Halloween 2014

We had a great 2014 Halloween!  Chad and Tyke carved a pumpkin on Halloween day and then we went to lunch at the local Mexican joint.  After lunch we made a quick trip home to change the boys into their costumes, snap a few pictures and then started trick or treating.  We started out in Mona by visiting the grandparents houses.  Afterwards we stopped in Nephi at Uncle Brent's house so we could visit Great-Grandma Jean (she always spends Halloween at their house).  We had good intentions to make it a quick visit and head home so we could treat our trick or treaters too.  Instead though Tyke thought it was awesome to follow his cousins Brigston and Kayson around and when they went out the door to go trick or treating, Tyke did too!  And so Luke and I hung out with the girls at the house and Chad, Tyke and the boys went door to door getting candy.  Tyke had a blast and kept right up with everyone.  He got a good, big bag full of treats!  We headed home and was able to hand out candy to a few kiddos before calling it a night.  It was a fun Halloween for all of us!  Luke's first, and Tyke's first for really trick or treating.  Happy Halloween 2014!!  

Halloween Town

For the past few years our town has gone all out and decorated for Halloween.  It's been fun to see what the businesses do on main street to get decked out.  One thing the kids all look forward to is the early trick or treating to the businesses.  Over the years it has gotten bigger and bigger and now the trick or treating route runs nearly the whole length of town!  I knew I wanted to take Tyke this year but I wasn't sure how ambitious I was to drag both boys out by myself.  Luckily Aunt Steph and the kids came over and we were able to meet up and play.  

Tyke had a blast following his cousins but he could have cared less about gathering the candy.  He was too scared to go up to the business owners so Callie Jo and Bowdee made sure to grab him a treat.  We only did two blocks, both sides of the road, before calling it quits.  Tyke was exhausted and ready for a nap and Luke was ready for some food!  By the time we ended our fun little adventure Tyke was finally excited about his loot.  It was a fun little afternoon outing for me and my boys.  We wish that Daddy could have been there with us but he was stuck at work.  It will be interesting to see how Tyke does on Halloween night.  

Yay for fun small town traditions!

3 Weeks

This sweet boy of ours is three weeks old today!  He's perfect and we love him so much!  He's a really good baby and loves to snuggle.  He enjoys his big brothers kisses.  He likes his binky and his boppy.  He has his nights and days mixed up and would eat all the time if I'd let him.  He's a little sweetheart and we can't imagine our world without him!

Gone

Luke finally lost his belly button cover today!  I knew it was getting close and I'm relieved that it's gone.  Just a few more days until our little guy can have a real bath and not just a sponge bath.  We sure love our little Lukers!

2 Week Checkup

Luke had his two week checkup today with Dr. Fullmer.  Everything checked out perfectly, except for his little cold.  Dr. Fullmer told us to just keep doing what we've been doing for our little guy and his stuffy nose. I told him I feel like I'm drowning poor Luke with the saline drops.  Dr. Fullmer said that means I'm doing right (I still don't like it though).  We were told to watch for fevers and that if Luke started having trouble eating, or cuts back, we have to take him back in.  Here's hoping that that doesn't happen.  I'm still so upset that our newborn has caught his first cold already.

Luke was not a big fan of getting checked out (just like his big brother).  He hated being stripped down to be weighed and measured.  He hated having his oxygen levels checked and he hated all of Dr. Fullmer's visit.  Tyke went with us and was very concerned for himself and his brother.  He calmed right down once he finally realized he would NOT be getting picked on today, just poor little Luke.  We were shocked when the nurse told us how much Luke weighed in at.  7 pounds 12 ounces, a whole pound gained since he was born!  In fact, more than a pound gained in two weeks!  Luke weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces when he was born and he weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces by the time we left the hospital (which is normal for newborns to lose some weight in the first few days).  I knew he had gained some weight because his little cheeks are starting to fill out and he's growing the cutest little double chin, but a pound, wow!  Way to go Luke!!!

Luke's 2 Week stats:

Weight: 7 pounds 12 ounces (22%)

Height: 20.8 (61%)

Head: 13.75 (22%)

Our poor guy got picked on good.  He had to have his heel poked, yet again, for his PKU test.  He was a tough guy about it and only cried for a few seconds after the initial poke.  After having that done and getting looked over by the doctor it was time for him to have his circumcision done.  I dreaded it!  Poor boy.  Chad went with him for moral support and our little Luke did great!  He barely cried and enjoyed all of the sugar water they supplied him.  

Dr. Fullmer gave me my instructions for taking care of Luke for the next two weeks and sent us on our way.  Before we could get poor Luke dressed and in his car seat he started crying and did not stop for hours!  Before leaving the parking lot of the clinic I fed him a bottle and that seemed to help a little bit but not enough.  Poor Luke cried and cried but luckily fell asleep on the long twenty minute ride home.  Once we got home he started crying a hurt cry again and it didn't stop for a good four hours or so.  It was the saddest thing ever, and so hard for me knowing there was nothing I could do for him.  By the end of the day he was doing great and sleeping peacefully.  

I can't believe our little guy is two weeks old already (technically two weeks and one day).  We love him so much!  He completes our little family and is such a sweetheart!

21 Months Old

Tyke is 21 months old now and getting so big!  He's officially a big brother, and the best big brother baby Luke could ask for.  It's amazing how big Tyke got overnight with a new baby in the house.  Our little man sure grew up!

Tyke is growing up and growing out of his cute little baby stage(s).  He no longer gives "aww-wah's" and instead gives real kisses now.  Occasionally I'll get an aww-wah and I love it.  It makes me a little sad that they're getting few and far in between, even though I still get lots of kisses from him.  It's bittersweet watching him grow up!

Tyke has been the best big brother so far.  He's done great to leave Luke alone for the most part but he does love getting in his face and talking to him.  Tyke loves giving Luke kisses but only on the back of his head.  He loves holding his little brother and he loves arguing with me whether Luke needs his "be-be" (binky) or not.  He's great big brother and it's been so fun watching how loving he is with Luke.

Tyke is getting bossy in his old age.  He demands that we sit by him and play trucks.  He will get a mean, serious look on his face and point at the ground next to him while yelling, "Be-La!"  We're not sure what he's saying word wise but we definitely know what he means: sit here and play with me now!  He also demands that we eat dinner when he eats.  We always do but who ever is the last one to sit down at the dinner table gets yelled at by Tyke.

Tyke has his good and bad days at eating well.  Sometimes he's a good eater and sometimes he's not.  When he's not there is no way you can convince him to eat something.  When he's in a good eating mode there's no way you can feed him enough.  He loves pizza and macaroni and cheese.  If we'd just feed him those two foods at every meal we wouldn't have a problem with him not eating.  Tyke loves his chocolate milk and will not drink it plain anymore.  He also loves apple juice and occasionally will ask for water (I try and be tricky with sneaking him water throughout the day but he's usually too smart for me).

Tyke has been so cute with his toys lately.  He is obsessed with Moo, his Schlac cow and has to always have him by his side.  He's also obsessed with his stuffed puppy Douglas, books and his blankets.  He packs all three out of his room and into the living room where he snuggle down with them on the couch and flip through his books.  It's adorable!

Opposite of Tyke's soft side (snuggling with his puppy) is his wild side.  This kid LOVES to wrestle lately!  If Chad or I lay on the ground we're going to get body slammed and tricked into a wrestling match.  Tyke also loves to wrestle with his cousins.  Size doesn't phase him.  He'll wrestle whoever will play with him.  He can take down the 3 year olds and the 5 year old with no problem.  The boys (Trayson, Bowdee and Mac) KNOW not to mess with Tyke.  He's a mean little bugger, but in a playful way.

Tyke's size hasn't changed much even though it seems like he's growing like crazy!  He's wearing 18-24 month jeans and shirts.  His jeans are starting to look a little floody and his shirts are getting snug.  Tyke's in a size 7 shoe, and size 5 diapers.  Tyke still only has 12 teeth that I'm aware of.  It's a chore/fight to try and look in his little mouth so we've kind of given up for now.

We love our little Roni-man so much!  He's a fun little guy and makes our day everyday!

Jaundice

Our poor little Luke got diagnosed with a slight case of jaundice.  On the day that we were to be released (10-7-14), the nursery nurse informed me that Luke's jaundice level was at 95% and he most likely would NOT be going home.  I was super bummed to hear this because we were so ready to bust out of the hospital.  They told me that if that was the case, I would be staying in my room as a guest and not a patient until his release.  Dr. Fullmer, our pediatrician, stopped in a little later and told me that Luke was looking well and that he would release him to go home but we would need to take bili-lights with us and use them overnight.  While waiting to be released Luke spent a good couple of hours on the lights at the hospital.  We were told that the bili-light would be delivered to our house but as we were leaving the hospital the company providing them called and said the didn't deliver to our town so we would need to go to Lindon to pick them up.  Talk about a pain in the neck.  We were ready to go home, to get Tyke and be home under our roof as a family of four!  The last thing we wanted to do was drive thirty minutes north to pick up lights before heading home.

We got the lights, which were in the shape of a "blanket" and headed home.  Instead of being able to hold baby Luke we had to strip him down to his diaper and wrap him up in lights.  This "blanket" was about as wide and long as Luke so it didn't really cover much area.   We were able to wrap it around his belly and that's all that got covered.

On Wednesday (10/8/14) after having Luke on lights for 24 hours, we took him to his pediatrician for a visit and a foot poke to check his bili-rubin.  Luke had gained a few ounces of his birth weight back and checked out great.  We were sent home and called a couple of hours later with bad news that his levels had gone up.  And so Luke had to spend another 24 hours on the lights and had to have another doctors visit with another foot poke.  His poor little feet were bruised purple from being so picked on.

Thursday's visit (10/9/14) Dr. Fullmer wasn't in, so we got to meet with Dr. Miller.  He was confused as to why we were only given a light blanket and not the the suitcase lights.  After checking Luke's levels again, and seeing that his numbers had gone up again(!) (which was normal for Luke where he was born nearly three weeks early), he ordered us the suit case and sent us on our way.  We hung around in Payson waiting for the final word from the doctors office of whether the lights would really be delivered or not so we stripped Luke down to his diaper and layed him in the sunlight.  That night around 8 p.m. the lights were delivered and we immediately stuck Luke on them, covering his belly with the blanket so that he would be getting as covered as possible.

Friday (10/10/14) we met with Dr. Fullmer and he apologized for not getting us the suitcase lights to begin with.  He pointed out that Luke's coloring looked really good and that he seemed active which was a good sign.  Luke had his poor foot poked yet again and we were sent on our way.  We anxiously awaited Dr. Fullmer's phone call and really hoped and prayed it would be good news.  The day before, Luke's levels had been over a 17.  Anything close to a 20 meant a possible hospital stay and we were nervous that that was where we were headed.  Dr. Fullmer called around 6 p.m. that night and gave us the good news!  Luke's levels had dropped to a 14.7!  Because he had dropped nearly three points the doctor told us we wouldn't need to come back in for another foot poke, yay!  He told us to keep Luke on the lights until Sunday night and then we could be done with them!

By Sunday night Luke was looking great and he was loving being snuggled by anyone that would hold him!  We're so glad to be done with the lights!!  Yay for no more jaundice!!

Birthday!

Our little guy decided to make his big debut a few days early!  I had been commenting to nearly everyone that I would be okay with it if baby boy Long decided to come a few days early.  I was miserable!  I was huge and exhausted and just plain tired of being pregnant.  

At our weekly doctor visit with Dr. Nance I was dilated to a 1 and 75% thinned.  Dr. Nance said that if he was a betting man we'd be back the next week for another doctors appointment.  Chad got excited and asked if he dared go elk hunting that weekend.  Dr. Nance looked at him funny and said, "probably not."  

On Saturday while we were on our bi-weekly grocery shopping trip we ran into Dr. Nance at Costco.  He asked how we were doing and how I was feeling.  "No baby yet huh?"  Nope... He then told us, "well, don't have it tonight." and smiled.  I told him and his wife not to worry because I was just sure this little guy was going to be as stubborn as Tyke was and most likely come days late, just because I was so ready to be done.  We got our shopping done and called it a day.  

Chad and I were both tired from chasing Tyke around the stores.  After getting groceries put away and comfy clothes put on we settled down for the night to watch movies.  Tyke was still being wild and he got in trouble with me when he rammed his big Tonka dump truck into my knee, not once but three times!  After the third time he got a time out.  Chad took him to talk to him and Tyke fell right to sleep.  He tends to get mean when he's tired.  I felt bad that Tyke had fallen asleep without he and I having a little talk and making up.  I hate going to bed with hard feelings, even though I know Tyke doesn't know the difference yet.  

Chad and Tyke were snuggled on the couch and I had my feet kicked up in the recliner.  I had just dozed off when I felt a strange pinch down low and two gushes of fluid.  I gasped and sat straight up, scaring Chad half to death.  He jumped right up and asked what was wrong.  I sat there for a second trying to decided if I had been dreaming, if I had just peed my pants, or if my water had just broke!  I told him, "I don't think I just peed my pants!  You better go grab me a towel!"  He ran to get me a towel and I just sat there.  I still wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not.  I eventually got brave enough to move and stood up to go to the bathroom and check.  Sure enough, my water had broken!  It was around 11:45 p.m.  

My first instinct was to call my sister Stephanie to see what she thought (she's the only sister that's been through the water breaking experience) but when I noticed the time I decided against it and called my mom instead.  I told her what I thought but that I wasn't sure (my biggest fear would be to arrive at the hospital just to be told I had peed my pants).  She told me to call the hospital and see what they thought and then call her back.  I called up to Mountain View Hospital and told them what had happened but that I wasn't having any pain at all.  They advised me to come and get checked out anyway.  And so we scrambled to pack bags and any last minute items, I called my mom to meet us at the freeway to take Tyke, and we headed north.  

Before leaving the house I had a complete breakdown.  I cried and cried because I was not ready for this to be happening right now!  Not so soon!  I wasn't ready to leave my baby Tyke for his first sleep over.  I was upset that I would be dropping him off in the middle of the night without getting to say goodbye and without having our talk about our fight.  I cried the whole way to Mona, and then I cried even harder when we loaded Tyke up in my mom's car and left him.  It was honestly the hardest goodbye I've ever had to do even though I knew he was in good hands and it would only be a few hours before seeing him again.  

We got on the freeway and officially headed to the hospital around 12:30 a.m.  The entire ride to Payson I cried on and off and could not shut up.  I talked Chad's ear off.  I went from being excited and happy to complete breakdown all in one breath.  Chad drove like a mad man and I kept telling him to slow down, we had plenty of time.  He wouldn't listen though.  I was surprised how calm I was (besides my crying) and that I still had no pains.  He was freaked out that we were going to have a baby on the side of the road.  We got to the hospital in record time and checked in through the emergency room.  The entire time they were asking me questions to check us in I was standing in an odd position making them think I was in pain.  I wasn't, I just didn't like the feeling of the water leaking.  

By 1:30 a.m. we were finally admitted into labor and delivery and they had me change into a gown and get into bed.  We got the monitors put on the baby and then the nurse checked me.  Sure enough, my water had broken and I was dilated to a two!  We were here to stay until this baby boy got here!  I had an IV put in that took five tries before the nurses were finally successful (I bruised bad from each and every attempt too!).  After getting a bag of fluid in my body and two bags of antibiotics (I had tested positive for Strep B) Dr. Nance ordered that I be started on the pit to get things moving along faster.  

Around 3:30 a.m. I was started on pitocin.  After about a half an hour I started to finally feel some contractions.  At 4:00 a.m. Dr. Nance ordered the nurses to put internal monitors on the baby because the monitors on my belly just weren't cutting it.  The nurses advised that it would be more comfortable for me to have them inserted if I had my epidural in and asked if I was ready for it.  I definitely was!  I'm no wimp but my pains were getting more and more frequent and stronger by the minute.  I was scared to death that I would miss my window of opportunity to have my epidural and I knew I wouldn't be able to have this kid naturally.  (I know I could have, women do it all the time, but not this one!)  The nurses called anestesia to order my epidural and around 5:00 a.m. it was in and I was feeling good.  It was nice to only have to feel contractions for less than an hour.  My right leg went completely numb but my left leg never did and I was able to move it.  This epidural was a bit more painful to get than my epidural with Tyke.  I was dilated to a five by now.  I was really surprised at how fast things were moving along this round, it was nice!

Around 8 a.m. the nurses shift changed and my new nurse came in to check on me.  I was dilated to a 7, 100% thinned and the baby had moved down lower.  The nurse decided that it was time to prep the room and get everything out and ready.  At this point Chad started to look a little nervous and made the comment that things were starting to get real!  Within thirty minutes I was at an 8, and about ten minutes after that Dr. Nance showed up and started checking me.  I was at a nine and he said he'd be back in a few minutes to get this baby here.  

At 9:03 a.m. the room filled up with help and it was go time!  I can honestly say that this labor and delivery went so much smoother and less painful than Tyke's!  I was able to hold my breath to the count of ten, watch what was going on, talk and laugh with the doctor and staff, and push with no problem.  Within four sets of pushing our little guy was here!  Luke Chad Long arrived at 9:16 a.m weighing in at 6 pounds 12 ounces and measuring 20 1/2 inches long!  Chad was able to cut the cord this time (with Tyke he wasn't able to because it was wrapped around his neck).  The nurses took Luke and cleaned him up before bringing him to me for some skin to skin time.  I was in love!  Another beautiful little boy added to our little family!  

I was able to enjoy skin to skin time for quite a while before I finally let Chad have a turn at holding our cute little guy.  It was nice having time to be just the three of us before visitors started coming.  We spent quite a while in the labor and delivery room loving on our little Luke before the nurses came in to help get me moved and take Luke for his check up and first bath.  

While Chad and Luke headed to the nursery for that, I got moved to my room.  I felt so good I could have walked if the nurses would have let me.  I didn't hurt at all, a big difference from when I had Tyke.  I spent quite a while in my new room before Chad and Luke showed up.

I had requested that Tyke be Luke's first visitor and he was, thanks to Aunt Jenny and Nana!  Tyke was pretty excited about his new little brother, a reaction I wasn't quite expecting.  I expected him to be jealous and weery of Luke but he just loved him!  It was so cute watching him interact with his new little buddy!

We had quite a few visitors for the next couple of hours/days.  Even with all of the visitors we were able to spend quite a bit of time to ourselves which was nice.  Chad's plans were to stay at the hospital with Luke and I but we decided it would be best if he went home at night to be with Tyke, which turned out to be a good thing.  Tyke came and visited as much as possible which I loved, but he definitely got bored quickly.  Luckily he had lots of people to come and entertain him and take him for rides.  It was a good hospital experience all around but we were ready to get home and be a family of four under one roof.  It was hard having us split up like we were.  

 

We were scheduled to be released on Tuesday!  Dr. Nance showed up in my room super early that morning, somewhere between 5 & 5:30 a.m. and told me I could go home and he'd get the paper work started.  I text Chad to let him know we'd be able to go home that morning.  A couple of hours later Luke was brought in and the nurse informed me that his jaundice levels were pretty high and that she was pretty sure he would have to stay another night and be put on the lights.  Luke spent the morning on the lights in the nursery while I got our things packed up and ready to go.  Luckily Dr. Fullmer released him that afternoon with orders for us to have him on lights at home.  We were all discharged from the hospital by noon!  Instead of getting to go home we had to take a detour to Lindon to pick up the lights for Luke.  

We made a quick stop at Grandma Cheryl's house to pick up Tyke and headed home!  It felt so good to be home and to have our little family of four under one roof finally!  We love our little Luke so much and we're so thankful that he's ours!  He completes our family!  Life is good!