JodySimmer.com

Dear Family and Friends, It is hard to believe that 2007 is already coming to an end. This has been a good year for our family, full of wonderful memories and many blessings. The biggest blessing and most exciting part of our year was the arrival of our little boy Jake on Oct. 2nd. He has been the perfect addition to our family! He is a very sweet baby and has stolen all our hearts, especially his big sisters! Jacy has been a busy girl this year. She is growing up so fast with the celebration of her 2nd birthday! She has been in gymnastics all year and has just recently started a dance class. She loves to twirl! She had 1 surgery, 3 visits to the ER with 1 ride in an ambulance and countless dr. appointments throughout the year. She handled them all like a pro-as usual! She is a very polite little girl and shows so much love for her new little brother. We couldn’t be more proud of her and the beautiful little girl she has become. Jay has been working hard as a Lineman Apprentice for SRP...

Jacy had her 1st dentist appointment this week! She did great! She saw Dr. Jared Welch, who is actually a childhood friend of mine. We are lucky enough to have his practice not very far from us. We were excited to hear that Jacy did not have any cavities!!! She loves to brush her teeth and seems to be doing a great job at it!

It is going by too fast! Jake just turned 2 months old! At his check-up he weighed in at 10lbs. 11oz. and is now 22 1/2 inches long. He is a very sweet baby! He is becoming more alert and getting pretty good at holding his head up. In the past 2 days I have noticed him smiling more and starting to grab for things. He loves his big sister, gives her the biggest smiles, and is managing to survive all her hugs and kisses. She loves to hold him. She is so caring towards him. He has beautiful dark blue eyes and his hair is coming in reddish brown. He is so handsome! We are so thankful to have him as part of our family. He is a true joy and a blessing!!!

Last Sunday we enjoyed the holiday brunch at the Mesa Country Club with Grandma Greta and Pardner. We had a really nice time! Before we had left I told Jacy that Santa would be there. The whole drive there she kept saying, "I don't want to sit on Santa's lap, Mom!" As we stood in line waiting for our turn Jacy spent a lot of time checking Santa out and watching how the other kids were reacting to him...she must have been satisfied because when it was our turn she decided she needed to tell Santa that she wanted a Barbie for Christmas! Both kids did great and Jacy even let Santa give her a kiss on the forehead. As she walked away from Santa she said to me, "That was fun!" We will see what next year brings.

On November 30th Jacy had a surgery called a Cystoscopy with Deflux Injection. During some testing last month it was determined that when Jacy urinates her urine refluxes back up to her kidneys. She has always done this, but within the last year her condition has worsened. This was concerning to the Dr. since Jacy has recently had frequent UTI's and this last one ended up as a kidney infection. The procedure was to inject a "bulking agent" into the ureter tube, to help provide a little more protection for the kidneys from the urine that is coming back up. As usual, she did an amazing job! She didn't cry or fuss at all while she was being sedated. She is so brave!!! The procedure only took about 15 minutes and with no incisions needed she wasn't in pain afterwards! The hard part was snapping out of the sedation. Usually she will be back to normal by the time we get home but this time it took her all day. They used demoral on her, which is not what they normally do...

This year was a very special Thanksgiving in St. Johns. After a wonderful Thanksgiving feast (Thanks Linda!) Jake was blessed by his Grandpa John and Uncle Jonathan. He had the most adorable little blessing suit that his Grandma Linda made for him. We had a great time spending time with the family. We also go to meet Evanna, Jonathan and Rachel's new daughter who was born on November 15th. We have so much to be thankful for!!!

The week before Thanksgiving we got to spend a fun-filled weekend in California. Our first stop...STOCKTON! It was Jayden Correa's birthday, he turned 3! We arrived on a Friday night and had a wonderful time at a family birthday celebration dinner for Jayden and his brother Andres. Saturday we got to hang out all day at their house and just relax and spend time with them. It was so great to see Brandy and her whole family. Jayden is such a special person in our lives. We were glad to spend so much time with him, and outside of the hospital! It is hard to believe, but this trip to San Francisco was Jacy's final check up with the MOMS program. They are the study we were involved with for Jacy's fetal surgery. They follow the kids until they are 2 1/2 years old. On Sunday night we got to meet up with the 4 wonderful families that we have become friends with through our experience with Jacy...Pictured is Valerie and her son Titus, Christy and her daughter Gillian, Cristy and he...