Preemie Who?

I cant believe our little Will turned 1 today! It just doesn't quite seem possible. Sometimes we look back on our last year with Will and it seems like someone else lived our life for us. I guess that just goes to show how much strength we can be given when we need it most.

We decided to spend the day alone together as a family and reflect on how lucky we are to have each other. I re-read my journal from last year and it was hard to feel all the emotions again. I was so scared and just wanted my little Will to be okay. At the time (not knowing the trials Will would endure) life truly seemed to stop. All that mattered was getting Will healthy and strong. Not knowing what to expect as a first time parent is rough. I can honestly say that up until that point in life I had never been so scared and felt so helpless as I did in the first few days after Will joined us. Instead of the intense joy and happiness most parents get to feel I was scared out of my mind that little Will wouldn't still be there when I returned. I HATED let me repeat HATED leaving him in the NICU. I didn't want him to be alone. I wanted to hold my Will and make things be okay.

We loved being able to be involved in his CARES and feeling like we were responsible for something. Mike and I would alternate the tasks and I loved always brushing his hair with the little toothbrush. I will never forget the 1st time I got to hold Will again after being admitted to the NICU, it was so special. I swear I didn't set him down for weeks after leaving the hospital (all 3 hospital stays). I was, and I guess still am, making up for lost time. I truly believe that this was how life had to work in order for me to truly understand how lucky we are to have Will in our life. I say this a lot but it is 100% true, not a day goes by that I don't kneel full of gratitude for Will being here. So many families aren't as lucky as us. Hug your kids, tell them you love them, and be grateful you have each other, we sure are!

I could go on and on about my emotions and memories from the NICU but I think you all would get bugged so moving on...........

As I started out we spent the day together as a family and it was so much fun. The morning consisted of Mommy and Will watching Daddy mow the lawn:
And the we headed to LDS hospital to visit our favorite Nurse Sara (we love you!) but mainly to bring us back to where we started from. It was so special. We grabbed lunch and shared a lot of what we were feeling and remembering from our experiences a year ago. We remember the cafeteria food being a lot better though :) but Will seemed to enjoy his piece of cake!

We then headed to Dr Allreds for some not so fun shots (good thing we have a tough kid) and a checkup. This was the first time we actually went the full 3 months in between without having to visit any hospitals or doctors, woot woo!

William Garrett Scott
April 30, 2008
6lbs 2oz 19 1/2 inches long

William Garrett Scott
April 30, 2009
26lbs 4 oz 31 3/4 inches

And we finished out the day ordering a new crib for our little tank :) With Will's love of jumping and being 100% all boy our little vintage crib is seeing its last days!

St George

I just got back from St George with my Mom and sisters and we had soo much fun!

We had so much fun at 25 Main with our adorable and yummy cupcakes.

A must try Bubble Tea

The beautiful St George TempleLots and lots of shopping!

A big thank you to Mark and Melissa! The condo was perfect :) And a shout out to Kortney for all the fun ideas and directions while in St George!

Amanda and my Mom stayed another day with me at home and we headed to the Rec Center to go swimming. It was lots of fun and I cant believe I have lived here almost 2 years and haven't been yet. Its amazing, definitely my new fav of the area.

Who needs toys?

Not this little boy! Thanks Gma Stacy for getting such cute pics!

In need of Easter Pics!

Hey guys! We have had a busy couple weeks and didn't get many pics on Easter so I am BEGGING the Madsen fam to email me pics if you have any. We did grab a few:

Will loves his new ball!

Angie, Grandpa John, & Will

We also want to send another big CONGRATS to Clark for graduating from Paramedic School! We love you guys so much!

Who doesn't love this?

I sure do!

Save the Date

Hey guys! We are getting ready for Will's birthday can you believe it? I am already in party planning mode and we are just so excited for the excuse to get together with family and friends :) We are going to do a BBQ and ask that you bring whatever you would like grilled. We will have 2 blow up bouncy house things for the little kiddos, possibly a projector Wii game area, yummy cake, and lots of fun!

When:Saturday May 9, 2009
Time: 12:00pm-2:00pm
Place: Our house

RSVP to me at jamie.leigh.21@gmail.com
or (801)550-3233 or leave a comment

Be watching the mail for the official invite :)

Bring the kids, stop by anytime, everyone is invited, we hope you can make it!

Days Gone By

Have you ever heard that song by Keith Urban? I love it! When I am in the mood for some good ol country I blast it and it makes me happy. I definitely don't know where this past week went though.

The weather was so nice last weekend that I had high hopes for summer weather. I got out the backpacking tent to see if we could all squeeze in and make do this summer.

The conclusion, yes, but its gonna be tight!

Uncle Rogan spoiled Will with a Ice Cream while Mommy was away on a motorcycle ride!
I have had to start telling Bella to go in her kennel while Will eats because he loves to feed her. Bella's a good girl and listens, but she sulks with her head out of the kennel :)
Will has been busy getting MORE teeth, cruising all over the house, picking on Bella, walking with his walking toy, getting more brave at standing without holding on, and finding all sorts of trouble.

Yep that's a cheese grater!

I am still finding things daily that I have to move out of Will's reach. He loves to open drawers and take everything out and then move to the next one. Its so funny the things he comes up with on his own. He has also recently decided to use our kitchen furniture as walking toys and moves all the chairs, bar stools, and his high chair around to move about the room. It gets to be quite the obstacle course!

Yep that sums it up! We are BOTH tired! Night night!

Mini Ty

I have decided that Will is so much like his cousin Ty. I was going through is closet and found this adorable orange shirt that was Ty's and I just love how cute Will looks in it! Thanks Aunt Aimee! We only hope Will doesn't copy everything Ty does, like pulling the fire alarm at church!

Lego Land

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE to play with my little man! The other day we spent a good hour playing with Lego's.Okay it was more like Mommy was playing with Lego's while Will threw them around to make loud noises :) I impressed myself with my undiscovered talents and made the cutest giraffe.

Ha ha ha so lame! But I wouldn't let Will touch it until today.

So sad :(

Will and I love getting out of the house when its sunny so we were lovin the warm weather today. We both cant wait for summer! We spent the afternoon at the park and just tried to soak in as much sun as we could till the next snow storm.I am truly grateful for all we went through with Will. I can honestly say not a day goes by that I don't go to bed full of gratitude to have my little boy here and healthy. Heavenly Father definitely knows the big picture and what we need to experience to make us stronger and more humble. So many families are not as fortunate as we have been and my heart literally aches with theirs. I am a big cry baby now when it comes to little ones. It is miracle that babies are born healthy, and stay healthy. It is a miracle that Will has no long term effects from all he went through. What an amazing blessing. I pray that we continue to find meaning in all that happened with Will and that we find the direction in helping others that the Lord wants us to. Wow sorry for the churchy bit, sometimes a girls just gotta :)

Sunday Best

Every time I get Will dressed for church I cant help but think that he is just so handsome! As you know, I tend to not like to follow the norm so yep Will wears jeans to church but at least he wears a tie :) I love it! He looks so grown up and I am still trying to figure out where my tiny, squishy, little baby went? He is quite the little flirt and makes everyone melt with his smile. He would not sit still for pics so I did the best I could, enjoy!

I love that Will would NOT crack a smile in the least for this pic :)

There we go, there's that smile!

My mom pointed out that I am almost ALWAYS behind the camera for the last few months so bear with the one armed, kinda in the pic, weird smile pose. Hey its the best I could do :)

Just a reminder to check out my other blog here. You are going to be SHOCKED at my latest diaper deal! Leave me comments so I don't feel so lonely on that site :)

Mommy's Barber Shop

Will is getting to be such a good boy during his haircuts! Yesterday I cut his hair for the third time and I was impressed with how amazing he did! He didn't even cry this time and let me keep running the clippers over the same spots again and again. I was shocked actually, but so happy :) I really think cutting his hair so much is really helping him adjust to the process. Plus it is good for me to learn the ropes at the 5 minute haircut and doing it without anyone entertaining Will. Okay it drives me nuts that I cant spend time making it perfect but oh well. His hair is thickening up a lot too and I am obsessed with his fohawk, its too cute!

Okay it really is a lot of hair for little Will, gimme a break here :)This is our finished look! What a handsome boy!

Will has also started doing the most hilarious thing when he eats now. He has been taking tiny tiny little bits from his crackers and takes forever to eat each one very systematically. He also holds his little pinkie finger up like he is going to make a toast.........wait a minute, I do both of those things so maybe he isn't so silly after all! Okay my bites are a little bigger but nonetheless its still hilarious.

I LOVE my Daddy more sometimes :)

Will definitely loves his Daddy more sometimes :) Tonight was one of those nights. He is cutting like a million teeth all at once and is less than thrilled about it. He was also super tired and just didn't like being told 'no, no' at ALL tonight. So by the time Mike rolled in from work I was ready for a breather, and so was Will. At least Will wasn't a complete angel for Mike and gave Daddy a little taste of the fun. He such a dang cutie though!