Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! We spent this Christmas in Minnesota with my family. We got to see my new nephew, Benjamin. He is so tiny. My dad calls him "elf". When I asked Ky what the baby's name was she replied, "elf." On Christmas we went to church. Casey and Ky had to be good at church or else they couldn't open presents. They were both incredible! They both slept but that still counted as being good! They got a ton of presents and then we headed to my aunt's house. It was good seeing all my relatives. Grandpa is 93 so I try to see him whenever I go to Minnesota.

On our way home from Minnesota we decided to go to Josh's grandma's house. Granny was having people over on Sunday and his cousin from Arizona was in town with the new baby. It was a good thing we went. Granny got a picture with all her great-grandbabies!

Now we're home for a few days. We sent Casey down with Mema and we're heading down south tomorrow. We were going to go today but decided to wait for Laura so we didn't have to drive two cars down. I'll be happy when all this traveling is over!

I hope you all have a Happy New Year! We have nothing planned. Maybe Josh will surprise me with something!

Let it snow!

We are enjoying our third snowfall in a week here. It conveniently snows when Josh is at work or out of town so the shovel and I have become close friends! Today I only shoveled 1/2 of the driveway. When they plow the laundromat parking lot they push the snow across our driveway into our front yard. I'll gladly have a huge pile of snow in the front yard if it keeps me from having to shovel 1/2 the drive way. The kids enjoy playing in the snow but we have yet to build a snowman. I thought we'd be able to today but the snow will not roll. I did find that my jogging stroller is great in the snow! Dory got away from me and we had to chase her down. Not an easy thing to do with a 2 year old! I got the stroller out from the garage and off we went! Now we try to take Dory on a walk if it's not too cold out!


Our decor

The new friends

My little helpers


Funny story (Or at least it is to me): Casey brings toys into the bathroom with him. Totally grosses me out! I tell them not to bring toys into the bathroom but they don't listen. Today Casey brought some of his Star Wars legos (he has some sets that build ships) in to play with while he pooped. I'm on the computer right outside the door and Casey starts crying. I go in to see what's wrong and he dropped the helmet to his guy right next to his little turds. I'm not putting my hand in there so I told him if he wanted it he had to get it. I know, I'm up for mom of the year! Even if he did get it I would have to soak it in bleach. YUCK! I tried, not hard, to get it out with the toilet brush but no luck. So we flushed it. Casey started sobbing. He told Kylin, "Nothing can help it. I lost something really special!" Poor boy. Maybe he'll listen to me now when I tell him to not bring toys in the bathroom!

Another update

Kylin saw both her neurologist and urologist the past few weeks. Ky's reflux has not improved but they don't want to do surgery so that means she has to stay on the antibiotics. I'm not thrilled with that but once she's done with this potty training crap (not going as well as I'd like) we can take he off. If she ends up with an UTI they will do the surgery. I don't like that it has not improved at all but at least it's not bad enough to have to do surgery right away!

Kylin's neurologist thinks she's doing much better but still not at 100%. They did blood work and wanted to get a urine sample. Do you know how hard it is to try to get a urine sample from a two year old girl? We sat on that lab toilet for 20 minutes. She kept telling me that she had to go so there she sat with me holding the pee cup under her. We got to take the cup home. A week later we still do not have a pee sample. The neurologist scheduled a CT scan (pretty much of her whole body) in Jan. Hopefully we won't have to put her through that!

Ky is still going to therapy twice a week. She's meeting her goals so that's good! She still shakes a little when she gets tired but for the most part she's almost back to normal (if that's even possible). She still throws a mean fit but I can usually distract her long enough to get her thinking about something else. Speech therapy is not going that great. Some days she'll copy her therapist and others she is in her own world. We still haven't gotten a bill from therapy. Hopefully insurance is covering it!

We got snow here. We've been out playing in it. I need to find Kylin longer mittens. Every time we come in her poor hands are so red! I'll feel super bad when she gets frost bite. I'll have to take a pic of our house. We decorated this year!


Even princesses need to go potty


Princess Ky


My November rose!


Happy Halloween


Ky


Casey's star of the week!

Finally, an update

So I think I'm the worst updater ever! Ky's neurologist appointment went ok. I thought it was going to be a quick in and out but it wasn't. I thought the Dr. was going to say the Ky's doing better and we'll keep an eye on her and give the Dr. a call if anything changes. She is concerned that Kylin's attitude, speech, and frustration level has not improved, and even got worse. Kylin is very short tempered these days and throws a mean tantrum if I don't know what she's saying or I don't give her what she wants. A lot probably has to do with being 2 but a lot of this has happened since she's been in the hospital. I can't blame her for being so frustrated. She's had a lot happen and for her to be able to do stuff and now have to relearn it must be tough! We were going to drop her therapy down to one time a week but her neurologist wants her going twice a week until we see her again on Nov. 25th. She has added speech therapy to occupation and physical. Therapy days are long but Ky and I get to spend them together and once a week we usually go to lunch. Makes for not too bad of a day. When Kylin goes back up to the neurologist she is supposed to be at 95% of where she was before she got sick. If she's not they are talking about running more tests to see if there is anything else going on. Ky was at about 75% when we were last at the Dr. I'd say she's around 80-85 now. Two more weeks to get that number up!

Kylin goes back to her urologist next Thursday. She has to be sedated for her tests so I think it's going to be a long day for us. Hopefully, her kidney reflux has improved and we can take her off the antibiotics! If it's not improved I think she'll have to have surgery. I'm thinking it's going to be getting off the meds!

Rollerskating

Casey's school had rollerskating night at TraXside skating rink in Burlington on Monday. For $2 we got to skate, skate rental, a hot dog, chips and soda. How can you go wrong? I took Casey and expected to have to hold his hand the whole time. We got there and he saw a couple kids he knew and was super excited to be going rollerskating. I put on his skates and he stood up and immediately fell. I didn't have any hope for him! Usually when he tries something new he gives up after the first fall. He did pretty good on the carpet but once we got onto the floor he was a slipping and sliding. I held his had for a little bit and then he wanted to do it by himself. He had one really big fall where his little butt landed right on the wheel of his skate. He started crying. I thought that was the end of his skating career. I helped him up and talked him into skating a little more. He soon forgot about his bum and started having fun again. When they had girls only on the floor we got our hot dogs and had dinner. While we were finishing up our dinner they played YMCA. Casey really wanted to skate to that song. He finished up his hot dog and left without me. He made it out there for the end of the YMCA and the Chicken Dance was next. He did better skating when he was doing the Chicken Dance. He even won a glow necklace for being such a great chicken dancer! That made it the best night ever for Casey! He liked it so much he wants to go back and he wants roller skates for Christmas! I'm sure I'll take him again!




When we got home this is what we found on his little bottom. I should take another picture cause now it's nice and purple. I guess he did fall REALLY hard!!

Getting Better

Kylin is getting better. She doesn't wobble as much when she walks and misses her mouth less when she eats. My time as a stay at home mom has come to an end. I really enjoyed being home with Ky, I just wish is was under better circumstances. I'll be working from home through next week and then going into the office on days that Kylin does not have therapy. Ky is still going to therapy twice a week at Medical Support Services. They only work with kids and they are fantastic! She's making improvements. She still has a lot of trouble on the stairs and with her balance. Her stomach muscles don't fire like they should so we're trying to get her to use them as much as we can. Have you ever tried to get a two year old to do sit ups? Using the big exercise ball helps but when Ky doesn't want to do something she won't do it. She's working hard though! Her occupational therapist is now setting goals for her. Hopefully she'll keep on improving. We go see her neurologist on Friday. Maybe she'll go try out daycare next week! They miss her there. A couple of her teachers came by and brought her a stuffed monkey hugging a blanket and an envelope full of cards that the kids made her. They are so great there! Casey doesn't have school next Thursday or Friday so Casey might go to daycare with Ky for 1/2 day on Friday. Casey misses his friends there. I'll try to update (we all know how good at that I am) on Friday when we get home from the Dr.

Updates

First I need to wish my mom a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Ky is still in the hospital but we might get to go home today.
This has been a hard few days. They have decided that Kylin has
Post Infectious Cerebillitis. There is no treatment but it should get better with time. Right now Kylin is unable to sit or stand or walk without help. It's like I have a two month old. I have not talked with neurology yet today but it sounds like her second MRI didn't show anything and her spinal fluid had less white blood cells so it looks like the infection is clearing. We're supposed to see therapy today at 10:30. I hope she turns around fast. I think I'm going to have a hard time with this and she gets frustrated easily. Who can blame her. She went from running and climbing to not even being able to sit on her own. Thank God it wasn't some of the things they tested for!!!!

Ky's in the hospital

We took Ky to the ER at Children's on Thursday night. She had a fever on Wed night and on Thursday and when she was sleeping on Thursday she started shaking. She had two episodes of shaking so we decided to take her in. I stood her up on the scale to get her weight and she couldn't stand. She wobbled like and infant learning to walk. We got the same room we were in last time Ky was admitted when she was two months old. Not good memories! She no longer had a fever but she couldn't sit unassisted. They checked her urine and that came back clean. They decided to do a spinal tap on her to check her spinal fluid. They gave her an oral sedative but all that did was make her silly so they put in an IV to give her something to knock her out so they could get at her spinal fluid. I was not in the room when they gave her a spinal but Josh said that her meds started to wear off before they were done. Poor baby!!! The spinal tap came back with white blood cells so we went to get a CT done. She was super good while the got some urine so they didn't give her anything for the CT. I carried her down there and laid her on the table. She did really good until the put her in and started it up. She started crying and didn't hold still the first time so they had to repeat it. After the CT it was back to the room to wait and wait and wait. The CT came back clean and about 5:30 am they decided that they were going to admit her and do an MRI to see what was going on in that brain of hers. to pass the time in the ER I drew faces on tongue depressors. We ended up with Mommy, Daddy, Brother, Baby, cat, bunny and fish. It amazing what you do for entertainment at 4am! I'll take some pictures of Popsicle people later. The events of this night might be a little out of order but I'm doing my best for having been awake for 40 hours!

Day 3

We got up and packed and were ready to hit the road. We had a little drive to Cody, WY where we were going to see the Buffalo Bill museum. Ky had her coffee and then we were off.


Ky with her coffee.

We drove to Cody and had an hour before the museum so we sat down for breakfast at a family restaurant. The food was good and the kids were not. Our waitress was awesome with them so that made the start of the day not that bad. After breakfast we headed to the museum. The museum was HUGE! They had different wings with different collections in them. The kids like the wing with the animals and collected stamps for each part of the exhibit. Casey wore a buffalo coat and Ky had to be pushed in the stroller when we left the animal wing so she would stop touching stuff. I wasn't feeling that great so I only had an ok time at the museum. The rest of the group liked it!


Teepees infront of the museum.


Ky and daddy.


Papa pushing Ky.


Casey in the buffalo coat.


Giddy up


One of Buffalo Bill's guns.


Ky in the outside sculpture garden.


Looking at the kitty.

They had a stuffed grizzly and polar bear in this exhibit. I guess Casey was looking at the bears with Mema and asked Mema, "Why did they leave the penis on that bear. That's just gross!" I wish I was there for that. I laughed so hard when Mema told me what Casey said. I would not have even noticed it. I think it's so funny what little kids notice! After the museum we stopped at Walmart for some food and supplies and headed to the Tetons.

We went through East Yellowstone on our way to the Tetons. There was still snow on the ground in Yellowstone. I was really surprised to see that much snow at the end of June! we stopped at Lake Yellowstone for lunch and I guess a swim. The kids were playing in the lake (throwing rocks, their favorite lake side activity) and of course Ky fell in. Good thing I had a change of clothes out. After lunch it was back in the car and off to our tent cabin that was waiting for us in Colter Bay in the Grand Teton National Park. We saw more buffalo and some nice waterfalls. We didn't stop at any of the sites because Josh and I were heading back to Yellowstone the next day.













We made it!!!



Here's our home for the week.

We got settled in and got some dinner cooked and got ready for our trip back to Yellowstone in the morning.

Day 2

We got up and had breakfast at the hotel. I got up with the kids and got them breakfast. We had a busy day of Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park along with a long car ride. We started the day off driving to Mt. Rushmore and watching the video of how it was made. Casey got the book to get a Jr. Ranger badge and his Aunt Laura helped him complete it. Casey was so excited about his Jr. Ranger badge. We took some pictures and then headed to Custer.


Mema, Papa, Laura, Josh, Casey & Ky

Casey &
Aunt Laura doing the Jr. Ranger book


Ky checking out the display


Casey making his first smashed penny.


We stopped here on our way to Custer


Mt. Rushmore from the overlook



At Custer we looked for buffalo. We drove around the lower 1/2 and all we saw were antelope and deer and one donkey (Burro). Casey kept calling the antelope, cantaloupe. I don't think they're as tasty as cantaloupe. We got to the other entrance and asked the ranger where the buffalo were. They told us we had to go on the dirt road and we would see them. We turned around (with some protest) and found the road we were supposed to see the buffalo on. We were ahead of Laura, Mema and Papa. We got a buffalo spotting on the walkie talkie and turned around only for the buffalo to head off over the hill. We were all bummed out. Little did we know that there were four buffalo waiting for us down the hill. They were running next to the road and then on the road. We thought that was pretty sweet and then we came around a bend to 100s of buffalo. I decided to take a million buffalo pictures and take a picture of every buffalo I saw on vacation. Our Custer trip was complete. We didn't see the burros that we saw last time we were there. Casey was bummed about that cause I told him how they put their head in the car window. The only donkey we saw just stood at the side of the road.



Cantaloupe


Donkey

Deer

Evidence of buffalo but no buffalo to be seen...

That car better watch out!!!!

Baby buffalo

Ky was sleeping at this point in the car ride and we decided to wake her up. Usually she's really crabby when we do this but she saw all the buffalo and just said, "Ohhh. Wow!"



After seeing the buffalo we drove a little bit and stopped for lunch by a stream. It was nice to get out of the car for a bit.

Lunch out of the back of the big red truck




She is such a monkey!!!

After lunch we kept driving on the needles highway. That was a cool drive. There were a lot of switch backs and the scenery was awesome! We drove by where the filmed part of National Treasure Book of Secrets.


The needles





We got back on I-90 and kept on driving. We took I-90 to 16 through the Big Horn Mountains. We hit the mountains about dusk and it was AWESOME!!! We saw 4 moose (even saw a bull moose) and deer and elk. We pulled off the road to have a snowball fight at the end of June! Snow and Crocs are NOT a good combo!












Ky saying she's cold. "I cold!"




Fun in the snow







Mountain sunset





After our snowball fight we headed to Graybull where the Antler Motel awaited us. We were cruising along going about 75 mph. That's what the speed limit was most of the way on I-90 but we were on a little two lane in the middle of nowhere at about 10 pm. We came up on the highway patrol. He pulled off and then pulled back on behind us with lights flashing. Nice! That's all we needed on our trip. We were driving a rental car with Illinois plates so when he saw Josh's Wisconsin drivers license he gave a little look. We quickly told him it was a rental and he headed back to his squad car. There we sat on the side of the road in Wyoming. Casey was with Mema and Papa and Ky was sleeping so at least they didn't have to sit through that. The Highway Patrol Officer came back with a WARNING!!!! Thank goodness! He told us the speed limit was 65 mph, NO MORE!!! I'd just like to send a huge thanks to Highway Patrol Officer Smith for not ruining our vacation!!! We headed on to Graybull and the Antler Motel. Mema and Papa already checked in. We had the family suite which consisted of two sets of homemade bunk beds and a queen bed. It was actually surprisingly quite nice (until both kids decided they wanted to be in my bed)! So if you're ever headed to Graybull and need a place to stay I'd recommend the Antler Motel!



The bunk beds (obviously very well made cause Josh got the top bunk) ;)

Ky did NOT get the whole queen bed to herself. Mema and Papa slept there.

we hit the pillow hard cause we had another busy day ahead of us.