Zachary Ryan Christensen

Independence Day Vacation

Well, I just keep making it another day, and then another, and another.  Almost 38 weeks now!  This little baby is up into my ribs now, and still very busy inside there.  Last week I was ready to have him and not be pregnant anymore, but I'm feeling more patient for now.

I started getting headaches a couple weeks ago and have had one every 2 or 3 days.  They are kind of like mild migraines, just in the fact that I get an aura before each one starts.  My midwife was concerned when I called her about them, but everything checks out as being normal otherwise.  My moms family has migraines assosiated with hormones, so it's probably just that.  Usually mine are triggered by stress.  Not that we've had any of that around here, with moving, and a new baby coming, and all.  I'm just grateful they are not as painful as my other recent migraines.  These I can take tylenol, drink a pepsi, lay down, and they are tolerable.  I just don't get much done when I have them.

For the holiday weekend, we went to my parents and relaxed the entire weekend.  We went swimming, Ryan and I got sunburns (I put sunblock on the boys, just not us), and we just enjoyed ourselves.  Tyler got a 'puddle jumper' for his birthday, and used that swimming this weekend.  He did so well!  Last year he would play on the stairs in the pool, but that was as far as he was interested in going.  This weekend he was paddling himself all over the pool.  He can even touch the bottom on his tip toes in the shallow end!  I was amazed that he would even jump off the side of the pool! 
Andrew's favorite part of swimming is standing on the edge and throwing the toy torpedoes into the water.

I wish I had some pictures for you, but we didn't take many, and I'm pretty sure I left my camera at my mom's.  Hopefully we'll intercept it before the baby is born. 

Andrew had another follow-up with Dr. Barnhart last week.  He said he thinks things are going well, so we are not scheduled to see him again until September/October!  The longest Drew has ever been without seeing a Dr is 6 weeks, so I was floored when the surgeon said to see him in 4 months!  Drew is still doing great with swallowing.  It's been more than 2 months since his last dilation.  His reflux is still there, for sure, but he seems ok as long as he's on the Prevacid.  Dr. Barnhart is optimistic that the reflux will improve as Drew gets more and more time without surgeries and such.  His esophagus is still relatively short, and his stomach is still small for his age, which both contribute to reflux.  But both of those can grow and not be messed with for a while now, hopefully. 

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!