5.05.2015

Soccer Skills

 Tanner started a 4 week soccer skills class. It is not an actual soccer team, it is a little class where the coach teaches different soccer moves and gets the kids comfortable playing.
 
He has been having so much fun and getting pretty good with the ball. We are excited to see what happens when we put him on a team in the fall!
 

5.03.2015

Swimming with the Family

 We went swimming as a family for the first time at the West Valley Fitness Center. It is such a fun pool with a really shallow area for little kids, a lazy river and a big water slide.
 
Tanner was pretty spooked at first and slowly opened up and got more comfortable. The first time around the lazy river he was clinging so tightly to Kollin and me, but after that he loosened up a little. He even got to the point of going under the splash pad type fixtures that dropped water on you by himself! I hope he gets more confident since we are putting him into swimming lessons this summer!
 
Chase did really well and seemed pretty comfortable. He got really cold though. Poor guy.
 
Overall it was really fun to play in the water with the boys. I hope they grow to love the water as much as Kollin and I did as kids!
 

4.27.2015

Cardiology Appointment 2015

Tanner did so well at his cardiology appointment this year! Kollin got the day off, so he was able to go with us this year. The morning of his appointment he was actually excited to get going and wanted to see his "heart doctor." I had told him what was going to happen this year and we practiced for a few days. For his echo we call it the magic wand with goop on it with a camera that takes special pictures of his heart. For his EKG we call octopus time with stickers. For the blood pressure test I squeeze his arm and leg like a blood pressure cuff and make clicking sounds. He thought all of this was pretty funny and neat, so I had high hopes for the day.
On our way! My nerves weren't as bad as in year's past, but still there.

He did SO well for his echo. He was hesitant to lay down on the table at first, but after I laid down with him he was good to go.

He liked the sticker idea, but when the wires came out he got a little scared. But once they were clipped on he was fine.
 I didn't get any pictures of the blood pressure tests since I had to hold him still and coax him into getting the cuffs on. He did NOT want to do it! It's funny how that, out of all of the tests was the only one he was really scared about. The nurse said that is pretty normal though, weird, but normal.
Dr. Minich is so great with Tanner. We love her!
After Dr. Minich was finished looking at all of the images, recordings and listening to him she gave us the great news that all is well! She says everything is wide open and flowing with no narrowing at all. She said the key to doing so well with his defects is to have a great surgeon and a wonderful repair at the beginning. And that is exactly what we had. So so grateful.
 
The best (I hope) part is that she said she doesn't want to see us again for TWO YEARS! I had to keep asking her if she was sure she really wanted to go that long between appointments. It is so great that she thinks he is doing so well that we can go that long. But also so scary to go that long. When I think about the scary part, I just remind myself that Dr. Minich said he's fine.
 
We will go back to annual appointments once he hits adolescence where he will be growing and developing a lot. That is the age where things can get a little dicey, so it is good to keep a close eye on everything.
 

Baymax is the prize that Tanner picked for being so brave at his appointment this year.


It was such a great day, and wonderful report. We are so proud of our miracle boy!

4.21.2015

A Walking Maniac!

 Chase is finally walking! We were wondering when he would finally get the courage to do it since he crawled so early. He is just shy of 13 months old.
 
He still crawls the majority of the time, but has no problem walking across a room. This is so fun to watch!
 

4.05.2015

Easter 2015

 It was so fun to celebrate Easter this year. We dyed eggs the day before and just stayed home for Easter. This year it was also the same weekend of General Conference, so the rest of the family was busy. It was nice to just stay home.
 
Checking out the eggs
Tanner loved dying his eggs
Hunting for eggs throughout the house Easter morning
Chase actually found his basket all by himself!
Tanner needed a little coaxing. That darn Easter Bunny hid his basket pretty well!

3.31.2015

Chase's FIRST Birthday and Birthday Party

 HAPPY BIRFDAY CHASER FACE!
On your birthday we had a pretty lazy day. We went out to dinner and got some cupcakes to do a cupcake smash. We got some pretty cute pictures, so I had to post some.
On the day of your birthday party Tanner and I went to go pick up your balloons. He thought it was pretty cool. He was playing with them so much in the back seat of the car he accidentally popped one. It scared both of us pretty good!
We had a pretty low key party. Just family and of course Uncle Shawn and Aunt Sava (who are of course family). 
We sang Happy Birthday To You and did another cake smash. You didn't seem to like it as much this time as last time with the cupcake. 
You definitely loved the balloons though! 
We hope you had fun. It was a fun celebration!

3.23.2015

Sick Little Tin Man

We've had quite the adventure over the last week. Tanner woke up pretty sick one morning. Throwing up and so so tired. It was his first time missing school. He hardly ate anything and slept the majority of the day.
I made up a bed for him on the couch with a puke bucket and Daddy's Iron Man blankie.
 The second day was the same. No eating, still throwing up and sleeping all day long. At this point we were getting concerned about dehydration, so we tried to make sure he was drinking enough.
 
The third day he seemed a little better. He had stopped throwing up, but was till refusing to eat and would not stay awake for longer than 20 minutes at a time. I called the Dr this day and the nurse I spoke to said that it seemed like he was on the mend, so I didn't need to have him seen.
 
On day four he was finally starting to perk up! I finally got a few smiles out of him on that day, and was half willing to eat. He still wasn't very active and sleeping a lot. I just credited it to him being sick and his body trying to recover. That night when he went potty his urine looked very dark. We were worried he did end up getting dehydrated, so we started making him drink more. 
On day five I posted on FaceBook that he was finally feeling better! But I spoke too soon.  He was already very weak from the last few days of not eating and just feeling crumby, but it seemed like something else was up as the day went along. I decided to not take him to school again. He went potty and this time his urine was even darker. He also said how it hurt him to go potty so I decided to call the Dr again. We made an appointment for him later in the day. They were able to squeeze us in for the last appointment of the day.
 
We got to the Dr and the one we saw (he wasn't our usual NP, he was the night Dr that night) started looking very concerned about Tanner. He said he just looked more sick than the usual sick kick that comes into the office. So he ordered urine and blood tests. I was sad because I told Tanner all he would have to do was pee in a cup and that he wouldn't get poked.
The urine test came back with high protein, so everyone was worried there was something wrong with his kidneys. The Dr also said there was high glucose in his urine, and that could mean diabetes. At that point I just about lost it and started crying even though I was trying my hardest to not cry in front of Tanner. He was already so scared.
 
We were still waiting for the blood test to come back, and when it did the Dr called the kidney Dr up at Primary's to see what he thought of it. During this wait time he wanted us to stay in the office. He also said that it was a good possibility we were going to go up to Primary's that night. 
As we were waiting for the blood test to come back Tanner all the sudden started feeling a lot of pain. He was pointing to his bladder. My dad said it could be a good sign that he's complaining about his bladder, and that it's hopefully not his kidneys. He also told me different symptoms of diabetes and going to the bathroom a lot was one of them. So I wasn't very worried about diabetes anymore since Tanner had hardly been going (which is pretty normal for him anyway).
The blood test came back with nothing alarming and the Dr at Primary's agreed. So we decided to give him an IV for fluids, take more blood for a bunch more tests and some Tylenol to help with the pain then we could go home and avoid the Hotel on the Hill depending on how he did. It was the same lady that poked him the first time that came to do the IV. She felt so bad that she had to put him through all of that again, but she was so impressed on how good Tanner was! He only yelled once with the initial poke, and held very still the entire time. She said she hasn't ever had a 4 year old that was so good. That's my tough little guy!
She mentioned a lot how tiny he was. I figured she wasn't used to giving IV's to anyone as small, or smaller than Tanner. Or maybe she just meant how small he is for his age. I dunno, but I loved hearing that he's a little thing.
 While we were waiting for the IV to finish up he was already starting to perk up. He started talking more and asking questions. He even started to joke around a bit. I was so happy to see this! The Dr was pretty happy as well, so he sent us home!
 
When we got home Kollin and Chase were hanging out downstairs with Grandma, Troy and Cadence. Tanner actually played! He was sitting up on his own and was playing with a pretty new cool toy the Cadence got for her birthday. We were all SO happy to see this!
 
The  next morning, day 6 (St Patrick's Day), he was doing great. His urine was till a little dark, but a huge improvement from the 2 previous days. He was awake all day long and started eating much better. I was cautiously optimistic since that was what he was doing the day before when he ended up going back downhill a the day went on.
 
Luckily we didn't have to wait long for one of the blood tests to come back. The nurse called me and she said that here was not anything concerning in the numbers he was showing! That was a huge relief, but we were still waiting on the urine culture and 4 more blood tests which wouldn't come back for at least another day. I also told her how he was doing really well and she was very happy to hear it.
We spent most of the day downstairs with Grandma. I think that really helped him with the change of scenery, and wanting to get up and play with the babies and Cadence's new toys.
On day seven he was still improving! Definitely not 100% better, but SO much better than he had been. He was still pretty weak but I thought  was doing well enough to go back to school. I spoke with his teacher to let him know how he was doing and to give me a call if it seemed like he was going down hill again.
 
When I went to pick him up from school he was playing with his classmates. His teach said he did very good. He was mellow during recess, but was great otherwise. He even ate green eggs!
 
After school both boys had a babysitting play date with Coop and Emmy. I had a nail client I had to go to instead of her come to our home, so luckily Aubrey was able to watch the boys for me. While I was doing my client's nails I got the phone call with the rest of the results of the urine culture and blood tests...
  
Everything was great! The nurse said some numbers were a little high, some were a little low, but nothing was at a level for being worried. I told her how well he had been doing and that his urine was all the way back to normal as well, so with the good tests and him feeing much better she was very happy.
 
The following Friday (day 9) we had a follow up appointment with Tanner's NP to double check his urine again. As we were waiting in the room he came bursting through so fast he just about knocked it over. With wide eyes he asked what happened with Tanner! I explained everything and how much he's been improving. His urine test showed everything is now back to normal!
 
He sad it must have been a crazy bug that made his kidneys freak out. He was so happy to hear how well Tanner has been doing since getting that IV d mentioned that that other Dr could have saved his life.
 
It was quite a week that I am happy to have behind us. He is doing so great now. We are all so happy he is out of the woods and that our sweet and spunky Tanner is back! He sure knows how to keep us on our toes!
 

3.22.2015

1 Year Old!

One. Year. Old.
 
What the, how?
 
This went by so fast! You have been such a joy. A high maintenance joy, but a joy all the same. You are still getting into everything you can get your little hands on. You are definitely living up to your name. You have figured out how to undo the child proofing on the kitchen cabinets and drawers. Of course the one you love getting into the most is the one under the sink with all of the cleaners. I bust you every time, and you just laugh at me.
 
You still aren't walking, but that's ok. I've always said I love the crawling stage, and am happy with it lasting so long since we may never have another crawling baby in the house. You have finally started to stand unassisted for a couple seconds at a time. Daddy even said he caught you standing for about 15 seconds the other day. You are getting so close!
 
I just have to mention your hair. It is starting to get longer and it is so cute. You've got these adorable curls in the back and a lot of the time they will wing out over your ears. It is so cute, I don't ever want to cut your hair!
 
We had a pretty lazy day today. We went to IHOP for dinner to at least get out of the house and do something fun on your day. You ate an entire small pancake. When we got home we did a cupcake smash. You weren't quite sure what to do with it, so I smashed your hands into it a couple times. Then you would shake your hands like crazy to get it off. It was pretty cute. You eventually started eating it and got it all over your face, so we got some adorable pictures.
 
You are still nursing and will definitely be very mad for a few days because I really want to stop. Hopefully I won't give in and undo any progress we make, so I hope you'll deal with the frustration from both of us and be good to go eventually.

You now have eight teeth! Four on top, four on the bottom. You were not a happy camper as they were coming in too. All 4 new ones came in almost in the same day. I can't imagine what that must have felt like. Sorry little one.
 
You are still in the same size with everything. Although I'm noticing some of your pants are starting to get  little short. So you are growing a little bit! We measured you on our growth chart today and you are a little over an inch taller than Tanner was at 1 year old. It is so funny to think you are bigger than he was, he was walking, but you still seem so small to me that I can't comprehend you walking or that he was walking at this age. You are still such a baby and I love it.

Weight: 17 pounds 10 ounces
Height: 29.5 inches
 
Happy Birfday little boy! We love you!
 
xoxo
Mommy and Daddy