Birthday, moving, and pregnancy

 My baby, Tyler, turned 4 last month!  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  He is so smart and so amazing.  I love him so much!  He is so unique and has an great and quirky personality.  I wouldn't change a thing about him.  I never could have imagined when I was pregnant with him who he would be now.  And I can't imagine who he'll be next year or in 10 years.  I'm just so happy to be his mom. 
We had a fun little party with just the 4 of us on Ty's birthday.  We got balloons and made cup cakes.  Tyler was dressed, but wanted to wear his truck jammies just as we were ready to party.  Birthday boys can wear whatever they want to their party, right?
Ty got some new summer clothes, a coloring book, and a swing set for the new house.  We just showed him the box in the bed of the truck where the swing set was, and told him we would put it together at the new house.  That night, after the boys were in bed, I heard Ty tell Andrew, "Drew, we're going to have a swing set at our new house."

 We closed on the house on the 10th and moved in the next day.  We have so many great friends and neighbors that helped me pack and clean both the apartment and the new house, and helped Ryan load and unload all of our many boxes and heavy furniture.  We even had 4 guys from our new ward show up to help unload. 
Ryan has been working on something with the house almost every night since.  We knew that there was a lot to do going in, but I hadn't anticipated how much work we'd do immediately.  The grass in back hadn't been mowed all summer, so that took some serious time.  Good thing we had a lawn mower from Ryan's parents.  Ryan set up the swing set on of the first nights, and the boys have loved it.  Then there was the swamp cooler, and the shower head and toilet in the master bathroom, changing the door knobs, and more.  I've mostly been cleaning and unpacking.  Very slowly, now that the important stuff has been found.  It's still been pretty tiring though.
I love being in our own house!  Our 'to do' and 'fix it' lists are long and our home improvement dreams are big, but I am really enjoying it all.
The boys have adjusted really well.  Tyler was really excited about 'the new house' from the time we told him we were moving here and is still talking about it.  Drew had a few days that he would cry that he wanted to go home.  I'd tell him this was our home now and he'd reply, "No, this new house."  The other day we were at a friends house and he wanted to leave and cried, "I want to go new house."  So I think it's been accepted.  We drove past the apartment today and the boys said, "There's our old house."  So it's been that simple.  They really like being able to go out back and play anytime, and I love that I don't have to watch every second.  I can do dishes or unpack and just listen to them and check on them. 

We've made it to 36 weeks now.  (Not a picture I'm proud of, really.  But you get the belly size at least.)  When I went to my midwife last month I was dilated to 1 cm and 40% thinned!  I still have contracts multiple times a day most days, and extra ones if I've been working hard or on my feet a lot.  I'll have another appointment next Friday.
Drew has now been almost 2 months since his last dilation and has only had 3 or 4 times that he's had food get stuck.  And he's gaining weight like a champ now that he's back on tube feeds.  We'll stick with it another few months before we experiment with getting off tube feeds again.  He's doing awesome!

Movin' on Up

 For Easter weekend, we took the "new" trailer out camping.  We went to the reservoir a few miles from our house.  We had a good time despite the cold weather and problems with the trailer.  The temperature was in the 30's both nights we camped, and we learned that the water system needs work, the furnace is not is working order.  On the second day Ryan and his dad got the power working.  The window in the door also broke within the first few minutes of arriving at camp, but it has a nice new piece of plexi-glass now. 

Ryan showed the boys how to fish for crawdads and actually caught one with his hand.  The boys are still talking about crawdads and pretend to fish for them off the side of the couch now.  

 Tyler will turn 4 next week!  I can hardly believe how fast time flies.  It was not that long ago that he was my tiny baby.  He was such a good baby.  Slept great, ate well, and loved his binki.  He still sleeps and eats well.  And I think he'd take the bink back if I gave him the chance.  He's a pretty good big brother now too.  Oh, and he is stubborn as ever too.  It makes me crazy sometimes, but I kinda like that he's so strong-willed. 

Andrew went 4 weeks in between dilations last month!  And he was still managing to eat fairly well, just getting a bite or two stuck each meal but still eating most of the meal.  Hopefully this time will be even longer in between.  His reflux has flared up recently, and while he had been off Prevacid for more than a month we had to put him back on it and even double the dose. 

We are also back on tube feeds at night in hopes that he will gain weight.  He hasn't gained weight since we stopped tubing last fall.  I was hoping that he would pick it up on his own, but I've run out of reasons to stall any longer. 

He's still his happy self and learning new things all the time.  He and Tyler are starting to play interactively more and more vs. side by side playing that they used to do.  They are amazing little boys.

This picture is from when I was 26 weeks.  Baby boy #3 is doing well.  He's very busy inside my belly and I'm wondering if he'll always be an active child.  At my last appointment he was head down and right on track for growth.  I am feeling pretty good other than being exhausted most of the time.  The boys are good at entertaining themselves, so that makes it easier.  And I usually try to catch a nap during Sesame Street.  I LOVE Sesame Street! Cute, educational, and gives me a solid hour of rest every afternoon. 

My latest project is making a new cover for the baby's car seat.  The previous cover was very plastic-y and the boys sweat a lot in it.  So since this will be a summer baby, I thought I'd switch to cotton.  So far it's turning out pretty good.  I think it's cute anyway. 

I went to Babies'R'Us last month and tried a few different combinations of car seats, to see if it was possible to get 3 in the Maxima.  It is possible!  We will be buying 2 new car seats, but it's cheaper than a new car.  We are so grateful to have had that car these last few years.

And our other excitement is that we are buying a house!  We looked at a lot of houses in Carbon and Emery County and were about to give up and buy the least overwhelming of the options when this came on the market.  It is in Castle Dale and will require some TLC, but nothing that can't be taken care of over time. 

Our offer was accepted and we had our inspection done yesterday.  The inspector didn't find any problems beyond what we suspected, so more paper work, appraisal, and closing and it's ours.  Yahoo! 

Easter Fun

 In the past, I've had a bit of a reputation of being a holiday Grinch.  I like some Christmas traditions, but I keep it very simple.  I haven't dressed up for Halloween for years, and have only carved a couple pumpkins in the last several years.  I usually wear a green sticker to prevent being pinched on St. Patrick's.  The list goes on, and I really have been slow to start any holiday celebrations with my kids.
Well, something magical came over me recently.  I get this happy, excited feeling when I walk down the holiday/seasonal aisle in the grocery store.  And I was filled with a desire to color Easter Eggs with the boys.  And not just to dip them in the food coloring I have in the cupboard.  I bought a kit.  We went all the way with dye, crayons, stickers, and wrappers.  The boys were so excited!  It was a fun little activity for our family.  I couldn't have done it without Ryan.  And I admit that I really enjoyed it myself. 

(You may be thinking, "Hey, Melis.  Why are your kids naked?"   I assure you that I do make sure they're dressed most days.  Ty got the idea tonight that he and Andrew should play 'swimming'.  So Ty stripped.  Andrew asked Ryan to take his shirt off, and Ty helped him get his pants off.  They had a great time and when we started dying eggs I thought to myself, 'Well, I won't have to worry about stained clothes if they aren't wearing any.'  Plus this is a good one for my embarrassing photo collection to pull out when they're teenagers.)

Happy Easter! Let the holiday joy continue! 

Creative Kids

 I love seeing all the creative ways the boys play now.  This one cracked me up.  It's a dump truck!  Couldn't you tell?  Look again, do you see it now? (And of all the things to sit on- the pink froggy potty gets the contract.)  The boys make me giggle everyday with little things they say and do.  It is a great mom perk. 

 Andrew is doing great.  We stopped having early intervention come to help him with his developmental skills.  He is making great progress on his own.  He speaks in sentences already, and I'm noticing his fine motor skills advancing.  He's thinking through things and figuring out how to build and put together or take things apart.  We are trying to let him do more and more on his own.  It's been so easy to carry him and help him with everything because he's so cute and sweet.  But I realize that he needs to opportunity to advance and with a new baby soon to be here, my hands will be full with someone else.  Mostly it's just letting him walk and climb places.  For example, he doesn't climb the stairs on the front porch because he doesn't like putting his hands on the cement.  He won't go up or down, so I've been trying to leave him there to figure it out.  Sometimes he'll use his hands.  He knows he can lean on the house for support and just walk up or down, but he's still pretty nervous about that. 
It's been a week and a half since his last dilation, and he's doing awesome.  So far only fruit snacks have got stuck.  Those are always tricky, because he doesn't chew them sometimes and they're super sticky.  That is great progress from where we were 4 months ago.  We'll see how far we can go.
We have worked more on potty training.  He's very good at telling me when he's already gone.  His bladder control is getting better and he's able to hold it for several hours in between accidents.  We've only had one successful time, but I think we can get there.  I just have to take a deep breath and put the underwear on him in the morning.  At least it's just 3-4 wet underwear a day instead of the 8 or so that we started with.
He is such a happy kid.  And so cute.

Tyler is the head of engineering operations around here.  I love that he soaks up everything.  He copies what he sees on TV.  He repeats things I say, and replicates things I do.  He's always building something.  He's starting to recognize alphabet letters and is so interested in knowing what they are.  He likes it when I open Word and let him type.  He types pages and pages of letters.  And he carries my cell phone around, so that he can type in numbers throughout the day.  Both the boys love story time every morning.  The last few days everything relates to dogs because the boys went and saw our neighbors puppies this week.  So now Tyler plays like Andrew is his dog.  Sometimes Ty is the dog and comes and licks me.  Or he's hauling dogs, etc. 

Ryan is training for a new position at work.  He's now a contracted Pumper for Conoco.  It's a great position and we are very excited about it.

I'm 25 weeks along now.  I'm definitely feeling more tired and the hormones get me down sometimes, but overall I'm doing good.  This baby is very active and reminds me of his presence and growth frequently throughout the days.  Sesame street comes on at 1, and is a my time for napping or relaxing.  I'm so grateful to be able to be home with my boys.   I am really excited to meet this new addition to our family.  Sometimes 15 weeks seems like such a long time, but I know it's going to go by fast.  Spring is almost here and I'm looking forward to playing outside and walking with my friends again.

22 Weeks

Coming along.

Ty says, "I a pirate! 

All Aboard!

 The boys are really into trains lately.  Ty's newest play hobby is to take all of the baskets that hold toys, dump the toys in a heap, and then fill 3-4 baskets with books.  He leaves a few "carports" (that's the word for a train car) empty for he and Andrew to ride in.  The last few days he leaves the first one empty and nothing is allowed in it, because "That's where the smoke comes out."

 We took advantage of the warmer weather and went 4-wheeling a few weeks ago.  It's still chilly when you have the breeze from riding, so we were all decked out in winter gear to stay warm.  Papa Steve came with us.

The boys didn't care so much for the ride, but mostly enjoyed when we stopped and they got to throw rocks down the hill. 

Things have settled down nicely here.  Andrew got off oxygen on the 9th.  He had a dilation on the 11th, that went fine.  We are back to wait and see for what will happen next.  He also had his central line removed.  We are now back to just the G-tube, and we're so used to that it's really nothing. 
I had a prenatal check-up that day as well, and things are still looking good.
We spent the weekend with my family.  Ryan and I made it to the temple and out to dinner on Saturday.  Plus enjoyed a shopping trip at the mall.  The rest of the time we just visited.  I really enjoyed hanging out with my family.

Cold and Flu Season

We started the potty training business once again.  Andrew has caught on to at least letting me know every time he goes, even if it is still in his underwear or diaper.  He wanted to wear his boots.  We just did a couple days before we got totally sidetracked, but he is still telling me when he goes in his diaper.  When we do get back to it, I think he'll catch on pretty easily.

Last week Tyler started getting a cold, but it got pretty intense.  He ran a fever of 102-103 for a couple days.  Then Friday, while we were doing Dr appts, Andrew started with the cough.  And I started getting it.  Ty was having a really hard time breathing Friday night, and I was worried because his muscles around his ribs started sucking in (retracting).  He made it through the worst before too long, and was doing much better the next morning.  He just has a minor cough left now.

Andrew was getting worse, and by Sunday night I didn't feel like he could handle breathing on his own anymore.  He was breathing really fast and retracting, but worse than I'd seen him do ever before.  So, I tried every drug and natural remedy I could think of, or the home health nurse could tell me.  Finally I knew we needed to go to the ER. 

Of, course by time I got there the extra half an hour in the cool air had helped his lungs, so the Dr gave me an anti-biotic for the fluid he could hear in Andrew's lungs and sent us home.

 We made it through the next morning with walks outside, a car ride, and a steamy bathroom, but by afternoon nothing was working and I took him back to the ER at Castleview.  This time his oxygen level was at 87 when they checked, so he was immediately put on oxygen.  Then a chest x-ray, and viral culture were done.  His lungs had lots of fluid and he tested positive for RSV.  And they admitted him.
He was in the hospital 2 nights on oxygen, but was doing fine otherwise.  The pediatrician caring for Drew was very nervous about his medical history causing complications, but Dr. Barnhart was not too worried about that side.  On Wednesday they discharged him. 
He is still on a little oxygen here at home, but he's playing, eating, and very happy unless I'm suctioning his nose.  He also has double ear infections, because of all the mucous in his head, but they aren't bothering him enough that I would know if they hadn't been checking his ears in the hospital.  He'll probably be on oxygen a few more days and then be fine.
Ryan held out the longest, but even he is sick now.  On the upside he can take better drugs than a pregnant lady, but it's still a tough virus.

Ty has been soaking up extra mom time by just sitting in my lap for long periods of time.  It's really hard on him to be left behind.  This time wasn't as bad, because the hospital is only 30 mins from our house, we were all able to be together at the hospital each night.  Ty spent the days at the Brower's.  He really enjoys being there, but he is also a kid who thrives on a routine and being home.  It always takes us a couple days to re-settle after a hospital stay.

Ty has gotten really good at dressing himself now, and is very opinionated about what he wears.  Sometimes he changes his clothes 4 times a day.  I am always amused at the outfits he puts together.  This was today's choice. 

Ty is also starting to recognize letters and is so good at puzzles.  I'm amazed as I watch how he's learning and seeing him discover and create.  He's starting into the imagination creating.  The other day he was walking around with his hands cupped in front of him, as if he were carrying something.  He never would tell me what it was though. 

I love my little boys so much.  They are so cute and so amazing.  I am also so grateful for my wonderful husband.  We are so very blessed.