Thanksgiving

Blogger is acting crazy with my pictures, so I have no idea how this will look. Oh well. We had a GREAT GREAT Thanksgiving with Kory's Mom's family. We were in tiny Tipton Oklahoma and it was so fun. Almost everyone was there and it was so fun to see the family and how much all the kids have grown. This was the first time a lot of them had ever seen Kanyon. I had just found I was pregnant last time we were there. Kory's fam even came down from Montana!!! So, here are a few pictures.



Can you guess what these guys are doing???? Watching basketball!!! There was a game on they wanted to see so they hid out in the quilt shop to watch it. They were nice to let Kanyon watch with them and it looks like he was pretty into it!


Here is Kanyon with cousins Judith and Jaylee and great Aunt Jana! These 3 entertained him for a LONG time one day!

More cousins!!! Leslee (who was our hand washing policeman!), Jaylee, and Wes. Can you tell Kanyon was NOT starving for attention!?

Our sweet sweet niece Sayler came down with her Daddy to see the fam. She is always SOOOO sweet and so FUN! I really wanted a pic of her and Kanyon and as you can see, it didn't work very well. Contrary to what you see in this picture, they really were thrilled to be with each other! ha ha .

There is a little park just up the street from the house, so the kids enjoyed that! This was taken about 5 seconds before something went wrong on the see saws. I think Caleb did a face plant! Luckily he's tough and made a quick recovery!

Uncle Clint pushing klp in the swing.

Here he is with Gram and great Aunt Geneva the hostess of this whole gang!

Chillin' with Uncle Tye

Back at the park with Chief, little Wes, KLP, and klp

I missed a lot of people in the pics and lots of fun things went on that I didn't capture. We really had the best time, it was so worth our 7 hour trip and we are so glad that Kory's fam made the SUPER long trip!! Kan came back healthy and did GREAT in the car! We are so thankful for a great great great family!

Little Boy and His Bouncy Seat Find a New Toy

Here's the little boy enjoying his long time friend the bouncy seat.



















He ends up here and says, "Hey, I found something kinda cool!"

He cuts his eyes towards Mommy as if to ask, "Am I gonna get in trouble for this?"

"NO?? I'm not???....SWEEEET!"

"Whoa...this is crazy, I can kinda see myself....."

Remember how I told you he puts everything in his mouth like a crazy man????

"MOM!! Will you PULEEEEEEEZ stop telling people that all the time, I can't help it!"

Sorry little boy, but THIS is CRAZY!!!!!!!!!

Yes, he licks the dishwasher. No, won't eat food. I don't get it.

"I'm too big for this BABY stuff!"

Well, Blogger is being so stupid! It keeps posting my pictures in totally random order, so this will be unorganized which really bothers me. BUT I have cupcakes to ice, so I gotta hurry!

The last week or 2 Kanyon has outgrown a few of his things. So here are his new ones and a look back at his old ones.

Here is his car seat. He is barely 20 lbs, but he is too tall for it...he looks like a giant in it. And yes, this is how he sits most of the time. He tries to sit up the whole time he's in it. He's not buckled in because I just wanted to get his pic. Not worth it.
Here he is in his first ride in the car seat leaving the hospital. Contrary to his performance for his car seat test (which he passed the 2nd time), he was NOT breathing at this point. I didn't say anything to anyone, I just stuck my hand behind his back to keep him up right. He just couldn't get all bent over, it was too much for him to breathe. Not the most peaceful ride home for me. We got the car seat adjusted to be at a better angle for him and he was fine. But I did ride in the backseat with him for a LONG time.

Big Boy in his big car seat. I am keeping him rear facing because he is barely 20 lbs. and I just feel like its safer. He's fine facing backwards, so I'm going to leave him until his legs get too long I guess!

One more pic of him in his car seat ready to go home. How tiny!!!!

Here is his new bath tub. I am stupid and thought it was bigger so I waited to get it out. I almost waited too long!! He could've used this so much sooner. Even before he could sit up good I think he could've sat in this and leaned back. Oh well.

Splish Splash (he is so modest to cover himself for all of these pictures!)

Last bath in the blue bath tub. This was a GREAT tub for us if you have a late sitter.

Tiny tub from the hospital. We bathed him NICU style for a while. I don't think this was his first bath at home because I didn't bathe him... I made my mom do it. I didn't have a CLUE what I was doing!! This is one of his firsts though...In case you don't remember the bubble head, you see his shunt drained the fluid on the outside of his head...that was before we got the permanent shunt.

Here he is with his old arm brace. The main goal was to keep his thumb out and maybe his hand open.

Check out the new one! Its a supinator splint. It keeps his thumb out, but also wraps around his arm to try and get it to turn in. He keeps his hand palm down all the time and we're trying to get it to at least neutral position to be more functional. You can see the difference in his arm position in these 2 pics. The first one, his palm is facing out behind his body. The second one, his palm is facing in towards his side...a more neutral position. So here he is sporting his new brace. So far he hasn't eaten it!

He has also outgrown some other things I had to put up. No more baby toys. I put a bunch of the babiest ones up in a box. He's either tired of them or too "mature" to just chew on them (though he does do that too). Christmas is coming at a good time. I also packed away all of his thumbies. He has absolutely no interest in them and hasn't had one in his mouth in I don't know how long. I couldn't throw them away for some reason, so I just put them in a baggie and put them up. I also cleared out the whole cabinet in my kitchen that was meds, NG tubes, NG tube equipment, all my syringes, tape, and other things I used to use for that stuff! YIPEEEEE!! I kept most of it because I just can't throw away perfectly good things (not because I plan on EVER having to use that again). The little man is growing up!

Buddies, Trouble, and Over stimulation

Buddies: These 2 have been really enjoying each other lately

We don't usually let Ollie on the blanket, but this was a cute little moment so I let it slide.

Trouble: Now that Kanyon is "mobile" he has a few things that he goes for EVERY time he's on the floor. Toy basket! He chews on the handle then usually goes for the basket. The problem is the basket comes apart in his mouth which causes gagging which results in a mess of his last bottle on the floor. Not cool.

The cable wire. It is not plugged into anything so it is just out there. He is only interested in the black cord part which is better than the end of it, but it is a race to it when he's on the floor. He was very sad when he took off for that wall and found that the cord was gone. I wrapped it up into the lovely hole in the wall that it comes out of that I never put the cover back on when we painted the living room (almost 4 years ago). Whats so bad about TOYS???!! He rather have baskets and wires.

By the way, by mobile I mean army- inch worm -squirm -with one arm thing. I think he could army crawl if he would use his left arm, but he's not interested in that.

Over stimulation: We broke the house arrest a couple of weeks ago for our friend Corey. He is the girls bball coach of a college here in town and we've really wanted to see his team. It was early house arrest time for us, so we broke free for an hour or 2. We didn't realize til we got there, but I think this was klp's first bball game. Obviously under normal circumstances, he would've been a gym rat from day 1, but oh well. It was a little much for kanyon to say the least. He did this the whole WHOLE WHOLE time!

He wasn't sleepy (though it looks like his eyes are closed here). That was probably the most noise he's ever been around. You don't realize how much noise there is! Cheering, ball bouncing, whistles, yelling, stomping on the bleachers, not to mention the buzzer. Every now and then I'd take him out and he would perk back up instantly. He never cried, but he pretty much shut down. No big deal since we won't get out for any more games anyways, but we'll make sure he's ready for next season!

I realize I'm the crazy blog girl lately, but I gotta get these in before T-giving! I have one more for tomorrow. It will include a couple of trips down memory lane.

Thanks for NOTHIN' House Arrest!!!

Well, I do this marathon post about staying in the house to keep klp healthy and this one is about sickness! UGHH!! He's got a cold and felt pretty crummy a few days ago, then seemed better, then yesterday started the cough phase of the cold. No fever, nothing major, just snot. He actually acts fine, sleeping is just tricky. He spent most of the night laying on me so he could stay elevated. We did the whole Vics on his feet last night and I think it kinda worked. He coughed way less that he did during the day. Wonder if I could do it during the day too, or if it would stop working all togehter.

These came in the mail from the RSV vaccine people...kinda funny.
Here they are close up so you can read them:

So, I said there was a lot of snot. Beside the chair where I feed him, I have a box of Kleenex and a bag to put them in after they're used. Check the back out...its almost full! Kanyon is good at "productive" sneezes! I'm just glad its coming out!

This is how he slept yesterday afternoon. He kept waking up in his bed, so I held him in the chair for a while, then propped him up so he was elevated. It worked great except that I was scared to leave the room (in case he woke up and tried to get out of the chair) and I had to be quiet. AND Ollie kept trying to sniff and lick him and I had to yell quietly at Ollie to STOP!

Oh well! Colds happen, I just hope we can turn the corner on this one before we leave for T-giving.....and that we don't come back with a new one!!!!!!!

By the way, I'm a little stuffy myself thanks to Kanyon's new trick of giving kisses. I just can't resist even the slimiest ones, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I got the cold too!

Phillips Phamily House Arrest: Sophomore Year

The great thing about being a sophomore in the "school" of staying home all day everyday and never taking your little one anywhere- is that there is NO junior or senior year!!! This is IT!! That thought occurred to me about 2 days ago. I won't have to do this next year. It will be weird, but wonderful. I just thought I'd give everyone a little info on this year's plan.

I did a post last year about house arrest so I won't re-say all of that stuff. Basically, micro preemies come with lots of different things than the "normal" kid, so we have to do things differently. I know that is hard for most people to understand, but thats OK. Thats why I try to explain this sort of stuff. This year we are staying in not so much because we are afraid Kanyon will get super super super sick (like we were afraid of last year), but because he will STAY sick all season. He has Chronic Lung Disease which makes him susceptible to anything and everything that is out there. Kanyon is likely to catch things that other kids might not even catch, or they might manifest themselves more severely in his body. September prepared us for this because klp was sick 4 different times and each time it got worse and lasted longer. That gave me motivation to stick with this house arrest thing because sick baby all the time is NO FUN! We have been really blessed with a healthy boy that has proven to fight sickness pretty well, so we are very thankful. We just don't want to push it too soon.

Last year's house arrest was a success and we (meaning GOD and maybe my breast milk) kept the boy free from ANY sickness until about 2 days before his 1st birthday and that was just a mild runny nose and a low fever. We are hoping for another successful HEALTHY winter.

The biggest change is that we will be in Dallas 2 days a week for our therapy. That is a lot of exposure to germs, but we don't have a choice. We stay with Kasey in a kid free place and don't go anywhere!! Its a bummer to be so close to great shopping and eating and not be able to enjoy it, but that is OK!!

Thanks to our "church ladies" that keep Kanyon in his own classroom with his very own toys and blankets, etc. We are planning on going to church. We hope to be able to keep this up through the winter, but if things get to "sicky" we may go back to one of us staying home with him. These ladies are so great to do this for us!

Other than that, we are at our house. No eating out, no shopping, no nothing. We are back to having to steer clear of our friends and their children for fear of the germs little ones are ALWAYS carrying. We really do have the BEST friends here who are so understanding and help find ways to get me out of the house every now and then. AND they know I love their kids even though I don't come within a 10 ft. radius of them!!! Haha!!

The biggest thing is HAND WASHING!! My hands have already started to crack...no bleeding yet, but I'm sure that will come. Kory walks in the door from work and goes straight to the sink. We wash them all day long to keep from spreading anything. AND we wash them for at least 30 seconds...60 if we've just come in from somewhere. We are careful about holding other kids and then picking up Kanyon in the same clothes (I know it sounds extreme!). Our Preemie Doctor told us that this time of year, all kids are carrying something even if they don't know it yet, so its best to just stay away for now. No kids come over here and we don't take Kanyon to other kids' houses. He's pretty much friend-less this time of year. We keep our distance from anyone that is even almost sick. Lots of people say its allergies, but there is really no way of knowing that (even Dr's tell us that) and what might just be a clear snot runny nose to one kid, may be something different to us, ya know. We just aren't taking chances. We want to give his body one more season of this to grow and get strong and then we'll RELEASE HIM!! haha!

We obviously will not skip the holidays, but will just have to be very careful..annoyingly careful. We have wonderful families that are so patient with us as we try to keep K healthy.

We do have some safe places that keep us sane. We will go to healthy homes with no kids (or just tiny ones that sleep and can't move on their own!). If you see us with people don't think we're avoiding you because we don't like you, we're probably with these people because they don't have kids and you do!!! Or they don't have a runny nose and you have been sneezing and I noticed even though you didn't know it. :)

This year is already proving to be a little more challenging because klp is now mobile and active. He puts everything in his mouth and he touches EVERYTHING. Last year we didn't have to worry about him touching things. He wasn't really even chewing on his hands yet. All of that has changed so we are having to do things like wash HIS hands! Its crazy!

This will last through March, so it will be a long haul, but we're really OK with it. In fact, there is something to say for staying home and not running ourselves all over the place. His birthday comes at a great time (March 26) for marking the end of the cold season!

The question that keeps popping into my mind is "How will I ever go back to seeing the world like I did before I was paranoid about germs??!!" That is a post in itself, its amazing the things to realize are nasty and germy!


Here is my little house arrest buddy last year. Bald and cross-eyed and very very sweet.

Here we are this year! unpredicatble hair, straight eyes, and still very very sweet.

As of November we are in this thing full swing......Bring on the dry, cracked, bloody hands!!! Happy Weekend! I'm off to refill all of my GermX bottles!!

The life of a gypsy

I have been a gypsy lately. I don't really know what a gypsy is except that they travel around a lot. I think. I have been a TRAVELING machine! I admit to being a busy body, especially when it comes to going places to see people I love and have lots of fun! BUT this last month and a half has been TOO much even for this busy body!!!!! Don't get me wrong, it has been SOOOO fun, but it has been SOO much. I haven't been home for more than 3 days in a row for almost 2 months!! Events on the weekends, and Dallas therapy during the week. Crazy. Totally crazy. Totally fun though. I'll review quickly the fun I've had.


Yamboree...but you saw that in a majorly long post.

ACU Homecoming. It was SOOO fun to be back there and be with my college friends and re-live the old days! It was our 5th year reunion (I feel like you can't really call it a reunion, but oh well) so I had been planning to go for a long time. Kory quickly stated that he had zero desire to join me and my hyperactive self while I ran around with friends pretending like we were 20. SOOO he had his first weekend alone at home with Kanyon. More on that later.

Here I am with a few of my fav girls at EOX breakfast....
The next weekend was Halloween/Avery and Rosie's bday party...once again, you saw that one too. You're probably still trying to read it all!

Next weekend was a little girls hiking trip. This crew went last year (minus me) and we had to wait this year until the babies were born and ready for a weekend in the great outdoors! We rented a cabin at Beaver's Bend and LOVED it. We left non nursing babies at home and enjoyed a great weekend together!

S'mores by the fire

This is the crew: Me, Sis in laws Rachel (with Nolan) and Mo (with Landry), Doodle (with Caden) and her sister Janelle, and Katie (with Norah)

Can you tell which 2 of us didn't have babies to please????

We went on about a 3-4 hour hike. It was the perfect hike for us, not really that hard so we could just chill and enjoy it, but it had a few steep parts that made us work. We packed a lunch and enjoyed it on the trail. Don't you love all the mommies carrying the babies along. Janelle and I were there with a helping hand . It was SOO fun!

Then last weekend was BETH AND JAROD's wedding!!! It was like another ACU reunion for us and it was SOOO fun! She was stunning! It was a BLAST!!!

Ok, sooooooooo how did I pull all of this off??????? My AMAZINGLY hard working, patient, awesome, selfless husband!! He wanted me to get to do all of these things and so he spent lots of time with Kanyon!!! My mom was a huge help to when Kory's work and departure times didn't agree!!! So while I was running all over the place, here are a few things klp and KLP did together.

I love this picture, they are making the same face!!

The very first weekend, I came home and this was their new thing. KLP holds klp up to the light so he can play with the string pull thing. Kanyon LOVES LOVES it!!! Now anytime you walk under the fan, he reaches up to touch it. Its a daddy game though, I'm not that tall!

I left my camera with Kory when I was gone to the Oklahoma trip so he documented their activities:

This was a CLEAN batch of clothes........i love kan's tongue in this....

Kory says he did all of this himself. SOOO FUN!! I feel like I abandoned my fam way too much. All of these things were so fun it was just crazy that they were all in a row. This should MORE than get me through my winter trapped in my house. I've never been gone that much and I don't want to do it again for a long time. I am SOOO thankful for Kory and how willing he was to "work" on his weekends so that I could play!

We had to come to Dallas a day early for a GI appointment. It went great and the Doc was happy with his weight and took him off of 2 of his meds and added one (to help the poopy problems). We had our regular therapy today and will again tomorrow and then we are headed HOME!

Kanyon was GRAND today in therapy...both OT and Feeding, but especially feeding. We want lots more days like today!!!

And just for the record, we're doing NO therapy (well ....only one on Monday) next week so we can catch our breath before our Turkey festivities.

3 Cheers for Kory, the DAD OF THE YEAR!!!!

HIP HIP HOORAY

HIP HIP HOORAY

HIP HIP HOORAY!