Here are a few pics of Teagan smiling, he has so much personality! I took this while we watched the Lakers get demolished by the Caveliers, it brought a smile to both of our faces!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! We hope that all of you are having a wonderful Holiday Season, I know we are. Even though we have been stuck to our house for the last little while, I feel this has been and will be our best Christmas ever, and I'm not talking about presents. So many of you have shown us the true meaning of Christmas. I just have to mention a few of our experiences this last week. As you know we have had sickness in our home, but we still managed to get our family put together so that we could get our family pictures taken for our cards. Thanks to my brother-in-law Nick Marriott we were able to get them taken without even exposing Teagan to germs. I was so excited to go home and make them, but that night my girls became sick with strep so me and Teag’s had to lock ourselves up stairs away from the sickness. I just figured we wouldn't get them out this year, but I was talking to our friend Angie Ericksen and she offered to make them for me. It was wonderful we, e-mailed the pictures and an hour later they were done. They were just was I would have done to the T. I know that we have mentioned that someone was doing the 12 days of Christmas on our last post, but I just wanted to mention how wonderful it was. Every night they would bring a new activity for the girls to do, it was so nice because it took their mind off of not being able to go outside. Thank you so much.


Last night Bryson and I watched "It’s a Wonderful Life". When it got to the end where the people from the town surrounded them and donated money to them me and Bryson both began to cry. This movie has never touched us so much, as we watched it, it hit home how much everyone around is doing the same for us. We have had cards in the mail and on our porch with money from unknown families. We have even had people drop a big box of food on our porch and an envelope with money. We don't know how to thank all of you, or even find out who you are to repay the favor someday. Last night we also had a friend of ours, Melissa Chambers, show up at our house. She told us that she put us in for a photo shoot give away, and that we were nominated. We don't know all the details yet but she did tell us that they are going to give us a very nice family photo shoot. I can't wait, I have always wanted a big family picture to put above my fire place. So thank you Melissa that was very thoughtful. These are just a few of the things acts of kindness that have been done for our family. I thank you all with from the bottom of my heart.

As for Teagan he is doing really good. He is gaining weight like crazy, he now weighs 9.14 , the doctors are very impressed. He is so happy and always full of smiles. We did have a little scare last week, his leg would turn purple and swell up. We took him and had an ultra sound done and they weren't able to find anything wrong. They had thought that it could have been a micro blood clot , but they didn't find anything - thank goodness. Since then we elevate his leg when it starts to swell so that the blood will circulate easier. Nothing scary though. We are looking forward to his next appointment at PCMC on January 8th to see how his heart function is going. We will post pictures of him soon, he has a contagious smile!

Thank you again, we love and appreciate all of you more than you will ever know.

Love,

Amanda

THANK YOU!

     Where to start. First, we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We cannot begin to express the gratitude we feel towards all who are doing such kind acts of service for our family. We want to thank the Pleasant View 7th ward for their very generous donation. I am hesitant to tell what they did because we don't want people thinking we are asking for help - I promise that has nothing to do with my intentions. I only want to give credit where credit is due. Channa Stewart (my sis-in-law) and Melissa Chambers (long-time friend) sent out a letter asking their ward, the Pleasant View 7th ward, if they would like to donate to a fund in lue of neighbor gifts this year. Well they did and collected a very generous amount of money that they brought to us last Saturday. We are putting it straight into a fund for Teagan to help pay for future medical bills, not one penny will be used for anything else. We don't even know these kind people, but they were willing to give money to help lift a heavy financial burden. We thank you and can only pray that the favor will be returned to you in the future. We love you and will do ANYTHING, ANYTIME for any of you.
     Next we would like to thank Miyagi-Do Karate, the greatest fantasy football league ever. Mac Erickson, Zack Thon, Reed Smith, Ryan Jones, Brandon Mason, Jason Hardee, Jeff Reed and Jeff Godfrey put together a Christmas fund and gave it to us on behalf of Teagan. When I got home I handed the envelope to Amanda and tried to tell her why there was so much money in it but I just broke down and cried. What an amazing group of guys, thank you.
     We also have someone doing the 12 days of Christmas for our family. They are so creative in all they have done, our family loves it. We found out today that Kaylee and Emma have strep throat, so Kaylee has been down for few days. It is so neat each night to see her start to get excited, they love waiting for the knock at the door. Emma screams every time she sees what they have left, then we all huddle together to see what they have given us. We don't know who is doing it but you need to know how much it has meant to our family.
     Last week we had a friend, Tiffany Olsen, drop off dinner and groceries, that was so kind and thoughtful of you. You have enough hungary boys to feed at home, let alone us! Thanks again to all who have brought us dinner, we will get even!
     We know that donating any money this time of year is difficult with Christmas coming, and we know there are people donating who are struggling financially, so it makes it so much more meaningful to us. We have never asked for a penny, everyone has done this on their own. This is the kind of stuff the news doesn't show enough, that there is so much good left in mankind. This time of year people dig so deep to help others in need, Christ-like love is everywhere.
     Off the subject, we want to let everyone know that Teagan is doing really good. He is gaining weight, now weighing 9lbs 5oz. He is a smiling machine, we love him so much. This week he has had to be in his room as the girls are sick and we can't let him around them. But we know that this to shall pass, we just need to keep our noses pointed forward!
     Thank you again so much, we love and appreciate all of you.

Love,
Bryson, Amanda and family

No more feeding tube! Saturday night we talked about taking out the tube but decided to leave it in over night, well about 4 AM we went in to check on him because he was coughing a little and he had pulled the tape off and the tube all but 4 inches out! We pulled it the rest of the way out it has been out ever since. He is doing really well, he actually slept through the night until 7:30 AM before he woke up looking for food. They told us we can keep it out, so we will see how it goes.
He turned 2 months on Tuesday, time is flying by.
As you can see, this pic was obvously taken before the Jazz game tonight... :(

Yea! First Doctors Visit

So yesterday was Teagans 1st doctor visit back at primaries with the cardiologist. It went really well, they had him go and have an x-ray done so that they could check out his heart. They said it looked great, and that they have no concerns at this time for him. They were also impressed that he is doing so good on the bottle. When the nurse weighed him on Tuesday he was at 8lb 4oz and there he was 8lb 8oz, which is really good.The Dr. told us with how well he is doing, that he may be able to wait til he is a little closer to 6 months for his next surgery. Which is really good, so that his body can get a little bigger and stronger. But it all depends on if his heart function stays as good as it is. So we are praying that he just keeps growing stronger and healthier. They also told us that we can try to give him bottles through the night, and if he does good doing that, we can take his feeding tube out. We are so excited because that thing has got to be uncomfortable.
Also if you can tell in the picture he is starting to hold his head up pretty good, and he looks like such a big boy. This is a picture of him and Bryson watching the Jazz game tonight. Its hard to believe he is going to be 2 months on Tuesday, it seems like yesterday that I had him.We couldn't imagine our lives without him.It has been such a blessing to have this little angel in our home. Thank You again to everyone, for helping us get through the hard times. We wouldn't be where we are today with out you.
Love, Amanda

Thank You!

Tonight someone did something very kind for our family. We are hoping that who ever it was reads this blog, so that we can thank them for what they have done. We know that you will be blessed for what you have done. We just want you to know that this will not be soon forgotten, and one day we will do the same for another family in their time of need. Thank You again. We Love you all!

ALL SMILES!

     As you can see Teagan is learning to smile, and is getting lots of practice at it. Every time he finishes his bottles he just sits and smiles, it’s so cute.

     He has a lot to smile about today. His home nurse came today and weighed him and couldn't believe that he has gained 6 ounces since Friday. That is really good, when most heart babies start bottles they lose weight. But our little Teag’s isn't like most heart babies, he wants to stand his ground here on earth and isn't going to let anyone tell him how to do it. He had a rough couple of days, he was really fussy and it had us worried. So I took him to his dr. and they said he was looking good but to watch him closely for any signs of n.e.c. And he also told me to change what I am eating like no milk, tomatoes and beans, just to see if it helps his belly.
     So I was talking to a friend today and realized that I haven't expressed my feelings to all of you. So I just thought I would give you a little insight into what I am feeling. I know a lot of you probably think that this is really hard to sit in my house with not many visitors. But it isn't, This is actually a blessing in disguise.
     I don't even know how to explain the spirit I feel when I am holding, looking or even thinking about Teag’s. He has such a presence about him that makes me want to never leave his side. When I do leave him to go to the store or somewhere quick I can't get home fast enough, I crave him. So I don't want anyone to think I have it hard, just realize that this may be hard on me but at the same time it is very rewarding. And I wouldn't trade it for anything. I only wish I could share him with all of you, so that you to could feel the spirit I feel ever hour of every day.
     Thank you to all of you for all your love and support. I hope that his little smile will brighten you day, like it does mine.

Love,
Amanda