Sawyer's new accessory

My little Sawyer is truly the sweetest, happiest baby I have ever met. He only cries if he's hungry or extremely tired. Ok, or if I suck his nose with an aspirator, poor kid, he hates that. The only thing that my perfect baby boy doesn't have is a perfectly shaped head. A couple of months ago, we discovered that he had Torticollis, a fancy word for tight muscles in one side of his neck. Really not a big deal, however, it did create Plagiocephaly, another fancy word that means that his tight muscles caused him to turn his head the same way all the time, and now he has a flat spot on one side of his head. We took him to a physical therapist for the last 2 months who taught us stretches to loosen those muscles, and strategies to help him want to turn to the left, hoping that it would round his head out to put pressure on the other side. He "graduated" physical therapy last week, but his head shape is still the same, bummer. So now the next step is to get him a cranial band, one of those little helmets that you occasionally see babies wearing. Yes, I'm sad about it, my poor little guy has to wear this thing. He won't get it for a couple of weeks, due to insurance and getting the helmet made. But he'll have to wear it 22-23 hours a day for anywhere from 2-4 months. It all depends on how fast his head grows. Basically the helmet will be snug against one side of his head and roomy around the flat spots encouraging growth to go to that part of his head. It doesn't hurt, and they don't force anything to move, it's like a mold. (Think of growing a watermellon in a box, it still grows just fine, just in a square.) In case you are clueless as to what I'm describing, I'll add a picture. In a couple of weeks, Sawyer will be rocking one of these. (No, that's not Sawyer.)

Where has imagination gone??

I love that my kids are so imaginative. I feel like imaginative play has been brushed under the rug in this generation. Right now, Kayson and Ella are pretending to catch dragons and dinosaurs. I can even hear Kayson yelling 'abracadabra'! It's music to my ears!
Kids today (wow, don't I sound old??) have lost the art of imagination/pretending. They are too busy with TV, movies, and video games, that they just don't play that way. Maybe with all these distractions they don't learn? I remember one day, Chad was playing with my nephews. He is the one who had to come up with the scenarios, ie the tree house is a space ship, and eventually, the boys followed along. As soon as Chad left though, the boys were back in the basement with the video games.
I'm not knocking TV or video games. Heaven knows I watch my share of TV (no, I'm not a couch potato) and I enjoy the occasional video game. (If you ask Chad, he'll tell you that I may have been trying to talk him into getting a Wii for the family) But man, kids just spend all day long on these things if you let them. Admittedly, I let my kids watch too much TV or play too much computer some days. Especially if it's rainy or I'm trying to get something done. But I'm determined to not let my kids fall into the couch potato class! I've been known to play spaceships and super heroes with my kiddos.
I remember as a kid, playing with My Little Pony's and "animals" (pretending to be dogs, tigers, whatever). Sure we played nintendo (see? I told you I was old!), but the idea of hiking in the foothills pretending to be explorers won out most times. Well, there's my two cents. Nurture your kids' creative sides, there's nothing better than hearing what they've come up with this time!
Gotta go, Kayson and Ella want me to go play in the rain with them... How can I resist??

You'll fall and break your neck...

We've said this to my grandmother a number of times. (Not rudely, she's just a wonderfully stubborn old lady in some ways.) Last December, she tripped over a bathroom rug and broke her leg. It was a long, hard recovery for her, but she got through it. On the 3rd of July as we were watching fireworks with my sister and her family, we received a phone call. My grandma had actually fallen and broken her neck! (Don't worry, she's ok... considering.) She was entering her apartment from the hall and something (my guess is the thresh hold??) caused her to lose her balance, even with her walker, and fall down. She broke two vertebrate in her neck. My grandma is one tough old lady, and lived through it. They decided not to do surgery due to her age and brittle bones, so she is currently in a rehab center with a neck brace.
I was finally able to visit her in the rehab center today. She told me that she has to keep her neck brace on 24/7. In the shower, in bed, everything. It is extremely uncomfortable. In fact, she was pulling it down under her chin to talk, and was barely able to fit the chocolate that I brought for her in her mouth. She claims that her neck doesn't even hurt, but that she has a strong, sharp pain in her head instead. I offered to make it a short visit so that she could rest, but she suffered through it for an hour and a half to chat with me. She is such an interesting woman with so many stories to share. There is never a dull moment when Eddis is around! She barely complained about her discomfort and was in good spirits while I was there. She even called later to thank me for the visit.
I am so glad that I have had the chance to get to know my grandparents, as I know so many don't have that same chance. My grandma has been through a lot, and yet, she plugs along. She is generous and kind, thoughtful and funny. Everyone should be so lucky to have a grandma like her.

Sawyer's blessing

On June 6th we were able to bless our sweet baby Sawyer. Chad did a wonderful job and I had a sweet friend write the blessing down for me, which was wonderful because I admittedly missed some of it due to kids. We kept it small this time with just our parents and siblings, and our good friends Jared and Mary Chaffin. Chad's family traveled from Idaho to support us, we were only missing BJ who is in California at Camp Pendleton. (But we get to see him in a few weeks and he'll finally get to meet his newest nephew!)
After the blessing, we came home to eat a yummy brunch that many brought super good food for (thanks everyone!!). Cindy even brought stuff and baked some really good breakfast casseroles, they were a hit!
I LOVE my family and am grateful to have such supportive parents, sisters and in-laws. Thanks for helping us make Sawyer's blessing such a special day!!

Sick

This isn't necessarily meant for anyone but me. This is merely a place to put some frustrations into writing to help get them out. I'm sure it's going to sound like a 'poor me', so feel free to pass this one up.

I am so SICK!

of fake people.
of an older sister who not once in 26 years has shown that she gives a care about her little sister.
of this same sister expecting her little sister to be there for anything she or her children has going on... even when she doesn't bother to mention these happenings to anyone.
of people who have an opinion about everything and feel the need to give it when it's obviously not wanted.
of fighting for something so important to me... that will never happen.
of hoping for impossible things.
of feeling like things are impossible.
of waiting.
of my thoughts and feelings not being valid.
of people not just stepping up and admitting who they are. (yes, this is the same as being fake. But there is more than one kind of fake people in my life.)
of so many more things, but petty things that are only on my mind because of my current mood. And I know they won't matter in about 5 min, so are not worth noting.
And lastly, of my current mood. That hopefully will be gone soon after putting these frustrations on "paper".

Sorry, I know that was a downer, but I told you that you didn't have to read it. And really, life is good, great even. There are just these few things that I just can't seem to shake right now.

Happy 4 Birthday!!

Kayson could not wait for his "four birthday"! He counted the days on the calendar every day for two weeks. I decided that I could get away without a friend party for one more year, but we compromised and went to Pirate Island for lunch with Gabriel and Kelli. The boys were so excited to play (they have a play area and a small arcade) after lunch that they didn't even touch their ice cream.


Kayson and Gabriel posing at Pirate Island



Playing one of the arcade games after lunch, they couldn't see a thing :)



Kayson with his new paintball gun



Think he had fun??


Later we had a family party, and Kayson got tons of great gifts. Pic-nick table, nerf gun, and a super hero cape among them. (Thanks everyone!!)



Kayson ordered a pirate cake with skull and crossbones. (What 4 year old thinks of that?)


He also wanted a pinata, and we actually found a pirate ship to go along with the day's theme.



Showing off some of the booty



Happy Birthday Kayson!!!

Smiling

Our little man Sawyer is starting to smile. It kinda came out of the blue...thought it was gas bubbles first but then realized he was doing it himself. He will spew out all sorts of smiles, until the camera comes out (of course), guess he thinks the green blob of a camera is odd.


Kayson has the cutest grin, except for when he's looking at the camera. For some unknown reason he thinks that a grin as seen above is cute. We try to get him to look normal but it rarely happens.













Ella's the natural. She loves to grin, even when sick she finds ways to be happy and grin.

Better late than never!!! PS- It's a BOY!!!

He was 6 days late and even then had to be induced, but my sweet little BOY is finally here! Sawyer Chad Pack was born March 23 and was 19" and 8lb 5 oz. Sawyer is my biggest baby by over a pound. I guess that's to be expected after he cooked for 10-11 days longer than my other two. So far he has a great disposition, he is patient and tolerant of his big sister always putting her hands on his face. He loves to pacify whether it's his binky or fingers (yes, including Ella's). He is just a sweet heart and I am head over heals for this chubby little guy! Guess it just goes to show that good things are worth waiting for!

Time for the Poll!!!

Our family is growing from 4 to 5 this month. I'm due the 17th (St. Patricks Day). So in 2 weeks (or mercifully less) we will finally find out if we are adding another daughter or another son to the family. Since we didn't find out, of course we have to take a poll to see what everyone's guesses are. So comment with your guess!!!

Results:
Boy-13
Girl-3

Ella has survived TWO YEARS.

Well it's that time of year again for ella to have her birthday. We started the morning off by having her open a present from us. SHe played with it for a while and then took a nap. We then took her out to eat at Max and Cheese BUT they were closed. After an attempt to find a few places that she could handle we ran out of time and options. So Ella got to eat at Wallaby's for dinner. Throughout the day Courtney worked on making Ella's cake. As usual she did a great job. Lately Ella has become a big fan of "ponies" or better said "My Little Ponies." So we took her to Target with Grandma Cindy's and Great Grandma Betty's money and she got a pair of shoes and a My Little Ponies movie. In the evening we had family come over for the Pony cake and ice cream. She got all sorts of things (see pictures). All in all it was a good birthday for Ella. I can't believe she's two. (oh and sorry for the poor quailty pictures, we didn't realize Kayson had changed a setting)

Hair cuts and kidney stones

This is chad's account of last Thursday. Poor guy, I'm glad it's finally over! (finally passed on Sun.)

Ugg. So this morning i spent 20 min writhing on the floor in pain. We got all ready to go to the ER/instacare and suddenly the pain was gone. I went the whole day with out pain and didn't get around to calling the doc. Then this even we took Kayson to get icecream and on the drive home the pain was back. See next post for more. This time it was aobut 30 minutes but about 2 min into it i told Courtney we were on the way to the instacare/ER. By the time we got to the ER (wait at instacare was too long for me) my hands were numb from breathing so much and I was totally shaking. They IV'ed me up and the pain started to subside. Turns out I'm about to give birth to a 3-5mm ... See Morestone. Here's the best part, it's unclear from the CT scan if I just finished the worst part OR if it's on the edge of the worst part. *sigh* it could be a long night. WHo think's i'm crazy for not filling the percocet? I'll reveal the answer tomorrow.


Also, on Sat. Ella got her first hair cut. It was growing uneven, the back faster than the sides. I had hesitated about it because I knew that she would loose her curls in the back. But I finally broke down because she had started twisting her hair so much that she was getting really bad knots in it every day. (Once I even had to cut it out, it was so bad!) I took her to a girl in our ward, and she did a great job! I do miss the curls (and the ability to do pony and piggy tails), but I do like it. It looks thicker and I think it makes her look older.



Before

After

Kiddo updates

About 2 weeks ago on the same day, a double miracle happened! Ella took steps, on her own, and thought it was great! She has been walking more and more since and is walking more than crawling or scooting the last week. Ella will be 2 in Feb, so this is a HUGE deal for me. A program called Kids on the Move has been sending a physical therapist to work with her once a month for the last 6 months, and I really think it has helped. What it finally came down to was Chad bribing her with fruit snacks. In other words, she could only have a fruit snack if she walked to it. We had tried things like that before, but for some reason it worked this time.
Miracle #2 is that on the same day, Kayson asked to wear underwear. He has been such an absolute nightmare to potty train that it makes me want to keep my kids in diapers til they're 10! (ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration.) Anyway, a few months ago, I decided to give up for a while and stuck him back in diapers. I rarely even mentioned the potty to him, so when he asked me one morning to wear diapers, I had to have him repeat it to make sure I heard right. He has been doing really well. Still an occasional wet accident, but for the first time he's going when he needs to as opposed to when I tell him to.
With a baby due in less than 7 weeks, these two things are heaven sent to me. I don't have to worry that there's something wrong with Ella's legs, and I won't have 3 kids in diapers! Yeah!!!

Bloggy got Back

My sister-in-law and her friend have started a blog for blogger layouts. My background is one she created for me. They are just getting started, but are putting new designs up all the time. I just wanted to help get the word out for her. Http://WWW.Bloggygotback.blogspot.com. I think she will even take requests for new color schemes or designs. It's free too, so check it out!