Happy Birthday Bryce!

Bryce playing with his birthday present.

Wow! It's been WAY too long since I updated this. I need to get better about updating. We celebrated Bryce's birthday on December 9th. He turned 2! I cannot believe he is two now. I also never thought he would be on a feeding tube for this long (although I was warned!). :)

Bryce had a fun birthday. We stared the day with him opening his presents. This year he got a Little People tractor. He loves animals and is interested in making animal sounds now. He also got a toy pull-along dog and clothes from Grandma & Grandpa Bell and some Blue's Clues song books from Grandma and Grandpa Chappell.

I baked Bryce a cake that he didn't eat. He had absolutely no interest in even taking a taste, although the day after he did take a taste or two. Bryce's birthday was on Sunday, so I didn't have a lot of time (or energy) to throw together a cake after church, but it turned out okay. I made a cow shaped cake (LOL) this year. Like I said, he likes animals and especially saying the cow sound (MOOO!). (Sorry, this isn't the greatest picture!)

I'd like to give an update on Bryce while I'm here (I'm probably going to copy & paste a lot of this from my message boards):

Teaching Bryce to eat orally has been the biggest roller-coaster. So many ups and downs. As soon as he starts doing well eating, something happens like teething and he totally backslides.

He's gotten to points where he would eat ten bites of solid food, drink 2 oz of formula or water, and munch away on veggie sticks or cereal, but recently he went through a three month period where he would not eat anything! He would accept food, but spit it right back out. Even liquids. I just could not figure out what was wrong this time! I knew he wasn't teething and he hadn't been sick. Something, however, was causing him to not want to swallow - AT ALL.

I just totally felt like I was not making ANY progress with him anymore. I was seriously thinking about trying to get him into one of those big feeding clinics. There's one in Denver which is somewhat close. Bryce's occupational therapist actually gave me a name of a small feeding-type clinic in Orem that could give us an evaluation. I also kept wondering if it could possibly be his tonsils and adenoids bothering him. I decided to have his Ped. ENT check them just to rule that out. Something was bothering him and making him not want to swallow!

Bryce's nurse and his feeding therapist both thought that the reason he hasn't been wanting to swallow could be an issue with his tonsils and adenoids. His nurse looked at them and said they looked really big. They suggested we take him to the ENT to have them checked.

SO we took Bryce to his ped. ENT at the children's hospital. He looked at his tonsils and said they are not big at all and they are fine. There's no reason they would be causing him problems. However, while we were there the ENT (he's awesome) grabbed the speech therapist who happened to be there, to see if she had any ideas. We've worked with her before when Bryce was in the PICU and she's great. She said that when she sees kids stop wanting to swallow like that, almost always it is because of reflux and they need their dose increased. So we decided to give that a try. I called Bryce's GI doctor and they increased his prevacid from 18 to 30 mg. Within a DAY he was eating food again! I was so surprised. I also felt really bad that his reflux had been bothering him and I had no idea. He had been sleeping fine and didn't act like he was in pain from the acid, but it must have been bothering him just enough that he didn't want to swallow.

He still is not where he once was. He will eat crunchy things like cereal, veggie sticks, cheese puffs, etc. He will still not take any liquids or any solid food that is a wetter texture (like baby food, etc). I really think I'm going to call that clinic in Orem now and see if we can get some more ideas.

We also recently took Bryce in to see the ped. dentist. We have him seen at the Cleft Palate Clinic at Children's, and the orthodontist there recommended he see a dentist because he has an underbite where his bottom teeth are in front of his top teeth. Bryce has all of his baby teeth now, except for the two lateral incisors on top (the two teeth next to the front two). I thought it was odd that those two would be the LAST to come in, but I figured his upper jaw is so small that it was just crowding his teeth and they were having a hard time coming in. Well they managed to get an x-ray of his front top teeth and we found out that he's completely missing those two teeth! Apparently missing teeth is common with Kabuki syndrome. The dentist said this doesn't mean he will be missing permanent teeth too. We'll just have to wait and see. We will also have to wait until he's older to determine what will need to be done with his underbite. There's always something with this boy!

Scarecrow Festival!

Parker, Bryce, and Isaac

We took the kids to the Scarecrow Festival last week, and they had a lot of fun. Honestly, I didn't think it was really worth the money we paid to get in (and we had two free passes), but the kids had fun, so I guess that's all that matters. They had tons of those inflatable slides. Isaac and Parker went on one, but were too scared to go on any others. They had a bunch of bean bag toss type games. They didn't get prizes or anything for them, but Isaac and Parker had fun playing them. They rode on the Spider Speedway with Daddy, went on a pony ride, and went through a petting zoo. Oh, and there was also a junior haunted house.

Isaac playing a beanbag toss game.

Isaac and Parker in front of the Junior Haunted House.



Parker blowing bubbles from the bubble cauldron.



Josh, Isaac, and Parker on the Spider Speedway.


Okay, so riding ponies in a circle isn't as much fun as riding horses at Grandma's house, but they still had fun:



Okay, I have a pic of Parker on his pony, but it won't let me upload any more right now. Hopefully it'll work later.

Birthdays!

to Grandma Chappell
and Baby Dryston!

Sunday, Oct. 7 was Josh's mom's birthday. We went upstairs and had cheesecake and played a game with her. The boys had fun playing with their cousins and wishing Grandma Chappell a happy birthday.

We would also like to wish my nephew baby Dryston a Happy 1st Birthday!! I can't believe he's one already!

Our 6th Wedding Anniversary

Today Josh and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!! I can't believe it's been 6 years. We even got to go on an actual date tonight to celebrate. My sister Cammie watched our boys. She has learned how to tube-feed Bryce, so we get to go out alone now and then. Today we went out to eat and then to the theater to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (we're big Pirates fans). This is the first movie we've been to in the theater together for over a year! It was so much fun and nice to be able to spend some time together. Here's a picture of our wedding day, 6 years ago. September 29, 2001.

And here's a fun one:

Family Reunion!

Goodness, it's been a long time since I posted on here! I've been busy this month. Anyway, I put on a family reunion last weekend for my mom's side of the family. It was a lot of fun. We had it at a big park in Spanish Fork. We barbecued and had a treasure hunt for the kids. Everyone had fun, and the rain even held out until the very end. Not everyone made it this year, unfortunately. It's always so hard to coordinate everyones schedules. Hopefully we can start doing this every year now! It's always so good to see everyone again.

Happy Birthday Parker!

Yesterday was Parker's 3rd Birthday! I can't believe it's been three years since I gave birth to my little footling-breech baby in the car! LOL Parker opened his presents in the morning before Isaac left for Preschool. He got a Dora ABC game, a Backyardigan's pirate ship, a horse Magnetic Creations, and a bubblegum machine! He had lots of fun playing with his new toys.

Parker got to chose what we had for his birthday dinner. We had corn dogs, french fries, and broccoli & cauliflower (or white broccoli as Parker calls it). Afterward we had cake and ice cream. I made Parker a Dora the Explorer cake this year. We even had Dora ice cream! (can you tell what Parker's into this year?)

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day Weekend we went down to visit my parents. On Sunday we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday. His birthday isn't until Sept. 13, but we decided to celebrate while we were there. My sister Marcie and her husband Dason came up with their baby Dryston. I made him a cake shaped like a giant hamburger and we had a taco bar. It was fun.

Happy 60th Birthday Grandpa Bell!

Grandpa's hamburger cake


Our family pic at Dad's birthday. (with me & my zombie eyes)




Baby cousins - Dryston & Bryce

On Monday we took the horses out and went riding. Isaac and Parker had a blast! I haven't gone riding for so long, and I really missed it! It was funny because Parker actually fell asleep on the horse while we were riding.

Parker & Me on Cimmaron

Grandma & Isaac on Aspen


Josh on Cimmaron & me on Aspen


Even Bryce got to go on a little ride.

Before we left for home we went over to visit Josh's grandma. It was nice to see her again.

Isaac with Great-Grandma Chappell

First Day of School!

Isaac started his second year of preschool last week! He was so excited. His preschool teacher from last year is a family friend. She moved over the summer, but we all liked her so much and loved the way she ran her preschool that we decided it was worth the drive to take Isaac to her new preschool. A few other parents did the same thing so we've been carpooling with them which has been really nice. Isaac is 4 1/2 now and has learned to read some. We've been getting him little books at the library every week to practice. He's also gotten really good at writing words and can even figure out how to write some words himself. We're so proud of him!

During Isaac's first week of school he was outside playing with Daddy and Parker on the driveway. He was trying to ride his little bike, but hadn't figured out how to put the brakes on yet. He went down the driveway and couldn't stop. He crashed and got a huge goose egg on his forehead. Ouch! It healed up quickly though and ended up not being to bad. We're just thankful he didn't get hurt worse.

Isaac's after the crash

crash site

Colorado Vacation

We’re back from our little vacation to Colorado, and we had a great time! Colorado is just beautiful and has always been one of my favorite states to visit. Vacationing with a tube-fed child who has to eat every 3 hours isn’t easy, but we managed to organize our activities between feedings and it all worked out well. Bryce, Parker, and I all ended up coming down with colds while we were there (what’s up with this summer??) but they ended up being mild enough that we were able to continue with our plans. Unfortunately I can't get all of our pictures to upload from our camera. I think there's a short in our cord or something. So anyway, I'll post what pictures I can now and I'll put the other pics on later when I can.

Most of the day on Sunday we were driving there. We checked into our motel in Montrose and had dinner, then just relaxed the rest of the night.

On Monday we decided to spend the day in Montrose. That morning we visited the Montrose County Historical Museum. The boys had a lot of fun going through the museum. They especially like the old caboose that we were able to walk through.

This was an old Caboose from an 1800's train.

Playing on the caboose.

They had a lot of old farming equipment from the pioneer days and even some old dentistry equipment that was interesting to see. The old clothing and toys were fun to see as well. They also had some furnished homesteader cabins that were fun to look through.

Isaac & Parker in one of the old cabins.

Parker, Josh, & Isaac by an old outhouse. *LOL*

Bryce was actually there with us. : ) He was just in his stroller.

Our motel did not have a swimming pool, so after lunch we decided to go to the city aquatic center to swim. We bought the boys some floaties and they all had a blast! Bryce wasn’t thrilled about being splashed in the face, but otherwise did well for his first time in a pool. However, we were only able to swim for about 15 or 20 minutes and then they had to close the pool because of lightning! Oh well, we had fun while it lasted. After that we went out to the Ute Indian Museum which was great. They had a bunch of tepees set up all around the museum and inside we learned about the Ute Indian chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta. The boys had a blast playing in the tepees!

Isaac & Parker running to see the tepees.




More tepees.

They also had a botanical garden that was really beautiful and a boardwalk that went down to the river.

The Botanical Garden

Parker & Isaac on the bridge at the Botanical Garden



Another pretty pic I took at the garden

Afterwards we went out to dinner and then back to the hotel. That night Bryce got a really high fever! I was sure it was the end of our vacation, but Josh gave him a blessing and within 5 minutes the fever was completely gone and never came back! Bryce was a little fussy and sported a runny nose the remainder of the trip, but mostly did well.

All tuckered-out

Tuesday was probably my favorite day of the vacation because we went to Ouray that day which was the whole purpose of our vacation. We left early that morning for Ouray and headed for Box Canyon Falls. On our way we passed over the Uncompahgre Gorge. Wow, was that gorge DEEP!! It was a little unnerving to look over the edge of the bridge into the gorge, but it was beautiful! The pictures really don’t do it justice and really don’t show the true depth.

The Uncompahgre Gorge

The Box Canyon Waterfall hike was probably one of our favorite activities. We hiked down into a huge ravine to the falls. It was amazing. At the end up the hike we had to descend a HUGE staircase to get to the bottom of the canyon. The staircase is made so that you can see right through it to the river below. I am petrified of heights, so this was really SCARY for me!! I was literally shaking all the way down and my muscles were sore afterward from gripping the railings all the way down! LOL The boys did really well. Isaac would get a little shiver every time he looked down through the staircase, but he was really brave and never stopped. It was worth it in the end to see the waterfall though. It was really beautiful.

Box Canyon Waterfall



Isaac, Josh, & Parker at the river near the base of the waterfall



The boys and me in the cave near the base of the waterfall




THE staircase. Yikes!



Isaac & Parker holding hands & walking back from the falls...aww. : )

After the falls, we ate lunch and went on to another hike. We hiked to a place called Baby Bathtubs. It was a place in the Portland Creek where the water had hollowed out rock formations that looked like little “bathtubs”. They boys had tons of fun wading in the streambed.

Baby Bathtubs

After we got back from this hike we headed into town. Ouray is a little old mining town and is nicknamed “America’s Switzerland”. It’s really fun just to tour through all the unique stores. As we were walking the street though, a huge thunderstorm came. The thunder was SO loud as it echoed through the surrounding mountains. Parker’s jaw literally dropped when he heard the thunder. It was hilarious. Of course we also go soaked, and had to run back to the van to wait it out, but eventually we were able to go back out.

Ouray, Colorado

At the candy store in Ouray

We ate dinner then headed south to look for a ghost town. However we were unable to find the one we were looking for and it was getting late, so we ended up heading back to Montrose.

On Wednesday morning we checked out of our motel and went to the Museum of the Mountain West. This is one of the most amazing museums I’ve ever been to! It had SO many cool artifacts that the owner had been collecting since he was four. He had recreated several stores and offices from the 1800s to early 1900s and had the details down to the smell! It was amazing. They also had a bunch of old original buildings like a schoolhouse, a church and a carriage house.

An old carriage house at the Museum of the Mountain West



This is a machine that will actually play a violin -
kind of like a player piano, but for a violin. It was cool!


This is an old restored drug store at the museum.
It even smelled like a drug store!


The general store

After the museum, we went into town and bought some little souvenirs then headed home! We all had so much fun and wished we could have stayed longer.