The last few months have been crazy! We met Zoey in March. We are still fundraising the last bit for her. Hoping that is done soon so she can come home!
Last week we spent the entire week in Cincinnati at their children's hospital. Very long week! I will update Tyler's blog about that.
This week we had a reporter and photographer from the Casa Grande Dispatch come by. They are doing a story on Tyler and Zoey! Then Zoey's trainer called yesterday and the paper called her and they want pictures of Tyler and Zoey so she is bringing Zoey up to see us on Monday! So excited!!
Yesterday was a really big day for me! I auditioned for our community college's jazz choir and vocal lessons and I did awesome! Seriously, not just saying that! I did much better than I expected. I haven't auditioned for a choir in 9yrs! Let alone sang in one for about 8yrs, besides church anyway. The best part? I can get scholarship money! Uhm, yeah! How awesome is that? SO I need to look into what other classes I want to take. I have lots of music classes I am taking, I am doing college choir, jazz choir, and vocal lessons. I need to start taking core classes again, slowly though. I always overload myself and then well, it never ends well.
Kendall is doing really well at his job. Being a Lieutenant has its perks, but it has it's annoying parts too. Like phone calls all the time, haha! But he is good at it and I admire him. Hoping eventually to get into police, we will see.
Tyler got accepted into Legacy (which is a charter school in our area). He will be going to morning kindergarten next year. Wow, can you believe that?! Next month he will be 5! Gosh, he is truly growing up! I miss my baby :( but every stage I enjoy more than the last :)
Friday, April 26, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
This, that, and other things
Well the last little while hasn't been too much really. We have been working a lot on Tyler's car wash coming up this Saturday. Getting signs made and buckets, sponges, hoses, and towels for washing cars. My wonderful sister in law got a bunch of her friends to come help wash cars so we are giving them donuts in return, what young college kids don't like food?! We have also been getting things together for the bake sale and I have had some great offers of others wanting to donate goods to the bake sale, awesome! Our change jars we have set up around town are doing pretty good. I am really glad we decided to do them. They are bringing in decent money for Tyler's seizure response dog.
We got an important phone call a week or so ago for Tyler. We are scheduled to go to Cincinnati for specialized testing on his intestines in April. We will be there for a week and the head doctor over their motility department is taking on his case. Very exciting and very nerve wracking! So now we need help fundraising for Zoey and for costs of a hotel and food at least while we are there. We are hoping to get free flights through a foundation, so we will see.
We got an important phone call a week or so ago for Tyler. We are scheduled to go to Cincinnati for specialized testing on his intestines in April. We will be there for a week and the head doctor over their motility department is taking on his case. Very exciting and very nerve wracking! So now we need help fundraising for Zoey and for costs of a hotel and food at least while we are there. We are hoping to get free flights through a foundation, so we will see.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Days off and work this week
So Kendall has Sunday and Monday off. Yes! I LOVE his days off. He gets to spend time with Tyler and more importantly, we get time together. It's so strange being 6.5yrs into our marriage and with a 4.5yr old and it's like we are grown ups now. Things revolve around paying bills, grocery shopping, dr appts (ok, well, that isn't necessarily typical, but for our family it's completely normal to spend more time with Tyler's doctors than family), work, going to bed early, making healthy meals, organizing, scheduling things, fulfilling church callings, getting Tyler to school, etc etc etc. When you look at it, 6.5yrs of an eternal marriage isn't that far in but it feels like forever. It looks like we just got married yesterday, but it feels like we got married an eternity ago and then some. It's amazing how we function in our marital and adult duties without blinking an eye. It's no longer something we have to become accustomed to, you just do it. If Kendall turns left, I know when and how he will do it and am right there with him every step. It's just odd how in sync you can get. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying the spark and love is out of our marriage, it's definitely not, it's just we seemed to have found our rhythm and it works well. Overall, it just seems like life has always been this way. I can't imagine it any other way.
Wow, I am on a tangent there. Back to Kendall and work. He has some training this week so we will get to see more of him this week. He normally works graveyard shift which means he works while we sleep, and sleeps while we function during the day. The schedule works for our family in that I am able to take Tyler to and from school and to the dr in an emergency. But it sucks because trying to keep a 4yr old quiet is not easy, especially Tyler. He has been vocal since day 1. And it sucks because we don't get to see that much of Kendall. But he does what is best for his family and we can't ask for more. So the next couple days he will be working during the day instead of at night and going to bed with me (ahhhh! I miss sleeping next to him. The first month or so, it was so hard adjusting to sleeping without him). So we will have a more normal schedule and that's great!
I have choir practice again tomorrow night. I LOVE choir! Just love it! I love seeing sheet music again! I need to start writing my own music again, but it's hard when you don't have a piano. So I am really excited to go back to practice again tomorrow night. Tonight me and my sister in law practiced after dinner. I love having someone coming with me.
Tomorrow, Tyler's new respite provider may start. We absolutely love her! She wants to help us with fundraising for Tyler, she hasn't even started working for us yet! She also got Tyler a valentine card, how sweet! She is going to be great for him and is excited! We are excited too! I think she will be good for him and for us. I can't wait to see her watch him :)
Wow, I am on a tangent there. Back to Kendall and work. He has some training this week so we will get to see more of him this week. He normally works graveyard shift which means he works while we sleep, and sleeps while we function during the day. The schedule works for our family in that I am able to take Tyler to and from school and to the dr in an emergency. But it sucks because trying to keep a 4yr old quiet is not easy, especially Tyler. He has been vocal since day 1. And it sucks because we don't get to see that much of Kendall. But he does what is best for his family and we can't ask for more. So the next couple days he will be working during the day instead of at night and going to bed with me (ahhhh! I miss sleeping next to him. The first month or so, it was so hard adjusting to sleeping without him). So we will have a more normal schedule and that's great!
I have choir practice again tomorrow night. I LOVE choir! Just love it! I love seeing sheet music again! I need to start writing my own music again, but it's hard when you don't have a piano. So I am really excited to go back to practice again tomorrow night. Tonight me and my sister in law practiced after dinner. I love having someone coming with me.
Tomorrow, Tyler's new respite provider may start. We absolutely love her! She wants to help us with fundraising for Tyler, she hasn't even started working for us yet! She also got Tyler a valentine card, how sweet! She is going to be great for him and is excited! We are excited too! I think she will be good for him and for us. I can't wait to see her watch him :)
Friday, February 8, 2013
A little of this, a little of that
So I started going to Community Choir at the local community college. It's taught by my high school choir teacher. It feels so weird being under her direction again at 26yrs old, LOL! It's great because my sister in law is coming with me too. I can't believe how much I have missed singing like this! We have 3 performances coming up I am excited but nervous about. Our class has something like 12 people in it, so it's pretty small. Next year I plan on joining her Jazz class and possible her college choir. We will see what my time will allow.
Kendall has been busy with work. Not much going on for him. We had a leak in our sink that went on for about 2 weeks. The hose was broken in it and we had to wait for the part to show up before they could fix it. It finally got fixed this morning. Do you have any idea how hard it is to do dishes or clean Tyler's medical supplies with a broken sink? Not easy! We had to keep a pan under the sink cuz it leaked down there. You don't realize all the little stuff you use your sink for until you have to minimize/not use it.
We had a meeting this week to meet a new respite provider for Tyler. A respite provider is basically an agency paid and glorified babysitter. They are background checked and CPR and first aide certified. Most have some medical experience to degree, may be minimal, but they have some knowledge on it. And respite is given to us through Tyler's long term care insurance which to meet the qualifications for that insurance you have to meet the needs equivalent to needing to be cared for in a nursing home. Doesn't mean he needs to move to a nursing home, but his care is equivalent to those needs. Really puts things in prospective for you when we get things like that. So basically respite gives us a break to be used only for things like running errands, taking a nap, cleaning the house, going on a date with Kendall, etc. Not to be used for going to work or school. Most of the time we use it to run our errands and grocery shopping to keep Tyler away from people. So we met with a new provider and she is just great! We love her! She doesn't have gtube experience really but she has been around them and isn't afraid of them. She has experience dealing with seizures too. She is excited about his seizure dog too and is willing to take the dog with them if they go anywhere. She is getting her home certified so Tyler can go there sometimes too which is great for us because then we can clean the house with the chemical stuff and not worry about setting off an asthma attack or anything for him. Plus Tyler needs out of the house and likes going to new places. So she will be starting with us fully sometime soon!
That's all really right now. I am still debating on going back to school and being in the choir may just pull me into it, we will see.
Kendall has been busy with work. Not much going on for him. We had a leak in our sink that went on for about 2 weeks. The hose was broken in it and we had to wait for the part to show up before they could fix it. It finally got fixed this morning. Do you have any idea how hard it is to do dishes or clean Tyler's medical supplies with a broken sink? Not easy! We had to keep a pan under the sink cuz it leaked down there. You don't realize all the little stuff you use your sink for until you have to minimize/not use it.
We had a meeting this week to meet a new respite provider for Tyler. A respite provider is basically an agency paid and glorified babysitter. They are background checked and CPR and first aide certified. Most have some medical experience to degree, may be minimal, but they have some knowledge on it. And respite is given to us through Tyler's long term care insurance which to meet the qualifications for that insurance you have to meet the needs equivalent to needing to be cared for in a nursing home. Doesn't mean he needs to move to a nursing home, but his care is equivalent to those needs. Really puts things in prospective for you when we get things like that. So basically respite gives us a break to be used only for things like running errands, taking a nap, cleaning the house, going on a date with Kendall, etc. Not to be used for going to work or school. Most of the time we use it to run our errands and grocery shopping to keep Tyler away from people. So we met with a new provider and she is just great! We love her! She doesn't have gtube experience really but she has been around them and isn't afraid of them. She has experience dealing with seizures too. She is excited about his seizure dog too and is willing to take the dog with them if they go anywhere. She is getting her home certified so Tyler can go there sometimes too which is great for us because then we can clean the house with the chemical stuff and not worry about setting off an asthma attack or anything for him. Plus Tyler needs out of the house and likes going to new places. So she will be starting with us fully sometime soon!
That's all really right now. I am still debating on going back to school and being in the choir may just pull me into it, we will see.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Not Much
So, now you know the basics of our story. Not much has happened between the time we had Tyler and now besides his medical stuff. Most of our time revolves around Tylers medical conditions. Other than Kendall started working as a correctional officer. In 1.5yrs there he was promoted to Sergeant, and then almost 2yrs after that, he was just promoted to Lieutenant last month. He is working his way up the ranks pretty quickly. He is wanting to become a police officer so we are working on that. But he is really good at his job.
Me, I am not fully sure what I want to do. My time is spent on Tyler. I would like to go back to school and become a teacher. I had thought of becoming a special education teacher, but I know that is a very exhausting area at times and being that I have my own special needs child, I don't think I can handle both without being burnt out. That wouldn't be fair to Tyler or to the students. I hope soon to start back in school and finish, so we will see. My goal is to get Tyler settled first.
And this may be crazy, but I really would love to write a book about everything we go through with Tyler. I want to inspire other families. As it is, I have helped many here and there through support or information to get them services they need. Right now, I have been sharing a letter I had written on Tyler's behalf to an insurance company to get the to cover his smaller pump. It took us almost going to court to get it, then I wrote that letter and revised it some, we submitted one more time and it was approved pretty quickly! I have received many compliments on it from doctors and nurses. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am pretty proud of it. :) So I would just like to share our story. I have had people tell me from reading his blog, caringbridge site, and his facebook page that they never realized what all we go through. You don't realize it on the outside, so I want to share that with others. I know Tyler isn't as severe as many other children out there, but I believe we can still inspire people. :)
Me, I am not fully sure what I want to do. My time is spent on Tyler. I would like to go back to school and become a teacher. I had thought of becoming a special education teacher, but I know that is a very exhausting area at times and being that I have my own special needs child, I don't think I can handle both without being burnt out. That wouldn't be fair to Tyler or to the students. I hope soon to start back in school and finish, so we will see. My goal is to get Tyler settled first.
And this may be crazy, but I really would love to write a book about everything we go through with Tyler. I want to inspire other families. As it is, I have helped many here and there through support or information to get them services they need. Right now, I have been sharing a letter I had written on Tyler's behalf to an insurance company to get the to cover his smaller pump. It took us almost going to court to get it, then I wrote that letter and revised it some, we submitted one more time and it was approved pretty quickly! I have received many compliments on it from doctors and nurses. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am pretty proud of it. :) So I would just like to share our story. I have had people tell me from reading his blog, caringbridge site, and his facebook page that they never realized what all we go through. You don't realize it on the outside, so I want to share that with others. I know Tyler isn't as severe as many other children out there, but I believe we can still inspire people. :)
Friday, February 1, 2013
A little of our story
So here is some of our story for those who may not know:
Kendall and I met our Freshmen year in high school in seminary. Come to find out a few years later, Kendall and my brother had actually known each other for a few years in boy scouts. And when we were 12, we were at a church Halloween dance and I thought he was cute and my dad tried to get me to dance with him but i was too shy and he never noticed me anyway. LOL! Anyway, we were 14 when we met. He was in the marching band and in the 2nd semester of our freshmen year, I joined the color guard. Kendall at first wouldn't speak to me let alone look at me. He claims he couldn't get a word in because I never stopped talking, I say he was just really shy and maybe scared? Who knows! LOL! So, truth be told, we started "dating" at 15. Of course it was just the rinky dinky "dating" which was more like a public "hey, they like each other" and we would talk between classes, lol. Nothing spectacular. We did start officially dating after 16. He is the first boy I ever held hands with and we are each others first kisses. We went to both of our proms together and Senior year, Kendall took me to homecoming (we usually had UofA Band Day, we skipped out early that year).
We went to college together and over Thanksgiving our first year in college, Kendall sat down with my family (and some extended family, the poor guy was really in for it!) and asked for their permission to marry me. I don't think I have ever seen Kendall so nervous. My dad can sometimes come off as intimidating, so I thought it was pretty funny!
The next month I saw a flyer in my math class about studying abroad. I love traveling (as does Kendall), and I love Europe! So, I decided to live in London for a few months before getting married. It was my last fling of fun before marriage. I moved on Kendall's birthday, a really sad day. Kendall went with my family and I to drop me off at the airport. I cried a lot that day, but the move was fun and I enjoyed living there. I lived there for 3 months. I planned half of our wedding from there.
June 10th, 2006, just after being together for 4yrs, we got married in the Jordan River Temple in Utah. It was definitely a wonderful day! We spent our honeymoon at Disney World, and then we spent our first anniversary in Disneyland.
In January of 2007, we welcome a furry baby girl into our family, Rebecca Ann. She is a mini doxy. She took a lot of begging for me to get and now she is definitely Kendall's dog. She is the most lazy thing ever in the world but she is protective and my best friend to.
In the summer of 2007, we found out I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) which makes it quite difficult to get pregnant, along with a bunch of other less than stellar things. We started on fertility drugs and luckily our 2nd month we conceived Tyler. Tyler's pregnancy and birth story were quite difficult. You can read it on his blog here. As well as the rest of Tyler's medical adventures. He has been a blessing in our lives, and challenging at teh same time. But we love him more and more each day if that is even possible. Kendall and I still have difficulty conceiving and have been trying off and on (basically, we have been trying at times with fertility drugs and other times just on our own) for almost 4 years now. With the recent discoveries that Tyler most likely has a genetic disease, we are up in the air about having any more biological children. Some days I yearn to be pregnant just one more time, and have another little version of us running around in this world, but then those days and nights I spend in the hospital with Tyler, all the appointments, tests, and medicines, make me rethink the possibility of having another child endure those things. So for now, we are just a family of 3.
Kendall and I met our Freshmen year in high school in seminary. Come to find out a few years later, Kendall and my brother had actually known each other for a few years in boy scouts. And when we were 12, we were at a church Halloween dance and I thought he was cute and my dad tried to get me to dance with him but i was too shy and he never noticed me anyway. LOL! Anyway, we were 14 when we met. He was in the marching band and in the 2nd semester of our freshmen year, I joined the color guard. Kendall at first wouldn't speak to me let alone look at me. He claims he couldn't get a word in because I never stopped talking, I say he was just really shy and maybe scared? Who knows! LOL! So, truth be told, we started "dating" at 15. Of course it was just the rinky dinky "dating" which was more like a public "hey, they like each other" and we would talk between classes, lol. Nothing spectacular. We did start officially dating after 16. He is the first boy I ever held hands with and we are each others first kisses. We went to both of our proms together and Senior year, Kendall took me to homecoming (we usually had UofA Band Day, we skipped out early that year).
We went to college together and over Thanksgiving our first year in college, Kendall sat down with my family (and some extended family, the poor guy was really in for it!) and asked for their permission to marry me. I don't think I have ever seen Kendall so nervous. My dad can sometimes come off as intimidating, so I thought it was pretty funny!
The next month I saw a flyer in my math class about studying abroad. I love traveling (as does Kendall), and I love Europe! So, I decided to live in London for a few months before getting married. It was my last fling of fun before marriage. I moved on Kendall's birthday, a really sad day. Kendall went with my family and I to drop me off at the airport. I cried a lot that day, but the move was fun and I enjoyed living there. I lived there for 3 months. I planned half of our wedding from there.
June 10th, 2006, just after being together for 4yrs, we got married in the Jordan River Temple in Utah. It was definitely a wonderful day! We spent our honeymoon at Disney World, and then we spent our first anniversary in Disneyland.
In January of 2007, we welcome a furry baby girl into our family, Rebecca Ann. She is a mini doxy. She took a lot of begging for me to get and now she is definitely Kendall's dog. She is the most lazy thing ever in the world but she is protective and my best friend to.
In the summer of 2007, we found out I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) which makes it quite difficult to get pregnant, along with a bunch of other less than stellar things. We started on fertility drugs and luckily our 2nd month we conceived Tyler. Tyler's pregnancy and birth story were quite difficult. You can read it on his blog here. As well as the rest of Tyler's medical adventures. He has been a blessing in our lives, and challenging at teh same time. But we love him more and more each day if that is even possible. Kendall and I still have difficulty conceiving and have been trying off and on (basically, we have been trying at times with fertility drugs and other times just on our own) for almost 4 years now. With the recent discoveries that Tyler most likely has a genetic disease, we are up in the air about having any more biological children. Some days I yearn to be pregnant just one more time, and have another little version of us running around in this world, but then those days and nights I spend in the hospital with Tyler, all the appointments, tests, and medicines, make me rethink the possibility of having another child endure those things. So for now, we are just a family of 3.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Our Family Blog
So I decided I wanted a family blog for us. I am on the computer a lot and type a lot, so a blog just seemed a better way to not only share with family and friends what we are up to day to day, but to journal these times in our life down somewhere. I already have a blog specifically about Tyler: He's Our Light and Life and that is about all his medical issues we journey through, but I wanted a blog about all of us and what we each are doing and have no real purpose really, LOL! So I hope you enjoy it!
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