Captain's Log: Week 195

This was a much calmer week *insert sigh of relief here*......I'm trying to think of exciting things to share with you, but nothing extraordinary pops out. I take it back--it IS Max's first birthday today, hurray! But, since that technically falls under next week's posting, we're back to not a lot of anything this week. I'm totally cool with that though, to be honest with you. Going to work and lounging around during my time off is something I can handle :] Took a few random pictures this week, so here they are for your enjoyment:

Jayson wanted his picture taken one day, before we left for daycare. What a little cutie...I love this boy so much when he's being good! He's honestly tried harder lately to be good, and I've tried harder to be patient, so all is well. Wish I could break him of his beloved sippy cup already, but one thing to work on at a time, right? Speaking of working on stuff, potty training has not exactly been high on Jayson's priorities this week. He goes when he feels like it, whether that's on the potty or in his pants, which is frustrating for the parentals here. We are hoping that it is just a stage he's going through and not extreme regression--but either way we are pushing upward and onward in the quest.

Max kinda looks like a sleepy alien in this picture, but it's really hard to get a one year old to smile for the camera. Almost as hard as it is to get a two and a half year old to hold still for a picture, now that I think about it haha. Max toddles around the house now like a pro, and is loving walking....it totally cracks me up sometimes. This kid has learned so many new things in the past week that it would make for a list too long to read in one post--it's crazy how fast he picks up on things! I think he looks so much like his daddy lately, except he has a strong hint of red coming through in his hair that's all from mommy. It makes me so proud LOL :] Max is enjoying more new table foods--this week he decided that he especially likes sugar free chocolate and eggs. Plain pumpkin bored him, and cottage cheese was okay after all.

Love my kitty cats. Took this on Saturday night, when they both crawled into my lap. It had been so long since Gidget wandered downstairs on her own, that I had to capture the happy image. I think she's starting to feel a bit better....I've at least seen some signs of progress. She walks around a bit more often, is beginning to frequent her favorite spots again (instead of just staying in one spot all day long), and has started to somewhat resist her feedings through the tube. Not that she's out of the woods by any means, but I love seeing any progress. Tomorrow I take her to the vet to be weighed and have follow-up blood work; hopefully it all looks better than last week. Tonka is his usual happy self as you can see, an eager attention-hog haha.

Sam made it to the pool once again last Tuesday, so at least we are starting to make a habit of that one day a week. Two would be much better of course, but all in good time. We are also seriously considering getting an elliptical for our house, so we can work out whenever we please. Gotta figure out where the money is going to come from, but it's high on my to-get list.

I was so sick yesterday that I didn't even make it to church. Big frowny sad face here. I seriously tried to get ready several different times, and got so tired that I never finished. Thank goodness I wasn't working, so I could get good rest. I really wanted to make it to the temple at least once before January was up, but this week is pretty dang packed, so we will see.

Next week's post will contain a little more excitement, I promise. See you all then :]

Captain's Log: Week 194

So this is apparently the only picture I managed to take this week (while I was browsing stuff that I could never ever afford at Tai Pan Trading).....yet it was quite appropriate. Not exactly my most favorite week ever here folks, but we survived.

Things We Did

• The boys had a dentist appointment last Monday. I thought it was on Tuesday, so you can imagine my surprise when I got a text Monday morning at 8 am, saying they were looking forward to seeing us at 10 am. I may or may not have called Sam in a terrible panic and begged him to come home, because I had to work at noon and would never make it to work on time if I had to take the boys back to daycare after the appointment. Good man that he is, he showed up at home 30 minutes later to help me out. It's a wonder that Sam hasn't been fired yet for all of the crazy stuff he has to take time off for, often at the drop of a hat. Thank goodness his company/co-workers seem to love him enough to put up with it. Anyway, back to the appointment stuff lol. It was Max's first time at the dentist ever, and he did so good! He has two top and two bottom teeth fully erupted, with two more on top trying to poke their way out. No wonder my poor kiddo has been so miserable lately. This was Jayson's third time visiting the dentist, and he liked it a lot less this time for whatever reason. All he wanted to do was go back into the front waiting room and play on the giant toy boat. Good news is that he doesn't have any obvious cavities (we tried to do x-rays just to confirm and that was kind of an epic fail, ah well). Both of the boys got new toothbrushes and a fun little toy at the end. In six months, you will get to hear about our great dentist adventures once more :]
• On Tuesday I did some serious house cleaning. My biggest accomplishment was cleaning off the kitchen table my sister gave to us back in September. I've sworn that I was going to clean the darn thing since it first entered my house way back then, but a lot of sickness happened and I was too daunted by such a task. And before you think I was just being a wuss, it had at least 7 years' worth of young child food messes all over it, dried on and all. Anyway, I finally committed to the task, and after 3.5 hours of intense scrubbing it looks awesome! I'm quite sad that I didn't get a picture before Jayson came home and started all over on the mess cycle haha. Pretty sure I'm going to be a little more vigilant about cleaning it monthly from here on out.
• Max got tubes on Wednesday! I did not go with Sam and Max because I had to work, but from what I hear Max was a little flirt and did fantastically well. He had yet another ear infection when they went in to place the tubes (surprise lol) and a lot of fluid that had built up, so I bet it was a real relief for Max to wake up and have a lot of that gone. He's really been even more cheery and happy since the surgery, so I think he's feeling a lot better. Even his daycare teachers have noticed a difference in his temperament. Now if we could just get Max past this terrible cold and cough he has, everything would be perfect!
• Our poor Gidget cat has been terribly sick. On Wednesday afternoon, she threw up and could hardly stand on her feet. This was following several days of extreme lethargy, so I insisted that Sam rush her to the vet. Her potassium was critically low, and her liver enzymes insanely elevated, so she had to be hospitalized and given supportive fluids for several days. The vet initially suspected diabetes, but when her glucose levels came back normal he changed his mind. Gidget was failing to make the kind of improvement that they suspected she should be, and was refusing to eat much of anything, so on Friday our vet recommended taking her for an abdominal ultrasound at a specialty veterinarian's office near my work. Friday was a bad day for me, because I was pretty sure Gidget was going to die, and I was SO not ready for another big loss. Thankfully Saturday was a new day. After the specialty ultrasound on Saturday, we determined that Gidget has a terrible case of pancreatitis (meaning inflamed pancreas). This is a terribly painful thing that was causing her to have zero desire to eat, which in turn was creating her electrolyte imbalances and terrible liver enzymes. So Saturday night she got a feeding tube placed, and stayed for observation until this afternoon. Now we just have to nurse her back to health at home, with a crazy cocktail of meds and tube feedings, and hope for the best. If Gidget makes it through all of this (and I'm rooting for her cause she's a strong cat), I'm banking on her having a long and healthy life with us!!!
• Friday and Saturday were kind of one long blur of work and exhaustion for me. I know I've been sick for months on end now, but it kind of comes and goes, being worse at some points. Well I'm currently at one of those "worse" points. This new version of cold isn't quite as terrible in the coughing department (for me anyway)--but it comes with sinus crap, a wicked runny nose, and ear aches. Oh, and that perpetually exhausted feeling. I seriously slept almost 10 hours both Friday and Saturday night, but it wasn't enough. Sad I know. Thank goodness I had some time on Sunday to take it easy and recoup.

Our Goals
I will try and keep this fairly short since I know I've rambled on a lot about the week.

• Sam got to go and try out the community pool once this past week. Not the three times I was aiming for him to go, but ya know, things were a little topsy turvy this week. Pretty sure he enjoyed it, but he said wants to make a lot of progress towards getting in-shape and having more stamina as he continues to go.
• I didn't make it to the temple--turns out it's a bad idea to store your temple bag and recommend in a car that may or may not be at home when you are ready to go the temple. Lesson learned. But, I did get to go to church on Sunday, hurray! My little angels were actually pretty good during Sacrament meeting, which made things a lot less stressful. I found that I actually enjoy church more when I have less expectations of how my kids should be behaving, and just try to enjoy the message more. Go figure haha. The only downside to church was having to take Jayson to the bathroom during the last two hours, because it interrupted my lessons. But it wasn't the worst thing ever, and that will end eventually right??
• Jayson is still working hard at potty training of course. Some days are better than others, and I'm still trying to figure out why he makes it sometimes, and blatantly has accidents at other times. But I'm actually (and surprisingly) not too stressed about it overall. He has had a couple of dry nights this week which was pretty cool, because then we can reuse our night-time pull ups. Mommy loves saving money haha!
• We kind of gave Max a break with the whole eating thing since he had surgery this week. However, we have made more of an effort to make sure he gets a couple of square meals over the weekend, since we don't have daycare to rely on for feeding him. He still definitely likes yogurt. I'm just running short on good ideas for finger foods and whatnot, seeing as he's already picky like Jayson. Guess that's a good job for me to figure out this week.....

Captain's Log: Week 193

This was a fairly average week in our life. A few big things, but nothing too over the top. I can't tell you how glad I am to say that, because it's been so long since we've had a "normal for us" kind of week! Anyway, here's some highlights for you.

Things I Caught On Camera 

Meet Tonka (top) and Gidget (bottom), the newest members of our family! I got them a few days before Christmas from the animal shelter in North Salt Lake as an early present for Sam, and we have absolutely loved having cats around. They are the most mellow and sweet creatures ever--the boys just love hugging and chasing them whenever they don't run away haha. In turn, the cats love parking it on our laps whenever and wherever we sit/lay down. The shelter estimated that Tonka (a boy) is around 11 years old, and Gidget (a girl) is about 2. Because Gidget was so young, she hadn't been de-clawed yet. Hence, she was scratching up all the furniture and people in the house. That was a slight problem, so on Monday the claws went bye-bye. FYI, I was just as stressed out for her surgery as I've been for both the boys' surgeries! But, she did absolutely fantastic, and has adjusted great to life without the claws. I actually think Gidget and Tonka get along better now for whatever reason, so I'd say this experience was a big plus for us.

Just had to throw in the picture of Max, because I wasn't at his ENT appointment to get a pic of him, but it was too cute to not put up on here somewhere. Sam took Max into the ENT on Wednesday because he has had practially non-stop ear infections since October. As bad as that has been for us (he wakes up at least twice a night, and I'm sure it's because he's in pain) it's got to be way worse for him. Anyway, the doctor determined that Max is a perfect candidate to get tubes for his ears, so this coming Wednesday (the 15th) is the big day. I am actually thrilled to be able to do something that might make him feel better, even though I regret that he has to have minor surgery to do so. Ah well, he's such a trooper that I know he'll do great. More updates next week on how it went, of course.

Last week I ordered some much needed furniture for our house, and we finally picked up most of it this weekend! We put together a headboard for our bed, along with two small bookshelves that go on either side of the headboard. I didn't get a picture of that (shame shame, I know) but I did get a picture of Jayson's new car bedding! Ever since we discovered "Mater's Tall Tales" on Netflix a few months ago, he has been obsessed with Mater, so I decided to get him some Mater bedding as a late Christmas gift. He was so psyched when we picked it up that he wanted to go straight home and put it on the bed, no joke (and this kid usually wants nothing to do with the bed lol). We about had a major meltdown in Walmart because we couldn't open the packaging right there. I don't blame him though, because as I made his bed at home, I was getting all excited about how awesome the bedding was! The only things we have left to pick up from the furniture order are the entertainment center for downstairs, and a bed frame for our guest bed--that's kind of this week's house project. Then I'd like to get a new couch and decorate the house....no big deal right? I will accept any and all donations for such a daunting cause :p 

Cool Things I Didn't Catch On Camera

-We went to the zoo this weekend, yay! Jayson and Max both definitely enjoy getting to see all of the animals....as long as we don't get too close to the giant ones lol. Jayson and Max got the pleasure of zoo going with their cousins Rachel and Audrey, which I think they greatly enjoyed. It's a lot easier to stay at the zoo and enjoy the exhibits when there are more kids there to ooh and ah over the animals. And it's a lot nicer for the adults involved to have company/people to talk with. I think Jayson's favorite animals this time were all of the reptiles in the reptile house--he knew exactly what the snakes were thanks to the little pet snake that often visited his daycare a little while back, and he was proud to show that knowledge off. Pretty sure Max's favorite thing was the seal exhibit, because he got to toddle around the area and smack loudly on the glass walls! My favorite part of the whole experience was that it was a balmy 40 degrees outside, so we really didn't freeze at all like I had expected. Major bonus if you hate the cold like I do!

Goal Progress
-Sam is looking forward to getting an exercise program going. We are trying to make a schedule where he can go swimming three nights a week at the community center pool. This week we will see whether the pool is actually open at night, and if Sam actually has any energy left by the end of the day to work out lol. Hopefully he gets there at least once this week and enjoys some peaceful laps :]
-I did terribly at my goal this week. I had to work this past Sunday, and the weather was frightful the two days I had off--so that eliminated going to the temple. I am just not brave enough to traverse all the way up the mountain to the Bountiful temple in snowy weather, especially in a van with two wheel drive. To top it off, we got all ready to go to church this Sunday, and when we arrived the Tongan Ward was meeting in our usual chapel. Sam is pretty sure he missed the memo about Stake Conference or something last week, because we showed up at the right time and at the right building.....but nobody was there that we recognized. That was frustrating to me, because I was really looking forward to getting my church fill for the week. However, I still have a chance to get to the temple this week; it's definitely a high priority on my to-do list.
-Jayson has made some good steps in potty training. He is starting to tell us when he has to go, and holding it for longer periods of time. We even went a whole day without accidents yesterday! He has some good days at daycare, and some not so good days. A good day is two or less accidents; a bad day is being told he just about ran out of clothes (I bring him five pant changes, to give you an idea of how many accidents that is). At least he didn't come home in the little frilly green shorts that he loves so much this week (seriously.....one time that's all they had left to put on him at daycare, and he really wanted to wear them all the time after that!) Overall, I'm really proud of him, this has been a much easier week potty training than I anticipated.
-Max is trying more variety in table foods, even though he is determined to feed the high chair more than his mouth! It's not that the little guy doesn't try to eat food.....it just never seems to stay in his mouth lol. He had a bout of diarrhea this week that kind of derailed us from feeding him more foods, because I wasn't sure if it was "bad foods" or a sickness tearing through him, so that was frustrating. We are stepping back and remembering that Max is more limited at this point in starch and sugar digestion than Jayson is, and trying to be more careful in what we put on his plate (i.e. no fast food burgers that have American cheese on them, or chicken nuggets that contain any breading). I think he is getting better, regardless of what caused it, which is nice. He has really enjoyed greek yogurt this week :]

Captain's Log: Week 192

Before 2013 ended, I intended on making a nice blog entry about the year, in review. I had gotten about 2/3 of one written at work the week before New Year's....and then it got too busy and I never finished. Reading back on the post, it was kind of negative and rather personal for most of you guys to be interested in anyway. We will just say that 2013 was a rough and tough year for this little family. We were trying very hard to figure out our responsibilities--and balance--to family, full time jobs, chores, and general daily life as "real grown ups" for the first year. We had many joys (like Max and the cats joining our family, or going on two big vacations).....but many trials as well (like Zoey joining and leaving our family in just 14 short weeks, or finding out our boys have a life-altering dietary genetic disorder). In short, we are excited for 2014 and hope that we have the strength to face whatever hits the fan this year :]

One of my goals for 2014 is to blog weekly about the (hopefully) mundane going-ons of our family. When I started this blog last March my goal was to blog every couple of weeks--needless to say that epically failed. I hope that with a shorter time frame to write about that just maybe I will come closer to succeeding this year! I'm also hoping to take more pictures (and figure out how to download them from my phone to the computer lol), because I find that I tend to blog more when I have fun pictures to showcase an event.

So, starting next week I will try hard to actually make note of things that could possibly interest the public reading audience and put them on here. I apologize in advance if this whole blogging attempt turns into a long shpiel about me and my day .....I just happen to be biased about how cool my life is and don't see as much of my family on certain days to figure out what they are up to. But I'll try really hard to keep in interesting, unlike this paragraph ;p

Since I didn't really prepare--aka leave much time--to write this week, I will just share one 2014 goal per person with you, so you all can feel like this wasn't a waste of time to read! I know I already shared one, but another big goal of mine is getting back into the swing of going to church and the temple on a regular basis--it's crazy how working every other Sunday really gets you out of those habits, and I need to change that. Sam really wants to drop some weight and be super buff man lol, so hopefully he can find a way to get out and exercise more often (those goals are usually hand in hand right)? Jayson has just started potty training (hurray.....I think.....) so obviously his goal is to master that before his third birthday in July, whether he knows it or not haha. Max's goal is to get better at eating solid foods, so he can transition off that yucky formula in a bottle and into drinking milk from a sippy cup. I'm not biased in my children's goals at all now, am I?

Fun fact: the week number in my post title refers to how many weeks Sam and I have been married and hence started our own little family--I've seen it done before and figured it could be a fun number to work into the blog title. And the whole captain's log thing was something cool that I stole from another blog, thus doubly proving how uncreative I actually am haha.

Oh, and happy 2014 (we hope)!