Skeletal Kyle
Pink Poodle Puppy Sara
Mummy Nikolai
Snow Princess MaryKateSunday, November 15, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
That's My Boy!
On Sunday my neighbor across the street was talking to Nikolai during primary about his new baby brother. She asked him if he got to hold him and help feed him. "No?!" Nikolai replied, "I don't have breasts!"
I guess that's what I get for being very open and honest with my children.
I guess that's what I get for being very open and honest with my children.
My Top Ten...
Top Ten Signs You are Sleep Deprived...
#10 You are making a Top Ten list of signs you are Sleep Deprived at 4 AM.
#9 If you go to the grocery store for milk and only milk you still have to make a list because you will stand in the aisle forever trying to remember what you were coming to get.
#8 The depth of your intellectual conversations are limited to the plot of today's Blue's Clue's, that's if you were able to actually stay awake for the full 20 minutes.
#7 You don't remember if you had that shower today, yesterday, or was it last week?
#6 You try to read a book and after repeating the first page 10 times and still not remembering what you just read, you put it down.
#5 You forget what you are saying while you are in the middle of the sentence, saying it.
#4 You not only forget what day it is but also the month and the year.
#3 In the process of standing up to do something you forget what you were standing up to do.
#2 You sleep through the 45 straight minutes of Star Wars theme alarm trying to wake you up (yet wake up at the first snuffle of your baby).
...and #1 You drive away from the gas pump with the hose still attached.
#10 You are making a Top Ten list of signs you are Sleep Deprived at 4 AM.
#9 If you go to the grocery store for milk and only milk you still have to make a list because you will stand in the aisle forever trying to remember what you were coming to get.
#8 The depth of your intellectual conversations are limited to the plot of today's Blue's Clue's, that's if you were able to actually stay awake for the full 20 minutes.
#7 You don't remember if you had that shower today, yesterday, or was it last week?
#6 You try to read a book and after repeating the first page 10 times and still not remembering what you just read, you put it down.
#5 You forget what you are saying while you are in the middle of the sentence, saying it.
#4 You not only forget what day it is but also the month and the year.
#3 In the process of standing up to do something you forget what you were standing up to do.
#2 You sleep through the 45 straight minutes of Star Wars theme alarm trying to wake you up (yet wake up at the first snuffle of your baby).
...and #1 You drive away from the gas pump with the hose still attached.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Kyle is 2 weeks Old
Kyle's umbilical cord stump fell off when he was exactly 1 week old. He celebrated by having his first bath! Then this week he slept for 5 hours in a row at night then the next night for 4 hours. I like big chunks like that :).
Yes, I agree, they are too cute...
Nikolai created this diorama for a school project. It's his representation of what the elf town in the book "Afternoon of the Elves" looked like. He created a working well, a Ferris wheel, and a rock house with a leaf roof along with the road leading into town and the swimming pool.
MaryKate showing off her mad scooter skills.
MaryKate drew this picture during General Conference this year. It's me sitting on the floor holding Sara in my lap with Kyle in his bouncy seat and Sara's new rocking horse in the front (her welcome the new baby home from the hospital gift).
Sara really isn't mad in this picture, this was her "posing" face for quite some time, every time you'd point the camera at her and tell her to "Say Cheese!" This is the face she'd make until the flash went off, then she'd laugh and laugh.
And there is nothing quite as cute as a tiny girl in a pink skirt and pig-tails sporting a giant water gun as big as she is. I'm thinking of sending this one into the NRA. 
Friday, October 9, 2009
Top This...
The worst doctor's appointment EVER...
Monday was Kyle's first pediatrician appointment. Nikolai had one scheduled for the same day already so I piggy backed the two. Kevin was at work so it was my first outing with all four kids by myself. I figured it would not be that bad because MaryKate could keep Sara entertained while I dealt with the boys with the doctor.
They were great in the waiting room and all the old people sitting around smiled at Sara and her antics (we go to a family practitioner, so it is not just babies) but we had to wait an extraordinarily long time so they were all at their limit by the time we got called back. While one nurse was weighing and measuring Nikolai the other one was weighing Kyle all in a tiny room... two nurses, four kids and I in a 5 X 10 room... CROWDED! So MaryKate decided that the best way to entertain Sara would be to take her into the hall and run races with her. Yelling and squealing and running in front of people. By the time I got them called back to me and reprimanded the nurses were at their wits end and said "Let's get you a room to help you keep these kids contained." (Let me tell you, I felt like "Mother of the Year" after that comment.)
Once we got into the room the kids were great until the doctor came in. Since Kyle had just fallen asleep we started with Nikolai. I was sitting in the chair, Nikolai was on the table, Sara had claimed the doctors chair but he willingly stood next to Nikolai, talking to me across the room. Sara was happily spinning her toy dog around on the doctors stool but MaryKate wanted to sit and spin. So instead of helping entertain her, MaryKate pushed Sara's toy off and sat down, causing a 20 month old to understandably scream and push. MaryKate did this THREE times, me stopping talking to the doctor each time to reprimand her and remind her what she was supposed to be doing. The doctor left the room to get Nikolai's prescription at which point MaryKate got a very stern talking to and was sent to sit quietly next to Nikolai.
When the doctor came in Sara had abandoned his chair so he sat down next to me. Nikolai and MaryKate were being great, playing "dead" on the table, laying still and being quiet, I couldn't ask for more :). Unfortunately Sara had abandoned his chair to climb on the unstable, rolling, metal stand in the room. I told her "No" and took her off but as soon as my attention was back on the doctor she started climbing it again. I was holding Kyle on my lap so I grabbed her arm with one hand to help her down again. The table tipped in the process and she got hurt somewhere, I'm not sure where, but she started SCREAMING at which point Nikolai and MaryKate decided they had been good long enough and started to fight. Sara screamed so hard that she ended up passing out (something she used to do on a regular basis but has not in about 6 months). The doctor took time out of checking Kyle to make sure she was okay. She came to in minute and started a steady cry, which nothing I did could alleviate. ALL this time the big kids had been squabbling, so as soon as she came to I snapped at them to stop and had MaryKate climb down and come sit on the floor next to me.
So here I was with Sara crying in my left arm, Kyle, as good as gold, in my right arm, the doctor at my right side trying to be patient and answering all my questions over the din of crying and there was MaryKate, sitting on the floor next to me... POKING SARA IN THE LEG!!!... because, you know, she wasn't crying hard enough already (sarcastic eye roll)!
I asked the doctor about flu shots and when he went out to get one ready for Nikolai, Nikolai threw a fit about getting a shot. Fortunately for him the nurse came back in and informed us that they were all out but we could be put on their waiting list or we could go down to Walgreens where they were giving flu shots. As soon as she left Nikolai started back-talking to me saying "We are NOT going to Walgreens, I'm tired and need a snack and we've already been here FOREVER!" Now, I had no intention on going anywhere else with these kids for a very long time but the last thing I needed was him talking to me like that so on the way out the door HE got a lecture.
We usually get in and out at this doctors office but it must have been an extra busy day, we were there for about 2 hours and missed the lab to finish Kyle's PKU test (so I still have to go back... big sigh). We got in the car and the kids were not allowed to talk the whole way home (and for about an hour after, if I remember correctly). They got their homework done, chores and piano practicing done, ate dinner and were sent to bed at which point Kevin finally got home so I sat and cried and cried. He gave them a lecture the next morning and had them write apology letters to our doctor for behaving so badly, a better consequence then I could have thought up.
Granted, I've learned my lesson... a baby sitter is a MUST when going to the doctor's from now on. I used to take all three kids with but apparently adding one more is just too much to ask.
Monday was Kyle's first pediatrician appointment. Nikolai had one scheduled for the same day already so I piggy backed the two. Kevin was at work so it was my first outing with all four kids by myself. I figured it would not be that bad because MaryKate could keep Sara entertained while I dealt with the boys with the doctor.
They were great in the waiting room and all the old people sitting around smiled at Sara and her antics (we go to a family practitioner, so it is not just babies) but we had to wait an extraordinarily long time so they were all at their limit by the time we got called back. While one nurse was weighing and measuring Nikolai the other one was weighing Kyle all in a tiny room... two nurses, four kids and I in a 5 X 10 room... CROWDED! So MaryKate decided that the best way to entertain Sara would be to take her into the hall and run races with her. Yelling and squealing and running in front of people. By the time I got them called back to me and reprimanded the nurses were at their wits end and said "Let's get you a room to help you keep these kids contained." (Let me tell you, I felt like "Mother of the Year" after that comment.)
Once we got into the room the kids were great until the doctor came in. Since Kyle had just fallen asleep we started with Nikolai. I was sitting in the chair, Nikolai was on the table, Sara had claimed the doctors chair but he willingly stood next to Nikolai, talking to me across the room. Sara was happily spinning her toy dog around on the doctors stool but MaryKate wanted to sit and spin. So instead of helping entertain her, MaryKate pushed Sara's toy off and sat down, causing a 20 month old to understandably scream and push. MaryKate did this THREE times, me stopping talking to the doctor each time to reprimand her and remind her what she was supposed to be doing. The doctor left the room to get Nikolai's prescription at which point MaryKate got a very stern talking to and was sent to sit quietly next to Nikolai.
When the doctor came in Sara had abandoned his chair so he sat down next to me. Nikolai and MaryKate were being great, playing "dead" on the table, laying still and being quiet, I couldn't ask for more :). Unfortunately Sara had abandoned his chair to climb on the unstable, rolling, metal stand in the room. I told her "No" and took her off but as soon as my attention was back on the doctor she started climbing it again. I was holding Kyle on my lap so I grabbed her arm with one hand to help her down again. The table tipped in the process and she got hurt somewhere, I'm not sure where, but she started SCREAMING at which point Nikolai and MaryKate decided they had been good long enough and started to fight. Sara screamed so hard that she ended up passing out (something she used to do on a regular basis but has not in about 6 months). The doctor took time out of checking Kyle to make sure she was okay. She came to in minute and started a steady cry, which nothing I did could alleviate. ALL this time the big kids had been squabbling, so as soon as she came to I snapped at them to stop and had MaryKate climb down and come sit on the floor next to me.
So here I was with Sara crying in my left arm, Kyle, as good as gold, in my right arm, the doctor at my right side trying to be patient and answering all my questions over the din of crying and there was MaryKate, sitting on the floor next to me... POKING SARA IN THE LEG!!!... because, you know, she wasn't crying hard enough already (sarcastic eye roll)!
I asked the doctor about flu shots and when he went out to get one ready for Nikolai, Nikolai threw a fit about getting a shot. Fortunately for him the nurse came back in and informed us that they were all out but we could be put on their waiting list or we could go down to Walgreens where they were giving flu shots. As soon as she left Nikolai started back-talking to me saying "We are NOT going to Walgreens, I'm tired and need a snack and we've already been here FOREVER!" Now, I had no intention on going anywhere else with these kids for a very long time but the last thing I needed was him talking to me like that so on the way out the door HE got a lecture.
We usually get in and out at this doctors office but it must have been an extra busy day, we were there for about 2 hours and missed the lab to finish Kyle's PKU test (so I still have to go back... big sigh). We got in the car and the kids were not allowed to talk the whole way home (and for about an hour after, if I remember correctly). They got their homework done, chores and piano practicing done, ate dinner and were sent to bed at which point Kevin finally got home so I sat and cried and cried. He gave them a lecture the next morning and had them write apology letters to our doctor for behaving so badly, a better consequence then I could have thought up.
Granted, I've learned my lesson... a baby sitter is a MUST when going to the doctor's from now on. I used to take all three kids with but apparently adding one more is just too much to ask.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Our Kyle
We have some very special news to share with you about our new baby, Kyle. He was born with Down syndrome. He is incredibly healthy and strong and only exhibits a few of the physical manifestations so far.
Since one of the main concerns of babies with Down syndrome is heart abnormalities the hospital ordered an echo-cardiogram even though no murmur could be heard and his coloring was very good. It revealed a small Ventricular Septum Defect, or a small hole between the lower two chambers of his heart and a malformation of the right valve. We will learn more about what exactly is going on with the valve when we have a follow up echo-cardiogram with his pediatric cardiologist in a few weeks. Otherwise neither is posing any kind of immediate health risk. The VSD might close up on its own, continue with no noticeable side effects or will possibly need surgery sometime in the future.
We are also being referred to do genetic counseling which will tell us what kind of Down syndrome Kyle has. This will help us better prepare for the future, giving us an idea of what to expect as he grows up. Lastly, he will be starting therapy through the Arizona Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers.
We are very proud of our little boy and feel that he is a special blessing in our home. Right now, just like any other newborn, we are dealing with the exhaustion that comes from 2 am feedings, trying to establish a regular family routine, and the reality of getting two babies in and out of car seats wherever we go anywhere with all their accompanied paraphernalia. What he needs now is the same love, attention, and care that any other newborn needs.
The correct name of his diagnosis is Down syndrome. He is first and foremost Kyle, our baby, secondly he is "a baby with Down syndrome." It is not appropriate to refer to him as "a Downs" or "a Downs baby". Terms of sympathy are not appropriate. We welcome any questions you have about his diagnosis but want you to understand that we see him as our Kyle, our perfect new baby, and will rarely, if ever, refer to him being our baby with Down syndrome in general conversation and would appreciate it if you also referred to him as Kyle, not as his diagnosis. We will provide updates on his heart condition as we receive them and we will applaud his accomplishments just like we applaud the accomplishments of our other children.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Kyle is Born
Kyle James Anthony Anderson
born Sunday 27 September 2009
7 lbs 3 oz 19 1/2 inches
Everybody in our family is so in love with our newest bundle of joy. He is such a sweet baby who rarely cries and loves the adoration of his big brother and sisters. We feel so blessed and lucky to have him in our home.
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