Just like Daddy

Ryder loves everything his daddy likes, he wants to be just like him. He is obsessed with star wars and baseball. It's really cute to see how much he looks up to his dad.

Weekend

I've been having a lot of fridays off this summer, it's been really nice since i can spend some time with Ryder. This last friday was by far the best of the summer. Ryder and I got up early, had breakfast and then met my sister Elsie and her kids at Chuck e Cheese's for lunch. Ryder was so excited, he loves Chuck e cheese. We had pizza and he had a whole slice by himself, this is a miracle since he only eats the pepperoni when we get pizza, I guess he had worked up an appetite.

After that, we came home because I thought he was really tired and wanted to take a nap, he fell asleep in the car but as soon as we got home he woke up and did not want to sleep. Marc came home for lunch and wanted to do something with us. We decided to go swimming at the indoor pool since it's usually less crowded and we also have to keep Ryder out of the sun so his scar (from the surgery) doesn't go dark, we really have to watch for this so it heals and disappears faster. anyway, Ryder had so much fun, he loves playing in the water, he is not afraid of it at all, which is scary because we have to watch him all the time. He even put his head under the water a few times and i thought he would freak out but he was laughing so hard and marc taught him how to plug his nose, it was really cute. After that we went to a chinese buffet, it was really good and Ryder was such a good boy and ate a lot of food. We usually don't take him out to restaurants because he doesn't behave well and we get really frustrated, but this time he was perfect. We came home and showered and got ready to go to the cemetary to see my Grandma's headstone. She didn't have one for 4 years and my dad was finally able to get one for her. it was kind of cool since it was my gma's birthday too. We all brought her flowers and talked about the funny things she used to say. I miss her so much, she was my hero! She was a great example. She was a single mom most of her life and worked so hard. She was the most intelligent person I have ever known, She was a music teacher and knew so many languages including Latin. She was also a dancer, writer, piano player, and artist. She had so many talents, but the most important thing to her were her children and grandchildren, she always put us first. She wrote so many songs, and I know sing those songs to Ryder and he loves them. She was so humble and loved our heavenly father so much.
As you can tell, I miss her very very much. We'll be together again someday. :)

After the cemetery, my sister Leech and her hubby Cam, Marc and I decided to go see a movie, my mom was nice enough to watch Ryder for us. We saw Hancock, i really liked it , it was funny. Saturday Ryder and I woke up early again, and met up with my Mom, my sister Elsie and her kids again and went to the Salt Lake Zoo. it was so hot, but it was really fun.

We got home so late, I was so exhausted. We went to bed early and slept in this morning until 10 am! We felt bad though because we missed church. Well that about summarizes our weekend.

Elsie's cute family and baby Chloe

So I think I need to post some pictures of my sister's cute family. By the way, she had Chloe 4 weeks ago. She was born June 2, 2008 .Here are some pics.

4th of July

This year we camped out in the street so we could watch the parade in the morning. My sister Elsie and her family came along, well actually we came along. It was an interesting experience , people were out til 3 in the morning driving by and screaming and revving their engines. Ryder didn't go to sleep until 2:30 am! we all woke up at 6:30 so everyone got about 4 hours of sleep. The parade was really fun and Ryder really enjoyed it. He wanted join the marching bands he ran out to the street to dance with them, it was really funny. Here are some pictures.

Josh, Ryder, Marc, and Katie

Oh by the way, as you can see, Marc has a walking boot on finally! he can take it off at night and scratch his leg!!

Ryder trying on daddy's walking boot

Marc update

I forgot to let everyone know how Marc is doing. He unfortunately is still in a cast, this is his 3rd one. He was supposed to get a walking boot 3 weeks ago, but his leg is healing extremely slow. Poor guy, he is so frustrated. His leg has been itching so bad lately and it is starting to stink really bad. He has an appointment with the dr this thursday to take off the cast and see if he can get a walking boot. Please pray for him, I don't know if he could handle any more bad news. It's been 3 months since he broke his leg. We would have done surgery but the dr. told us his leg would heal in 6 weeks and so we decided not to do it. Well yeah, we should have done it. Oh well, you live and learn right?
He's been a trooper working for Pointe and selling pest control door to door this summer with a broken leg and 90 degree weather. Ryder is doing great as well, hasn't been sick in a month! yay! he keeps us really busy.

Yard Sales

So our IMAC computer is having problems uploading our pictures to websites or blogs! ugh! why is this happening. anyway, I am at Pointe Pest Control again today working for the next few days. Well today Marc was driving home from work and stopped at a yard sale and found 2 50 ccs dirt bikes. Of course you know how much my husband loves ATVs and bikes, so out of curiosity he asked the lady how much she was selling them for, and she told him $950 for both, 0r $450 each. He immediately called me and asked me if I wanted them (why would I want a dirt bike for my 2 yr old crazy son?) I told him it was too much money and Ryder is too young for that anyway, and I don't want him riding dirt bikes, I'm ok if he wants to ride 4-wheelers cause they're safer. He began trying to convince me by saying that he would put training wheels on it and that it came with a free helmet , boots, and other gear. He asked me if he could offer the lady $300 for one of them, so I said sure because I knew that there was no way she would say yes. Well not only did she say yes, but told him he could have both for $600! Marc and I drove over there, he wanted to show me the bikes and of course convince me to get them. Well I said ok, and now we have to little dirt bikes. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with Ryder riding dirt bikes, it's kind of scary. We are going to sell one of the bikes for $600. I guess we did get a good deal , we got so much stuff, we got 2 helmets, knee pads, boots, elbow pads, pants, gloves, chest protector thingamajiggers? lol, and even a pink riding suit and gloves for our future daughter! Why do boys like dangerous things? Here is a picture of the bikes we got

They are cute, but they are really fast, they are racing bikes! great just what we needed right? better keep our health insurance.

Well after that, I was on my way to work here and I saw another yard sale and saw Tony Little's Gazelle machine. My sister just bought one and she really likes it, they are about $200 new. The lady was asking 75 for it, but I talked her down to 50 and bought it, I've been running 2-3 miles every day and dieting so I can lose some weight, I hope this machine helps me. this is what it looks like

I will tell you how it goes, I have 10 more lbs to lose.

By the way, Ryder won't be riding the bike until he is at least 3 and it will have training wheels!

I will post pics of our family when I figure out what is wrong with my computer

It's been a while

Wow I haven't posted in over a month! I guess that happens when you're busy with a full time job and chasing after a 2 yr old! Ryder has been doing very well. His scar from the surgery is looking really good. He is on 2 different antibiotics twice a day and he will take them for at least 3 more months. Oh I should probably say that he did have that atypical mycobacterial infection in his lymph node. They've been culturing it for over a month and it looks like it was a strong one, but the Dr. thinks we have him on the right medication. He takes something called rifampin, which is mostly used for tuberculosis but they also use it for this bacteria, well anyway this med makes his bodily fluids turn red or orange. It's funny to watch him when he goes potty in the toilet and his pee comes out red, he looks at me and asks pee pee? his snot is orange sometimes too. it's kind of creepy.
I will post pictures when I get home. I am working for Pointe Pest control today with Marc, since his office manager is sick. My sister Elsie just had her third child and her name is Chloe. She is the cutest little thing. She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz which is the same her other 2 kids weighed when they were born. We were all surprised.
A lot has happened this month, I'll have to post pictures and write a little bit about each one. I hope I can do this tonight, if I have time!

Recent Pictures of Ryder

Ryder hiding under his crib eating chocolate that he stole from his dad

Ryder's new toddler bed, he loves it, he sleeps in it

but he does sneak in to our bed in the middle of

the night. Sometimes I wake up at night and find him

sleeping next to me, I never know when he jumps

in bed with us.

time out spot, j/k

Before Surgery                                                                         
 

After

Ryder and I slept in this hospital crib all night, 

not very comfortable, but it made him happy

He had a draining tube for a couple of days, it was gross.

Ryder's surgery

Ryder had his surgery 1 week ago today. We woke up early that day and arrived at the hospital at 8:00 am like they asked us to. We waited for about 45 min, they gave us a room, and we changed ryder into hospital pjs, which were really cute! Well, I guess Ryder found his sippy cup that morning and had a sip before I was able to stop him, so the Dr. said he couldn't do the surgery because of the risk of aspiration while in surgery ( he could aspirate the milk into his lungs during surgery) So he rescheduled the surgery for that same afternoon at 4pm. Ryder was to only drink clear liquids until noon and then nothing to eat or drink after that. He did pretty good until about 3 pm, my poor child brought me a bowl and started saying "pees" (please) , he was so hungry and thirsty, he cried for 20 minutes and it was so hard for both him and me. I couldn't wait until 4 so I put him in the car and drove around until he fell asleep until 4pm. They checked him in again and we changed his clothes. I thought they were going to let me go with him until they put him to sleep, but they told us we couldn't go and had to give him to a nurse, he got so sad and it broke my heart. It was really hard to let him go with a stranger while he was crying "mom! mom!' He was in surgery for 2 hours! He did very good and the Dr. told us he removed every node that was infected and even the ones that were questionable, and was able to stay away from his facial nerve and major arteries. That was such a relief. The only thing that the Dr. didn't like was that he seemed to be coming down with a cold, so he ordered for Ryder to stay at the hospital overnight to watch his oxygen level and breathing. So far all the results have come back normal, but I guess it takes a few weeks for them to find out what bacteria was in his lymph nodes. We do know that it wasn't TB or cancer! He is taking 2 different kinds of antibiotics for a few months and his scar is healing very well. Our son is a fighter. We thought he was going to be in a lot of pain after the surgery but he did great, they only had to give him lortab at the hospital once and then just regular tylenol, he also started jumping on the hospital bed the next morning and was running up and down the halls. He is acting completely normal and hasn't complained once about his neck, he is also eating so well. We are very happy with the outcome and are so proud of him for being so brave, he really made this a lot easier than we thought it would be. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, we couldn't have gotten through this without them. We love you all! I will post his surgery pics later.