BYE BYE FOR GOOD!!!!

So it is TOTALLY gone. Tyler is not allergic to eggs anymore. The Naet (www.naet.com) allergy elimination thing is AWESOME!! Tyler got treated for 3 allergies at the 1^st treatment – because they are all in the same family: Eggs, Down feathers, and Mayonaise. Eggs really ARE in everything too (cookies, breads, crackers, cakes, pastries, noodles, shampoo)

With those items, they tested Tyler for the different antibodies that he had with these substances. One antibody determines an immediate reaction to the allergen, one antibody determines a delayed (1 to 2 hour) reaction, one antibody determines an immediate reaction if too much of that item is ingested, one antibody determines if there are histamine reactions involved, one determines if the allergen makes the body produce too many white blood cells and so on. Depending which antibodies the body creates with the allergen, the body is treated WITH those antibodies. It is so interesting.

So we wondered – why the heck does Tyler have 12 food allergies and 8 or so different environmental/chemical allergies? Well, part of that we found in genetics, but had NO idea.

Brian got tested. He is allergic to many of the same things as Tyler with a few differences:

Yeast,

Vitamin C mix (ascorbic acid, citric acid, etc)

Vinegar

Wheat

Gluten

Sugars

Artifical sugars

Food coloring

Food preservatives

Stomach Acid (his body is rejecting his stomach acid leading to digestion issues)

Caffeine (not the same as Tyler)

Chocolate(not the same as Tyler

Milk and Dairy (not the same as Tyler)

(...and Tyler has a few others Brian doesn’t have)

For Brian these things weren’t totally obvious. He would notice digestion issues after eating many things. But because most of what he was eating was something he has an allergic response too, it just became a way of life. The abnormal was normal for him. He just dealt with feeling not the greatest, feeling fatigued, upset stomach, other digestive (ahem) items.

So we are all happy to have options to get the boys taken care of. We are also happy our insurance pays for this (well, 10 visits per year)

AND It IS a commitment –avoiding that item for 25 hours, massaging the acupressure points (there are 8 in this case) for about 1 hour every night following the treatment. This may inconvenience many people not to do it, or to have to avoid that substance for the avoidance period. But for us it is a small sacrifice to pay for the boys to feel normal. Tyler for his asthma and allergies (no more DAILY nebulizer treatments and adult meds(!), and Brian for his many digestive issues. A big thanks to my cousins for telling me about this!! Thanks Angelle and Ruston!

BRIAN - YOU DID IT!!!

So Brian graduates in 1 week from Governor’s State University with his Masters Degree in Education Administration (with a 3.97 I might add). I am SO proud of him. He is amazingly adept at keeping his life in balance and not stressed. He has a lot on his plate. He did his Master’s in 2 years while coaching, teaching full time, working a 2^nd job, AND now being Elder’s Quorum President (and of course the best dad and husband of all time!)

So what’s next? Brian starts a SECOND Master’s program in a couple of weeks – this time in Curriculum. This will max him out on the pay scale. THEN his plan is to do administration (like Principal, Asst Principal or Dean) in a couple of years. He is qualified now, but wants to wait until this 2^nd masters. He will be amazing at whichever route he decides to do. The students all LOVE him and the other teachers and administration all respect him so much - he is so level-headed and sincere.

I am SO proud of you Brian!!!!!!

INUNDATED AND INFATUATED WITH TWILIGHT!!

SO I was given the book "Twilight" for my birthday by my sister in law Kami. Apparently I am the very LAST person to jump on the bandwagon of fans. I looked at the book and said questioningly, "It's a VAMPIRE book????"

It sort of sounded like the last thing on earth, well not totally since I did read Dracula as a kid - that I would pick out for myself to read.

But hello- I have read the first 3 books in like 10 days. Perfect timing since I can now read the 4th one. Apparently Stephanie Meyer came to Chicago on Tuesday to the appearance/concert/question and answer/book signing and Kami and another girl in my ward went and totally loved it. Kami even made these cute Mullen baseball shirts - LOVED THEM.

But essentially yes, I am spending every second of free time, and even not so FREE time reading the series. Now I must get my hands on that fourth one...

And the results are............(NAET ) ALLERGY ELIMINATION testing for Tyler

So watching Tyler get tested yesterday with the NAET allergy testing was FASCINATING!! After removing all items of distraction - no blanket for Tyler, no metal, and no cell phones, Tyler and Brian went towards the back and sat on the special chair. They both laid down.

Brian had to have body contact with Tyler during the testing. So he held onto Tyler's foot. Then he put an ankle band around tyler - like a thick sock material. He has these charged vials of many different allergens. WE got through 76 on the first day - which was REALLY good. He tested Tyler for things we were never have thought of - like cilantro, cinnamon, basil, cashews, pine nuts, etc.

When an allergen was placed against Tyler's skin (with Brian maintaining body contact) Brian had no strength when the doctor pulled his arm from being above his head to all the way down by his side. It was startling. Brian said it was the strangest feeling that he would have no resistance with certain allergens against Tyler's body. To make sure, he would take out the allergen and retest Brian (still holding on to Tyler) and he would have all the strength in the world against the doctor bringing his arm down. He would REput the allergen against Tyler's skin (with Brian maintaining contact with Tyler) and AGAIN, no strength in Brian's arm to resist any longer. It was FASCINATING!!

So here is what kills me - Several months ago went to a typical allergist specialist. Aside from testing the environmental things, he tested Tyler on only 2 foods - milk and peanuts - because he said they were the most common. That allergist specialist found that Tyler had no allergies to these. SO DID THIS DOCTOR - he found also that Tyler had no allergies to any of the dairy or peanuts...........

BUT HE FOUND 11 OTHER FOODS TYLER WAS ALLERGIC TO!!!!!!!!!!

(said sarcastically) Good thing we went to that "allergist specialist." (who said our only hope was medicating the poor kid for most of his peak growing and formative years).

In terms of what he IS allergic to, here is what we found:

*Eggs
*Wheat
*Gluten
*Vinegar
*Vitamin C
*Sugars (even sugars found in fruit)
*Food preservatives
*Food coloring
*Corn
*Yeast
*Artificial Sweetners
*Shellfish

AND WE ARE NOT EVEN DONE TESTING FOODS YET!!! AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN GOTTEN TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND CHEMICAL allergy testing!!!!

Everyone has asked us - what can he EAT?? Chicken, fish, meat, vegetables, nuts, some dairy (still limited), rice, quinoa, spelt, soy, herbs and spices.

I noticed the circles started going away from under his eyes, until he took the sacrament bread today. Then they came back very fast. It took about 6 hours for the circles to go away from under his eyes after that. I wondered to myself - if THAT is all it took for his body to have a reaction - and basically his whole diet WAS all of his allergies - no WONDER he had several onsets of his asthma!! No wonder I saw his nose running more than it should. No wonder I saw him get tired often. No wonder I would see whininess when he wasn't tired or hungry and the situation shouldn't have merited it. The puzzle pieces are starting to fall into place.

So today, we alerted the nursery that Tyler is allergic to every snack in there. We bring our own for. For our babysitting co-op, we again bring his own snacks and let everyone know. We called all of our family members and let them know. WE have covered our bases.

We will keep posting on our experience with this. I am looking forward to the results. He can get treated for 1 allergen per week - and after the avoidance period of 24 to 48 hours the allergy is eliminated (and it IS covered by insurance - which is awesome). We are fastening our seatbelts for this interesting ride!

ELIMINATING TYLERS ASTHMA & ALLERGIES

So I have not quite ever felt right about medicating Tyler as much as we do for allergies and asthma. Every day we are pumping him full of medications – steroids with a nebulizer, albuterol when he has symptoms, singulair everyday, occasionally a strong steroid and zyrtec. Our pediatrician even told us that these WILL stunt his growth, but so will not breathing well - a seemingly double edged sword....

YIKES!!!!!

So my cousins were telling me about an actual treatment to ELIMATE allergies and I was very curious. Its call NAET – namburdripads allergy elimination technique.

Apparantly what they do is find out EVERYTHING a person is allergic to, not with scratch tests or other inconclusive methods, but by testing the body on anywhere from 40 to 180 different substances and finding out what substance is adversely affecting what organ of the body. Once they find that out, then they have each subsequent visit be about eliminating just ONE of the allergies. So if Tyler is allergic to cats, then they will do a treatment for cats on one visit, and then there is an avoidance period of 25 to 48 hours and the body will not have the allergy to that substance anymore.

The Dr. my cousins went to had severe milk and peanut allegies so severe she went to the hospital several times by even tiny amounts. She found out about this and was treated and now she can have both milk products And peanuts without any adverse reactions. It totally changed the way she lived – no longer in fear of eating everything. So she decided to do this herself and charged minimal amounts because its she feels it is so important.

So..We went to a doctor certified in all the advanced levels of this technique yesterday and he did a 2 hour rundown on Tyler to see what he eats, and all sorts of questions about poo and fun things. He looked at Tyler’s eyes and saw dark circles and said – These dark circles tell me right now that he has food allergies. He had been tested by an allergist, but only on a handful of things – and I have been wondering about that…I have a hunch there are more things than we realize. The Doctor also looked at his tongue, his eyes, felt his hands for temperature, looked for easy bruising, and looked at his skin.

He asked about what he eats. Tyler is a crazy cereal and sweets fanatic. He eats other things too, but he loooooovvvvvees his cereal and cookies, cheese, butter, and bread. No pop, no juice, no candy, much, and he does eat fruit and most things I make, BUT….

The doctor told me point blank that he can see that Tyler has a lot of yeast in his intestines and stomach. The yeast feeds off of sugar and if you have all this sugar in your diet it can cause your immune system to be compromised, especially in leau of the other things going on. So Tyler has to be off ALL Sugar, White flour, Dairy – milk, cheese, butter, condiments during the treatment period. Its going to be difficult, especially during family outings or other things. But the treatments won’t be effective until we get his immune system on track. We also have to do a poo sample to find out what strains of yeast he has in his gut.

So this Saturday we go to do testing on the actual things – he is going to do tests on roughly 80 different things. The dr said we would be lucky to get through 15 per visit. The kids that young get tested through the PARENTS – its pretty cool.

Also, this Doctor has had TONS of success treating AUTISTIC kids, which have lots of candida needs. He also has had great success using NAET with kids with ADD and ADHD.

Its nice to know there is something out there to help these kids without pumping them full of meds every day…and having them need higher and higher doses as the body becomes used to the meds.

The website is www.naet.com to find out who you can go to that does this and to find out about it. I will let you know how it goes!!

The STRANGEST anniversary of them all...

At least for us. It started out innocently enough. We did our usual - go blueberry picking in the morning at Michigan City. We picked a decent 14 lbs of a very sweet variety.

Then things got interesting - we were pulled over by a cop telling Brian he was going 51 in a 35 mph zone. Well apparently it WAS 45 MPH and Brian missed the sign change. We waited in silence as the cop wrote out the ticket in his car. It was only when the cop came BACK to the car with ticket in hand, did Brian try the sob story “ I’m just a high school teacher, I have 3 kids at home. If anything like this goes on my record, I can’t drive the activity bus for the kids I coach.” All of it, is of course, true. So we do HAVE to get it taken off the record. He has to go to court.

So, going to the outlet stores next was a little tainted. Brian and I half heartedly looked around and got some Harry and David’s popcorn as a “thanks for babysitting” for Brian’s mom.

As we ate at Red Lobster, the mood lightened. But heading towards home on the 1 hour drive, Brian got bawled out by a truck driver in this weird Yield area of the freeway under construction. The truck driver literally went off, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DON’T YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO GO RIGHT HERE! DON’T YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING?!?! And so on…

Yet we pressed on celebrating the day. We went to go to Batman, with Kyli in tow this time. The theatre we ALWAYS go to - kids or no kids – tells us that we CANNOT take any children below the age of 6 to a PG 13 movie.

I said incredulously, “SHE’S…..a …newborn?!?!?” (as if to say, why the HECK would that apply to her, she is JUST going to sleep through the whole thing.)

Brian was adamant that we go to another theatre. WE felt rejected and continued to see a common thread running through the day seeming to say “You have a problem with rules and guidelines and you will PAY.”

So we saw Batman, which I thought was complex and BRILLIANT. Especially Heath Ledger. He was fantastic. I am staking my bet right now that he wins an oscar – let it be known!

So after picking up the kids and getting to bed, the crowning part of my day was nothing less than............... FOOD POISONING. Apparently the pina colada sauce with our coconut shrimp had been in our hot car to long and as I was eating it in the car on the way home I thought – "maybe it HAS been in here too long. NAW !!!!!!"– I shrugged it off.

And then - up EVERYTHING came – lovely. Brian also had food poisoning.

HAPPY 8 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO US!

The REST...of the trip

Soooooo,

The wedding was awesome. My time at the computer has been very sparse, but here is a quick rundown.

Mark’s Wedding was beautiful. We will post some pics. That was my first time in the SLC sealing room. We had a great luncheon at the JS Memorial Building and the reception was in the backyard.

Brian was called on to give a little speech- he talked about how much Mark would text Allison when they first met over their cell phones. We wanted her to send a pic over, but he was embarrassed to ask because “there was no reason.”

They seem like a very well matched couple. Brian thought about texting them every day during the honeymoon…but luckily I talked him out of it!!!!

Brian and I spent our OWN 8 year anniversary doing what we love so much (said in a fecitious tone) DRIVING. We had woken up at Yellowstone and we rushed over with the kids to the 7:30 AM eruption of Old Faithful. As we ran to Old Faithful I yelled over my shoulder at him 12 feet away (carrying Kyli) “Hey Babe, did you remember it was our anniversary?”

“No! I just remembered right now!” He called back.

I could see the tour bus driver looking at him sympathetically like, “You shouldn’t have admitted that! You are IN for it!”

But because of where we were and the circumstances I simply said, “ME TOO!” And the tour bus driver watching us gave me a double take as if to convey, “Wow, the wife always remembers and usually starts out a conversation like THAT when they want to ensnare their spouse!”

I was sorry to disappoint him!

We spent lots of time at friends and family: We LOVED LOVED LOVED seeing Kelsey and Ryan Sorenson, Darcie Boyack, Karen and Trent Halterman, (meeting all their kids) The Barrowes Clan, the Wright Clan, the entire Wayne Clan, the Jolley Clan (Mark’s new inlaws) and my wonderful Granparents on both sides (see Alzheimer's Ward entry).

The whole Wayne Group consisted of Brian and his 5 other siblings, their spouses, the kids and Brian’s parents in a medium sized ranch style house. We had 25 people in the house, so even with the 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms it got to be QUITE crowded. It was both FUN and CHAOTIC.

Some of the siblings stayed up til 1:30 AM each night and chatted and played Guitar Hero. I was so LAME because I had gotten so little sleep the prior nights I just crashed. It was a sacrifice to stay up until 11 or 12 for me. Normally I would have been up their with them chatting – but I just couldn’t do it!

Corin, my sister in law, got all the boy cousins foam swords and they had some crazy sword fights in the small living room.

We all ate together, having gotten the food at Costco and splitting the cost. Most people stood against appliances or walls during mealtimes and ate, while the kids ate at the table.

The bathrooms were constantly occupied. I found I could only get in one without waiting DURING a mealtime.

I have to say, I did take some decorating notes at this place because it had the CUTEST decore!

It was TOTALLY fun even at its craziest. As a kid I would have loved it because all the cousins got to sleep more or less in one big family room with two big sleeper sofas, with kids wedged in between. What a PARTY!

We saw BYU and MAN has it changed since 2004! More buildings, some additions, and just lots of changes. We took a pic of our old Wyview Apt. and it was very déjà vu ish. The entire building we lived in is currently vacant.

On our trip home, which went MUCH faster, we stopped at Independence at the Visitor’s center, Liberty Jail, and Adam Ondi Ahmen (or however your spell it!)

Why is it on the tail end of the trip, all I can think about is everything I have to do waiting for me at home. I started thinking of all the bills I have to pay, all the things that need to be done, hoping my flowers and garden are still alive (Thanks Kami and Tami and Kevin) and I have to remind myself, “JUST ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

AN ALZHEIMER'S SACRAMENT MEETING

SACRAMENT MEETING IN AN ALHEIMERS WARD:

So, this has got to be one of the weirdest parts of our trip:

The meeting “begins” at 10:15. We sit listening to prelude music for 20 minutes as the wheelchairs are brought in one by one. They all reside at the Alzheimers home, and the meeting takes place in a center room in the middle of this Alzheimer’s home. There are about 20 wheelchairs in there and we are the only family. There are two spouses of those in the home. The bishopric gets out of its meeting in a small room in the corner and takes their seats.

After the opening hymn and sacrament hymn the Sacrament begins

There is Obviously no ward business to attend to.

THEN, it seemed like all heck started to break loose...

As the bread is being passed, a lady in a wheelchair 3 seats away is LOUDLY giving a full on DISCOURSE on PRIDE and the SINS OF THE WORLD. People occasionally try to shush her as she continues giving what seemed like a very well prepared talk. She went on and on, talking to her imagionary congregation.

After she closed her talk, I think she thought that she was also in charge of the special musical number in her own little world. She loudly began humming “Come Come Ye Saints” about the time they started passing the water around. The faculty had to actually wheel her away at that point, and it struck me as interesting that in this sacrament meeting, none of the kids present had to be taken out, just the adults!

Another lady was loudly reading the newspaper during the sacrament – rustling the ads about, and loudly turning the pages.

There was immediately a hymn after the Sacrament, and then a short 4 minute talk, and then they CLOSED THE MEETING!!!! We couldn’t believe it – it was all of 20 minutes long!

Then for the closing song, a man in back of us sweetly sang a SOLO during the INTRODUCTION. I suppressed my giggle – and I thought it was very sweet.

After the closing prayer, an Alzheimer’s pateient named Arlene that is in LOVE with my Grandpa (in front of my still mentally sharp Grandma) came over with a vengeance and said to my GRANDMA

“Tell him (Grandpa) he needs a LECTURE! If we are going to get married in the TEMPLE, He needs to go to church MORE OFTEN!!”

Brian said to her, “Well, he is already SPOKEN for.”

Arlene said defensively,” Yeah he’s spoken for - by ME!!!”

Grandma said patiently, “Arlene, we’ve talked about this, I’M the wife.”

Arlene said in a puzzled tone, “You’re the…..Wi-….”

Then she said with decided certainty,” No,no, I like... THIS ONE....(pointing to Grandpa) and YOU like ....(pointing AWAY from Grandpa)…….That….OTHER ONE!”

Grandma said patiently, ‘Ok, lets take you to your room now, Arlene.”

“First,”Arelene declares, “I have to give him a KISS!”

Arlene proceeds to give him a sloppy kiss while my Grandma issued an annoyed “UUUUUHHHHHHHHHHH” to herself.

Brian and I looked at each other like, “THIS IS MADNESS!!!!” no pun intended!

WE ARE IN....

Here we are in Utah! Mark, Brian's youngest brother, is getting married tommorow. So here we are - although a little crazy getting here.

We have driven pretty much 10 - 11 hours each day, starting Friday morning - complete with camping items.

Our first night camping was pretty much a NIGHTMARE for me. I like camping - I am a fan....BUT when the temperature (near Mt. Rushmore) gets down to 35 degrees at night in the middle of July, I have only so much love for the place.

NOT TO MENTION, camping with an 8 week old can be a little tricky. Kylianne was congested and all night I was thinking " Do I need to suction out her nose" or "Is she breathing?" " Do I use the aspirator and have her cry bloody murder and wake up all the campers around us?"

Needless to say, I got about 45 minutes of unsettled sleep. Brian, who is a FANTASTIC sleeper couldn't get any sleep either.

So at 4:30 AM we looked at each other in the pitch black tent and said, "LETS GET OUTTA HERE!!!" So we loaded everything up before anyone else in the campground was up and vanished from that place - Custer State Park - as soon as the tent was down. The kids had no idea what hit them or where they were - they just knew they woke up at the crack of dawn in the car.

Mount Rushmore was great - the entire 5 minutes that we were there.

Yellowstone was by far our favorite. We were GOING to camp there too, but after that horrible night we had, we quickly acted and made hotel reservations at Old Faithful Inn which I LOVED LOVED LOVED. Old Faithful was literally like 40 feet away - it was amazing. And there were like 50 other geysers along pathway that we could walk around outside of the hotel. I LOVED it.

Also - in our room - it was supposed to be the feel of the hotel as it was 100 years ago. So there was no phone, no clock, no TV and no bathroom in our room. There was a lonely sink and two queen beds. But after camping it was luxery beyond compare for me. The lobby was amazing and whimsical - like something you would see at Disney World - larger than life. I was sad to leave - I really think we could have been entertained there for days.

Brian and I BOTH wanted to see a bear, but sadly, we didn't. We did see buffalo, moose, bison, and a goat - VERY close by.

We were a little disconcerted when having a picnic there because as we were cooking eggs bacon and stir fried veggies on a kerosene stove and we read a sign nailed on the picnic bench which read, "EAT AT YOUR OWN RISK. BEARS ARE ATTRACTED TO THE SCENT OF FOOD AND MAY APPROACH YOU." So every 30 seconds as I was cooking I would glance nervously over my shoulder at the surrounding woods and turned the heat up as high as it would go to make everything go a little faster.

The only way we could drive 10 hours a day was the Medela pump I had that has a car adapter. I would pump a bottle and then contort my body so I could feed the bottle to Kylianne in the seat behind us. The only bad part - since I couldn't burp her - I would take her our at the rest areas and she would projectile vomit and drench everything and everyone in site. POOR GIRL!! But she was an ANGEL and never EVER cried in the car...AND she still slept through the night despite her being sick. What a dream baby! AND thank goodness for a laptop to play videos for Brooke and Tyler. And I didn't even MIND that "CARS" is 2 hours long, which I generally hate.

And now we are here in Salt Lake for Mark's wedding.........!

Do you dare to try it?

Every year around this time – late June/early July we go Mulberry Picking.

IT is one of the many pickings we do during the year.

We picked strawberries for .80/lb. We picked as long as we could STAND it for a whopping 40 lbs this year.

We pick mulberries for FREE ...if we can find a tree that hasn’t already been picked

We pick blueberries for $1.50/lb (it WAS .95/lb 2 yrs ago!) We try to pick 50 lbs each year!

We pick apples for $1.25/lb in September. We picked $100 worth of apples last year!

We pick raspberries in the fall as well – they are NO deal to pick. We pick 2 pints only.

To my dismay, right after we picked 4 lbs of hard to reach mulberries, the Homewood Village services came by and CHOPPED ALL BRANCHES within reach. We have been picking them on the outskirts of a VERY near by golf course. SO, we have been forced to find ourselves a new tree(s) to patronize!

Before the trees were BUTCHERED 3 days ago, we had enough to fill a gallon size zip lock freezer bag.

So with Mulberries I made Mulberry Ice Cream for Recipe club.

I found it too sweet so I changed the recipe and added ½ cup LESS sugar. WAY better and I probably could have lowered the sugar even more. And I make it in the Vitamix- so it takes like 2 minutes.

My recipe:

1 cup soy milk

¼ cup or less sugar

2 lbs Mulberries

½ tsp vanilla

1 cup ice cubes optional

blend it on HIGH for 30 seconds and WHALAA!!! (That is at Vitamix speed, NOT Kitchen Aid high speed, if you know what I mean!)

YUM!! And as you can tell, this ice cream is no WIMPY PASTEL color - it has MAJOR teeth staining, clothes staining, face staining qualities. But man is it worth it!

THE SLEEP DEPRIVED GET LUCKY

I have to say I feel REALLY lucky.

I am not a person that does well on low sleep. I mean, I REALLY do not do well. Anyone that sat next to me in a college class (even during 1 or 2 discussions…sadly and to the enragement of my companions…on my mission) can attest that I fall asleep WAY too easily WHEN I AM NOT SUPPOSED to. I am usually NOT blessed to fall asleep as quickly at night.

When Brooke was a newborn, Brian and I were BOTH sleep deprived. Everything was new – we switched off very evenly so we were both pooped at all times.

We were also delusional. Once I woke up at 2 AM and found Brian looking frantically between the wall and our bed where we stashed pillows at night. He was crazily tossing them and looking underneath them like a madman.

I said, “WHAT’S WRONG?”

“I just dropped Brooke down here!!” he said in a panicked voice. He kept frantically searching while he talked.

“You did WHAT?!!?” I asked now panicked myself.

Brian said shakily as he kept searching, “I was holding her and I dropped her!”

I rapidly joined him on the side of the bed and began frantically searching myself, the panic and alarm rising with my now rapid heartbeat.

What a site to see – two very tired 24-year-olds at one side of the bed, lifting up pillows in a FRENETIC fashion and trying to find a 7 lb little baby in a 1 foot gap between the bed and wall.

After about 5 minutes of feelings of SHEER TERROR and PANIC in the Wayne household, we hear a little TINY BABY NOISE coming from the cradle. We both turned around and see Brooke quietly sleeping in her cradle.

We looked at each other blankly.

Then, as the situation VERY SLOWLY registered in our brains, we turned the lights off breathing a sigh of relief and zapped into a deep sleep.

With Brooke, these delusional happenings were, embarassingly, normal. We can laugh about them now, but it got a little much! She started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks, and these episodes disappeared.

With Tyler, I was a very merciful wife, and NEVER woke Brian up. I had come to realize that waking up Brian was actually MUCH harder that just picking up the Tyler and feeding him. I would be trying for about 2 minutes – once in a while – to wake up Brian.

For those who don’t know, he is the world FASTEST and DEEPEST sleeper. Stories about him growing up are LEGENDARY. So I digressed and kept the sleep deprivation to myself.

Tyler started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks and my sanity returned.

With Kylianne, I don’t bother to wake up Brian either. Again, - the effort is PARMOUNT to even TRY to wake up Brian. Who can really exert that much effort at 3 AM successfully????? (although sometimes I make him sweat a little by telling him, he gets to do all the middle of the night feeding the next week, now that he is in Summer Vacation).

Well, cute Kylianne was my record breaker – started sleeping through the night at 4 ½ weeks!!!! PRAISES TO HEAVEN!!! She sleeps about 6/12 to 7 hours starting at 11 PM – and she does it 4 out of 5 nights now. And I must say, it SURE makes me a better mom to have a little more sleep!!!!

Now if I could just get Brooke not to confuse our bedroom with the bathroom at 2:00 AM when she gets up to use the bathroom....

HELP!!! NEED TOOTH FAIRY IDEAS???????

Brooke just lost her first tooth -yeah!
BUT HELP - what to do for the tooth fairy???

Brian and I growing up got like 35 to 50 cents per tooth...and we were happy with that....

But I am wondering should we implement at this time a cool tradition? One of the moms in our ward gives her kids a special silver dollar as part of a collection. Then they have a nice collection of these coins when they are done losing their teeth.

That might be pretty cool.... She can't really tell a penny from a quarter yet as far as receiving money.

PLEASE ADVISE: What other ideas are there? What did you get from the tooth fairy. What you did get - did you like it? Was it a special memory???????? What do you do for your kids?

As the month goes by....

tHE HORRIFIC INCIDENT

In the past 20 years, the men that RIDE THE RAPIDS for a living have not seen anything like it – and it happened to Brian’s Dad.

In a high adventure trip with some scouts the boys had been riding with the scouts for about an hour on the rapids labeled a 6 – VERY DIFFICULT.

There was not time to relax - it was all intense. At one point, the guides told them to lean back , but they leaned back too far and the boat turned over. Brian’s dad and a small 12 year old boy were the only ones of the 7 not to be able to catch the safety rope and a very treacherous part of the rapids.

They both went over a 5 foot waterfall – seen in the picture – and got caught in a whirlpool called, “The Washing Machine.” This got their bodies caught and SWISHED and RIPPED around causing BRUISING and BONE BREAKAGE.

Brian’s Dad got uncaught (he had been underwater for awhile and was STILL underwater) as he went over the 12 FOOT WATERFALL called "THE BIG SPLAT" (pictured as the big falls here, with the 5 foot falls being behind it).

The current carried him further down stream. He was still TOTALLY disoriented and was still TOTALLY underwater not able to take a breath.

He kept telling himself – this is REALLY HARD but don’t try to take a breath while your under the water.

The lead kayaker’s plunged down the 12 FOOT FALLS to rescue him and another guide on the side came in a brought him to safety.

He was FINALLY able to take that BREATH.

I get short of breath just thinking about it.

They tried to find the 12 year old boy Timothy, but with NO LUCK. They waited for him downstream where they picked up Brian’s dad. However, they did find him on the side – he had been able to find a rock and he crawled on top of it….and waited.

The current had totally swished off their lower clothing – pants, underwear – everything. Going O NATURAL is not a fun way to be swirled about in dangerous rapids!

Timothy had to be AIR-LIFTED out -he had a BROKEN FEMUR along with numerous bumps and bruises.

Brian’s dad got 3 BROKEN RIBS, an incredibly swollen KNEE some goose egg BUMPS on the top of his head, and lots of bruises everywear.

On top of all that, he had to walk 3 miles ALONE along a grown-over-with-deadfall-and-lots-water-trenches-trail to get to where he needed to be reached by the ambulance. The other were with Tim and the other scouts. He HOBBLED along the trail as his RIBS SPASMED. It took him 1 ½ hours to scale the 1 ½ miles. It seemed like forever. Once in the ambulance – they basically 4 wheeled the trail rocking him painfully.

They both got to the hospital eventually. Brian’s Dad stayed overnight with lots of tests and a blessing, and Timothy stayed 2 Days. His parents drove overnight to the location in West Virginia.

Kevin, my brother in law is the scout master. He was great at maintaining control over the situation and keeping everything together as he watched the whole thing transpire in horror. He notified everyone, gave blessings, kept the other boys together, stayed up ALL NIGHT with Timothy and then drove 12 hours with no sleep to his brother’s house in Ohio where the boys all stayed the night.

It was quite an ordeal and we are SO glad it didn’t turn out any worse than it had to. A situation like that, DROWNING would have been an easy alternative to what happened. I think its safe to say that I don’t think Brian’s Dad will be riding the rapids any time soon!

THE FUN PART

Now comes the fun part about having a baby – losing the weight...and the mummy tummy (diastisis)!

I gave myself 1 week ½ to eat what I want after the baby was born, and then I made up my mind to be SMART about what I eat.

I continue to do a Soy Shake (Herbalife in my case) for breakfast and as a snack later on in the day.

I do a “SMART” lunch and dinner - lots of veggies, a good protein source.

I omit all sugars – pretty much. That means:

The WICKED five whites:

White flour

White sugar

White rice

White pasta

White bread

I will do small amounts of the “whole grain” version. But I have found that since my mission in CARB WORLD of CHILE I am insulin resistant – which many people by the way are. I survived 1 year ½ on almost pure carbs and definitely LOOKED like it while I was there. I have definitely had to watch what I eat since then, and have found my body does not allow much of the five whites before it starts creeping up on me.

My cheat - I have found I can still lose and eat a nice 70% cocoa small chocolate bar a day. Not bad - and I DO look forward to it!

So – the past 10 days or so – I have lost 6 inches and 3 ½ lbs. That my not sound like much – but I love that the inches are starting to go down.

My waist obviously is the part I need to lose the most – since that’s where the baby was. The Tupler technique helps me a lot with that too. After Tyler I went from a 32 inch waist to a 25 inch waist in 5 months– part of that was good nutrition and part was the Seated Tupler Exercises!

So I just have to maintain the mindset ( 10 sets of 100 Seated Tupler Exercises per day and eating SMART) until I can fit in all my clothes again!

HOW EMBARASSING!!

Tonite we were taking a walk as a family around the neighborhood. We passed a cute old small lanky man with long white shoulder length hair. He was clearly doing yard work and was standing by his house as we passed him.

Brooke says to us in a booming little voice, “I’VE NEVER SEEN A MAN LIKE THAT BEFORE!!!!”

Brian and I started laughing to ourselves as we continued to walk sheepishly down the sidewalk.

Then she repeated herself since we didn’t DARE reply, andstill DEFINITELY within earshot, “ I’VE NEVER SEEN A MAN LIKE THAT BEFORE!”

**********************************************

Brooke’s Grandpa Barrowes, who happens to be an endodontist, drove 4 hours to visit us here in Chicago. As she sat on his lap they were laughing about something. Then she suddenly looks at Grandpa more closely and says in a scolding yet humored voice,

“GRANDPA, teeth are not supposed to be YELLOW!! Teeth are supposed to be WHITE!!”

Embarrassed Grandpa was at a loss for words, as we all chuckled and the childlike frankness of our darling daughter!

SURPRISING MOMENTS!

Surprising moments:

On Sunday Brian and I explained to Brooke that we need to teach her how to tie her shoe before she goes to Kindergarten. We had told her about the screening coming up next week and it would be important for her to know how before she goes. As I saw her eyes get really big and thoughtful I knew this new information was percolating in her brain.

The next morning as I was nursing Kylianne, Brooke announced she was going to tie her shoe.

I thought to myself – I don’t know HOW I am going to teach her while I am nursing. She generally wears Velcro and has no experience with us even discussing shoe tying.

As I was lost in my thoughts, Brooke announced, “MOMMY LOOK, I TIED MY SHOE!”

I looked up and sure enough, the shoe was on her foot and it was tied. I was flabbergasted.

“Where did you learn to tie your shoe?!?!?” I asked incredulously.

“Princess Bella (or some name I wasn’t familiar with.) I just learned it on the show!!! I just put one bunny ear around the other bunny ear and went AROUND! Want me to do the other foot?!” She asked happily.

“Sure!” I said – still in disbelief. Maybe it was a fluke – I thought.

She did her other foot as well. And she double knotted it! Now, I have to admit I don’t know if something like this is normal, but I must say I am pretty impressed that Brooke is a SELF TAUGHT ( or Princess-whatever-from-some-show-TAUGHT) shoe tie-er!!!

MUCH BETTER

Here are some recent pics of Kylianne.

The kids LOVE LOVE LOVE her.

Brooke says about 50 times a day, “You’re such a cutie little BAAAAAAABY! HIIIIIIIIIII!” When she says “baby” the upward inflection of her voice goes up about 2 ½ octaves – about 2 C’s above middle C – very literally!

She also says, “Cutchie Cutchie COOO!” as she does a rather bizarre imitation of someone tickling the underchin of a baby to her sister.

Tyler says about 20 times a day, “I wanna see KYWEEE! AHHHH!”

So far she only wakes up usually about once a night – but when she wakes up it usually takes me about 45 min at least to make sure she gets a full feeding – it definitely takes discipline!

I have found with this baby, I am enjoying the newborn stage the most I ever have.

I think it helps that I have two kids willing to just jump at the chance to give me a diaper and wipes, or to find a burping cloth or a hat.

Or if I need help keeping Kyli awake, Brooke and Tyler are THRILLED!

Actualy having my mom around for a few days helped immensely.

Also it has helped that its not my FIRST baby with all that anxiety, AND it helps that we are not in the middle of moving – like last time,

AND it helps that I have recovered much quicker this time. I am not 100% yet, but I feel much better when I compare recovery times.

So I feel like I am savoring the cute newborn moments THAT much more. Moments I think I took for granted before waiting for a SMILE or recognition that the baby knows who I am. This time I am just LOVING the sweet innocence that only little newborns have!

Going O - NATURAL: Read at your OWN risk

Saturday night I had TOTAL déjà vu. In 2003 When I was pregnant with Brooke when I was 40 weeks +2 days my water broke at 1 a.m. - RIGHT after I had gotten into bed.

Fast forward to 2008: On Saturday night at 40 weeks + 2 days I had JUST gotten in bed right before midnight. I had a few contractions during the movie "TRANSFORMERS" we rented that were difficult and I was exhausted. I said my prayers and cleared my mind and I felt a big “WHOOSH” of a kick after lots of little kicks. Then I felt a weird movement and then “GUSH” – I let out a little scream and I jumped off the bed with Olympic Speed, vaulted over the bed pillows, and sprinted to the bathroom leaving a Hansel and Gretal type of trail.

COMMOTION ENSUED– My mom woke up Brian who had fallen asleep during the movie (It took her about a full minute to bring him around). We called the midwives to let them know what happened, got ready in lightening speed and were all set to go to the hospital when…..we were told to get some rest until the contractions were at least 7 minutes apart. I thought HOW in the world will I get sleep with fluid still gushing? The answer? “Put a towel on the bed.”

So all night long I had HARD contractions…but every 15 minutes apart still. How depressing! They hurt to where I had to vocalize during them, then it would take me about 4 minutes to recover, and I would have 4 full minutes off drifting to sleep before ANOTHER contractions would JOLT me to be awake…and write down the time, etc. This went on until 6 am. GREAT! Brian slept like a baby.

The plan given to me by the midwives to avoid Pitocin was a bright cheery glass of fruit smoothy with Castor oil to get labor going before arriving at the hospital. I chugged that baby down – DISGUSTING!!

On the way to the hospital, I had ONLY 2 contractions in 50 minutes. They seemed to by dying away....NOT GOOD!

At 7:30 AM I was 0n the monitor at the hospital I had only 1 GOOD contraction and 1 little one in 25 minutes. NOT IMPRESSIVE! The verdict? WALK! DÉJÀ VU AGAIN - but this time just from last Saturday.

The only difference was the contractions that I had during the walk (still 7 to 10 min apart) hurt so much I would have to lean against the wall and vocalize during the contraction.

We stopped walking at about 9:30 A.M. The contractions were then 5 to 7 min apart…but not really active labor … The midwife didn't want to come in with LACKLUSTER action like this!

Monitor time – NOTHING IMPRESSIVE! I had 2-3 good contractions in 30 minutes. WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY BODY??? I thought to myself. Does my body NOT understand what it needs to do? Did two prior births with PITOCIN mess up my body’s know how to know what to do?

I was then checked – and I was a JUST a 4. YIPEE – in the past 48 hours I progressed ONLY a full .5 of a cm. FABULOUS! This had ALL THE SIGNS OFF BEING A VERY LONG ARDUOUS LABOR...with possible Prolonged rupture of membranes (more than 18 hours of broken waters). That would mean pitocin - again - no waterbirth, and all the stuff I was trying to avoid. HOW DEPRESSING!

Brian was good and kept on massaging the acupressure pulse points – on my little pinkie toe especially. That seemed to help BIGTIME. IT was the only time I would actually get a good contraction! He was being a great labor coach so far! I was impressed!

The midwife showed up just in time for a big juicy contraction – I was VERY vocal and it was much harder. I heard myself say, “I HATE THOSE!” and she said, “Well, we LIKE those! ....We need to see some more of those in a consistent pattern to get you into the Alternative Birthing Center (ABC room). I pictured walking around for another hour, or staying on that darn monitor in TRIAGE for another hours......UGH!!!

GREAT! It didn’t look like that would happen to me ANYTIME SOON!! Then I had another big hard juicy contraction. I could hear Brian and the midwife AMIABLY chatting and I heard myself say, “DON’T TALK! DON’T TALK!” Then the blood nurse came in to draw the blood…during this same seemingly NEVER ENDING contraction. “C’MON! GET DONE ALREADY!.” Well, the blood nurse thought I was talking to her so she said flusteredly, “OK, and whipped out the rubber band and vials.” “NO,” I said through clenched teeth,” I’m TALKING TO THE CONTRACTION.” I heard laughter, and then the contraction was done and we proceeded.

After one more like this – Hillary my midwife- said she would check me. She looked very surprised and said, “OH, you’re a SEVEN!”

So I went from a 4 to 7 in only 20 minutes. She said, “Lets GO to the ABC room!”

I doubted my desire to walk, but when I got off the bed – It felt AWESOME to walk down the hall. I felt so FREE!

At 10:45 AM We got to the room and like some crazy magnet was PULLING me I went to a tiny section of wall and rested my head against the wall for the next 3 contractions.

I heard the preparations VAGUELY around me –the tub filling up with water, Brian rushing to get our stuff out of the car, tables being set up around me with instruments, the baby cart portion of the room being set up.

Hillary encouraged me then to get into the tub. I didn’t really want to – standing was the ONLY thing I really wanted to do –but I did. Brian brought me the bath pillow and managed to get me on tape between contractions. I calmly told him to turn it off because I didn’t want my “screaming” on the tape (which I never did scream, I just vocalized loudly). I thought a couple of time in the tub – why don’t I just GIVE UP and do an epidural right now? It sounds so much NICER! Then I told myself to toughen up and that it was almost over.

The water pillow I was resting on all of a sudden bounced off the ledge and suddenly became this pester y enemy and kept bumping into me in the water. During a contraction I heard myself say, “GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!!!!”

Then I felt pressure like Hillary said I would, but she had gone out of the room to get latex gloves. I heard myself calling for her to hurry up. When she came she told me I was a 9 – but I could push if I needed to. With that next HORRIBLE contraction I told myself, “TRANSVERSE IN” and I pushed for a solid MINUTE. I heard Brian telling me to BREATHE and I heard, “You’re almost there babe! “ and “Here’s the head, keep pushing!” and “Ok, the head is out keep pushing!!!” I heard myself crying a little and realized it was DONE! ONE GIGANTIC PUSH was all it took! (thank you strong TRANSVERSE MUSCLE!) I looked done and realized the baby had popped up in the water and Hillary guided her into my arms. I didn’t hear crying or anything so it didn’t really register that I was holding the baby. After about 2 1/2 minutes I unfurrowed my brow and looked down at her. I felt not totally present in the situation yet. I felt myself still wanting to cry.

I was only in the ABC room 34 minutes and she was born. So much for not really being in LABOR!

I went from a 4 to a 10 in about 1 hour! A little bizarre, but I'll take it!

Then after 5 minutes Brian cut the chord and they cleaned up the baby. They helped me out of the water and I realized “ Oh MY GOSH – my LEGS WORK!!” It had never happened post birth that I could actually use my legs. IT was awesome! They helped me to the bed while I watched the nurse clean up the baby for what seemed like the LONGEST time.

Kylianne Angel Wayne – is the name we chose for her. She latched on RIGHT away and nursed enthusicatically for about 25 minutes. Then they took her and weighed her – 7 lbs 0 oz, and 19 inches long.

Then the question I was DYING to know, “ DID I TEAR?” That was my WORST after Brooke and Tyler was that I had episiotomies with both AND I tore on top of that with both and it was EXTREMELEY painful for me for about 2 weeks. The VERDICT “Nope, just a slight abrasion. You don’t even need a stitch.” I was EXTREMELY happy with that. FASTER RECOVERY. That is one nice thing about the water births – MUCH lower incident of tearing.

Then, I felt the Castor oil kick in and I was able to RUN to the bathroom , which was unthinkable that I had that much control over my body. I will always wonder – did that horrible stuff that I could still taste on my lips help things speed along, or did it really kick in ONLY now? I will ALWAYS WONDER!

So while going O NATURAL with a water birth sucked BIGTIME DURING the labor and birth, afterwards I felt GREAT!! I just wanted an ice pack. Not even IB profen – No perkeset like with the other two, not catheter to take out, not waiting 2 hours to use my legs, no bloated limbs from IVs, no machines to be hooked up to, no sore back from the epidural, no episiotomy, no tearing, and I wore my own clothes before during and after the birth. So would I do it again. YES (with a great deal of mental prep to get me in the frame of mind, but YES!

BONUS: We were told we would have to leave the large nice ABC room with the large bed about 5 hours after delivery. Since it was a weekend and quite dead, no one came to use the OTHER ABC room (in which case they would need ours open) so we stayed the FULL 48 hours in this very nice posh LARGE room. AWESOME!

Kylianne Angel

Born May 17, 2008 Oak Park, IL West Suburban Hospital. She was 7 lbs. 19 in. born at 11.21 a.m. Everything went great! Bonnie will write more later. She was a trooper!