Okay time to update....

Both kids are doing great in school. MacKenzie made it through her first semester at school. she got a great report card all A's and she squeaked by with a B in math. she has inherited my lack of math skills, so we were thrilled with the math grade. Her teachers says she is doing great, just a bit to chatty...hum wonder where she gets that from? She had to build a native American house, what a pain!


Andy is going everyday from 9-12. He does really well, we just can't get him to eat at school. He said he would only eat chicken nuggets and shrimp, crazy kid. Although the other day he ate 30 pieces of pineapple while his class cheered him on. They even gave him an award.

Halloween was lots of fun...Kenzie was a Cheer-less leader for Halloween and this year decided it was not cool to go trick or treating with Andy and I so she went with her friends. This was kind of hard for me but ourneighborhood is pretty safe and we sent her a cell phone.

Andy was a vampire for Halloween, he wanted to be scary. I pretty much had to run to keep up with him and he cried when we were done.


Brian was a fat little Monkey and just about the cutest one I have ever seen!

Brian-Is doing great, he almost 16lbs of chubby baby. He started on solids and loves them. He is a great sleeper and always wants to be around the rest of us. He hates to be in the living room if we are in the kitchen.

And life goes on...


We are just trying to adjust to having an empty house after having family here for almost 2 months. I would have been lost without the help but I must say it is nice to just have us again.

Things are starting to get back to normal. Kenzie started school this week, she is in the 5th grade. This will be her last year in elementary school, next year she will be at the middle school. She likes her teacher and is thrilled that her best friend is in her class.

Andy had his birthday this week and turned 5. We had a few friends over for some
water fun and dinner. He requested Ribs and steak, followed by a Monster Truck cake. He discovered the small Lego's so he got some of those, an MP3 player and some transformers. He starts school on Monday, only three days a week from 9-12 for now, but even having him at school for those few hours will be nice!

Brian is a good baby. He had his two month appointment this week. He now weighs 12lbs 2 oz and is 22 3/4 inches long. He is sleeping really well. I feed him and put
him to bed at around 10:30 and usually sleeps until 6:00, which is awesome! He also had his appointment with his cardiologist a few weeks ago. Everything looks great, so we are hoping we can have him off the medicine around the time he turns 1. He has started to smile and coo a bit, which both kids love. He does not lack for attention that is for sure.

An UpDate

Brian is doing very well! He had his first appointment at the Pediatrician on Tuesday, He is still a little guy but is long. He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 20 1/2inches long. He is eating and sleeping very well. He likes his binky but is getting very good at getting his thumb in his mouth.

I am well on my way to recovery. I feel so much better than I did 2 weeks ago. It's funny, you don't realize how bad things are until you are on the other side looking back. I start physical therapy next week and thanks to my wonderful brother who is here helping I am actually getting plenty of sleep. For a while I could only lay on my side due to the incisions on the front and back but good news is I can now sleep or lay however I want!

Greg is back to work. He is so amazing, I don't know what I would do without him. He has been cleaning, doing laundry, helping with kids and working. Things are starting to settle back down and I am able to help out a lot more.

The kids are doing very well. Kenzie loves the baby and has been very helpful. She is always willing to hold and is also just happy sitting next to him. I think she may be a bit bored as we have said no friends until Brian gets b bit older. She is happy school is out and loves to play X-Box with Mike.

Andy also likes to baby and has a million and one questions all the time. He also loves playing with Uncle Mike. We put our pool up last week and had a couple of 90 degree days, so he spent lots of time out side. I think he is happy to have Kenzie around but I must say they do tend to get on each other's nerves a bit. He is going through some Mimi withdraw (for those of you who don't know Mia is Andys best friend)and asks for her almost every day!

A Tale of Two Surgeries and...A Baby

To give a little bake ground, in May of 2006 I ruptured a disc in my back and had to have surgery to repair it. The surgery went well and I was doing great until September of 08 when I started having the same issues again. I was being careful and hoping that my back would not get worse, then much to our surprise in I found out in November that I was pregnant.

Things were going okay with my back and pregnancy until March. Then things began to get really painful and uncomfortable. Being pregnant made things very hard as far as treating my back. I could not take any medications and like before the discs began pushing on the nerves in my back causing even more complications.

I brought my OB up to speed on the issues and went to go see my Neurosurgeon to see what his thoughts were. It was decided that I should have a C-Section, so as not to cause the discs to rupture. Our hope was to get through the pregnancy and then after a few months to go ahead and have the back surgery. I started physical Therapy, which helped but was not enough. By the beginning of June I was barely able to sleep, let alone sit still. Greg thought it might be a good idea to try and epidural steroid shot to see if that might help with the pain. The epidural did help and for about 2 weeks it seemed that I might actually make it to the C-section date of July 13th.

But it was not to be, On Monday June 15th I went to sit down on a bench and the disc in my back ruptured. I was in a lot of pain but I thought it was be fine, that I could push through. Greg went to work and I started a very long day. By 8:00 that night I knew that I was going to have to go to the hospital. Greg got off at midnight and when he got home we tried to decide what we should do. At this point it was about 3 am so we decided to get through the night and in the morning take the kids to Thomas' It was a very long and hard night for me.

We called my OB first thing to see what he thought would be best, he wanted me to come into the office. So we dropped off the kids and headed in. I must admit that I was not happy to go, I wanted to go to the hospital for some pain meds.
Looking back, now that it is all over I can see how blessed we where that day and how Heavenly Father was watching out for me and our little Brian. Everything fell into place...

My OB took one look at me and sent me straight to St V's to be admitted. I was at this point 35 weeks, so our plan was to try to get to 36 weeks and then take the baby. We got to the hospital, I got some pain meds and an MRI. By that evening, I could barely walk. Due to the nerves being compressed my left leg was very weak and numb. I was also unable to empty my bladder. It was decided that we would do the c-section the next day (Wednesday June 174th)at 12:00 and then do the back surgery on Thursday. But by 4 in the morning all of my docs decided that we needed to take the baby as soon as possible and then immediately do the back surgery before the damage to the nerves was too bad. I called Greg, and he came right back to V's to be with me before I headed in to surgery. I was so scared and worried about the baby but we knew it was the right thing to do.

Once again another blessing was that my little brother whom had just graduated from high school was able to fly in that day to help out with the kids. Having him here and been so great.

Due to the issues in my back it was decided that I should be put completely out, so as to not put and epidural in where they would be doing surgery in a few hours. Here are a few more blessings...1 that our dear friend that is an anesthesiologist was able to do both of my surgeries. It was such a blessing to both Greg and especially me to know that he would be there with me. I was very sad to think I would be asleep when our little Brian came into the world, that I would missed his first moments and his first cry. 2nd blessing...Due to him being early and the pain meds they gave me, when he was born he had to be immediately intubated to help him breath. Had I been awake I would have been very upset to see my baby blue and not breathing which could have made the doctors job harder. The c-section went well and after I got out of recovery I got to go to the NICU to finally meet our new little boy. It was very hard to see him knowing that I was the reason he was having such a hard time. Once again I was blessed by having a wonderful husband to comfort me and amazing medical staff to care for our baby.

After a short visit I was taken back the pre-op area to get ready for the back surgery. As hard as this was on me I think that it was even harder on Greg. He was going on very little sleep, was worried about me and the baby. Once again the blessings came, when our friend showed up to get ready for the surgery he brought Greg lunch. For Greg knowing that he would be there with me in the surgery was a very good comfort. The back surgery went very well, there was a lot of disc material that has ruptured but the surgeon cleaned it all up and I was on my way to recovery.

I was put in the ICU, once I was all settled Greg went to go get the kids, who at this point had been at the Thomas' for 2 days. I had a much better night and the next morning I was up and walking. I was moved from the ICU to a regular room and Greg brought the kids up to see me and we took them to the NICU to meet their new brother. As the day wore on I started to have some pain in the area on my back where they had done surgery but I thought maybe I did too much, so Greg took the kids home so he could catch a nap before going to work that night. As the evening wore on, the pain got even worse, so it was decided that I should have a CAT-Scan. It did not look good, that maybe I had a blood clot form . So it was decided that I should have another MRI to decided if I would have to go back to the OR to drain the blood out. Greg was working the nightshift at a different hospital and was getting the CT and MRI reports and is trying to focus on work. Once again we were blessed, it was decided I would not have to have surgery again and they were able to get the pain under control and I was finally able to start getting back to myself. I was able to come home on Sunday June 21st, which was Fathers Day. But it nearly broke my heart that little Brian had to stay.

He was still having a hard time breathing and was diagnosed with a heart condition called SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) It sounds scary but it just means rapid heart rate. He was seen by the pediatric cardiologist and put on a heart medication. I was so frustrated, it seemed that he was not getting any better and that I would never get him home and then he turned the corner and before I knew it he was off of the oxygen and the NICU attending started using the H-word...home! After 10 days in the NICU we got to bring him home on Saturday June 27th.

He is doing really well and both kids give him plenty on love and attention. I don't know what we would have done, if we didn't have such amazing friends who supported us through this. Calls, e-mails and meals came pouring in. It has been very humbling for me to be in this situation as I am usually the one to be taking the meals, sending the e-mails and calling to make sure all is well. I cannot even begin to put my gratitude into words. Thank you just doesn't seem to be enough but I am so very thankful...

Brian Dean Jeppesen

It has been a crazy 10 days for us here at the Jeppesen house. I promise to blog all about what happened and why our little Brian came 5 weeks early but for now I just wanted to Thank everyone for all of the love and support we have been shown. I am to say the least awed by all of the wonderful things that have been done for us. So here is Brian's Stats and a few pics of him.

Oh and did I mention...HE COMES HOME TOMORROW!!!!

Brian Dean Jeppesen
Born 6-17-2009 @7:31 am
6lbs 15oz, 20 1/2 inches long

*More to come soon!

It's about time!
Well it has been a while since our last update so I will just try to hit the highlights. Things here are going well. March was a crazy month but April has been better. The weather has finally started to warm up so the kids have been able to get outside to burn off some of the winter energy!

Family-Over spring break we took the kids to Kalahari the biggest indoor water park in the U.S. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast and it was nice to get a way for a few days. While there Greg booked me a prenatal massage at the spa. I had never had one before, it was awesome. Also over spring break we went to Chuckie Cheese, McDonalds and to the park to fly kites and play.
Easter was nice, Greg had to work and some friends were nice enough to have us over for dinner. The kids loved the candy and toys they got but I must say I was happy when school started back up!

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We got a new computer. You don't realize how bad your old one is until you get a new one. It works so much better, I still don't know why it took us so long.
Greg- Work is about the same. He got called to be the Sunday School President at church, so now we both get to go toward council.

Alisha-I am doing okay. The baby is getting big and is a strong little guy. I am in my 3rd trimester and will be happy when He finally comes. I have started to finally buy a few things and to start to get ready. I am going to the doc every 2 weeks now and I am the next one due in the ward so that makes it all seem real. My calling is going well and I am just trying to keep up the all the kids activities.

Kenzie-enjoyed being off of school on spring break. She has lost 2 more teeth in the last couple of weeks and oh by the way felt like the tooth fairy should give more than $1.00. I don't think I ever got $1 for a tooth. Greg told her that the tooth fairy is also feeling the effects of a bad economy. She didn't think this was very funny (I did). She is in the middle of state testing at school, so she has been a bit stressed lately. I am glimpsing a bit of a teenager in here as she now likes to talk to her friends on the phone. She has started soccer and is still dancing twice a week. The bid dance recital is in June so she is getting ready for that

Andy-He is our same old Andy. I keep him busy with Swimming lessons, dance and story time. He loves to play the computer and is pretty good at it. He can get himself onto PBS kids and the others websites that he likes to play. He is very excited about the new baby and is always asking when he is going to come out so he can hold him.