Sunday, September 5, 2010
Curly?
I think Kyles hair is thinking about going curly. This was about the age that Kyra's hair really started going curly as well. I'm want to let it grow out a little more and see what it does...I'm not sure how much longer Karl is willing to let me wait! Here is little man just before church. 
Friday, September 3, 2010
Surgery
On Wednesday morning we took Babycakers to UMC for the laser myotomy of his cricophyrangeal muscle. They have the kiddos put on these surgical gowns, but they are one size fits all. He was so cute. He kept trying to find his arms, and would finally find them and get so excited, and start to shake them, and then they would fall back into the sleeves. 
The previous 3 times he has been under anesthesia, it was hard, but this time was far worse. Something about watching your baby walk away being held by a stranger, taken somewhere where you can't follow, to have neccesarly things done that you can't just fix, simply put, it JUST SUCKS!
This is a picture of his throat in the middle of the surgery. At this point the doctor has lasered the muscle in half, and that is it so far. Again, the esophagus still appears closed. 
Carter's muscle was unbelievably thick, and fiberous. He couldn't just simply slice it in half. He had to take a big chunk out of the middle. You can see how large the esophagus is now, but how HUGE of a chunk of muscle is gone as well. 
The one thing I was not prepared for, was the amount of pain that Carter would be in. He was miserable. They put him on two different pain relievers, which turned him into a zombie baby. His eyes would glass over, and he would start to drool. It was ripe your heart out sad. By the morning of day two, he would open his eyes for about 5 minute periods without crying. At that point they took him to do a swallow study. Just before we left the room, to go down they gave him both of his pain meds. By the time we were ready for the test he was back in zombieville. They were able to get him to drink two sucks, before he passed out. But those two sucks went down PERFECTLY, without aspiration!! The test did show that his reflux is HORRIBLE. After all the fluid had gone through, there was evidence of a small amount just hanging out in his throat, but not near his airway. They did some follow up x-rays, and found that a very small amount of formula had kind of pooled in a small pocket where the muscle used to be, but that there was no chance of aspiration with it, and that once the swelling goes down, that will probably decrease as well. So they gave us the go ahead to try and feed him!!!!
Unfortunatly, the biggest side effect to this surgery is acid reflux. The reason being that the muscle is gone now, so the esophagus stays open, so food can go down, but it can easily come back up. Starting in the middle of the night on day two the acid reflux hit him hard. If you can imagine he has this raw burnt area of his throat, that is already killer, and now acid is being spashed around on top of it. He would reflux, scream because of pain, until he started wretching and finally vomit. There was a 20 minute period where he vomited 5 or 6 times, and was just screaming. I think those few minutes may of been the low moments of this entire thing.
But we are allowed to feed him....and he has gone 7 1/2 months without a single inkling of food aversion. He was constatly putting things in his mouth, and grabbing food. Until now. The combination of the pain from the surgery, and the acid splashing around, has made him scared to swallow. I know, seriously? Can't the kid catch a break!! We couldn't get him to take a bottle at all. We would touch it to his lips and he would start to gag and wretch.
So on the morning of day 3, the surgeon called and said that in terms of his esophagus and the muscle..it was open...he can eat. So now we would be turned over to the pediatrican at the hospital to discuss the reflux. The reflux, is not only a problem because its painful, but the more the acid burns his surgical area, the increased chance for scarring of the area. So they began to consider a fundoplication, which is an additonal surgery where the top of the stomach is wrapped and stiched around the base of the esophagus. The purpose is that as you eat, that little section around that is wrapped around, become full and tightens down on the esphogus, so that fluid can't leak back up. So basically you would be physically incapable of vomiting, ever. But there are major side affects just like every surgery. It was decided that we would TRIPLE his reflux medication dose, and see if that helps, and follow up with a GI doctor next week, who will probably recommend additional scopes etc.
So we were allowed to go home.
Now the biggests obstacles are the reflux, and the aversion to food. Last night I tried giving him a popscicle and he gagged. He won't take a bottle. Vomited when I gave him a puff. There is a fantastic feeding specialist who's specializes in food aversion in infants, here in Tucson, but our insurance won't cover it. I'm going to try again, now that he has had his surgery, to get them to reconsider on Tuesday.
He has only refluxed about 6 times since we increased his medication. I'm also feeding him small amounts every hour, and mixing it with a lot of rice cereal to weigh it down in his stomach, and it seems to have helped. Then we will have the appt with the GI doctor sometime in the next week or so.
Today, has been MUCH better. We are seeing little glimpses of our presurgery happy baby. He seems like he is less pain, but we are making sure to give him his every 4 hours on the button. He is sitting and playing again. Smiling when Kyra runs in the room. We have been leaving a bottle of juice next to him while he plays, and he will at least pick it up and play with it, and not gag. I was able to put him at the table with us, and dip a spoon in some baby food, and he mostly just played with it, but I'm sure got at least a taste, and didn't gag at all. So we are really hoping that as the pain decreases each day, he will eat more and more. I know this was a necessary step to help Carter grow and develop, and that each day will be better than the one before. Thanks for all of the calls, messages, love and support. I really do love each and every one, and I'm sorry I'm kind of sucky about returning all of them.
The previous 3 times he has been under anesthesia, it was hard, but this time was far worse. Something about watching your baby walk away being held by a stranger, taken somewhere where you can't follow, to have neccesarly things done that you can't just fix, simply put, it JUST SUCKS! The surgery took quite a bit longer than we expected. It turns out that not only did they laser the muscle in half, but the sugeron had to take a large chunk of it out. This is Carter's esophagus prior to surgery. As you can see it is completely closed.
This is a picture of his throat in the middle of the surgery. At this point the doctor has lasered the muscle in half, and that is it so far. Again, the esophagus still appears closed. Carter's muscle was unbelievably thick, and fiberous. He couldn't just simply slice it in half. He had to take a big chunk out of the middle. You can see how large the esophagus is now, but how HUGE of a chunk of muscle is gone as well. The one thing I was not prepared for, was the amount of pain that Carter would be in. He was miserable. They put him on two different pain relievers, which turned him into a zombie baby. His eyes would glass over, and he would start to drool. It was ripe your heart out sad. By the morning of day two, he would open his eyes for about 5 minute periods without crying. At that point they took him to do a swallow study. Just before we left the room, to go down they gave him both of his pain meds. By the time we were ready for the test he was back in zombieville. They were able to get him to drink two sucks, before he passed out. But those two sucks went down PERFECTLY, without aspiration!! The test did show that his reflux is HORRIBLE. After all the fluid had gone through, there was evidence of a small amount just hanging out in his throat, but not near his airway. They did some follow up x-rays, and found that a very small amount of formula had kind of pooled in a small pocket where the muscle used to be, but that there was no chance of aspiration with it, and that once the swelling goes down, that will probably decrease as well. So they gave us the go ahead to try and feed him!!!!Unfortunatly, the biggest side effect to this surgery is acid reflux. The reason being that the muscle is gone now, so the esophagus stays open, so food can go down, but it can easily come back up. Starting in the middle of the night on day two the acid reflux hit him hard. If you can imagine he has this raw burnt area of his throat, that is already killer, and now acid is being spashed around on top of it. He would reflux, scream because of pain, until he started wretching and finally vomit. There was a 20 minute period where he vomited 5 or 6 times, and was just screaming. I think those few minutes may of been the low moments of this entire thing.
But we are allowed to feed him....and he has gone 7 1/2 months without a single inkling of food aversion. He was constatly putting things in his mouth, and grabbing food. Until now. The combination of the pain from the surgery, and the acid splashing around, has made him scared to swallow. I know, seriously? Can't the kid catch a break!! We couldn't get him to take a bottle at all. We would touch it to his lips and he would start to gag and wretch.
So on the morning of day 3, the surgeon called and said that in terms of his esophagus and the muscle..it was open...he can eat. So now we would be turned over to the pediatrican at the hospital to discuss the reflux. The reflux, is not only a problem because its painful, but the more the acid burns his surgical area, the increased chance for scarring of the area. So they began to consider a fundoplication, which is an additonal surgery where the top of the stomach is wrapped and stiched around the base of the esophagus. The purpose is that as you eat, that little section around that is wrapped around, become full and tightens down on the esphogus, so that fluid can't leak back up. So basically you would be physically incapable of vomiting, ever. But there are major side affects just like every surgery. It was decided that we would TRIPLE his reflux medication dose, and see if that helps, and follow up with a GI doctor next week, who will probably recommend additional scopes etc.
So we were allowed to go home.
Now the biggests obstacles are the reflux, and the aversion to food. Last night I tried giving him a popscicle and he gagged. He won't take a bottle. Vomited when I gave him a puff. There is a fantastic feeding specialist who's specializes in food aversion in infants, here in Tucson, but our insurance won't cover it. I'm going to try again, now that he has had his surgery, to get them to reconsider on Tuesday.
He has only refluxed about 6 times since we increased his medication. I'm also feeding him small amounts every hour, and mixing it with a lot of rice cereal to weigh it down in his stomach, and it seems to have helped. Then we will have the appt with the GI doctor sometime in the next week or so.
Today, has been MUCH better. We are seeing little glimpses of our presurgery happy baby. He seems like he is less pain, but we are making sure to give him his every 4 hours on the button. He is sitting and playing again. Smiling when Kyra runs in the room. We have been leaving a bottle of juice next to him while he plays, and he will at least pick it up and play with it, and not gag. I was able to put him at the table with us, and dip a spoon in some baby food, and he mostly just played with it, but I'm sure got at least a taste, and didn't gag at all. So we are really hoping that as the pain decreases each day, he will eat more and more. I know this was a necessary step to help Carter grow and develop, and that each day will be better than the one before. Thanks for all of the calls, messages, love and support. I really do love each and every one, and I'm sorry I'm kind of sucky about returning all of them.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Just a taste??
Mom I'm kind of tired of this thing....
I have an idea...how about I have a little drink of this...just a little one...because I'm cute...sound good?
No? Are you sure? 
I'll go ask Daddy!
Carter and Kyra
Kyra and Carter have always been best buddies since the day he was born! He recently realized that if he makes this silly noise, that is like a high pitched intake of air, Kyra will laugh and laugh!
Also, since Kyra has started Kindergarten, and Carter has really started to actually play Kyle and Carter have become best buddies. Much to Kyle excitement it seems like Carter has taken a fancy to his cars and trains!
I think this will be the first of many pictures like this.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Hiking with Grandma and Grandpa!
This past weekend we went up to a hiking area near Sierra Vista with my mom and dad. It was fantastic to get out of the +100 degree weather! All three kids LOVED it! Here is Kyle “helping”Grandma with her walking stick. Poor Grandma, I don't think she used her walking stick the entire time.
Grandma and Grandpa also brought along a magnifying glass, which was such a great idea. My mom found some sort of blue beetle near a tree, and when they stopped to inspect it Kyle slightly moved this rock he was standing on, and found a gold mine of interesting bugs!
Here is my cutie patootie! I swear I feel like she has matured so much, just in the 1 week she has been in kindergarten!
Here is my buddy, who quite proudly picked out his own outfit that day!
And my three boyz!
There was the cool tree with huge roots, and limbs that had fallen over. Grandpa lifted Kyle up to sit on top of the tree, and was a little unsure about the situation, but was able to squeak out a smile.
I forgot the baby backpack at home, but Karl was a trooper and held babycakes for the entire hike.
Carter has been so happy lately, and I just LOVE seeing his personality! This day was no exception, especially since Daddy held him the whole time!
This area had some quite a few cute little bridges.
But they also had an area called "Kid spash zone"! The water was a little bit cold! The kiddos and grandpa are all standing on this one little rock trying to prevent getting wet!
Near the splash zone was the walkway that was covered in butterflies all over the ground. At one point there were about 30 butterflies flying around the kiddos heads.
We also saw about 4 deer, and one of them had no problem getting close...really close, and kept following us down the trail.
At the end of the walk they had this area with humming bird feeders set up, with rocking chairs and benches to lounge on. Daddy and Carter took a little nap while Kyra and Kyle stole grandma and grandpa's hats and walking sticks, and draw a map in the gravel for the next hikers!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Going....going....
going....private. I hate, hate, HATE to do it, but I guess its the world we live in. UGH! But because of a couple things we have to. If you would like to still see some updates of our family, just leave a comment with your email address and I will send you an invite. Thanks!!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The Amlicites lived in Mordor?
So we have been trying to really read scriptures together as a family every night. Some weeks are better than others. But I kept wondering if they were really getting it? Well the other morning, Kyle was running through the house (yes, naked...is there really any other way) with a lightsaber. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was fighting Sherem. Okaaaay....I will take what I can get.
Well for family scripture study tonight we were reading from Alma Chapter 3, and I knew that the kids probably wouldn't be able to follow who was fighting who, and why, and where they went etc...
So I was trying to figure out a way we could act it out....arming the kids with weapons, ummm....NO.
Making one of them the Nephites, one of them the Lamanites, and one of us the Amlicites...uh yeah I could see the therapy session twenty years from now...
Making one of them the Nephites, one of them the Lamanites, and one of us the Amlicites...uh yeah I could see the therapy session twenty years from now...
Therapist: So why did you chose to do that?
Kyra or Kyle: Well remember Mommy made be act like the Lamanites 20 years ago, well....
So that is a no go idea.
Then my husband says "Why don't you just use the game RISK?" BRILLANT!!
We have two versions...regualar, and Lord of the Rings Risk. The normal risk had cannons, and people with guns. Knowing Kyra, she usually checks each story for historical accuracy, so I went with Lord of the Ring risk.
Alma the Younger was a solider, leading the people, while atop a horse. Amlici was an Orc. I thought it was appropriate.
Well it worked FANTASTICALLY. The kids totally got. They could follow each group of people. I was able to demonstrate how outnumbed the Nephites were..how they drove them back into the woods. Then the kiddos reenacted the story a couple times more. I love when a plan comes together!
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