Quinn's birthday surprise at Leo's and updates

June 3

Quinn had been asking to go to Leo's and if he could invite a friend.  I asked who he would pick if he could go.  He picked his friend Jacen. I rearranged a time and with his mom.  We had to wait since Jacen ended up getting sick.  We just did it the week after.  This whole time I didn't tell Quinn.  I just told him I had a surprise for him.  He was excited!  On the way there he guessed what it was and guessed that Jacen was meeting us there.

Today: June 10

She was responding to me and giving me such big smiles.  No, they weren't gas.  I thought it was so cute!

Quinn loves to be with Kayzley.  He will sit and try to entertain her.  Lots of times I'll see Kayzley with a transformer or some sort of toy.  She's almost always covered in his blanket (the one in this picture).  It was on her but I took it off just prior to the picture being taken. 

Quinn loves taking care of her.  If she's in her bouncy chair he will rock her.  If she's crying he will sing to her.  It actually works too.  Quinn and Paxton both love to give her the binky.  Sometimes Quinn is so helpful that when she is being good she will cry.  He's always asking what he can do to help with her.  He tells me when she's hungry or needs her diaper changed.  It's so cute.  He's such a good big brother.

Kayzley is so smart.  When the bigger humanoid approaches, she is fine but when the little one is near, she cries. 

I thought Paxton would be a little bit more mean to her and more aggressive.  He's been awesome with her too.  The only thing is that he gets so jealous of both Quinn and Kayzley.  That's when he gets mean.  He cries and whines and carries on for such a long time.  He will bite and hit.  He cusses everyone out too.  Honestly, I'm not sure how to handle him sometimes.  He's such a different person now.  He's gotten better and I hope with more time he will continue to improve.  I try to love him and cuddle him.  I want him to know I still want to be with him.  It's hard to divide my attention out evenly.  They all demand so much and have so many needs.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed trying to give them the love they need...and trying to do my housewife duties too.  I wouldn't change anything.  We'll figure things out with time.

Since Paxton has been sick he has needed more time and attention.  He's been so needy.  I know he's miserable.  He has a cold too besides his ear infections.  His ear hurts also from chasing with Quinn the other day and piercing it.  I'm not sure what he hit but whatever it was gave it to him good.

It has been so much fun having Kayzley around.  I love having a girl!  She is seriously the best baby ever!  She was sick this last week and was completely amazed and baffled at how well she handled it.  She had the stomach flu and now has an upper respiratory infection.  She tries to sleep but has a hard time due to acid reflux.  She has the hardest time burping.  I took her to the chiropractor to see if he could help.  That was when she started to throw up.  I thought it was because of what he was doing.  Then the chiropractor told me that he had the same symptoms and thought that he got it from Kayzley.  I took her in to make sure she didn't have anything more.  We found out that Paxton had a double ear infection.  I was so glad that we chose to have Paxton looked at.

Kayzley wakes me once or twice a night to feed...even when she was sick.  She has the hardest time falling asleep but once she is asleep she stays for hours.  I felt so bad for her. 

When we took her to the doctor she was 11 lbs 1.5 oz and when we went back we learned she gained at least a half a pound.  She was butt naked the first time weighed and the next time she had her clothes on.  It was an estimate since we didn't strip her down one the second weight.  She had started eating and doing so much better.  She still isn't feeling the greatest.  She still has her cold and can't breathe.  Poor thing!  I thought she was done throwing up but she threw up early this morning.  :(

My Happy Birthday!

Mike, a couple of days before my birthday, told me that he had a surprise for me. I'm horrible with surprises!  I wanted to know what it was (he knew that and was eating it up that I wanted to know so bad).  He would give me hints and with each clue I was completely clueless.  For a while I thought we were going to the Play Mill, then I switched to Bar J Wranglers...because he said it came with a dinner.  That was the only thing I knew where dinner was included.  I also guessed Mountain River Ranch for that reason too.  For a while I thought the Teton Slide and then Zip Lining (I had a friend help me think of these two).   I didn't even know Heise had a zip line until she had mentioned it.  It sure wasn't there when I was growing up.

The morning of he told me what it was; zip lining.  I was so nervous but also so excited.  I have never zip lined.  At Lovell's Ranch they have a little homemade zip line and I have always been too chicken to go on that.  All day I was trying to gain the courage to go.

At 4:00 Mike told me to be ready to go.  Honestly, it was kind of hard to leave Kayzley for that long.  I'd be gone for at least 6 hours.  I had mentally prepared and wasn't going to let Mike down.  He had worked so hard to make this night happen and to make arrangements for our kids.  He tried so hard to make a surprise for me and to make my birthday special.

They helped us into our gear and then made us watch a video.  It was all of the things that you shouldn't do because you could end up with a broken arm or no fingers, etc.  I thought that the video was a little discouraging for some so chicken like me.

This was our sweet ride up the mountain.  They claim this is the most dangerous part of the whole experience.  Looking back on it now I think they're right.  It was kind of scary and not very sturdy.  It sounded like it had such a hard time going up.  The guides stood on the sides.  We had 8 in our group and 3 guides.

I was the last one to go on the first zip.  It was good that this one was the first.  It was pretty level with the mountain to start out and then gradually declined.  No one...not even one person screamed or even made a peek.  It took me a few minutes to decide that I would go but decided it couldn't be that bad judging by the reactions from everyone else.  I turned backwards and just let myself fall.  The driver of the four wheeler explained how we needed to hold on so that it wouldn't hurt our hands.  I know I would want to tense up.  So, I barely even hung on to the rope.  Going backwards was a good move.  I was nervous for the second zip as well.  The third one I actually enjoyed.  The fourth I was going to go forward but Mike wanted to record me.  Just in case it was scary or I did something embarrassing, I thought I would save it for the next zip.  It wasn't until the fifth that I finally went forward.  It was fun!  The whole experience was quite a bit different than I had imagined.  I expected more of an adrenaline rush.

See this petite girl?  This is the girl that stopped...let me rephrase it...that tried to stop Mike.  He ran into one of the guides full force.  It was better the guide then the pole behind him.  I almost wish I was recording that time.  It wasn't funny by any means.  It would be a good memory because we could look back and laugh.  Mike was a little nervous afterward.

This is the guy Mike had run in to.  They tell you that they will do all the work...to not worry, etc.  At first Mike would put his feet down and then they called him Fred Flinstone the rest of the time.  He was the heaviest one there so he would zip at Mach speeds.  Since he went before me I didn't understand until I saw it for myself when I finally went ahead of him and watched how he came in.  He said it hurt to run into him.  Hopefully, after this time they'll change things around and have someone a little bit bigger do the braking.

This guy did the best job.  He seemed like he knew what he was doing.  Then I learned that the person with the most experience has only been there for a week.  That was real comforting!  The one guy was in training.  Yikes!

I was confident with zip lining until we got to the towers.  We had to climb some stairs to the platforms to get there.  It was a little breezy.  The petite guide and a 10 yr. old boy doubled up because neither could make it my themselves.  It was a long zip.  They got to the other side and said for the guides sending us off to use their best judgment.  Everyone doubled up but I didn't want to double with Mike.  I knew how fast he went by himself.  I was comfortable with the speed I normally went.  I didn't want to go faster especially on one that was so long and so high.  Mike claimed that he was trying to help me out.  So he said, she can make it.  She's heavier than these other girls.  She weighs more than the girl and the boy that went first.  I was like, I know I just had a baby but I do not weigh more than them.  I know I'm not exactly small either.  I'd guess she was 115 lbs. and he was at least 85 lbs.  That's 200 lbs.  I don't weigh that.  I was a little offended.  I didn't have time to confront him since he zipped before me.  Well, it worked.  They let me go alone.  At the end, one of the guides, had to run with me going in and bring me in the rest of the way.  That made me feel better.  Without his help I wouldn't have been able to make it.  Mike said he knew he had said something wrong and accidently called me fat.  I'm glad he mentioned it before I could ask him about it.

This guy was the one in training.  Zipping took so long.  We got there at 4:45 and started at 5:00 or just after.  We didn't finish until 8:00.  Since I had left Kayzley I needed a place to pump.  While I was doing that Mike went down to the pizza parlor and redeemed our coupons.  We had some good pizza and a salad with a drink.  Then we went to the warm pools.  We thought the slide would be closed but it wasn't.  Mike went down the slides several times until he got annoyed with the kids trying to catch up to him.  They figured out a way to go faster so they would catch up to him quickly.  I thought it was too cold so I went straight to the hot pools.  Mike showed up not long after.

It was a good birthday and Mike did a super good job at making it different and special.  I love him so much for all he does and for always thinking of me.  He's so wonderful!  Being with him was the best part about my birthday!

Quinn's Birthday

Mike had to work on Quinn's actual birthday.  We celebrated it on Thursday, May 22nd.  That morning, Mike took the boys fishing.  The plan was to only take Quinn but he wanted me to be able to get some rest so he took Paxton too.  What a good husband! 

 Quinn has been fascinated with robots.  He asks almost daily for a robot for his birthday.  He wanted a robot cake.  It wasn't too bad to make. :)

 Quinn is sitting patiently here for his us to sing happy birthday to him.  It was hard to get all the adults to stop talking. 

 Robots are not sold in stores.  I had to order his robot online.  I didn't want to pay the shipping to get it here faster.  We decided on a water table for Quinn and just to give him the robot later.  Well, he still doesn't have the robot.  He was disappointed but once he got going on the water table the robot was forgotten about...for a while anyways. 

 After the birthday party and once we got home, Mike was a trooper and put together Quinn's water table.  Quinn was so excited to try it out but we made him wait until the next day.  They played with it all day long.  Quinn and Paxton both loved it!

Quinn still doesn't have his robot. Mike had decided to make Quinn earn his robot. Quinn knows about it now.  He still asks about it.  I suggested to just give it to him but Mike vetoed it.  I think it's mean since it was supposed to be for his birthday.  Now, just to get Quinn to follow through so that he can receive his robot for good!  Once he gets him he's going to love him.  I want him to have it and am excited for when he does earn it. 

On Quinn's actual birthday (May 24th) he kept getting phone calls and happy birthday wishes.  At first he told everyone that his birthday was over.  Then I explained to him that it was his real birthday.  He ate it up and loved having two days to celebrate his birthday.  I kept singing to him and trying to make is special by doing things differently.  Grandma came over with some birthday gifts she had saved.  Mike old co-worker came over too and gave him his old grandson's leap pad.  It had games already installed on it.  He wanted to do that all day.  I only let him play with it until nap time and then hid it.  I'm sure, if I let him, he'd be on it 24/7.  When he went to bed he asked why he got two birthdays.  I hope he doesn't expect that every year.

My Fishing Buddies

May 18th: The week before Mike had gone fishing with a friend.  Then the next week he took a different friend fishing.  Quinn had asked where his dad was and I explained to him he had gone fishing.  His response was, "Why didn't he take me?"  He kept asking that all day long.  Quinn had learned about fishing from books and television and decided that is something that he wants to try.  He was asking his dad to take him earlier in the week.

Right when Mike walked into the door he wanted to see the fish.  The friend that he went with actually had never gone fishing before she he wanted to measure the fish he had caught.  I handed the tape measure to Quinn.  He was so excited to see those fish.  He watched Mike gut the fish.  Paxton was quite intrigued too.  They were lucky pups to get to stay up so late!

The next day, Mike had asked Quinn if he wanted to go fishing.  He was so excited.  We had planned to go the kid's fishing pond but it wasn't opened for the season yet.  We had to find another spot.  We didn't plan to be gone for that long so we didn't pack a lunch.  We ended up being gone until past nap time.  Surprisingly the boys didn't complain about food.

Paxton liked having his own fishing pole.  Mike would cast it and Paxton loved to reel it in.  Paxton didn't understand why Mike was taking the pole away and so each time he would whine until he got it back.  He finally got he hang of it and understood the process.

Quinn tried to cast his pole himself but it wouldn't go very far.  I was worried about getting a hook in my eyebrow from him.  Mike taught him "safety first" and that helped.  We didn't catch anything and thought Quinn would be disappointed.  He wasn't.  He just liked being there.

I asked Quinn if he liked fishing and he said he wanted to do that again!  I asked Mike if he liked taking them and she responded that it was a little stressful.  He was worried about one of them falling into the water, hooking one another, or them getting hurt somehow.  He loved the time he spent with them.

I spent most of the time in the car feeding Kayzley and texting my friend.  By the time we had found our spot it was time for her to eat.  At the kid's fishing pond we got out and walked around. 

Since this experience, Mike has taken Quinn fishing a handful of times.  He enjoys it but I think the newness is starting to wear off. 

Group Pictures

These pictures were taken on April 29th.  Kayzley is 11 days old.