Preschool, Puppets and Pedicures

I know I've blogged a lot about Tyler lately, but I've also been enjoying my extra time at home with Kylee! She is such a social butterfly, I was worried that she would miss her play time with other kids at my mom's and Matt's mom's house. To help with that, we've added one more day of preschool a week, so she's now going every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and she's loving it! We have her practice her letters or math almost daily at home. She knows all of her letters, can write them all, and knows the sounds they make, so we play little games by asking her to identify words that start with a certain letter (i.e. "tell me a word that starts with D") or we will tell her a word and ask her to tell us the letter that it starts with. She tried to sound out whole words. A couple weeks ago, she excitedly asked me to go into her playroom to see what she had written on her whiteboard.  She had written "PONE" (pony). She was thrilled with herself! Another example - the other day we were driving in the car, and she said, "Look mom, the birds are making a V" (as she pointed to the birds flying in the sky).

But it's not all work and no play at our house! I've set up weekly play dates with her friend Laura from church, and she has other friends over as I can schedule them with their parents. Kylee didn't have any friends over today, but we had a good time making puppets and doing pedicures! I painted Kylee's toenails and she painted mine! I sure love my sweet girl.

Getting So Big!

Look who's wearing his first pair of jeans! After weighing in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and measuring 21 inches long yesterday, I decided to officially bust out the 0-3 month clothes. He technically still fits in newborn clothes, but I was getting tired of the same old outfits, so it's fun to have a whole new wardrobe :-)

Tyler had his 2 month immunizations yesterday - five shots and one taken orally. I felt so bad for him. He was sad almost all day - I think he had a bit of a fever and he slept a lot as we cuddled him. He seemed to be feeling better by last night, though, so that was good!

One thing I think I've failed to mention is how much Tyler dislikes his car seat. Almost every time we take him anywhere (which isn't often because he's still supposed to be home bound for another month or so), he just cries and cries. It's no fun for anyone! One day I needed to run a quick errand to return something to a friend's house... but after putting Tyler in his car seat and not being able to calm him down, I just gave up and decided not to go anywhere. That being said, he seems to be getting better! I had a meeting last week and he was quiet all the way down to Boise State. And then just this Sunday, he was so good as we drove to grandma's house for dinner. It was pretty cute - Kylee told him that because he was being so good I would give him some milk when we got home :-)

Two Months!

Tyler is two months old today! Time is flying, and I just can't get enough of this sweet boy.  Weighing in at 7 pounds 3 ounces, Tyler is finally the size many babies are when they are first born! I think he has officially outgrown his preemie clothes, and he is now wearing newborn sized diapers.

We hit some milestones this last week... First, Tyler now has enough chub on his hands and feet that he can wear socks and mittens! I was pretty excited. When I had tried them back in December, they would just fall right off, so I see this as a major accomplishment.  Now I don't have to worry so much about his feet getting cold or him scratching his face (I try to keep his fingernails short, but I hate clipping/filing them and they grow so darn fast!).

Another "milestone" is that Tyler can now consistently do 2-3 feeds a day of just breastfeeding. The physical therapist came back this week and was thrilled with his progress (as am I). His right cheek has loosened up quite a bit. We still need  to work on his left cheek and tongue more, but while the physical therapist was here Tyler stuck his tongue out past his lip twice! It's so nice to see that our exercises are working.

I've also noticed that Tyler is starting to be awake more. He still sleeps most of the day, but he is getting a little more predictable. He usually has a pretty good "awake period" first thing in the morning (around 8am) where he will be awake for 2-3 hours. His day time "awakeness" is still hit or miss, but he also seems to like to be awake for a while around 9pm.

As for sleeping at night, I've given up on trying to have him sleep in his cradle. He is just so noisy and doesn't sleep well... therefore I don't sleep well.  I now sleep in a reclined position with him on my chest. I know, I know, it's probably a bad habit to start, but it has just made my sleep so much better, allowing me to function & be productive during the day. Plus, Tyler will typically give me at least one stretch of 4 hours in between feeds this way. I did talk to Matt today, though, about trying to have him sleep in his crib in his room. I think we are going to try it this next week on Matt's days off.

Kylee still loves to dote on her brother. She has started to say "Hi handsome" when she sees him (something she hears me say to him!). She has told me several times that he is so cute that she is going to marry him when she grows up. I try to tell her that she can't marry her brother, but she just ignores me! She is always wanting to hold him or touch him or kiss him, and talks about what a good big sister she is. I love that she loves her brother, even though he isn't old enough to be fun to play with yet.

We Are Blessed

This post is long overdue.  I've been thinking about it for months and decided I needed to just take the time to sit down and write it!

In the October 2012 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Thomas S. Monson gave a talk called "Consider the Blessings".  He said:

We are familiar with the truth found in 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon: "Men are, that they might have joy." I testify that much of that joy comes as we recognize that we can communicate with our Heavenly Father through prayer and that those prayers will be heard and answered - perhaps not how and when we expected they would be answered, but they will be answered and by a Heavenly Father who knows and loves us perfectly and who desires our happiness.  Hasn't he promised us, "Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to our prayers"?

I too know that we have a loving Father in Heaven who is aware of us and does answer prayers.  I wanted to record three recent experiences of answered prayers that our family has witnessed.

Tyler
Many people over the last year have prayed for me and my family.  When we had our ultrasound in August to determine the gender of our baby (among other things), the ultrasound tech found a bright spot on Tyler's heart.  We had been praying my entire pregnancy that Tyler would be healthy, but this elevated our prayers, and our friends and family prayed for him as well.  As my pregnancy progressed and I became sicker, we continued to pray for my health and Tyler's.  When it became evident that he would be delivered early, friends and family and even people that didn't know us, but knew of our situation, offered up even more prayers for our health and well being. We all know the end of this story... Tyler was delivered 7 weeks early at just 3 pounds 4.5 ounces, but was healthy and is now a thriving 8-week old. He was born with no defects from the "bright spot" on his heart and was able to breathe on his own, thanks to some steroid injections I had received to speed up the development of his lungs.  We love our sweet little baby, and know that we were blessed and uplifted because of our prayers and the prayers of others.

Joseph Jayden
Matt's sister, Michelle, and her husband, Joey, have been trying for years to get pregnant with no avail.  I think this would be one of the most difficult trials and we have prayed for them daily that they would be able to be blessed with a baby.  In early October, Michelle and Joey were contacted by a teenage girl who was pregnant and was looking for a family to adopt her baby.  They immediately flew to Boise to meet the birth mother, and after meeting them, the girl decided Michelle and Joey were the perfect couple to be her baby's parents.  An answer to years of prayers, Joseph Jayden (JJ) was born just 2 weeks after Tyler and Michelle and Joey are loving being parents to their precious little boy.

Harris Family
All four of the kids in my family married someone from Boise, so it's only natural we'd all like to live here! My brother-in-law TJ is in his final year of residency for Emergency Medicine so has been looking for full-time employment for when his residency is up in June. There are two major  hospital systems in Boise.  St. Luke's wasn't hiring any emergency medicine doctors and St. Al's had one opening for an emergency medicine doctor this summer - so pretty darn competitive.  Mandi and TJ knew several people personally who were interested in the position, let alone people they didn't know who would like to work in emergency medicine in Boise!  Needless to say, many prayers were offered on their behalf.  For quite some time, TJ has been in contact with the hospitals and doctors at the hospitals, and even met up with the doctors from St. Al's at a conference last fall.  All his networking and hard work paid off because TJ was offered the job (without even a formal interview!) in November.  His contract is signed and Mandi and TJ and their family will officially be moving to Boise in a few months!

I am thankful for my knowledge of our ability to communicate with our Father in Heaven through prayer.  I am also thankful for my knowledge that He is aware of us and loves us and answers our prayers in His way.

Appointment After Appointment

It's hard to believe that Tyler has now been home for an entire month!  I am loving being at home and taking care of him.  I am finally starting to find little pockets of time during the day when I can be productive, so that makes me happy.  This week I managed to make dinner three nights in a row, clean all three bathrooms, do several loads of laundry, clean the kitchen, organize the pantry, go grocery shopping, and do several tasks for my calling in Primary.

Tyler continues to do well.  He will be 8 weeks old on Saturday!  Home health nurses are still coming at least once a week to check up on him and weigh him.  This week he weighed in at 6 pounds 13.5 ounces!

In addition to the home health visit, we had a couple other appointments this week.  With the home health nurse's referral, a physical therapist came out to our house to evaluate Tyler's suck.  A week or two ago I had tried breastfeeding Tyler his entire feeding, without following up with a bottle.  He seemed to be doing well and I let him feed for about 30 minutes, until he no longer seemed like he was sucking.  After I fed him, I went to pump (which is my typical routine). Both times, as soon as I started pumping, Tyler got very upset. I could tell by the way he acted that he was still so hungry.  It was rotten timing for me because I had to stop in the middle of pumping to get him a bottle, but I couldn't just sit there and listen to him scream for 15 minutes!  I was a little frustrated because I really thought he had done a good job of breastfeeding, but he sure fooled me... he ended up taking the entire bottle. Anyway, after an evaluation, the physical therapist showed me how Tyler's cheeks are really tight and how his tongue doesn't come out past his lips. Both of these things make it harder for him to suck, but she showed me some exercises that should help, hopefully making his suck more efficient. She'll be back next week to check on his progress. Since her visit, we've had three successful feeds of just breastfeeding!

Tuesday afternoon we took Tyler in to see his doctor. His belly button, which once looked normal, now looks very weird and is getting quite large. Turns out Tyler has an umbilical hernia. Poor kid. The doctor says most of the time these hernias go away on their own between 9-12 months of age. Let's hope so... otherwise that could mean surgery for our little fella.

Our last appointment for the week was with the pediatric ophthalmologist to have Tyler's eyes examined. The doctor checks to make sure the blood vessels in the eyes are growing properly. To do this they first put numbing drops in Tyler's eyes and wait for 30 minutes for the drops to take effect. Then the doctor uses a speculum to keep Tyler's eyes open while he shines a bright light in Tyler's eyes for the examination. Tyler hates it and just screams. I hate it too.  I'm glad we don't have another appointment like this (this was his second exam). The good news is Tyler's blood vessels have grown all the way out. We have another appointment in 6 months, but it will just be a regular exam with no speculum.

Well, enough about doctor's appointments! I'll close this post with a few baby pictures. People always try to see if Tyler looks like me or Matt. Matt usually wins out. Take the next couple pictures for example. The first is of Matt when he was first born, the second of Tyler just this afternoon.

There is definitely a strong resemblance!  But sometimes I see me in our little baby too. I think it just depends on the minute and the face Tyler is making! Here is a picture of me as a baby and another shot of Tyler.

It will be interesting to see how his features develop and change as he grows!  I sure love this little baby of ours!

I Resolve 2014

I know some people don't like setting New Year's resolutions, but I am not one of those people!  I've always been driven by goals, so writing down what I'd like to accomplish typically helps me (with the exception of last year, when my goals went out the window with being pregnant & sick most of the year). I'm a little late in posting these, but here goes, in no particular order:

1. Read at least one novel a month.
2. Finish reading the Book of Mormon (Matt and I were so good about reading together last year until late summer... we didn't miss a single day until August, probably due to Matt switching back to a night schedule so half of the time we didn't see each other for more than 2 minutes a day).
3. Read the Ensign each month.
4. Study for and earn my personal training certification and finish setting up the gym in our garage.
5. Get back to my pre-wedding weight... I'm only a pound or so over where I was before I got pregnant (hooray!), but I was definitely much fitter before I got married.  Something about becoming an insta-mom, having less time to go to the gym, cooking for a family instead of just eating chicken wraps and protein shakes, etc!
6. Drink at least 48 ounces of water each day.  I'm stealing this one from last year since I didn't quite accomplish this goal!
7. Spend quality time with Kylee each week... do a craft, go on a fun outing, learn something new, etc.

I'm sure there are other things I should be adding to this list, but I'll leave it at this for now.  I'm looking forward to trying a little harder to be a little better each day.

To finish this post, I wanted to share a few words from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

Sometimes the thing that holds us back is fear. We might be afraid that we won’t succeed, that we will succeed, that we might be embarrassed, that success might change us, or that it might change the people we love.

And so we wait. Or give up.

Another thing we need to remember when it comes to setting goals is this: We almost certainly will fail—at least in the short term. But rather than be discouraged, we can be empowered because this understanding removes the pressure of being perfect right now. It acknowledges from the beginning that at one time or another, we may fall short. Knowing this up front takes away much of the surprise and discouragement of failure. When we approach our goals this way, failure doesn’t have to limit us.

Remember, even if we fail to reach our ultimate, desired destination right away, we will have made progress along the road that will lead to it. And that matters—it means a lot. Even though we might fall short of our finish line, just continuing the journey will make us greater than we were before.

An old proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”