Dr. Pepper

Ty has had a lot of questions about baby this time around. And as he gets older his questions get more intelligent. One of the questions he had was how the baby get so big since we can't feed her. I explained that there is a little tube that connects my tummy and the baby's tummy- which connects at our belly buttons and it's what feeds her.

"So- what you eat- the baby eats?" Ty asked.

I was so impressed with his line of thinking that I nodded excitedly- so glad that he understood.

Fast forward a couple of days... Ty was watching me fix a sandwich for lunch and I poured myself a Dr. Pepper.

"Mama- is Dr. Pepper still bad for little kids to have?"

"Yes Ty. It doesn't make you grow big and strong like milk and juice does."

"But if Dr. Pepper is bad for kids, then you shouldn't be drinking it since the baby eats what you eat."

I am no longer impressed with his line of thinking. I now have to drink my caffeine in hiding!!

In the meantime- I'm huge. I think my toes are painted pink... though at this point I can't tell. Now that we have officially set a date for the baby- time has started to crawl. It just can't get here fast enough- and I know I may be singing a different tune in about five weeks when I have a newborn and I'm totally exhausted- but at least then it's for a good reason. Now I'm just so tired of getting up to pee that I'm thinking about borrowing one of Ryan's diapers... okay- I'd have to borrow the whole package in order to get it around me at this point but whatever. Don't mess with me. At least we're in the home stretch at this point. Braxton Hicks is still vying to be my clingy best friend, keeping me in pain and up all night- but there is an end in sight. I just have to keep telling myself that eventually pregnancy does end. It has to. No one is ever chronically and permanently pregnant. And I refuse to be the first.

This and That

So I have a few random pictures that we've taken over the last couple of weeks that don't really go with any kind of independent post- so I'm combining them.

Today was actually a really good day- I got enough sleep last night and the pain was pretty minimal, so my family got a real dinner tonight! The boys even helped me make a Jello Cheesecake this afternoon and were so excited to eat it after dinner! I think Ryan ate more than Shaun, Ty and I combined- he just kept spooning it into his mouth! It was crazy! His little stomach felt like it was ready to explode! I guess he's just making up for the last two months were he ate almost nothing. I'd be curious to know how much weight he lost over that little period of time. Anyway- if you want to make a friend for life- feed Ryan Chicken Cordon Bleu and Cheesecake!

The boys also got haircuts this last weekend. And let me tell you- they seriously needed them. They were both starting to look like Chewy from Starwars! It was totally crazy though- Jamie (our stylist- she does my hair and both of the boys) started cutting Ryan's hair and all of a sudden there were these two little bald spots on the back of his head! She thought that maybe they were scars from the accident, but it turns out that it's one of the body's ways of dealing with severe trauma- you lose hair! Apparently in two very specific spots this time. It's totally nuts!

And the other night- I got to snuggle with my boys for a few minutes before bed. They are such sweet little kids (most of the time) and I just love them both so much. They are both so excited for new baby- Ty asks everyday if the baby is ready to come out yet and whenever I start to complain about hiccups (she has them everyday) or a foot in the ribs- he's the first one there to try and feel it. Ryan is also ready for baby to get here. If you ask him what the baby says- he starts to do a little fake cry and then he shakes his head and says "No, No, No, No, No" as if to tell baby that she can't cry. It's so funny. I don't know that he really gets what's going on- but we're about to shake up his little world in a few weeks. I guess he should be used to that by now- his life is anything but calm.
We still don't have a clue as to what we're going to name her at this point. It may just end up being girl. We officially have 19 days left to think about it though- so I suppose I have some time before I start polling nurses in the Operating Room.

Pre-school Graduation

It's that time of year... School's just about out for us here in Idaho, and we are all so excited! I can't wait to have both Shaun and Ty home with Ryan and I- we have big plans for the summer this year! But before I get ahead of myself with all of that- we got to attend Ty's preschool graduation on Thursday night.

And what's a graduation without a party!? Ty's teachers went with a Luau theme and had all things Hawaiian to entertain all of us. Ty's favorite was probably the volcano. They had built a volcano in class a few days ago out of salt dough, and got to help it "erupt" on the night of their graduation (think vinegar and baking soda). The kids all thought it was great, and everybody got a turn.

We were also privy to a very special performance put on by the class. They sang us a couple of songs and did a little dance- all to rave reviews!
And what graduation would be complete without a picture of Ty with his teachers, Miss Heidi and Miss Linda. Ty has had so much fun this year and we are so glad that he loves school so much!

Project Bathroom

For three years we have lived in this house. And for three years I have hated the cabinet in the bathroom. It is one of those pre-made oak looking things that has been so beat up that it just looked like crap. I thought so anyway- Shaun didn't see anything wrong with it and wanted me to leave it alone (actually I think he was afraid that I would make him help if I did something different with it). Anyway- here's a picture of it... See?! It's ugly.

So one afternoon while the boys and I were killing time in Lowe's waiting for Shaun as he went off and looked for some obscure object that he needed for another project we're working on- I picked up a can of black paint and a few paint brushes and promised myself that I was FINALLY going to do something about the bathroom cabinet. I even went and found new hardware for it... Shows you how serious I was!!!

However- with Ryan's recent predicament and the whole pregnant thing... needless to say the can of black paint sat on a shelf in the baby's room for months. Well now that we're trying to get said baby room put together for baby- things had to be moved and rather than put the paint can out in the garage where it would probably never get used- I pulled out the paintbrushes and started on my big project. It took a couple of days to get enough coats of paint on the stupid thing to cover all of that wood- but my persistence totally paid off! I think it looks soo much better! And even Shaun said that it looked alright.

A Date

It's official! We are having our little baby on June 7th at 7:00AM! We just scheduled surgery this morning and ALL of us are very excited.

We Have Lift Off

It's official... our little boy is walking again! I think we're more excited about it this time around than we were when he decided to start walking a few months ago! He officially took his first step on Thursday and has been honing his skills ever since. It has been kind of neat to watch him re-discover certain things he can do, like going from a sitting position on the floor to standing. He's still a little stiff-legged and he's had his share of trip ups, but all in all- we are so proud of him. We are also so grateful for all of the help that we have had since returning home- our ward and friends have been so supportive of our family. And thanks to my mom for her efforts in coming up to the house and staying for as long as she has- I know it can't be all that fun to help run somebody else's house- but she has been so wonderful and such a big help when she is here. I'm thinking of faking an injury so that she'll have to come back next week...

Ty has been loving the warmer weather that we had for about two days this week! He spends the majority of any halfway warm day in the sandbox (which I'm telling you now- if I had known how much time the boys would spend in that thing- it would have been the very first project when we moved into this house) building volcanoes and sandcastles. He had to have a bath by himself the other night, wherein I actually had to shower him off first before I could fill the tub just to get the sand off of him- then he needed a good long soak to get the dirt off and we followed with another shower just to make sure we got all the sand out of his hair. He was squeaky clean!!

I am counting down the days until June when baby girl will finally make her debut. Not that I'm all that excited for the sleepless nights and the breastfeeding again- but I am super excited to be able to lay on my stomach again. This baby will be a C-section just like the first two, but it's nice going into it knowing kind of what to expect. We will be having the baby in Salt Lake (one life-flight in a life-time is enough for me) but look forward to coming home and hopefully having life slow down for just a little bit (okay- there's a chance that I just jinxed us).

Shaun is excited for school to be out in a few weeks and is working on his big Field Day-palooza for the kids at the end of the year. The only thing he's NOT looking forward to once school is out is all the not so fun stuff that comes with summer- like mowing the lawn and spraying for mosquitoes (a must in Montpelier). Despite that- we have some fun plans as a family for the warm weather and are super excited to spend most of our days at the lake and in the backyard! Hope baby girl likes being outside as much as the rest of us!!

One Week Out

We are officially one week post cast... And it has been interesting!! Ryan still isn't walking on his own yet- but he is finally to the point where he can sit by himself and has started to scoot again (I know- I thought we'd seen the end of this- but I guess it was a good skill that he learned back when he should have been crawling). He actually didn't even want to do that- we were trying to talk him into it (which is just stupid- who ever has talked a two year old into something that they ended up agreeing with? I don't think it's ever happened), and he just kept yelling "No!" Finally Ty took pity on Shaun and I and he sat down on the floor next to my feet and told Ryan to come play cars with him. Ty proceeded in scooting over to the cars- and Ryan quickly followed. Of course. I'm still shaking my head at how fast he was to follow Ty.

You can see how excited he is to try walking again.... Umm... Can you say NOT AT ALL? But this is a good picture of his skinny little chicken legs.
One thing that has been so fun is how much Ryan absolutely LOVES his baths. It's not that he ever hated them- but I think he just tolerated them because they were a necessity. Now- he thrives on them. He has one in the morning and one in the evening and every time you mention it- he's trying to rip his clothes off in order to expedite the process. I'm glad something makes him happy!!
Alright- maybe that last comment isn't fair... Ryan is much happier now than he was at this time last week- his freedom has improved his mood exponentially, but we are still so far from where he wants to be that he just gets so frustrated. I took both of the boys over to Shaun's school today in the hopes that watching the kids in Shaun's classes would excite Ryan to try moving a little bit more. It did all that and more. He got so excited watching them play dodgeball, that he even took a couple of steps on his own in order to get to the balls. The kids in the class were sweet to him- any time they saw him try and go after a ball- they came RUNNING to help him get closer. We stayed for two class periods before Ryan was absolutely exhausted (okay- and I think Ty was too- he actually joined in the games of dodgeball and loved every minute of it) and we had to head home. I am so proud of him for everything that he has accomplished this last week. I know it can't have been easy for him to try out his shaky legs, but he did it anyway. Way to go little one!!

Look Mom! I Can STRETCH!

Ryan was so exhausted after we brought him home that we laid him down in the crib for a nap- the first thing he did was roll over. He is such a tummy sleeper- and I'm sure these last six weeks have been rotten for him. He slept for about three hours, more consecutive sleep than any other time during which he had the cast on. It was such a relief to him and to Shaun and I.

After we brought Ryan home and he got up from his nap, we threw him in the tub. His skin was so dry and itchy from being in the cast for the last six weeks that his skin was almost slimy. I had to get down on my hands and knees and lean into the tub (okay- I was mostly in the tub too) in order to get a good enough hold on him that he wasn't crying. Ryan relaxed almost immediately once he realized that I wasn't going to let him go and we got to work on straightening his legs. His Orthopedic Surgeon told us that warm baths would be the best thing for him at this point and that it was important to let him go at his own pace. So we sat in the tub that way for about a half an hour- just working on stretching out again. My legs were asleep by the time that we were done- Shaun had to take Ryan and get him dressed while I crawled out to the living room- the couch was calling me! And Ryan... Even though he could technically move around a little bit more now- he was more than content to park it back on the loveseat and just relax.

I don't know if you can really see the skin discoloration here on his hip- it matches his shoulder- I wonder if the scars will be permanent...