Talon's First Day Pictures

Here are the pictures from Talon's first day of kindergarten. He's so proud and excited to be going to big kids school!The girls are all ready to walk him to the bus stop. Check out Hailey's pose! :) Wait a minute!!! Are all three of my kids looking at the camera at the same time and SMILING? What the crap? Daddy thought we were gonna be late, so he didn't want to wait for Lacy to walk with him.On the bus!!For those of you who read the last post and are wondering: yes, I met the bus at the school again this morning. No, there was not anyone helping anyone again today. There were plenty of kids all over crying again today. One kid in Talon's class also rides his bus with his brother, who's in 1st grade. I found this out yesterday, because he walked him to the right playground (right before the kindergartner started crying and his mom showed up) yesterday.

Right when Talon got off the bus I told him to walk with Gavin because his brother always makes sure he gets to the right place. He also had an older neighborhood (very chatty) sweet girl to help them get there today.

Maybe I won't have to meet the bus at the school for the rest of the year if Talon's hooks up with these guys every day off the bus.

Talon had some really funny stories from school yesterday.

One about a little girl in a yellow shirt who "made a good choice" and sat next to him, because he held the door open for her.

One about a kid who got hurt on the playground and had to go to the nurse. She wrapped up his arm, but it was OK cuz he just used the other one.

One about meeting a "singing teacher" who had music really loud and then turned it to medium loud. He said he got to pick what they do and he picked marching (thanks Mrs. Rogers) and the whole class followed him around the room. I think that might have been in kids corner after school. He didn't seem to know the difference. :)

Today he is supposed to learn his teacher's name and his room number. That was his homework from Aunt Adelina. She said she's gonna call him everyday until he knows those two things. Next we're gonna work on learning my cell phone number.

Talon's First Day

I realize I have more pics to post from California still, but I want to write about Talon's first day while it's still all fresh.

Joe and I disagreed about what time the bus was going to pick Talon up. We went too early and ended up standing in the wrong place because there wasn't anyone else out there. The good news is that the bus stop is even closer than we thought. Talon got on the bus and was excited to start his first day.

After it rode away we took the girls home and I got in my car to meet the bus at school. Everyone at the school assured me there would be people there to help him when he got off, but I don't believe people, so I wanted to make sure.

I got to the school before the bus, so I parked and stood a little bit away from where they said the buses park. I was just going to observe. There was one lady there when the kids where getting off the buses. Mom? Teacher? I don't know but she didn't say anything to Talon. He got off and followed the crowd. He saw me, smiled and waved. I waved back and watched. He put his backpack down with the other kids and started wandering around. This was obviously not the kindergarten playground I was told he would be shown to.

I walked up to a lady with a whistle. "Excuse me, I followed my son's bus here to see what would happen, and nobody has shown him where to go." She smiled, "Oh, that's so good you followed the bus. It only takes them a few times to figure out where to go." I did not smile, "Only if they are shown where to go. Where is the kindergarten playground?" "Oh, it's downstairs in the front." I looked at her blankly. She knows I said kindergarten and I was asking where it was right? I'm ASKING for help, unlike my 5 year old, and you're still not helping. She offered to have an older kid show us where it was.

We followed him past about 7 different playgrounds and down a flight of stairs. Seriously? This is your setup? Make the kindergartners go THIS far on their own? Talon stopped paying attention to where we were going about 20 times on the way there. It was chaos everywhere. We finally made it to the playground and he put down his backpack and played. I witnessed a few children crying, and a few more being found and brought to the playground...you know because everything was sooo organized. When they blew the whistle Talon found the right teacher (who magically appeared right after the whistle blew) and got lined up and headed out to what I hope will not be his "worst day ever!"

Beach Pictures

I am sooo far behind. I realize that. There are just sooo many pictures and memories from our California trip with the Dairmans...I've felt a little bit overwhelmed with where to start. I am a procrastinator by nature. Talon is starting kindergarten tomorrow. I am so worried about him. He is going to get lost, and refuses to learn his teachers name, "I told you mom, I'm going to call her teacher." I tried, "what if she calls you kid?" "Nope, she knows my name." "So, don't you think you should learn hers?" "Nope, I'm just gonna call her teacher." What do you do?

Anyway, back to California. We had planned on a professional photographer, but Joe's sister, Florence, was not able to come. She has one job right now. Take care of those twins in her belly. :) We cancelled the photographer, but those of us that were still there put on our whites and headed to the beach. I know it's hard to see everyone here, but this is a bunch of us who all stayed in the same house. Good times!! Here's a pic of all of the Dairman grand kids (except Carina and Ethan) and the Briggs.
We can never get everyone to smile and look at the camera at the same time, so this ended up being the best view of my family. :-) You can barely see Lacy's head poking out between me and Joe.See what I mean?At least we're (almost) all looking, even if Talon and Hailey look like grumpy monkeys.We stole this idea from the website of the real photographer we hired, and later had to cancel. Thanks to her creativity it ended up being my favorite picture of the day. Yay!! Hopefully, one day we'll actually get the whole clan (including those twins) together and actually get her to take some shots of us.Me and my man...isn't he HOT?Awe, Grandma and Grandpa Dairman.

We had actually intended on getting some "sunset" pictures, but we got there so early we had a hard time keeping the kids entertained to wait for that darn sun to set.And Lacy did her best to get as filthy as humanly possible, but was so cute doing it!

I don't know what he told her...then they caught me looking.

Even though our kids were done, we tried to get a sunset picture. Too bad I'm not a professional and I have a very basic camera.

Our silhouettes

Thanks for taking the pictures Jill. We did the best we could. :-)

I think it's about time I update our 4th of July background too...Geesh!

Before I forget...

I have a million pics to post from our week in CA, but I just don't have the time or energy to group them and post about them yet.

Some of you have been asking me if Lacy has had any more episodes. She has been REALLY close quite a few times, and had one episode while we were in California. She really freaked out some of Joe's family members, which actually made me even calmer - weird. Anyway she is doing really well and says a lot of words very clearly now. Here is a list of things she says, and uses correctly.

Mommy
Daddy
Aaaple Juice
Mik (Milk)
Uh Oh
There you go
Thank you
Ba Ba Ba Ba (Sponge Bob Square Pants)
Aye Aye (at the beginning of the Sponge Bob song)
Ba Ba (bottle) sometimes she'll say Ba Ll if she's trying really hard. :-)
Me! This one is her absolute favorite! She'll say "Me" and point at whatever she wants to do, then look at you and wait, then do it again if you don't respond.

She l♥ves doing whatever the big kids are doing, and wants to be with them no matter what! She l♥ved the beach and walked into the water with no fear. The waves would knock her down and she would get right back up and keep going out. Crazy kid!

Talon starts kindergarten next week. Wow! Crazy right? He's such a great kid. Here is a conversation he had with Alicia last week.

Alicia: Talon, are you excited to go to kindergarten?

Talon: Yah, but I'm a little bit nervous too.

Alicia: Why are you nervous?

Talon: Cuz I'm afraid I'm not going to be a very good listener.

Alicia: Something, something, something (I can't remember what she said)

Talon: I'm not really nervous, but my tummy is.

Better??

26 days with no episodes!

Lacy had a breath holding episode last night. She almost made it an entire month. Almost.

Talon opened a jello and didn't eat it. Not unusual for that kid. Lacy saw it. She wanted it. She didn't want me to feed it to her. She wanted to eat from the spoon herself. I tried to let her. She flung it on the floor. I took it away. Mean mom.

I probably would have put her in her high chair and let her have at it, but we were leaving for Sunday dinner at the Dairman's.

She walked arms out crying. Hard.

Joe picked her up and tried to get her to breathe. Nope. She passed out anyway.

I sat on the couch with her while she was having her "seizure like activity", and Joe loaded up the other kids. When she was finished we put her in the car and went anyway. She cried most of the ride there, until she finally took her bottle and fell asleep. She was, most understandably, a complete pill for the next few hours.

Man I'll be glad when she outgrows this completely. I'm sure she will be too!

Hailey

Last night Joe told Hailey she has diarrhea of the mouth.

It did not slow her down one bit.

We really need to record her. It's amazing!

4th of July in Payson

Our family - Fourth of July 2009Bailee was a little embarrassed to wear matching shirts, but I didn't care. When we got there she looked around and said, "nobody else has matching shirts on." I told her we were the cool kids.

She didn't believe me.

But look how cute we are!!There was a band playing in the afternoon, so we went over and sat on a blanket. Here's a picture of Lacy gettin her groove on.Lacy, Kamryn and Katie dancing (going in circles) together.Lunch! (Talon didn't sit down long enough to eat)Bailee stood in line with Trinity and Sydney for a HOUR to get their faces painted. I thought they would come back with a flag or a flower. Wow!! I didn't get a picture of the bubble machine, which was a big hit with the smaller kids, but here is Joe (a.k.a. Santa Claus) blowing up the balloons for the kids. They went CRAZY for those! Lacy took a short nap on Joe's lap before the fireworks started and was in total awe when she woke up. Talon and Hailey had their moments. We had to convince them that the fireworks were cool and not scary. Ü Here are my little cuties before we left for the park, showing of their star tattoos and new shirts.

P.S. Laurie, that was 6 in one day!!

4th of July Hair

We were in Payson for the 4th of July and I'm such a dork. I totally spaced out on making bows, so I improvised. While at Walmart I picked up some $.49 ribbon and did the best I could with it.I think it turned out pretty cute, but why do those dang plastic rubber bands always break when we use sunscreen?? At least it looked good for a little while. :)

Lacy's hair is finally (almost) long enough for a pony, so she got some ribbon in her hair too!

What a ham!!

Random pictures

Talon L♥VES walking around with my camera taking random pictures of things. Usually it just shows me how messy my house is. :) As soon as he gets his hands on my camera he says, "say cheese momma". That can get pretty old! I mean how many of those shots from his view up do I need really? So I taught him how to take a picture of himself. He got his face in the picture - later we'll work on more flattering angles. :)

In the car, on the way to Payson Lacy was "shushing" Bailee. What a cutie pie!Hailey was crying that the sun was in her eyes. Bailee finally gave in and let her wear her sunglasses to keep her quiet and it worked! (for a couple of minutes anyway) We borrowed my mom's DVD player with two screens. It was a life saver in the car...if Hailey would just figure out how to keep those darned headphones on!This next picture totally cracked me up when I saw it! Talon must have taught her how to take a picture of herself. If she needed a profile picture this would definitely be it!!I can't look at it without laughing!

Lacy Lace

My little Lacy Lace will not let me feed her anymore. She will only eat for me if I give her a spoon or a fork to do it herself.

High School Musical

Thursday, July 2nd we went to see High School Musical at the Broadway Palms. Joe's cousin Brooke, from New York, was in it. The food wasn't great, the show was SUPER Disney cheesy, but the kids ATE IT UP!! I took quite a few pictures inside while we were having dinner, but the lighting was really weird and this is the only one that turned out.

Here is Kaylyn, Gavin and AvaAfter the show the kids posed by the cardboard cut-outs of the characters from the movieIn the back: Kaylyn, Amanda & Carina

In the front: Talon, MacKenzie, Ava and Sydney

Not pictured: Hailey, Gavin, Jennifer, Me, Joe, Dennis & Charlotte

I recommend this show to anyone with kids from the ages of 3-13. They all loved it and had a GREAT time! Plus the theatre has been having some ticket specials, so if you call the box office and ask you might get a great deal.

My little "Croc"kers

I am not a big fan of Crocs, ESPECIALLY on adults. But my kids sure are!Aren't they cute?

Ear tubes

We got up at 5:30 this morning to have Lacy at the surgery center by 6:30. They drained both of her ears (which the doctor said were pretty nasty) and put some tubes in her ears. She was pretty groggy and, because of her breath holding episodes, they made us wait a little bit longer than normal to leave. Just to make sure she was completely alert and OK from the anaesthesia. She was so funny. After they brought her out to us she kept pointing back at the door and crying. I think she was trying to tell on them. :-)

We dropped her off at my mom's house afterwards. Talon and Hailey got to spend the night there. Thank goodness my mom offered to have them over so we didn't have to take them with us. That would have been a nightmare, but instead they had a great time having a sleep over at Grandma's house.

Hopefully these tubes will be the answer to her ear infections, and she'll never have another one.

My little chatterbox

Hailey is non-stop chatter. You may not understand what she's saying, but that doesn't stop her. Notice the cell phone in her hand. :-)
Last night, when we were leaving the gym, I told Joe I wanted to go to Target to get some sandals. I took Hailey with me and Joe took Talon and Lacy home. Hailey talked the whole way there, and the WHOLE time we were there. Our gym is behind a Sonic, so we always drive through the parking lot to get to the gym. On the way to target we passed another Sonic.

Hailey: I just saw the new play place again. (That's the gym. The old play place is Bashas) I think we're driving in circles.
Me: No, we're not driving in circles.
Hailey: Oh, maybe we're just driving back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth?
Me: *Lauging* Nope. Not that either.
Hailey: But I DID just see it...

In the shoe department people were coming from other isles just to see her and laugh at us.

Hailey: Mommy, can I try these on?
Me: Hailey, you don't need those.
Hailey: I KNOW...I just want to try them on!
Me: Whatever.
Hailey: They fit me! Can I have them? Mommy, look, they fit me, can I buy these?
Me: No Hailey. You said you were just going to try them on, and you have shoes almost exactly like that already.
Hailey: No I don't. These have princesses on them. Mines are Dora.
Me: No Hailey.
Hailey: Ohhh say...(that't OK in Hailey talk)

Then she puts them back and starts all over with another pair. She was also trying to buy shoes for Lacy whenever they were too small for her.

Hailey: Mommy these are cute. We could buy them for Lacy. They would be cute on her.
Me: Lacy already has shoes. She doesn't need those.
Hailey: But they're little and they would fit her.
Me: She doesn't need them...plus they are too big (or small).

We must have had those same conversations a thousand times while we were there. I even tried this a few times:

Me: Hailey, can you just shut your mouth for a minute please?
Hailey: Sure mommy, I'm sorry, I'll be quiet for two minutes...no, three minutes because I'm three...can you help me put these back up? Can I try these on?
Me: I thought you were going to be quiet?
Hailey: Oh, sorry. *whispering* Do you think these will fit me? Can you help me get these down? Do you think Talon wants new floppies too? Oh, those look like daddies. Should we buy some for daddy?...

When we got home Lacy was in bed and Joe and Talon were sitting by the couch eating dinner, watching the 11th inning of the D-backs game. We were there for about two minutes when Joe said, "Hailey, I love you, but it was really peaceful before you got here."

"I love you too daddy...do you want to see the floppies we got for Talon? They're in here...mommy can you get Talon's floppies out so we can surprise him?"

How can you get mad at that?

Doctors

Last night after Hailey brushed her teeth, she opened her mouth to show me how great her breath was. Holy crap! One of her tonsils looked like a brain!! They were both so swollen there could only be about ¼ inch between them. I showed Joe and he said, "I wonder how she can even breathe." She said it didn't even hurt.

Lacy had been all stuffed up and whiney for the past couple of days. She has also been running a bit of a fever, but nothing a little Tylenol can't get rid of.

So I figured what the heck, take them both.

This morning I got ready for work and then hung around the house until the doc's office opened at 8:30. I was able to get an appt. for 9:45.

About an hour and a half later Hailey has tonsillitis and Lacy has a double ear infection. Great! Lacy has had an ear infection just about every time she has been in that office. Time for tubes. That appointment is Monday morning. The first one is a consultation, you know, so they can squeeze out a little bit more money out of it. Seriously, our pediatrician already did a consultation just get on with the tubes. Nope. They need us to come in so that they can agree to make a real appointment. Whatever!!

We also talked about her breathing episodes. We have been doing something new, thanks to Aunt Helen. My mom was telling her about Lacy and she said that one of her sisters did that once and her mom (my Grandma Horihan) slapped her. I laughed out loud when my sister told me, but then I asked if it worked. hehe. Anyway, when Lacy has started turning blue we have been open-handed hitting her in the chest. Not real hard, more like a thump. It seems to work to get her to take a breath and cry normally. She hasn't had an episode for 8 days, but has started A LOT! As many as three times a day sometimes. Our sitters all know what to do and aren't scared, so that's good. Thanks for all of your kind comments, thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate them!

♥ Kathy

Episodes

I am starting to feel like Lacy is having too many of her episodes.

5/21/09 - Her first episode. Called 911 and spent two days in the hospital. Witnessed by me, Joe and Alicia.

6/10/09 - At Flancer's for dinner. She started crying when (I think) she hit her bum on the table. I couldn't get her to stop crying and she had a full episode. Joe and I took turns outside with her until everyone was finished with dinner. When we got home she slept for 12 ½ hours. Jono and Joy witnessed this one with us.

6/11/09 - At mom's house. She started to turn blue, but when mom picked her up she took a breath and cried normally. She started to turn blue in the car when we were leaving, but got what she wanted (a juicy juice) and stopped crying again.

6/15/09 - At Swim Kids. Joe let Lacy play in the pool for a little while, then got her dried off and redressed. She wanted to go back in and I wouldn't let her. She started crying. Joe took her from me and said he almost got her to avoid it by continually breathing in her face. She had another episode, complete with a seizure lasting a couple of minutes. She fell asleep on my chest afterward. When we got home she went straight to bed and slept for at least 13 hours.

One common thing about all of these episodes is that they were all around 7 or 7:30 at night. I don't think she has ever done this at any other time of the day.

I am going to try to get one on video. The neurologist at the hospital said it would be helpful. He gave us his card and I'm debating on whether or not to call him back to let him know how often it is happening. I don't know if that is normal. The research I have done said that kids grow out of it by the age of 5 or 6. Once a week for 4 years?? I don't think so! There has GOT to be a better way.

May 21 - Graduation Night & 911

On May 21st Bailee graduated from Mountain Pew (sorry I can't help it). Unfortunately, we have no pictures because we never made it there.

We were all ready to head over there to sit in the rain and watch her walk with her class. The sitter showed up and I handed Lacy over to her. She started crying. I, being the wonderful mother than I am, ignored her and started to gather up my stuff to leave. I turned around and she was not breathing. She was crying so hard she never took a breath. I took her from Alicia and tried to blow in her face. Nothing. She started to turn blue. I yelled at Joe who was on the phone with Bailee's dad. He hung up mid-sentence, took Lacy from me, gave me his phone and told me to dial 911. I couldn't get the darn thing to work. I panicked, threw it on the counter and took Lacy back. He called 911. In the meantime Lacy had passed out, her eyes rolled back and she was having what appeared to be a seizure. I was completely freaking out and could not stand still. I started pacing back and forth with her.

I need to take a moment here to recognize Alicia's calmness in the whole matter. As soon as Joe told me to call 911 she gathered Talon & Hailey and took them upstairs to play. Had she not been there, we would have had two parents and two kids ALL freaking out. She is awesome!! If that was tryouts...she definitely made the babysitting team. :-)

So, I went outside with Lacy to wait for the paramedics. We were standing under the awning and I could hear the sirens in our neighborhood for what felt like hours. Can't they find our house? How long is this seizure going to last? Will there be long-term damage? What are they telling Joe on the phone? There were a million questions running through my mind. Finally her little body stopped jerking and went limp. Slowly the glossiness in her eyes faded and she could see me, and I could see her. I stopped shaking.

We went inside with the paramedics and they checked her vitals. They were surprised to find no fever. Apparently seizures are common with high fevers. When they started poking her she started to cry, but she was completely exhausted. When they finally let her have some juice she wouldn't even hold her own bottle. They strapped her car seat to a gurney and transported us to Banner Gateway, while Joe followed in our car.There they did a blood test, urine test, cat scan and x-ray. They came back a second time to get another urine sample, via catheter, because the lab spilled the first one. That sucked! Everything came back normal. Then they got ahold of our pediatrician, Dr. Madrid. He told them not to send us home until we knew what had happened. Since Banner Gateway does not have a pediatric unit anymore, they called another ambulance and transported us to Banner Desert. Lacy was asleep when they finally arrived to take us, and slept the whole way there.

They told us to plan on staying the night, because they would most likely not run any more tests until morning, so Joe went home for a change of clothes and some toothbrushes. We also called Joe's mom to relieve our sitter, who I'm sure was past ready to get out of there! Thanks Charlotte!!

It was about 1 am when we arrived, and they had a scary looking crib/cage in the room. Heck no! We need a bed! I put her in it for a few minutes and she was scared to death of that bed trap. Normally Lacy is a very good sleeper. She prefers to sleep alone in her crib, but this was not a normal night and I knew I would not get any sleep at all without her next to me (you know, making sure she was still breathing and all). After some begging, and lots of warnings from the staff, we finally got one. They were not letting her have anything to drink or eat, so we had to keep the liquids coming through an I.V. They had to re tape it a couple of times and she HATED that!! They finally left us alone around 3 am and we got a little bit of sleep. Look at how tired she is, poor baby.Joe had an awesome chair, so I gave him some "bed" time too the next day. :-)They came back at 6 am. The nurse told us that they would be doing a EEG and a MRI. She told us that the MRI room was all booked up that day and that we might need to stay another night to get in. Unacceptable. They said they would work on it.

A Neurologist game in and talked to us while we were waiting. He said that he didn't think she had a seizure, but a breath holding episode. Huh? He brought us some literature about it and said we should go ahead with the tests, but he didn't think they would show anything abnormal. You can read about it HERE.

We had to try to keep Lacy awake so that she would sleep for the EEG. The nurse asked when her normal nap time is. Really? She only slept three hours last night. Her nap time could be now if you would leave us alone. She insisted I pick a time. I said 11. Immediately I thought it was a bad choice. How were we going to keep her awake, not eating and only having clear fluids until 11? It was hard. I told them a couple of times that she was ready, but the technician still didn't come until 11. That test was weird, but she was an angel. They hooked a million little electrons on her head, wrapped it in gauze, then waited for her to fall asleep. It only took about 30 seconds. After about a half hour she woke her back up with a strobe light. Lacy thought it was hilarious and started laughing at it. So cute!!

Luckily, the staff agreed to stay later for us and we were scheduled for an MRI at 4:00 (or was it 5?). We finally got in around 6:30. They had to put Lacy "under" for the MRI. That was scary for me, but they said she did a great job.

When she came out of the anaesthesia they let her have a drink and some food. It was really funny to watch her try to eat her bread. She kept smacking it on her cheek and then rubbing it over to get it in her mouth. I wish we would have gotten some video of that!After all the tests came back normal we left with what the neurologist said. It was not a seizure, it was a breath holding episode, and she would probably do it again, but there is no long-term damage. We were told to time her "seizure like activity" and as long as it is less than 5 minutes we do not have to do anything at all. Except FREAK OUT!!