Christmas Plans

Holidays in our family always mean traveling! This Christmas was no exception! We were a little worried that the weather may keep us home but it ended up working out just fine for us. We spent Christmas Eve at Erin's parents house with Monica, Michael, Marisa and Malea. We had a great time watching the kids run around with all their new toys. It took Kale a little coaxing to open his other presents after he was given the Jack hammer first! He loved that one! He also took a liking to Marisa's Barbie! That caused the biggest fight of the night! She wanted the Jack Hammer and he wanted the Barbie!

Maks figured out the present thing pretty quickly also! He loved listening to the sounds of all the paper crinkling and he was pulling at it in no time!

On Christmas Morning we woke up with the boys and opened presents at our house. We had a great time with each other. Erin bought me a iPod Touch, which we are currently obsessing over! I have found lots of worthless apps to download and Erin has already started buying accessories for it. I got Erin a new Flip Video so hopefully that will benefit the blog also! We have been using it alot and it is really great for short little videos! I hope to upload a few in the very near future

Here is a picture of Erin and Maks in Topeka (it is from Thanksgiving they were relaxing before heading back home to Hutchinson)

Kale loves reading to Maks.

Kale always asks, "Maks are your listening?!"
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The boys making breakfast

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The boys making breakfast!

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November

Wow, time has really gotten away from me. Time has just flown by these last few weeks. Thanksgiving was great we finally got up to see Great-Grandma Smith and Great-Grandma Swanson. We also got to see most of the family on the Swanson side for Thanksgiving. We really enjoyed the time we spent up there but it really went fast.

To celebrate Thanksgiving here in Hutchinson we went to Grandma and Grandpa Dreiling's house. Our family, Monica, Michael, Marisa and Malea were all there as well. I cooked the meal. We had Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, cream corn, pies, fudge, and a few other things! It was a lot of work but all turned out really great.....ok well except the rolls! OOPS!

The end of November and beginning of December has been full of sickness in our household. Both boys have had respiratory crud, ear infections, and stomach flu. Erin and I have had the stomach virus as well and fought the colds and allergies!

Christmas snuck up on us this year. Erin and I are so far behind on our shopping! We have gotten the boys a few things but we are no wear near done and it is only a few days away! We will be traveling to Topeka after the holidays on Saturday to see my family. Christmas Eve we will be at Grandma and Grandpa Dreilings with the Dreiling side.

I get off work on the 24th and don't' have to go back until the 4th of January, and it can't get here soon enough! I am ready for a good break, between work and school and sickness' I am just worn out and ready for a break. School has become quite a chore I am over half way done but I am at the burn out point. Hopefully it will get better after the holidays but today we started Economics UGH!

Erin's work has been keeping him very busy for the last few weeks he has been traveling all over Kansas and Missouri to update the stores before the end of the year. He was in Missouri 3 days last week and will be back there again this week and Nebraska next week as well.

Maks and Kale have gotten to see Santa a few times this year and aren't to excited about sitting with him! Kale started out the holiday season asking Santa for hot dogs and pizza! He has since decided that he should ask for some toys as well! So now he is starting to ask for trucks and tractor trailers! Maks is growing up so fast! He is getting big but is just as stubborn as can be! He has the ability to roll but absolutely chooses not to at all! He is close to sitting up on his own but still falls forward without a little help. He has started to eat baby food now, he likes applesauce, peas, and carrots the best so far. Kale is a very helpful brother, he is always trying to show Maks what to do and how to eat! Kale is working on potty training, he does really well when he wants to. We get him to go on the big boy potty at least 6-8 times a day but his diapers are still wet at times. We are not pushing to hard but will start working on it more and more in the next few weeks and months.

Busy weekend

This past weekend was a very busy one for us. We decided to go to the KSU game with my dad in Manhattan. So Friday after work we loaded up the car and headed for Topeka. The trip up wasn't terrible but we figured out that Maks is not a fan of the car when it is dark! We had to drive part of the way with the light on inside the car so that he wasn't scared!! Once he fell asleep we turned it off! Kale was excited to see Grandma and Grandpa and just couldn't wait to be in Topeka.

Saturday we left for the game around 9:30 AM. Erin, dad and I all went, while mom stayed home with Kale and Maks. Grandma had fun with the boys, they kept her busy! Kale really likes to help take care of his brother though so she a great helper! The KSU game didn't turn out quite how we wanted but we had a good time anyways! We got to see some friends and even Erin's boss and his son at the game. After the game we headed back to Topeka and went out to dinner at Taco Casa!! YUM YUM! We met Rock and Zach (Erin's boss and son) there, they had never been so we decided to share our love for the cheese with them!

After dinner we ran home and quickly changed and headed out to TPAC (Topeka Performing Arts Center) for Riverdance. Erin was not sure he would enjoy the show but turns out it was a lot more entertaining than he expected! The show was great, the dancers have such talent! I can't imagine how much practice it takes to be so perfect when dancing in large groups like that! Our show ended at 10:15 and we were both so tired we headed back to mom and dad's house and went straight to bed!!

Sunday we woke up and got around slowly. We decided to go and visit the Grand Opening of the newest Dillon's store in Topeka. Erin's dad and many co-workers were at the store so Kale got to see his other Grandpa and family friends while we were there! The store went all out for this opening. They had a marching band playing in the lobby, what seemed like thousands of samples in each department, the Keebler Elf was walking around, and even a dolphin ice sculpture! Kale enjoyed the new store, Maks was pooped before we were even a quarter of the way through it!

All in all we had a great weekend, but it was sure busy looking back! The next few weekends are all booked up as well! Saturday I need to be in 3 places at once and still am not sure how I am going to manage! I have class plus 2 weddings that I want to attend. Well guess I will just have to figure it out!! Cause one wedding is in Manhattan and the other hear so no way to balance!

Well better sign out for now but watch for pictures to come soon!

Kale's Birthday Party

Well I am a little late but I am finally getting a chance to update everything!!

Kale's party was a big success! Kale loved all the firetruck things and getting to see all his family in one place! He really seemed to be a bigger fan of cake this year than last! Last year we couldn't get him to play in the cake! This year he crawled up and dug into the cake before we were even ready! A good family friend of ours made him an awesome Firetruck cake! He loved showing everyone!

When it was time to open presents Kale had a great helper, his cousin Marisa really seemed to enjoy helping! Kale didn't mind having a helper at all in fact he even let her help open a few of the presents!

I will upload pictures as soon as possible!

Fall Update!

Well to say the least I am way behind on my posting! It seems every time I say I am going to sit down and update things I find a way to become side tracked.

October was a busy month for us. We all ended up becoming sick and have just been getting off our meds and feeling back up to par. Kale was treated for H1N1 although he never got tested for it. Erin ended up sick (which is never good cause he is the one in the family that always seems to stay healthy), and then I was next! We thought Maks would make it with out getting sick but he didn't. He is still finishing up his Rx but seems to be doing a lot better.

Halloween was great fun but very busy. Kale was a fireman and Maks was a monkey. Kale had a blast running around in his costume with his Axe and his fire extinguisher. We went to a few houses for trick-or-treating then ended up going to the HCC football game in the evening. Their costumes were great for the cool weather! They both stayed plenty warm!

The weather so far has been fantastic! The trees were beautiful when the leaves began to turn, they have since fallen off but now we get to have fun raking up the leaves and jumping in them!

Erin and I got to have a grown up date night on Tuesday. He bought me tickets to go and see the musical Wicked. The play was in Wichita at Century 2. It was really great to spend sometime together just the two of us. We also really enjoyed the show! Hopefully we can start making date night a more regular occurrence!

Kale's birthday is coming up this weekend! It is crazy to think he is already 2 years old! He is having a fireman themed party! It is going to be a close family party but he will have alot of fun playing with all his cousins! I had great hopes of getting his invitations made but I waited to long and now they are just simple! I made them on the computer and think they are fine but they are not exactly what I had planned! I'm sure the party will be just as great with out them!!

(sorry after posting the invitation I just saw that you can't read the writing! So here is what it says below the firetruck! Lights and sirens right on cue, can you believe Kale is turning 2!)

Pumpkin Patch

Tonight we took Maks and Kale to the Gadderts Farms Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze! It was a great time! We got there shortly before dark and Kale was ready to play, we got him a ticket to bounce on the huge trampoline, He and Erin had a great time! Then he went through the hay bale maze all by himself! There was a huge slide made out of drainage pipe that he loved as well! We played so long that we actually didn't even get to go into the pumpkin patch! Guess we will just have to go back another time!!!
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Kale & Maks High 5.jpg

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Kale trying to pick his brother up and hold him!
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Kansas State Fair

Well the Kansas State Fair has come and gone! We spent alot of time at the fair this year. I ended up buying a season pass for me to get in, the boys got in free. Maks and I went to fair at least once a day, Kale went almost everyday with me as well! Kale loved to see the animals in the petting zoo and also in the barns. He loved the rabbits and the llamas! Although mom was excited to ride the camel I could never get Kale talked into riding it! We got to go in the "Do Art" building one day and let Kale do an art project, he had a lot of fun coloring and using all the art supplies!

Maks loved to walk around and look at the lights from the rides in the evenings! Mom and Dad just loved to walk and spend time with the boys, o ya and eat all the fried foods!

Grandma and Grandpa Smith got to come down one day of the fair and walk around with everyone! Kale loved showing them all the secrets of the fair! On the way home that evening though they hit a coyote. The were on I-70 when they hit it but luckily it only damanged the front bumper and they were all fine.

Grandma and Grandpa Dreiling went to the fair with us a few times. Grandma loved running around with the kids (Kale and Marisa) in the bunny barn! Grandma also bought the kids light up toys one evening, which they both loved! Kale still sleeps with his and wakes up in the middle of the night to play with it!

Kale and Erin road the boats together! Kale got to ride the two times, once with mom and once with dad!
Maks riding in the stroller, he loved to watch everyone walking around and the lights in the evenings!

When Maks got tired of riding in the stroller dad carried him around!

Kale also loved the slide at the fair! He got to go down it a total of 5 times! 2 times with mom, 2 times with dad, and 1 time with grandpa! It was alot of fun but it sure is alot of steps to the top! This picture is was taken after Kale and dad went down for the first time!

I haven't gone back to work yet, I will go back on Oct. 5th. I am looking forward to getting back to work but I will miss my time at home with the boys!

Erin is staying busy at work, he has been getting his 40 hours in Monday-Thursday the last few weeks which makes having a 3 day weekend at home nice! I wish my job was a lienient as his! Having flex time is really nice!

Little bit of everything

Well I have been keeping very busy these past few weeks! Last weekend we had a garage sale to get rid of all extra stuff! It was a success we got rid of tons of stuff, but still need to create more space! Kale had a great time during the garage sale, the neighbors also had one so he got to play with all the kids in the driveway the entire day!

Kale has been playing with the neighbor kids more and more. Last weekend they decided to go to the zoo and take Kale along. He had a great time and was really worn out by the time they got home!

The Kansas State Fair started this week, it is bringing in lots of trucks and tractors which are Kale's favorite! We have gone each day so far, he really enjoys walking around, and so to Erin and I. Maks just seems to sleep through it! During the fair the helicopters give tours of the town and they seem to have a flight path that goes right over our house! Kale loves to yell and wave at them EVERY time they fly over!

Yesterday also marked the first Hutchinson Community College Football game. Kale loves his Dragons! He had a great time yelling at the team telling them when to throw and kick the football!

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was sure a busy one! We started our weekend on Friday by going to the park with Monica, Marisa, and Malea. Kale and Marisa had a great time chasing each other around and racing down the slide.

Maks and Malea enjoyed themselves as well! We found them some shade and they just took it easy!On Saturday afternoon we went to a wedding for a co-worker of mine. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time. Kale had a great time at the reception. He was dancing to the music and loved the bubbles!!!

We had to leave the reception early to go up to Grandma and Grandpa Dreiling's house for the annual Smash 'n Crash party! Every year the IT department saves their trash monitors and other tech items and they smash them with sledge hammers! It is alot of fun for the guys and helps them get out their frustrations from the past year! Here is Grandpa hitting a monitor!Kale was having a good time watching but wanted to hit something himself so dad brought him over a computer tower for him to hit with his own little hammer! Here is daddy hitting a security monitor!

Grandma also built a little table for the kids (Marisa and Kale) to hammer nails into while the big kids broke the computers. Kale loved this table and spent most of the night hammering on it! As you can see he also wore his work goggles! Those are his favorite he wears them often!Sunday we spent most of the day at home relaxing and cleaning! We are going to have a garage sale this weekend so we are trying to get through everything in the house to sell!

When they are quite...

Well you know when kids start to play to quietly you know that you better go and check on them!! Yesterday Kale was playing around the house and went into the kitchen. Just a few min later when I hadn't heard a peep out of him I went to check to see what he was doing.......when I found him he was covering himself in the garlic powder!! YUCK! He was telling me that he was putting on powder! Ahhh it stunk so bad, so needless to say he got put straight into the bathtub to wash off!!

After our bath it was still early so we decided to go for a walk in the wagon. Kale wanted to ride for a while but when we stoped at a friends house to talk he decided he didn't want to ride anymore so Kale decided he was going to pull the wagon the rest of the way home. So for the entire last block he pulled the wagon home!

Today we did a few things around the house in the morning and then went up to Grandma and Grandpa Drelings house in the afternoon after our nap. Monica was up there with the girls so Kale got to play with Marisa while Maks and Malea sat with the Grandparents! It is a lot of fun to watch the kids play and interact with each other. We have tried to get pics with the four kids but they are sure hard to get!!

Welcome, Malea Denae Lizalde!

Another big thing happened for us yesterday (Aug. 20, 2009). Erin and I got a new neice, her name is Malea Denae Lizalde. She was born at 2:56 PM. She was 8 lbs 20 inches long. Her sistern Marisa was very excited to finally met her!

The family is doing well and is very happy to be heading back home from the hospital this afternoon! Here are a few pictures!

Erin holding Malea:

Malea and Maks are exactly 6 weeks apart!

Wonderful Weather

The weather sure has been amazing this past few days! The highs have been in the low 80's during the days and low's in the 60s at night! Kale loves to play outside and go for walks in the evenings after playing outside all day at daycare! Maks doesn't! I try and take Maks for walks but he hates to be in his car seat or the stroller! Walks become more trouble than they are worth when I have Maks, I end up carrying him most of the way and pushing an empty stroller! Hopefully that will change soon so we can get out and enjoy the weather! He loves the outdoors though, we sat on the swing for quite a while last night and watched Kale play and today while I was at an appointment he sat on the swing with Daddy for an hour!

Yesterday we took Kale back to the daycare that he will be starting again on Monday. He was a little shy at first but as soon as he remembered where he was he was very excited to run around and play. We had to go by and visit Becky to say goodbye before she leaves and takes a new job in Abilene. She will sure be missed!

These last few nights have been big for Kale, he got a new room and a new bed!! He was very excited to sleep in his new bed even though we haven't gotten an actual bed for him yet! So I put the sheets and blankets on the mattress and just laid it on the floor in his room. His dad slept with his the first night in the bed!

After Erin got up in the morning to start getting ready Kale continued to sleep. When I went in to get him up this is how I found his sleeping. He has his head on the bed but is kneeling on the floor. He has his eyes open here talking to me but he was sleeping when I went in! Not sure how the kid gets any sleep he moves around so much! We are going to get his a rail for the side once we get the bed up!

After getting up in the morning I made him make the bed! He did a good job making it but soon after this picture was taken he decided he didn't like the med 'made' so he pulled the blanket off and threw it down in a pile on the end of the bed! This picture was actually taken a few weeks ago but I just couldn't resist putting it up here! Kale was so tired one night and didn't want to go to bed so we were letting him play and next thing you know we look over and he had fallen asleep on his airplane!!

All is well!

Well I have finally been able to stop taking medicine for my neck after 5.5 weeks! I am feeling much better and am happy to be back to normal!

Maks is growing like crazy, he weighs about 10 lbs now! We are sure that Maks is going to out weigh Kale very quickly! At 6 weeks Maks is 10 lbs and at 21 months Kale is only 24.5 lbs!!! Maks is holding his head up better and better each day and is really a noise maker!!

Kale is loving his new brother and does great with him still! Kale loves to give Maks kisses and hold him each night before bed! Erin and I are very lucky to have Kale be so great with Maks! He is hardly ever jealous of him and never is rough around him! Hopefully when Maks gets bigger and starts playing with Kales toys he will still feel the same way!

Kale has been having a great summer spending the days at a different daycare. He loves the daycare and we are sad that this will be his last week with Cris and her family! Kale loves Grandma Dorthey and Lacey. He is always talking about Mark and his motorcycle as well! We will have to go back and visit regularly! Since school is back in session Kale will start back to the school daycare on Monday.

We finally got Maks room done this past week. We had the walls redone and new floors laid. They turned out great and we are happy to have them done! Now we just have to move the boys stuff from room to room. We decided at the last minute to move Kale into the new room and give Maks Kales old room. I made new curtains for both rooms (with a little help from Jan) they came out great in Maks room, they are made with cut up receiving blankets that we bought at the store. I also made one curtain for Kales new Elmo room. They curtain came out great but I am not sure about the pattern! I may make more for his room!

Stephanie's Neck

Well for those of you that don't know I have been having quite an issue with my next ever since Maks was born. I have been experiancing neck pain and headaches ever since he was born. As we got farther out from the birth the headaches started to get worse. I finally gave in and called my Dr. after a few days of no relief. She told me to go ahead and just rest for a few days and continue to take my medicine.
After 2.5 weeks I was still in pain. I called back in and decided I needed to go to the ER to be checked out by an anestesiaologist on Monday (7-27) due to having severe headaches and neck pain. When I arrived to the ER they decided to do lab work, CAT Scan, x-rays, and a spinal tap. These were done to check for infections or other noticable problems. The results for all the tests came back negative. However after having the spinal tap done I was in an extreme amount of pain. The Dr. decided that I needed to have a blood patch done to help cause the headahces to go away. The ER doc decided that there was a leak in my spinal column that was causing me to have spinal headaches, therefore, when they did the spinal tap and took out more fluid the headaches got worse. After the blood patch was complete (the process to get a blood patch is to take blood from my arm and inject it into my spine to cause the blood to clot in the hole, this helps to stop the leak) I had immediate relief. I was able to go home on Tuesday morning. The headaches and neck pain were gone until Wednesday morning. On Wednesday I started to have the headaches again. After waiting all afternoon to get back into my primary care Dr. I was finally able to see the Dr. and he decided that I needed to get a second blood patch. After getting the second blood patch I have experianced no more headaches. My lower back is still a little bit sore and there is still some neck discomfort but it is not near the pain I was in before. Hopefully in the next few days all the pain will go away and I can get back to normal!!

Update

Not alot to update you on but things are going very well in our home. Maks is doing well and already growing! He is starting to eat and sleep more. He is also staying awake longer periods of time during the day.

Kale is loving his new brother. He loves to help feed him and give him kisses. Anytime Maks is crying Kale makes sure that Erin and I get to him as quickly as possible!

I went back to school on Saturday for the first time since Maks was born so Erin was home with the boys by himself. They enjoyed their time together and then went up to see Grandma and Grandpa Dreilings house to play with them along with Monica and Marisa.

Monica is getting to the end of her pregnancy she is doing well but is ready to be done, a feeling that I remember having just a few weeks ago!

Welcome Maks!

Well it has been a few months and lots has changed in our family!!!

On July 9th, 2009 Maks Ryan Dreiling was born. He weighed 8 lbs and was 20.5 inches long. He was born at 11:26 AM. He is happy and healthy. Kale is proud to be a big brother and enjoys the new addition to the family. Kale loves to hold Maks (but only for short periods of time ....about 30 seconds!) and give him kisses as well. He is very gentle with him, we couldn't have asked for him to be a better big brother. We came home with Maks about 26 hours after he was born, boy is it different than being stuck in the hospital with Kale for so long! Maks is going about 2-3 hours at a time during the night between his feedings so Erin and I are adjusting to the lack of sleep again! Kale has been sleeping through the night for over a year now, but the last few nights he has been waking up. So that makes it even worse! Last night he did sleep through the night again so hopefully he will keep it up, and we will not have any set backs! I am going to be on maternity leave for the next 12 weeks. So hopefully I can remember to keep this updated better!

Odd's and End's

Well not a lot exciting has happened this past week. We have been staying busy around the house though with Erin's crazy work schedule. He has been traveling a lot the past few weeks to do some training on new technology the stores are receiving. So it leaves Kale and home alone a few nights a week. Last week he was in Garden City for a few days. A few weeks ago he was in Omaha, NE then came back for a bit and had more work to do in Wichita.

Thursday was Erin's last day of work before his week of vacation. Although vacation isn't quite as fun when everyone doesn't get to take it! Erin is traveling to Superior, WI for a training seminar on his Amsoil business. Kale and I are staying behind for this one. Kale was sad when he saw that dad was going buh bye without him, and so was I to be honest! Erin is driving up to Topeka tonight to stay with my parents before going to KC in the morning for a 10 AM flight. He will be in Superior until Thursday.

Kale spent the day today with Grandma and Grandpa Dreiling while Erin went to a car show with his Amsoil set-up and I had to go to school all day. Kale seemed to have a great time. He got to see his cousin Marisa and play with Aunt Monica part of the day as well! I hear there were some cute pictures, but I haven't seen them yet! Once I get them I will hopefully get them uploaded!

School is going well for me. I got my last grade back and my perfect 4.0 GPA for all my Master's classes continues! I am proud of that! The class that we are currently in is Marketing Management. It is a difficult class but pretty interesting most of the time. I finish up this class on June 13th. Then on to Accounting! I am extremely nervous for Accounting though....and for two reasons. 1. I hate Accounting! It is something that has never come easy to me! 2. Because at some point during this class I will have the baby! That isn't going to help me out much if I happen to have the baby at a time that will make me miss a class! Yikes! Guess we will just do the best we can and see how it goes!

Kale has gone to bed for the night already so I am just up doing some quite things around the house right now. I am planning to head to bed early tonight also in hopes that I can get a good nights sleep since Erin wont' be here to wake up with Kale!

Dr. Appts in KC

This week we had appointments in Kansas City at Children's Mercy Hospital. Thursday we had lab work first, then a sonogram in Radiology, a VCUG, and lastly we met with the Nephrologist Dr. Vandevoorde (Kidney Dr.). Then on Friday we had a short day with only one appointment with the Urologist (Dr. Gatti).

Overall, we had a good few days of appointments. We got a lot of information. After getting the lab work back we found that Kale will need to be started on a renal vitamin and also an iron supplement. They are going to continue his prior meds to help him be able to get stronger before he hits his next growth spurt and to keep preventing the infections he would be prone to getting in his kidney's.

In the sonogram they found that Kale's left kidney (the non-functional one) has began to shrink slightly. Until this appointment the kidney has shown small signs of growth so it is a slit set back but we knew that if the kidney really was not alive it would begin to shirk until it eventually disolves into the body. They also saw that the uriters between the kidney and the bladder that are causing his reflux were still enlarged. This confirmed that his reflux was still rated about a Grade 5 (the worst it could be). This is why we had to go back this time and see the Urologist.

During our appointment with Dr. Vandevoorde he seemed to be quite pleased with Kale's weight and growth rates. He was satisfied with his breathing (last time we were there he was still on his breathing treatments). Also he was very happy to hear that he was off the bottle and pacificer completely (since 12 and 14 months) and that he is continuing to sleep through the night. Overall he didn't have any major concerns for us he is going to allow us to go a full year before rescheduling our next appointment with him!! This was exciting to us since it is the longest we have ever gotten to go without seeing him!

On Friday when we got to see Dr. Gatti (Urologist) we discussed the options we would have with Kale's reflux. When he was first born and diagnosed with the Grade 5 Reflux the Dr.'s had told us they would monitor him until he was 1 and they had hopes he would out grow the issue by that time. It is common that boys out grow the reflux as they start peeing at a lower pressure, however in Kale's case this did not happen. Erin and I didn't quite know what to expect but the Dr. explained to us although it is still bad, he was no quite ready to schedule Kale for surgery. So what he agreed to let us do was go for the next 1.5 years on the same pace with his meds and he would redo the scan at that time and see what the reflux had done. He wanted us to have him potty trained by that time so that he could see how the reflux does when Kale is holding in his urine. If he is still able to avoid infections at that time then we will attempt to take him of the meds and see if he can still avoid the kidney or UTI's. If so we may be able to avoid surgery all together. If he starts to get infections at anytime the Dr. said we would most likely jump to surgery quickly because Kale's kidneys can't afford to take any hits to them. His total functionality is approx 60% now which is good but that is all from one kidney. So to damage that kidney more would not be good.

All in all Erin and I were happy with our news. We hope to be able to avoid the infections and stay on the positive path that we are going down!

For anyone who has not been to Children's Mercy I will upload some pictures that I took during this visit. It is a wonderful place that saves lives everyday!

First ''Trip'' Down the Stairs...

Today Kale had his first big fall down the stairs. Not only did he fall down the stairs he fell down the concrete ones off the front porch. Erin and I were both right there but after he decided he wanted to go down the stairs without sitting down he just went faster than we could stop him. He made the first step but fell down the last 3. He landed face first on the sidewalk at the bottom. He was pretty upset but dad grabbed him quickly and we went in to start cleaning up the scratches. He was bleeding pretty bad from his forehead and nose. He was very upset but once we got into the bathroom and he saw his toothbrush all the fuss was over! He is pretty tough, once distracted he completely forgot about the ouchie on his face!

Tanganika Wildlife Park

This past weekend we visited Tanganika Wildlife Park in Goddard. We had a great time there. The weather turned out to be great (although right as we were getting ready to leave the cold front moved in so we had to put on our jackets). Kale was very excited to be able to see his favorite animal, the giraffe's. During the visit to the park we got to feed the Lorikeets (very pretty birds), pet the Kangaroo's (Kale also had to make sure to show them his shoes), run with the bunnies, and turtles. He had a great time. The monkeys were very active and talking a lot to each other, it was very interesting to listen to!

Baby Update!

Well things have been going well with the baby. I am currently 26 weeks and 5 days along. I have finally been able to escape the morning sickness! I have been feeling pretty well but am starting to grow quickly!! I have been going to Physical Therapy once a week because of some bone and muscle pain it seems to be better but the Dr. wants me to continue working with PT for another few weeks to ensure I don't put on weight and feel worse. We go in for another sonogram on the 20th. At our last sonogram the Dr. checked for the Renal problems that Kale has been diagnosed with but there were no signs at that point!! She was very hopefully that we wouldn't find anything at the upcoming sono but still wanted to make sure we checked. I am feeling ALOT of kicking now. The baby is very active. It is amazing the differences in the two pregnancy's, we still haven't found out if it is a boy or girl (and won't), but I just keep thinking it has to be a girl since I have felt so different!

I will keep you updated as we have more appointments!

Easter

Easter turned out to be a great holiday for Kale. He really enjoyed the concept of finding and pick up eggs (or balls as he calls them). His Easter week started out with an Easter Egg hunt at Daycare on Wednesday. All the kids got a basket and to go outside and find eggs. Erin was out of town and didn't get to go but I did and it was a great time. I took hundreds of pictures! He was so thrilled to run around and pick up the eggs "balls" he even held his own basket the entire time! I didn't think he would want to leave my side if he saw me while the eggs were out but boy was I wrong! Kale couldn't have cared less that I was there. He was so excited!

After hunting eggs at the daycare they played outside for a bit and the parents were aloud to stay and play as well. Most of the parents played with their kids but of course Kale was to independent and wanted to play on his own so I just sat on the side and took pictures!

On Friday we left Hutchinson and headed for Topeka for the weekend. Kale did great in the car and was very happy when we finally arrived in Topeka. Grandma and Grandpa were ready to play as soon as we arrived! We had a fun time playing with the eggs and toys that Grandma had gotten for Kale. Saturday we spent the day around town. We really wanted to get Kale to some other Easter Egg hunts but our luck was not the greatest! We kept missing the times or arriving on the wrong days! So we ended up at the park instead! In Topeka there is a carousel at Gage Park. I thought it would be fun to take Kale for a ride........wrong! Kale hate Carrousel's! He thought the horses were really neat when they were not moving, but when they started moving he was not going to be any part! Erin was on the ride with him and ended up holding him the entire ride! Afterwards he liked the horses again but just wanted to watch from a distance! Next we headed over to ride the train. This ride went a little smoother but got a little chilly towards the end! We headed home to eat and nap after .....Kale ended up sleeping for about 3 hours and slept right though the last hope of an Easter Egg hunt we had in town. So we just ended up throwing the eggs in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard and letting him pick those up!

Sunday we got to see Great Grandma Smith, we went to lunch with her and played around in her room for a while before heading back to Hutchinson. The long car ride home seemed to be worse on mom then Kale. He slept a good portion but once he woke up he was very good. He read some books and drew a few pictures, then looked out the window for a while. He is just a great traveler! Thank goodness!

Weather is amazing!

I can't believe we were outside playing in Kale's new sand box and outdoor play equipment just last weekend, and this weekend we have between 16''-18'' of snow on the ground!! Kansas is crazy!!! The snow drifted up against everything and we had drifts that were 3' to 4' deep!! It would have been great snowball fight now but Kale wasn't quite up to that yet! It was so deep that he could not walk without falling over.
Skeeter and Harley didn't know what to do! Skeeter would venture out but we had to knock down a path for Harley! He just wasn't as thrilled with the snow! Erin started shoveling the driveway and gave up. He got the sidewalks cleaned off (shortly before the neighbor came buy with the snow blower!!! ha ha I had to laugh). We didn't go anywhere during the weekend because....well we couldn't! But the very next day the temperature rose into the 50's and almost all the snow was gone. Within 2 days all our snow had melted completely!

Kale got out his sled and played for a bit but Erin had a hard time pulling him fast because the snow was so deep he could barely walk himself! Kale didn't understand why he couldn't go faster! Wish we would have had some hills!

About time for an update!

Well life has been busy in our world! We have been enjoying the nice weather the last few weeks and spending time outside. (that is until the drastic weather change!) My last post was in February and it seemed at the time like we were just swamped with things to do but now as I look back and try to write about it, I can't think of a thing!

One thing we did have to deal with was Kale being sick. He seemed to catch about everything going through daycare these few months. He ended up with RSV, pneumonia, ear infections, flu you name it he caught it....except the chicken pox which we gladly escaped! He seems to be doing well now having a few problems with allergies but we can handle those!

Kale is getting new teeth as well! He now has 6 (working on 8) on the top and 3 on the bottom. Hopefully they will come quickly and be painless! ;)

One major thing that we did in our house (in March) was redoing our bathroom. We had a few guys come in and completely gut out the bathroom down to the studs (even tore down the ceiling, and tore up the floor) and started over. It was a long and eventful process, I'm not sure the guys that we hired will ever come back and work in our house! Every time they thought they would be through the toughest part something else went wrong! That's what you get for living in an old house though! In the end the bathroom turned out great. I am glad we got it done before the baby comes. I will upload pictures there are a few things that still need to be finished but Erin is going to do them so no telling how long it will be!!!

Our house also got new windows in March. They were much needed! We needed to get them installed because our old windows felt like they were open at all times the wind just sailed right through them. They also were full of lead paint so it was good to get them out of the house with the kids. Luckily we got them in before the big snow storm. It really paid off. It was amazing how much warmer our house became!

Another big event in March was Kale's first haircut!! It was much needed. I tried to see how long we could get his hair, I wanted to see the curls, but people started asking if he was a boy or girl so I had to cut it! We took him into the salon that Erin and I go to. Kale was not thrilled with the process!

Here are a few pictures from the day! The one where he has his shoe in his hand is just funny to me. At one point he got so upset he kicked off his shoe! As you can see Erin and I both took turns holding onto him because he would jump back and forth thinking the other person would save him! The picture where he is grabbing his coat is after he got done telling Chelsea (our hair cut lady) "OK Goodbye''...he was ready to go! The only part of the entire thing he liked was the electric clipper part...not sure if he liked the noise or feel but he was calm so I didn't care! The last pictures shows Kale in his car seat afterwards! As you can see he wasn't giving us his happy face!