Family bowling

I thought it would be fun for my birthday to go bowling with the kids. Yes, my birthday was almost two months ago but I haven't been blogging and I'm slowly trying to catch up on some of our fun family stuff. I actually got my best score that day. I'm not a good bowler so I was super excited about it. Anyways, it was a really fun activity and the kids had a blast. Here are some of the pictures.

They had these cool tracks for the kids to push their balls down the lane so they would go straighter.

Cameryn wanted to try it without the track but only tried it once.

Here's my cute hubby!!

Here is me with my super long hair.

Luke wanted to bowl with Mike's heavier ball and he actually did pretty good with it.

Luke jumping up and down after knocking down his pins.

Just a cute picture of Cameryn!

Our final scores and as you can see I won (yay!!) and Luke actually got second!!

Surgery

Luke's surgery went really well on Thursday. The surgeon's office called me on Tuesday and told me that they were actually moving up his surgery from 9:30 to 8:30 which was great. The less time he has to wait and be hungry the better. Mike's mom, Robin came over Thursday morning at about 6:00 so she could watch Cameryn for us that day. I was so grateful for that too.

We were a little late getting to the hospital though.. early morning traffic and sprinkles of rain are never good. There was a really nice lady that happened to be walking through the front lobby area right as we rushed in and she worked in the Outpatient surgery area. She led us there, checked us in and rushed us back to her office so we could register. While I was answering all the questions, a nurse from the pediatric wing came and got Luke and Mike so they could get Luke's vitals and stuff. They were all so nice and helpful with getting us in and ready in time. When I was finally finished, I got to go back with Luke and wait. They had given him so many stickers and Luke was passing them out to me and Mike as well as putting them all over himself. He was so happy and pleasant that all the nurses kept complimenting us on how well behaved he was. I felt so awful though that soon he was going to have to be in pain.

His surgeons came back to take some measurements of his eyes and go over what exactly they would be doing in the OR. They ended up changing how they were going to fix his eyes. It's kind of involved so I'll try to be simple. His first surgery was to keep his eyes from crossing so they weakened the muscles on the insides of both his eyes. Then we found that his right eye would drift out occasionally and his left eye drifted a little but up (this was harder for me to see but I'm not a doctor, plus I see Luke everyday so I'm used to it and don't notice as much with the glasses). Since our eye muscle work together they usually would adjust the same muscle on each eye but because Luke's were so different it made it a more difficult situation. At first they were thinking of 1) only working on the left eye to correct the up/down muscle on that side and the outside muscle hoping that it would correct the right eyes problem or 2) doing both eyes the same. The first choice could have ended up with him having to eventually get another surgery on his right eye anyway and the second could have caused his eye to cross again and for the right eye to end up with the same up/down problem of the other eye. Thankfully we didn't go with either of those and they decided to fix the up/down muscle on the left eye only and the outside muscle on the right eye only. I felt really good about this decision and so did his surgeons. I'm really hopeful that this will be his last surgery.

Mike took Luke back to the OR since I did it last time and then we grabbed a quick breakfast in the cafeteria. The surgery ended up being only an hour which was great! We talked to the surgeons and then waited a little bit longer for them to call us back when Luke woke up. That was probably the most heartbreaking thing to go through. We walked back with a nurse to the Recovery room and Luke just looked so scared and in pain, it was awful. I walked over and put my stuff down and grabbed him from the nurse (gently of course). It was so hard to not break down in tears myself. Everything was hurting him and this time he was old enough to tell me. He wanted to pulse monitor off his toe, the gauze wrapped around his arm off, the IV out, his socks off, his eyes hurt, his belly hurt and he just wanted to go home. They asked if he was this upset last time but I told them I had still been nursing him way back then and the nurses let me nurse him and he just fell asleep.

The nurses were really nice and they took off the pulse monitor and they even took the gauze and IV out of his arm but then they said we really needed to get him to drink something. We tried to give him juice, popsicles, water, jello anything but he just wanted to go home. He finally did calm down for the most part but we had to keep stopping him from rubbing his eyes which he didn't like. He only wanted me to hold him (which I knew was going to happen because, well I'm his mom and when kids are hurt, they want their moms- Mike didn't quite get this) and I wasn't allowed to sit down, that just made him upset. Mike tried to relieve me but Luke got upset but I felt better myself being able to hold him. I had been so stressed all week and especially all that morning that I think I just needed to hold him too. Not that Mike wasn't feeling the same but he understood, he's a great dad and husband.

Mike finally got him to drink like 2 sips of water which wasn't enough but they said that he probably just needed to sleep of the rest of the anesthesia at home and then he would be better and would start drinking and eating. We got in the car and Luke was asleep within 10 minutes. I put him right into his bed when we got home around 12:00 and Mike and I took a nap too. We woke up at three and Luke was still sound asleep. We both were worried about him not drinking anything yet so we woke him up with us also to give him some more Tylenol. He was a little grumpy at first but once we gave him some juice and animal crackers, he got better. We sat with him on the couch and we all watched cartoons and he was actually happy. He still seemed a little bit out of it but he was happy and talking. Someone from church brought dinner over and Luke actually ate it. I was so happy he was eating and drinking.

Cameryn came home about 7:00 and was so sweet to her little brother. We gave them a quick bath and then Luke was in bed a little after 8:00. Cameryn, we found out from Robin, didn't wake up that morning until 10:30 so she definitely wasn't tired. She stayed up with me for a while and then we all finally went to bed.

Luke stayed asleep all night long and I ended up waking him up at 9:00. I am so proud of my little guy. He was so good and he is dealing with everything so well. He is one of the happiest boys I've ever met and I'm such a lucky mom to have him. We have to put this ointment in his eyes twice a day which he hates but he gets over it quickly and then he's happy again. Thanks for all of you who kept him in your prayers, it really helped all of us I'm sure. He had his post-op appointment yesterday which was fine but I'm bringing him back in 2 weeks for another followup. I just hope things keep looking good and that neither of us have to go through that again.

Luke

I can't believe how much Luke has grown and how much more he is talking now. He is for the most part an extremely happy and helpful little boy. He is so patient and sweet and loves to do anything with his daddy. Our kitchen sink broke a few weeks ago and Luke didn't move from Mike's side until it was all fixed. He followed him all over the house while Mike was getting all his tools and such. It was so sweet and I love to watch him "help".One of my callings in church is to help out in the nursery. I'm not really that happy about it because I feel like I've been in there forever already just because Luke would never want me to leave. Finally a few months ago, I could sneak out during snack and he was fine the rest of church. Then they decided it would be a good idea to call me into the nursery... thanks a lot. I'm feeling better about it now because even with me in there Luke is blossoming into a very fun and talkative outgoing little boy and I love to be able to see it happening. He answers all the questions and always wants to say the prayer. In fact no matter who is saying the prayer, Luke is repeating everything they say.. even during sacrament meeting. It's pretty funny.

I brought my camera to church one Sunday to take pictures of all the nursery kids so they could find their name and picture when they come in on Sunday and put it on this little board we have for that purpose. I just loved the picture of Luke that I took and a lot of the other kids too. One of the boys, Eli, followed me around when I had the camera and kept trying to tell me to take another picture of him doing different things. I would try to take a picture of someone else and Eli would pop up in front of the camera, it was pretty funny.

I'm still hoping that this calling doesn't last much longer than 6 months though but for now I'm actually enjoying being with all the kids. My job is to do singing time which is always a challenge... what am I saying, everything in nursery is a challenge. It's fun though and I really do feel a lot of love for all the kids in there with me (there are about 10 already and it's only March.. yikes), they are so special and I'm glad to have a chance to spend a little bit of time with them every week.

Luke's best friend is Landon. His parents have been our friends for a long time. Anyways, Luke and Landon are about the same age and they used to argue a lot and fight over toys and such like most kids do, but for the past month or two, they have gotten along so well. They play without arguing and they share toys and laugh and just have a great time. It's quite amazing to Jessie and I to not have to break them apart after a few minutes. We can let them play upstairs while we talk downstairs and not fret that they are fighting with each other. It is really fun to see them playing and getting along so well. In fact Luke is always saying to people that Landon is his friend. When they go to the story time at the library, they will now sit in the front next to each other and participate in everything. That is completely amazing to me because before I could never get him off my lap to go sit on the carpet with all the other kids. Cameryn was the same way, but with Landon, Luke is really outgoing and they have so much fun. In fact, Landon gets really upset sometimes if someone tries to sit in between him and Luke. It's really cute. Here is a video of them playing one of their favorite games... wear Cameryn's "clacky shoes" and make lots of noise in the kitchen.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Luke also has another eye surgery coming up this Thursday, April 2nd. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

I haven't been in the mood

I haven't been blogging in almost 2 months and I'm not even sure why. I have tons of funny stories and cute pictures to post but I just haven't felt like it. I haven't really even been checking my friend's blogs either. Sorry everyone. I like to try to comment on most of your posts just so you know I've been reading them. It always makes me happy when I get any comments, even a simple one like "nice post" or something like that so I try to do that same thing for all my friends and family who have blogs. I've just been very blah lately when it comes to blogging. So please inspire me to continue by letting me know that you're reading whatever drivel I post up.

So anyways, I have a lot of catching up to do but I'll try to make it short.

Here is Cameryn trying out her new bike which she got for Christmas for the first time. We had about 2 weeks of super nice weather at the beginning of February (yes I'm starting way back then) so Mike decided to let Cameryn try out her bike. She did really well but she kept looking down at her legs or just at the bike and not steering. We've been trying to work on that but the nice days are here for good yet. But she really loves to ride her bike. I always feel proud of her when I see her skinny little legs pumping so hard on those peddles!

Luke was really excited about Cameryn's bike so I went and got his big wheel so he could ride outside too. Unfortunately after this picture my battery died on my camera so I had to recharge it and didn't get any pictures of the both of them. It was a really nice afternoon with my family.

It's amazing what 2 inches of snow can do

Tuesday this week, we actually got some snow. We don't get much snow here so with even just 2 inches of snow of course schools were cancelled that day. I had a doctors appointment for my thyroid so I dropped the kids off at my moms and went to my doctors. It was a pretty quick and basic appointment. I go into the office with the doctor and she asks me how I'm feeling, and some other basic questions. Then we go into an examination room where she feels my thyroid and takes my blood pressure and then leaves. Someone else comes in and take some blood to check all my levels again. I had this same lady take my blood before and she is awful. I'm pretty good with needles, they don't really bother me cuz I've got good veins. But this lady hurts me every time. She doesn't hold the needle still when she changes the vials (3 times) and then hurts me again when she pulls it out. I don't know what the heck she does but it hurts and I get a big bruise on my arm (my arm is hurting just typing this and thinking about it). They told me it was because I didn't put enough pressure on it but that's a bunch of crap. At least this time I didn't almost pass out after she was done.

Anyways, I drove home and hung out at my mom's house talking for a bit while my kids played. My mom told me that at 2:00 she was taking the kids to the church to play and some of our friends were going to be there too and play some basketball. I definitely didn't have the right shoes for playing basketball (my Doc Marten boots since there was snow) but I went anyways. I ended up just playing barefoot (socks were too slippery) which isn't the greatest idea, not because I got stepped on or anything but my feet hurt sooooooooo bad later!! It was really fun though. I haven't had the chance to play basketball in so long (or do anything physical for that matter) and I loved it, even with sore feet and no shoes. The kids ran around and played in the nursery or just in the gym. Luke saw me dribbling the ball and started trying to dribble the soccer ball he was playing with. He would hold the ball and then smack it with him one hand. Not really dribbling but he's only two so I of course thought it was wonderful. Later he just started kicking it around the gym and did a pretty good job at that too. I barely saw Cameryn the whole time. She was playing with Devon's friends sister and loved all the attention.

Luke with his little shovel "helping" me.

We left the church at about 4:00 and went home where I had to shovel. I dressed the kids in some extra clothes and found all our hats, gloves etc. I even dug through their frozen sand box to dig out their sand shovels so they could "help" me. Cameryn went in earlier than Luke did but she was probably colder than he was cuz mostly what she does when it snows is eat it. Of course it started snowing again before I was even finished but I knew if I left it all for the next day it would be ALL ice and even harder to shovel. Luke and I were out there for probably over two hours. He was such a cute little helper. Here's a video of him with his little shovel though it was taken at night so it's kinda hard to see. Also, sorry for all my sniffling in the video... it was cold.

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I knew he was going to be tired so I made sure he was in his bed by 7:30 that night (it was actually 7:25 when I left his room so he was probably already asleep five minutes later- GO ME!!). Cameryn was probably asleep around 8:00 and they both still didn't wake up until 9:00 the next morning. I LOVE when it snows!!

The next day as I predicted everything was iced over. We stayed inside most of the day and waited for the temperature to go up so I could go shovel again without breaking our shovel or my back. It was so much fun again. Not that I really like to shovel but it was fun being out there with the kids again. I've probably spent more time outside with the kids in the past three days then I have all winter long. They were both so cute with their little shovels trying to help me but really just putting more snow and ice ON the sidewalks then taking it off. We stayed out for another 2-3 hours on Wednesday night. I ended up with a horrible neck ache though to go along with my horribly aching body but I still had a fun day with my kids.Thursday, I could not keep Luke OUT of his snow boots. He loves putting them on and wearing them everywhere 1) because he can put them on all by himself and 2) they have Spiderman on them (who he keeps calling Batman). So we went outside again after lunch. The snow was icy on top and slushy underneath but still fun. They wanted to shovel more so I let them play with the shovels again and they shoveled the snow off the grass... how thoughtful!! I dug through our shed and found a sled and we went down the tiny hill next to our house a few times. Cameryn loved it!! Luke only went down twice and I practically had to force him.

Here's another cute little video of them with their shovels and just being their cute selves. Cameryn kept talking about "snow gas" or something but I couldn't get her to tell me what that meant. I also got some video of them sledding and then Cameryn took one of me and Luke too.

Family times

These are just some cute pictures with some of my family. The day after Christmas my parents had a little get together at their house and my mom's parents came up for the day. Some of my cousins did too but I forgot to take pictures before they had to leave. It was a pretty fun day though.

I have missed Andrew so much since he moved to Portland so it was wonderful to see him the few days that he was here. I also loved visiting with my grandparents (we call them Mammy and Pappy). The conversation is never boring when they are around. I talked with Pappy a lot about books cuz he is a big reader too (more so than me actually- he practically has his own library). Then we all talked about politics which probably bored Mike to death. But it was fun anyways.

After Mammy and Pappy left, the adults all went downstairs and kicked the little kids off the Wii (which I brought from home) so we could have a turn. Me, Andrew, my dad and my mom all did bowling first. Mike wasn't feeling well so he watched for a bit before going home to rest (poor guy had had to go to work that day too). Then we played some tennis, tried out the baseball but it was too boring and my dad and I took turns boxing. It was so much fun!!

After we got tired of playing, I let the kids get back on. Devon played a few games with Kathryn then started playing this boxing training game. Luke thought it looked fun so he went over and tried it out too. Then we gave the kids the controllers (they each held half) and let them play for real. It was so cute!! So of course I video taped some of it. Enjoy!!

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Late holiday post

I haven't been in much of a mood to blog. Lots of cute or funny things have happened that I've thought I should blog about but I just don't feel like it. I'm going to just post a little bit about the holidays though.

I usually like to record a little video of when they come down and see the tree but as soon as Mike brought both the kids down, Luke burst into tears because he wanted "Thomas the Tank Engine" and he didn't see it immediately. It was actually kinda cute/funny at first because my parents had gotten him a train table (from one of Devon's friends) and Mike and I had bought him a little Thomas train and put it in his stocking. But he would not calm down and open up the stupid present so I wripped it open quickly and gave him the Thomas. He finally calmed down enough to open up the rest of his presents which he really enjoyed doing. I think he had more fun opening them then actually playing with them, except the Thomas of course.Cameryn loved everything of course. She got another Princess doll (Jasmine) and was so excited for that (now all I need to do is find the Cinderella one). They both got some Star Wars toy sets that they loved!! And our family present was a Wii!!! I was so excited for that one. I'd love to get the Wii Fit and the Guitar Hero World Tour. Some of my friends have those ones and they are so much fun. Mike and I played the Guitar Hero one at our friends house up the street on New Years Eve and had a blast. I especially love the drums!!

Mike's parents came over and we opened presents with them (Cameryn got a new bike- too big for her right now but we were all excited) and then had our traditional waffles with fruit for breakfast (which I made from scratch). After they left, I tried to clean up a little bit and then my family came over. My brother Andrew was home for a few days and I was so excited to see him. I've missed him so much and wished that he could have stayed longer. The kids were so excited to see him too. They talk about him and Ezra (on his mission) all the time. In fact (quick little side story here), Cameryn and Luke like to pretend they are reading my scriptures all the time and in the Bible there are old maps and stuff that Cameryn will show to Luke and point to random places and say "this is where we live" or "this is where Ezra is on his mission" and other cute things like that. It is so funny!!Anyways, we opened presents with my family and we brought Luke downstairs for his train table present. Mike had set it up with all the trains and put a cool little track together with bridges and all sorts of stuff. Luke was so excited and played with that until I forced him to come upstairs to eat and take a nap which he totally needed. He was so happy and excited but kept periodically bursting into tears over nothing... he was completely overwhelmed in my opinion.We had a slow afternoon and I made a yummy piecrust from scratch. We were having dinner with our friends up the street who have a son Luke's age. It was a lot of fun to not go anywhere on Christmas and I really hope we keep up that tradition.

New Years Eve was spent with those same friends and we played some board games and some Wii games and ate lots of junk food. My dad offered to come out and sit at our house and watch over the kids so we could go out which I was so grateful for. Overall we had a really nice holiday.

Inside activity to wear your child out

What are you supposed to do when it is 20 degrees outside with a horrible freezing wind?!? Plus you have boys that need to get some energy out in a way other than trashing your house and tackling you and his sister. My friend Jessie and I decided to get out our small trampoline. This kept all the kids occupied for over an hour. It was great!! I don't know why I haven't thought of this before. I told her she should buy one for Landon cuz that boy has more energy than any other kid I know.

Don't they look cute here all dresses like twins practically!!

We let them jump 2 together until one of them kept falling off and then it was one at a time which worked okay as long as we remembered who was after who and that they all had equal time.

If you have one of these I highly recommend it. It even works well in small houses with limited space as you can see.

Crafty kids

I've been having the kids make lots of homemade stuff for gifts this year. Cameryn has really been enjoying all the painting and stuff. I only let Luke use watercolor paints though so most of the painting is done by Cameryn.

So today I was having Cameryn finish up the last three gifts that needed painting and Luke of course wanted to join in so I got out the watercolors too. Then I noticed how he was painting. Look at the picture below and tell see if you notice anything different.


Here is a closer look:
If you didn't notice, I'll tell you. He is using his left hand!! But that's not all, I have also seen him using his right hand too. YAY!!! I have passed it on!! I am ambidextrous and so was my Grandma on my dad's side. Unfortunately, I stopped doing it at a young age because I wanted to be like my sister who was right handed. I can still do a lot of things with both hands but my handwriting with my left hand isn't very good anymore. It's still probably better than most people trying to write with their left hand but I wish that I had kept writing with both hands. I hope that he keeps it up too.

Here is one of the ornaments that Cameryn painted today too. She is such a good little artist and I love watching how quickly she progresses with all of that. I had more to write but I have to go bath some kids and put them to bed.

Toys in timeout

I love that my kids play together so nicely for the most part, but boy Cameryn can be bossy. I know I know, typical older sister right. It's just so annoying to listen to sometimes. Like today for instance, Cameryn and Luke are playing with the Little People house and some Star Wars toys. I'm hearing them while in the kitchen and they are playing nicely together. Suddenly all I can hear is Cameryn saying "NO NO!! That's not right!" and on and on with a bossy tone of voice. I peek in the living room and all seems okay but I tell Cameryn that she needs to stop telling her brother what to do and let him play however he wants to. She then tells me "That was the toy, not me". Okay, yeah, sure... I then say "Fine then, if your toy can't start being nice and stop being bossy than the "toy" is going in timeout".

That stopped it for a little bit and they seem to be playing nicely again. I don't want to interfere in their playing too much, but I also don't want Cameryn dominating the playing all the time and not letting Luke do what he wants to do. Most of the time I just leave them be as long as there is no loud screaming and crying because I want them to learn to work things out (even at their young ages) by themselves. But sometimes I just get so annoyed with Cameryn's bossy yelling (or the toys bossy yelling, whatever) and I have to say something. Is that wrong? Should I just let it go as long as Luke doesn't get mad? I go back and forth on this all the time. Sometimes I figure as long as he doesn't mind, why should I? But seriously, it is soooooooooooo annoying sometimes and I really can't help myself.

Like I've said a million times though, I am lucky with my children. They play together so well and I really can't complain too much. I was shopping with my mom last Thursday at the mall (I had to pick up their pictures) and they were so cute and happy running all over together. I won't lie though, I did get annoyed at how hard it was to keep track of them and I did try my best to control them better in the stores (without much luck). When I think about it now though, it was really sweet and I love seeing them holding hands and running together. Though it doesn't work so well in a crowded mall with them zigging and zagging and cutting in front of everyone else walking along. Oh well, most people didn't seem to mind, though I'm sure in their heads they were thinking "That mother should control her kids better" which is actually what I was thinking. Shopping with kids is never a good idea but it's just a part of life and we all deal with it.