It has been a busy & exciting week, with a few firsts for us!

Dearest Family!

      Happy Birthday, Connor, on Wednesday, March 1st!

      It has been a busy & exciting week, with a few firsts for us!  On Tuesday, we did our first training with full time missionaries.  President Wadsworth, the mission President & his wife, were meeting in Bozeman with three zones. We did training with them over Skype & felt it went well!  We understand there were about 40 missionaries there!

     Again, this week, we were able to Skype with Aubrei!   She is a Ward T& FH Consultant, abt age 19, & is amazing!  She shared an experience that she had had with the Young Women in her ward training them.  

       Our supervisor in SLC was so excited to call us on Tuesday & share his experience with the Apps.   He is also a consultant in his ward.  He'd had the inspiration to cast the image on his phone to a TV beside the room where they usually help people with FH, after Sac Meeting & during SS time.  People would stop by & ask him what he was doing.   He had the opportunity to help several find names in just a few minutes!  

       Several nights this week we visited with Will Croft, helping him with the Apps!  He is very excited, & wants to get the members of his Hardin branch involved.   We also spent an afternoon in Cody, visiting with the Hopkins,  directors of the Cody Murals visitor's Center.  One of the highlights of the Center is the Keyosk about Family History.  They were wanting ideas & exposure to the Apps,  to see how this might be used there next summer.  They have Senior Couples called to serve there for the summer & want them to help people in the Family History center that is also located there.  

     Four afternoons this week ladies have come & helped with the quilt!   It has been fun to visit!  So appreciate their willingness to share their talents! Today was a quieter day, spoke in the Lovell 3rd ward, then spent the afternoon & evening at home.  Dad has been fighting a cough, so even took a nap!

      Enjoyed listening to a few BB games over the internet, it was regional BB Tournament.   Also are trying to review the Roots Tech broadcasts which we missed the weekend we were in Bozeman.  There are some really special ones.  President Russell M Nelson & wife Wendy do one that is great!  Here's the link if you want to turn it on while you'r driving or working around the house.     https://www.lds.org/topics/family-history/familydiscoveryday/nelson?lang=eng&old=true 

     I have also included Kirena's 10 week old report of Cozy & a photo!

Love to all of you!    

Ten weeks old. 35 gestational weeks.

In some ways I can hardly believe it's been so long. In others, it feels like an eternity of hospital visits.

My sweet Cosette changes almost daily. This stage of life is full of growth, and it's so fun to see her transform from a preemie into a newborn. She is nearly five pounds now (about 17 inches long), but still wearing preemie clothing (small ones at that!).

We had some small breakthroughs with her reservoir. Typically they remove 10g per kilo (15-18 cc's of fluid), but three times in a row, they hit 5cc's, and her fontanel started to sink. This means we finally have caught up with her excess! They have tapped much less over the past week in hopes she will need it less frequently. The issue is not resolved, but we may finally have a handle on things. This also means her head is looking more rounded and "normal". It's a happy thing to see!

We also began to introduce the beginning steps to bottle feeding. This is a massive step for Cozy, and we are anxious to see if she will have the capability to bottle feed. It may be weeks or even months until we know more, but we will continue to help her stretch that comfort zone.

Those are about the only things to report. There's really no end in sight as to when she can come home. Our biggest hope is that maybe she will be transferred to a closer hospital so our family can be a little less strained. We dream of the day you can meet your big brother!