Future Yoga Instructor?

We just got the Wii Fit. It's fun and Easton loves to play all of the games on it. Yesterday he wanted desperately to do the Yoga poses...so of course, I let him. But first, I grabbed the camera because, lets face it, this was going to be good...

Look at that balance...incredible.

And now, for my favorite...

If that's not the definition of grace, I don't know what is.

Surgery Day

The surgery happened, and all is well. Except poor little Ty is VERY swollen, and VERY mad at the arm restraints. And I learned that it is impossible to keep an ice pack on a 1 year old's face for more than 1.5 seconds.

I thought I would start out with a before picture, as interpreted by Easton...

A few days ago Easton drew this picture of Ty... He came up to me and said, "This is Ty, and this (pointing to the lines coming down from Ty's eyes) is the goop in Ty's eyes and it makes him so sad. And he has a frowny face."

We got to the hospital in the early morn, Ty got dressed in his purple pj's he was nervous about the nurses

But they let him play with some toys so he was happy

Just chillin' with daddy

Giving us the 'thumbs up' right before

The surgery took about an hour. The doctor couldn't get the 'stints' down through his eyes on either side because his tear ducts were obstructed, so he has two little incisions on each side of his nose...

Thus, the cotton balls taped across his face

Because of the incisions, he can't touch his face which requires "no-no's" in other words, big large cast-type things that don't allow any arm bending....cruel

The cotton ball bandages were supposed to stay on for 2 days....
That didn't happen...even with the arm restraints he managed to rip them off.

Iceing the eyes...he finally fell asleep, so I was able to put the ice pack on for about 15 minutes... Then he woke up and totally freaked out because he couldn't see, which caused his unbend-able arms to start flailing around, which then caused him to not let the ice pack anywhere near him ever again...and me to have small bruises everywhere...stupid "no-no's".

He was happy and playing all night until I tried to put him to bed. Last night did not go well. He couldn't get comfortable and it was a loooooong night. He is still having trouble breathing because of the stints in his nose, and so he has a hard time eating. But he is happy now, just swollen. Really swollen. These pictures don't do it justice.
(For anyone that remembers the sunburn I got years ago...he looks a lot like that.)


We are happy everything went well, and that he is happy. If this works it means we only have one more surgery ahead of us....yay!

Ty is 1 !!

Ty has officially been 1 year old for a week. It is still so strange that it happened so fast. Here he is just 1 day old...

His naked baby photo

A glimpse of the swaddle and the bed that he loved so, so much

This one shows the hair issues


Some 1st birthday celebrations...

This is what chocolate does to a person

Easton was happy too

The morning of his birthday we had a special breakfast...
Ty got his first taste of "Whippee"
And liked it

Look at Ty's jealous face in these two pictures

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TY!!

And the sad news... we had our friends, Blake and Erin and their kids, Aiden and Hannah over for some cake and ice cream the next day to celebrate. I took some super cute pictures of everybody and then...I deleted them. Yep they're gone and I am to blame. I was sorting through some other pictures I took and accidentally deleted them.
I am so sad.


Some things about Ty:

-He weighs 19 lbs (10th percentile)
-He is skinny, but it is hard to tell because of his ridiculously chubby cheeks
-His length is 31.5" (75-90th percentile)
-He is very sensitive/dramatic...his feelings get hurt when you tell him "no", he lays his head down and pouts when he is sad
-He is still extremely flexible. He he throws his dramatic fits he bends himself in half to lay his head on the floor
-He loves his big brother and follows him around the house all day long
-He is a Mama's Boy big time. And I am not just saying that...every time I walk into the room he immediately starts pouting and chases after me... a lot of the time I have to sneak from room to room so he doesn't see me to get stuff done (mean, I know)
-He loves to cuddle. At any time of the day I can pick him up, give him a blanket and he will just lay his head down and cuddle.
-Every time he wakes up he gives me a hug (including patting me on the back)
-His first word was 'Thank you' ....so strange
-If you burp in front of him he will mimic it
-He has three and a half teeth
-He still loves his "waffle blankets" and prefers to sleep with two blankets at a time
-He still has a huge head
-He refuses (and always has refused) to have anything to do with baby food...as a matter of fact...he refuses to eat anything off of a spoon. But if I put it in front of him to eat by himself he will eat anything and won't stop
-Although he won't let me feed him, he is a clean eater...I mean WAY cleaner than his almost 4 year old brother is. Easton still manages to get anything in his reach as sticky as possible while eating, but Ty keeps the mess to a minimum...which makes me happy
- He has been a hugely expensive baby
-The last few weeks, his hair has been sort of flatter than normal...on the top anyway. Now he has this thing that can only be described as "peacock like" it starts at the back/top part of his head...just weird
-He freaks out every time we get into an elevator...he buries his head in my shoulder after the doors close and starts shaking...so sad and yet slightly hysterical every time


p.s the surgery is scheduled for Tuesday...we'll see if it happens this time...

1st Birthday Preview...

Ty is 1 today, and I can't believe it! This year went by so fast...

Well, we are having multiple mini celebrations this week, so I will post more later this week. Tonight, Ty got his first taste of Chocolate Cake. Grandma Leelee was so thoughtful and decided to MAIL us a "Darn Good Chocolate Cake"! Yes, she mailed a cake. And surprisingly enough, it can be done.

These videos are mainly for the family. We tried to get everybody on the phone so we could all sing happy birthday, which is complicated enough. So of course things didn't go quite as planned...so sad...

(Probably the saddest part is that everyone on the phones just keep singing)

But don't worry, he is okay and even if you think we are the worst parents in the world we tried again and he was happy... everything gets better after my mom stops yelling for Jesse...

And Easton did receive some cake too...

Just Another Day in Vegas...

This weekend we were running some errands. Ace had to return something to Office Max, so I waited in the car with the kids while he ran in to the store. (Side note: The Office Max that we went to is on Craig Road. I tend to avoid this area because it is slightly...trashy.) I just happened to have my camera in my bag so I started looking through all of my pictures.. While I was doing this, a cop car parked sideways in two handicap parking spots. I may have said something like, "what a jerk." So with my bad attitude, I took a picture of this rude cop's car.

But then, he hopped out of his car (about 3 feet away from me) and then pulled out his gun and started messing with his laser pointer. (and then I said, "oh, okay park where you want") Then about 5 other police cars pull up all around my car all with guns blazing, at which point I locked my doors and grabbed the keys out of the ignition, thinking that if there is some 'bad guy' hiding out in the parking lot, I don't want him to just hop into my car. The cops all started running towards the store, "Leslie's Pool Supplies" (of all places...REALLY?) and they were hiding outside the doors. Then they just started running inside...

I didn't get a good picture of them hiding out in front, these two are of them storming the place...

The guy came out a different way, and started running, but never you fear, our good Police men & women (whom, in times of danger may, if the need arises, park wherever they please without civilians who don't know any better being upset with them) caught the guy and I followed through and got a picture of the enemy of Leslie's Pool Supplies

So, I will continue to avoid shopping on Craig Road if at all possible, because as I said before, it is slightly trashy.

Merry Christmas! '09

Christmas was a whole lot of fun this year... Easton and Ty, received a ridiculously large amount of presents, and they couldn't be happier. Ace and I got some pretty fabulous stuff as well and we are just as happy. We went to Utah and I took a whole lot of pictures so I sorted them into the different Christmas's we had...so as not to overwhelm the internet with uploads...if you so desire (mom) you may click on them to see the pictures bigger.

Lucky for us, Santa knew we were going to be in Utah for Christmas, and was nice enough to stop by and give us a few of our presents early.

After that, we were off to Grandma Leelee's house, and chilled with Papa Cory, Uncle Jesse, and Aunt Lolo...and we collected even more goodies...

And last, but not least, we made our way up to Sandy to spend Christmas Day at the Casper's. Easton and Corbin had way too much fun together attacking monsters and dinosaurs, and are now best buds...and we collected more goodies.

While we were in Utah, we had few snow adventures... this was Easton's first 'real' time playing in the snow, and well, being from Vegas, the snow clothes that I brought weren't the greatest. His winter coat was a size 18 months (luckily he is pretty skinny) the snow pants were just a bit too small, and the gloves were the stupid cloth ones and also to small. Easton had a gap between his coat arms and his gloves, but he didn't care, he played out in the snow for hours, and refused to come in. He and Ace built a snow man together, made snow angels, and had snow ball fights...he was in heaven. Poor Ty only got to play in the snow for a few minutes, because as I previously stated, snow clothes were limited.

Then, we went up to a family party on the Casper side, and did a little sledding. They had some boys on snowmobiles to take you to the top, which freaked Easton out a bit (screamed the whole way up). But once he got on the sled with Ace he was happy. He went down with his Uncle Brad, and Aunt Mandy too. Ace and I went down (I may have been screaming a bit) and rode the snowmobiles...fun day.

As for the gifts, we got many, many great things and everybody is happy, but I have to say that I do have two favorite gifts that we received. I am not sure which one is the number one gift of the year, you can let me know what you think...

First, my cousin Ginay and I got a lovely gift from my Grandparents, 'Mimi & Boppop', it is called

Christmas Morning Fireplace...Vol. 1

Now if you are confused by this gift I will explain...it is a DVD that puts a virtual fireplace onto your TV...AND it plays Christmas songs while you watch your virtual fire burn. Considering that this is only Volume 1 of the fireplace DVDs, my hope is that I will be able to collect all of the other volumes of this marvelous gift.

Now I really thought things couldn't get better than a virtual fireplace (vol. 1), but then, I underestimated my Mother-in-law. For she gave all of us the
Luggable Loo
and life has changed for the better.

What you see in this picture is the top part of the Luggable Loo. The bottom part is a 5 gallon bucket...these two pieces snap together to create a portable toilet, and possibly the best gift of Christmas.

p.s if you are wondering about Ty's surgery, it didn't happen because of stupid people at the doctor's office of --

Dr. Steven Leibowitz M.D

653 Town Center Drive, Suite 102

Just incase you want to know who NOT to go to if you ever need surgery. Basically, they told us they take our insurance a long time ago, and when I called a week ago to double check with my insurance company, my insurance told me they weren't in network. I called the Dr. office back they said not to worry because they knew they took our insurance. I told them to make sure anyway and call me back. They called on Christmas Eve to let me know they don't after all. Nice right?

So we have a new Doctor and we have to go see her on Jan. 6 and then set up a surgery date from there... it feels weird to not be mad at the insurance company...

Christmas Card 2009

Merry Christmas!

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas... here is our Christmas Card for those of you I don't have addresses for. If you are truly offended by not receiving one in the mail, give me your address and I can assure you will get one next year (if I do one).

Here is the Santa picture we got from our ward Christmas party. They had everything set up so nicely and took this picture for us...the Christmas miracle is that Easton and Ty are both looking at the camera and we even got a smile out of Easton! He was so happy about this we left and Easton kept saying, "where are Santa's reindeer? I can't find them anywhere!"

Open Wide and Say "Ahhh"

Here is Ty's most recent favorite face to make...he literally opens his mouth as big as it can possibly go and says "ahhh" and then proceeds to laugh hysterically.

And here is a little "Ty Medical News"...

Ty has had clogged tear ducts in both of his eyes since he was born. It isn't a health concern really, just annoying and gross. It irritates his eyes and makes his face all red. Easton had it too, but his just went away after a couple of weeks.

They told us that if they hadn't gone away by the time he was 10 months they would probe his eyes...it's a small simple surgery, and only lasts about 5 minutes, but it does require anesthesia, which I don't enjoy. (especially since he had his MRI when he was 4 months and had to be sedated for that as well) Just not a fun thing.

Anyway, they told us that 95% of the time the probing works and it's all better after that. So we had his eyes probed about 2 weeks ago and guess what...
Ty is one of the lucky 5% of babies that the probing didn't work on!

So that means another more invasive surgery... it takes about an hour to do and they basically stick small tubes down his tear ducts to open them up. The tubes have to stay in for 6 months to a year and then they remove them with the hope that that will keep them open. While we were talking with the Dr. he said that a lot of the time while he is trying to put the tubes in they don't work because of the bone structure and other problems which then means that he will make an incision on the side of his nose and go in that way.

So tomorrow I have to take Ty in to get blood work done and a physical and then we have his surgery scheduled for the 27th of Dec.

I don't like Dr. stuff/ blood stuff etc... at all. (I passed out when my dad pulled my tooth out) but I hate it even more having to watch little Ty go through so much of it. I am so grateful that he is healthy and happy. And I know there are so many more worse things that it could be, but it still is not fun at all.

This will be the third time he will be sedated and we haven't even made it to his first birthday! He has definitely been quite a pricey baby, here's what has happened so far...
-I got pregnant with him withOUT insurance...that was fun
(epidurals are expensive, but sooo worth it)
-He had his eye nystagmus which meant eye specialist and later an MRI
-Clogged tear ducts required another eye specialist and many visits
-Probe surgery
-Plastic surgeon after the probe didn't work and now this new surgery

We think it has to do with the fact that Easton was free because we were on financial aid, so now we get to pay double, maybe triple for Ty! But don't worry, we have met his deductible (thus the surgery date being the 27th of Dec)!

I hope everybody has a great Christmas and I will keep everyone updated...I just hope this surgery works :)

Do you know what a Roller Coaster Face Looks Like?

This is a picture of a page in a book called, "Roller Coaster".

This is a picture of Easton impersonating one of the people on the roller coaster...can you tell which one?
Hint: Easton hasn't yet mastered the art of winking an eye so covering it with his hand is his solution

He told me one day that this is the face people make on a roller coaster. I thought it was strange, but Easton does a lot of weird things so I said, "Yeah, maybe sometimes." Then a few days later we were reading the book and Easton kept doing that face. When we got to this page he pointed him out, "See mommy See!"

Thanksgiving 2009

This Thanksgiving was a lot of fun and slightly miraculous. I say miraculous because we had everyone at our house, and anyone that has set foot in my home knows it is not the biggest...1200 square feet to be exact, and here is the list of people that were in my house at the same time:
1. Ace
2. Me
3. Easton
4. Ty
5. Grandma Leelee (my mom)
6. Papa Cory (my dad)
7. Jesse (my brother)
8. Lauren (my sister
9. Grammy Raylene (Ace's mom)
10. Papa Larry (Ace's dad)
11. Brad (Ace's brother)
I have a new found respect for people living in a one room home with more family members than this...don't get me wrong, we had a lot of fun with everyone that came and we got to spend more time with everyone that would have normally been divided up between families, but holy cow that was a lot of people!

I didn't get a chance to take a whole lot of pictures mostly because I was fairly delusional from the crazy amount of shopping we did (on Black Friday we went from midnight to 8:30 in the morning). But I did get a picture of Raylene's jam packed car on their way home proof of the shopping...

Larry Raylene and Brad saying goodbye to the boys...

Lauren and Ty

Easton and Grandma Leelee

And this one of Jesse and Ty, I am pretty sure is my all time favorite picture ever. Right as I took this Ty was, uh, filling up his diaper and, obviously, Uncle Jesse became concerned, but just take a look at Ty's happy face--he is truly enjoying himself!

Easton gave everyone a concert of all the songs he knows...here is just a short video of one of the songs he sang...


It was a super fun week with everyone and I am so glad everybody came...I just hope next time we do this my home is just slightly bigger so we don't have anyone sleeping in the garage (Brad) !