River Trip

We took Liam down to the river that is behind our house for the first time.  It was a steep hike down to the river.

Once we got there we stopped for a picnic lunch. Both Liam and Zoe enjoyed the lunch meat

Liam absolutely loved the river. He splashed and kicked and stomped all the water

We had so much fun! We definitely will be doing this a lot more this summer

Clark County Fair

This year was our 5 year wedding anniversry. To celebrate we spent the weekend in Las Vegas. Chris has family there that could watch Liam, and Chris and I got a nice weekend alone.  On our way to Las Vegas we stopped at the Clark County Fair.

We saw lots of chickens but this was my favorite.  I don't know how he sees through all that hair!

This is Chris and Liam with either the cows, or peacocks, I can't tell which.

We had bratwursts which grilled onions for lunch. Liam loved the grilled onions. This is him right after lunch. With a full happy belly.

Liam's first swing ride. He loved it!

We had so much fun at the fair!

Happy Easter

This year I was so excited for Easter. It was Liam's first and he actually was old enough to semi-participate. I set the easter baskets all up.

As soon as Chris and Liam woke up I set Liam right in front of the baskets. I anticipated him taking everything out since that is what he likes to do lately. And...

He wanted nothing to do with them. Didn't even want to look at them.  So I figured we could go outside and take some nice pictures and. . . 

All he did was cry. All day long. . . frustrating to say the least. All my hopes were dashed.  Oh well. Maybe next year.

We tried out his new bubbles. Which made him stop crying long enough to get this picture.

And this one. 

We did finally get his attention by bringing the chicks outside to play. He liked this, except when we wouldn't let him touch them.

The chicks seemed to think that Chris was Mama Hen.  They hung out around/on him the whole time

And when he left them they all huddled together and squawked until he came back. All in all it wasn't a bad day. After this we went to church and Liam seemed to calm down. After that we had a nice meal and walk.  It just made me realize there is no planning when it comes to kids. Sometimes they have hard days just like we do, even on holidays.

A bonus picture of Zoe enjoying Easter :)

Springtime

I am going to start this post by saying I am a hippie. That is right. I bottle my own food, my son wears cloth diapers, I recycle, and now we have some chickens :) 

This is how I was raised, and I never knew how odd it was until I started working, and talking to people at work.  They are all amazed that I would do crazy things like recycle, or grow my own food, or heaven forbid cloth diaper (gasp).  They would talk to me like I was a crazy person. Why would I go through all the trouble of doing all that work when I can go to the grocery store, buy already bottled food and disposable diapers, and just throw away all the excess. Why do I do this?  I feel accomplished, I love knowing exactly where my food came from, or exactly what touches my son's precious bum. It also feels right in a way I cannot explain. This is how people survived for centuries, and I love that I can live my life a little closer to that.

The time of year has come to start readying the garden. Liam loves to help. It is a nightly ritual that we go outside. Chris and I work while Liam gets as dirty as he possibly can.

He loves the grass, but does not like it to touch his bare skin, so he crawls around like this.

So happy to be outside

Do leaves taste good?

Dirt sure does not! 

A cocoon I found out in my garden. I am pretty sure it is a moth, but I have never seen one hatch so we are going to try.

I cannot wait until my garden starts producing.  Last year I didn't get as much bottling done as I would have liked because we had a brand new baby to figure out.  As a result we ran out of salsa, tomato sauce, and applesauce in February. That leaves us with at least 6 months of wasting money on grocery store food. . . So my goal this year is to get ALOT of canning done. After all we have one more mouth to feed ;) 

In Loving Memory of Tuck

Tuck. . . We will alway remember 

How much you loved to play.

How much you loved your walks.

How you could close cabinets.

How you loved to eat wasabi, or anything for that matter.

How you loved to dig in the pillows.

How you would do anything for a treat.

How you loved to go on car rides.

How much you loved the garden.

How you loved to drink water out of the shower.

How much you loved us.

But especially how much you loved Liam. 

Anytime he was on the floor you would come over and lick him.

You always wanted to sleep in his room.

If we couldn't find you it was because you were under the crib.

If Liam cried you would waddle into his room to go check on him.

Liam would tug on your hair and you would just let him.

But most of all we will remember how much we loved you. 

You were the best pup anyone could ask for.

We love you and miss you terribly.

Save us a spot in puppy heaven.

Liam's Surgery

Liam's glasses to help his cross eyes did not work, so he had to have surgery on both his eyes to correct the crossing.  We scheduled this the week before christmas so that we could get it done in SLC, and then have some time off for Christmas so that he could recoup up in SLC. We also wanted to do this before the end of the year so that we had to pay less for it since we already met our deductible this year.

Chris was not able to get work off until the day after the surgery. Luckily both sets of Grandparents were able to be there for the surgery.

The night before the surgery Liam was allowed to have formula until midnight and juice until 4 am, but then nothing after that. Liam usually sleeps through the night, but I woke him up at 11:00 and 3:30 to feed him. He was very upset that i did this, until I put the bottle in his mouth, then he was very very happy.

We had to be at the surgery center at 6:20 am and his surgery was scheduled to start at 7:30. I was excited it was so early because that meant that Liam wouldn't be too hungry before the surgery started, also I just wanted to get it over with. I didn't sleep much the night before anyway. 

Liam's cross eyes before surgery

We got there and a doctor checked him out to make sure he was fit for surgery. He passed with flying colors. They then had him change into his surgery jammies. These were way to big for him, but he looked super cute in them anyway.

Liam and Papa

Everyone could not believe how happy Liam was.  They said usually they deal with cranky, hungry babies all day.  I told them I was just blessed with a very happy baby. 

Last look at those adorable little cross eyes

We then waited in the waiting room for the Doctors to get ready for the surgery. They had tons of toys for Liam to play with, books to read, and Little Einsteins on the TV.  Finally the anesthesiologist came to take Liam to surgery. I asked if I could go back with him until he fell asleep. At first he said I could not, but then he changed his mind and said I could come and look through the window of the OR door until he fell asleep.  So I carried Liam back to the OR, handed him over to the anesthesiologist, and tried my hardest not to cry. Liam started crying when they put him on the table, but after 2 seconds of the gas mask he fell asleep. The anesthesiologist gave me the thumbs up and a smile.  I then went out into the waiting room where my dad, DaRese, and Gary were waiting. My mom was not allowed to be there because she had a sore throat.  We talked and waited and about 40 minutes later my name was called to come back. It was all over.

Liam drinking some much needed juice

This was what I saw when I was lead back to see my baby boy. He was just sitting drinking some juice as if nothing was wrong. I was so proud of him. What a trooper. The nurses warned me that as soon as he tried to open his eyes he would start crying, and he did. He cried and cried and cried for about 30 minutes.  His nurse gave him some Lortab about half way through. As soon as that kicked in Liam fell back asleep and looked like a little angel.

Sleeping after the Lortab kicked in

He slept for about another hour and when he woke up he was fine. He just looked around and even smiled. My Dad, DaRese, and Gary took turns coming back to visit him, and then the nurses then said he could take him home. So we got him dressed and walked him out to the car. It was about 10:30.  We were only at the hospital for 4 hours.

Getting dressed after surgery

I have to take one minute to say how great the staff was. We had Liam's surgery done at the Riverton Hospital's Primary Children's Outpatient Surgery Center. Every one was wonderful! From the moment I walked in the door everyone was so helpful and made me feel at ease.  I loved all of them.  Even the cleaning lady came in when Liam was crying and gave him a toy that made music. She wanted to help him. Everyone went above and beyond the call of duty and I am so thankful for all of them.

We went home and Liam slept most of the first day, but when he was awake he was his normal self. I really was amazed how quickly he recovered. 

We went to the Doctor's office the day after surgery and everyone was so amazed that his eyes looked so good. The Doctor said the surgery went perfectly and his eyes looked perfect. That was so good to hear.  Liam does not have to wear his glasses anymore, unless his eyes start turning in again.  So far his eyes look great and there are no sign of turning.

I am so glad we did this surgery as early as we did.  What they do it take the muscle on the inside of the eye and move it back. That was the eye isn't being pulled in as much.  They said we could wait to do it until he was older, but if we did he might loose depth perception or even some vision in one eye.  If we did it early like we did there is a greater chance that he may have to have another surgery later in life.  To me there was no other option.  I want him to have the best vision he can have. Even if it means going through this all over again in a couple of years, but hopefully, with how good the results are, we won't have to.

Liam's eyes the day of surgery

Liam driving Papa's car 2 days post op

Early Christmas

Liam is having eye surgery the week before Christmas up in Salt Lake City.  We will be spending Christmas up there while Liam recuperates.  So we had early Christmas at our house. We opened our presents and also the presents Grandma Dunning and Grandpa Gary gave us.

Santa came to visit. Liam was not thrilled.

 Liam and Grandma with Santa

Liam standing up to his big gift Grandma and Grandpa got him

Unwrapping presents

Rolling around in wrapping paper

Liam's Christmas suit

The big toy grandma and grandpa got him. He loved it! He started laughing and screaming as soon as he got in it

Trying to figure out how this thing works.