Catching up...

I am so behind!

Back in March we made a weekend trip to Logan to stay over night with my grandparents and to go see Danny's grandparents in Brigham City.  We also went sledding at a park by my grandma's house in Logan.  It had the biggest hills so it was a lot of fun!  Kayzee would not go but Danny, Memphis, and I all went a few times.  Memphis the most...he LOVED it!

After we got back the real fun began.  I missed a couple days of school because of some PE trainings and then I thought I got food poisoning so I missed some more days of work.  Then I realized it was not food poisoning but instead the stomach flu because it went through Danny, Memphis, and Kayzee.  YUCK!  Then Kayzee ended up in the hospital so I missed more work (mentioned in my last post), then I got strep!  Seriously so annoying that it was just one thing after another.  I missed a lot of work and then it was Spring Break so it was really hard going back to work after all that. 

But I did have a great Easter and Spring Break which totally made up for the horrible weeks before that.  And I was spoiled for my Birthday that week too:)

First came Easter.  We woke up and the Easter Bunny brought us fun gifts and candy in our Easter Baskets.

 Then we drove to Logan to my grandma's and grandpa's house and SURPRISE...my parents drove down from Washington.  YAY!  So fun to see my mom and dad and Memphis and Kayzee had fun with their grandma and grandpa:)  We went on an easter egg hunt in my grandma's backyard...and we had a yummy Easter dinner and my Aunt and Uncle came and my cousin and his wife.

 One of the many reasons my parents came to visit was so they could watch our kids overnight so that Danny and I could go to Anniversary Inn in Logan.  Danny wanted to surprise me for my birthday and my Dad spoiled me and upgraded our room...THANKS DAD!  We stayed in the best room.  So nice!

 The jetted tub was the best part.  Wish I had one in my own bathroom at home...oh well.

 The next day (Monday) I got to sleep in...it was really nice.  Then we went back to my grandma's house and back to our kids.  My mom said they did great without us.  They usually do:)  All the women went shopping and the men stayed behind to watch tv and read.  Then we had lunch and then us and my parents drove to Farmington to see my aunt and uncle.  Then we finally headed home.  That night for dinner we went with my parents to Buffalo Wild Wings so they could try it.

The next day (Tuesday April 2) was my birthday!!!

I woke up to some yummy chocolate cake...

 flowers...

 balloons (that 30 is wrong...I am really 29 AGAIN!)...

 presents...

 and more presents...THANKS MOM!

 and another present...Danny surprised me and got me a bike!  (see below for pictures of that one)  I have been talking about wanting one for the summer so I have been saving my money but Danny beat me to it.  THANKS BABE!

Then my mom and I drove to Springville to The Retreat to get my hair done.  I always chop off all my hair and get highlights for the summer.  My cousin does it and she always does a fantastic job!

I LOVE Brick Oven Pizza in Provo so we got a big party room and invited all my cousins and aunts and had a party!  We had so many show up we had to move to a bigger room.  The manager was so nice to accommodate all of us.  We definitely had a party and it was fun to see everyone!  Thanks family...

 All the little ones...

 Blowing out my candles that night...

 My parents left the next day...and then I had fun just staying home with my kids for the rest of the week.  I love my family (ALL OF THEM!)...thanks for a great birthday and to everyone who sent me cards and gifts.  Turning 30 wasn't so bad:)

We like to go on walks and Memphis has always ridden his bike while I pushed Kayzee in her stroller.  But Memphis started getting way too fast and our jogging stroller broke so I also got a new bike trailer to go with my new bike.  Now Memphis can ride his bike really fast and I can keep up with Kayzee in the trailer.  But first Memphis had to go for a ride too:)

 I first took my bike out for a ride.  I use to ride a bike and go on 20 mile bike rides all the time back in college (2001-2005!) so I knew I needed to try out my bike first to get use to it.  I went 10 miles easy.  Then another day I added the trailer and took that out (added 16 lbs) so I only made it about 6 miles.  Then the next day I added my two kids (add another 75 lbs!!!!) and man that was tough but I made it 2 miles.  My goal is to go for a bike ride everyday this summer with my kids.  It is going to be a great summer...I can't wait.  Only a month and a half left of school!

The Hospital Adventure

Yep, Kayzee ended up in the hospital.  The at-home clean-out procedures we tried didn't work and the GI specialist wanted to run some tests to figure out what has been causing her constipation.  It was a crazy day.  I got about half way to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City and found out the hospital needed a preauthorization number before they could admit her (which could take awhile) and they told me I could be there for a maximum of 3 days so I drove all the way back home and packed and waited.  Then we got the call that my insurance gave preauthorization but for only 24 hours so if Kayzee needed to stay longer than we would have a lot to pay out of pocket.  Dreading the bills but wanting to get Kayzee help we headed back up there.

The nurses were fabulous.  So kind, so patient, and very friendly.  Kayzee LOVED them.  She would do whatever they asked.  One hard thing was they would only let Kayzee eat jello and drink juice and I couldn't leave her side so they brought me lunch but I had to hide eating it in front of her so it took me about an hour to eat my salad;)  The hospital did have a play room for inpatients and Kayzee was in heaven playing with all the dolls and the play kitchen.

Here is Kayzee with her new yellow hospital socks.  She loved them.  She looks so grown up here too.

The GI specialist (a different one than we had seen before) came in and took her history then ordered a barium enema.  An enema with contrast dye so they could take x-rays of her intestinal tract.  The specialist was worried about hirschsprung's disease.  It's where a part of the intestinal tract is narrowed and missing some nerve endings which causes bowel problems.  So off we went to radiology.  This was the hardest part of the whole hospital adventure.  Watching my daughter being strapped down to a board so she couldn't move and then listening to her scream for 30 minutes while they did the enema and turned her strapped down body every direction so they could get good x-rays was heartbreaking for me.  All I could do was hold her hand and sing songs quietly in her ear.  Here is what I wrote on Facebook about this whole experience...

I have a new appreciation for parents who have to watch their children suffer through painful medical procedures...there is nothing you can do but hold their hand and wish you could take their place so they don't have to go through that.  And there are those who deal with it on a daily basis.  My heart goes out to them.  My daughter has been so strong through this process bringing smiles to all the nurses with her sweet personality.  She is such a good example to me to be happy through trials.

We headed back to her room and waited for the results.  The enema cleaned her out and she had diarrhea for 4 days.  I literally changed 9-14 diapers a day when normally I change her 2-3 times a day. She got really dehydrated so while in the hospital she had an iv with fluids.  The nurses got the iv in her really fast so Kayzee didn't really have time to cry.  

11 hours after being admitted the specialist came in with great news.  She did not have hirschsprung's and now that she was officially cleaned out we could actually go home.  They rushed her paperwork so we could leave before it had been 12 hours and that way I could claim out-patient procedures instead of in-patient admittance to help us save a lot of money!  YAY!  She was officially diagnosed with chronic constipation.  Basically we have to give her a fiber filled diet and she needs to learn to go to the bathroom on her own (which is hard because she is so young and doesn't understand the importance of going everyday or else she will be constipated again and have to be cleaned out.  We have to continue with the laxative once a day and the ex-lax chews every weekend until June when they will reevaluate and hopefully wean her off everything.  Since we have been home I was worried about the 4 days of diarrhea but knowing she was staying cleaned out I didn't worry too much but now she has not had a bowel movement in 5 days so the dr says if she goes 2 more days without one then we will have to do the 3 day clean-out procedures all over again.  UGH.  I wish there was someway we could get her to understand.  And I am going to start potty-training soon so we will see if that helps or if it will be hard with everything going on.  

After we got home life got worse for me (I had already had a horrible week so to have another week of being miserable was really disappointing) but then I had the best week and that made up for everything!  But that's another post:)

The Kayzee Adventure

And what an adventure she is!  I love her so much and I am so blessed to have her in my life.  She has had a rough two weeks (or should I say we all have) but the good news is...she is finally sleeping through the night!  After 2 1/2 years (yes, you read that right...YEARS) I am finally getting sleep because she is finally sleeping.  But it's weird because my body doesn't know what to do with all this extra sleep so I still feel so exhausted!

I first need to post a bunch of pictures of Kayzee.  I was finally making our blog into a book and I noticed that I posted pictures of Memphis growing up each month and I never did that for Kayzee so here it is now so I at least have it for the journal/book blurb thingy I am making.  And who doesn't want to see pictures of beautiful Kayzee Lynn...I know the grandma's will enjoy it:)

Birth

2 weeks

1 month

2 months

 3 months

 4 months

5 months

 6 months...so stinkin' cute:)

 7 months

 8 months

 9 months

10 months

 11 months

1 year

2 years

This may have happened a long time ago but I realized I never really gave an update on Kayzee these past few months.  When Kayzee turned 2 back in September she came up to me one day and said, "Mommy, I am talking now."  That was definitely a crazy day because the day before she literally only said maybe 4 words and then BAM she started talking in sentences with a million new words!  Right after she said she was talking now she then starting rambling and I will probably never forget what she said because it was so random but definitely so cute and I loved hearing that she had been learning all this time...this is what she said:

"Mommy that's a deer (pointing to a painting in our room), penguins waddle, and in the winter it's cold."

Seriously where did all that come from?  And she hasn't stopped talking since (except when she is shy around strangers).  She was also obsessed with size and families.  One night at dinner she put her broccoli in order by size and then pointed to each one (biggest to smallest) and said, "Daddy, Mommy, and baby broccoli."  SMART GIRL!

Kayzee is my healthy eater and it is definitely all her because she chooses to eat healthy.  If you offer her junk food or fast food or healthy food she always chooses the healthy food.  She always goes to the fridge and picks out apples, yogurt, carrots, lettuce, green peppers, broccoli, etc to eat for a snack.  And she will eat anything put in front of her.  She is not afraid to try new things.  So unlike her brother who is so picky and will only eat like 3 things.  

Kayzee is also obsessed with books.  I always hear about other little girls that have to take a million stuffed animals to bed with them...well with Kayzee it's books!  She always has a stack of books in bed with her.  Doesn't look comfortable to me but she loves them. 

She has also lost some weight.  She grew out of her summer clothes which were 3T so when winter came I got 4T.  But slowly she has grown taller and skinnier and really turned into a little girl and her bowel problems haven't really helped because sometimes she won't eat.  Now her clothes don't fit.  Which is annoying because I really don't want to buy 3T winter clothes.  Oh well, time to buy some belts.

Here are some more cute pictures of Kayzee these past few months...

 Kayzee drew a picture of a kitty all by herself!

 I love that she has long hair so I can play with it!

Now for the long awaited update on Kayzee's visit to the GI specialist.  I know you have all been wondering and sitting on the edge of your seats the past few weeks.  HA just kidding and...WARNING: Potty talk--->We headed up to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake city.  I got a sub and took the day off of work and Kayzee and I had a fun mother daughter date of shopping, going out to lunch, and finally seeing the specialist.  HE WAS WONDERFUL!  He listened to me and my venting of the past 2 1/2 years of dealing with Kayzee and her bowel problems and her not sleeping and then examined her.  Kayzee did really well through it all too.  

He said that she just didn't transition well enough from formula/nursing to real food.  She became constipated all the time and eventually got afraid of pushing through the pain so she just held it all in and she became blocked and she has been blocked for a very long time.  That why she hasn't been sleeping because she has been so uncomfortable and in so much pain.  Putting her on the laxative just made the new stuff she made runny and that just leaked around the blockage and that was why she would be constipated/diarrhea on off every week.  Gross YES sorry! AND THE PEDIATRICIAN WAS WRONG!  You should have seen how mad the specialist got when I told him the dosage the pediatrician told me to give Kayzee and how to wean her off.  The specialist said it just made things worse.  He told me he would call the pediatrician and correct him so he didn't do it to anymore kids.  GREAT!

The specialist then gave her a suppository and gave me a 3 day clean-out procedure schedule, a 10-day maintenance schedule, and a 6 month weaning schedule with a scheduled x-ray on day 4 to make sure the clean-out procedures worked.  

For the 3 day clean-out we had to give her an enema each morning and a laxative in her drink at every meal and an ex-lax chew at bedtime.  The first day nothing really happened.  Day 2 was a Sunday and we knew we didn't want to attempt church not knowing what to expect and I am glad we stayed home.  She cried for 2 hours but finally got the blockage out.  She then had 8-10 poopy diapers the next few days.  And the mineral oil from the enemas would disintegrate her diaper so fast we also went through a lot of clothes and laundry.  It was a very hard few days for everyone. She was such a trooper when we had to give her the enemas though.   

We then went and got her x-ray and sadly we got the call that it didn't get it all out so we had to do the 3-day clean-out procedures all over again!  By day 6 of enemas she would just lay down and give me the look of...just get it over with!  And the 2nd time around Kayzee got really bad diaper rash and she would just cry every time we changed her diaper.  Poor girl.  Now we are on the 10 day-maintance schedule of a laxative morning and night with an ex-lax chew every weekend.  After the 10 days she will just have a laxative every night and an ex-lax chew 3 times a month.  In 3 months we go back to the specialist and he will reevaluate.  If he deems her back to normal then we start a 3 month weaning schedule to get her off the laxative so it doesn't do more harm.  If she is still not back to normal then something else is wrong or something else is causing her problems and we will have to figure that out.  Hopefully it doesn't come to that.  

The best news through all of this is that she is sleeping so much better.  I am so glad that we figured all this out and that I trusted my mommy instinct and sought out a specialist when my pediatrician wouldn't really help.  

We LOVE our sweet Kayzee Lynn so much.