Just Keep Swimming

Ty loves to swim. Ryan... is thinking about it. So, because I'm a mean mom- I made him go swimming last week. A lot. Thankfully my parents are along the same wavelength as I am. I figure the more exposure Ryan has to the water the better chance he has of liking it. So. Off to the pool.

Again- it was a good thing my parents agreed with me. I can't get in the water yet because of my incision and Shaun wasn't around to help out (he was at his parent's house helping his dad). Yes, I know- I totally abuse the situation with my parents. Thankfully- they don't seem to mind.

And... it totally worked. By the end of the week- Ryan was kicking and splashing right along next to Ty. He wasn't as crazy as Ty- who liked to play with the big kids in the pool, but he did make his way around the shallow end.

Like I said- Ty is totally crazy in the pool. His favorite is to run and do a cannonball on grandma. Lucky thing. He has swimming lessons that start next week at home and he is so excited. I think grandma is too- maybe he'll show something else off besides his ability to empty half a swimming pool on her head.

Bald is Beautiful

Okay- I will forewarn you. The subject of this post has been the object of much ridicule and drama- so if you will please keep your opinions to yourself, I would appreciate it. You would have thought that I painted my daughter purple with the outrage this caused.

My daughter, Kate (bless her), was born with a mullet. It was pretty hair- nice and soft and brown. But she had a mullet. So I cut it off. All of it. And now she is bald. I didn't think this was such a big deal- aren't most babies bald?!?! Apparently not. Anyway. Mine is... now. But when my daughter has the most beautiful hair in the world here in a few months- you all remember this.

T-Ball

That's right people. T-Ball. Our Ty Kidd is finally old enough to be entering the wide world of recreational sports. He was drafted to the "Pirates" in early June and eagerly awaited his turn on the field.

He did really well throughout all of his games. During the first one however, he got a little confused once he got on base. He ran to first. Then he ran to second. Then he ran to the pitcher's mound. Yeah... We had to review where third base was when we got home. Ty also had a hard time remembering to run when the ball was hit. He'd continue to stand on the base until his teammate joined him. Then they'd stand there and look at each other until the coach took pity on them and would go and send Ty onto the next base. In an effort to help him out- my dad worked on this with him the next time we were down in Salt Lake- explaining how important it was to go to the next base. At his next game- Ty hit the ball and ran to first, second, third and all the way home. He stomped on home plate and declared, "Home Run!" He was extremely put out when he had to go back to first.

Ty is also quite the fielder- more interested in the sand than actually paying attention to what the ball is doing. I have to admit- it is nice sand. Very soft. Just the perfect consistency for throwing up in the air and pretending it's snowing.

Unfortunately the season is now over- but we are eagerly awaiting next spring for the next go round. We do however, have soccer to look forward to in the fall... Stay posted for more on our little All Star.

Bath Time

I love it when babies can have baths in the sink. They just sit in there so cute- and I have to admit (even though it might make me sound old), it's way easier on my back than leaning over the tub. Kate likes her baths well enough- not necessarily the getting in part- however once she's there- she just sits so contentedly. And she loves having her head scrubbed. I hate even the idea of my babies having cradle-cap, so they always get a good scrubbing when they are in the water.

She does NOT however, like lotion. It doesn't matter what kind or where I start applying it- it is a NO GO. She screams like she has the lungs of a three year old. The boys always come running in when she starts screaming just to make sure she's okay.

Baby Kate

Before the Baby...

I had to go down to Salt Lake a little bit earlier than we had planned on- so rather than just sitting around doing nothing- we got to work. My mom helped me make a car-seat cover. And I'm telling you- it's so cute! My sister in law, Nat also helped me figure out how to make some cute bows- so I was feeling a little bit better about a little girl coming. I never really had to worry about accessories with the boys.

Here's a before picture of me... And while I felt HUGE- technically I was smaller with this one than the other two. Makes me wonder what I looked like back then. I'm thinking walking pumpkin.
We also had Ryan's tooth fixed while we were there. The Dentist was good and sat through all of the flip-outs. And it looked so good!! Though three days later we went to dinner and Ryan had a grilled cheese sandwich. He started dinner with his tooth in tact- but by the end of the meal- it was gone. He ate his fake tooth. And now he looks the same. Sigh. The dentist said that he'd try again for us though. Maybe before pictures...

The Boys

The boys were another part of the equation during my hospital stay. Obviously we wanted them down in Salt Lake with us- but we needed someone to help us out. Enter Grandma and Grandpa...

My parents were so sweet while we were in Salt Lake! They took the boys for us and kept them soo busy! My mom signed Ty up for swimming lessons which he totally loved. Anytime that is spent in the water is time well spent according to Ty. And mom said that Ryan didn't mind going and watching. He'd cheer Ty on from the sides.

And my parents were so good to sit down and play with them. One night Grandpa took Ty and Ryan on in a game of Twister. I think Grandpa ended up with a twisted back by the end of the night- but it was good to help Ty with his left and right. I think Ryan just liked being in the middle of it all.

The Hospital

Okay- I had more pictures that I wanted posted of us in the hospital... so you get to see another post on exactly the same thing as the last for no good reason other than I liked the pictures. Let's see if I can remember some other details...

My surgery was scheduled for 7 AM- so we had to get there at about 5:30. I was so excited about having my baby that I know I didn't get much sleep- silly since my sleep quota was about to be cut in half for the next few months- but I was getting my baby!! Shaun thought I was nuts. I got changed once I got there and the nurse started my IV and started running a few tests and I was informed that there might be something wrong with one of my blood tests and that the surgery would have to be pushed back several hours. ??? I was so upset! And Shaun started staring longingly at the McDonald's across the parking lot- I couldn't eat so Shaun thought he was being nice by fasting too- not thinking that it would last all that long since I was going in first thing in the morning. About an hour later- the nurse came back in and said that everything was a go and they had called my Dr to come in. Yay!

I walked into the Operating Room around 8 AM and the anesthesiologist gave me my spinal. The nurse in there was so cute- she sat in front of me and tried to distract me by asking about Ty and Ryan. I don't have a clue as to what I told her- I don't know that the distraction worked all that well. :) Anyway- it's crazy to me how quickly the numbing medicine kicks in. Almost immediately my legs started getting warm and I had to lay down. The nurse helped me get situated- it was nice this time- they didn't strap my arms down to the table like they did the other two times. I hate being behind the little blue curtain though- I wish I could see what they are doing. I only get the play by play and the smell...

Here's our baby girl right after she was born- she was being weighed and measured.
Here's a picture of my Dr finishing things up... Wish he'd done a tummy tuck while he was down there...
Here's a picture of the proud papa with his baby girl. Shaun loves his babies and he's sooo good with them!
My mom was also good to come and keep me company in the evenings and one night I got both her and Melissa and the nurse was sweet enough to snap a picture for us. I'm wishing at this point that I had makeup on... But it is a cute picture of the girls- we're only missing Natalie!!

Meet... Kate

No I haven't forgotten that we have a blog. But things have been... well- let's call it "busy" since I don't think there is a word in the English language that aptly describes having three children under the age of 5- one of them being a newborn.

Our hospital stay was absolutely wonderful- I love St. Mark's hospital- and my OB- Daren Watts was so worth our three hour drive. He has delivered all three of our children and if we ever do have another one- he'll deliver that one too. I was discharged after four days, and our baby with me. It took us a few days to finally decide on what to call her- she is absolutely beautiful and we had a hard time. We went back and forth for a few days between Katelyn and Hadley and finally settled on Katelyn.

Kate was born around eight on June 7th and weighed 7 pounds and 1 ounce. She was 19 inches long and had a mullet. The anesthesiologist (sp?) was nice too- he snagged our camera from Shaun and took a few pictures of all of us and the operating room. Shaun prefers to stay behind the curtain with me- claiming that he doesn't need to see all the blood and guts involved so it was nice to see a few pictures of what else was going on while I was staring at the ceiling.

Shaun and I have always held with the idea that kids should have middle names- so, next we worked on picking out Kate's middle name. This actually wasn't much of a discussion. We chose Marjorie, after my grandma. When Ryan was in the hospital back in March, I was 6 months pregnant, with a very active baby in utero. But the day that we were life-flighted to Salt Lake, my baby stopped moving. Not all the time- once in a while I would get little kicks so that I knew she was okay, but she remained extremely calm throughout Ryan's stay in the hospital. I know that part of that was because she was feeding off my stress- but instead of feeling that way- it felt like she was reassuring me that things were going to be okay. When she stayed calm, it helped me stay calm. It was such a big job for someone that wasn't even born yet. How could someone so tiny help her mom in such a big way? I don't know how or even why she did it- maybe that's why Heavenly Father sent her to us. But the fact remained that she was strong. And she needed a name to match that strength. My grandma Newren has been another source of strength and love to me throughout my life and it seemed silly to entertain any other ideas about a name. We are certainly honored to have our own little Marjorie.

I know that four days anywhere can seem like a long time- but I actually enjoyed my stay in the hospital. It was nice to have a few days to sit with my daughter and get a chance to get to know her before life started again.

I had totally planned on being the mom that sent the baby back to the nursery to sleep so that I could clock some time behind closed eye-lids- but she was so good that it wasn't even necessary!! She slept right next to me and barely made a peep when she was hungry. It was like she was squeaking at me. It was also fun because my sister would come and spell Shaun in the evenings and sit with me until it was time to go to bed- we sat and talked and watched TV together- I miss her and it's been fun to spend time with her for a little bit.

It was so funny as we got ready to leave on Thursday- both of my boys were pretty darn big babies- Ty was 10 pounds and Ryan was 9, so when we bought an outfit for them to go home in that was a size 0-3... it barely fit. I think Ty was all but bursting out of his. I remember Ryan's fitting a little better since his stay in the NICU made him lose a little bit of weight. But when I put this little 7 pounder into a 0-3 outfit... I had to roll the sleeves and the pants came up to her armpits. She looked so funny! I still can't believe how little she is or that she is mine.

But I am most grateful for the fact that she is healthy and (seemingly) happy. We have had so much chaos in the last few months that it is such a relief to sit back with our three kids- each beautiful and each healthy. We are so blessed.

The Girl with no name!!

This will be boring because Jess is in the hospital so I just put up pictures no long wisdom filled dissertation. She was born just after 8 AM weighing 7lbs. 1 ounce and 19 1/2 inches. Her brothers seemed to like her at least for the first couple of minutes. P.S. -Forward all name ideas to Jess!!!

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...