Ty's birthmark.

Most of you know that when Tyler was born the right side of his face was noticeably (at least noticeable to me!) pinker. The pinkness has not gone away and the pediatrician referred us to the dermatologist. I took Ty this morning for his appointment and did not get the news I was hoping to hear. The doc came in and looked at it and said she wanted her colleague's opinions. So then 4 more doctors came in and looked. They agreed that it is a port wine stain. It is really light right now and gets darker when he cries or gets mad. Apparently these birthmarks start light in color and can get darker as the child grows up. The concern with the birthmark is that it is partially on the scalp and eye. This can result in Sturge-Weber Syndrome. That's not good news so please pray that the capillaries causing the birthmark are not on his brain or eye. I am trying to trust that things will be okay. The next step is to go to Cincinatti Children's Hospital - the Vascular unit and find out more about his birthmark. They'll look at his eye and possibly do an MRI to see if the capillaries have the potential to cause problems. I called Cara and talked to her because she always has a logical perspective. Sometimes I get too caught up in the what if's and so we talked about it and she looked up the Sturge Weber Syndrome and read me the details. I'm not going to let myself think about the possibilities of what the syndrome can bring- because I have to wait and see what the doctors say. Otherwise I would make myself sick with worry. Tyler is happy and healthy and will make it through whatever we find out, and like Cara said, God won't give us anything we can't handle.

A few updates

* I had my 6 week checkup on Monday and I'm all healed and off all restrictions! While I was there Ty was the hit of the office. All the nurses came to see him and Dr. S held him. They couldn't believe how chubby he was! We weighed him and he was 14 lbs! Crazy- My Dr. said he could be the office mascot!!
* Ty drank milk out of a bottle yesterday with daddy! So good to know that the pumping/bottle thing will not be a problem for Ty. He loves to EAT!
* Ty has his first cold :( - he caught it from Wilson who also has a cold. His right eye keeps running. It's pitiful.
* Ty went to the dermatologist today. See separate post soon.
* A couple good recipes I've tried this week- acorn squash with a delicious maple syrup/brown sugar butter (from Pioneer Woman Cooks). Me and Luke liked it! And a pasta dish with fresh mozzarella that we all enjoyed (from Annie's Eats).
* The boys are carving Luke's pumpkin right now.
* Can't roast the pumpkin seeds because our oven is broken. It does this weird thing occasionally where the heating element won't turn off unless the breaker is off. Making dinner yesterday was interesting- I kept turning the oven from off (where the heating element would just stay on, making the oven hotter and hotter) to broil, where the bottom heating element would go off but the top one was on.

Our Adventure

On Monday afternoon Andy and I packed up the car and the boys and took them on a surprise adventure! All we told them was that we were going on an adventure for 1 night- that we would explore, eat pizza, and have lots of fun! On the way there we gave Wilson some clues to see if he could guess where we were going (believe me, this was all spontaneous- we didn't plan out the clues part or anything!). He never guessed but it was still fun! We took the boys to Aldersgate Camp. They have Creekside Cottages now that are like a hotel room. So we rented a room for Monday night and had a great time. When we got there we hung out in the room for a while because it was raining. Then we went "exploring" (this is what you call a walk with 2 small boys!). We walked over to the lighted cross, the furnace, the barn, and up to the lodge. They loved it! The barn has horses, goats, llamas, a goose, and sheep. After our walk we drove into town and ate at Pizza Hut. On Tuesday we woke up and ate breakfast in the room. Then we went "exploring" again after a few minutes on the playground! Back to the furnace, barn, and lodge where we drank hot chocolate. The only thing missing was a fire! Then we hiked over to the big rock. The boys were having a GREAT time and Andy was taking tons of pictures with his new camera. The leaves were changing colors and it was beautiful in the mountains! It sure was cold - but we bundled everyone up! Ty was such an easy baby the whole time. For our walks Andy wore the bjorn and zipped his winter coat around it so Ty was snuggly warm. He had a winter hat on his head and slept through the walks. We went back to our room for lunch and the boys played. We left camp around 3:30. It was a great 24 hour adventure for not much $! Aldersgate is such a special place!

Annual Harvest Party

Sunday night was the annual harvest party at church. It was fun! The party began with a chili supper along with hot dogs, dessert, and chips. The boys had been looking forward to the party for weeks! After eating we went Trunk or Treating and the boys got to wear their costumes. Wilson was a one man band and Luke was a robot. Then Luke went pumpkin bowling and we all went on a hayride. Wilson had been looking forward the the hayride FOREVER!! The last thing the boys did was crafts! They each made a magnet. It was fun and I'm glad my mom and dad and grandparents were able to come for part of the fun! Upcoming halloween festivities include Wilson's first preschool party on Friday in costume and then trick or treating Friday night. We have carved 1 pumpkin (Will's) but still need to carve Luke's and roast our pumpkin seeds. Enjoy the pics!

Spicy Shredded Pork

I hope you all don't mind my recipe posts. I love trying new recipes and sharing ones that we enjoy. I love reading recipes and finding new ones to try. It's definitely something I enjoy when I have time - I guess it's a hobby of mine! I saw this recipe on my favorite food blog, Annie's Eats. Yes, you'll keep hearing about this blog! Cara also tried the recipe and said they really enjoyed it so I put on the menu for this week. Cara told me she cooked it in the crockpot so that's what I did - so easy! I'm just going to link you to the recipe here. I left out the water since I cooked it in the crockpot. I put it in around 9:30 this morning and when I checked the pork around 4:30 it was definitely done. At that point I shredded the meat (which just fell apart) and turned the crockpot to 'keep warm' until we were ready to eat. We ate the pork on flour tortillas with cheese, lettuce, salsa, and sour cream. Yummy! I'm looking forward to eating the leftovers tomorrow night!

*Since I have such ridiculous meat issues, I asked Andy to trim the fat and get the meat ready for me. Thankfully, he was willing or I don't know what I would have done. Oh, and the recipe says to rub the sauce all over the pork. NO way. Just put it in the crockpot, pour the sauce over and use a spoon to make sure it is all over the meat! Does ANYONE else think raw meat is completely disgusting? Is anyone else unable to think of where the meat they are eating comes from while eating it? Maybe it's just me...

6 weeks old!

Little (HA! Look at that belly! and those chins!) Tyler Wade (TW as I called him today! cute hunh?) is already 6 weeks old! Time is flying - which isn't good. I'm trying to enjoy it all - 2 weeks of maternity leave left. And they will be a GOOD two weeks. Ty is cute as can be making lots of grunting noises all the time. He farts a lot too (typical, huh?) and still loves to eat. He will be trying expressed milk from a bottle for the first time this weekend. Gotta get him ok with that before I go back to work. Andy says then he'll be on more equal ground with mommy because he'll be able to feed him! Ty is still sleeping in his crib at night with his swaddle blanket. He has 1 four hour stretch then wakes up to eat every 3 hrs but goes right back to sleep. During the day he varies between eating every 2 1/2 - 3 hours still. Not many changes from the last update though I'm waiting for him to smile! He had his first pictures made yesterday with his big brothers and now I have the birth announcements (finally!) that I can get mailed out. With Wilson and Luke the announcements were out by now but you know. Life is busy!

Did you know I have THREE kids?? I'm not even 30 yet. CRAZY!! Sometimes I can't believe I already have 3! ALL boys! I keep hearing that boys will eat my out of my house, that they will be full of energy and never stop etc. Andy and I keep telling ourselves these are the hardest years, right? RIGHT? 3 kids under 5 years old? Things are bound to get easier as they get older?? Andy and I keep reminding ourselves that we're done having kids though. This is the last baby stage. And we're enjoying it and we're both glad it is the last baby stage. Though I love the baby stage I'm content with 3!

Friends Season 4

Ok, my favorite episode from Season 4 is The One with the Embryos. The episode starts out with the chick sounding like a rooster really early in the morning. It wakes Monica and Rachel up and Rachel is not happy. She walks over to the guys apartment and bangs on the door to get them up and find out what is making the awful noise. After being up so early she goes shopping. Chandler and Joey are able to guess the 5 things she purchased while shopping and claim they know the girls better than the girls know them. So they make a bet of $100 on who knows who better. Ross makes up the game with questions in different categories to find out who knows who better. Meanwhile, Phoebe is at the doctor to get Frank and Alice's embryos implanted. She realizes this is the only chance they have at getting pregnant and talks to the embryos before they are implanted. At Monica's the rest of the friends are playing Ross's game. It ends up being a tied game after Rachel misses the question about Chandler's TV guide- that is actually addressed to Mrs. Chanandler Bong. So Ross pulls out the Lightning Round and Monica and Chandler raise the stakes. If the guys win they get the girls apartment and if the girls win the guys have to get rid of the birds. The guys go first and get 4 questions right. Then the girls go and get 3 right but cannot answer their 4th question, - what is Chandler's job. So the guys win and are so excited to get the nice apartment. In the end, Phoebe also finds out that she is in fact pregnant. This is a great episode!! Season 5 coming soon, I've finished watching it as well!

Another pumpkin recipe for Fall!

Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¾ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
pinch of allspice
1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup sugar
¼ cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
¼ cup buttermilk

Directions:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Beat the butter at medium speed until soft. Add both the sugars and continue to beat until light and smooth. One by one, add the eggs, beating for a minute after the eggs are incorporated, then beat in the vanilla. Lower the mixer speed and mix in the pumpkin and buttermilk. With the mixer at low speed, add the dry ingredients in a steady stream, mixing only until they disappear. To avoid overmixing, you can stop mixing early and stir any remaining dry ingredients into the batter using a rubber spatula. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove each one from its mold and finish cooling on the rack.

I found this recipe on Annie's Eats and modified it slightly for our taste. I left out the nuts and raisins. Had some batter leftover after making 12 muffins so I made about 6-7 mini muffins as well. Her muffin pan must make bigger muffins than mine!

Update on Luke

He's the cutest thing ever but that's not the point of this post! His eye tick thing he was doing for about a month just stopped about a couple weeks ago. Andy and I noticed it less and less and now not at all. I truly think it was just a stress related thing. So we cancelled the MRI appointment. I wasn't looking forward to the anesthegia and putting him under and all. Andy and I decided to cancel the appointment. We have a follow up appointment with the opthamalogist soon so if he feels it is still necessary for some reason we'll just reschdule it. But we think that now that Ty is here and things have settled back down Luke isn't stressed anymore and the eye blinking tick thing is gone! God is good!

Pumpkin Dessert

This is an easy, delicious, perfect, fall dessert. I got this recipe from a friend at school last year.

Pumpkin Dessert
Crust:
1 ½ sticks butter, melted
½ cup sugar
1 ½ rolls ritz crackers, crushed.
Mix together and press into 9x13 pan.

Filling:
2 cups plain pumpkin (it's the small can)
½ cup sugar
2 pkg. vanilla instant pudding
1 cup milk
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Mix together till creamy then spread over cracker crust. Then top with 8oz Cool Whip. Refrigerate. Enjoy!

Top 10 Reasons Why I LOVE Maternity Leave

10 - Dinner prep can start early! (I've already prepped 1/2 of tonight's dinner).

9 - More time to read books for pleasure.

8 - I can meet friends for lunch!

7 - I can take naps.

6 - LESS Stress.

5 - LESS Stress. (Yes I put that twice in a row. My job is stressful.)

4 - I don't have to wake up and start getting ready at 5:15am.

3 - NO pumping breastmilk. (Standing in the bathroom pumping isn't fun!)

2 - I get to be home with all my boys a lot more! I get to pick Wilson up from preschool and be home when Andy and Luke get home from work/school.

1 - I can hold baby Ty all day long!

The past two days

Well I've been at school with Ty yesterday and today holding parent conferences. I thought for my own sanity it would be easier to go in now while I'm on maternity leave and get most of my conferences done rather than waiting until I was back to work being stressed out and having to stay late for conferences. So I didn't have to go in on my maternity leave and do this but I knew it would help my stress level later! Here's the rundown.

22 conferences scheduled (out of 26!)
5 NO SHOWS
4 called and cancelled
4 rescheduled from yesterday to today!!
18 conferences completed in 2 days

Tomorrow I have 1 phone conference and then when I'm back to work I'll have 7 more to complete. Not too bad.

4 weeks old!

Little Ty is 4 weeks old today! It's hard to believe, the time has flown. He is such a sweet addition to our family and now we can't imagine life without him! We love him so much. Wilson and Luke really like to hold him and lay down with him. They try to share their toys with him but I keep telling them he'll be interested in toys soon enough! Ty is doing great sleeping in his crib, eating well, and still loves to snuggle! When he gets really mad sometimes a song will calm him down - Wilson is great at singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to him. He made the first of many trips to the school where I teach today. He was loved on and held by many! He'll come to know "mommy's school" well in the next couple years!

Numbers

1- yellow lab who is my only female companion at home!
3- usually the number of times I wake up in the night with Ty
4- number of males I live with
5- Season of Friends I'm currently watching
6- the number of Christmas gifts I have ordered online (woo-hoo!)
7- # of times I get on the computer a day (just guessing, it's a lot!) to check FB, google reader, school email, or personal email
8- the number of times a day I feed little Ty
10- approximate number of diapers I change a day
12- # of loads of laundry I've done in the last 2 weeks
16- how many meals have been provided over the last 4 weeks!! (Wow, feelin' the love, thanks!)
25- the number of parent conferences I need to have next week
40- the number of fingers and toes I trimmed the other day
700+ - # of pages in the book I'm currently reading - Breaking Dawn

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Nights around here

Let me start off on a positive note! Tyler is sleeping in his crib and has for the last 3 nights! He apparently didn't like the bassinet. So I tried the crib and he slept soundly in there for his short stretches of time. Before he wasn't sleeping well in the bassinet and would only sleep well on our belly or in between me and Andy. That wasn't working out so well for my sleep! I heard about this blanket, a Swaddle Me blanket. Another mom recommended it to me. I saw one at Meijer and bought it. So now I swaddle Ty up tight and he is sleeping for about 3 hours at a time at night. So now for the not so positive part! Want to know what last night was like?

Horrible!

8:20- Boys in bed (Wilson and Luke)
8:30- they are playing and talking, lose treats for today because they are fooling around
8:45- Still playing, Andy goes back in with a warning
9:00- Throwing stuffed animals at each other. I get out the spanking stick and tell them they better lay down and be quiet. I stayed in there sitting on Luke's bed holding the stick. Wilson finally fell asleep. Things were quiet.
(Ty was sleeping in his swing during all this!)
9:00- watch the debate while reading Breaking Dawn and feeding Ty.
10:30- Get ready for bed.
11:00- Go to sleep (must put down book!!)
1:15- wake up to Wilson crying about his ear. Go in there. Both of them are awake. Laid down with Wilson for a few minutes, laid down with Luke. Went in and told Andy he could deal with them since I get up to feed Ty every 3 hours...
1:40- Ty wakes up to eat
At some point Wilson came into our bed and I let him stay so I could get some sleep.
4:40- Ty wakes up to eat. Try to get back in my bed after feeding him and Wilson is hogging my side! Go sleep in Wilson's bed.
7:40- Ty wakes up to eat and Luke realizes I'm in his room and everyone wakes up. Ty and I fell back asleep until 8:30 after he ate.

Thank goodness for maternity leave. I couldn't function if I was having to wakeup at 5:15 right now. I've got 4 1/2 weeks to convince Ty that 1 feeding at night is enough (or hey, if he wants to sleep through the night, that's even better!!).

Fire Parade

Last night we went downtown for the Fire Prevention Parade. It was fun! We went last year as well. It's becoming an annual thing for our family to go with Stephanie and the kids. Ty slept through his first parade - he loves being in the Baby Bjorn. That was a GREAT investment! All of our boys have liked riding in the bjorn. Enjoy the pics!

WHY??

Do you know how many thousand times a day Andy and I hear the question WHY?? Luke asks why over and over and over. I'm going crazy tonight! I think the "why" quota for today has surpassed it's limit! Here is a sample conversation I had with Luke tonight more than once that went something like this:

Luke: What's this?
Me: Ty's vitamins.
Luke: Why?
Me: Because he needs vitamins to be healthy.
Luke: Why?
Me: He just does.
Luke: Why?
Me: I ignore this one.

If you ignore all of them he just keeps asking! If you simply say "because" he keeps asking! It's great that he is inquisitive and all but oh my gosh! The 'whys' around here are endless!!

Pumpkin Patch!

On Thursday we decided to go to the Pumpkin Patch! I thought it would be a good idea to avoid a Saturday and Andy was home so we went to Boyd's Orchard. We started by letting the boys choose a pumpkin each. That was fun! Then we went inside to buy our pumpkins and some delicious apple donuts. After eating a donut we headed out to the play area. The boys went down the big slides, played in the sand, and went to the petting zoo. They fed the sheep and the goats. It was a really fun day! On the way home Wilson asked where the girl's orchard is...(Boyd's sounded like Boy's to him!).

Wilson had fun crawling amongst the pumpkins!

Trying to find the perfect pumpkin!