Christmas Review

Celebrating Christmas this year was very special with Tyler.
He was such a happy boy and he met a couple of milestones along the way. We spent Christmas at Eric's parent's house. It was very relaxing. Tyler sat in a high chair for the first time and totally enjoyed it. He made lots of raspberries and spastic grunts. We just sat there laughing at him all through our breakfast.
On Christmas, Ty was great at opening presents because he loves to eat wrapping paper. I made a big mistake at wrapping his gift in red tissue paper because I thought it would be easier for him to grab. Well, after he stuck the paper in his mouth, he had a red mouth and fingers, but he was happy and that is all that matter. Ty also sat up unsupported for the first time, got on his hands and knees, and go on his hands and toes for the first time all on Christmas Day. He wanted to make sure to give mommy and daddy gifts too and make sure that mom did not forget this special day.
We were very blessed this year with gifts, especially Tyler. He probably has enough toys and clothes to last him until he is at least a year old We thank everyone for their wonderful gifts.

One of the most appreciated milestones that Tyler accomplished was that on his 5Th month birthday, he slept through the night and the night after that. Unfortunately, I was working that night so Daddy was able to experience it, but Ty made sure to give me that gift the next night.
It has been a very eventful holiday season and I feel very blessed for the family and friends that I was able to spend it with.

Tyler and his grandmother.

He is a strong boy.

Sitting up all by himself.

A valid excuse for not eating healthy.

We should all make sure to eat our veggies and fruit. Not me! I now have a doctors order to not eat healthy. I have been having some kidney issues for the last 3 weeks. I just passed my 13th kidney stone in one year and it was a nice size one. It almost did not want to come out and my kidney was not liking the effects of that, but it did pass and it was about 5mm. The funny thing is that it was in the shape of a kidney. I had to go to the emergency room after 9 days of not passing it because I had bloody urine, headaches, pain going from my ureter up to my kidney, and swelling. They did a CT scan and saw that it was stuck in my ureter, but still small enough that I could pass it. I had only slight hydronephrosis. I also had another large kidney stone in my left kidney. Well, the stone in my ureter slowly moved down and I eventually passed it with lots of pain. I had kept a little collection of some of my kidney stones that I passed during my pregnancy so my doctor sent them off to the lab. Then today I went and saw a urologist. I found out that the I had a couple of kidney stones in both kidneys; all small enough to pass, but the one in my left kidney was bigger than the one I just passed. So, I am going to undergo lithotripsy to break it up. It is a short procedure where they will lay me on a bed of water with a machine over me that pinpoints where the kidney stone is then ultrasound waves will shoot through the bed of water under me, through my skin, and break up the kidney stone. I will then proceed to urinate gravel for the next couple of days. Sounds fun, huh.

The best part is that I am now on a low oxalate acid diet because it looks as though the kidney stone I just passed is a calcium type. This diet is horrible because high oxalate foods are green leafy vegetables, nuts, berries, wheat, and chocolate. Ahhh! I love nuts, chocolate and berries. I also put spinach in a lot of my food. I also need to avoid ground pepper and parsley. I have to limit, beans, carrots, green peppers, sweet p0tatoes, sodium, and vitamin C. Vitamin C converts into oxalate. I am in a crisis. I love food. I guess carbs and some veggies and fruits are not out of the question, but really what other healthy foods can I have? I just got the new cookbook from Jessika Seinfield, "Deceptively Delicious," because I wanted to try adding more healthy stuff to my food and everything in that book she uses is high in oxalates. If anyone has any suggestions of good reciepes or foods that I could eat, let me know. This is going to have to be a life changing thing because my kidneys have been going into overdrive producing these stones and being pregnant has not helped the situation, but I now realize that the foods that I craved and ate the most during my pregnancy were only contributing to the increase in my production of kidney stones. Hopefully this diet works. Having an obstructed ureter was not fun and I would rather help the situation with diet than have to take medications for it for the rest of my life.

A mother's love.

Today I am so thankful for my life. Even though I feel sad at times because Eric and I don't get to spend a lot of time together and with Tyler together, I am thankful that we have a home, I have a good job, and Eric has this wonderful opportunity to go to Vet school. Eric is often stressed with his school work, but he makes sure to take care of Tyler first then study because he understands the importance of this time in Tyler's life and how fast children grow. Eric is afraid of missing him grow up as am I. He is a wonderful father and Tyler's eyes just light up when he sees him. Tyler does his little spaz dance and smiles. We absolutely cherish Tyler and every little noise, smile, and expression that he does. His little spirit is so sweet and precious. I almost feel a little guilty because he really is an easy baby to take care of. He is now starting to move a lot more. Today he was having tummy time and scooted in a complete circle and off of his play mat. He also did it in under 20 minutes. He is great at doing push ups. He has learned to take his pacifier out of his mouth, but can't quite get it back in. He loves his toes to be played with and he likes his diaper to be changed because that is when mommy makes funny faces and dances and sings to him. He also likes his picture to be taken and then I put the pictures on the computer and he sits still to watch them. He is also still when a book is being read to him and tries to turn the pages. He is infatuated with trying to suck on mommy and daddy's fingers and sometimes I think that he is trying to see how hard he can chomp down. The best of all is that I think he really knows that he is loved. Eric made that comment today then wandered if he really knows what love is. I said I don't think he knows what the word love really means, but that he knows the concept of love. I think everything Tyler knows is related to love, because that is all that we have shown him. He has not experienced anything else. I can see that Tyler knows this by looking in his eyes and seeing how he looks at me. It is a very special moment that I share with him and when he is being loving, he puts his hands on my face then puts his head to mine and my heart melt. A mother's love is so great.

Here are some pictures of Tyler lately with his new outfits.

Tyler loves his baths and looks so cute later in his lion towel.

Here are Tyler's Christmas shots.

Tyler has started making noises that sounds like he is saying "Ho, Ho, Ho!"

This is his new face that he makes a lot. It makes his cheeks pop out more and we just love to kiss them even more.

1st time Tyler put his foot in his mouth . He thought his toes tasted yummy.

This is Tyler in his Sunday best. His expression is just price less.

Christmas spirit.

I love the holiday season. There just seems to be a totally different spirit in the air. Some of that is happiness, music, warmth, but also stress and more fast pace with people trying to get there Christmas shopping done. This time of the year is even more special with Tyler in our lives and I seem to be enjoying it even more. As I contemplate on the birth of Jesus Christ this year, I become emotional when I think of this beautiful baby being born whose life was destined to be hard and was going to bear the sins of everyone so that we could return to our Heavenly Father. I think of Tyler and how innocent he is and what a happy boy he is, then I become saddened because I know that he will also face hard times and live in a world with so much evil that seems to be getting worse. I can't help but want to just hold him and protect him from all of that. I know he will be a great person, but I don't want him to see that evil. I can just imagine that Mary must have felt that even more knowing that her child was the chosen one. My hope this year is that I contemplate more on the true meaning of Christmas and not on the material or commercial meaning.

I've decided that I was not going to go overboard with getting gifts for Tyler because he doesn't care and he is not in the stage where he needs a lot to make him happy or occupy him. I do want for him to experience the traditions we hold during this year or the traditions that we will start this year with him. We went to get our tree this week and it was so much fun because we had Tyler. It was cold and windy,but Ty was such a good sport and still happy. We went to this small family owned lot and picked a beautiful tree. With a larger house I wanted a slightly larger tree, but the space that you imagine the tree to be in always seems larger in your mind. Our tree was definitely bigger than last year. I almost thought it was not going to fit through the door, but in the end it looked nice in our living room. The difference this year is how long it is taking to decorate it. With a baby everything takes 10 times longer and even after 5 days I am still trying to finish decorating it. I love the scent of a fresh tree even though we would get our money's worth out of a fake one. Eric and I decided that as long as our children were young, we would get a real tree because of the tradition of going and picking it out. That is one thing that I cherished when I was a child and Eric also has many great memories of it as well. I hope that our children have wonderful memories of this holiday and not just memories of the gifts that they received.

Here is a sneak peak of pictuers to come. I can't reveal too much because not all of my Chritmas cards have been sent.