Dylan's Super Surgery

At Dylan's 4 year old well check appointment the pediatrician decided it would be a good idea to go to the urologist because she thought he had a communicating hydrocele.  This past Friday he had an inguinal hernia repair.  I am really glad it was quickly discovered and taken care of.  I am also glad the hernia never caused him any pain before the surgery.  I mean, he went to Let's Jump the day before surgery, if that tells you anything.  Clearly we didn't realize the extent of the problem before it was resolved.  Dylan was so excited for his "Super Surgery to fix the hole in his belly."  He loved the special hospital bed, special 'cape,' the show on the little tv, and the giggle juice they gave him.  I, on the other hand, slept even worse than usual the night before and my stomach was tied in knots the entire morning.  I almost cried when they wheeled him away and I had to wait for what seemed like forever in a tiny room by myself.  Mona joked in a text that I should have asked for some giggle juice.  Not a bad idea.  Luckily, Autrey had a slow patient load and came just before Dylan woke up.  Dylan is like his parents and doesn't do so well waking up from anesthesia.  He cried off and on for 45 minutes and said he felt like he was going to throw up while we took turns holding him.  But after he stopped crying he was a champ.  He was doing so well Autrey and I went to ward temple night on Saturday and left the boys with G-ma.  But on the way back from the temple we had to stop to get some laxatives for him.  It took 24 hours and multiple doses for them to finally work.  Poor guy.  I can totally relate.  Dylan is proud he has a "big owie" stomach scar like mommy.     

Chilling with G-ma and watching movies after he got home from the hospital on Friday:

 Low energy activities to keep him from running and jumping:

 Playing the "Number Sun" game, matching stickers to the numbered clothes pin:

 He was even feeling so well, and begged so hard, we let him go out and drive his police car: 

 Colton does 'donuts' in the backhoe, which is pretty funny to watch:

 Buzz and Woody playing together.  Those are the boots G-ma got Dylan when he was a cowboy for Halloween just before he turned 2.  Makes Colton walk bowlegged:

 Woody, with his Buzz Lightyear gun from Disneyland:

 My dear friend, Meagan Kemp, sadly is moving next month and gave us some of Cash and Chloe's toys, including that big bag of foam blocks.  Dylan loves to play with them and carry the bag around.  Colton liked to run around carrying G-ma's back cushions to be like his big brother:

 I didn't think I was really going to need a lot of help, but I am really glad mom came up so at first I could just focus on Dylan while she took care of Colton and meals and cut their hair and such, and later she was able to watch the boys while I took care of Relief Society stuff/home visits/meetings, dropped off much of the 4 dozen cinnamon rolls she made to neighbors and ward members (my friends get really excited when she comes), went grocery shopping by myself (hallelujah), did laundry, exercised, and took a nap or two.  She even substituted in Autrey's primary class on Sunday because Dylan stayed home from church and only wanted daddy to help him when he had trouble going potty.  Mom took a picture of this painting of the baptisms in the Susquehanna River hanging in the Relief Society room.  That's where my sister, Meagan, got baptized and it reminds me of my PA home.  

Speaking of which, it is still kind of weird for me to send mom back home on her way to Utah instead of Pennsylvania.  It will be easier once the house is done being built.  They just started the framing, so it's coming along nicely.  Mom said one of the best things about this trip was Colton learning to say "G-ma" and "G-pa."  He would follow her around calling her name.  When she got out of the car to run into Charming Charlie's for a 15 minute shopping spree before we went to the airport today, Colton kept asking, "Where G-ma?"  And Dylan wanted to go with G-ma on the airplane so bad.  Melted my heart how sweet they were.  Hopefully next time she comes everyone will be healthy and she won't bring the cold weather with her again.  

4 1/6 year and 20 mo update

Dylan loves to play Angry Birds on Autrey's phone, so Miss Marissa let him borrow the live version of the game for a few days.  It was a huge hit!

 I was describing this game to my mom and she told me to take a picture.  Allyson, don't show this to Tommy.  I ordered one for his birthday party, as long as Amazon pulls through in time:

 Another fun game on Laundry Day (the reason why my bed is stripped): The sock puppet pirates sailing in their ship:

Dylan Update:

*(On Dec. 8) 

Aut: "What do you want for Christmas?"

 D: "The black car with police lights."

 Me: "Go tell Tony about it."

 D: "Tony said I could have it."

*G-pa: "Where do eggs come from?"

 D: "Wal-Mart."

*Dylan: "G-pa's muscles dance up and down."

 Colton heard him and said: "Uh-oh.  "Bah" (Fall) down."

*Me: "Hey, Dylan.  Stop that."

 D: (in a sweet voice) "What did you say, mom dear?  I can't hear you."

*Dylan "sawed" Gracie in half with his foam sword and "made a gril cheese samwich" out of her.  The funny part is he still says gril instead of girl, so I'm not sure if he meant grilled cheese sandwich or girl cheese sandwich.

*Dylan can turn on his police car, drive it in reverse down the driveway (avoiding the truck parked right behind it), and do a 3 point turn to drive down the street to the park all by himself.  As long as he is looking at the road and not distracted he does a very good job.  Autrey jokes he is a better driver than I am.  

*After his 4 year old check up, and subsequent visit to the urologist, we discovered Dylan is going to need surgery to repair a communicating hydocele on January 24th.  They are officially calling the procedure an inguinal hernia repair.  I've learned my lesson when Googling other conditions in the past, so I haven't on this one.  I'm too nervous about him going under as it is to do research that is going to freak me out.  So forgive me if I don't know all the answers to questions you may have about it.  All I know is that he is leaking fluid internally and they are going to seal the hole so he doesn't get a hernia in the future.

*D: "Is dad coming home? He needs to make money.  So we can turn on lights.  Lights have electricity and need to have money."

*D: "I already ate it.  It went in my mouth and down to my big toe."

*Dylan is his father's son.  He did great on the Disneyland rides, and was in the very front of the Splash Mountain log ride, but threw up after asking to go faster and faster on the tire swing in Ruidoso.

*To Tommy while standing on a rock at Goofy's house playground in Toon Town: "I'm king of the North Pole!"

*When Dylan says something he knows he shouldn't, sometimes he will say, "Just kidding.  You're a goofer-oafus" to try to get out of it.

*Dylan likes to load his bowl/plate/silverware into the dishwasher.  I just have to make sure I unload clean dishes quickly so dirty ones don't get put in there.

*On our way to rent a movie: "We are going to get a Dylan movie.  Then we trade it back for a different one.  What a deal!"

*We walked into Discount Tire after getting our 2nd flat tire in 2 weeks (3 if you include the spare) and Dylan dramatically announced, "We got ANOTHER flat tire!  Argh!"  I may have muttered that under my breath as I stopped at Kroger to put enough air in the tire to get us home.

*While he was playing with Colton on the pretend cash register he found an old Amazon card and said, "Here's your gift card you always wanted!"  I may get pretty excited about gift cards.

*Clearly, I have myself a parrot.  Colton also likes to parrot Dylan, and Dylan likes to teach him to say things.  All good things, so far.

Colton Update:

*Colton got his 7th tooth in New Mexico right before Christmas.  It is to the left of his bottom left front tooth.

*"Weh ah ew? / Ah you?" (Where are you?), "Shi-o!" (Shilo!...Dylan taught him), "up...dow" (down), "cookie," "fen f-why" (french fry), "be-ball" (meatball), "oht" (hot), "Sah-ta" (Santa), "ahnsh" (orange), "sssss" (Shhhh or snoring), "I did it!" "gun," "pee-boo" (peekabo), "That funny," "juice," "great" (grape), "open," "moke" (milk)

*Colton calls himself "Colti" and Dylan is "DihDihn." Dylan calls him "Colt" sometimes.

*Colton calls Mimi, Nana, and G-ma all "Mimi" and Chloe is "Coh-ee."

*Aut: "Where's Mommy?"

 C: He ran to the top of the stairs and pointed "Mommy dow (down...downstairs)."

*He says, "I poo-poo" whether he is about to poop or toot.  He will also say, "I push" when he is trying to get one of them out.

*He will bring me both pieces of a broken toy and say "It boke" and "Hep pease" (Help please).  

*He sleeps with a musical stuffed "e-phant" (elephant) and a "bankit" (blanket) over him.  

*Colton was playing peekaboo in his crib with me.  He leaned over to find me and I caught him as he fell out and almost landed on his head.  He hasn't done it since.  Good thing, because this recent trip let me know he is NOT ready for a bed other than a crib or pack-n-play.

*Colton likes to do "walks" (rocks...fist bumps that explode at the end) 

*Colton waves all the time.  He was adorable watching the Disney parade at night.

*Colton is very huggy and affectionate and cuddly and blows kisses, except when he wants to run around at full speed chasing the older kids.  He has no fear to go and do everything they do.  He is much more adventurous than Dylan was at this age, probably because he watches Dylan and knows it's safe.  I wonder if the bravery would be switched if their birth order was switched.  The only time I have seen him get scared is on the Luigi tire ride in Cars Land.

*Both kids loved being out in the snow in New Mexico and in the beach sand and water in California.

Christmas Vacation in Ruidoso and Disneyland

The boys and I flew to New Mexico to spend 4 days with Nana and the Duke/Taylor crew.  Autrey flew in after work on Christmas Eve.  The boys and I were sick and hardly slept at that rental house and it was more important to constantly make sure Colton didn't fall down the stairs and Dylan was sharing toys, so this is the only picture I got around to taking right before we left to fly to California:  

We flew into LAX and stayed at Dana Point.  We went to the beach twice with the Dukes.  The water was freezing, but the kids had a blast playing in the sand, throwing rocks, and splashing up to their knees/waist:

Colton thinks birds are the best:

Video of Colton feeding and laughing at the seagulls:

We were also lucky enough to meet up with my family (sans Meagan and Ken, sadly), Kira Shurtz, and Tom and Carol Wiggin for a beach day.  I am SO glad my family was already going to be in CA with Kristen and very appreciative the Dukes were supportive of us doing our own thing for a day.  Now it won't be quite so long between visits to see Kristen and Desiree', hopefully.

Before you say anything, I am well aware we are wearing the exact same thing in every beach picture.  I packed my swimming suit, but decided against wearing it because of the weather.  Also, I hadn't really packed T-shirts because the boys and I shared one suitcase to be used in both NM and CA:

With cute Kristen and Kira:

For the record, Dylan told me to stop taking pictures of him.  That's why he isn't in as many.  He has become quite strong-willed, relatively speaking.  That's all I'm going to say about that:

2 days before the twins turned a year old:

A baby for each arm:

On one of the many trips back and forth for more water:

Sneaking up for a hug:

Closer:

Telling secrets:

Giving kisses:

Video of G-pa and Dylan racing down the beach.  The weather and elevation seemed to help dad's breathing, thankfully:

Beach volleyball:

Colton was like the missing triplet:

After brunch with Mimi and Papa:

The crazy one:

Christmas jammies:

We went to Disneyland for 2 days.  1st day was California Adventure:

Papa helped carry Allyson's backpack and got stuck:

Flying on the Golden Zephyr ride:

Radiator Springs is awesome at night:

Goobers in their Cars jackets:

The second day was at the original Disneyland side.  At Pirate's Lair, which is the renamed Tom Sawyer Island:

Sittin' on his booty.  Haha:

Pumping water:

Bringing up the pirate skeleton at the well:

Matt took a picture of the picture with his phone after the Splash Mountain ride.  I will add it later.  Dylan rode in the very front and his face on the free fall was pretty funny.  Actually, all of our faces were great.  Mimi and Papa stayed behind with Tyler and Colton, as they did for every ride the boys were too little for.  Aut and I never had to stay behind and miss a ride once.  Mimi and Papa are the best.

Enjoying chocolate covered Mickey Mouse ice cream in Toon Town:

The kids caught occasional naps in their strollers during the day and were usually passed out by the time we left at night.  Aut and Papa were just being sleep posers, since all the cool kids were doing it:

Dylan has been sleeping in, but Colton has pretty much slept for most of the 3 days since we came back to catch up.  (Makes me jealous I couldn't join him.)  It's hard work to have this much fun!  Thanks for the trip, Mimi and Papa!  Travelling with kids is tough, but thanks for making it as easy as possible for us and facilitating such great memories!

Traveling tips: Teach your kids to call their new Buzz Lightyear toy guns "laser shooters" at LAX to avoid the stink eye from strangers and security we got.  Also, make sure someone in your traveling group knows how to change a flat tire.  Thankfully Autrey was able to change ours that had gone flat in the airport parking sometime during our trip.