Updates, Updates and More Updates!!!

Holy cow...I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged!! So much has happened in the last month. So here's what's been going on with us Hargett's.

Stella: 3 Months Old and Thanksgiving-
My baby girl turned 3 months old on Thanksgiving. She has been growing up so fast and doing so much. She started cooing a lot more and  would talk up a storm to everyone. She started getting facinated with the tv and loved to stare at it. I also started doing tummy time a little bit more. Stella didn't like it at first but now she is getting more used to it. She still has done great with sleeping through the night at 3 months and would be asleep by 10:30 at the latest and right on the dot at 6:45 am she would wake up. It was wonderful! Stella's 4 mo appointment is tomorrow and Stella will be turning 4 months on Christmas Eve!!

Along with Stella turning 3 months old on Thanksgiving, I was especially grateful on this day. Stella had a fall and had to be rushed to Primary Children's. It was my worst nightmare coming true and it was the worst day for me. I think I cried the whole day and a few days after. When Stella had fallen, we called an ambulance because I was too histarical to drive and I had waken Troy up from a dead sleep so he was in shock. That was the first time I'd ever called 911 and the first time I'd ever ridden in an ambulance...and I hope I never have to again! Luckily Stella never blacked out and she instantly cried when she had hit the floor...which was a good sign according to the doctor's. Stella had an x-ray and ct scan and it showed that she had two skull fractures. She had to be admitted to Primary Children's to stay over night, just for observation. Stella did so wonderful throught it all. Her stats never raised a concern with the doctor's. She also had to wear this body brace to support her head, neck and back...just as a precaution. The scans don't show if a person has ligament damage to their neck so they wanted her to wear it in case her neck was injured.
Once we got up to our room Stella had to be hooked up to the monitors to have her heart rate and blood pressure monitored. She also had to have her temperature checked every few hours and had to be awakened every 3 hours during the night to eat. That was something Stella wasn't used to because she sleeps all night. But she did wonderful. The nurses were amazing and definitely made our stay comfortable as it could be under the circumstances. We even got a cafeteria version of Thanksgiving dinner...haha...I was too emotional to eat but my parents and Troy said it was pretty good. The next morning we got a visit from the neurologist and he checked her x-ray and ct scan and said that her injury was very minor, she did have a small amount of bleeding on her right frontal lobe but he said that it was so small that most doctor's would have missed it on the scan. So he wasn't worried about that in the least. He was very happy with how well she did through the night-they watch for seizures, sleeping problems and eating problems which go along with a possible concussion. The doctor said that her fractures will heal in 6-8 weeks and she shouldn't have any long term affects from the injury. Now the test to take off the body brace...for Stella to pass she would have to move her head up, down and side to side on her own and if she didn't fuss then she passed. And she passed! Her neck didn't seem to bother her at all and we were sent home a few hours later.
Stella was very fortunate and I feel so blessed that it wasn't anything major...I still think about that day and wish it never happened. But at the same time, I've learned a lot from that day and feel as though I may be a little bit of a better mother from it. It has definitely made me more aware of Stella and more protective...which isn't always a good thing ;) I sure hope that this will be the one and only horrific incident...but probably not, since life is always unpredictable.
As far as how Stella is doing a month since her accident...she is doing better than I'd ever imagine. It's almost as if the accident never happened. She is doing everything a soon to be 4 month old should be doing. I truly believe that an angel was watching over her that day and protected her from any serious harm.

Dad's 60th Birthday-
My dad turned the big 6-0 on December 6th. It was a great celebration, his sister and two of his brother's and their spouses came out to surprise him. We celebrated his birthday on December 4th but my relatives came a day early so we could all get set up. Two came from California and one came from Georgia. We had the surprise at my house and decorated my basement and each couple had to put together a "duct tape" costume for my dad to model for us all. We called it "Project Duct-Way". My dad, for the longest time, has always fixed stuff with duct tape so it's been on ongoing joke for years and he always gets duct tape presents from family. For example, he has received a duct tape mug one year for Christmas from his sister.
We had everyone hide in our office and my dad came over that morning and he knew that we were having a birthday lunch for him and we told him we were decorating downstairs but wanted to surprise him with it. So when he got here we took him downstairs and showed him and then I told him that I wanted to print something out to hang up but my printer was acting up so I asked if he would go look at it. My dad had absolutely no idea what he was about to open the door to. He opened that door and everyone yelled "surprise!!" and he was shocked. He even shed a little tear...it was sweet.
We had a great time celebrating his 60th birthday and it was so wonderful having some of his siblings here to wish him a happy birthday!

December Activities-
This year we have definitely done a lot more Christmas activies than years prior. We made yummy Christmas cookies...which we haven't done it years!!! The dough, at first, didn't turn out..it was really sticky and we were pretty disappointed. So we let it chill overnight and by the next morning the dough rolled out perfectly! It worked out well because my sister was able to come over and decorate with us. We were also able to take them to our ward Christmas party!

We had a lot of fun at our ward Christmas party that same night. We enjoyed a delicious ham dinner and musical entertainment, Kaitlyn got to participate and was dressed up like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Stella even got to meet Santa Claus for the very first time!!

Ever since we've lived in our home, we have never gone over to Thanksgiving Point to check out the fun activities they have. So last week we took Kaitlyn and Stella over to see the Lights. It was the first time any of us have gone to see them. It was a lot of fun, the only thing that would have made it better is if they had music to go along with it. But we just turned our station to FM 100.3 and listened to Christmas music while we drove through. Stella loved the lights...she stared out the window and even coo'd a few times at them...she was facinated! Afterward, we went over to the ice cream shop and had frozen yogurt...yummy! And then window shopped, had some hot apple cider and saw Santa's reindeer. It was a very fun family outing...the only thing missing was Nik! We are very excited for Christmas this year and even got Stella a few toys to open. I know she won't remember it, but I will and that will be fun to remember. Only 3 days left till' Christmas...and I'll make sure not to wait a month to blog about it!

More Pictures of Stella at 3 Months Old: