The Sickness

Today i finally took T.j. and Creedance to the doctor. T.j. was suppose to be going to Shriner's on Thursday for a prosthetic fitting and i wanted to make sure he would be o.k. by then. I thought the kids just had a cold but we couldn't seem to kick it. Creedance started getting a funny rash last night so i was a little worried. I didn't take Topher because he seemed to be feeling a bit better but he could not get rid of the cough that he has. Well the doctor said that they have STREP!!!! I can't believe it! So now we are getting them all on antibiotic and hoping they get better soon. Anyway, I have to get back to helping all the sick kids. Oh Yeah Tyler has it too!!! I'm sure we are going to have a fun week!!

Back to being CRAZY!!!!

Well things around here can not settle down. First off when Tyler had that glass removed 4 weeks ago. They left a very large chunk of it in his foot. They had to cut open the bottom part of his foot and remove it. He was on crutches again for a few days, and is now in a walking boot!!! That boy is having a hard time staying put together.
T.j. has started screaming constantly again. I don't know if it is because he is teething or if he has an ear infection, but we were just at the doctors office last week with him and i really don't want to take him back yet.
Creedance is suppose to be getting her cavities taken care of. But they won't put her under without the approval of her pediatrician, and with her heart troubles when she was little the pediatrician wants to make sure she is o.k.(which i am extremely glad for!!!!) So she had to have an echo cardio gram. We haven't got the results back yet but we are hoping they come back good.
Topher looks like somebody beat him up. While we were at my parents cabin last weekend, i sent him outside while i got the other kids ready. I usually don't let him go out alone but Tyler couldn't go out because of his foot and i was getting the other kids ready. Well he was fine at first i got Creedance ready and sent her out too. I had told topher to only slide on the little hill. And he is a really good listener. Well while i was pulling mine and t.j's snow clothes on i hear a blood curdling scream. I rush outside with no shoes on to see what's wrong. At first i just see toph crying, but on closer inspection his face on the left side is scratched. well when he was sledding down the little hill he went farther than he thought he would and went under my parents suburban. We are lucky he only scratched up half of his face, and didn't get hurt worse!!!

Other than that Thanksgiving was great. WE ate a Delicious dinner with Tyler's family. And then headed up to the cabin with my family afterwards. It was a lot of fun even though it was crazy.

We got a puppy!!!!

Last Saturday we were running around doing errands and while we were down in shelley we saw some puppies. Well Tyler has always said that we would never get a dog. And i told him one day i would just show up with one and he wouldn't have a choice. Guess which one of us ended up deciding to take one of the puppies home. TYLER!!!!! The kids were begging and he just gave in and picked the one he liked best. So now we have our little Star. I think she is adorable and the kids just love to play with her. The fight over who gets to feed her and i'm sure if it was warmer atleast topher would stay out all day to play with her. I've wanted a dog for our family for forever, but of course i never had to take care of a dog by myself before, my mom always did that so i'm sure it will be an eye opener eventually. Right now she never barks, she whines occasionally but doesn't make any noise through the night. Of course i already have to clean up her poop but it isn't any worse than doing a poopy diaper so i've been fine with it so far. We will see how a feel in a week or two but right now I love it!!!!!

Birthday Boy!

Topher turned five today!!!!! I can't believe he is so old. I didn't plan a big party ahead of time like a meant to, but it turned out pretty well anyway!!! Alot of family came and some friends too!!! We did presents and a pinata. Topher loved everything he got and can't fall asleep because he keeps thinking about all the things he gets to play with. He keeps coming out of his room to tell me the order that we will have to play with them in tommorow.

We sort of had a spider man theme this time. Every birthday i let the kids pick out a cake tin and then i bake and decorate them. We borrowed a spider man pan from my friend Liz and so theme began. We couldn't get normal birthday plates they had to be spiderman and the napkins and instead of hats they had face masks. Anyway, i hope everyone had fun.

The kids were pretty good today. We did gymnastics and then we went out to eat at Artic Circle. Some of Toph's friends were there and he was excited. I love my kids but they seem to be growing up way to fast. They are sure fun when they are big but i'm starting to miss that baby stage!!

Halloween

Yeah it is Halloween. We have done pumpkins and parties. The kids loved the trunk or treat we did at the church last Friday night. This year Toph and Cree are Thing 1 and Thing 2. T.j. is the cat in the hat. Topher has to make sure everyone understands who and what they are and I'm just happy that people listen to him and tell him that he is cute. Hopefully trick or treating will be fun tonight.
Tyler has hurt himself again!!!!!! He got a piece of glass in his foot last week at work!!. It took 8 stitches to get him closed. Hopefully no more accidents for us for awhile. It gets to be really hard when something like this is always happening.

Home

Lately we have just been hanging out. Topher goes to school three days a week. We do dance on Tuesdays and the therapist usually comes once a week. Tyler works everyday and is constantly working on the VW Bus, which more often than not drives me crazy. I swear he is more attached to it than he is to his family, but I'm sure that will eventually wear off. It is nice to slow down, and read books for me. To play with the kids and not feel like so much is sitting on my shoulders. My next big project is to try to get t.j. off the bottle, not sure if or how that will happen without me losing all my hair!!! I'm not sure how hard i will try either, it is kind of nice to have some peace at our house.
We had a problem with t.j.'s prosthetic. Every time we put it on, he would scream(which actually I'm not sure is even abnormal), and it would turn a very dark purple color(which scared me pretty bad). So started the rounds of phone calls. In the end we didn't have to go back down to Shriner's. It was discovered that we were pulling to hard on the tether hooked to the sock he wears. It was making all the blood come to the bottom. Now we push on the prosthetic, and we aren't having any purple, and he only cries half as often.
The newest thing is for the kids to try to help him walk. Which the older two think is great but it usually just makes t.j. scream. Today though he let Creedance help him to the pantry door from the living room. It was so cute to watch. But then he proceeded to go down on his knees screaming and then to fall back and hit his head. Boys!!!!

Nose surgery for Tyler

Last week instead of calming down Tyler had to have his deviated septum fixed!!! We found out last Monday what was wrong and they had him in for surgery on friday. The funny part is we went in because of his nose bleeds, but the surgery does not seem to have stopped those. He does say he can breath now.
Anyway, he has decided to keep the bus and fix it up. Not what i would have picked but he is in love with volkswagens. He puts the engine in tommorow. I just hope it actually runs after we put all this money into it!!!!
Life for me and the kids is full and crazy. Topher likes school and loves his friends there. Creedance loves dance, and they both started gymnastics. Today the were kissing each other and hugging each other during class. All the other moms thought it was cute.
T.j. is just a ball of fire. He has to have what he wants when he wants it. He still has a bottle and don't tell anyone but he takes it to bed with him. I really hope this doesn't make me a bad mom, but he needs to be happy atleast twice a day!!!! He is getting use to his foot and can take 4 or 5 steps. though, when we take it off the bottom of his stump is purple. So i have to call and see what they can do about that.
Well that is what has been going on around here.

Slowing down( I hope!!)

Yesterday Topher started Preschool. I always thought i would be one of those moms that was easy going and wouldn't worry to much when her kids went to school. Well i was just fine until we started toward the preschool. Then i got nervous. I was taking my son somewhere to have someone i didn't know watch him for two hours!!! Was this really a good idea! I got over it quickly though. He had a great time. His teacher is really nice! Everything went fine. I'm happy that we are doing preschool and hope tomorrow i won't even be nervous.
I'm hoping things are ready to calm down a little after this summer. T.j. has his foot, Toph is in school, and Creedance starts dance next week. I'm really hoping for an organized schedule, but won't be to upset if things stay wild like they normally are.
We had a fun weekend up at my parents cabin. We went into west Yellowstone, to church, to feed the fish, to quake lake and even played at the river for awhile The kids love it up there, even if we are making my family crazy. We sold our car. Tyler wanted to sell it and fix up a bus. Not sure if that is going to happen or not. Don't think he has made up his mind.
Oh yah, Rachel is married. The wedding and reception were great. We are having one her in Idaho Falls on Saturday night. I'm sure it will be great to.

Life is Crazy

I can't believe how much running around we have been doing. Between Redfish, swimming lessons, and trips to Salt Lake, it seems like i just run, run, run.
T.j. officially has his prosthetic. We spent the beginning of last week at Shriner's getting his foot and doing therapy, we ended up coming home early though. Topher had burnt his hand on an iron and i wanted to be home for that. Not to mention i was having horrible headaches and t.j. could not seem to stop crying!!!! He would scream non stop it seemed like for hours and as soon as i calmed him down he would either fall asleep or start crying again. He doesn't really like his prosthetic yet, kind of holds him back from moving around as easy but we are hoping he gets used to it soon.
Toph and Cree took another two weeks of swimming lessons. They loved it!!! They were in the same class as their cousins. Topher has turned into quite the little fish and passed his class that he got bumped up into!! He will be ready for the deep end next summer.
Redfish was wonderful!!!! The only regret was that Tyler didn't get to come with us. The kids loved the beach and would play for hours. I got to waterskii and Topher even knee boarded. I couldn't get any good pic's of him though because of all the smoke from forest fires( that and the fact that he wouldn't let me in the boat, i had to help him start). T.j. loved the canoe, I can't believe the smiles you got from him when you took him out.
So the last couple weeks have been interesting!!!!

Michigan

We decided that since T.j. didn't have to be at Shriner's at the time of Tyler's family reunion that we thought we would go. It was in Michigan and, if you didn't know, is a really long drive, especially with three small children!!!!! The drive to Nauvoo in the first two and a half days was not that bad. T.j. cried, and the kids watched t.v. and played with the new toys i had bought them.
Nauvoo was wonderful!! It was neat to see all of the places there. I loved the temple and the pageant. Even with the kids tired we had a really good time. The next day we went to Cathridge Jail. The kids were not extremely reverent when they were suppose to be but over all they were pretty good. But let's just say the rest of that day driving until 1:30 a.m. did not turn out so well. T.J. screamed straight for about an hour and a half. Tyler spent an hour helping some people with their hitch at a rest stop. Which was great for the kids but made it so we didn't reach our destination until a lot later.
Once at Tyler's brothers house we had a great time. The kids were content almost the whole time. Most of the time i didn't have to take care of anyone, but t.j., since he decided he really did not want anyone but mom and dad to hold him. (And he would not get down and play. ) Everything we did was fun, crafts, museums, carousel rides, popcorn, icees, huge blow up toys, and even old family movies. We just had a great time.
That is until the trip home!!! We decided that we could do it in two days. The first day we would make it half way through Nebraska before we stopped for the night and the all the way home the next day. Well it might have even worked if we hadn't gotten a flat tire, or even if we had a full size spare. But alas we did not!!! So we spent the night on the east side of Nebraska. Had to wait for a Wal-mart to open, and then had to get a new tire. At this point in the trip everyone was tired and grumpy.( The previous night we spent until almost midnight looking for a motel and wal-mart) We did finally make it home at 2 in the morning and Tyler got up and was at work by 8. I'm not sure he will ever take us anywhere again!!!!!

Mom's shouldn't get sick

After spending Wednesday thru Friday evening down in Salt Lake, I came home sick!!! I absolutely hate being sick! But as a mother it is ten times worse. My husband tried to help with the kids and all the other stuff mom's have to do, but he got overwhelmed really fast. He had been taking care of the older two kids in the evenings while i was gone, and tried to keep the house clean. But by the time i got home he was ready for me to take over and all i wanted to do was throw up. Thus, are weekend ended up being long and unpleasant, not to mention all of the crying!!! So i think there should be a rule somewhere that says moms cannot get sick.
My time in Salt Lake was fun though. I drove down with my sis, rachel, and my brother, Dave. Oh yeah, and t.j. ! We stayed in the hotel with my aunt and my mom. The next day my mom and me went to shriner's for t.j.'s appointment. The appointment went well, t.j.'s leg is continuing to heal. We did alot of shopping that day and went swimming in the hotel pool that night. The next day me, mom, and t.j. went and picked up my grandpa and his wife from the airport. We did lunch with them and then me and t.j. headed home. And we all now know what happened when we got there!!!!!!

Day with my family

Yesterday we went and played with my family. We went on a walk with my mom and brother. Then my mom offered to take me and the kids to the Tauphus park Funland. The kids loved it! Toph and Creedance went on the Ferris wheel all by themselves. I think they might have been a little scared at first but after the first time around they both had really big smiles on. Creedance did not like the octopus, but Toph thought it was alright. They all loved the merry-go-round. T.j. just smiling and smiling, he didn't want to let go of the horse when the ride was over and i had to pry his hands off the bar. All the kids liked the planes, too. The operator of the planes even let them go for a lot longer than normal.

Later that night grandpa(my dad) took us boating up to blacktail. The kids love to go on boat rides. Well t.j. would have liked it a lot better if he hadn't had to wear his life jacket. Me and Tyler got to go on the tubes with Topher and Cree, then we went just the two of us. Tyler fell off twice, but i hung on. But of course I got really bad whip lash and my neck kills today. The best part of all though was that i got to ski!!!!!!!!!! I got up the very first try. Every year i always worry that i won't be able to get up. I mean having three kids so fast really wears on your body. Anyway, it was a great ski and I'm so glad we got to go.

To finish off the day, grandpa took us all out to sizzler!!!!! It was great and the kids love to be able to pick what they want off the tables and then get ice cream at the end.
What a great day!!!!

Keeping Busy

To try to keep all of us sane we try to keep busy. This week we bought a slip-n-slide for the kids to play on. We have to wrap t.j.'s stump in a plastic bag and attempt to keep it dry. He seems to love the slip-n-slide more than the other two and just sits right in the middle. While he gets wet and the kids splash him he just smiles and smiles. Topher and Cree think it is fun until they get a little wet and then they whine that they are freezing. I'm having a hard time believing them since it has been so warm lately. It has gotten up to about 90 here which is pretty warm for Idaho. After a while they will play in the water and have a good time.
We have been seeing Tyler alot this week. We go visit him for lunch or run him something he needs which has been fun. It sure is nice to get to see the person you married everyonce in awhile.
We love the Library and the park, too. We try to go there whenever it isn't to hot and keep the kids doing something fun with some of their friends. We also just signed Toph and Cree up for swimming lessons. T.j. isn't yet allowed to go swimming and will probably be fairly upset when he find out that he won't get to swim with them. Hopefully he will forgive me.
I'm hoping if we just keep busy we won't all go crazy. But of course even with all these plans things at our house can always go crazy. But we will just keep on, keeping on!!

Bed Time

I think one of the hardest and sometimes most rewarding things as a mother can be bedtime. Sometimes its so fun to bath, read books, sing songs, and say prayers to tuck your children in. Then other times you have the screaming, yelling, won't stay in their bed nights. We are having one of the bad nights tonight. Creedance has been crying for the last hour (took me that whole time to figure out she wanted a baby doll that we can not find). T.j. has been fussy all night and Creedance keeps waking him up. Topher has been playing nintendo contendley with dad through all of this but it is now time for him to bed to. Well he keeps telling Creedance she is a baby and makes her cry harder! I can't wait until we can afford, or move into a house where they can have their own rooms!!! Probably won't make any difference though since we will still have bad nights. Plus i love were we live, sometimes it is so hard to make decisions.

The Last Month

My life is always crazy. I have three children, Toph(4), Creedance(3), T.J.(13 months). T.j. my youngest has been making sure our lives stay really busy as of late. My husband Tyler works for Jenkins Glass as a full time Glazier. He tends to lots of side job things to. He puts windows in for friends and family. He also uses his degree in photography and does weddings and family portraits occasionally for anyone that asks. He has to have time to which always seems to be something we run out of.

Tyler Junior(T.j.)

T.J. was born with an abnormality, called fibula hemimilia. His leg on the right side was shorter than the one on the left and the foot was not fully formed. (He only had three toes and was missing a major ankle bone). So last month we had his little foot amputated (and yes it was only the foot, not part of the leg). He seemed to fly through the surgery well, even better than when he had his tonsils and adenoids taken out the month before. He loved playing at the hospital, but soon hated to have to go back to his room. We brought him home a couple of days after the surgery, hoping all would go well and that we would be going back soon for a prosthetic. A week and a half after the surgery T.J.'s stump became infected and after an emergency room trip he was hospitalized for a couple of days. He was released and we were hoping all would go well again. Instead we started having problems with his I.V. The nurses thought it would be best to run a pic line (a type of I.V. that goes closer to the heart and does not go bad as easily) Tyler and I didn't really feel good about this, so we drove down to Shriner's to see what the doctor there thought. Thankfully he decided to just put T.J. on oral antibiotics.(YEAH!!!!!!) Tyler's parents and I took T.J. down for another check up yesterday hoping that we would not have to remove part of the i guess you would call scab because it was turning a funny color. But, yeah, again the doctors down there hope that it will fall of on it's own and that all will be well. We go back again in 2 weeks to see if his stump will be ready for a prosthetic.

We have been very blessed that things have gone fairly well though. It always could have been worse. And the lord has blessed us with friends and family that always seem to be there to help with the kids, meals, and even the ones that have helped me by actually looking at T.J.'s stump, which usually isn't very fun for anyone. Especially for the family that looked at it and sent us to the E.R. when it got badly infected, they had forgot to bring a meal on the right day but the Lord was directing them to, because they came the day we needed them to otherwise we would have never known to take him into the E.R..

Christopher(Toph)

My other two children and myself have been struggling with all of the changes and trauma, but I hope things will start getting better and hope that life will be fun for them since they are so young. Tyler and I took them out to lunch today to the Burger King with a ball pit and they loved it! They were actually happy and pleasant the whole time!!!! Which must mean things are getting better already. I'm hoping that both of them will get to do something fun this summer. I'm hoping they will get to take swimming lessons at the local swimming pool in the next couple of weeks. They both enjoyed dancing at the studio were I teach, but only Creedance will be dancing next year and we hope she will continue to like it. I'm hoping that Toph will be able to attend pre-school come fall, but I need to get the paperwork and money in, which so far has not happened but will hopefully happen soon.

Creedance

Welcome Jessica

Welcom to the world of blogging Jessica! --Tyler