So I Croup...yeah....(Six Months and Several Firsts)

Summer's here and the time is right for dancing in the streets...

Hard to believe that Bailey is now 6 months old - it has been an exciting last month. Bailey is now the proud owner of 2 teeth with hopefully more on the way (only 2 bottom teeth would be bizarre). We also went on a short road trip to Idaho to see family in preparation of our longer car adventure to Arizona coming up in just a few weeks. She was a great traveler and was in good spirits the whole time. Sadly, she did succumb to her first sickness last week. She got croup and after a sad "gollum" sounding cough, and a rough night or two, we were off to the pediatrician's office. One check up and a shot of steroids later she (and therefore I) were feeling a lot better. We had to give her a pill the following day which had to be crushed into something really "strong tasting" I was told. The fabulous pediatrician suggested chocolate syrup and well let me tell you - a spoonful of chocolate syrup helped the medicine go down in the most delightful way! We were just getting ready to start solids when this little lady got sick so we put it off, but now we can tell her that her first non formula food was Hershey's syrup. Rice cereal will pale in comparison for sure. 

I am getting back to work several days a week now and hoping that my return to the workforce will be fun and not too traumatizing for Bailey (but honestly, mostly for me). I did the obligatory 'Have a baby and cut your hair' thing. But in my defense I was losing handfuls and brush-fuls of hair daily. It was for the good of our drains and my mental health that we try to slow down my current balding situation.  But, regardless...I make this look good!

It is also our 8-year Anniversary. We are so glad to have Bailey to share it with!

Pretty in Pink

Steam Treatment (sorry for the nudity)

Chocolate Syrup Helps the Medicine Go Down

Cool Rider with Uncle Kirk

It's Black - It's White...Yeah Yeah Yeah

Happy and Feeling Good

Mommy Makeover - Shortest Hair Ever

Word to your Mutha! (Happy Mother's Day!)

Happy Mother's Day to every lady I know!

This year was a lot happier and more fun for some reason than past Mother's Days'. We have been spoiled with our perfect Miss Bailey, since she has been mostly sleeping through the night for months. But last night, as a special Mother's Day present, she slept through an almost 10 hour block! Best...Present...EVER!!!

Bailey continues to roll over and has started teething, but she is still as happy and easy going as ever. The big update is that she is reading. Quite an overachiever at not even six months old (see the pictures below). I have gone back to work and have been fortunate to work from home for the last month or so while I continue to heal and get stronger. It will be fantastic when I can say goodbye to my sexy oxygen. In the meantime, we are having fun at the Smith House. We are looking forward to upcoming trips to see family in Idaho and in Arizona. We are especially excited for Bailey to meet her Grandma and Grandpa Smith when they return from Thailand in July. 

Until next time - stay classy. 

What an attractive couple of ladies!

Advanced Reading 101

Polka Dot Fun!

I can't tell...do you think she is happy?

"My future is so bright, I gotta wear shades"

Glamour Baby!

Being this cute and brilliant is exhausting!!!

Movin' on up...

It has been an eventful last couple weeks...

Bailey has finally made the big move to her crib and she is loving it. So are we - especially Trevor. We continue to be spoiled with her sleeping through the night. 

She insists on rolling over and while we are happy and excited for her to be 'movin on up', it is so much easier when she stays where you put her. So we will discourage crawling as long as we can. :-)

I am now working from home and even went in this past week for a couple meetings. It was great to see people and it seemed absolutely normal to be there even though I have been out for the past four months. 

We hope that everyone had a great Easter weekend last week! Bailey's first Easter was pretty fun, even though she did not seem to want to color eggs this year. Maybe next year. The Easter Bunny kindly delivered some new pacifiers and future snack food.

Happy Spring everyone!

It's exhausting being this adorable!

Welcome Spring!

Happy 1st Easter!

Surprise cold-weather day, thanks for the fabulous coat Auntie Janette!

"Don't mind me and my beautiful blue eyes"

Stationery card

Her Monogram Birth Announcement

Announcements for every life event: graduation, wedding & baby.

View the entire collection of cards.

Fun, Flirty, and Four Months Old!

So Bailey is four months old now and already quite the rock star. To celebrate, I finally got my last drainage tube out! I am almost all healed and things are very exciting. We had a fun St. Patrick's Day with our Irish lady. Bailey is amazing (of course) and we are so happy for our miracle baby everyday. For anyone keeping track - we are up to about $300,000 in medical charges! But thanks to my fantastic benefits, we will only be paying a fraction of that. Thank goodness for health insurance! 

Have an amazing week everyone. 

We'll meet you down at the Bailey O'Quinn for a pint!

Happy Girl

Possibly a bad rattle choice? It is child proofed at least - and she is so happy. 

This hand is delicious!

I make sleeping look good.

The sun will come out tomorrow...Miracle weather for our miracle baby's blessing

Time to play catch up - First an apology for the long delay on updating our blog. I have had a lot of doctor's appointments - oh and a baby to take care of, but I will try to do a better job of posting updates and pictures of the ridiculously adorable Miss Bailey O'Quinn. 

This weekend we were able to Bless (Christen, for my non-Mormon friends) Bailey. Thanks to the family that came from Idaho and Arizona and those that were able to come from Utah. We also felt the love from those who could not attend. Other than the wind, the weather couldn't have been more fabulous. 

In regards to my recovery - I am getting stronger everyday and even went to the library to say hello to co-workers and show off Bailey today. One drainage tube remains as does the fun oxygen, but I am happy to be alive and have Bailey. It really has been worth all of the struggles to get her here and the ones we have had to deal with since her arrival. I am one lucky lady. 

Happy Girl

I might be too tired for this

Wind made outside photos pretty exciting and my hair pretty spectacular 

I only wear this when I don't care how I look 

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Winter wear fabulousness - Seriously those boots are fantastic

"Walking on Sunshine..."

"Reunited and it feels so good..." 

So, I know what everyone has been thinking... Are they making up all of this medical drama? Has Whitney been watching too much Grey's Anatomy? Is she desperate for some attention? The truth is that I don't think anyone could make up the wackiness that we have experienced over the last 9 weeks and particularly this last and scariest medical event.

The wound-vac and hyperbaric oxygen treatments were moving along and my (still-open) wound was healing and getting smaller, but the four hour long appointments were not that fun. I went in on a Monday and things were still fine and looking "good". I woke up Tuesday morning not feeling well at all. It was like the flu but worse. I was still a good girl and I made myself get up and go to my hyperbaric "dive". I made it through, went home, and continued to feel worse as the day went on. Later that afternoon, I noticed that I had what appeared to be blood blisters on my hands and then this rash like bruising started showing up all over my legs. I went to my appointment Wednesday morning at the wound clinic and they were very concerned about the "rash" and how my wound looked. They made an appointment with a dermatologist that afternoon up at University Hospital.

The adventure took a real turn at that appointment. Shortly after being taken back to the room and examined  there were then 8 doctors and at least 4 nurses taking vitals, talking to me, taking skin biopsies, looking at my wound and letting me know that I was really sick. I tried to convince them that I was fine and that I just needed some vitamins, and maybe some antibiotics and that they could send me home. Who gets admitted to the hospital from a dermatology appointment? I mean, right?!  So that began my 11 day ICU fun hospital adventure. This included (no exaggeration) 6 different teams of doctors and specialties. (Can't wait for this bill). Obviously for me the worst part was being away from Bailey. Trevor was nice enough to have three pictures of her enlarged and put them up in my room - which helped. Turned out that I didn't have the flu, but Sepsis which was causing renal failure and breathing complications. What someone shouldn't do is then google "sepsis," which is what Trevor did. I think it was probably for the best that I never knew how sick I was. That was actually the funny part (if there can be a funny part). No one thought I matched my lab results or chart. I was much too lucid, engaging and in relatively high spirits to be as sick as I was. I only really know how to be upbeat and I think that is also what helps me get through all this "fun".

So I have now been home just over a week and home is so much better. I had great nurses at the hospital, but I do prefer Trevor, my mom, and my sister-in-law Janette (who came this week to give my mom a few days off). I am still on oxygen at home and have the drainage tubes from the fourth and hopefully final surgery, but things are great. I am getting stronger everyday and so happy to be home with my family. Thank you to everyone's prayers and well wishes... They worked! Hopefully we will just have normal, but funny, posts from here on out even though I can rock a hospital gown better then most.

Bright Eyes

"How much longer is this photo-shoot going to last?"

"Yay! Mommy's home!" (also, notice the array of medications in the nightstand)

Bailey won't take her eyes off of Mommy...I guess she wants to make sure she stays this time!

Adorable!

Our new family portrait. (finally Trevor and Storm get some camera time)