It's been awhile......

Well I guess you could say that I'm LONG over due for a blog. I guess with my surgery and the holiday's I just didn't have a whole lot of time to blog. It's my excuse anyway. :) I'll do my best to try and remember everything that has happened.

I had surgery about 3 months ago, and the recovery process was good, but very long. I still have good days and bad days, but overall I'm doing great. I kind of feel like the PT was a BIG waste of my time, and it's doubtful that I'll use it in the future. It's a personal choice.

We can not wait for spring time, and warmer weather. It's been so nice being able to send Aidan outside for an hour or so. It's hard with Kendal though, she wants to go out side so bad. However she isn't walking, and it's so wet out. What am I suppose to do?? She really likes to watch her big brother blow bubbles, it's really cute. It's about the only time Aidan isn't tormenting her. Ugh, he is such a booger. He can be just down right mean to her!! I'm so ready for him to start pre-school this fall. I think it will be a big help. He is the type of kid that you have to entertain ALL the time, and it's really hard to juggle between him and Kendal. Most days I feel like I'm going to pull my hair out. I do love being a mom, don't get me wrong. I just hope that Kendal catches up soon so we can do more family things. It's just not possible right now. She has come a long way, but she still has a LONG way to go. Vicki, her therapists, says that when we get her walking it won't take long for her to catch up. I really hope she's right, because I'm really starting to get worried. I feel like we get caught up a little, and then she has several set backs. She was very sick this past
February, and she ended up losing half a pound. She will be 18 months old on the 27th of this month, and she doesn't even weigh 17lbs. She is just now wearing 9 month clothing. It's CRAZY!!! She is just a little peanut, and I guess she always will be. :) I would love to have another baby in another year or so, but right now I'm just not sure. I would almost feel like I'm cheating her. I guess we will just have to wait and see. It's a waiting game at this point. Oh the joy's of parenting!!

I mentioned that Aidan will start pre-school this fall at Harrison. They have a Kindergarten readiness program that I'm super excited about, and it will be good for both he and mommy. :) I'm excited to have a daily routine that involves leaving the house everyday. It will be crazy at times, but it will be an exciting time too. :) I can't believe that he will be four in May..it's crazy!

Josh and I are both doing well, he's been great with the whole surgery and recovery process. It was very stressful on our marriage at times, but we survived. We even got to reward ourselves the weekend after Valentines Day. My in laws took the kids for the weekend, so we could spend some quality time together. It was much needed!!

As most of you know my brother is in the Air Force, and he is in the Philippines right now, but he will be home hopefully sometime in May. I can't wait to see him!! I miss him so much, and I can't wait for him to spend time with the kids. :) I hope he can be here for Aidan's fourth birthday, that would be so amazing!!!

Well that's about all that's new in Heyde house. I'll upload some new pictures soon. Happy St. Patricks Day. I did dress the kids up today, but I forgot to get a picture. :( They looked so cute in all their GREEN :)

Back Surgery

Okay, so I went to see Dr. Brkaric at the Indiana Spine Center today. I found out that I'm in a little worse shape then what I was originally told. I have to have a complete artificial disc put in place of the disc that is pretty much gone. Its almost bone on bone, so that explains the pain. They don't know why this happens, it just does? The procedure itself is called an Anterior Lumbar Fusion. You can visit the Indiana Spine Center website to get more info if you are interested. I will be in the hospital for 2-3 days, and then home to recover, and the pretty much immediately start physical therapy. It's gonna be a long road, but we will somehow get through it all. I had a few other options, and I was very confused about what I was going to do. I had and appointment with Dr. Haville, my chiro. He has just be awesome through this whole process. He really explained that this pretty much is the best option at this point or I could really do some serious damage to my back. Josh and I feel confident about our decision, so as of now the surgery is scheduled for December 15th. I am waiting this long because I have my kids to think about. I have to line up family and friends to take care of them when I can't be here to do so. Plus with Christmas so close, I don't want the kids to suffer. All in all, I'm feeling a little better as the days go by. I am still very sore and tired by the end of the day, but I am just popping the pills to get by. I wanted to wait because the procedure is going to take a lot longer to recover then originally expected. I could be off work anywhere from 6 weeks, to 3 months. The good thing is that I'm young, so I should recover quickly. I HOPE :) For now, that is all :) Love you all, and thank you for all of your support and understanding. Most of you have been keeping good tabs on me and that means the world to myself and Josh. Good friends are hard to find, so I'm glad I have all of you. Feel free to call me if you want to talk or have more questions.

If you are serious about helping out, we are taking volunteers. We need all hands on deck :) Any help is apprecated, as most of you know. I just want to make sure that my kids are taken care of and that my husband isn't feeding them chix fingers, pizza pockets, and fish sticks for days on end. You moms understand!! LOL I do feel very blessed that so many of you have come forward already and offered to helpout. WE are SOOOO greatful!!! Love to all of you, and your families.

This and That

Well sorry for the long over due updates. As most of you know our beautiful baby girl turned ONE on September 27th. Where did the year go?? She had her one year check up last week, she's a whopping 16.5 lbs, and she's 27.5 inches long. She is still a little peanut, but she's our little peanut. Her pediatrician was concerned about her murmur, so we had to see the pediatric cardiologist yesterday. I was very relieved to find out that she has what they like to call and "innocent murmur" and nothing more. He said that we should not have to see him again, unless the pediatrician has cause for concern when she is 4 or 5 years old. I'm going for never again!! :)

When Kendal was born the nurse thought she detected a heart murmur, but the pediatrician that examined her said he didn't hear anything. However she was screaming her head off the whole time he was examining her, so how could he hear anything. The next day, our pediatrician came in to examine her as well. She said she detected a murmur, so she wanted her to have an EKG. I asked if I should be concerned, and she said she just wanted to make sure she was okay. Well the EKG and ultrasound indicated that she had 2 valves that were open. We had to go to the doctor every two weeks just to make sure she was gaining weight etc. They kept a very close eye on her for about 6 weeks or so. Well....to make a long story short. I was very pleased to find out yesterday that those valves had completely closed on their own. WHAT A RELIEF!!! Our little girl is going to live a long healthy life!!! I hope. :) She is doing so great with her therapy, I couldn't be happier. She just gets stronger each week, and her therapist is really impressed with how well she is doing. She is into everything, it's so funny. It's so weird seeing her mobile. LOL :)

Mr. Aidan has had some big accomplishments lately too. He's finally decided that it's okay to go poopy in the potty. He started this about 2 weeks ago, and he's had a few accidents here and there, but he's doing better. Up until this week that is...he's gotten his stubborn streak back, and has been pooping in his pants again. I don't know what is up with this kid. We praised him, and rewarded him with a fun trip to Monkey Joe's. We made such a big deal about him being a big boy. So sick of cleaning out poopy underwear. YUCK!!!!!

I've taken on the task of watching a friend/co-workers little boy. He's almost 17 months old so he's right in between Aidan and Kendal. He's such a cutie!! He's been coming for about month, and it's going pretty well. I think it's been good for both kids honestly. Aidan has had a few issues sharing, but overall it's been great.

My back is still giving me fits. The pain meds and the patches aren't working at all anymore. I'm only taking them as needed, but lately the pain is coming on full force. I'M SO SICK OF IT!! I've been going to physical therapy for over a month, but it's not working. I don't know what to do anymore. Plus I don't even know if the insurance is going to cover it, I'm still fighting with them. I have therapy tomorrow, and I think that I'm going to talk to her about the chiropractor. I just can't take the pain anymore, it's really limiting me. Plus I'm chasing after 3 now, not 2. :) I just want my body back. I'll keep you all posted.

Update 10/16/09

Well I finally went to the chiropractor. I'm pretty messed up :) I got adjusted today, and now I'm just extremely sore!! I go back on Monday morning to get adjusted again. I've got a rough road ahead, but I will at least have relief at the end of the road. I HOPE!! I don't know what I'm going to do if this doesn't work, I'm out of options at this point.

P.S. Here are a few new photo's from Kendal's 1st Birthday :) 

Stay tuned for pictures from Halloween....It's our favorite time of year!!!

She's on the move!!!

Well if you can't tell from the title, little Miss Kendal is crawling!!! Yay!! Josh and I are so excited, it's only taken over 11 months to get her to this point. She doesn't move fast...but hey we'll take it! She is also pulling herself up, she'd rather do that then crawl. I think once she gets this coordination thing down its only a matter of time before she starts walking. Her therapist (Vicki) is so pleased with her progress. She's improving every week, it's really neat to watch and be a part of something so wonderful. I'm lucky that I'm able to be here to witness it all, it's very rewarding. My baby girl is growing up so fast. :( I can't believe she is going to be a year old this month. I don't know...it amazes me the bond that I have with her. Now don't get me wrong, I love my little man to pieces, but it's different when you have a girl. At least I think so. Aidan is my little man, he can always melt my heart. He can be such a loving little boy. I hope he stays that way. :) (Wishful thinking, I know!)

He is a short video of Miss Kendal crawling!! :)

My back has been acting up again, so I called the doctor. I had to get two shots in my back today and I HAVE to go to physical therapy. I don't know if the shots are going to work or not, it takes 12 hours to really take affect. She said even if I'm in pain when I'm supposed to go to therapy, to go ahead and go. She said they would be able to pin point where the problem is, and they have so many techniques these days. I guess I'll give it a shot. If not..I guess I'll try the chiropractor, but at least my insurance pays for the therapy, so that's the main reason I'm taking that route first.

That's about all that's new with the Heyde family. Stay tuned for Kendal's first birthday party blog...the BIG party is next Sunday at Bri and Andrew's. CAN'T WAIT!! It should be an amazing time with family and friends. Grandma if you're reading this, I sure hope you can make it!!! We miss you!

I also want to give a shout out to Kahler Maust who is turning 1 year old tomorrow!!! Happy Birthday buddy. :) I hope you have a great day!

Here are a few recent photo's of the kids.

Miss Kendal playing with daddy's spare keyboard..she's gonna be into everything!

I totally forgot to blog about my visit with Ara!! Geesh, some friend I am. Ara is my best friend from high school. She came to visit last week while she was on break from school. Ara is in Chiropractic school in St. Louis, so I don't get to see her much anymore. It was an awesome time, plus she got to witness Kendal crawling during her therapy. She was impressed!! Love you girl!!!

Where do I even begin.......

Wow!! It's been almost two months since I've blogged. A LOT has happened in the last month or so that is hopefully going to have a positive impact on the Heyde household. :) First off, Miss Kendal is almost 11 months old....where did the time go? I've said for months now, that in a way, I think I've been spoiled with her. She is still so tiny and is still such a BABY in my eyes. She is improving everyday though, and those BABY moments are just extra special. She is still about 3 months behind where she needs to be, but that is all about to change. I hope!!! First Steps is actually coming out tomorrow to start her therapy. I can not think of a better birthday present, so I'm hoping it goes well. Yes tomorrow is my 28th birthday, and considering that I'm pretty much bed ridden for the next week or so, well I guess I'll just have to make the best of it. My mom is coming over to help out with Miss Kendal, and my little man is going to daycare.

Originally I was supposed to go to lunch with my mom, and then to a movie...well that isn't going to happen since I can barely walk. Oh well, it's just another day anyhow, right? Anyhow, back to the kiddo's. Aidan is becoming such a big boy, he is finally getting the potty training down. I would say that we are pretty much "potty trained" not so much "poopy trained" LOL :) We are working on him though, and it's at least an improvement. I'd say he's rarely having any accidents, so that is a major plus!!! He can still be a little monster at times, but he can be sooo funny too. He just cracks me up sometimes!! He is going through this repeat phase, where he repeats everything you say, or at least the last sentence. It's annoying, but very cute at times too. Daddy said a bad word tonight, and Aidan told him he was a "Bad Daddy" LOL to cute!! He is such a loving little boy, he's always giving hugs and kisses. I feel so bad that we are sort of in a financial strain right now, and can't afford to do the fun things that we would love to do with him. Its funny as a parents, you always want more for you children, and I'm pretty much guessing that the feeling never goes away even as they get older.

Miss Kendal is getting smarter everyday, she wants to crawl so bad. :( She is pulling herself up and holding on to things. Josh got a SUPER cute picture of her holding on to the bathtub. OMG it's so adorable, she is naked and it shows her little baby butt. I'll have to upload it when I get a chance. It's been a long process getting her ready for First Steps, but I'm feeling very confident that we have decided to go with the program, and that we didn't wait any longer to do so. I will keep everyone updated as much as possible. She is such a special little girl, she has been through so much. I know that there are other kids out there that have had it much worse, and we will continue to pray for them, it's always different when it's your own child though. I know that its made my relationship with my husband 10 times stronger. We don't have a lot of family to lean on for support, so we've learned to lean on each other. We know that our families care for us, but a lot of them are very busy, or they live out of state. It's hard sometimes, but we manage.

Kendal holding herself up like a big girl!!

As for my injury...well some of you may know I've been having back issues for months now. I had them all throughout my pregnancy with Kendal, and they have just progressively gotten worse. So I finally broke down and called a chiro, well they couldn't get me it for a week. I called on a Monday, and by Friday I couldn't take the pain anymore, plus I could barely walk. NO JOKE! Well my doctor took x-rays to determine if it was a stress fracture, or a broken tail bone. In the mean time she perscribed a mild pain pill, and a muscle relaxer. I waited all weekend until Monday to find out that nothing was broken. I was glad to hear that, but still frustrated because I felt like she wouldn't listen to me. She just wanted me to keep taking the anti-inflammatory and come back and see her in two weeks. UM hello....that doesn't work in this house with two kids. THANK GOODNESS for my gma, without her over the last 10 days, I'd be a mess. She has been coming over and helping with the kids, cooking meals etc. She is an amazing woman.

Well I took matters into my own hands and went and got a second opinion, and I'm so glad I did. I have a new primary doc, and I love her!! She listens to me, and wanted to know what she could do for me. She determined that I have a lumbar sprain, witch is basically just a back sprain. She could feel 3 different muscle spasms on my left side. It hurt!! She has me on a high dose of steroids for the inflammation, muscle relaxers, pain meds and a Lidoderm patch. I go back in a week to see if how things are going, and if physical therapy is going to be needed. In the mean time I went ahead and rescheduled my chiro appointment just in case she gives me the okay to go. She said that more then likely my hips are out of wack anyhow, so we'll see what she says. In the mean time, I'm off work until at least next Tuesday.

Josh has been wonderful, he's been super dad lately. I was totally out of it most of the weekend due to the muscle relaxers, so I'm grateful that he was here to help me. I was very sad to see him go to work on Monday. We have had some great people helping us out over the last week, an old family friend who I haven't even seen since I had Kendal, called me up and offered to take Aidan for the day. Amy you rock!!!! Amy is an old babysitter of mine, she actually stayed at my house with me when my mom had my brother. I love her, and she will always have a special place in my heart!!! She not only kept Aidan once, she then offered to take him last Saturday too!!! He had a blast, he got to swim and play all day. I was ever so grateful, plus Josh definitely deserved the break. Wow this is turning into my life story!! For now, that's what up with the Heyde's. I will keep everyone updated on all the progress. For now just keep us in your prayers, we don't need anything else bad to happen. Love to all!!

Summertime Craziness!

Summertime means one busy mommy!!! We are still potty training, but things are looking up. Well, sort of. We had an interesting night last week. Aidan decided to poop all over the floor, and then run his tractor though it. He then brought his tractor to Josh and said "daddy my tractor's all dirty" He had it everywhere!!! I had to steam clean carpets at 10:00 at night, just what I wanted to do after working all night. UGH!! It took me two days, and about 4 different cleaners to get the smell and the stains out. AWFUL!!! On the upside, he is at least starting to tell us when he has to go potty, but he refuses to poop in the potty. Oh what to do???

Aidan started swimming lessons this week as well. He is doing great, he is quite the fearless one. I have been taking him to the daycare in the mornings, and he is then riding the City Bus with the daycare kids. I opted to take him myself, but he is really acting out lately, and I was afraid he would be glued to me if I tried to leave him. This is working out well for us though, it is day two and Brandi (our daycare provider) said that they all knew what to do and what to expect. She is AWESOME! Go Brandi!!! I am helping out at the daycare next Friday, July 3rd. I will be staying with the babies, while Brandi takes the big kids to swimming lessons. It should be interesting, I think I'll be watching 5 babies! I hope I can handle it. :P

Miss Kendal is turning into quite the drama queen lately. She is having major separation anxiety from her mommy. I went on a walk tonight for like a half an hour. She cried the whole time, as soon as I got home she stopped. O what to do with this baby girl? Kelly, my mother-in-law is taking both kids off our hands this weekend. This will be the first time I have ever left Kendal over night. I hope that we (she and I) can handle it. I will miss them both so much, but Josh and I really need a break. We need to spend some quality time together, no computers, no kids. Just us!! I can not tell you the last time we have been without BOTH kids. It will be a bittersweet weekend.

If you haven't heard by now, I may be going back to work full time. I had an interview earlier this year with IKON. I did not get the job at the time because I could not work past 5 o'clock. Well, the supervisor contacted my friend and asked if I was still looking for a job, so she emailed me right away. I called them back to set something up, but I haven't heard anything. I did run into the lady that interviewed me over the weekend, and she assured me that she would be calling me very soon. Still waiting though, so I guess we'll see. I want to see what they have to offer before I make my final decision. It is going to cost an arm and a leg to send both kids to daycare!! I will keep you posted on things if and as they progress. That's all for now!! I promise I'll have some pics soon. I bought a cheap kiddy pool, we somehow miss placed out big frog pool. No idea where it is, ugh! Anyhow, I will get some pics up soon. I promise. :)

Determination!!

Wow! I guess that it's been a really long time since I've blogged. Not much really to report, just the usual. I've been in kind of a rut lately, so I haven't felt like talking to anyone. :P I don't know why, just kind of in a mood. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm still trying to lose this baby weight, and it's not coming off as quickly as I would like. That's all about to change though....My good friend Amanda and I are tackling it head on. We are getting together on Sunday and coming up with a program to do together. She has downloaded the Slim in Six videos, and she has all the Weight Watchers material, so we are ready. We are going to do this together, so we can encourage each other along the way. I hope it works!!!! I'm so ready to have my pre-preggers body back. Ugh, I hate feeling this way!!!

On the upside, we are taking a new approach to potty training. We are letting him go naked from the waist down for most of the day. It kind of grosses me out, I'm not a naked person. I have blankets and things all over the place, because I don't want him sitting on things without clothes on. I'm just weird like that. We thought about this approach a while back, but we honestly thought he would just pee all over everything. To our surprise he is actually running to his potty on his own to go. It was funny because, I couldn't figure out how he was getting water in his potty. Then I realized it wasn't water, he was actually going in his potty!!!!! Yay, Aidan!! We have had some set backs this week, but we will get him back on track. I'm letting him take a break for a day or so, he started resisting again and I don't want him to feel pressure. For some reason, he does better in the evenings most days. I'm hoping we can get this done by the end of the month. I'm so sick of potty training!!!!

Miss Kendal is doing okay, she is still very tiny. Her personality is really coming out lately, it's so cute!! She definitely knows her mommy and daddy. She smiles so big for her daddy everyday when he comes home. I can tell it really just brightens up Josh's day. He thought for so long that she hated him, now they are really starting to create that special father/daughter bond. So sweet! She still doesn't have any teeth, and she still isn't crawling. She is sitting up on her own for long periods of time, so at least her back muscles are getting stronger. We have stopped putting her in her Jumperoo because the doctor said her calf muscles are a lot stronger then they should be. She wants to stand on her tippy-toes and never flat-footed. We have to stretch her calf muscles to try and loosen them up. We have even limited her time in the exersaucer for the same reasons. She is pretty much on the floor all day now. She can scoot herself all over that blanket though!! She wants to crawl so bad, but she just can't figure it out yet. I just keep telling myself that she will get there when she is ready. Her eating habits are getting better, she is eating almost full jars of baby food and taking almost 6oz of formula at a time. It's such a relief! She is still on the Soy formula, and the only downfall is that she is still having constipation issues. We are giving her prunes on a daily basis, and it seems to be helping. We think the formula has to much iron in it for her small body. I mean people, she is smaller then most 3-4 month old babies. She is that tiny!!! We tried changing her formula on our own, but that was a disaster, it was giving her abdominal cramps again and everything. We decided to just stick with the Similac and try to help her out by giving her the prunes or pear juice when she needs it. So far its working.

Well that's about all I've got for now. As things change I'll keep you posted! Wish me luck on the weight loss!! I'm staying positive and hopeful to lose a good portion of it in the next 6 weeks or so.