enough :)  I let her open the chips and snack on them while I finished making her sandwich.  Now when we go to make lunch, she backs up to the stove, sits down and says "I want chippies please."  It's too cute not to let her open the bags of chips and indulge!  Pick your battles right??

See how happy she is?? I just love that smile!!!

Firsts...

So I was lazy with the camera the past few days and we've had some "firsts" go undocumented :(

The other day we took Sammy swimming for the first time!  She wasn't a huge fan, but she looked so cute in her swimsuit and hat!  I will get pics the next time, I promise :)

Today I cut Joey's hair for the first time.  It has always been uneven, and now that she wants it up all the time, it's really been starting to annoy me...that being said, I sat her on the sink this morning and trimmed her hair so it would be even.  Luckily she has some curls in her hair because she was wiggly and I'm not sure how "even" I actually cut it!

So that's it...I wanted to document these firsts before I forgot about them!  Hope your day is going well, and I'll leave you with this sweet pic of Joey and her little sister :)

{Joey is so proud :]}

Dog Days of Summer

Woooo doggie, it's hot out there!  How do we remedy this problem?  Lots of time at the pool and sprinkler time!!!  I've shared pool pics, so here are some sprinkler pics!!

{Of course Naked Baby had to play too!  She named her, not us :]}

It's all about the simple pleasures!  Hope you are staying cool this Summer!

Our First Outing...

So my friend Amanda convinced me it was time to get out of the house with the girls.  Johnny has been at work all week and this was going to be the first time I loaded the girls, their bags, our double stroller and myself in the car to go somewhere without him!

To those of you who don't have kids, let me just enlighten you as to what goes into any outing for the Stout family....both girls need to be dressed, Joey needs to try and go to the potty, Sam needs to have a diaper change, you need to make sure both girl's bags are packed with an extra outfit, panties for Jo, diapers and wipes for Sam, a bottle for Sam, and water for Joey.  Put Sam in her car seat, then you have to put the stroller in the car with the bags, then hoist Joey into her car seat, buckle her in, then put Sam's car seat in the base unit in the car.  Now buckle yourself in the car, turn it on and put the A/C on full blast and you are ready to go!  Oh and I forgot, Joey gets car sick sometimes, so you have to make sure the barf bucket is in the car and within reach in case she spews :)

So that being said...with a deep breath, I promised to meet Amanda and her kiddos at Babies R Us for some window shopping.  I got there and much to my surprise, I got both the girls out of the car with their bags in tow into our stroller before they melted in the heat of the Summer sun!  Huge sigh of relief, WE DID IT!  The hard part was over...so I thought!

So we got into the store and we were looking around when Joey tells me she needs to go potty.  I take her to the potty where she proceeds to freak out and refuse to go.  Jo is terrified of potties that flush automatically and she recognized that this one did just that..hence the freak out.  I told her that if she peed in Babies R Us I was going to be upset.  We left the potty and found Amanda.  All of a sudden, Joey says "Oh no, I spilled".  I look at her and she had peed on the floor in the middle of the store!  There was a puddle so I thought she was done....nope...."Oh no, I'm spilling again".  Here came more...the puddle got bigger!  I ran and found a package of panties from a display {when I said earlier that the bags were in tow, I had actually left Joey's bag in the car because she has been doing so good lately and hasn't had an accident in a while}.  Thank goodness Amanda was there...she changed Joey's panties and cleaned her up while I went to find someone to clean up the puddles my little lady had left behind.  The employees at Babies R Us are so sweet and assured me that this was not the first time this had happened.  Since Joey peed on her shoes, she won herself a one way ticket to ride in the stroller for the rest of the trip :)  She would ask me why Madison {Amanda's daughter} got to walk and I told her "Madison didn't pee on her shoes" :)

We finished our shopping trip and we left Babies R Us with a new package of panties...LOL

Now that we got the bad outing out of the way, I'm ready to hit the town for many more!  Watch out people, this act could be coming to a town near you :)

Happy Birthday Johnny :)

So today is my husband Johnny's birthday!  He's 34 today and in honor of that, I thought I'd give my lovely readers {all 5 of you :]} 34 reasons I love this man!!  Here goes...in no particular order after #1 :]

1.  Johnny loves the Lord, and He is his Savior!  Here he is getting baptized at our church...excuse the quality, but I took it on my phone from far away!  This day was awesome!  The did spontaneous baptisms at our church and Johnny had been baptized as a baby but decided to publicly show his faith by getting baptized again!  We could really feel the spirit move that day :)

2. He takes Joey to gymnastics!

3. When he asked me to marry him, it was super creative and thoughtful :)

4. He introduced me to snow boarding!

5. He shares his food with Joey so I don't have to :)

6. He's not afraid to cut out hearts with pink and purple play doh :)

7. He's a hairstylist by night :)

8. He has a goofy side!

9. He bakes!

10. He makes the beds {this one is Joey's}

11. He takes time to teach Joey stuff like flying a kite!

12. He wears Joey's handmade Jewelry

13. He's a handy man!  Not only did he hang this growth chart, but he put crown molding in all the bedrooms and has done so many other things in our house as well!

14. Since he's a foot taller than me, he can reach all the things on the top shelf of the cabinets that I can't!

15. He came up with picnic pizza night, and we have been doing it every Friday since it's inception :)

16. He loves to swim!

17. He humors me when I ask him to take ridiculous pictures in Dick's Sporting Goods {or anywhere for that matter}

18. He's not afraid to hold babies!!

19.  He plays with our girls :)

20.  He puts all other's needs before his own.

21. He would help anyone in an instant, all you have to do is call!

22. He handles our finances so I don't have to :)

23. He does his own laundry.

24. He cleans bathtubs and toilets {the whole house really :]}

25. He's a P.E. teacher at an elementary school and is so good with his kids!

26. He's great at grocery shopping!

27. One of his favorite movies is "Aladdin"

28. He lets me cut his hair {ever since my first job at Supercuts, I've wanted to try cutting hair :] Thanks babe!}

29. He provides for our family not only financially, but with his time too!

30. He doesn't cuss {this is a big one :]}

31. He watches girlie movies with me and in fact loves Lizzie McGuire and Bring it On :)

32. He loves all sports and is super active and always willing to play!

33. He eats anything that I cook :)

34. He helps out more than any father I know! {This includes but is not limited to diaper changes, bath time for the girls, putting the kids to bed, Sam's late night feedings, and much more!}

As you can tell, I love my hubby and we are so blessed to have him as the head of our home.  Happy birthday Johnny, here's to many more!!

Strong Girl :)

So yesterday Sam rolled over from her belly to her back.  I thought "Oh that was a fun fluke, and it will probably be a long time before we see that one again!"

Well, the "long time" wasn't very long!  She did it again this morning, and we even caught it on video tonight!  Since last night she has rolled over 6 times!!  I guess her back is strong :)

As I'm writing this, she keeps rolling over and won't stay on her tummy for longer than a minute!  How do you get tummy time in when your child learns how to roll to her back??

{When I looked up when babies roll over, the consensus is between 3 and 4 months!!  Sam is only 6 weeks old, and she had a wimpy start in the NICU :).....my heart soars again!!}

My Heart Soars :)

My little Joey has decided that she loves to sing, and has found her stage at the landing of our stairs!  This reminds me of being younger and stopping in stores to look in their mirrors and sing :)  I also used to give concerts any time anyone would listen!  I love to sing, and am loving that Joey is loving it too!  I'm not sure if she'll be a good singer, but at least she is loving music in general!  If you ask her, Joey's favorite song is "Twinkle Twinkle", but she also loves to sing "Bible" {otherwise known as Jesus Loves Me}. And this is why my heart soars!!