a few of my favorite things....about sydney

Here's just a few of the many reasons we love Sydney....

And I promise, we do love Kaden just as much, Sydney just is in an experimental phase that we constantly are taking her picture.

Sydney tries to take off her clothes if she doesn't like them....she tried, and this is what happened :)

Sydney "helping" to clean my car....

She eats bubbles.

she loves to swing/be outside.

when the dishwasher is open, she's in it :)

these two crack us up daily.

they pretty dang cute, huh?! :)

I'm a kid now?!?

Mr. Kaden Meikle turned 3 on February 1st! We celebrated with a Toy Story party and had such great time with family and friends.

We played Pin the Sheriff's badge on Woody

(I like how Sydney is wearing one of the shirts Kaden got for his party)

blowing out the candles!

the cupcakes and "goody" bags.

(we made magnets for all the kids with some toy story candies)

One of Kaden's favorite toys. A shake and go Buzz car!

one of his other favorite things.....play dough.

thanks for that.

Just kidding! :-P

He had a blast and was so excited that he could share his birthday with his good friends!

Thanks for everything! He LOVED it!

Our favorite things about Kaden:

*he LOVES to talk.....sometimes it's a little annoying, but still fun

*he has the cutest little rhaspy voice still

*he plays so well with Sydney and is the best little helper ever!

*he has such a caring heart and is so sweet

we just love him to pieces!

Kaden's favorite things:

*color: green

*food: chicken nuggets-more specific, McDonald's nuggets

*toy: bad Buzz (he got one that has the blue utility belt from Toy Story 2, and he calls him the bad buzz)

*game: checkers and sorry

*song: twinkle twinkle, lala lu, and the only exception

*movie: Toy Story 2 and Curious George

We've enjoyed having Kaden so much and he brings us joy every day! :)

JumP and sHouT!

We got together with my mom while she was babysitting for my sister when she was sick, and got the kids together for a playdate. We ate at McDonald's (Kaden's favorite) and then played all afternoon at Jump and Shout in Mesa Riverview :)

Kaden had no fear climbing up as high as he could.

Sydney's favorite.....the slide!

Ashlyn burying Kaden in the mats....

Briley Mae....She would climb, and then all of the sudden start crying and come back down because she was scared...

Sydney loved this duck. She would come over and "take breaks"

4 happy kids with suckers (we had to bribe them to leave the fun playground)

Round 2

As many of you know, Sydney Alyse tends to throw up a lot....We've been battling with finding answers since the throwing up started almost 9 months ago. She eats a ton, and is always wanting to eat, but with the amount of throwing up, was losing weight very quickly. Thus beginning the process of finding answers. She went into the hospital back in October for dehydration after not holding ANYTHING down for a whole weekend. We did a few tests and were there for a week not finding out anything. She has tested positive for a few allergies to foods, but that was all we knew. So we've been doing food elimination and having varying results for some time now. She lost a pound in a week (we were checking her weight very frequently with all of the throwing up) and this alarmed her GI (gastrointerologist) to where he said we needed to admit her to the hospital again. This was a very scary moment for me as a mom and something I hope that no one goes through. Luckily, the hospital was very busy, so they told us that as soon as a bed opened, we would be going in. I say luckily, because this gave us a chance to come home, reflect and give her a blessing, all of which calmed my nerves and helped shake our fears (a little). So, we got a call from the hospital saying that they wanted to do another Scope/biopsy on Monday morning and then they were going to admit her after that to watch her closely. We had done this once before, with negative results, so this time we were just praying for answers. And they came! Sydney Sue has something called Eosiniphillic Esophagitis.......bahaha. (E.E) I laugh because if you're reading this wondering what the heck it is, those were my exact thoughts! But what it is, is basically an extreme food allergy, in which her body can't handle 7 main foods. Her esophagus over time deteriorates which causes it to swell and cause her to throw up tons. Her esophagus is basically super sensitive, and there's only certain things we can do to help her. They have her on what is called a 6 food elimination diet, even though there's 7 foods to avoid. When they checked her for this the first time, her body hadn't fully grown into it, which is why we didn't have results. But, she is allergic, or has an intolerance to wheat, soy, dairy, fish, eggs, peanuts/tree nuts, and corn. Those are the triggers for E.E, but Sydney is also allergic to oats, beef and pork. So, basically she can eat fruits, vegetables (as long as it's not corn) and chicken. She can have different grains, but we're still looking into those. But, we will be working with her doctors closely to find out which one of those is the main reason she's throwing up. So, in the next few years, we will be doing a scope/biopsy check every 3-6 months after re-introducing her to one or two of those common foods at a time. Sydney is such a sweetheart, and we have learned so much throughout this process. It has been very tough at times, and so hard/frustrating to keep positive. But through prayer, fasting, and blessings, we've been able to extremely reduce the throwing up (she's only thrown up like 3 times in 2 months.....opposed to at least 3 times a day).

She was a little upset before surgery so they gave her something to help her relax a little....

The awesome fitting gowns they had at the Phoenix Children's.....along with yummy dinner :)

Wheat/gluten free bread with turkey....

Meikle brought Subway for me....Sydney may not be able to eat wheat, but wheat/gluten free bread tastes icky ;-P

We are so grateful to have her in our lives and feel very blessed to have the good support team we do. :) Thank you to all that have been there with us and brought us meals and sent all your love and blessings to our family. We appreciate them more than you know, and our happy to report that Sydney is a trooper and she's gaining weight quickly and happily......

Welcome friends

Our newest family members.....

Named by Kaden, B, G, Bing, Ging and the Shrimp was K (We're learning the alphabet, and he likes making up words with -ing)......

They LOVED their new pets....

The first feeding.... (Not knowing this, we killed 4 out of 5 with this first feeding.....we gorged them). Only Bing survived.....

Kaden really loves to help with everything, he was very cute with his new pets and took very good care of them.

Bing unfortunately died about two weeks later.....

Meikle-"O no Kaden! 4 of the fish/shrimps died! We're going to have to flush them down the toilet."

Kelley-" They are going to go to heaven."

Kaden-"Heaven's in the toilet?!"

Ooops....I tried.

halloween.thanksgiving.christmas....o my!

*Just a warning, this post is super long! So, thanks for reading in advance*

Today while the kids are napping, I decided I should try and catch up on blogging, so in my attempts to blog, I started going through all of the thousands of pictures we have, and I don't have one single picture from Halloween. I don't know why, but....o well. Since Halloween was on Sunday anyways, we just stuck with trunk or treat. :) Kaden was woody, Meikle was buzz, Sydney was Jessie (I made her costume, and it was frickin adorable if I do say so myself.....I KNOW I had a picture of it.....) and I was going to try to be Bo Peep.....but, an hour before trunk or treat decided to go with Barbie (she's in all 3 toy story movies, so I tried to pull it off.....I don't know if anyone got it) So, the rest of the family looked cute, and I just got weird looks :) O well.....so, Halloween was pretty uneventful.....I went over the top with decorations, but....hey, I LOVE to decorate for Holidays :) But here are a few pictures from October :)

The weather has been up and down and up again.....but with that, we've done a TON of park days :) Here's Sydney and mommy with our friends little baby Paige.

We've been trying to grow a garden.....we have NO experience....well, I have none, Meikle surprises me everyday with a skill he randomly "knows" how to do....haha. But the kids LOVE to help.

Kaden usually always has a smile on his face.....as big as this one....while Sydney is into anything and everything....

*Moving on to November :)*

.....yet again, we have NO pictures from Thanksgiving hahahah. I don't know why, but....cool.

Anyways, it was cooler this November than usual, so we tried to find fun activities indoors....One of our favorites was our visits to Peter Piper Pizza ($5 lunch buffet.....booyah!)

Meikle and I celebrated our 4 years on the 11th as well.....although, no pictures yet again...I'm starting to see a random/weird trend here with important dates....

This trip was full of jackpots.....this was my jackpot win, first try, first game :) (Bass pro fishing game hahah)

Little miss Sydney Sue loved everything here! She ran around pointing and signing lights and clapping....

Kaden's favorite games were Ski-ball and driving the "race cars"

Kaden won a jackpot all on his own!!! On this game that you push a button to drop the ball and land it in a circle (his first try, first game)

Meikle also had a Jackpot win, so we came out with like 500 tickets. It was bizarre, but we spent all of tickets on 5 ticket army men, and 2 suckers. You can imagine my excitement of the tons of army men that are scattered around our house.....

*Six Flags*

We had the chance to go to Six Flags this year too! We were chaperones for a high school Winter Formal group that our friends Kyle and Camille hooked us up with. I've never been, and we had a chance to go a few years ago with some friends, but we were like 8 weeks pregnant with Sydney, so we missed out :/ But, we were able to go this time. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain the entire time and freezing. We luckily found a Target close and bought Poncho's, beanies and gloves. (We're sissy's) But we had a BLAST! and can't wait to go again!

Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny!

Raining like crazy.....

I'm kind of a sissy when it comes to rides, I went on almost everything, but this was my face waiting in line

Kyle and Camille :)

He's my favorite!

The jeep in front of Terminator

Lunch! :)

And goodnight Six Flags!

*Moving on to December/Christmas! :)*

We stayed home this year in our own house and had such a great time. Santa was excited this year and over-did things a little....but even Santa can get carried away....

I tried to do 12 days of Christmas kid's activities with Kaden, we did like 3 days and then it got crazy as the Season always does....

Our first craft! Gingerbread guys and gals!

Decorating the house. Don't worry, I have like 9 tubs full of Christmas stuff :)

The kids favorite decoration every year....

I love this guy!

At Bass Pro, they had this "North Pole" set up the whole month of December. Every Tuesday was kid's night, and everything was FREE :) our kind of fun! So, we went almost every week and had frequent talks with Santa :)

Shooting range at the North Pole :) Kaden loves his daddy!

We adopted a few kids when our friends went to help at Temple Lights, so we had 6 kids for a night, so I made some delicious Gingerbread cookies and we decorated the night away!

Sydney on Christmas Eve.....we had worn the kids OUT and they were both in bed before 8....

Kaden was ecstatic to put out cookies for Santa. We left out cookies, and carrots for the Reindeer, and juice. (Kaden did NOT want to leave Santa milk...) And I made him put out cookies, his idea was a hot dog.

Kaden's "bike"

Sydney wanted Kaden's bike.....hers was not as cool I guess....

All of Sydney's gifts :) Her favorite: her baby dolls

Kaden's gifts :) His favorite, his bike and toy story games

*Overall we've had a GREAT holiday season! We have a lot of blessings that we are so thankful for. A few trials that through the Lord we've been able to get through, and have taught us amazing lessons in life. We are so blessed with wonderful family and friends that have really been there for us amongst this crazyness that we call life*