Happy 4th Brithday

Today is my baby's 4th birthday and I honestly do not know where the time has gone. It seem like just yesterday he was this tiny little peanut all snuggled up in my arms. Now he is this independent, thriving boy who I grow to love more and more each day. He truly is the most amazing thing that has ever happened in my life and I will never take one moment with him for granted. As we celebrate one more year with Tyson, there is a family who morns the one year passing of their loved one. It is hard to know this day brought so much pain for some and yet such joy for us. We are truly blessed that for us, today is a day of celebrating life, remembering those who have passed, and praying for the loved ones still here with us.

Here are a few photos of Tyson's past Birthday's.

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Tyson's MRI

Friday was Tyson's MRI day and turned out to be a better then anticipated. The morning started out with me filling his tummy with nice hot oatmeal, knowing he could not eat again until after his test was over, then getting him ready for preschool. I did feel guilty for sending him to school knowing that they would be having snack time and Tyson would not be allowed to eat, but he really wanted to go and understood that he could not eat. After school I picked him up and then we went to the High school to get his daddy. As soon as Tyson realized we were heading to Bangor, he got a little more stressed and started to give us a hard time about going. He cried for a bit and then finally fell asleep. Once we got down there I had a few errands to run, one being renewing my license at the DMV but they were closed. The mall that the DMV is in had a pet store so we took Tyson in there for a while to distract him. After the pet store we ran to iParty to get the last of his birthday decorations then headed to the hospital. Once there Tyson decided that it would be necessary to bring along his two elephants, I am so glad I grabbed them in the morning even though he said he didn't need them. Anyway, after that we headed upstairs to the Pediatric Sedation wing where we were greeted by the best nurse every, nurse Amy. She brought us into what would be his room for the next few hours, the forest room. She gave us a few minuets to look around and get comfortable with everything before coming back to starting getting him ready for everything.



She started out by putting numbing cream on Tyson's hands and arms to numb the areas she wanted for the IV. No he didn't have 4 IV's but this gave her 4 places to choose from. After that it was time for weight, height, blood pressure and a few questions. Tyson wanted to know just how everything worked and was very serious during this entire process.





After all of the official check in stuff was over, Tyson got to go in the playroom to relax and get some much needed energy out. While in the playroom, Nurse Amy, brought Tyson his very own menu to order what ever he wanted. He was very happy to know that when he woke up from his test, there would be food waiting for him. It was already pushing 3:00 and he had not eaten since 9am. After he finally decided on Macaroni and cheese, a hot dog, french fries and green jello, he brought his menu back to nurse Amy and decided he was comfortable enough to start talking about what the IV would be like. Nurse Amy was wonderful answering all of his questions and even brought in his very own "straw" is they called it, for him to play with and get comfortable with. He was excited to know he could keep it, he can not wait to bring it to school for Show-n-tell.



After about 45 minuets of waiting for the numbing cream to really be affective, it was time for things to start rolling. We went back into his forest room and things started to move a little more quickly. The doctor who had already come into the playroom to meet with us, along with two other nurses, came into the room to help put in his IV. One to help place the IV and one to help distract him. Dr. Amy would be the one who would give him the medication to sedate him and stay with him until it was time for him to go home. Jeff and I had already decided before hand that Tyson would sit in my lap while they put in his IV, but what I didn't know was they were going to sit me right up on the bed with him and stay that way until after he was sedated and off to his MRI. Putting in the actual IV did not go nearly as bad as I had been thinking. I am trying to get the video uploaded but I am having trouble.

After the IV was all done, they gave Tyson a searing wheel toy to "drive" the gurney downstairs to the MRI. Here is Tyson driving us into the elevator to go down to where the MRI was.

After we got down the the MRI floor they got Tyson ready for the sedation. Dr. Amy asked him if he wanted to help give himself the medicine, but he didn't want to. He was determined not to go to sleep and told everyone he was going to be able to get to count to 14, but was only able to count to 2.

Just getting out of the MRI
Back upstairs in his room, trying to wake up enough to eat.

It was a little difficult to see him go all limp and then have to hand him off, but I was so grateful it was just for a simple MRI. I can not even imagine how difficult it must be for a parent to have to hand their child over for surgery. After they took Tyson to the MRI, nurse Amy brought Jeff and I to a nearby waiting room. His test took about 45 minuets and after what seemed like forever, nurse Amy came to get us. When we got there Tyson's IV was already out and he was starting to wake up. They brought us back up to his room where his food was already waiting for him. Poor little guy was so hungry he ate almost everything there. I have to admit it was really funny watching him try to eat jello while trying to really wake up. Poor kiddo had jello everywhere but in his mouth. They made us stay there another 30 minuets to allow him to fully wake up and with one last check of his vitals, we were finally able to go home. Our total visit lasted almost 4 hours, but I would not have changed anything about that day. Now comes the waiting for the results and as soon as I know something I will post it.

Happy 29th to me......

It is strange to think that 29 years ago today, at 12:52PM weighing in at 6lbs 15 1/2oz and 19 inches long I was born. I figured that by the time I got this close to being 30, I would start to really feel like an adult, but to be honest, I still feel like a teenager. Even though I own my own home and have a son that will be turning 4 in less then a week, I still don't feel like an "adult". Not that I know exactly what that is suppose to feel like, but I look at photos of when my mom was this age and she looks like an adult. I am not saying she looks old, just more mature. Even looking at her high school year book, everyone seems more "grown up" then we do the same age. Oh well, I guess I can be happy that I still get carded when I go to certain places and that in my mind I still look like I am in my early 20's. I am sure by the time I am 39 I will be looking back and wishing I looked and felt as young still.

My Baby feet



My First Birthday.

Getting Ready for Tyson's 4th Birthday

I am trying to get everything ready for Tyson's 4th Birthday next week and so far I think I am doing pretty good. He originally wanted an Iron Man party but after much discussion he settled on a Dinosaurs. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake getting all the decorations and everything I needed because for months we have been looking at the dinosaur stuff at the dollar store in Bangor. Just my luck though, when I finally go to pick everything up I find that they no longer carry that theme. I grabbed what they did have and came home with only two table decorations and a few packages of napkins. I knew I did not want to change the theme again because he would never make up his mind, so Jeff and I went back to Bangor this past weekend and hit every store we could think of that sold party supplies. After about 3 different dollar stores, Marden's, Wal-Mart, Target, iParty, Big Lots and AC Moore we finally have just about everything we need. I still have to pick up a few more things, but I know I can get the last of what we need this Friday. The only things I never found were party invitations, cupcake liners and a pin the horn on the tyrannosaurus game. So I had to get a bit creative and make my own invitations. I bought the dinosaur door hangers from the dollar store and with a little glue and a printer, came up with the rest. For the cupcakes I turned to the computer yet again and printed off some dinosaurs, copied them, flipped the image and glued them to toothpicks to make my own decorations. As for party games, I am a little lost. I am going to try to go to Staples and have a large dinosaur picture printed out then have it laminated at the school and hopefully come up with my own version of a pin the tail game. I am still trying to think of some other games for the kids to play, but so far I am coming up blank. Hopefully by then I can think of something, or at least Google a few good ideas.


Tyson's Party Invitations



A few of the dinosaurs to go on the cupcakes.

Bumps and bruses.....

Poor Tyson just can't seem to catch a break lately. The other night Tyson asked if he could fall asleep in my room and fall he did. He somehow fell out of my bed and hit the bed frame, cutting his eye and giving him one nasty bruise. When he first started crying I figured the timer on the TV had shut off and he was upset that he could not watch cartoons any more. It was not until he came out to me with blood all down his face that I know something had happened. He didn't cry too much, in fact he was more upset about me finding the camera then he was in actually being hurt. He has this thing where he always wants to see a picture of himself if he is hurt or being silly. I tried to clean him up a little first, but he would not let me touch him until I took the picture. Looking at him I really though he as going to need to go to the hospital to get a few stitches, but once he actually let me look at him and clean him up, I didn't think it was quite that bad. I had some steri-strips from when I had my knee surgeries, so I just used those to pull the edges together. I really though he as going to end up with a nasty scar, but I think it might heal well enough that he only has a little one. Hopefully I can keep that kid BO-BO free until his appointment Friday for his MRI.


Tyson with his banged up face.


Tyson and his protector, Thomas.


There was no way Thomas was going to let me wake him up.

Unexptected trip to Tyson's peditrician

I had planed on spending the day cleaning the house, doing some laundry and making a few phone calls, but instead we ended up having to drive an hour down to see Tyson's pediatrician. I called the doctor's office about possibly increasing Tyson's medication that he takes for his for his almost constant headaches, but instead of just doing it over the phone, the doctor asked if we could come down to see him. I rushed to get Tyson and I ready and down to the High School in time to pick up Jeff, quwho teaches French, from school so he could get to his tutoring job. After we dropped him off, Tyson and I drove as quickly, but safely, as we could to make the hour's drive in time to get to the doctors. Once there we did the normal weight check, 38.4lbs and blood pressure, that I can not remember, and after our update with the nurse, his doctor came right in. I told him that Tyson has had a lot more breakthrough headaches in the past few weeks and that I have been having to give him ibuprofen more often.and His doctor said he was not too surprised that the medication had to be increased again that he knew he would still be experiencing headaches. It was not until Tyson came right out and told him that his head hurts when he uses the potty that his doctor seemed more concerned. He then asked if I had noticed any other abnormal behavior from him, balance, walking, the same sort of stuff we go over every time. I told him that he had a little bit of a cold last week and he started complaining of his head hurting every time he coughed. Other then that the only other odd thing he has been doing is that every once in a while when he is playing or picking up his toys he tells me that he can not bend over and he does this old man crouching sort of thing. I just dismissed it as sleeping wrong, but Dr. Mike (fake name) said that it might be linked to his headaches. He suggested that even though we are going to see a neurologist at the end of February, he wanted to go ahead and order an MRI now. Tyson has already had CT scan, but the MRI is a little more defined. Unlike the CT that only took about 5 minuets, the MRI can take some time, so this means that Tyson will have to be sedated. On the way home, Tyson asked what the doctor meant by having another test. He asked if he was having the CT again and I told him it would be like the CT only he would have to be asleep for this test. He told me that he would be too awake to sleep and I had to laugh. I told him that the doctors were going to have to give him a needle in his arm with a little tube, just like the one he saw me get when I had my knee surgeries, and that they would give him some memedicine to make him sleep. As soon as I said that, he stared protesting, very loudly I might add, from the back seat. After I got him to stop crying he finally told he was scared of the needle and being asleep. I was not sure what to tell him so I simply said it was ok to be scared and that when we got home we would look on the computer for pictures of other kids having an MRI so he would know what to expect. Tyson is the type of kid that has to know EVERYTHING about what we are going to do or what is going to happen. Luckily when we got home I found some great videos on YouTube about IVs and MRI's. He seemed so much better after watching them all. I let him choose all the ones he wanted, even the ones I knew the kids were crying. He told me after about 20 minuets that even though he really didn't like the noise it made, or the idea of them putting a tube in his arm, that he would be "Super brave like Iron Man brave." Even though I am sure the day will be filled with tears and a few protests, I do believe that he will do his best to be Iron Man brave.

Happy New Year

To ring in the new year I figured I would get some things done that I had wanted to last year. I had started a blog to keep my family and friends updated with what is going on in our lives, but due to things beyond my control, I never got around to really doing anything with it. So today I am going to start a brand new one in hopes that I have lots and lots of good things to post. I am putting 2009, with all it's struggles behind me and stepping into 2010 with the faith that it is going to be 100% better then 2009 was. 

Last night we celebrated the New Year by getting Tyson into bed early and Jeff and I curled up to watched a movie. It was kind of the perfect wrap up to a crappy year by watching an equally crappy movie, Lost Treasures of The Maya. After the movie and before the ball dropped Jeff and I started talking about what our favorite things that had taken place in 09 were as a family. We both agreed that we were thankful to see Tyson not only turn 3, but to watch him grow so much throughout the year. We both saw our family Vacation to N.H one of the highlights of the year and hope to maybe go there again this summer. I am thankful that I was able to get the cast off of my leg so Jeff and I could take Tyson up to hike a little on the mountain and enjoy the fall colors before the weather turned too cold.  I know we are truly blessed that we were able to spend another Thanksgiving and Christmas with all of our family. Unfortunately we know way too many families who went through the holidays with empty seats at their table. Those families are always in our hearts and prayers and they remind us how precious life is and to never take a moment for granted. 

Here is a list of some more personal setbacks and accomplishments that we will each remember from good old 2009. Some things we will try our best to forget, others we will learn from and do our best not to revisit and some moments we hope to hold on for many more years to come. 

Jeff.......

                                                 The Bad

• Spending two weeks this summer tearing out and remodeling the hall bathroom only to find a leak behind the tub that ruined a wall that now has to be replaced. 
  
• Finally paid off our 2003 Ford Explorer only to have it die on the side of the road less then one week later forcing him to buy our now 2004 Buick Rendezvous and gain another few years of car payments. 
  
• Spending the last day in 2009 going to Bangor only to blow a tire on the highway, waiting an hour for a toe truck to get our frozen spare tire out from under the car. Having to drive 40 mph all the way from just after the rest area all the way to Bangor. After way too much fuss, finally returning a few Christmas gifts, getting excited to be snowed in these next few days with our new Wii only to find that Target was sold out.
  

                                          The Good

• Graduated from UOP with his Masters Degree in Education. 
  
• Signed on to Stearns High School for his 3rd year as the French Teacher. 
  
• Celebrated his 39th Birthday and accepted the downward slop to 40!
  
• Went on his first roller coster at the strong encouragement of his 3 year old son.
  
• Finally deciding that Christmas next year will be much better spend in the Florida sun. 
• Counting down the days until he can spend 10 days roaming around France and Italy. 

Ryann..........

                                          The Bad

• Having a simple knee surgery that was followed up by several more surgeries, infections, pain,  open wounds, weeks in a full leg cast and months of physical therapy to recover.
  
• Having to go on our family vacation in a cast, having to say no yet again when he asked me to do stuff with him.
  
• Having to relinquish all of my goals and put all of my focus into trying to regain use of my leg.

                                           The Good

• Finding an inner strength that I didn't know existed. 
  
• Spending months of recovering alone with Tyson playing games, reading books, finding adventures we could go on from the couch. 
  
• Being able to drive to my sister's house in Rhode Island to help when she welcomed baby Ezme into the world. 
  
• Being able to take Tyson to the Spooky Zoo in RI. 
  
• Watching Tyson learn to swim and turn into a little fish.
  
• Being able to cook Thanksgiving supper for my family and having everyone over here together. 
  
• Creating all the magic of Christmas for Tyson and listening to him tell everyone about it.
  
• Accepting that turning 29 is a going to be a good thing and convincing myself that turning 30 in 2011 will not be as bad as everyone is telling me.
  

Tyson........ 

                                           The Bad

• Having to live with daily headaches so long that to him it is no longer pain. 
  
• Going out to jump in mud puddles for the first time and falling on his head in the street. 
  
• Watching all of our trees in our yard get cut down and realizing his wood pecker would not be coming back.
  
• Having to accept the fact that Santa's sled was just too full to bring him a real motorcycle this year.
  

                                           The Good

• Turning 3 years old and no longer being called a baby.
  
• Starting his second year of preschool with his friends.
  
• Going to his first big kid birthday party.
  
• Going to Santa's village and Story land this summer and convincing Daddy, Papa and Nannie that he would make them brave enough to go on the roller coaster with him. 
  
• Meeting Dr. Wexler and finding a love for anything that has to do with medical stuff. 
  
• Becoming so brave in the water that all the lifeguards at the pool knew him by name. (Because they all had to rescue him)
  
• Finally seeing "Bob", Santa's elf that comes to check up on him.
  
• Getting almost everything on his Christmas list, including New Soap and a Candy Cane.
• Getting to choose what ever he wants for a theme for his upcoming 4th birthday.
  

I am definitely looking forward to what this next year holds and and sharing our lives along the way. I hope whom ever decides to read this will enjoy the journey with us.