Kisses please!

This picture totally cracks me up! Jared will especially appreciate this picture because this is what he gets whenever he leaves for work in the morning. He always gives me a kiss goodbye and then Caleb thinks he needs one too. Most of the time we are just finishing breakfast as Jared is leaving so Caleb usually has food all over his face. It is actually quite hilarious to watch.


This is a picture of his smirk...ha ha I just got what I wanted!!!


Anyone for some cheese???

An awesome video

Today I have been thinking quite a bit about General Conference which is coming up this weekend. This was my favorite talk last conference (as I have mentioned previously on my blog HERE and I have thought of it many times in my daily life. I am looking forward to listening to conference again. What a blessing it is!

Reflecting

I have been thinking a lot lately about how grateful I am for my sweet Kyson. It's hard to believe that I held him for the first time just a little over a year ago. What a year it has been! He is doing AMAZING! I find it interesting that a person would never be able to tell he has a heart defect just by looking at him unless he has his shirt off. He is such a fun-loving kid. Everywhere we go he is smiling at people and making them fall in love with him too! Yesterday at his one year check-up he just kept smiling at his Pediatrician. It was quite funny because the second he walked in he gave him one of his huge smiles and it never went away. His doctor talked to me for quite a while and at the end he said, "You know, he has been smiling at me the whole time I have been talking to you! I wish all kids could be as happy as him!" Dr. Auxier then did his entire exam on him and still he was smiling. (Of course after his exam he got two shots and his smiles turned into tears then:)

For his birthday we played a little game to see who knew the most about Kyson. The winner (my sister, Natalie and her husband Dallas) got a CD by Paul Cardall. He is an LDS musician that is currently waiting for a heart transplant. He has over 12 CD's just filled with beautiful piano music. He has been through a lot in his life and is very inspiring! Here are the questions we asked. If you are interested in seeing how many you can get the answers are at the bottom.

1.What is Kyson’s birthday?
2.What is Kyson’s middle name?
3.What color are Kyson’s eyes?
4.How many surgeries has Kyson had? Name one of them.
5.How many times has he been discharged to go home from the hospital?
6.What is Kyson’s heart defect called? (there are a few different things you can put here)
7.Name the four chambers of the heart.
8.What does CHD stand for?
9.Name one of Kyson’s doctors. (this can be his surgeon, his cardiologist, or his pediatrician)
10.How old was Kyson when he had his first surgery?
11.What month was his second surgery?
12.Name one of Kyson’s medications.
13.What was Kyson’s first word?
14.When did Kyson start crawling?
15.What Snow White character does Kyson closely resemble?



1. March 14, 2008
2. Jordan (after his two grandfathers Joy and Gordon)
3. Blue
4. Two surgeries, the Norwood and Glenn. He will have the Fontan in the future.
5. Four; when he was born, after his first surgery, after his heart cath, and after his last surgery.
6. The best answer is Mitral Valve Atresia with Double Outlet Right Ventricle (DORV). You can also just say HLHS because it is a general term for any baby with an underdeveloped left side of the heart.
7. right and left atrium, left and right ventricle
8. Congenital Heart Disease
9. Dr. A is his surgeon, Dr. Alhadheri is his cardiologist, and Dr. Auxier is his Pediatrican.
10. Two months and two days old. (this is quite unheard of. Most babies won't live more than a couple weeks without surgery. Kyson lived two months without us even knowing.)
11. August
12. Aspirin, Enalopril, and Digoxin
13. MaMa
14. 11 months, Valentine's Day to be exact!
15. Dopey is what we were refering to, but I think Happy would be just as good of an answer.

A Year of Miracles

Happy Birthdy to Kyson! Happy Birthday to Kyson! Happy Birthday to Kyson, Happy Birthday to Kyson! Yeah, Kyson is 1. We had a great time at the park with family and friends. As tradition with Andreas family, you get your own cake (cupcake) on your birthday.





He also got lots of really fun gifts from all his family and friends. He had a lot of fun opening them and then playing with his new toys.



So during all this fun, where was Caleb?...



He can't get enough of the playground. Thanks to all those who came. It was a wonderful afternoon and we had a lot of fun.

Saying goodbye to Disneyland

Before we left we decided to buy our kids something fun. Caleb got Woody and Kyson got Dopey.
Here we are saying goodbye to Disneyland and riding to our car.



Kyson is so cute! We just had to get him Dopey because they look alike. Can you tell?



As we were walking to the car I saw Caleb carrying Woody like this

and it reminded me of the movie. Toy Story is definitely one of Caleb's favorites!

We sure had fun but were ready to say goodbye and head on home.

Disneyland is even fun for adults:)

To say the least we'd had an interesting night at the motel room with Kyson waking up crying in the night and making our neighbors very upset...anyway, the first "big" ride we rode that day was Splash Mountain. It was perfect! We laughed so hard the whole ride and it started our day off so fun. Jared was in the front and got soaked!!!




This was our first time going to the California Adventures side of Disneyland. There are some awesome rides there! I think my favorites were Soaring Over California and the big rollercoaster California Screamin'. Although I enjoyed the rides on that side I have to say that I still love the Disneyland side. There is something very magical about that side that is so great for kids.

Here we are posing for pictures near the end of our time in Disneyland.


I have to say a HUGE thank you to my sister and her husband for going with us. We had a great time and definitely couldn't have done it without them. Thanks guys!

The rides, shows, and parades

One of the first rides we took our kids on was "It's A Small World." Here's our kiddos just taking it all in.





Soon Caleb found that we had to wait in lines to ride the fun rides and since that was very boring he found ways to entertain himself. Here he is swinging on a bar.

Playing in the dirt. It's all over his face!

and here we are sitting down waiting for our turn on the train!



We also enjoyed watching some very fun shows and parades. Here we are waiting for the Bug's Life show to begin. Very cute glasses, huh?


The parade was so fun we had to see it twice! Caleb was very sad when it was over the first time. We had to follow behind the characters so Caleb could see them for as long as possible.

Meeting Caleb's favorite!

Of course as we walked around Disneyland Caleb got to meet some very special people. One of the first was Goofy!


There is no way we could have forgotten Woody and Jesse!


Best of all was "MATER and MCQUEEN!"


and of course you can't go to Disneyland without meeting...Mickey!

On our way...

Last weekend we went with my sister Natalie and her husband Dallas went to Disneyland! Here we are riding our bus from our motel room to Disneyland the first day. Can't you just see the excitement on our faces?