Wheeler Farm

While farm life is nothing super new to my kids (thanks to the Kidds), it is always fun to go and see the animals up close and personal- at least I think so.  My sister in law, Natalie and my mom and I took our kids to Wheeler Farm on Tuesday morning- and it was a gorgeous day!  The sun peeked out for the morning and we didn't even need our jackets- I love those kind of fall mornings!  

Kate was fearless this morning- she was petting goats and pigs and clucking at the chickens.  She was having a ball!  Until she ate it in the dirt by the turkeys.  She ended up scraping her nose up and cutting her lip.  After that- she stayed pretty close.

Kate and Ry checkin' out the baby cow...

Ryan also took a spill in the dirt (can you see all the dust on the front of him in this picture?).  I couldn't get him to cheer up until I took him into the barn that was filled with all this antique farm equipment.  They had an old Ford tractor that he fell in love with and insisted that he have his picture taken with it.  It's so funny and I love it!

Visitors

This last weekend, we had a couple of visitors come and stay with us for a few days... Grandma Jacki and Papa Orllo!  My kids were sooo excited that they were coming- that they kept asking every three minutes when EXACTLY they would be at our front door.  Every time they heard a car door shut- they raced to the front window to see if it was them.  It was really funny.  

My boys were even more excited when we told them that they could go and spend the night with grandma and grandpa in their hotel room.  They "helped" me pack their overnight bag- though they kept trying to put everything in it that they could ever possibly need.  They originally started with bedtime stories and toys and games... finally I sent them outside to play so that I could empty the bag and pack the essentials- they had forgotten they needed room for PJ's and toothpaste.  

We had a lot of fun while grandma and papa were here- we got to go to the zoo Saturday morning...  You can see all of them hanging out in front of the monkey enclosure- though I'm pretty sure the monkeys were on the OUTSIDE of the fence that day if you know what I mean!  

Thanks for making time to come and see us Grandma and Papa!  We miss you!

Mr. October

I kind of forgot to put an "after" picture on the previous post.  I made this big deal about how much better Ty is doing and how crappy he looked and acted before... HELLO!!!  How about some awesome "afters" since that's where we are now and where we are planning to stay?!?  Silly mom.  Well... as a compromise to all of you (yes I know- there's about three of you)- I will post these super-awesome pictures I snagged of Ty playing baseball the last couple weeks.  I LOVE fall ball- I remember watching my brother's games when I was growing up and I always loved fall ball.  So do my boys- Ty got drafted to the Angels team this year.  He has an amazing coach who has been such a blessing to Ty- and has really, really worked with these boys trying to help them better understand the game and the mechanics as well.  Thanks to Coach Carter- it's been an awesome season so far!

Eyes on the ball Ty...  :)

Ty has since received a "new" bat from Grandpa JB and Uncle Dave.  They refashioned an old bat that used to be Dave's.  They sanded it down, put a new grip on it and painted "Kidd" along the top.  It's very cool and Ty thinks it's lucky.  (I'm so happy that grandpa and uncle Dave got him to buy into the baseball superstitions so early.  I tell you now though- if he starts trying to wear the same socks for each game... I'm putting my foot down.)  Ty got a two big hits off of it the first game he used it- so he's convinced.  

6 Months Out

Remember this little guy?  This picture was taken 6 months ago- back in March, right before Ty's Endoscopy...  

As I look at the picture... I can see how sick he is...  It makes me sad.  And a little mad.  But we'll stick with sad because anger just stresses me out.  His little face is so pale- I know it's spring time and he has some winter pasties- but it goes beyond that!  Look at the dark purple around his eyes.  Good grief he must have been so tired.  And he's so skinny.

My avid blog followers (all three of you) know that three months after this picture was taken, Ty had gained 6 pounds and grown 2 1/2 inches.

Now at six months post endo...  Are you ready?  Ty gained another 4 pounds and grew another inch.  His anti-body numbers are WAY down from where they were.  Remember they were at 100?  They are now at 24- which is so much closer to the mark he's supposed to be at!  We're not quite there yet- but I have no doubt we'll get there!

We haven't been without our bumps in the road... Remember I told you about Ty's insistence at having hot lunch at school?  We gave it a go for about four weeks.  And then the school called and told me that Ty threw up at recess.  I raced over and picked him up- immediately asking the secretary what he'd had for lunch.  It was just a hot dog- but I question the bun.  And apparently so did Ty.  He's pretty sure that's what made him sick (and so am I).

This was an interesting trial period- but I think we are done with hot lunch.  Bless the school and the secretary for trying- but I think there was some cross contamination going on somewhere due to some behavior issues we saw re-surface in Ty.  He'll kill me for putting this on the blog one day- but that's so far away from now- I'll worry about it later.  But we saw bed-wetting again.  Ty had issues with it for a long time, and when we took him off gluten- it all but disappeared.  With the entrance of hot lunch- we had more and more instances of it.  Ty was also a little more short tempered- which could have been attributed to being tired- 1st grade is hard and it is a long day for a little guy... but Ty had a pretty short fuse the last couple weeks.

He's been back on home lunches this week and it's been a world of a difference.  He's happier.  He's more helpful.  He doesn't seem as stressed out.  And he's been dry all week when he gets up out of bed in the morning.  What's more- Ty admitted to my mom yesterday that he "just didn't feel as angry anymore."  How huge is that for a 7 year old to be able to recognize?

That said... I need lunch helps!!!!  What do you guys send with your little ones??  I've been experimenting with different breads in order to have a sandwich... But what else is there besides a lot of prepackaged stuff?  Do you make the extras you send with your kids?