HaPPy BiRThDaY!

With all of Sydder's crazy allergies......I made these cupcakes from scratch. They were egg, nut, dairy, wheat, and soy free! :) They tasted pretty dang good though! (I was a little weirded out at first though, because they had vinegar in the recipe.....(I guess it asks like an egg would, but gross sounding).

Here's one of the few pictures I got of Sydney actually opening one of her own presents. We had a lot of friends come with their little ones, and when it came to opening presents, it was kind of a free-for-all.....Thanks for all the wonderful gifts though! (And, sorry I'm such a slacker, keep waiting for thank-you cards, I promise, I'll get them done soon)

Here's my little baby girl with her new sippy!!! She LOVES it!!! Can't believe our baby is 1 already!!! What the heck?!?!

Sydney:

*absolutely LOVES her brother.....everything he does, she wants to do

*says ma-ma, da-da, bye-bye and dog.....she has some form of word for Kaden too

*is walking like crazy!!!! She started at about 10 months and is a walking fool now!

*LOVES animals.....she see's our cat, and freaks out with squeals of excitement

*is a major Daddy's girl, and pouts anytime he leaves and doesn't take her too

*is an eating machine. She's gained 3 lbs since she got out of the hospital in a month and a half.

*loves to play with her doll. She feeds her, and helps her "eat".....the only thing is when she's done, she just throws her, like, "o, that was fun.....what else do we have".

*is such a diva. She adores shoes and constantly carries around nail polish

*hates to nap, but when I force her to nap since she's way too young to avoid that, she sleeps great!

*is still sleeping through the night.....

*finally got 3 teeth like a week ago

*want to wear skirts everyday and boots with everything!

*has such attitude....and fake pouts everyday. But, Meikle and I just look at her and tell her to stop, and she just laughs....

*is the most amazing sweet little girl we could ask for!!! We just love her to death!!!!

Thank you everyone for coming to our sweetheart's first birthday!!! We had a great turn out, and a ton of fun with everyone!!!! We love you all and feel so blessed to have such great family and friends!!!!

Free Photo Shoot!!!!

Alissa Melody Photography is giving away a free photo shoot!!!! :) Hooray!!! It's been a year since we've had family pictures, and would LOVE the opportunity to win!!!! :) I'm posting this so I can have the extra entry just in case.....Not sure if I can win, but, worth a shot!!! :)

$30,000 and a surgery later.....pt. 2

Dear Doctors,

Thank you for being stupid at times.....I don't mean that to be rude, but, sometimes I wish you would listen to Mom's or Dad's when they bring in a concern and ask you to do something for 7 months in a row. For instance, when our little girl's tongue is not able to touch the roof of her mouth, and it makes her aspirate, leading her to throw up anything and everything, and leading us to a $30,000 hospital bill on top of the horrible sight of seeing your daughter throw up for 2 months straight.....just listen next time please :) I'm not mad, and not bitter, although this may sound a little of both. But, just step down off of your pedestal, and realize you're human talking to other humans for the well-being of a baby. I'm not saying I'm as smart as you, or that I know more than you, but.....take one for the team in admitting that doctors are wrong all the time. They do call their work a "practice". That's all. =)

Dear other Doctors/Nurses,

I LOVE that their are people willing to dedicate their lives into saving others'. And you guys are amazing! So, thank you to all of the others out there that were there to help fix our problem when we were at one of our worst lived fears. Thank you for clipping her tongue and helping our daughter be able to eat on her own again without depending on a tube. You guys helped us through a lot in our time of trial, and we deeply appreciate it.

Dear family and friends,

Your prayers and thoughts for little Sydney girl were such a blessing! Thank you for all the love and support. We feel very blessed to have each and every one of you in our lives! :)

$30,000 and a surgery later.....

Dear little Miss Sydney Alyse.....

Thank heavens that you are feeling better and out of the hospital!!! We were only there for a week, but that was longer than a lifetime to have our little precious baby couped up in a little room with a feeding tube, and stuck to an I.V. You were a little trooper though. The last few days that we were there, you actually started pushing your I.V pole around with you, like it was a new way of living. But, as soon as they taught me, your mommy, how to put a feeding tube in your nose, we left!!!! You had a very ecstatic look about your face when I took you out of the hospital and we got into the car seat. You didn't even care that you had to be buckled....you were glad. We got home that night, and you got to play with your own toys, and see your favorite person of all time.....KADEN. :) I love that the two of you play so well together!!! When the time came for bed, you almost leapt out of my arms for your own crib, and drifted off to sleep.

6 A.M rolled around and I got a kiss on my cheek from your daddy. Time for work....but, all of the sudden you were screaming bloody murder. We both ran to your aid, to find milk all over your bed, and an enormous grin across your face with your feeding tube out and in hand. And ever since that day, you've been drinking your bottles fine.....no more throwing up, and definitely no more feeding tube. It was that day I realized, I was in trouble.....You are the most determined not even one year old I've met! You will do amazing things in this life, and I have no doubt that you'll succeed. Each morning you wake up with a smile on your face, full of love and joy for what the day will bring. I admire you Sydney Sue.....and love you more than you will know. Keep it up, but NEVER forget, mommy is always here for you! =)

Sydney Sue's Hospital Extravaganza......

Ok, here's the story on how poor little Sydney wound up here in the Phoenix Children's Hospital. Around July 12th-ish, Sydney, who is the best eater that ever lived, started to spit up a little after she would drink a bottle. It wasn't everytime, or a lot or everyday. She didn't have a schedule of when she would or wouldn't, but it just was interesting because she was not a spitty baby. So, after a week, we went on vacation to Utah. Sydney was a fantastic little traveler, and once we got to Utah she started to throw up a little more. After she would drink a bottle she would throw up pretty quickly after. And, it wasn't every bottle, or at a certain time of day. But, just kind of odd. Then around the next week, she started throwing up more and more....and then it slowly progressed to anything she drank. Milk, water, or juice. So, I felt it was strange, but the doctor wasn't too worried. So, she continually started to get worse, and drink and then throw up. But, slowly anything pureed that she ate she would throw up. And it just progressed to where she couldn't eat anything without throwing up. Which still didn't concern the doctor, but yet her Ezcema did. Weird, but.....o well. So, our pediatrician sent us to the allergists. They tested her and she was allergic to milk, soy, wheat, eggs, peanuts and cashews!!!! Crazyness, but I stopped feeding her those things and the allergist mentioned she might have a disorder called E.E (Eosinphillic Esophagitis). He gave me a pamphlet and sent me to a pediatric GI. So about a week later we saw him. He thinks she might have E.E too, and thinks she's throwing up because of allergies. But, who knows?!?!?! So, my little Sydney hadn't had a wet diaper from around 4a.m-11a.m, which was crazy for a little girl, so I brought her into the ER with Meikle and we were there until around 6:30 pm this last wednesday. They admitted her to the hospital, and here we are still. She's still throwing up, and not drinking anything, so they gave her a feeding tube and IV. My poor little baby is still so sick!!! And, Kaden is having the HARDEST time understanding what is going on! It's soooo sad. Today when we came to visit, on the way over, we had this conversation:
Kaden-"Mommy, are we going to see Sydney Sue?"
Me-"Yup, and Daddy!"
Kaden-"Is Sydney Sue all better?"
Me-"Not yet....She's still sick."
Kaden-"Mommy, Sydney's broken. She needs new batteries...."

I feel so bad! I wish it were that easy!!!! And I wish that Kaden can stay calm, and understand, but he's only 2, so he can't quite get it.....

But, anyways. We are holding up, and doing well. Tired, and having a hard time spreading our attention between the kids/work and driving back and forth to PCH. But, Sydney is sleeping, and so I'm getting my rest that I need now too!!! Just wanted to keep everyone posted!!! :)

ApRiL....

We had such a fun April!!! There was a lot going on in April between all of the Easter festivities, and then My birthday, and our friends birthday. But, anyways. Our friends "borrowed" our kids while Meikle and I enjoyed a date, and they took the kids for a ride in the wagon. So, sweet that they both fell asleep! I LOVE this picture, and hope that they can always be cute like this together forever! :-P

Since it was the big 6 months, Sydney hit the landmark of being "allowed" solid foods! Woohoo! We usually start with veggies first, so that they won't get a sweet tooth too early ;-) But, the first food we tried, was very fitting for April, and all of the hype of Easter.....CARROTS! I was too anxious to let her try them, so I did it while Meikle was at work, which I regret, not only that he didn't get to be there for the first "real" food, but also to help me snap some pictures! She LOVED the idea of the spoon and solid food, but had a really hard time with it. Kaden was tongue tied when he was born, but they clipped it really soon after birth, and he handled a spoon like a champ, but Sydney had no idea (and still has a hard time) with using a spoon. But, take in mind, she still is tongue tied, and poor girl doesn't know what to do with a spoon and her tongue at the same time! But, everytime she got a mouthful of carrots, she made this hilarious face of disgust. I tried capturing it while feeding her, and it took me a few tries, but I finally managed to snap this adorable face, of "what the heck are you feeding me?!?!" Kids make me laugh, and I absolutely adore being a mom!!!

My mom and I had seen this super neat project around the scrapbook store and absolutely LOVED the idea. Too bad they wanted you to pay like $90 bucks for the name, and that didn't even include the frame. So, mom and I decided to just do it ourselves. We picked out all our paper to match her room (purple, blue and green) and used our handy dandy Cricut to create our gorgeous hand-made, not too common name frame!!!! :) I was so excited with the results, the only thing I would change would be to find a frame first, and then make the project fit the frame. But, still.....I love it! It goes so well above her crib!

The big day has arrived!!! Easter! :) It had always been one of my favorite holidays, being that it is close to my birthday, and the beautiful time of the year where the weather in sunny AZ is amazing. But, it definitely was more fun this year to let Kaden find Easter eggs, and celebrate it with family. We ended up going to my parents house for a Easter egg hunt on Saturday, and then stayed the night so that we were able to watch General Conference on Sunday. We loved being able to watch Kaden hunt for eggs and his Easter baskets, and had a really enjoyable time relaxing with family.

Since we had Kaden, I've always tried to make us all match as a family, and this Easter, I was determined! Luckily I found Kaden and Sydney's clothes at Children's place, so there's automatically matched, and all I had to do was match Meikle and I to them, and we could be the cutest. Too bad we never got a picture of the 4 of us in our matching clothes to prove it. And, I was so excited to go to Church Easter Sunday with our matchingness, and of course, it was General Conference so we had to wear it the Sunday before. But, o well. :) I guess I'm just a little silly like that.

March.....better late than never, right?!

Sydney is 5 months old, and getting way too big for her own good! :) This picture captures her sweet smile/personality. She is the cutest.....but, I'm a little biased. And of course, Mr. Kaden is still my favorite little boy ever!!! He is so cute with his sister, and just loves her! We love to watch the beginning of a fun friendship.

March was a fun month for us, since we were illness free we made the most of it! We did a lot of things just to get out of the house! Which is always a nice break. One of the things we did was went bowling with some of our friends. We had a blast and Kaden enjoyed "smashing pins!"

Luckily we had this handy dandy bowling ramp to at least somewhat help us bowl with Kaden. We also had bumpers, which helped us all out ;-)

Another fun trip we took was to the Phoenix Zoo with my sister and her two little girls. Meikle's parents came and joined us as well. It was a super fun trip! Different going with younger kids and trying to look at animals though, I think the most exciting animals for them all were the ducks in the pond by where we ate lunch. We went over to this picnic area they had set up as a viewing animals for these cool looking monkeys that were swinging all over the place, but the kids just enjoyed looking and feeding the ducks and eating their pretzels. O well, at least they had fun.

We loved being able to just be outside. The weather was gorgeous, and we LOVE the Arizona springs! :)

February.....my bad that it's late

So, Since I am silly and don't EVER update this, I decided to do a few posts to catch up. So, here's to February....Kaden caught RSV in January, and passed it along to Sydney, so January and February we were kind of quarantined (sp?) So, this meant, no birthday party for Kaden boy....but, he's only 2 so he already forgave us! :) For his birthday we just did a small little cake, and opened a few presents. Nonna (my mom) came over and gave Kaden his favorite present of all. A Woody/Buzz toy!!! :) -He still plays with these all the time!

But, there wasn't anything too eventful in February for us. We just stayed low and spent time together! One of the nights we built this cool tent in our family room and watched a one of Kaden's favorites, Cars!!! :) I love our little family!

Happy New Year!!!!

So, since Meikle and I are not very good about blogging, we're going to try really hard to keep this a little more up-to date than it has been. Everything is going really well. Meikle is still working with his deacons and loving it, and working away as an assistant engineer. Kelley is busy at the house with both kids, and trying to keep up with everything life throws our way. I've decided to start a small business, and hoping to see how that pans out. (It's mainly for bows, flowers, and headbands-let me know if you're interested!) Kaden is doing awesome! During the colder months, he got bronchitis, which you wouldn't have been able to tell at all personality wise except for the sad deep chest cough he had. Now, his bronchitis is all clear! But, sadly his allergies are going crazy again! He's now off dairy again to see if that does anything, and is getting allergy tested again soon. He can't have dairy or eggs, and we have to keep an epi pen for him. Poor kid! But, he is still one of the happiest kids you'll meet! Loves to be outside and play football, loves to play "kitchen" with the play kitchen Santa brought, and loves anything to do with Toy Story! He carries around his "woodybuzz" action figures EVERYWHERE. And I mean everywhere. They go to the store with us, they go in the bath, they sleep with him. It's so funny and cute! He is the sweetest older brother ever, and still refuses to say Sydney. To him, she's still just "baby". He is talking a lot more, and is learning more sentences which is awesome! And as for Sydney, she's still just the happiest baby ever! She likes her nap schedule/routine to stay the same, so if you interupt it she gets a little upset, but she is such a good baby! We've been so blessed with good babies! She's still sleeping through the night from about 8-5, then wants a bottle and goes back to bed until 8 or 9. With the help from my sister and my sister in law she has more clothes than the rest of the family put together, and I have to change her like 3 times a day to catch up! Well, not really, but she does have a lot! And it's so fun for me to have my girl! She is giggling now, and rolling over, and trying to stand and sit up! She's only 3 months! Crazy girl. But, she's so fun and we're so excited for when she can play back with us! And that's that. Everyone is happy and healthy, and just getting adjusted to life again after the holidays. Our Christmas was awesome, and so fun with Kaden figuring out more and excited for what "yanta" brought him! And our new years was nice and relaxing! We stayed up and played Wii until 3! haha. We can be nerds, but it's ok! My parents bought us our entertainment center from Ikea that I've had my eyes on for almost a year now, and we were able to buy a new tv finally! So, we had to take advantage of the big screen and sit down and play some games on the Wii! But, everything is good, and we're loving life. We wish all our friends and family the best of this new year and good health to go along with it! We love you all and will be keeping you posted of anything new :)