Pictures from the last couple of weeks

Lillian was playing on the blanket when Will decided to lay down next to her to watch Mickey Mouse. He apparently thought she was cold too because he covered her up and all. I'm so glad he loves her!

Gotta buckle her in now!!! (Don't worry, she wasn't crying so I got my camera.)

These guys also love each other. I thought it was cute, Katie was a pillow for our newest outdoor cat. He has no name yet. Any suggestions??

AWFUL picture of me but we were having fun! 

Update

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This is Angel. She is our new GREAT indoor cat. Will loves her but she is not such a big fan of being carried around by the neck! 

On another note: Will has a clean bill of health. He had an ultrasound on his kidneys and that did not require an IV like I thought it would. He was a little freaked out just laying on the table and having this weird jell stuff on his sides. Having the screen to look at and we were telling him to see his insides helped. 

Then we went to another part of the hospital for the catheter. I'm glad Dennis and I got to go in there with him, I'm sure it would have been even more traumatizing had we not been there for him. We put on our 'dresses' so we could be in the room for the X-ray. The lady then inserted the catheter. I was surprised that he didn't even flinch until she was almost done. Will got to watch Mickey Mouse while they did their job at filling his bladder so they could see if there were any 'leaks' and to then watch his insides while he peed to see if there was any re-flux in there. 

Every thing came back normal. No kidney cysts, no palups, no bladder re-flux, just one healthy little boy. We ate a quick lunch and then met with the kidney doctor. He gave us an overview of all the tests ran and explained that the bleeding was probably caused by a blood vessel at the opening that probably popped open or something and if it starts again, gets worse or he starts complaining, then to go again. Until then, we are very happy to have a happy, healthy boy!

The two!

September 19th my Mom and I are taking a trip to Kansas City for an appointment to have this little birth mark checked out. Since she is the 'heart attack baby' I started calling this A Little Piece of Papa's Heart. I'm not sure what the actual percentage is but we are pretty sure there is a 99% chance there is nothing growing under neath it and she will grow up hating it, no big deal. But, for the off chance that something needs to be done about it, our Dr. wanted us to have it checked out by a childrens' dermatologist. This is why we have to go to KC for this appointment. Since it will more than likely be no big deal we are going to take advantage of being in the 'big city' and going to go shopping! 

Something a little more serious is the fact that Will has had some blood issues. Meaning, in his diaper. For about a month or so he would wake up saying 'ouch' and grabbing himself. I thought it was odd but no big deal until he had a penny sized spot of blood in his diaper. Well, he's a boy. He likes to take his clothes off and pee on things outside. Maybe he scratched it on something? Who knows but probably a fluke right? Well, it happened again about a week and a half after that so I made an appointment to see our doctor.

Will is the probably the youngest patient to pee in a cup for Dr. Glynn! So they were all proud of him for that! Traces of protein and blood were present in his urine so we trucked over to the hospital for a blood draw. Little man do so well! Yes, he cried but as soon as they were done, with pop cycle in hand, the tears stopped. 

The blood work came back fine so that still didn't explain why there was extra stuff in him. So, we have an appointment August 28th in Kansas City to see a nephrologist and get some testing done. There are names for everything that will be done but I don't remember the names. Basically, he will have an IV inserted with dye in it and then do an ultra sound to see the kidneys. (A cyst on the kidneys is one possibility.) I believe he will also have some other kind of test to see if there is a palup in his urethra. This is the second possibility. 

A third possibility is that nothing is wrong and its a total fluke! It's just something that we should not ignore and get checked out. (Sorry Will for sharing such personal information on the internet!! Love you!) Dennis will be making this trip with us since this will be more invasive testing than Lillian's back.

On another note!!! Dennis is getting closer and closer to being done chopping. Usually he is just getting into the craziness of it all at this time. He is tired, stressed and tired of being stressed. The kids miss him and I miss co-parenting. Will and his terrible twos need two people to handle! 

I on the other hand, am trying to handle the two and terrible twos by myself without drinking myself stupid. I hardly have any time to do anything at home. Its so hard to take care of the kids needs, cook, clean, pump and then attempt to find time to workout. I am down to 4 pumps a day and enjoying the extra time I have. It was on accident, dropping one pump that is. I was pumping first thing in the morning, around 10, 2, 5 or 6 and before bed. Finding the time to pump right around supper time was nearly impossible. All of a sudden I was skipping that 5 o'clock pump and just pumping an hour or so before bed instead. It has worked out for the most part because it is one less pump while the kids are awake so I can actually enjoy a little 'me' time. My goal was to pump longer than I did with Will and since I pumped for 5 months for him, I have succeeded that goal and on for month 6!

This year in the garden we have gotten close to 25 bags of corn in the freezer, 13 pints of pickle relish, 2 1/2 quarts of sweet pickles and I'm going to can some apple pie filling. My Grandparents have a couple of apple trees that they are going to share some with me and then I also have a co-worker that has a tree and since he will not do anything with them, I'm going to make him a couple of apple pies in exchange for all the apples I care to have. Tara made some apple pie filling one year and canned it and I thought what a great idea! I think I will also make some apple sauce and can it. Since I refuse to learn how to use a pressure caner, I will have to sweet talk someone into helping me (or do it in exchange for a few pints!).

More youtube videos of my adorable children!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDt8YELhuWc&feature=youtu.be

Hey would you look at that! I figured out how to link you to a youtube video I uploaded!!! (Yes, I'm patting myself on the back!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Ll_mDW6PM

Bath Time!

Well, I caught Will splashing Lillian in the face!! Bad Will!!!!

Watching Will is so funny!! She laughs all the time!

Ignore the disgusting tub... someday we will have a new, not moldy bathroom!!

Busy weekend!

"What? I just want to take a nap, leave me alone!"

Yes, this is comfortable!

"My turn!!"

I could not get this boy to take a good picture so I had to tickle him so he would take his hands off his face. 

Such a pretty girl!

Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Dennis have an above ground pool so we enjoyed the afternoon in it. 

I so wish this was totally in focus!! I love it!

Lillian isn't smiling in this one but it's in focus!!

Lillian had cereal for the first time the other day and loved it. She opened her mouth for the spoon after only three times and didn't spit much out. (It looks like she did but really she did really good.)

I guess Will wanted in the picture too :)

Family update:

Oh my. So much has gone on and we are so busy with garden stuff. I have started week two of sweet pickles. Pickle relish is in the process of being made. We have frozen several bags of corn and already enjoyed our fair share of green beans.


Lillian is up to 15 pounds and 25". 75% all around. She is doing great and we have been very lucky that we haven't had to give her any formula for about two and a half months. I would like to see how she tolerates it now but since she doesn't need it, it's kinda pointless to try. We have finally gotten her to get to bed around 7ish. This is great for me since chopping season is only days away I usually need to sleep before going in when working nights. Because of this, she now get up once in the night but that's okay, I'd rather have her in bed early and get up than sleep all night. I'm getting close to saying that she is now a blonde! She just has a little dark hair in the back but the top of her head is pretty light. 


Will is just his crazy self. He is going to miss his Dad like crazy when it comes to chopping season. We are unable to keep him inside.He has mastered the lock that we installed at the top of the door. It took him only a couple weeks to figure out how to unhook it with the broom. Last night he was fully entertained by finding old, hot beer and from the top of the deck throwing them on the sidewalk. Once he finally got it to squirt he would chase the cats and the dog around the yard. There were about 18 beer cans empty on the sidewalk this morning. He is getting so close to being potty trained! Not at night of course but during the day he loves getting his candy as a reward for going potty. The trick will be to teach him not to potty on things in the house. 


As I said before, chopping season is only days away from starting. Dennis said that if it doesn't rain then Wednesday should be the day. I'm excited for him. He got a new chopper so hopefully that means no break downs and faster chopping. (And a new house next year but I'm not holding my breath!) 


The garden is keeping me busy. So much so that my work outs have gone out the window. The scales have noticed it too. I know I was keeping you posted on how it was going and I'm sure you guessed that it slowed down. By the time the kids are in bed I just want to finish cleaning up the kitchen a bit and relax. That needs to change. This week I'm going to start making sure that I get at least one workout a day! I feel good when I do it and eat healthy. Yet another reason junk needs to get out of my system! We are canning the pickle relish today and this weekend I will be making the sweet pickles (finishing the 2nd week anyway.)


So here's to a good chopping season! Prayers to all the guys out there in every field to stay safe. It seems every year Dennis tells me another story of someone getting injured or killed in farming accidents.