May!

What is happening!? I am so behind.  We’re more than half-way through summer and I haven’t blogged a bit of it!  We really haven't been up to anything super exciting, but hopefully I can get all caught up this week, and then somehow stay on top of this little blog…

So here we go…May:

First, we had another appointment for Ty and his stinkin eyes… what am I talking about? His little clogged tear ducts that just. wont. go. away.  We did a simple probe surgery when he was 10 months old… that didn’t work, and then we did this surgery…that didn’t work either.  I sort of was hoping they would somehow go away with a little more time, but that has not been the case.  So we had to go back to the dr. who recommended an extra special specialist who basically said the only thing they can do is put the stints back in and hope it works this time.  Lame.  He did say we might be better off waiting until he’s a little bit older before doing the surgery, because there would be a higher success rate.  So we might wait a bit.  But in the meantime, Ty had his eyes dilated and was pretty thrilled about the sunglasses he got to keep…

Next, Ace got into a really bad car accident and totaled his little truck.  It was real scary, but thankfully, he was alright.  The big bummer was that we had to get him a new truck, pronto…we were hoping to make his old truck last one or two more years to save up a little more money.  Never. Make. Plans...luckily we found a new truck for a pretty good deal, and this one fits our whole family.  So yay for family truck outings!

School ended May 30th, and we had a last day of school celebration with our neighbors:Me and my dumbo camera missed the actual “run through the banner moment” but you get the idea…

And we worked and worked and worked on our yard.  Since we had to buy a new car, we had to save money where we could, so we decided to weed and grade our yard by ourselves.  I should’ve taken a before picture but just imagine every bit of this dirt was completely covered in a thick giant layer of weeds.  So everyday, we weeded and graded, weeded and graded, moved dirt and weeded and graded etc etc… and at the end of the month, this is what we had to show for it…Just a whole lot of dirt. (but no weeds!) 

So that’s May in a nutshell…and tomorrow we’ll move on to June!

Ba-da Da-da Daaaa! (that’s a drumroll)

Introducing….Ellie Jayne Casper

Born January 24, 2012 at 2:59am

7lbs. 13oz. and 20 inches long

 

Ellie Jayne’s Birth Story

Monday at midnight, I started having minor contractions 2-3 minutes apart.  We headed to the hospital.  I was only dilated to a 2 & 75% effaced, so we walked around a bit and changed to a 3, but my contractions slowed after that so the nurses sent me home, but was confident that I would be back later that day. 

3:30pm on Monday, I had a regular checkup with my dr. I was now a 4 and she said if I could get some good contractions going to go to the hospital and she would break my water.  Awesome.

Ace and I went over to a Wal-Mart close by and did some laps hoping to jump start some contractions.  No Luck.  We headed home, and I took a nap.  Around 8:30pm my contractions were back and we were on our way back to the hospital.  As luck would have it, I got a nurse who was just a real beast.  She told me I was still dilated to a 4 and that my cervix was way too high, and I wasn’t in labor.  (I tried to explain that I have been told this on both my other pregnancies and my cervix moves down fast, and my labors are fast after that…she didn’t listen) Even though my contractions were hurting and were 2-3 minutes apart.  She said I wasn’t having this baby for another week.  I found out later that she lied to my dr. and told her my contractions were irregular and 10-12 minutes apart.

She wanted to give me a shot of morphine and send me home.  I thought getting a shot of morphine seemed ridiculous, so I said no to the morphine, but since she told me I wasn’t in active labor, we headed home (again). The drive from the hospital to home is a good 30 min drive.  On the drive home, the contractions started to really hurt.  I convinced myself that I just needed to go to bed and relax.

I tried to sleep, but the contractions almost instantly became unbearable.  Ace said we are going back right now.  I hated the idea of getting sent home again (I mean, really, it’s my third kid…I should know when I am in labor right?), but at this point I knew the feeling of the contractions I was having…it was the kind where, during my other deliveries, I am requesting the epidural.

I couldn’t get up off of my hands and knees.  Ace and my mom got me into the car, and we were off to the hospital…again.  But this time, I thought it was very likely she was going to be born in the car.  It was snowing, the roads were wet, and Ace was going as fast as he could, going straight through red lights and everything. 

We got to the hospital in record time.  The dumb nurse was there, and as I am hanging on Ace barely able to stand, she had the nerve to say, “Well, let’s see if it’s the real thing this time.”  I wanted to slug her, but then my water broke (or more like exploded) all over her floor and I was satisfied with the fact that she would have to clean it up.  She checked me, and I was dilated to an 8 and completely effaced.  And guess what…the cervix was low and the head was right there…weird. 

My favorite person came in, the anesthesiologist.  He said I was going to deliver before an epidural would take affect so he gave me a partial spinal tap or something (I didn’t really care at this point) and it worked almost immediately. Yay.  My Dr. came in, apologized for the idiot nurse, and then I pushed a couple times and out she came.  So, we arrived at the hospital at 2:20am and Ellie was born at 2:59am.

I am happy we made it, and that I got an epidural.  She is perfect, and healthy, and we love her tons!

A Long Time Coming

Crazy week last week.  First of all, Ty got the tubes out of his eyes...Finally!  His eyes kept getting all goopy so we've had to postpone the surgery 3 different times.

The surgery was going to be a fast one, so we made it a family affair.  Woke up at 5:00 in the am (even though his surgery wasn't scheduled til 8... does this annoy anyone else?) and traipsed around the hospital in our PJs.

Ty got all dressed up in the purple gown, once again.

Including the ever-in-fashion duck feet socks.

Super fascinated with all the techno gadgets

Ty got the playroom all to himself

The surgery went good.  So fast, there was no need for an IV this time.  They just used gas to put him to sleep, so he woke up a lot faster and acted like nothing had happened.  

The Dr did say there was a lot of goopy stuff (I know, nasty) still in his right eye.  That means that we have a 50/50 shot at the tear duct getting clogged again...if it does clog again we get to put larger tubes in.  yessss.  So far, his eyes are looking good.  I don't want to jinx anything though so we'll just wait and see.

One little thing about this whole ordeal is that Ty has gotten so used to eye drops.  He has had them pretty much his whole life.  Now he reminds me to put them in his eyes every morning and night.  He gets so excited about his eye drops.  He unscrews the lid and holds it for me, then just laughs and laughs while I put the drops in...who does that? So funny.

Next little tidbit from the week, Ace got laid off from his job on Wednesday.  Which is really a bitter-sweet thing.  He hated the company he was working for...the people were not nice, he was working awful hours, and the jobs weren't really what he was wanting to do.  But then, it did give us an income, so... that's where the bitter comes in.  

Really, we feel incredibly blessed that he was able to have a job for so long.  We have known for a long while that it was only a matter of time before it happened so we've prepared for it the best we can....that's why being in this home is so good, we have no lease agreement and a rent payment we can pay.  We are in a sort of limbo right now...not really knowing what is next, but that's the fun of Life...right!?

So, anyone want to hire an awesome, hard working, totally cool guy?  Just let us know :)

18 Months

 Ty has reached 18 months.  This could be the very best age for the one and only reason of being eligible for Nursery.  This means I can start bringing my scriptures (and actually get to use them), and I only have to worry about keeping him happy for 1 hour of church, and then I pass him on to the lucky ducks in the Nursery Room.  I cheated, and started taking him a few weeks ago to see how he would do.  The first time he went in, he looked at me with a glare as if to say, "You mean to tell me, I have been sitting on your lap for 3 hours every week for my entire life, and all the while there was this incredibly awesome room with toys and FOOD?!"  So far, he has loved every minute of Nursery (and me too).  Yay for Nursery.

--Ty at 18 months--

-Weight: 22.6 lbs (he's back up to the 10th percentile so the Dr. is happy and said he can stay in the 10th % as long as there is some weight gain every time)

-Height: 33 1/2 Inches (75th-90th percentile)

-Walking all over the place

-Finds every possible thing that he shouldn't

-Loves to color

-Knows when it's time to pray and folds his arms, but if he feels the prayer goes too long he'll end it himself with an "Aaaammmmeennnnn"

-Sleeps awesomely

-Has about 30 words and will attempt to repeat anything we say

-Loves Blueberries

 -He climbs up and on everything, jumps and hangs over the edge of the couches and yet, is easily scared by any weird small noise (example: whoopie cushion completely freaks him out)
-Loves to get his teeth brushed
-He could throw a ball further than I could (maybe that's a small exaggeration, but it would be close)

-Is always making silly faces 

 -Loves to Skype Grandma Leelee

-Is super happy and content all time...unless his brother is teasing him

-Still incredibly flexible 

-Loves his baby blankets, but is okay with keeping them in the crib

-Always super sweet, but also super sensitive

-Loves to wear hats and have things on his face

-Gives very dramatic Loves and Kisses (mmmmwaaaahhh)

We love, love, love having Ty in our family, and I really can't believe it has already been 18 months!  

Happy Un-Birthday Ty!

Surgery update... Didn't happen.  The eye Dr. said his eyes aren't quite ready (still tearing too much).  So now, we have our billion-and-oneth prescription eye drops to hopefully help his eyes.  We will be re-scheduling and give his eyes a little more time.

Here We Are, {Mostly} Moved In

We have made it into the new house, and here is a giant little Sum Up of what has been happening:

The move went as good as it could go in 115 degree weather.  We had some Awesome, Awesome guys volunteer their muscles...Thank you again to everyone who helped!  Our other house was officially closed on June 24 (yay).

Parts of the house still look somewhat like this:

And this:

But, the Kitchen, Front Room, Family Room, Garage, and Bedrooms are put together.  So things are coming along, slowly, but surely.

Ty mastered the stairs the first day we moved in...

Coming from a one-story house, he was pretty proud of himself.

The boys have spent a large amount of their time coloring while I unpack.

My birthday just happened to be (very inconveniently, I might add) the day after the "big" moving day.  The plan was going to be to take the day off from moving and go out to eat and celebrate.  But instead, Ace spent the day in a quick care...

He got cut at work and had to go get a Tetanus Shot.  Once he got there, and they saw the cut, he ended up getting SIX stitches in his PINKY Finger.  By the time he got home, he was so exhausted, and was still planning on taking us to dinner.  I said, No Way. And that we could just celebrate next weekend.  Which we did...

A little Olive Garden and a delicious custom Cold Stone Cake made us all happy.

This last weekend we also made a failed attempt to set up the pool.  As we were setting it up, we realized it had a hole. Bummer.  So we tried to patch the hole.  Didn't work. Bummer.  We went to the store to buy a new one.  Every store was all out of any kind of pool.  Bummer. Bummer.

But it didn't get the boys down...they enjoyed it just as much even if it was only 2 inches deep.

We are happy to be moved in and loving the extra, extra space.  Although, I (unlike Ty), have not gotten used to climbing stairs 10,000 times a day :)

**In other news, Ty is scheduled to get the stints out of his eyes on Thursday.  Tomorrow, we are going to see the eye doctor to make sure that his eyes look ready and then we will be set for Thursday.  It's going to be another day of no food for Ty and Needles and Anesthesia and just Yuck.  But it is going to be a fast surgery and really simple, and hopefully, the last one...hip hip hooray.** 

Running Into A Wall Hurts

That's what Easton found out.

We had just gotten home from the store and unloading the car, which Easton loves to help with.  He handed me something in the kitchen, and then took off running to the garage door get more stuff.  Instead, there was a loud 'thud', and then an insane amount of crying.  I am still a little confused about what happened here...

1. Because he completely missed the door by about 2 feet

and

2. Because he somehow only hit the underside of his chin. 

My guess is that he was running with is head tilted back and his eyes shut. 

I mean, that's so normal.

Poop Problems

Disclaimer: Not that I will be sharing horribly disgusting details or anything, but if you couldn't tell by the title, this post is about poop.  Queasy readers...look away :)

Ever since Ty was born, he has had a problem with getting a little "backed up".  Well, a lot backed up...to the point that he is in major pain and screaming.  It's so so sad.  We tried prunes and juices and all types of food to help relieve him, but nothing really helps him.  Now I have to give him Miralax when he has such a hard time, and that seems to help him out a bit.

My point to this wonderful story is about the position that Ty gets in when he needs to poop.  I suppose he has gotten used to "struggling" so he automatically gets into position and prepares for the worst...

 So, is it horrible that I can't help but smile (maybe even laugh a little) every time I see him do this?

All We Needed Was A Little Jello...

  While we were in Utah, Ty made his walking debut. Ty has always been a little slower in the gross motor areas, but for a while now he has had a better way of getting around...

Ty has also been given the term "failure to thrive".  Meaning that he hasn't been gaining any weight, so we have been stuffing his face with all things fattening.  His Dr. is concerned that he isn't gaining weight and that he isn't walking.  So we were sent to the Early Intervention people to get him tested.  We went for his first test today

here's the good news:

-He has gained 1 pound since the visit to the Dr.
-They said that overall in all his areas, he is developing just fine
-Early Intervention is FREE
Bad news:
-His muscles aren't strong enough
-And he is too flexible

Which is why it has taken him longer in the gross motor area.  So now he gets to do some physical therapy to help him out.  I am happy that they think he is doing well and that we can get this physical therapy for him.  I will keep updating when I know more...

But Sunday, he made his first real, big move. My mom whipped out some Jello Jigglers and he couldn't hold back any longer, and I amazingly got it on video. This video is currently my favorite video ever because of all the things going on, so here are a few things to notice...

1. Obviously, Ty taking his first steps
2. The amount of people cheering Ty on (realizing that this is a very normal moment in my family)
3. Easton sneaking Jello the whole time

Is That Your Natural Color?

A few weeks ago, Ty was sick.  Like puking his guts out sick.  After a few days of dealing with it, I took him to the Doctor.  The Dr. went through the regular check up and questions and then we had this conversation...

Dr: "It looks like it is just a virus, and we have to let it take it's course....I do have one concern though... 

Is that, uh, his natural coloring?"

Me: "What, you mean his unnatural, florescent white, glow? Yup, that's his color."

{lots of laughing happening}

Dr: "Okay, because normally we'd consider that pale, and be worried about dehydration, but if that's his normal color we won't worry about it."

So in conclusion, Ty is white.  Unnaturally white. 

But oh so cute!

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!