Independence Day Stuff

I seem to keep forgetting that I actually know where my camera is. At least that's what it seems like with how few pictures I've been taking lately. I keep thinking I should be taking more but rarely pull out the camera to do so. So in a way I'm amazed I got what pictures I did from the Independence Day celebrations. Well, at least from the local parade. Didn't get a single picture taken when we did fireworks with the kids. Or from the barbecue we had. Or even from eating lunch after the parade with some wonderful neighbors. Didn't even get any pictures of the water fights that went on with the parade this year. And since that's mostly what Jimmy did, I somehow managed to miss getting a single picture of him from those days. I keep telling myself that was a case of self-preservation and to save the camera from the water. Not quite sure I believe it though.

We did have a lot of fun for the holiday weekend. The only downfall being the motor going out on our air conditioner the afternoon we had the barbecue at our house. Luckily it was a cooler day than it had been. Another good neighbor and friend came over and helped Russ get it working the next day after work. Which was another time I thought I should pull out my camera and didn't. He brought along his three daughters and they had a good time playing with my kids. His youngest is about 6 months older than Dylan and they played really cute together. Dylan would kind of give her a hug and look at me and say, "Gracie nice."

The parade seems to get longer every year. For our town not being all that big, the parade is large. It was scheduled to start at 11:00. Always at the end of the parade is a giant water fight along the parade route. That part was actually shorter than it has been in the past. And even then the parade didn't end until quarter after 1. Of course, that meant more candy that the kids were able to get at the parade. Knowing full well that the parade ended with a big water fight didn't stop Russ and Jimmy from being drenched before the parade even started. I think they almost wished it had been a hotter day than it was after that.

One nice thing about being the main photo taker in the family is that means I am in very few pictures. Russ did get the camera at one point and made sure he took a couple of me. I'll get one of those here first to get it quickly out of the way.
Here are the girls at the parade with their sacks ready to grab more candy thrown their way. Jimmy didn't watch a whole lot of the parade but still managed to get a bit of candy.
You can kind of tell how wet Russ got in this picture. I was actually surprised Dylan didn't mind being held with how wet he was.

Going back to being the main photo taker, sometimes Jimmy gets a hold of the camera. Sadly on my part, some of the best pictures we have are ones he has taken. This is one Jimmy took in the car as we were headed to my parent's house recently. Totally unedited, I should note. Decided to throw it in this post because I think it's cute. Not sure how he got Dylan to stick his tongue out at him for it.

Catching Up Post

I've slacked on posting about a few things. Mostly because I hadn't uploaded any pictures onto the computer for a while. Actually haven't taken many pictures at all lately. Not really sure why. Just haven't. Probably just utter laziness kicking in.

Anyway, I can't remember if I mentioned before (and again with the lazy trend, I don't feel like looking) that we got the kids one of the butterfly kits where caterpillars arrive in the mail and you get to watch them grow and make cocoons and hatch into butterflies. The kids really loved it. They would often check on the caterpillars to see how much they had grown and were excited when they finally made their cocoons. They were even more excited when they hatched. Lys, Dylan and I got to watch one of them emerge from its cocoon. That was kind of fun. Although I will say that butterflies are kind of gross when they first come out with their drippings of red meconium. And kind of stinky. A few days after they hatched, the kids decided to try to release them. I got a video of it, but will spare you from listening to Dylan cry and Jimmy boss his sisters. The butterflies didn't seem ready to be released then. They didn't try to fly at all and basically fluttered to the ground when Russ gently tossed any into the air to see if they would fly. So back into the netting thing they went for a few more days. They flew away nicely when they tried again. Well, one seemed happy to sick around and let the kids hold it for a bit. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me that time.

Here are a couple of pictures just before the first attempt to release them. One with the kids getting ready. The other just of Dylan to show that he was actually there and part of it.

This next picture is of Lys with her preschool teacher at preschool graduation. Again I have a few videos of songs and things from her graduation but will spare you having to listen to them. My camera was very low on batteries so I didn't actually record all I wanted. Wished I had recorded them singing Tony Chestnuts. They sang a lot more to it than I know and it was cute. Lys loved preschool and was excited about her graduation program. Didn't seem all that sad about not having preschool anymore. She just knows she gets to start kindergarten in the fall and is excited about that.
Yesterday I cut Dylan's and Emma's hair. Dylan's because, well, it needed it. It was getting a bit long and even though it was cute on him we decided to try giving him a really short cut. Not the easiest thing in the world to do to a kid who wiggles because he's not happy about getting a hair cut. I just think his hair is kind of funny. Has a couple of spots where his hair is more blond than other parts so it makes it look like he has bald spots. Granted, Russ did decide he needed it a little shorter on the sides and around the ears and did make a couple of little bald spots in his attempt to trim it.

Emma asked me to cut her hair for her. Ended up being slightly shorter than I intended because she moved as I was cutting some and had to fix it after that. She likes it though. Likes having it shorter for the heat of the summer.

This is a picture of Emma and Dylan together shortly after their hair cuts. Not the best picture but it gives you a general idea. Jimmy says Dylan says he has "Jimmy hair." The girls say he has "Daddy hair." Emma says she and Molly have the same hair now.

If you notice, I don't have any pictures from Lyssa's birthday party. When I finally got the pictures onto the computer I discovered that the only picture we have is a short video of the blowing out of the candle. She had a good time with her party though. Even if Dylan thinks the presents she got are all his.

MRI Results

Dylan's doctor called me a few minutes ago to go over the results of yesterday's MRI. He said that everything looks good and there wasn't the narrowing in his pulmonary arteries. Which means that he won't need the cath. Which is very good news.

He also talked about when he needs to come in next. The last few visits have been every 6 months. He decided to go 9 months this time. I didn't think we'd see going every 9 months for a while yet. So all in all it was a good phone call.

Dylan's MRI

I was surprised last week to get a call from Primary's to schedule the MRI for Dylan. Didn't expect it to happen that quickly. Nor did I expect to be able to get in this week. Although I will say it's nice to have it done.

I took Dylan in this morning for the MRI. Obviously it was sedated. And even then he fought them a little with it. They give a stronger medicine for sedation for the MRI than they do for an echo since it's more important that the person not really move during it. The nurse told me that they wanted him to sleep for 2 hours with the medicine. Said that those who don't sleep for the 2 hours tend to wake up rather cranky and it's just all around better for them to sleep for the 2 hours. Anyway, after giving Dylan the medicine, it appeared that he was quite out so they took him into the MRI room and started getting the monitors on him and getting everything set to go. They have a little camera inside the machine so they can watch the patient. I looked at the monitor and noticed that Dylan's head wasn't where it had been so glanced through the window into the room. He was moving around and fighting them. They gave him a little bit of a different kind of sedation medicine just to help him "get over the hump" to fall asleep.

Once they got him settled back down and got the monitors hooked up and everything ready to go, they had me go wait in the MRI recovery room. I was glad that I brought a book at that point.

About an hour later they brought Dylan in and laid him on a bed. He really tried to wake up then and started moving around and kind of fighting them. I ended up holding him and he would settle down and sleep for a couple of minutes then start shifting around again for a bit before settling down. The nurse finally asked if he would like a drink. He heard her say "sippy cup" and without even opening his eyes said, "Okay." A little bit later when it was obvious he was keeping it down the nurse asked if we wanted to go home. Again he immediately said, "Okay." Although I think he said "Bye" the loudest.

Not long after getting in the car, Dylan fell back to sleep. And stayed asleep for quite a while. Woke up pretty happy but pretty wobbly. Couldn't really even stand without tipping for a while. Even going to bed tonight he was still slightly wobbly but was a lot better than he had been.

I don't have the results yet for the MRI. Dylan's cardiologist wasn't at Primary's today. He was at a new outpatient clinic Primary's has at the south end of the valley but he should be calling me. I'm hoping to hear tomorrow. Waiting for the results of the MRI isn't fun. Waiting the week for the results of the echo didn't bother me at all. I guess that's because I figured it would show what it did. This time I'm waiting to find out if he will need a cath procedure. I'm hoping he won't but a lot of me expects that he will. Which is probably what is making the wait a little more anxious. Which is funny in a way since earlier today I was thinking how quickly going to the doctor for his heart becomes just a part of life.

Dylan Echo and Cardiologist Visits

About Wednesday of last week I received an apologetic call from Primary's saying that they would not have any sedation techs there the day he was scheduled for his next sedated echo (that date was today) and they had one time open that Friday at 8 a.m. that they were saving for him if we could take it. I asked them when the next available time they had open after his original scheduled one. They checked the schedule that would work to also meet with his pediatric cardiologist and the soonest they could get him in if I didn't take the one open time wasn't until September. So knowing it would be challenging for us, I opted to take the time they suggested.

Mostly it was challenging because Russ had training stuff at work he couldn't miss and the kids had a big program followed by their annual picnic on the playground and flower planting at the school. But it got worked out with Russ just going in a little late to work to help get the kids off to school and my mom came up to get Molly over when she was supposed to go and watch Lys.

With the appointment at 8 and knowing I wouldn't be meeting with his PC until today, I figured I should be back in time to see the program. Unfortunately, the sedation left Dylan a little nauseated and he threw up a couple of times. They wanted to make sure he was okay before they let us go home. After the second time he threw up, they got him some anti-nausea medicine. After waiting some time to make sure that actually helped with his hurlings, I was finally able to leave. I got to the school after the program had ended and about the time they were starting to eat for the picnic.

Today I went back to meet with his PC and get the results of the echo. The timing with this appointment was actually pretty nice. I picked up Molly when she was done with kindergarten for the last time and headed down to his appointment. I got back in time for Jimmy and Emma to get out.

Dylan's cardiologist told me that his heart function looks about the same. Still has the leaking from the valve, but the heart can take leaking for quite a while. His problem is that the veins going into his lungs are narrow. He wants Dylan to get an MRI to see exactly how narrow. If they are too narrow, he will need to get a cath to get them expanded. He wouldn't worry about the veins being narrow if he thought that Dylan would need to get his conduit replaced soon, but since he thinks it will be a while before he needs that surgery he feels we need to get this taken care of. He did say one option would be to just go ahead and do the cath but really doesn't want to do it if it isn't necessary.

The plan now is that they will get the pre-authorization for the MRI from the insurance and then will give me a call to schedule it. I should hear from them within the next couple of weeks to get it scheduled and have the MRI done sometime within the next couple of months.

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

Alyssa turned 5 years old today. How quickly the time has gone by. We had a birthday party for her last Saturday at the park. She invited kids from her preschool class and had a good time. I didn't get many pictures from her party unfortunately. Couldn't find where I had shoved the camera with all of the rest of the things we brought over to the park. Found it in time to get her being sung to for eating cake and ice cream and then put the camera away and had a hard time finding it again.

She is one of the happiest kids I know. Always has a smile on her face and an easy going attitude. She is excited to start kindergarten in the fall. She's hoping to get the same teacher that her sisters and brother had. Should be finding out tomorrow sometime.

Happy birthday, Alyssa! I hope you have a great one this year! Love you!

Wedding, Dentist and More

It has been fairly busy for us lately, which isn't very typical. Just have had a lot of things going on close to other things. And we're not quite finished.

My sister-in-law, Linda, got married last Tuesday. I would say I made her wedding cake with the help of my sister Susan, but in reality it was more that Susan made her wedding cake and I helped a little. I made the figures for the top of the cake. We got it all put together the night before. I'm happy with the way it turned out. I only heard good comments about it, so everyone else must have been happy with it as well. Here's the cake right after we finished it:

Tuesday was quite rainy most of the day. Instead of taking the group picture outside the temple we went down to the atrium. Which was nicer than standing in the rain, even if we did get in the way of people trying to get in or out of the temple. My mom watched the kids while we were in the temple for the ceremony then was nice enough to bring them up after for pictures. They seemed to really enjoy looking at the flowers in the atrium. I tried to get a good picture of them in front of it, but this was the best I could do. Which actually turned out better than I thought it would.
If you look close you can see Emma looking at me through glass.
The girls, along with their cousin Rebecca, were excited once Linda came out and gathered around her.
The day after the wedding I took all of the kids to the dentist for cleanings. It was Dylan's first time going and we didn't expect much to come from his appointment being so young and not really liking adults other than Russ or me to touch him. Lys was quite nervous because of her experience in trying to get a tooth filled without sedation. She was afraid it would be like that. She was very happy when it was easy and when she learned she didn't have any cavities.

Dylan wasn't as lucky as Lys. He has one cavity that they saw doing a quick lap exam. Which means that when he goes for his next echo on the 4th, I talk with his cardiologist and make sure he's okay with them doing sedation in their offices for him. They do have an anesthesiologist they use for real small kids like Dylan. So it probably won't be an issue, but nice to make sure.

Emma didn't have any cavities but had a tooth that was starting to get infected and needed to be pulled. She had that done this morning. My friend Jodi watched Dylan, Lys and Molly (since Molly doesn't have kindergarten today) while I took Emma in. She wanted it sedated so it was scheduled as one. But then Jimmy didn't know he wasn't supposed to and gave Emma breakfast this morning, which meant they couldn't do it sedated. After some convincing and bribing and a slight freak out over the gas (which they ended up not using), they were able to pull her tooth. I walked out of the dentist almost exactly a half hour after I walked in. Much nicer to not do sedations. Cheaper, too.

Molly and Jimmy also had no cavities. Jimmy is going to need braces pretty soon though. I need to schedule an appointment for him to see an orthodontist soon. He's not thrilled about that. Keeps asking me when he will get them. I keep telling him sometime after I make him an appointment for a consultation with an orthodontist.

Thursday Lys had a field trip with preschool. Because this spring has been cold and wet the field trip had been postponed a few times. Luckily it was a nice day that day. A little cool, but nice. Really would have felt too hot had it been any warmer that day. Molly had kindergarten in the afternoon that day for practice for the kindergarten program so she came along on the field trip. I think Lys was excited that she was able to go along too.

The field trip was to a local park to go feed the ducks. All of the kids seemed to have fun. Almost think they liked playing on the playground for a while after feeding the ducks the most. Of course, Dylan saw some ducks as we were leaving and was mad that we didn't go over and see them again.

This is Lyssa's class (and a few others like Molly and Dylan in front). Lys is in there somewhere. Not sure where though.

Molly and Lys feeding a couple of geese.
Dylan loves swings. As you can see in this picture.
Molly saw this rock as we were leaving and wanted me to take a picture of the three of them on the rock. Obviously Lys and Dylan weren't as excited about it as she was.
Friday morning Molly had her kindergarten program. This is the third one I've been to. It was just like the other two, only Molly had a short speaking part where Jimmy and Emma didn't. I mostly took video of it. I may add one with my next post, which should be coming sometime fairly soon with more upcoming events.

Saturday we went to the annual family picnic with IHH. In the past it's been held at the hospital. This year it was at a park (that I impressed myself with being able to find without getting lost at all when it had been a long time since I've been to that park). I made sugar cookies for the heart shaped dessert contest this time instead of an elaborate cake like last time. I had leftover cake last time. No leftover cookies this time. It was fun being at the park. Luckily it was another nice day.

After the family picnic we went to the hospital for a very short and quick visit to see our newest nephew, Nathan. Then went home and worked in the yard. I have learned that with this pregnancy I get tired easier than I have with the other ones. So I was pretty tired by the end of the day. And end of the week, actually. I failed to mention earlier that on Mother's Day we attended a baby blessing for another new nephew, Aaron. That was nice as well. I didn't get any pictures taken that evening though. One of these days I'll find the paper where I wrote down what I could of the blessing and get it sent to you, Sara.