Haley...again!

Okay, so, it turns out Haley has a really bad allergy to Milk Protein. Which is what the doctors thought in the first place, but with her diahrea (hmmm...still don't know how to spell it) she was having on the alimentum, they wanted her to try this new formula, called Neocate. So, he wanted her to try it for a week, just to see. He had this home health company call, and I asked for a sample, and the lady pretty much laughed, saying they do NOT give out samples. (The doctor couldn't even get samples right away, he had to wait for 4 weeks for them to arrive!) She said we could see if insurance could cover it, but most insurances don't. I told her I was going out of town, and asked how much a can was, just to be covered for the trip...OKAY...ARE YOU READY????????? She said each can (which makes about 12 - 6 oz bottles - so, pretty much lasts 2 days at the most) costs $60. YES! SIXTY DOLLARS! It has to be more expensive than gold - especially if we went by weight. I seriously about had a heart attack. She then told me, that she would need 10-12 cans a month. HELLO! THAT'S OVER $600 A MONTH!!!!!!!!! WHO CAN AFFORD THAT? Oh, and she has to be on it until she's 2! YES, 2 years old! That's 18 more months! So, I talked to the doctor, and he said he was going to see if he could get some from the children's hospital here. He was able to get 3 cans, but I had to pay for them, and they wouldn't even try to bill the insurance, but the hospital only (yeah...only) charged $35 a can. STILL! But, when I told Troy, he was like, Oh, $35, that's not bad. I had to remind him how absurd it was that we were excited to pay $35 for this tiny can of formula. I know, in your head, most of you are invisioning costco size cans of formula...HARDLY! Here is a picture of Haley with her new formula. I am posting the one of her crying, cause that's how I feel about it all. The can of formula kind of looks big in this picture, so you have to remember how tiny Haley is (she just hit the 11 lb mark! WAHOO!) So, after being on the formula for 24 hours, she doesn't have loose stools (much easier to spell) anymore. So, the doctor is going to try to work with the home health company and see if insurance will pick up any of the bill. Keep your fingers crossed...otherwise, anyone in the market for scrapbook supplies? :)

Anyways, we're off to Disneyland in 4 hours, (leaving bright and early but not going to Disneyland until Mon-Wed) then up to Mike's wedding in Monterey! Can't wait to be on vacation! We better enjoy it, cause chances are, it's the last vacation we're going to be going on for the next 18 months!

Before and After

Here is our yard before....

Here is the after...

Where there is still dirt on the left side of the picture, will be a concrete. That's where the basketball court will be. We still need to get bark chips for the right side of the yard to go around the 5 fruit trees we have growing, and I am standing in the garden. YEA! I LOVE IT! Here's a picture of the sand boat. I got it at Costco, and the kids LOVE it!

Haley

Wow! It sure seems like lots of posts are about Haley...anyways, here's an update...She is still not gaining much weight. She now weighs 10 1/2 lbs and will be 6 months on Sunday. We are talking to different doctors and trying new things. Her vomiting has gotten a lot better, but now she is having severe diahrea (however you spell it - not a word I spell often). I would take puking anyday! The doctor is trying to get us a sample of a different formula (neocate?). He said it is REALLY expensive, so he wants to get us a sample, in case it doesn't work. I told him that we're already paying for the alimentum(monthly cost: $250), so how bad can it be? He said this new stuff makes alimentum look like it came from a thrift store...yippee...So, we'll see. We go in Wednesday, so hopefully we'll find out more details. We are headed to Disneyland on Sunday and then to Santa Cruz/Monterey for Mike's wedding, so I really hope I feel good about taking her away from her doctors for a few weeks. She is definately my baby and she's spoiled - mostly for obvious reasons, but I got her a new excersaucer/bouncer the other day. I can't wait to take it out and put it on the patio while we are playing out there! (Oh, speaking of our backyard, the sod is in! I just need to take an after picture now! I'm so excited! I love my backyard...the sentence said most here in the past few days is..."Let's go look at our grass". Thanks to ALL who helped! We got sprinklers and Sod layed in less than a week! Yep, I am a slave driver!) Anyways, enough about the yard, here is my precious Haley in her new toy!

The Weiner

So, during Sacrament meeting, Jake was sitting on the floor, and pulled out of our church bag a plastic hot dog, that must have come from Kristin's kitchen in the playroom. He held it up in the air(since he was on the floor, Troy and I were the only ones who could see it) and yelled at the top of his lungs(naturally), "HEY LOOK! I FOUND A WEINER!" Well, Kristin hollered back, "IT IS NOT A WEINER!" Jake then hollers, "IT IS, IT'S A WEINER!" During all of this, Troy and I were scrambling to reach each kids mouth to cover it, but were in the middle of wiping up spit up from Haley, and they seemed to be just out of reach. So, I did what any good mom would do, I whisphered in Kristin's ear, "plastic hot dog", so then she yelled, "IT'S NOT A WEINER, IT'S A PLASTIC HOT DOG, JAKE!" Yep. That is a typical Sunday on our pew. Happy Mother's Day.

Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day (late) to everyone out there! Mother's Day was great here! It started out with breakfast in bed. Waffles and OJ! YUM! Then, off to church! After church, Troy made me my favorite meal of late - Rumbi Teriyaki Chicken Bowl - that I started eating, then re-creating at home when I couldn't have any milk. It was so yummy! Then we went to his mom's house to deliver a gift, and then up to my grandma's to deliver a gift. My mom was out of town, in Kentucky watching David graduate! So, we'll have to go visit her on Friday when she returns. It was a wonderful day with family! I got a new entertainment center for Mother's Day! I have been coveting it everytime we went to RC Willey! THANKS TROY! I love you...(Not that he reads this blog...)(Oh, it has since been filled with a 50" plasma TV for Father's Day - with NBA playoffs - we HAD to get it early!)

Here is a picture of my favorite kids(Haley was not happy!)!

Hey!

Okay, the past two weeks have been insane! First of all, we are finishing our backyard! I can't wait. It's one of those things I've wanted done yesterday...Here is a before picture, and hopefully the after picture will come in a few weeks...

This picture is of the west side of our house. Most of this will be concrete for Troy's basketball court. (The trampoline is on the east side of our house)

This picture is of the yard parallel to the back of the house. We are having a cement patio on the left and most of this will be grass. (Our fences are crazy in the back of our house, because our property touches so many other properties. To help figure what the pictures are of, and how they match up, look at the fencing.

Right now, the weeds are gone, ground is leveled, road base (to go under the concrete) is put where it should go, and trenches are dug for the sprinkling system. On Monday and Tuesday we are making sure we have everything where we want it, and hopefully the sprinklers done. Then the following Monday, we can lay sod...anyone is more than welcome to help us out with that! :)

Now for the Haley update. She is not doing good. All last week, everytime I would give her a bath, or change her diaper, I kept having a feeling that she still wasn't good, cause she was so scrawny, I could see her ribs! So, Monday morning, I took her to the doctor for a weight check, and to talk to the doctor about her. I was right, she still wasn't gaining weight. She weighs 10 lbs. 9 oz. Only 4 oz. more than a month ago. Here is a picture of her weight chart. Basically, with your weight or height, you should stay on your specific curve. The doctors computer recorded everytime I took her in for a weight check. You'll notice that she is FAR below the curve she was previously on. If she were to stay on her FIFTH percentile, she should be about 13 lbs now.

So, the doctor decided to put her on the special formula for a week, and have me go back off milk, and pump. Just to see how she does. If there isn't a considerable difference, he is going to re-do some labs and testing. I have kind of decided this week that I am done nursing. Apparently it's not doing her any good. Pumping sucks (ha ha - no really, it does) and she just needs to grow! So, Monday morning we take her back in to see how much she weighs. So, she's on the expensive Alimentum formula now. So, ask your pediatricians for samples, then mail me some! :) We figured it will cost about $250 a month just for formula. Insane, huh? Oh well, if she grows, it will be worth it. So, I'll let you know what happens on Monday.

To top it off, Kyle came home from school today sick again. I think it's strep again! What is the deal? If it's strep, it will be the fourth time in 5 months! Ironically, the only other time he's had it was when we were visiting Utah for Christmas one year. I might have to ask the doctor to remove his tonsils. INSANE! If you know Kyle, and how he is when he is sick, you would totally feel bad for our whole family. It's going to be a long weekend. I am going to take him into the doc in the morning! I love that our pediatricians office is open on Saturday mornings!

On a lighter note, Kristin is hilarious. Ever since her birthday, when I first put sponge curlers in her hair, she requests curlers EVERY DAY! Cause, "I'm a princess mommy". So, she even sleeps in them! I had her wear a hair net, to keep them in. Here's a picture with her right before bed in her curlers.

I've finally figured out the right combination so that she doesn't have a fro when she wakes up! She loves her curlers though!

Kyle's been playing flag football. He'll have to miss his game tomorrow, so then he'll just have 1 game left on Monday! YEA! I hate it! Someone needs to tell his coach that there is no chance they're winning the superbowl this year. Kyle thinks flag football is great, but Troy and I think his coach sucks! He told Kyle to kick the kid with the ball...anything to get the flag, or the football. Troy and I had to tell Kyle there was NO kicking in any sport. The moron coach walks around during the game with a clipboard full of plays on it. First of all, it's FLAG FOOTBALL! This is the youngest age group in the league (which is city rec). They don't throw the ball, cause the kids can't really catch the ball, so they just run the ball. So, either the quarterback scores, or whoever the quarterback hands the ball off to. Anyways, the coach is way too serious. Troy has had to hold me back a few times! I'm not exaggerating! I make my comments loud though (much to Troy's dismay). Here is a picture of Kyle at practice. I love this picture, cause it shows how hard he is trying. He's a good kid.

I've felt bad for Kyle this week. On Monday, when I picked him up from school, he was crying because he missed his old friends and wanted them back! I told him I felt the same way! He is such a social kid, he just wants friends around after school! Hopefully with the yard done, it will give them more to do outside.

Jake is just a cute kid. A devil for sure, but cute. He doesn't listen for anything! He's figured out that it's fun to tease Kristin cause she'll scream and cry. So, I'm loving that all day! But he's so sweet! I've started setting the timer for him to help clean up a room. He loves that! There's something about beating the timer! Here is a picture of him with a calf at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country a few weeks ago. We went with Cherice and the Downs Syndrome group. The kids had a blast, riding pony's, a hay ride, and checking out the animals. They also had a few games. In this picture, the kids were being pigs, and looking for a piece of gum under the whipping cream.

Sorry for the long post! Just haven't updated in awhile! Hope all is well with everyone! Oh, My brother David is getting his Masters Degree from Louisville tomorrow! CONGRATULATIONS! Then he is coming to spend the summer in Utah! I invited him to go to Bear Lake with the Korth family in July. He said he had been thinking about that, and wanted to be invited, so I can't wait! The kids are anxious to have an uncle to pester, if only for a few months! I think Allisun also got her Masters Degree from Utah State a few weeks ago. (I haven't talked to her about it, so I'm not for sure, but I'm almost positive - I think it was close to the wedding, so she was preoccupied). Anyways...CONGRATULATIONS!

Kristin's Birthday!

Today is May 1st. No, not Kristin's actual Birthday, but the day we are celebrating and having her friend party. Kristin is in a playgroup that meets every Tuesday. It is an all girl playgroup, and I scheduled my week for the week of Kristin's birthday so I could kill 2 birds with 1 stone. We decided to have a tea party. Thank heavens for Sarah, or I wouldn't have known what to do...We made little things to eat off the little plates. Little muffins, jello jigglers cut out in little flower shapes, and my mom helped Kristin make little cut out cookies. I had all of the girls show up in a dress up dress! It was so cute! When they got here we made necklaces (probably would have worked better for a 4 year birthday party) and then they decorated little picture frames. I made them all little flower barrettes for their hair, and I took all of their pictures. Then we had the tea party. It was so cute. Kristin has no problem being the center of attention.

The party favors. They decorated their own frames, got a wand, and got flower barrettes.

Here is Kristin blowing out her candles. We had blueberry muffins, since her party went from 9-11 am.

Of course there were presents. She loved everything. She's very easy to please!

Here are all the girls. Aren't they cute? It sure was fun. Happy Birthday Kristin!