Adenotonsillectomy

Sydney had to have her tonsils and adenoids removed last weekend. The doctor said they were HUGE! She had obstructive sleep apnea due to their large size, which caused her to gasp for air while sleeping. We decided that having them removed was a better option, long term, than to have to give her medication for an extended period of time, which would not solve the problem. The surgery was done at Primary Children's Hospital, and I must say... THEY ARE AMAZING THERE!!! Sydney does much better if she is prepped for what's coming. The hospital had a pre-surgery class where they take the children aside and explain exactly what's going to happen during their stay in the hospital. Then they take the kids, along with their parents, for a tour of all the areas that the child will see on the day of their surgery. Sydney really enjoyed this and could hardly wait for her wagon ride. The class also helped to calm my nerves.

Sydney was such a trooper on the day of her surgery. She could only have clear liquids since midnight the night before and wasn't even allowed the liquids after 8:15 am. The surgery was originally set for 11:10am, but things got pushed back and she didn't get in until after 1pm.

Here we are waiting to go to the exam room

Sydney in her hospital clothes. Aren't those adorable :)

In this room we waited about 2 hours for Sydney to be called back for surgery. In the above picture, nurse Kym was going over the details of the surgery with Sydney again. She was so sweet to Sydney, and even walked with her back to the surgery room and stayed with her until she went to sleep (not everyone was so lucky). It was just what Sydney needed.

Sydney got another "buddy" to take back with her to the surgery room. They give each child one of these dolls that's wearing a hospital gown. Then they let the kids draw a face on it, check it's temperature, use a stethoscope, and check it's blood pressure.

So cute!

Sydney using up time, driving around the waiting room.

Here is Sydney heading back to surgery in her "green" wagon. She kept telling everyone that she needed a green wagon. That was the anathesiologist pulling the wagon and nurse Kym following behind.

This is where I was left behind. It was all I could do to not cry. I was so worried for Sydney, because she had no idea what was about to happen. I knew they went over everything in the class and stuff... but she's not even 3 yet. How much could she really know? Nick really wanted to be there with Sydney and me, but was unable to get off work. Luckily I had my sister Michelle there with me. It was nice to have someone there for a distraction. Apparently when they tried to give Sydney the gas to put her "under", the smelly part wouldn't open and that's when Sydney got really scared. The nurse said her eyes got really big and teary and she said "I just want my Mommy". Heart breaking. Sydney was in surgery for only 20 minutes, and everything went great. Waking up was a different story. Sydney was scared and had a really hard time calming down. Finally we were able to give her some pain medication and get a movie going for her and she calmed right down.

In each room they have pictures painted on the ceiling tiles. Sydney's room had a beaver and a frog.

Sydney enjoying some chocolate pudding

Sydney had lots of loving visitors who brought her get well gifts. The picture above is Sydney with the dolls that her cousin Caleb, Aunt Emilie and Uncle Matt gave her.

And this is Sydney ready to go home. She was really drugged up here. Just before we took this picture, Sydney was drinking some apple juice while watching a movie. All of a sudden she started laughing and I asked what was so funny... thinking it was something in the movie. Sydney lifted her finger and laughing said "My finger". She had put her finger in her juice.

Gotta love the Lortab :)

The recovery at home hasn't been very fun for anyone. The Lortab caused some unwanted behavior changes in Sydney and we have since changed her medication. Things have gotten better, but there's still room for improvement. Hopefully by the end of this week Sydney will be back to her young self again.

Happy Anniversary!!!

February 7th was mine and Nick's 5 year Anniversary! We were fortunate to spend the day with Nick's family. Nick's cousin Tyler was sealed to his wife, Charlene and daughter, Meadow in the St. George Temple. We loved being in the Temple with them to share their special day. And what better way to celebrate our anniversary then to be in the sealing room and remember the covenants we've made to each other and our Heavenly Father. It was a great day! I'm extremely blessed to be married to Nick. He provides so much for our family. Here are a few reason's I adore my wonderful husband:

- He makes me laugh all the time. Nick is so random, and says the funniest things. He's always catching me off guard.
- His excitement over music. Nick loves music and gets so excited over a newly found song. He is amazing at finding unheard of bands that play great music.
- His willingness to try new things. Nick's not afraid to try something new, at least once.
- His ability to quote a movie, song, or anything really, word for word. I always botch quotes!
- His love for me and our daughters. I'm so blessed to be married to Nick!

The last 5 years have been incredible! Here's to another wonderful 5 years!

It's been a while...

I'm out of the blogging habit. So maybe I can get a few posts in this weekend :) But for now, I thought I'd share some funny things that Sydney has said the past few weeks.

A LION, Mommy! A LION!!!

Last Saturday we went to a Birthday lunch for a friend of ours at Tucanos Brazilian Grill. Mmmm, all you can eat meat! I loved it! Anyways... While we were finishing up our meal, Sydney was standing on the bench, peeking over the the wall to see what was going on in the other part of the restaurant. All of a sudden she starts yelling, "A LION, Mommy! A LION!!!!" I was in the middle of a conversation, so I didn't respond immediately. She had to have yelled it at least 5 times. When she finally got my full attention, I peeked over the wall and saw a woman who look just like a lion! I could hardly believe it. Let me describe her... She was oriental, with a LOT of gold make-up; gold-ish blond hair, styled in a full-on mullet. The top of the mullet was all an even length, about 3-4 inches and was styled just like the lion in the picture above, and the back part had to have been 10-12 inches long. She was a REAL lion, at least to Sydney. Luckily it was so loud in the restaurant, that I don't think she heard Sydney calling her a lion. It was so funny. We were laughing so hard, it hurt. Sydney still talks about the "scary" lion at the restaurant.

Hanging with the big guys.

The other day Sydney told me she wanted to watch a movie with Zoe, Jesus, and Santa. They were going to eat chicken, broccoli, and yogurt. Then she made it VERY clear that I wasn't invited. I'm really glad that Jesus made the list :)

Date night.

I'm not sure where Sydney got the idea, but she thinks whenever Nick and I go on a date it means we are going to the beach. For instance, Nick and I are going to the Draper Temple openhouse tonight with some friends. Sydney and Zoe are going to Grandma and Grandpa's. I told Sydney that Grandma is really excited that Sydney is going to her house tonight, while mommy and daddy go on a date. Sydney replied, "Yesth, and Mommy and Daddy going to leave. And go to the beach, and walk on the beach with their toes. No shoes, just toes." She had to have gotten this idea from one of the movies she's watched, because we've never taken her to the beach. Awe, I love this girl!!!

We're loving the snow!!!

Sydney and I have loved playing in the snow these past few days. Today we decided to make a snowman. Sydney did such a great job. Enjoy the pictures of the fun...

Please Help!!!

I need some help in finding a quality toy train for Santa to bring to Sydney this Christmas. All she says she wants for Christmas is... "a train where the kids get out". Is there such toy out there for an almost 3 year old. I found a "Little People" train set but it almost seems too young for her. Are those wooden train sets fun/worth getting? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

**UPDATE**

False alarm. Sydney had been asking for "a train where the kids get off " all day, everyday for about a week straight. Now (just within the last 10 minutes) she's back to wanting a pink computer. Ahh!!! Kids can be so stressful sometimes. She's probably too young to realize Santa didn't bring her what she asked for anyways. Well, maybe not. The nice thing about her changing her mind is, I don't have to track down one of those Geo Trax sets. They are sold out everywhere, even online.

Christmas Treats

Sydney and I made some treats for a Christmas party the other night. She was so proud of herself for being able to dip the peanut butter ball into the chocolate. I love her so much!

Zoe's finally on the move!

Zoe finally started crawling last Sunday! She so silly too. She'll cry/moan while she crawls toward me. It's like she saying "I can't believe you're making me do all this work! Help a kid out, here."

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year at my family's cabin. Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures of all the fun. Dinner was great as always, and the games were a ton of fun. Sydney loved being with her cousins at the cabin. Before we left, she would tell me over and over that we were going to the cabin and she was going to play on the "little" stairs. There are three stairs coming down from the kitchen into the main room that she loves to jump off of. We also had a competitive ping pong tournament that my brother Matt won. Ping pong is a big thing in my family, and something I have not excelled at. Here are the few pictures I took.

Zoe's First Thanksgiving

The die-hard 3-wheeler riders

Sydney, Ashton, and Tate.

Caleb would have been there but he was taking a nap.

The next morning at 3:30am, Nick and I attempted the Black Friday sales for our first time. We didn't have anything big that we were looking for, therefore we weren't too stressed. It was really funny to see how serious people were about getting what they wanted. Our first stop was Shopko and we waited outside in line for about 45 minutes. When we got in the store, I saw a big crowd of people grabbing this certain item, I won't say what it was because we are giving it to someone who reads this blog :) Anyways, I saw everyone grabbing this item and thought to myself, "That must be a GREAT deal! I should grab some." So I grabbed two. In the end we only kept one. But the rack was empty in 30 seconds. It was so funny. Our plan originally was to go to Toys R Us first, but the parking lot was packed and the street was lined with parked cars. We went back an hour or so after it opened to take a look, and that place was insane! I couldn't believe how many people were there and how full everyone's carts were. We hit a few other stores, and got some killer deals on movies at Wal-Mart. By 8am we were all done and very tired. I had a good time doing this, and I'm pretty sure Nick and I will do it again next year. I won't be attempting Toys R Us though. That was a nut house!

Halloween Fun!

Pumpkin Land

We started our Halloween festivities this year by going to Pumpkin Land with a group from our neighborhood. Sydney had a ton of fun being with her friends, going through the corn maze, playing on all sorts of playgrounds, and picking her pumpkin. Zoe did what she always does, and chilled in the stroller without complaining. :)

Costume Party

The next thing we did was the annual costume party with Nick’s family. Everyone did a great job with their costumes, and the food was delicious! Mine and Nick's costumes may be considered “inappropriate” so you may scroll down to the next Halloween function if you’d prefer.

Sydney was “Snow White” and has loved every minute of wearing her costume. I liked the idea of her being a princess because the dress will work for dress-up clothes for the next year or so. Zoe was a “Cow”, and might I just say she was the cutest cow I’ve ever seen. I was an “Outlet” and Nick was the “Plug” ;)

Below is a picture of all the adults at the party,

and one of the kiddies (minus Zoe, she was asleep)

Back row left to right: McKenzie, Liam, and Shona

Front row left to right: Aiden, Connor, Cameron, Kenndle, Sydney, Calum

(I know I probably got some of those names spelled wrong, sorry)

Pumpkin carving

The day after we had a pumpkin carving party with my family and all the grandkids came in their costumes.

Left to right: Caleb ,he’s holding Ava, Sydney, Zoe, Tate, Ashton, and he’s holding Ali.

And here are the families with their creations

Us

Emilie, Matt and Caleb

Michelle, Dad and Mom

Brittany, Eric, Ava, Ali, Tate, and Ashton

Brad and Lauren

Halloween Day

• The girls and I met Nick for lunch.
• I attempted to take the girls to see Wall-E at the dollar movie theater (Whole other story on its own. Needless to say, that is not a movie for 2 1/2 year olds... or me. I wasted $2.50).
• Sydney and Zoe went Trick-or-Treating at Nicks work. They scored big time here.
• That evening we went Trick-or-Treating in the rain for about 20 minutes . Sydney had fun and wanted to knock on more doors, but she had more than enough candy.
• And last... we went to a tasty Fondue party at our friends. The food was a wonderful way to end the day.

Mr. A-Z Himself!!!

Nick and I had the pleasure of seeing Jason Mraz at a private show last night! It was so incredible! Here's how we happen to come upon these tickets. We're all familiar with facebook, right? Well, somehow a friend of Nick's from elementary school found him and added him as a friend a little while back. Earlier this week she saw that Nick "became a fan" of Jason Mraz, and told him that Jason was doing a private show for her work. Of course we were completely jealous. As it turned out, she ended up having two extra tickets yesterday afternoon, and asked Nick if we wanted them. So, Nick and I got to see my most favorite singer with his elementary school friend he hadn't seen in 14+ years. Crazy, huh!

It was an amazing show. You know how some performers just aren't as good live as they are recorded. Not the case with Jason Mraz. He is remarkable with words and his voice is amazing! Here's a video of him just before the batteries died on our camera (I could kick myself for not thinking to bring extra batteries). The sound isn't great, but that's because we were ON THE FRONT ROW, BABY!!! Oh, and a special thanks to my friend Jaimee, who watched our girls at the last minute. What an awesome friend :) I owe her big!

Milestones

Zoe finally got 2 teeth about 2 weeks ago. And it's about time, she's been gumming everything she can get her mouth on. On Sunday she was trying to bite Sydney's legs. Sydney was moving her leg around and Zoe was trying her hardest to grab it. Once she grabbed it, she bit into it like it was a tasty rotisserie chicken leg. Mmmm! (props to my sister Michelle for the great picture showing the two teeth)

Now the most exciting milestone of the month is...

SYDNEY IS POTTY TRAINED!!

It's been a long process. I've been so careful not to push potty training on her that it's taken about 5 months of trying off and on. I didn't want to traumatize her. Looking back, I think I should have been more persistent with it. I tried a few different incentives to get her excited about the whole thing. At first we did a sticker chart. That lasted for about 2 days and then she could care less. She would freak out when I said it was potty time, so we took some time off. Then we tried treats as the "reward". This time she would be okay with going when I said "potty time", but never told us when she needed to go. We had a lot of accidents, and that got us all very frustrated. So we took another break. Then we decided we should try a toy as an incentive. So I took Sydney to the store and we walked up and down the toy aisles at Target. I would show Sydney a toy that I thought she might like and she would get excited and I'd ask. "Can you learn how to go in the potty for this toy?" and she would say "No way." After going down every toy aisle, and threatening to leave without a toy, Sydney decided on an assortment of animals, seen here

The toys worked for a while, but Sydney just wasn't interested in telling us when she needed to go. Finally I took the toys away for a day when she had an accident and we haven't had very many problems since. Whew! I'm so glad it's over and now we can save the $50 a month we would have spent on diapers and wipes for her. Hurray!

Giddy-up Horsey!

Today I was lying down on the floor next to Zoe. Any time someone is laying on the floor, Sydney decides there's no better time to play horsey. So Sydney comes running over and sits on my back and yells "Ride horsey?" I really wasn't in the mood so I continued laying there and told Sydney we could play later. Then it happened... with two swift heels to my ribs Sydney yells "GIDDY-UP horsey!!..... Harder?!?" And then another couple of solid kicks to my ribs. It was all I could to hold in my laughter. The last thing I want is for Sydney to think its okay to kick me. But then I couldn't hold it in any longer and busted out laughing, and Sydney started kicking me again and again. Oh it was too funny. It's amazing to me how these little kids can pick up on so many things.

A few weeks ago we were in Vernal visiting some of Nick's family. While we were there Nick's Uncle, Aunt and Cousin were nice enough to let us ride their horses. Well one of the horses was just being extremely stubborn and would NOT move an inch. They kept telling us to kick him hard with our heels to get him to go. Obviously Sydney was paying close attention, as I experienced today. Here are some photos of us riding the "real" horses and the kids playing horses...

Yum Yum!

Zoe has been eating baby food for a little while now, but it was only until this week that she truely has liked it.  I think she's gotten over the texture thing.

The Office

We did it!!!!! We stayed up til midnight and went and got "The Office" Season 4! Oh, I'm so freakin' excited! Now all I need to do is get my hours in for work and find a babysitter. Then I'll be ready to watch the many hours of our favorite show undisturbed. I'm so giddy:) Thanks Nick for staying up so late to make me so very HAPPY! (Yes. We were the only ones waiting for the Wal-Mart employee to remove the DVD from the box. It's not that lame... ok, maybe a little. But at least I know we're the most devoted fans in Sandy City)

**Side note... if you are planning to purchase this wonderful, amazing, hilarious DVD... it's $10 cheaper at Costco. DOH!!!

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...

Baby Zoe's Rollin'!!! Zoe officially rolled over last night! And she did it more than once too :) WAHOO!

Commit to be fit

I've been trying (more like somewhat trying) to go walking everyday to balance out my eating habits. A group of us moms load up the kids and walk about 2 miles in the morning. Sydney tends to like the walks because she'll get to eat crackers and snacks I usually wouldn't let her eat before 10am. After the walk we go to the park and let the kids play on the playground while the moms stretch. I never noticed Sydney paying attention to us stretching, but apparently she was.

Yesterday, she was sitting on the floor grabbing her ankle, saying "Mommy, My schatching!" I responded with "Oh? Did you get an owie? Does it itch?" "No! My SCHATCHING!" and again she reached for her ankle while groaning. Then it dawned on me. She was STRETCHING. So I ran and grabbed the camera and asked her to do all the stretches that Mommy does. I've posted both Sydney's stretching poses and some images of the correct stretch she is trying to imitate. FYI, I don't groan while I stretch. She must have picked that part up from one of the other moms ;) ENJOY!

Pretty good form, don't you think?