Surgery updates and Eastons first trim!

We had the boys followups today from their surgerys and both are doing well.  Eastons recovery was really nothing at all.  We do have to go back every six months though until the tubes fall out.  Payton was a different story!  The day of and the day after surgery he was in a lot of pain (which we expected).  He also got a little sick from the pain meds a few times, so we moved to normal Tylenol.  On Saturday morning he was getting sick nonstop and could not keep even little sips of water down.  He then got really lethargic and you could tell he was dehydrated.  So I called the doctor and they sent us to the ER.  So they gave him some meds and some IV fluids and he perked up right away.  His throat doesn't really hurt anymore and the only symptom he still has is that his voice is all messed up.  It is really soft and high pitched right now.

He is still home from school and really wants to go and see his friends.  We have visited a few times when we drop off and pick up Easton, so that helps.  He is also getting really frustrated that he can't eat whatever he wants either.  For another week he still has to stay away from anything sharp, rigid, hard, spicy, sour or citrisy. He doesn't really understand that if he has those things it will open the wounds back up that are starting to heal.

 

Easton got his first trim today!  It seems like all of a sudden his hair has gotten out of control!  It now has a bunch of curl to it and especially since it is warm out, when he gets sweaty it is really curly.  Well it has started to curl over his ears and look a little girl like!  So we had to fix that.  He really didn't have enough to get rid of to take him to get an actual hair cut, so I just trimmed it up myself, and I am quite proud of it!!  It is crazy how much more hair he has then Payton did at this age. 

 

In just a few short weeks we will be in Paradise on vacation and we couldn't be more excited.  We really don't have the time or money to go on a big trip, but we decided that even though we don't need a vacation, we need a vacation.  Does that make any sense??  Three surgeries in 5 months and trying to work 2 full time demanding jobs, plus everyday household and family demands takes its toll on you and the rest of the family.  We are looking forward for the four of us to get away from the real world for a while!

 

BTW-- I added a couple of pictures to the Spring 2010 album.  For some reason MSN doesn't always put them in the order I say and I can not find a way as of yet to move them around.  But, I have found, that if you click on the album title it will take you to a new screen where it shows thumbnails of the entire album.  Here they are in the correct order.  You can view them as thumbnails or scan through them from there.  Strange computers!

Two kids, two weeks and two hospital visits!!

In seven days we have had both boys make trips to the hospital for surgeries! It is okay though, no worries! Both trips were preplanned and pretty routine. Last Thursday Easton got tubes in his ears and this morning Payton got his tonsils and adenoids taken out. Easton had been having a lot of ear infections in the past few months. He had fluid behind his ear drum that would never drain and so as soon as he got off of antibiotics it would re-infect itself. And since he has a device in his heart, we want to keep any infections to a minimum. His surgery was so simple and really nothing compared to what he has been through. We were done and back home in no time at all. He came home and took a nap and when he woke up seemed totally fine. He hasn’t had any issues since.

This morning was Paytons surgery. His tonsils were extremely large and the doctor felt the best thing was to just take them out. They haven’t really been bothering him yet, but since they are so large probably would cause frequent infections in the future. Large tonsils can also cause some sleeping issues. We have know for a few years that Payton is a ‘rough’ sleeper. He breathes through his mouth and makes lots of noises and wakes up frequently. I guess this is common with large tonsils because they make it hard to breath while sleeping. The doctor said we could try a wait and see approach and wait until they do start bothering him, but she said it is so much easier to take them out when they are young. Also, he has to be home for at least a week, so we wanted to do it before he started school in the fall. We plan on keeping him home for about a week and a half at least. I am home with him the rest of the week and next week we are splitting between myself, Justin and my mom. I am thankful that my job is flexible and will enable me to work from home when needed because I have missed a lot of work in the past 6 months.

He was really good this morning and much more calm then I expected. We brought his Leapster and he just played that the entire time. They did give him some meds to relax him though and he became super drunk! It was hilarious! I have never seem him act like that. We got to see him about an hour later and he was pretty uncomfortable. They gave him lots of pain meds and he pretty much passed right out. They wouldn’t let us leave until they were certain that he would constantly drink something. We got home a little bit ago and he is vegging out watching movies. We are supposed to give him codeine every 4 hours for pain. He and I went shopping earlier this week and picked out lots of popsicles and ice cream and fun treats. From what I hear it is a pretty painful and tough recovery that can last up to two weeks, so hopefully he won’t remember most of it!

It hasn’t all been hospital stuff though! Payton had Kindergarten roundup last week and is really excited to start school. The school is adorable and the kids had a great time. They got to go and see all of the teachers and do activities with each while us parents filled out lots and lots of paperwork. We are still trying to figure out what to do after school. We have a few different options, we just need to figure out what works best for us. After roundup I took Payton to see How to Train you Dragon in 3D! He loved it and has worn his 3D classes a lot since then! The next day he started soccer. It was a beautiful day and he really seemed to enjoy it. The league we are playing in this year is co-ed and not as competitive as the one last year and I think that is good for him. He was a little All Star out there with the girls and he does better with things when he knows he is doing good.

For Easter we went to my moms and hunted for eggs and hung out outside. It was such a nice weekend! Thank you mom for all of the yummy leftovers that we are still eating!!

Easton is doing great and is all over the place now! He follows Payton everywhere and crawls and gets into everything. He is still a great eater and sleeper and now that his ears have tubes, he should be even happier!!

We are looking forward to the warmer weather that we are getting and spending more time outside. Payton will start Tball and swimming lessons soon. Then we will look forward to Eastons 1^st birthday in June and VACATION, because we really need it!!

Easton 9 month update

Easton had his 9 month checkup last week and is 20lbs 6.4oz and 28 1/2 inches long.  Both of which are in the 50th%,  His head is in the 75th percentile at 46cm.  His first tooth just broke through finally!  You can't see it yet, but you can feel in through his gums.  I got his pictures done this weekend and they turned out, but I think we were spoiled with the amazing 3 and 6 month pictures we did.  This time I didn't want to spent alot, so I went to one of those places where you get like a thousand pictures for one price.  I guess you get what you pay for!!

Tooth Fairy

It was a big day at the Schulte household last week!! Payton lost his first tooth! It had been loose for a couple of weeks, and he finally wiggled it free on Friday. I was at work and got a call from his school, so my first instinct was, “uh oh…which one is sick.” But then it was Payton’s teacher and she said that he had to tell me something. He was so excited when he told me. They saved it in a little bag and made a big deal out of it. Even some of the other kids drew pictures of the tooth fairy for him. He looks like such a big boy now I can not even believe it.  I thought that he might get upset when it came out, but he was so brave.  I am so proud of him.  He was very excited for the tooth fairy to come and the next morning he came running into our room to show us what she left him!

Payton has been busy learning how to read more words at school and is just loving that he can recognize a lot of words now in his books. He gets so excited if he can read all or most of a sentence.  He is getting pretty good at sounding out the words he doesn't know.  He read most of a beginning to read book the other night. He is also still learning how to add and subtract and amazes me at how he uses it in real life. He told me that he really likes math. (Can you tell who he takes after!!) He is one of the older ones now in his class and has unofficially become the teachers helper. In the beginning of April we get to go to Kindergarden round-up. We are going to try and get full day vs. half day. He is more then ready for school and I think that full day will be great for him. There are not as many spots as interested kids, and it is first come, first serve. So, we are going to sign up as soon as we can. Unfortunately you have to pay for full day, and it is not cheap! But, in the scheme of things, we want to do what is best for him. Soccer starts in a few weeks as well and I desperately hope that the weather warms up a bit before then!!

Easton is growing and changing so fast! He is now 8 ½ months old. He still has no teeth! I thought that maybe he would get his first the same day that Payton lost his, but no such luck! He is so close to crawling. He will get on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. I am in no hurry for him to crawl or walk! I am trying to soak up every last baby stage!! He LOVES to eat. He is pretty much on all table food now. I occasionally fill in with baby food if we are out and about or if I feel that what we are eating is not good enough for him. He really likes yogurt, peas, applesauce, peaches…pretty much anything! He is a really good eater. You don’t have to do any of those tricks to get him to open his mouth. He will literally sit there with his mouth wide open waiting for the next bite! He is getting quite the personality as well. He is a flirt, much like his older brother was at his age!! He really likes to make a serious face at you, almost like he is upset, and then he will have a huge grin and start laughing. He also likes to yell at the cats! He will slam his hands down on the high chair and say “AHH” to get their attention.  He babbles a ton.  He most common sayings are, "MaMa, BaBa, and RaRa."  I can’t wait to see how his personality continues to grow.

We are getting anxious for warmer weather and the ability to do stuff outside. Before too long it will be summer and we can go for walks and to the pool! I can’t wait! I foresee a busy and fun spring/summer ahead!

(I added some more pictures to the Winter 2010 Album).

Overdue Updates

I have been really bad lately about posting updates, so I will catch you all up on the boys.  Things have been kind of crazy with the holidays getting over, working a ton, various viruses going around and just lots of other stuff going on.

In December the boys had their 5 year and 6 month checkups.  They are both doing well and right on target for growth and development.  Between the two of them had to get 9 shots!  That was pretty traumatic for all involved!

Once January started Payton got back into classroom style learning at PreK.  He does so great when he is learning and really gets into all of his subjects.  Last week he learned about penguins and he told me about their migration patterns and their defense mechanisms!   He is learning more sight words every month and loves to point them out when he sees them in books.  Lately he has been really into drawing pictures and making books.  He really likes to be Mom and Dads helper at well.  Whether it be laundry, cooking, taking the garbage out, whatever, he just likes to help.  And as always he loves Legos and puzzles.  In 2 months we have Kindergarten roundup!   Also in March he will start spring soccer.  So I sure hope it warms up a bit before then!!  Then this summer brings TBall and swimming lessons and then possible fall soccer again!

Easton is now mobile!  He is not crawling yet, but he is rolling….everywhere!!  He has been able to roll over for a little while, but really had no interest in doing so.  You could put him on his belly or his back and he was perfectly happy.  Well for about the last week or so he has figured out that he can roll to get to things!  This has caused him to lodge himself under various furniture items!  Tonight he learned that rolling over in the bath is probably not a good idea!  This also now means no Legos sitting out and that I need to clean my floors a little more often!   He also puts EVERYTHING in his mouth!  Payton never really did that as a baby, but Easton will put anything within arms reach in his mouth!  He has been sitting well on his own for a little while which has opened up a new world of play for him.  He loves to sit and play with toys scattered around him.  He is just starting to try and wave and clap.  When he gets really excited he starts kicking his legs like crazy.  He gets most excited seeing Payton and the kitties.   He now eats babyfood three times a day and really likes it.  He is just starting to eat little Gerber fingerfoods.  We have tried water and juice and he really is not into it yet.  He just holds it in his mouth with this look like why in the world would I want this!  He is still a super happy baby and smiles so easy.  He has started to be a lot more vocal and likes to shriek to get your attention.  If we are in the car or something and Payton is singing to his MP3 player, Easton will babble louder and louder to try and keep up!

He had a follow up cardiology appointment at the beginning of January and the doctor said his defect looks like it is corrected and everything looked good from the surgery.  He was a little squirmy for the testing, so when we go back in a few more months they said they might give him some meds to relax him so they can get really good pictures.  After that next appointment we will go back in a few years and then go from there.  The doctors there are great!  I have been doing some work with the Childrens Miracle Network and Childrens Hospital here for their annual childrens telethon because I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful resource.  So, if you know anyone that wants to donate, let me know before the end of February!!

Overall we have been spending a lot of time at home.  Like most of you, we are extremely ready for this winter to get over.  I can not wait to be able to just go somewhere with out the coats and blankets covering Easton, etc!  Only a few more months until summer!!!  Until then we will try and keep ourselves from going insane while staying occupied inside!

Christmas festivities

We had a wonderful Christmas this year with lots to celebrate!  Payton is convinced that Santa came to his house and had lots of questions about him and how he makes his deliveries.  He was very concerned that the presents might get wet when it rained or snowed.  He was also worried for houses without Christmas lights, because he thinks that the only way that Santa can find your house is if you have lights.  His little mind just never stops!   We started out the fun the weekend before Christmas by spending the entire day baking cookies and Christmas goodies.  Then, Justin was lucky enough to have that Sunday off of work, so we went to Union Station and saw the Holiday Express train and lots of model trains.  It was a big hit!  And Santa was even there!  We even drove around that weekend and looked at lots of Christmas lights.  On Christmas Eve it started snowing like crazy (and didn't stop for 3 days), so the boys and I hung out at home.  After dinner they got into their Christmas PJs and picked out cookies for Santa.  Payton went to bed better then he ever has!  He woke up at 2am, yes, 2am and asked if we could open presents!!  I said no, now go back to sleep!  Around 6:30 we woke up for good and saw all of the presents that Santa brought.  The boys had a faboulous time!  Easton even seemed to enjoy everything.  Payton was so appreciative, it was very sweet.  He helped Easton open all of his presents and showed him how everything worked!  Then Justin and Payton went out to shovel a  bunch of snow.  (One of the things that Santa brought was a sled and a little shovel!)  I think justin wanted to rest, but Payton really wanted to go and shovel snow!  So out they went.  We didn't plan on seeing my family for Christmas until next weekend because my sister had planned to go to Iowa.  But, with the near blizzard conditions, she made the wise decision to stay in KC.  So, we decided that why not, we could get together that night!  Moms house is about 6-10 blocks away and we almost didn't make it!  The snow removal around here is pretty pathetic!  After a wonderful evening there we went home and crashed!  I spent the next two days with the boys just playing and hanging out all weekend!  It continued to snow all day Saturday, so they went out Saturday night and shoveled some more snow.  When they were done, Payton wanted to keep shoveling, so they decided to head over to my moms and do her driveway as well, (and I think Justin wanted left overs!!)  I feel like I am in Iowa with all of the snow we are getting.  We have lived here 9 years, and don't ever remember seeing this much.  And it looks like it is going to stay for a while, so it is a good thing we have lots of new toys to play with, because I think we will be staying home a lot!!

We are now looking forward to a very low key New Years.  Payton is learning about it and resolutions at school and he just informed me today that he learned at midnight on the last day of December you have to celebrate the new year.  So now I have an odd feeling that he will want to stay up??! 

The week of extremes: Birthdays to heart surgery

The past seven days has had the ultimate in extremes.   I don't really even know where to start, so I am going to just go in order.  Last Thursday, my sweet adorable Payton turned 5 years old!  I can not believe it!  How can he already be 5!!  He wanted a spongebob theme, so we made cupcakes for him to take to school.  Then after school some family came over and we celebrated his birthday with an ice cream cake!  He is VERY excited to be 5!  He will tell you all of the things he can do (or thinks he can do) now that he is 5!  He seems so grownup now.   Five is one of those big birthdays! This was the first year he had a 'friend' party.  His party was scheduled for Sunday (it was scheduled before we knew when Eastons surgery was).  So we spent a lot of time on Saturday preparing fo the party and getting all of the favors and such together.  His party with his friends was at a rec center and it was a lot of fun.  I think the kids really enjoyed themselves.  They got to color spongebob pictures, have cake, ice cream and juice boxes then go in the gym and run obstacle courses and just have lots of fun!  He had a great time turning 5 and thank you to so many people who made it so special. 

On Monday was the dreaded surgery for Easton.  In case you don't know, I will give a quick run down of the back story.  A little over a month and a half ago, I took him in to the doctor over the weekend for a minor ear infection.  They detected a heart murmer.  Which usually doesn't mean much and they are actually pretty common and most of the time means nothing.  We followed up with our pediatrician and he confirmed the murmer and also said that usually they are 'innocent' murmers that lots of people have.  He said though that we woudn't know unless we followed up with a pediatric cardiologist.  So, we did that and right away he knew that this was not nothing.  After a few hours and lots of tests later, it was confirmed that Easton had a congential heart defect called patent ductus arterious or PDA.  Basically there is an opening that is supposed to be open in a babys heart while they are in utero, and it is supposed to close after birth.  For some reason his did not.  It causes too much blood to flow through certain parts of the heart and causes extra stress on the heart and lungs.  His left side of his heart was already slightly enlarged and would continue to get larger without getting fixed.  If left untreated, he could have heart and lung failure.  So it had to get fixed sooner rather then later.  They scheduled the appt and we had to wait a month for the surgery.  It was a very long month and I am glad that i had Paytons birthday to focus on.  We had to keep Easton isolated from everyone for 4-5 days before surgery to make sure that he didn't get exposed to any germs or illinesses before surgery.  So he didn't get to leave the house or even go to Paytons party.  :-(

Monday was the surgery and it lasted a few hours.  He did great and the doctor was able to fix the defect via a catheter put in through the vein in his groin.  It was a long and stressful day, but we are very glad it is over.  They wanted to monitor him overnight and do some tests in the morning to make sure that the device they put in his heart stayed in place.  We were able to come home early Tuesday afternoon.  So now Easton and I are just hanging out at home the rest of the week.  I am so grateful that we have such a wonderfull Childrens Hospital here in KC.  They were truly wonderful.  And thank you to everyone who has been thinking of us over the past month or so.  I am overwhelved by the amount of calls, emails, cards, text messages, etc.  We are so lucky to have so many caring people in our lives. 

 

We are now looking forward to Christmas.  I haven't had a chance to think much about it yet, so I better hurry up and get on that!  Payton is very excited for Santa to come and thanks to a website I found, he received a personalized letter in the mail from Santa Claus!  He loves christmas lights and gets very excited to drive around and see them.  This will be an extra special Christmas this year now that Easton is here as well! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!