Winter & Spring Happenings

Yikes! It’s been 6 months since I’ve put any type of update on here! Where does the time go??

Ammon turned 3 YEARS OLD on May 21st. I can’t believe how fast he’s growing up! I love watching him grow and learn. I just wish I could SLOW time down somehow. Why is it that it just seems to be whizzing right by?? Maybe I enjoy being a mom too much. They say time flies when you’re having fun!!

Here’s an update on my sister, Doreen, and her ankle surgery. She had a cast on for about 4 months….even longer than the expected 3 months. So, I ended up watching my nephew, Connor, everyday as Doreen’s substitute for about 4 months. Doreen started babysitting again on March 17th (my mom’s birthday). Doreen just finished up several weeks of physical therapy and is doing very well. She doesn’t have any more pain in her heel and ankle like she did before. She did such a great job following her surgeon’s orders to stay off it completely for the 3 months he told her to. Now after physical therapy she’s about back to her normal activity levels. In fact, she plays around with the kids quite a bit.

Ammon went to the cardiologist on May 14th for his annual check up. He did so well with the EKG and Echocardiogram (heart ultrasound). He was so still and cooperated the whole time! That's a pretty big feat for an active toddler who doesn’t like to sit still for 1 minute let alone for well over an hour (how long it took for the echo). And the EKG isn’t much fun getting about 10-15 electrode stickers placed all over his chest and abdomen and afterwards getting them all pulled off (ouch!). But he was very patient, even when the electrode stickers didn’t come off too well after the echo. The tech had a hard time getting one of them to come off but Ammon didn’t so much as whimper. She was shocked! She said, “Wow! Now I know THAT one had to hurt!” Either Ammon was born with a real high pain tolerance, or he developed one with all he went through his first year or so of his life.

I keep kicking myself for not bringing my camera with me to the appointment with the cardiologist. There were so many precious moments I would have loved to capture….especially when the cardiologist (Dr. Turner) was in the room. Ammon was holding his little hospital gown up so Dr. Turner could listen to his heart. The cute expression on Ammon’s face was priceless. It was a mix of shyness and pride (for being a big boy by helping to hold up his gown). But the cutest moment was when Dr. Turner was done examining Ammon. He sat down next to him on the exam table while he talked to us about various things. Ammon started playing with his stethoscope and Dr. Turner was surprised that Ammon knew how to put it in his ears. Then Ammon started listening to Dr. Turner’s heart! He looked all serious as he held the stethoscope in one spot, then moved it to another spot and then another. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that he knows just what to do with it. Since birth he’s had various doctors listening to his heart thousands of times. Whenever he’s at the pediatrician’s (for any reason) they ask if the medical students can come in and listen to his heart murmur. I always say it’s fine as long as Ammon’s okay with it. He never minds, so besides the pediatrician, at least 2-3 other people come in to listen to his heart.

And now for the business side of the appointment: Ammon’s heart is doing great!! The ECHO did NOT show the tiny pinhole leak around the patch they put over the hole between his ventricles. So they thought it may have finally closed up. However, once the cardiologist listened to his heart he said, “No, the leak is still there. I can hear it.” He explained that perhaps it wasn’t visible on the echo, but there is still a leak. He told us sometimes that happens and we shouldn’t be alarmed if next year it shows up on the echo. Once again, he said the leak is minimal and shouldn’t affect him. He said at his age we don’t need to limit his activities, but mentioned that when he gets older and wants to participate in competitive sports, we will have to talk about which ones he needs to avoid. Jokingly I said, “So, you said he can’t play football, right?” He said, “Actually yes, that is one of the ones to avoid.” I said, “Oh, now I have an excuse.” Being the protective mom I can’t stand the thought of letting my son get pummeled half to death playing football! The cardiologist explained that the reason football is off limits is not so much because of the hard contact. It’s mostly because once they get older (at least by high school) they require too much weight lifting in order to compete and the weight lifting is what would be too hard on his heart. Strength training to tone muscles is fine, but intense weight lifting to bulk up is what could cause problems for his heart. Interesting. O-well….either way I’m off the hook as far as letting him play football! Whew! How selfish am I????

Ammon is still very small for his age (according to the charts). He’s still only at about the 1st or 2nd percentile for weight and around the 30th percentile for height. But his doctors say he’s healthy and is still following a normal curve on the growth chart.

Well… the time has come.....I am officially back to work. I'm working on a very part-time basis as a therapist/counselor in private practice with a group called Archway Associates. My office is so close to home that I walk there!! Gotta love that when gas is around $4/gallon! I’m not planning on working a lot right now, since my most important job is being a mom. But I’d like to at least earn enough to cover the expense of keeping my license and skills current, and hopefully earn some extra income for our family. Although my original plan when I had Ammon was to go back to work part-time after taking 3 months off, things changed drastically when we were faced with his heart defect and other health concerns. I’m glad I was able to focus on being a mom for that time. That's truly the best, and most important, job I’ll ever have. Financially it has been a struggle not having that income the past 3 years (especially with the added medical expenses we’ve had), but it’s really been worth it in so many ways. It’s quite an adjustment to go from having two full-time incomes supporting two people (for many years), to having just 1 income supporting 3 people. But we have survived. It’s amazing how frugal you can be when you need to be. And it's amazing all the toys you can live without (and I'm not just talking about Ammon's toys)!

To catch up on things, I’ve put together some video slide shows. This first video covers February and part of March. Here’s what you’ll see:

1. Stepping Stones Game – I had to find creative ways to allow Ammon and Connor to get some energy out during the cold winter months. It so crucial to channel their energy into constructive activities!!! So, one day (Feb 11th) I got out some rags and set them out on the floor and we played what we call “Stepping Stones.” They run around jumping from each rag on the floor (like it’s a stepping stone) so they don’t fall into the “water.” It’s similar to a game my sister and I played when we were young where we used cushions from the furniture or pillows or whatever we could find and we had to jump from one to the other without falling into the water, or hot lava. Anyway….the boys LOVED it! They wanted to play it all the time, and it was GREAT for giving them exercise during the cold winter months. They just ran until they couldn’t anymore. Then they’d sit down for a minute to catch their breath and they were right back up running. It would work best if we had little mats or carpet squares….because they wouldn’t move around on the floor. But rags worked well enough for us. You’ll see on one of the video clips how Ammon stopped running to fix one of the “stepping stones” he messed up. He’s so meticulous about it. I have no idea where he gets that!!

2. Snow Fun – we had lots of snow this past winter, so whenever Connor remembered to bring his snow gear, we headed outside for some fun in the snow. First you’ll see some pictures of Ammon and Connor in the snow. Later in the video you’ll see Jared and Ammon in the snow. They built a snow family in front of our house….a daddy, mommy and baby snowman. It was getting dark when I took the pictures, but hopefully you can see all three of the little snow people. Oh, and you’ll also see the snow fort I built for Ammon. I thought he’d love playing in it. Instead he stood in it for a minute, walked back out and never went back in it again. Well, I thought it was cool. It reminded me of building forts in the snow when we were kids.

3. Fun with Grandma & Aunt Doreen – they came to visit us one day and had fun horsing around with Ammon and Connor on the floor. Doreen still had her cast on; so all the playing had to be on the floor where she wasn’t putting weight on her foot.

Here's the video to watch (press the play button at the bottom left side):



The next video covers the rest of March through much of May. Here’s what you’ll see (not in exact order):

1. Sleeping Ammon: Ahh….sleeping toddlers…..they look so calm, quiet and peaceful. The complete opposite of how they are when they’re awake!

2. “Au Natural” photos (don’t worry, they’re G rated) – About the end of March, Ammon started taking his clothes off before going to sleep. About a week later, he started taking his diaper off too. That was a real shocker to go in there and find him TOTALLY naked! Fortunately, he stopped taking off his diaper, but he still won’t go to sleep without taking his clothes off first. Yes, we tried putting his diaper and his sleeper on backwards so he couldn’t get out of them. Yeah right!!! He managed to pull his skinny little arms and shoulders out of the neck opening of his sleeper and then pull it down over the rest of his skinny little body. And he was still able to get his diaper off too – with the tabs in the back. After several times of trying that, we figured we’d just not worry about it and just wait for him to grow out of this stage…and pray that he does!! For the most part he only does this at home. Except for the one time we were at a social after church and he was extremely tired and started taking his clothes off right there in the cultural hall. He was just getting ready for his nap!!! How embarrassing for us though!!

Oh, and yes, in the picture here....that IS his little Piglet stuffed between his legs. I guess it gives new meaning to the term "stuffed animal."

3. Easter Activities:
-Easter Egg Hunt – at my mom’s church. Ammon kept looking down when he was being photographed with the Easter Bunny. I kept trying to get him to look up at me so I could get a good picture. It dawned on me afterwards that he was probably scared or shy. Some kids his age would cry and scream. But he just put his head down and wouldn’t look up for ANYTHING!
-Coloring Easter Eggs for the first time.
-Easter Morning – finding Easter eggs – what fun!

4. Ammon playing in water – Perhaps you recall the pictures of when we let him play in the tub of water outside and how much he loved it (see Aug 14, 2007 post). Well, throughout the winter we would occasionally let him play in the same tub of water at the kitchen table. In these photos he had his plastic turtle in the water. In the pictures and video the turtle almost looks like a real turtle….but it’s not.

5. Shaving Cream Fun – Another activity Ammon and Connor love is playing with shaving cream. Well this particular time Ammon took it a little too far….from the table onto the wall.

6. Monkeys Jumping on the Bed – Ammon and Connor had fun playing on our bed….

7. Playing with rice – I let Ammon play with rice in a tub at the kitchen table (the same tub I use for water play). He loves it and I’m amazed at how long it keeps him occupied. Of course it requires a lot of sweeping up afterwards. This is another great wintertime activity for indoor play. You’ll notice in the pictures that Ammon was teasing me by pretending to eat the rice.

8. May 6th – SPRING IS HERE!!! Ammon on his tricycle (a wonderful hand-me-down from our neighbors Lisa and Jim).

9. Ammon before and after I trimmed his hair the day before his 3rd birthday. I cut it at my mom’s house because Ammon wanted so badly to see his Grandma that night! He gets his best pouting face on, looks down and says “I sad. (sniff, sniff) I miss G'ama.” Often he adds “and Aunt Ween” to that statement.

Here's the video to watch (press the play button at the bottom left side):


Since it’s taken me so long just to get this update together, I’ll just go ahead and close right here and try to get another one ready to post soon. Obviously I haven’t even covered Ammon's birthday or activities since then. I’ll try to get that posted very soon! Stay tuned and take care!