We have grown

My mother and father in-law went to Ireland a few years back. They met someone there who told them about a very nice tradition that was passed on to the Danny Reilly family. They planted a tree and took a family picture by that tree every year on the same day. They were able to see the tree and their family grow. We did this 4 years ago on our anniversary. Each year on our anniversary we can take a picture and see the changes. It is amazing to look back at our first year and see the difference. Bergin was one month old. It is a fun tradition that I look forward to doing each year.

I just had to put on a few funny things the girls have said lately. Ryan is going to the same preschool that Niamh went to last year. There is a boy named Porter that was in Niamh's class. On Ryan's first day she got in the car and was so excited to tell me that "Quarter"(you'll see why I spelled it that way in a min) was in her class, and that she remembered him from Niamh's class. Later that day she said "Niamh, penny is in my class."

We have been listening to a Little People Halloween CD the past few weeks. There is a song called "Dem Bones." It is the song that talks about the leg bone is connected to the hip bone and so on. On the part that says, "the knee bone is connected to the..." Bergin always says "Niamh" because she thinks it says the Niamh bone. She was sitting up to the counter the other day and turned to me so excited and said as she was pointing to her finger "mom, dem bones." Funny girls
2007
2008
2009

2010

Danny My Love

Today we celebrate 7 years of marriage. The seven year itch? No. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful husband. There are soooo many things that I love about Danny.

From the beginning he has loved me for me.

He is not afriad to dress up in fun costumes to make all of his cousins laugh.

He is funny. You can always count on him to be the life of the party and make things fun.

He can get us around where ever we need to go and he will never get us lost.

He is such a good dad. He loves to play with the kids and make them laugh.

He is a hard worker. He always does a good job with whatever needs to get done and he makes sure it is done right.

He is charitable.

He loves his family.

He loves to make his mom laugh.

He makes good treats. Whether it is no bake cookies, homemade lemonade, lemon meringue pie, the list goes on. He makes great treats.

He makes the best faces. I can always tell if he is lying, when teasing me. I can always tell when he is serious about something. His face makes a nice little quiver. It is a Danny Reilly original. Those who know him well, know the face.

He has a strong desire to do what is right.

He loves going to Priesthood session which makes me happy.

He is sentimental.

He likes shopping. Whether it is for food, clothes, or anything else random, he likes to do it.

He could be a river dance dancer. He makes a dang good impression.

He has good taste in clothing.

He is a good athlete. He is good at all sports that he plays. He is good at playing games and it seems like he always wins.

He is a WONDERFUL cook. He is not afraid to try new things that he knows I will like.

He likes Mt. Dew, especially when they are running fun little promotions. It probably helps that he has won a few contests they have sponsored.

He is creative. He could take on the calling of relief society meetings(used to be known as enrichment) and he would make any lady in the church jealous, and I am not kidding.

He loves music. He likes to sing his favorite part in a song. You should hear him sing the princess songs.

He was a great missionary and still loves the Japanese people and their culture.

He has the best calves, and he knows it. Ask him about the german shepherd dog bite.

He likes to wash our windows and does a great job.

He is a charmer. People like him, especially all the grandma's and grandpa's at work.

He loves to make our lawn the best on the street. He loves to look at it at night when the sprinklers are on it after a hard days work.

He can always make me laugh even if I am mad at him.

He is a good listener and always has good advice.

He has a strong testimony. He has a lot of faith in Jesus Christ.

He is my ROCK. He was there for me this summer when I needed him the most. I am so grateful that I am married to him. I love him so much and I am grateful we can spend eternity together.

I love you Danny and I am grateful for the wonderful man that you are.

Home Sweet Home

So we are home and have been for a few weeks now. I have not had a second to sit down and do this post. I finally got all my things done today so I can catch up. We have loved being home. Life started right up when we came home. We got home on a Friday and Saturday was Bergin's 3rd birthday. It was a great day. We just enjoyed being at our house. It was so nice to go back to our ward. We are so blessed to be in such a great ward. Our awesome neighbors put together an open house for us. Many people from the ward came to welcome us home. It was a great night. Life truly began on Monday. Niamh had already been going to school, and Ryan had her first day of preschool. Danny went into work late that day so we could have the day of "firsts." It was a good morning. I still can't believe that school is in and summer is over. It really went by fast. Big Blue, who is Utah States mascot, went to Danny's work. We went to see him. He had a bday balloon and party hat for Niamh, and he had a cute little bag filled with Utah State things for all the girls. They were thrilled (thanks to Danny for getting the stuff to give to him). It took the girls a few basketball seasons to get used to him. Bergin still wasn't quite sure, but she was excited to give him "hugs and high fives." We made it through the first week of being home. We celebrated Niamh's 6th birthday. We got together with the Bott's and the Whitaker's(our neighbors) and had a little BBQ and cake. Niamh had said that she wanted to go bowling and to the pumpkin patch for her birthday. We did just that. It was a fun day. We have been going to the pumpkin patch for the past few years. It is a fun tradition. The girls had a blast. They added a hose off your pumpkins place this year. The girls had so much fun getting all the dirt off.
Liam is doing good. I give him a shot at 8 a.m. and at 2 p.m. At 8 p.m. he gets hooked up to his sugar water until 8 a.m. He has a gtube into his tummy. It will get switched out to a button in a few weeks. The button looks like a button that is on an inflatable beach ball. It will be so nice to have. Right now the tube is 2 feet long. I keep it tucked into his onesies which is nice. His sugars are where they need to be which is all that matters. He sleeps all night which is nice. The girls all started sleeping all night at about 7 and 8 weeks. CHOP doesn't track a lot of babies after they go home just because they follow up with their local endocrinologists, which is what we will do as well, but we will also go back about once a year. One baby that went home on the same regimen as Liam just recenlty went back and had his gtube pulled. He needed the shots until he was 18 months old and was 5 years old when they pulled his tube. We don't know what will happen with Liam, but we know that as he gets bigger that things will change. He is not diabetic. He is hypoglycemic. He is still producing too much insulin, even with 2% of his pancreas. They say that as he gets bigger, the cells start to burn out and also as his body gets bigger, there is more mass for the cells to shoot out to. Only time will tell what will happen. We have a nice little accessory to atatch to us at 8 p.m. every night. They provided us with a little red backpack that all the tubing goes in. It keeps it all contained.
It is so nice to be home and back to normal life. As normal as life is at least. Soccer, dance, and car pooling is in full swing. As crazy as it may seem, it is so nice to be doing all these things. Adding a 4th to the mix hasn't been that bad. The girls have been so good since we've been home. My mom had brought them home for Niamh to start kindergarten. They just stayed here for the weeked with her then stayed at the Whitaker's (neighbors) for a few nights. Then my mom and dad came back to stay with them the night before we came home. I know it helped having them at home before we got home. It got all the excitement of being home out of their system. They grew really close this summer. It is amazing that they did as well as they did. I know Heavenly Father blessed them while we were gone. I know they had their moments, as we all did, but overall they did great. Their summer song was "Hey soul sister" by Train. They love that song and sing it as loud as they can every time they hear it. I love it. They (and Liam) make life worth living each day. They bring us so much happiness.
This past summer was the hardest time in our lives. There were days that came where I thought that there was no way I could go on. There was an amazing strength that we were blessed with. We have no doubt where all that strength came from. We met so many wonderful people who said they would pray for us. Those prayers were added to all those of whom we know and love. Our family name was on so many prayer rolls across the United States. One week I was at church and the lesson was on temples. A question was asked "why do we go to the temple?" At that time I thought of the prayer roll and it made me think about the special prayer said on behalf of those names. It was so neat to know that we were being prayed and fasted for each day. As I said earlier, this has definitely been the hardest thing we've ever been through, but it has also been the BEST experience as well. It has made me think more about the resurrection and how we ALL will be made perfect. I am so so so thankful for my elder brother Jesus Christ. Life is so much easier because of Him and the life He lived for each one of us. I love Him so much.
Since the day Liam was born, many reached out to help. I do not know what we would have done had our family not stepped in to help with the girls. They were taken care of so well. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family that supports us in all that we do. We are also blessed with great friends. There was one day when Danny and I came home from the Logan hospital and our house was spotless, Liam's room was organized, and dinner was ready. We heard our lawn still looked the best on the street even though we were gone. Danny takes great pride in our yard. It is a fun on-going battle with the neighbors to see who can keep the greenest lawn. When we got home there was a nice banner on our railing. Our fridge was clean and full of food and our pantry was stalked full as well. We can never thank our neighbors enough to let them know of our deep love and appreciation for them. We count them as our closest friends. Danny's work was so wonderful as well. He was able to take personal and vacation time while we were gone. His work stepped right in to take care of his load. They sent us a couple fun packages as well. They set up a benefit dinner at Texas Roadhouse and set up an account at Wells Fargo for our family which will help tremendously with our medical expenses. A couple very kind people donated their Marriott reward points which allowed us to stay in the same hotel the whole time. There are so many other kind acts that have not gone unnoticed. We met some wonderful people at the ward there as well. A kind family brought us a nice home cooked meal twice, who ironically enough was friends with Danny's first cousin. Danny's other cousin who is living in D.C. came to visit us. We were at church and the guy reconized Danny's cousin and made the connection that he was friends with his brother. It is a small world.
As I finish this post, I am listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing "Tell me the stories of Jesus" from a conference re-run and my heart is so touched. We are so blessed to be members of the church and have the knowledge of our Savior and the great plan of salvation. We wish to thank EVERYONE for all the help, prayers, love, support, and contributions. We will be indebted to you all forever.
I have put on a couple pictures from Philadelphia. A beautiful "big city" sunset, a super, super kind Amish man that will be a friend forever, who has a wonderful bakery, our daily mode of transportation, a LOVEly picture of me and Danny by the famous "LOVE" statue, the hairdo of every black little girl walking the streets, and a not so great looking picture of us enjoying a "water ice" at Rita's. It was probably one the hottest days there and we had heard about water ice. We went and got one to cool us off. I can't describe how they are made, but they are so good. It is a mix between an icee and a slurpee, but a million times better. We had a good time in Philly. I am so thankful that I could spend it with my best friend Danny. I love him and I am so thankful for the good husband and dad that he is. I am grateful that we can be an eternal family.

Wonderful grandmas!!

This post is dedicated to our wonderful moms. July 5, 2010 Danny and I were at the hospital anxiously waiting for time to pass so we could walk down to the surgical room and begin our c-section. Both of our moms were in the room with us waiting for that time to come as well. We left and they stayed with our girls. Liam was born and that is where our journey began. We spent the week in the hospital until I was discharged. We were in and out of the NICU the first week, making it so we couldn't be with our girls. That is where our moms took over. The girls were in Hyrum for the first part, then sent to I.F. with a small vacation to Jackson, back to I.F., then back to Hyrum, then to Salt Lake, then ultimately to I.F. while we came to Philly. Our moms did all they could to help us out in whatever way we needed, and they did. They both said "I will do whatever you need me to do to help you out the best." Both of our moms spent time in Salt Lake while we were at Primary's, so we would still see the girls and do some things with them. My mom only has a few weeks of summer vacation from school(her work) and she spent the majority of it watching our girls. She still had some things to do at work, so she wasn't able to make it to Philly for a bit. Sharon works at the temple once a week, but she was able to get someone to cover for her so she could come out with us. We headed to Philly and Sharon came the first day. She wanted to be here for me and Danny so we could take a break when needed and she would still be with Liam at the hospital. I am not going lie, the breaks were needed. It has been a VERY long road and I am ready to be hospital-free. I am thankful that Sharon has been here to support us. It has been nice to have her here with us and for her to willingly sit with Liam so we could get out for a bit. She was here for our sanity and we appreciate and love her. My mom knew she wouldn't be able to be here the whole time because of work so she said that even though she couldn't be here with us, the most she could do was take care of our girls, (the griddles, as she calls them)which to me was WONDERFUL!!!! She did get to come to Philly. It was during her school registration, but her boss let her come out to support us. It was such a wonderful week having our mom's (and Dennis) with us. When we first found out we would be coming to Philly, it was nice to know that our parents were going to support us in any way. Even though we are old and married, we still need our parents.

Our journey is almost coming to an end. Today is Sharon's last day to be here(she is watching her daughter's kids while she is on a cruise) and today is Niamh's first day of kindergarten. My mom was able to take today off so she could take Niamh. It probably would not have been too big of a deal if she missed, but my mom knew that I wanted her to be there so she took her to Hyrum last night and got her ready to go for her big day. She sent us a picture on her phone and Niamh looked so pretty. Jill helped out by braiding her hair last night so it would be curly for today. Kara is helping out by posting these pics to the blog.

I am so thankful for the care of the girls. I am thankful for our mom's, dad's, the Taft's, Petersen's, Ryan Reilly's, Matt & Ashley, grandma Landon, and everyone else who offered their support and their summer vacation to help us out. We are so blessed each and every day. I want my mom and Sharon to know how grateful I am for them and dedicating their summer to helping us out and lending their support in any way they could. It will be a summer we will never forget. I love you both!!

Liam's Video

This is a few of Danny and Rachel's friends hijacking the blog. A fundraiser was held on August 23rd for the Reilly family. Check out all of Liam's friends in this short video. An account is still open at Wells Fargo for anyone wishing to donate. The account to reference is "The Reilly Family Donation Fund".

It's the final countdown

Things are going great. We were moved to the floor yesterday. He left the nicu without any fluids going into him. He still has his picc line but that is coming out tonight. He is nursing on demand and doing great. They check his sugars right before he eats. He was on a little insulin in the nicu which is normal after surgery. If he has two consecutive sugars over 250 they start him on a little insulin. He hasn't had any over that. We just are waiting to see how things go. He will eat for 5 days then do a fast. We are looking at the fast finishing on Sunday then seeing what he will need from the fast results. It is so nice and comforting to know he is in such good hands. The Drs and nurses are so knowledgeable with hyperinsulinism or "H.I." as they call it. He has been so happy since he got up here. It is almost like he knows the end is in sight. We hope this week goes by fast and that things continue to go well.

Bigger steps

Liam had gone 11 days without eating milk. He has been on a yellow fluid, which is referred to as his Gatorade. It has all his vitamins and nutrients. He has another one that is white, and that one is his fat. Before they could give him breast milk, his digestive system had to be working fully. He was able to get 10 cc's of breast milk with a bottle two days ago. They did that every 3 hours for about 24 hours. He tolerated it well. Who wouldn't after not eating for that long. They moved him up to 1 ounce by bottle and did that for 24 hours. He did well, so they moved him to 2 ounces about three hours ago. I was talking to the nurse about possibly nursing him. She talked to the ones calling the shots, and they said I could. They just don't want him to get too much. They will weigh him before and after just to see what he got. Their whole thing is to just make sure he is tolerating what he is getting and they don't want to do too much. He has been excited to eat for a week now. He would root around every time I held him. There were a couple times I almost had to stop holding him cause he was wanting to eat. I am excited to feed him. That is what will get us home. He has to be eating just from me so they can see what his sugars are going to do. Things are going well. He is a happy boy. He is starting to smile a lot and make noises every once in awhile. Danny and I are hopeful that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are so anxious to see the girls and get home. We are so blessed with ALL we have. Good family, neighbors, friends, and a great ward. We count our blessings every day and know our Father in Heaven is mindful of us and continues to bless us. We have even been blessed by the wonderful people of the Philadelphia 1st ward. Where would we be without the gospel? I am sooo thankful for my testimony and know that is what gets me by.

Yes, Liam is now bald.