his name is finn. his left kidney is broken.

So, we've known since before Finn was born that both of his kidneys were retaining fluid. When he was seven weeks old we went to Primary Children's Medical Center for some testing and met with a (amazing) pediatric urologist. At that point in time, her recommendation was to leave it be and check back with her in six months.

In November we had some ultrasounds done in Idaho Falls and the tech said that his right kidney looked like it had fixed itself, but his left kidney was just as enlarged as it had always been. We scheduled another round of tests at Primary Children's and went down there on Friday.

Long story short, based on the results of those tests...Finn will need to have surgery to repair his left kidney at the end of the month. There is a 'kink' in the tube from his kidney and bladder that now has to be removed. They will reattach the good ends of the tube back together and hopefully that will fix the problem. He'll have a tube coming out the incision in his back helping to drain the excess fluid for a week. (I'm kinda freaked out about this part.)

Finn's a trooper and such a smart little thing. The same tech helped us on Friday that had helped us when Finn was 7 weeks old and the SECOND that he looked at that guy he just started shaking like a leaf. Of course, we think it's because he remembers him and knew what was about to happen--an unfortunate procedure involving a catheter and an I.V.

ANYWAY...we're fairly calm about the whole thing. We have faith that everything is going to be alright. Mostly we're just heartbroken that we're going to have to see more of these sad faces:



Keep him in your thoughts and prayers! We hope to have have updates of a better variety soon!

P.S. Honestly though, I think those tiny hospital gowns are kinda cute!

bat boy

Happy Halloween!!





We had such a fun Halloween weekend that included a MAJOR game of hide-and-seek with the whole family (The entire house was in play...it was pitch black and someone MAY have made themselves into a lamp.) Saturday we hung out, made two different kinds of soup, and Halloween cupcakes. Then we went trick-or-treating and the moms went shopping.

Things to remember:

1. Darren and I getting Finn ready for his first Halloween.
2. Finding Ash holding the folding chair in front of her for so long her fingers were shaking.
3. Reveling in my first ever 'olly olly oxen free' moment.
4. All our neighbors thinking Finn was so cute.
5. Krew giving himself up. "Chirp chirp."
6. Darren getting into the game.
7. Seeing all the kids together...all dressed up and SO excited for TorTing.
8. That Tomato Bisque soup. YUM.
9. Skinny jeans? I guess I'll try them.
10. Nylons + Emily = Hilarious
11. Helping the Zach hide in the pantry. He folded up so small.
12. Fridge/Freezer/Emily/Carpet/Bags/Lindsey
13. Epic grilled cheese for lunch.

What did I miss mom/sisters/husband?

peek a boo

Finn's first encounter with a pumpkin was a trip to the local pumpkin patch with Grandma Anderson's preschool class. We've had such a beautiful month of October and spent lots of time outside.

WE LOVE AUTUMN!

mr. finn's half birthday

At six months, Finn can:

Dress like his dad.


Sit in a laundry basket.


And eat rice cereal.



And if those weren't impressive enough for you, he can also: laugh, scream, roll over from back to tummy and from tummy to back (he's mobile people), sit up in his Bumbo, fall asleep in his bed without rocking or crying, charm anyone on the block, sleep through the night, kick his own crotch, make us laugh (and cry), and other assorted awesome things.

What can't he do?

Poop. (I blame the rice cereal.)

folded in half

oh....my....gosh....

if you're a foodie, you won't like this recipe

I say this only because the sauce is condensed-Cream-of-fill-in-the-blank based, and some people don't consider that cooking, but I made this tonight and we thought it was quite good and it was EASY so I thought I'd share it!

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Casserole

8 chicken breasts (I used 10 chicken tenders and there was the perfect amount of sauce)
8-16 pieces of cooked bacon
1/2 pound deli ham, sliced thin, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 pint sour cream (I used Light Sour Cream with great results)
2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup (original recipe calls for Cream of Mushroom, but I hate Mushrooms)

Cook your bacon. I've found the best way to cook bacon is to lay it on a tin-foil lined cookie sheet, broil it in your oven until golden, flip the bacon over, and bake about 5 minutes more. Way less mess.

Wrap 1 piece of bacon around the chicken. If you are using large chicken breasts you should probably cut them in half. I used one piece of bacon per tender and it worked perfectly.

Lay a couple pieces of ham over each bacon wrapped chicken piece.

Combine soup and sour cream and pour over the top of the chicken. It will be quite thick.

You can make this ahead of time and keep covered in fridge until you're ready to bake. When ready to bake, cover with tin foil and bake 45-60 minutes at 350*F.

Serve over rice.

It's not fancy food, but it's YUMMY! Enjoy!

bath time fun

Rawr!!!

happy fourth

finn: animated

hey darren, remember when we went to prague?

That was awesome.

cheeks mcgee

sometimes he gets real mad...

...and I stop and take a quick picture.

finn's blessing day

Darren did an awesome job and we were surrounded by family--It was perfect.