2 Week Check Up

Tyler had a very traumatic 2 week check up with his doctor. We were advised to do his circumcision at the 2 week appointment because of his time in the NICU. So that is what we did. However, as the doctor started the procedure, he discovered that Tyler is hypospadias, meaning that the urinary hole is not in the position it should be in. As a result, Tyler will have to have his circumcision done by a urologist a few months down the road. Since the doctor had started the procedure, he had to put stitches in which ended up taking longer than the actual procedure would have been. 1 hour later, I left the doctors office emotionally drained and Tyler left physically drained. He was pretty much unresponsive the rest of the night.
On top of all of that, he hasn't been gaining weight like he should be, so we are now working with a lactation specialist in order to get him to feed a little bit better. He did grow over an inch in the first two weeks though.
On a happier note, he is finally sleeping in his crib at night which is giving us all a better nights rest.
We just love this little guy and we are enjoying him so much. Alyssa has been such a big help with him, always willing to walk him and hold him.

More Pictures

 I had my friend come over and take some pictures of Tyler this week. We got a few good pictures of him. He was wide awake and very good for about 15 minutes and then he was done.

 

They aren't by any means professional, but they are better pictures then I could take on my phone.

Introducing Our Newest Addition

 I know that this is a few weeks late, but I've been having technical difficulties with Blogger again and it has taken me this long to figure out how to post pictures.
Tyler Daniel Wheeler was born on June 1st, weighing 8 lbs 9 oz and measuring 20 inches long. I made it to my scheduled C-section and the surgery and recovery both went well. I had to laugh at how every nurse that came into the room commented about how amazing I was doing(but then again, maybe they tell everyone that). Tyler ended up in the NICU after only a few hours because the doctors were concerned with low oxygen levels and a high white blood cell count. They started him on antibiotics and he had all kinds of wires hooked up to him. The worst part about it is that Alyssa and Ashley weren't able to see him until Sunday afternoon(and we just got lucky with that because every other Sunday they have visiting hours at the NICU). It was also difficult for me to get out of bed and get down there to feed him often enough. We were so happy that everything turned out to be fine and he was able to come back to our room on the last day. We left the hospital on the 4th and have been enjoying our little one.

 1 Week Old

 First Family Photo 

Field Trips

I should have posted this last week, but never got around to it because I was dealing with a sick kid. A couple of weeks ago was a field trip week for us. Alyssa's class went to Wheeler Farm as part of their literature unit on "Charlotte's Web." I took Ashley along with us because I thought it would be fun for her. Fortunately, there were lots of parents who volunteered to drive so I had a nice and small group to chaperon (Alyssa, Ashley, and Alyssa's best friend-Mynoa). When we got to the farm, we had a couple of hours of free time. Her teacher gave us a scavenger hunt which the girls were excited about doing. That is the paper that Alyssa is holding up in this picture.

 Ashley loved the chickens, ducks, and geese that were roaming around the farm. We even got a bag of feed so the girls could feed the birds.

 After the scavenger hunt and feeding the birds, we ate our lunches. The kids had a little bit of time to play on the playground after eating. After that we met up with all of the other first graders for a tour and wagon ride. Here is Alyssa and Mynoa waiting for the tour to start.

 As part of the tour, they got to learn about the blacksmith and see him make a tool.

 The highlight, of course, was the wagon ride. I was hesitant to go on it since I was 8 months pregnant, but Alyssa's teacher assured me that it was a smooth ride and that I should be fine on it, so I went too. After the wagon ride, we went back to the school and enjoyed a snack with Alyssa's class. We left school a little bit early to beat the end of school rush.

 Ashley's preschool field trip was to the grocery store. I didn't think it would be all that exciting since she goes to the grocery store with me all of the time, but they were very good to those little preschoolers.

 They started the tour off at the bakery and showed them the different foods they make there. They also pointed out the huge oven and then gave them each a cookie.

 Next they headed over to produce and talked about all of the food you find there. Then they each got a clementine.

 After the produce section, they got to see the huge refrigerator and then they went by the deli where they all got a little piece of meat and cheese. Then they walked us around the remainder of the outside of the store and talked about the dairy products, the raw meats, the pharmacy, and the flowers.

They ended the tour at Customer Service where the kids were each given a little goodie bag full of yummy snacks and a couple of candies. After the field trip, Ashley told us that she wishes she could do field trips every day for preschool. I guess that means it was a hit.

American Heritage Family Field Day

 Alyssa's school had a Family Field Day on Friday. It started off with a 5K, followed by a 1 mile fun run. Alyssa really wanted to do the 5K, but we had to veto that since Danny couldn't get off of work that early and I probably couldn't even walk a 5K right now. So we opted for the 1 Mile fun run instead. I pushed Ashley in the stroller because I didn't think she would be able to walk the whole mile. Here is Alyssa all lined up and ready to start. Ashley is just behind her in the green stroller.

Alyssa did really well on the 1 miler and even bragged about finishing 6 minutes before me. I tried to keep up with her and managed to stay within sight of her for the first half of the race, but then she took off and I never saw her again until we finished. My pregnant body wasn't too happy with me the night and the next day. I don't know how some women can run throughout their pregnancies because my body definitely doesn't like it.
After the race, there were all kinds of different activities for the kids. There was this bounce house...

mini quad racing(Ashley is on the pink quad in the distance)...

(Alyssa is on the blue quad)

 and a rock wall. Ashley was so determined to get to the top of this wall because there was a "Bucky Bell" at the top that she could ring. Unfortunately, this picture was taken right before she fell off of the wall and the line was way to long to wait in to try again. She was so close!

There was also a pulled pork picnic, some carnival-type games, a bake sale, and and obstacle course. We had a good laugh when Danny was timing the girls on the obstacle course and suddenly there was a line of kids behind them waiting to be timed too. He was a good sport about it and continued to time the kids until they had all disappeared again. It gave me a chance to sit down and relax a little which my body was very grateful for.

Baby Shower

 I meant to get this posted a week ago, but last Monday was kind of crazy and it never happened. I had my baby shower last Saturday and it was so much fun. For lunch we had chicken salad croissant sandwiches with fruit.

After eating, we played a memory game. I forgot to get a picture of the whole game, but you can see it in the background behind Rachel(one of the hostesses of the party). The pictures included things like umbilical cord, big belly, epidural, 9 months, crying baby, etc. Each thing had a corresponding candy. It was pretty funny how some of the candies matched up with the pictures(like the picture for "Nurses" came with the candy "Lifesavers" when matched).

After the game, we cut the cake (the date says May 31st, but we are now officially scheduled for a c-section on June 1st- the actual due date being June 6).

The table was decorated very cute with lots of blue and brown. I should have gotten the banner in the picture too, but anyone that visits us after baby gets here will be able to see it. The cake was delicious and I am still enjoying the leftovers.

 Here are the two hostesses together. Danny's Mom, Shari, was the other one. They did a great job and I can't thank them enough for all the time and effort they put into it.

 Here are the guests. Most of them came from my neighborhood/ward. My sister in law, Pam, also showed up which was a nice surprise.

 More guests and the gifts. It was so fun to open up all of those cute little boy clothes. I was very happy with everything that I got.

Alyssa loved helping out with the shower. She helped prepare the food, decorate, set up the game, hand out the candy during the game, and handed me all of the presents. Both girls are so excited for the new baby brother. Ashley wasn't at the shower because she had a Kindergarten Assessment that morning, so she got to spend time with Daddy and Grandpa.

We are so excited for the baby to get here. I am getting more and more uncomfortable and don't know how I'm going to make it another month, but I guess I don't have much of a choice in the matter.

Southern Utah Getaway

 We enjoyed our little three day getaway to Southern Utah this past weekend. We rented a Cabin near a little town called Duck Creek Village(and when I say little, I mean little. The population was like 50). Our cabin was nice and pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We got down there on Thursday afternoon. My sister's family happened to be on their way back to Colorado from a two week trip to California and were staying in Cedar City that night, so we made the 1 hour drive down the canyon to see them. Alyssa and Ashley loved seeing their cousins and being able to play at a park for a couple of hours. We got back to the cabin, had a late dinner and then welcomed Gawbie and Grandpa before heading to bed.
On Friday morning, we headed off to Bryce Canyon. We decided it probably wasn't a good idea to do much hiking since I'm 31 weeks pregnant, Danny is recovering from a knee injury that he got playing Ultimate Frisbee with his Deacons on Wednesday night, and Ashley isn't much of a hiker and tires really quickly. So we opted for the self-navigated driving tour of the different lookout points. We stopped at maybe 8 different spots and enjoyed the views. We did hike down a little on one of the trails in order to get to this little archway. Once the girls saw how hard it was to climb the short distance we had gone down, they were glad that we didn't hike any further into the canyon.

 

 

 The girls loved the "cannon"(that's what they kept calling it-a word learned from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates"). The first lookout was a little scary as there were no railings next to the very steep and large drop off, but the rest of them had railings up.
On Saturday, we opted to stay close to the cabin rather than making another hour drive to see Zion National Park. We tried going into Duck Creek Village to do some fishing and rent an ATV, but it was a bad time of year for both. The lake was too icy for fishing and we weren't dressed properly for the ATV ride. So we headed back to the cabin, enjoyed conference and did a hike that started right off of the cabin lot. Here is a picture of our cabin from up the mountain a little.

 A closer shot of the back of our cabin.

 Our cabin had a few perks, one of which was this very nice fire pit. On Friday and Saturday night, we lit a fire, enjoyed roasting marshmallows, and telling campfire stories(or at least we listened to Danny tell stories). The Cabin also had a horseshoe pit and a pool table which we enjoyed quite a bit.

 We had originally considered going camping this weekend, but decided that the cabin was a much more comfortable way of enjoying the outdoors, especially with me being pregnant. I was also sick most of the weekend, so I'm glad I didn't spend those days living out of a tent. We were also glad to have Gawbie and Grandpa there with us to enjoy the weekend.

Spring Break

We are enjoying spring break this week. We started the week off with a trip to our community, indoor pool. As we were walking in, Miss Utah County handed us a flyer for a princess night at Chik-Fil-A. Of course, when she mentioned Chik-Fil-A, Ashley's eyes lit up. And with the mention of Princess, Alyssa's eyes lit up too. So after we got done swimming, we prettied the girls up and headed over to the princess night(actually afternoon because we went from about 4 until 5:15). The girls got their picture taken with the "princess." Then they got to play a couple of games that they had set up there. There was also a DJ from Munchkin Radio playing music.

They had advertised the Chik-Fil-A Cow being dressed up like a princess, but that wasn't the case while we were there. The cow did come out and walk around the restaurant for a little while. Ashley and Alyssa mostly just followed him around. He even sat himself down at out table and took a few sips from Ashley's drink.

At one point, the DJ called the cow and all of the kids up to his table to do a couple of dances together. The first was "Gangam Style" and the second was "The Chicken Dance." Alyssa earned herself a demo CD from the DJ for her excellent dancing. It was hard to get the girls to leave and it wasn't nearly as crowded as I feared it would be. It was a nice start to our spring break. On Thursday we are heading down to a Cabin we rented in Southern Utah to enjoy a couple of the national parks down there. We are all excited for the little weekend getaway.