Our Two Year Old

Jack turned two on December 15th. I know this is a little late, but our computer has been in the shop. Words can't explain how much we love this boy!

8 pounds 7 Ounces and 20 inches long

Now he is a little chunkier, 29 pounds!! He loves to eat , eat, eat!!

His new thing is to walk around with his hands in his pocket!

Jack is our little stud! He has grown so much and seems so old. Here are some of my favorite pictures of him:

Jack has been completing sentences since about 18 months. He loves telling us what to do:

"Mommy get up" (while pushing me from behind)
"Mommy come crash with me"

"Daddy get up and find it" (He will grab your arm and pull you)

Besides bossing us around he also knows how to be very cute:

"Hi Mommy I love you" (While giving me a hug or rubbing my back)
"Daddy Please Hold you"
"I am so so fast"
"Please sing Popcorn song"
"Lets go Eat"

He is also very helpful around the house:

He puts the silverware away
sets the table
wipes the table
Picks up his toys
Puts his diaper in the garbage, and dirty clothes in the hamper
Tries to comfort West when he is crying.

We Love our little boy and thank the Lord Everyday for the blessing he is to us.

Life

Well since my last post nothing much has changed. We ended up taking West in to the ER, and they said that if his pyloric was .1 millimeters bigger, they would keep him, so they sent us home. We have been taking him in to get weight checks, and he has been gaining weight, so that is a plus, but he is still throwing up tons, and has started to become kinda fussy, which is bringing back bad memories!! But hopefully he will calm down again. So now we are just going with the flow.

Other than that life is pretty good. Jack just loves West. When West cries Jack tells him that he is ok, and gives him hugs and kisses. I love seeing them together. Jack is almost two and I can't believe how fast time has flown. We are getting ready for Christmas, and can't wait!! We are so excited to see Jack open presents. We are also coming up on our 4 year anniversary, which is so crazy! I love my family so much!! Here are some pictures I have taken recently:

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Watching Anne play a racing game

Just chillen

The faces West makes are very similar to Jack's


Hanging with Dad


Jack took the piano Christmas ornament and played it on the real piano



Jocelyn will kill me, but that is ok. She has been working with a trainer and looks so good!!!

Pyloric Stenosis

What in the world is that? That is what I first thought when the doctor asked if we had a history of it in our family, "Well I don't think so because I have never heard of it." Pyloric Stenosis is a disease that causes the lower part of the stomach in babies to narrow, which prevents food from emptying the stomach causing babies to throw up what they have eaten. It occurs in 1 out of 500 babies, generally boys. It can be fixed with surgery.

West has been spitting up for quite some time, making us think that he had acid reflux, but it has continually gotten worse. He will spit up from the time he has finished eating all the way to his next feeding. Friday I took him in to get an ultrasound because our pediatrician thought he might have Pyloric Stenosis. The ultrasound came back with one abnormal reading and two borderline readings. Our pediatrician told us to monitor him this weekend because it is a disease that gets worse as time goes on. Well this weekend he has been spitting up even more. Unfortunately our doctor Cynthia Ironside (who I absolutely love!!), is not on call. She told us to call the on call doctor if it got worse and he would tell us what we needed to do.

This morning I was getting ready for church I had just fed West and he spit up some, but that was normal. I started to get him in his Sunday wear and he spit up all over it, so I changed him. As we were getting in the car he again spit up all over the place. I immediately brought him inside and called the on call doctor, who made me feel like an idiot! I told him about teh ultrasound and the findings, and he said that there was a bug going around that was causing babies to throw up. I told him that he was not eating very well and he proceeded to tell me that he can't spit up more, if he does not eat more. I told him that Saturday I had fed him at 5 am and then again at 8. At 8 he only ate half an ounce, but spit up at least three ounces, meaning that the food was probably stuck in his stomach and had finally come out. He then said all I can tell you is that if you are concerned go to the ER.

WOW I felt like a complete idiot. My pediatrician was very concerned and told me to monitor him and if it got bad to call to the on call doctor, well it has, and he could care less. So my plan is to wait until his next feeding and if he throws up again I am going to take him in. If he has to get the surgery he will be on an IV for 24 hours to prepare his body. He will then be there for a couple of days after to be monitored. We are hoping that we can just get this taken care of so our baby will feel better!

I hate when doctors think they know everything and won't listen to you, even when my doctor told me she was concerned!!!! I am so grateful for our pediatrician, she has never made me feel dumb and always listens to my concerns. We have gone to 5 different pediatricians since Jack was born, and Cynthia is by far the best we have seen!!! I will post again when we figure out what is going to happen.

Halloween and Baby Blessing

This weekend we had West's baby blessing. Brandon, Amanda, Jocelyn, Taryn, and Kaden visited from Provo, to be here for the blessing. It is about a ten hour drive. They got in Friday night about ten and left Sunday morning right after the blessing. Aaron's brother Alex also came for the blessing. He took a train from Portland to be here. It was so nice to have family here for the blessing. It was also nice to have them here for Halloween.

Jack is a pro when it comes to trick or treating. One of the doors we knocked had a bowl on the front porch that said, "take some." Jack picked the bowl up moved it in front of him and started taking pieces out one by one to put in his bag. It was pretty funny, we had to make him stop, i believe if we had not he would have emptied the whole bag. One of the houses we walked up to had a man dressed up in black with a scream mask on. Jack looked at him for a second and then turned around screaming and crying. He was so scared that his whole body was shaking. It took us a little while to calm him down, and then he kept saying scary! Taryn joined and said, "he is a mean man." I felt pretty bad for Jack, but all in all they had a fun night.

It was so fun to see Jack and Taryn play together again. It has been six months since they have seen each other. Jack would walk around the house saying "Taryn where are you, oh there you are. I found you!!" Taryn is so so funny when West was hungry she said, "oh no he is starving and hungry. She also said that the reason West was crying was because he missed his daddy. I am so so grateful that they came and visited for the blessing! I have not seen Brandon and Amanda since I graduated in April. Seeing my family made me so so happy, I have really really missed them! Here are some pictures from the short weekend.

Taryn, Kaden, West, and Jack

Giving West kisses

They were pushing cars down the slide, I love their faces in this picture

I love candy!

Not so sure about this!

Little Fairy

Getting ready to go the West's blessing

Looking UP!

Well things are looking wonderful! West gained .3 ounces at his appointment and the doctor said that was what she was looking for. She said I need to keep him on formula, but said she did not want us to have to buy it, so when we run out to give her a call and she will give us some. I am still breastfeeding West every other feeding to see if I can get it to work, so we will see what happens. As for Jack his finger is looking so much better. The medicine has worked and the doctor said that the staph is gone! I am very relieved and happy! Here are a couple of recent pictures:

He loves holding West!

Dr. Office: My new home!

West is a little over 2 weeks old, and boy has life been crazy!! Last saturday night, Jack started feeling sick, he had a fever of 102, a rash all over his body, and a little blister the size of a pea on his thumb. We gave him some medicine and finally got him to sleep about 1 in the morning. Aaron and my room is in the basement, and Jack shares a room with Kyle upstairs. Their bedroom is right across the hall from grandma and grandpa's. Sunday morning about 7, Maga (Grandma Hayes) woke up that morning to Jack saying "What is it, What is it?" She went into the bedroom to find that Jack had thrown up all over his bed, and was wondering what it was.

That afternoon we noticed that the blister on his finger had grown, and by the next morning it was covering his whole thumb. I called our doctor and took Jack in to be checked. The doctor checked Jack and discovered that he had a staph infection. She told us it was very contagious and we needed to keep him away from West. She also popped his blister, gave us a prescription and set us up to come back and see her in a week. Well we were successful in giving Jack his meds the first two days, and then he decided he did not want them. Every time we tried to give them to him he spit it out. We even had two people holding him and one shutting his nose so he would swallow. We tried putting it in chocolate syrup, yougart, ice cream, and even his drink, but he would not take it. We finally tried putting it in an otter pop, and it worked!

While all of this was happening with Jack, we also had problems with West. West is a sleepy boy. I have to wake him up to eat every time. We have to put our hand in the freezer then on his stomach, and then sometimes this does not work. I took him in for his 3 day appointment and he had lost weight, which is normal, but she wanted me to bring him in one week later to make sure he was gaining. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces. Three days later he was circumsiced and they weighed him and he had dropped to 7 pounds 4 ounces. I brought him back in two days later and he was down to 7 pounds 1 ounce. So I have had to give him formula. I want to keep breastfeeding, but not sure if I will be able too. I am switching between the bottle and breastfeeding. Monday I have to take him back in to see if he has gained weight. If he has not gained weight we will discuss what needs to happen next, hopefully he has though. All in all I have been to the doctor's office 6 different times in one week. And I am going back monday, and tuesday. I hope this is the last time I have to take them in for a long time!

Some pictures of West

West has been such a good baby so far! Jack cried all of the time, never slept, and was a pretty hard baby, it is crazy to see how different their temperaments are so far. All West does is sleep. He only cries when he is hungry, and even then not very long. I have to wake him up to feed him and even then he falls asleep while he is eating. With Jack I usually did not get to bed until after 1 and then I was waking up almost every hour. I have been putting West to bed at 11 and he generally does not wake up until around 3:30 and then again around 7. I hope that I am not cursing myself by writing this!

Right after I had West. Pretty tired, but so happy!

Getting ready for his first bath

Sleeping in his crib

I am getting better at wrapping him in his blanket.

My mom came to visit from Texas, it was so nice to have her here!

My sister Jocelyn also came to visit from SLC.