Drum Roll Please ….

Baby Boy Howard-Kramer # 3 will be arriving at the end of the year. We are thrilled to be adding another boy to the brood. I mean really who wouldn’t be thrilled with just how freaking adorable Jackson and Wyland are? I know every mother thinks their kids are beautiful so take it for what it’s worth. Jackson’s curls were to die for and people would stop me all the time to tell me how cute they are. Wyland’s hair is equally as cute in a straight way. I LOVE his little Beatles haircut he’s sporting. People stop me equally as often to tell me how gorgeous his big eyes are. So that begs to question WHAT or should I say WHO will this next little boy look like? I don’t think that either of my boys look a whole lot like Jeramie’s side of the family so this one could be the one. None of my kids have brown eyes. Guess we’ll just have to wait for several more months to see. Wyland looked so much like Jackson when he was born and very little like him now. So it’ll be really interesting. For now, here’s a few more pictures of the little guy.

Below is his face, with his hand on his right side.

A profile face shot, with arm and hand laying across.

Call me crazy but how could you not think another one of these guys will be adorable??

Just think of three of them!!

One of the greatest baby inventions EVER.

When I was expecting Wyland I was really concerned about him being the 3rd child and me only having 2 hands. Especially since Jackson was just going to be two. Granted he was walking of course which is good and bad. So I was on the hunt for a GOOD baby carrier (you know the kind you wear). We’re a very active family and so we spend lots of time out and about. I had purchased a double stroller but sometimes that really isn’t practical either. I had a carrier for Jackson but it had all these hard parts on it and when he was really tiny it really didn’t offer him any comfort to any degree. When I had Baylee I had tried one of these infamous “slings”. It was a waste of money. I’m sure it didn’t help that she didn’t have the muscle tone in the first place to keep her chin up off her chest and therefore compromised her ability to breath. But with Wyland it was a different story. I found a Peanut Shell at Target.com. I purchased it online since there was the wide variety of sizes and fabrics. I FELL IN LOVE!! It was the best thing ever! It was slightly easier on my back that any other baby carrier I had ever tried. It was a fabric that had stretch in it. It was thin, which for a June 30th baby, it was important that he not get too hot in there. I quickly figured out how to get him in and out pretty quickly and when in he felt pretty secure. Now I’m not saying that you can walk around and have 2 hands free. I always had one hand on the baby, but not supporting his weight or anything. It just made sure he didn’t bounce too much or helped to assure me he wasn’t going anywhere without me knowing it. I used that sling until Wyland was walking. So I used it in the hip carrying mode too. This was equally as amazing. Really helped distribute his weight well and still enable me to do what I needed to. Not to mention you can fold it up and pack it most anywhere. Folds pretty much to the size of a receiving blanket. AND you can throw it in the washer too. I mean seriously I couldn’t provide a better recommendation for anyone out there looking for this kind of solution. I have told total strangers whom I’ve seen looking at these things in the store how great they are and where to get them. I’ve had people stop me while I was wearing it and asking how I liked it because they’ve thought about getting one. They are AMAZING!! Totally worth the $40 it’ll cost you. You can also find them clearance online too.

LOVE IT

Oh .. and if you go back in my old posts to June 2009 you'll see my trip to England with Wyland.  I walked all over London and Wales with Wyland in the Peanut Shell.  It was the perfect travel companion!!

P.S.  Hilary you got me thinking about this and now you know what I was talking about in my comment on your blog. 

Wordless Wednesday

Diet Update - Week 2

So Monday is the big weigh in day for Baylee.  Last week we had a pretty good week sticking to the plan.  She lost 5 pounds!!  So that's a total of 6 pounds so far.  Keep in mind though that I weighed her in the morning instead of evening (which I'd done the two weeks before).  So I don't expect big 5 pound weight loss again.  Just getting consistent with the weigh in time.

She's doing really well.  Hasn't fussed about the fact that I cut in half one of her favorite portions.  She used to eat 1 whole Lean Cuisine or Smart One for dinner (which if you've seen those it's NOT like that's a lot of food to begin with).  She now only gets half of one.  And then salad on the side.  Last night she told me not too much salad because she gets full!  I give her lots because I want her to feel like it's a big plate of food.  So now I just kind of spread it out in a thin layer.  She's happy as a clam.  I've got her menu down to about 900 calories per day.  That gives us a little wiggle room when she sneaks a little something off her brothers dinner plate.  All in all it was a good week though!

Was it Pioneer Day?

We were originally supposed to go camping this weekend however we couldn't find a campsite to reserve that included a tent spot.  Normally this isn't a problem however this weekend we had traded because of some commitments Jeramie's kids had with their mom and so because there isn't room in the trailer it meant we needed a site with space for a tent.  Jeramie was already conjuring up all the ways we could all squeeze in the trailer.  When push came to shove it just wasn't going to work this weekend so we had to settle for a day trip.  So up the canyon we headed, a 3 car caravan (that's Evan and Rachel in front of us).

Now my dad's boat is supposed to only seat 8 people.  The majority of the time we actually have 9 people, but we count Jackson and Wyland as 1.  It's my parents, Evan and Rachel and then us Howard-Kramer's.  Mike and his family only come occasionally and so when we have Jeramie's kids or Mike and his fam we then have to rotate in and out of the boat which is no big deal.  So this weekend I suggested that we go to Deer Creek because I had seen people walking up on the ledge along side the lake so I thought it would make for a good little hike / nature walk.  Rachel cut her hand earlier this week so she was out of water activities and decided to join us as well.  It was BLISTERING hot!  And there is NO shade along this trail.  I think we found the one and only tree that provided shade along the way so that Baylee could sit and have a rest. 

Along one side of the trail were the Heber Creeper railroad tracks,

The other side was Deer Creek Reservoir.

Baylee and Grandma took a rest under the tree.

Rachel and I headed up the trail a little further.

Heber Creeper came by once.  It's just a pretty lake!

Along the way there were pretty wild flowers.

We hiked for about 2.5 hours and then headed to the day use area for

a little lunch.

This kid is growing up WAY too quickly.

Wyland doesn't love the wind in his hair.

He usually hides under a towel when the boat is moving.

After lunch Evan and Rachel had to head out so us ladies jumped on the boat to watch a little tubing.  Jonathan (Jeramie's oldest) wanted to try wakeboarding for the first time this year.  He didn't manage to get up this time.  But for most it does take a couple trips before they get the hang of it.  So after spending the morning trying to learn to wakeboard it was time to bring the tube out for some hold on for your dear life fun!

Jeramie and Jonathan

(J'Von had joined them for one run and got scared and came right off)

Then Dad went out there with them too.

It was only ever Jeramie that fell off.  SO funny to watch.

We also did some swimming too.

Jackson had lots of fun just climbing up and down the ladder.

Jeramie, J'Von, Jonathan

Jeramie with all but one of his boys.

Wyland's hair just blows in the wind!  So cute.

We had a really great day!  We didn't head down the mountain until 7:30pm that night and went straight to our house for some dinner and fireworks.  Mike and his crew joined us at the house while we set off our own fireworks one last time this month.  It was so much fun.  It's been awhile since we've had a big group at our house but what a great day we had!!

Life with Prader-Willi Syndrome

So as most of you know Baylee was born with Prader-Willi Syndrome.  It's not something that can be cured.  There's all kinds of different things that come with this diagnosis.  To name just a few:  low muscle tone, low IQ, chronic feeling of hunger, metabolism that utilizes drastically fewer calories than normal leading to life-threatening obesity.  It's a genetic disorder and the chances of myself having another child with PWS are about as likely as my next door neighbor.  PWS affects the entire family in a big way.  The biggest health issue is weight management. Basically the cards are completely stacked against Baylee in this respect.  She can eat WAY less than everyone else and still gain weight like there's no tomorrow.  Her brain tells her she's hungry ALL the time.  This means that MUST have constant supervision around food.  It means she isn't allowed to eat what everyone else eats.  She's always treated differently when it comes to meals.  This is hard for people to understand.  Most of us don't think twice about getting our kids an ice cream for instance on a hot day.  Baylee shouldn't have those things, and it's hard for her to watch those around her indulge while she is excluded.  All that being said she's a very sweet and loving person.  Fortunately in many ways she is oblivious to the fact that she is different.  It's a blessing that she doesn't notice the people staring at her because of her weight, she doesn't hear the rude comments people make because she talks loudly. 

Baylee in the NICU.

She was a beautiful baby!

Baylee and Grandma at the adaptive park.

So what does this mean at our house?  What is it like living with PWS?  For one thing we have a sturdy baby gate at the top of the stairs.  This prevents Baylee from going downstairs to the kitchen in the middle of the night to help herself to food.  (because she would if she could)  The gate alone was fine for many years.  But then she started cutting the zip ties we secured it with nightly so we were constantly hunting down scissors to hide.  We're lucky that Jeramie works for ADT Security because we now have an alarm system set up in our house that has some special adaptations for Baylee. The baby gate upstairs now has a contact point on it, so if she opens it in the middle of the night it sets off the alarm.  She did that about twice and now NEVER attempts it.  Ahh .. it's so nice!  Then last week after Baylee snuck a huge bag of cantaloupe and ate all by two pieces we now have a contact on the kitchen refrigerator.  So every time we open the fridge it beeps twice and says "Kitchen Open".  LOL .. we're surrounded by chimes all the time, but the good news is that she can no longer go into "stealth mode" (which she is REALLY good at) and sneak something out to squirrel up to her room.  Another huge relief.  I imagine it won't be too long before we will have to find a way to better secure the pantry type food that we don't have a pantry to put in.  However, for now we have measures in place to provide food security.

Sleep Study

This requires an overnight stay at a sleep center with ALL THIS attached to her all night.

So what are some others ways we cope with the PWS.  And this is actually what I originally was planning to blog about and then realized that people probably need some back ground information.  Every week I write up a weekly menu for Baylee.  I'll tell you I'm good at this sometimes and suck at it other times.  Putting so much focus on food on a daily basis when you work full time and also have 2 other small children to juggle as well isn't easy.  Rather than beating myself up about it I just get back on the horse and start again.  Okay, well sometimes I beat myself up too.  So we're back on the wagon this week with our weight loss efforts.  So far I've been mainly focusing on food alone.  Once I feel good about that routine and balancing it all then we'll introduce more exercise as well.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I deal with things like this one step at a time.  If I try and do it all at once it's hard and I end up giving up.  So like I said each week I put together a menu.  Right now my focus is to keep her below a 1000 calorie diet.  Do you know how HARD that is??  It's not many calories.  However, Baylee does really well with a plan.  If meals are planned out then she knows what to expect and she doesn't drive me crazy asking about her next meal.  She has scheduled times as well.  This helps too.  Since I'm at work all day and right now she's home from school it presents a unique challenge.  The school environment is structured enough that she can't get at "other" things.  At home however she's babysat by my mother in law.  Well as wonderful as Robie is she hates to say no to Baylee, especially when the boys are eating corn dogs or whatever.  It's hard and I'll be the first to say it.  However, I have come to learn that it's way harder on me than it is on Baylee.  So in order to control the situation as best I can I continue to make Baylee's lunch each day.  This way it's all in a box and there's no question.  If mom hasn't put it in the box then you don't get it.  I think it makes it easier for Robie too.

Right now here's a typical day for Baylee:

Breakfast:  1/2 cup Egg Beaters, 2 slices diet wheat bread, 1 tbsp sugar free jelly, 1 cup chocolate milk (w/ sugar free syrup)

Lunch:  1 turkey sandwich (diet wheat bread, 1 tbsp FF Mayo, 3 slices turkey), 1 serving of fruit, then either a FF yogurt or sugar free jello, Crystal Light to drink.

Snack:  1 serving of fruit or Carrots w/ FF ranch, 1 diet soda

Dinner:  HALF a Lean Cuisine or Smart One frozen dinner (yes .. only half), side salad w/ FF ranch, cooked carrots w/ 1 tbsp of FF ranch for dipping, 1 diet soda.

A typical dinner.

So what's the upside to some of this?

You can't help but see that she's special.

Grandma is her favorite person in the WHOLE world.

She is an AMAZING big sister.

She's a trooper when it comes to medical crap.

Here she is with her CPAP that she has to wear every night.

Never has she complained about it ever.

Did I mention she's an amazing big sister?

She's a GOOD friend.

Comforting her friend after she ran a race and was upset.

And this guy .. yep she has him wrapped around her finger!

I'm proud to be her mom.

She makes me a better human being.

Baylee lost 1 lb last week.  We had a rough weekend and will be better at sticking to the plan and establishing our habits this week.  One day at a time, here it is Thursday and so far we've had a REALLY good week.  I can't wait to see the shedded pounds they are the fruits of our labor.

Things I love best about babies.

In no particular order:

The way they smell. So clean and babylike.

The way their skin is so loose. Like wrinkled miniature old people.

That they let me hold and cuddle them until my heart is content. Plus the fact that they like this as much as I do!

That they are just this warm buddle of love.

Their facial expressions when they sleep.

Their perfect tiny fingers and toes.

That they let me put cute hats on them and make no attempt to remove them.

That I can take them anywhere and they are always good!

The feel of their skin against mine.

That I can dress them however I want and they don’t complain.

Their perfect little lips.

The way they feel sleeping in my arms.

That for the first 2 months at least I get to take care of them all by myself. Then it’s back to work I go.

I love wrapping them up in the perfect swaddle. My little burrito baby.

I love watching them sleep.

Blogging about Blogging

So I’ve read at least 2 blog posts in the past week about people blogging about blogging. Not that that topic in itself is so weird. But it just got me thinking. So the first lady was saying that she was at church and there was this sermon about how you should give something up that is very meaningful to you. The first thing that popped into her head was blogging. She loved it so much but wasn’t clear on the meaning of it in her life anymore and something along the lines of if she loved it so much then perhaps she would hold it more loosely, not put so much value. I’m sure I’m not totally capturing the entire meaning but that’s kind of what I took from it looking back a week later. So she will no longer blog for awhile, perhaps forever. Then this other lady was talking about how she went to this Mothers Retreat thing and the ladies were discussing what makes them feel like they are failing as mothers. She said that predominantly all these ladies immediately pointed to blogs! REALLY?? I mean if you are reading something that makes you feel bad about yourself then WHY would you keep reading it? Blogging is a choice, just as much as reading them is. Now it’s not to say that this lady was agreeing, in fact she wasn’t. Her point was that people tend to only blog about the happy moments in their lives and blah blah blah. Everything is Rainbows and Butterflies. I didn’t comment on either post, firstly because I don’t know them and secondly because I don’t like to leave random not nice comments on anyones blogs, including those that belong to strangers.


But that’s what got me thinking. I don’t think that I paint a perfect life. If anything I make an effort not to only blog about things that bug me. Because there’s plenty of that stuff out there. And when you blog about something negative then all of a sudden people start thinking you’re talking ABOUT them which often isn’t even true. But if you’re thinking that then perhaps you need to think about it some more because clearly you’re relating to it somehow. I don’t even think that the blogs that I read (certainly of friends and family) tend to only be about fun stuff. By no means is anyone going to throw out there for the world to read that they’re having money problems or marital problems. So of course you have to take it with a grain of salt because don’t we all have those problems every now and then? But they tend to quickly blow over or become resolved. It’s the good stuff that we want to remember years from now, so of course we blog about that. Blogs (at least mine) often include so many pictures, people don’t take pictures of the bad stuff do they?? So that would lend itself to less blogging about bad stuff.

Why is it so hard for people to have basic good manners these days?

And what’s more important, why do I care? People who lack basic manners truly drive me crazy! Why do people feel “weird” about being appreciative? Without a doubt myself and my brothers were raised with stellar manners. If we don’t demonstrate them then it’s not from lack of knowing we should, apparently we’re just being lazy. I know that sometimes I forget to use my manners and truly it’s not intentional. My point being that I am not perfect and certainly am not under the impression that I am. But it’s the little things, like holding a door open for a stranger .. so few people these days say “Thanks”. If anything I feel kind of silly when it’s a set of double doors and I say it twice! And then there are the half-hearted ones. Like someone knows they are expected to say thanks so they stare at the floor and mumble it. Really? There is nothing genuine about this and you aren’t fooling anyone.


But is there something wrong with expecting a “Thanks” when it’s deserved? It’s not like people do things only with the intention of being thanked for it. But still, it’s rude right? Oh and how about when people don’t say “Hello” and/or “Goodbye”. So much of this is really predominant for me in the work environment. When I very first started working at my current job (and I’m talking like 4 years ago) I had a team of people who complained that I didn’t say “Hello” and “Goodbye”. None of these people even work here anymore so I don’t feel too bad using this as my example. But let me tell you they were everything else EXCEPT welcoming when I first started working here. WHY would I want to go out of my way to be nice to people that flat out went out of their way to be horrible to me! That first year was rough! I have been managing teams of people for going on 15 years now. So I do have some experience in this area. Let me tell you the people you manage will ALWAYS hold you to a much higher expectation than they hold themselves. But this seems to be a common theme pretty much wherever I go. And if I’m honest I may be guilty of that too, holding my own boss to a higher standard just because they’re paid more or rank more importantly. The same can be said for kids towards their parents and so on.

At the end of the day though shouldn’t we all strive for the same set of basic manners?

1. Say PLEASE when you are requesting something of someone.

2. Say THANK YOU when anyone does something nice for you.

3. YES PLEASE and NO THANK YOU pretty much should go hand in hand.

4. Say HELLO when greeting people or encountering people.

5. Say GOODBYE when leaving.

6. Say SORRY when you hurt someone (emotionally or physically), whether you meant to or not.

7. Hold a door open for someone, be aware of those around you.

8. As mothers let’s teach our boys that there is no such thing as WOMANS WORK!

9. And you know what, sometimes it IS nice to do something to help someone, even if it isn’t convenient for you. It’s just good Karma.

10. Don’t judge someone on the outside, you have NO IDEA what their life is like. Unless they share it with you .. you just don’t know.

11. Treat people how you wish to be treated. That’s a pretty good rule of thumb don’t you think?

With all these things you have to say it and MEAN IT. If you aren’t being sincere then you probably aren’t fooling anyone.

I by no means think I am good at all these things. They are things I strive for when I stop to think about it (or blog about it as it may be). But I think anybody that would sit there and say they do all these things and live all these values, frankly you’re lying to yourself. As a mother these are ALL things that I hope to pass on to my children. It will help them be better friends, better spouses, be respected in the work place and hopefully more successful in life with all of the different relationships they will maintain. Everyone says that Customer Service is going to crap these days. Well doesn’t it ALL begin with an individual? If we all worked to be better at our basic manners wouldn’t it improve everything?

To answer my beginning question, “why do I care?” Hmm .. I guess I care because I want more for us all. We all deserve to be treated better don’t we? We all deserve to feel appreciated.

Wyland's Two Year Doctor Appt.

I truly can’t stand taking my kids to well baby appointments. I know these are important to help catch things that could possibly be going on that aren’t normal. But for me it means leaving work early one day and rushing to pick up said child. Then rushing to get to the doctors office on time, only to be left waiting well over half an hour PAST my appointment time. Then they spend a whopping 10 minutes looking the kid over just to tell me how cute they are and everything looks good. By kid number 3 I can tell them if something is out of the ordinary.

The great thing about the 2 year appointment though is it’s the last appointment for 3 years that they have to get shots at. WOOHOO! I spend a great deal of time though the day of feeling so sad that my poor baby has to get stuck with giant needles. So off we went to the doctors just Wyland and myself. We got there and waited the mandatory 20 minutes past our scheduled time before being seen. Then we headed back with the nurse. Wyland however was NOT in the mood. He flat out refused to get on the scale. Wouldn’t stand .. wouldn’t sit. Finally I said to her in defeat can I just get on by myself and then with him and we can figure the difference? Like I really want to climb on the scales to reveal my own weight! It worked and we got his weight. Then he refused to stand on it again for his height. So with a death grip I laid him on that paper on the table so she could mark his length and then measure it after. I’m convinced that his height was nowhere near accurate this way. I don’t think he’s overly tall. All the while I have to be the one that measures his head circumference, take his temperature. And every time the nurse comes anywhere near him he grunts, “UH UHHH” (as in no). He was SO uncooperative. I remember Jackson having the same kind of visit but his was at his 18 month appointment. Thank goodness I think it gets better from here.

Anyway once the doctor came in he wasn’t feeling anymore cooperative than before. He stuck to his two syllable “uh uhh” to answer every single question she asked. On the little survey I had to fill out it asked whether he spoke between 20-30 words. I marked yes because the kid has a HUGE vocabulary. So at the end of the appointment when he still hadn’t uttered a single real word she said sometimes she has kids come back at 2 ½ years old. Since she hadn’t heard him talk she thought this would be a good idea. Umm .. really? Not going to happen lady. 20-30 words far underestimates the number of words he can clearly pronounce. He can speak in complete 3-4 word sentences when he wants to. Sorry but NO WAY am I going to pay another co-pay, take another afternoon off work, and wait for well over 30 minutes past my appointment time just to prove to you the kid can talk. Not going to happen. We’ll see you in a YEAR.

Oh and my little chunk muffin weighed 30 lbs. That puts him in the 75th percentile for his weight. They measured him at 36 inches long which puts him in the 95th percentile for his height (I don’t buy that one though). You would think she would have re-measured him. At least we’re done with Well Baby appointments for a little while.

Camp K

So every year Baylee goes to Camp Kostopulos.  It's an overnight camp for kids and adults with disabilities.  She has a BLAST every year.  She goes for a week and it always goes by way to quickly for her.  They do fun stuff with the kids like swimming, horseback riding, canoeing, and hikes.  The past couple of years we've coordinated with the Utah Prader-Willi Association and made sure she went with other PWS kids.  This means that their diet is better monitored and the UPWSA even takes up some special items for them like fat free Ranch and sugar free pudding.  This also guarantees that she goes with other kids she knows every year.  Ironically enough when I first started working at Discover Card they do their annual United Way drive where they get people to sign up for payroll deductions that you can choose to donate anywhere.  I actually chose Camp K and at the time didn't even know that we would actually benefit from it years later.  An ironic coincidence.  Camp K is such an great organization and I feel so lucky that Baylee gets to experience "camp".  So if you're ever looking for a charity to donate to think of Camp K. 

They get awards at the end of their stay and this year Baylee got the Best Singer award. I believe it had something to do with Miley Cyrus, "The Climb".  Her favorite song for sure.  Anyone that knows Baylee knows how much she loves Miley Cyrus and singing!!  So this probably comes as no surprise.  Thanks Dad for taking the quick picture!

Wyland's Age 2 Pictures

Other than his 6 week pictures these are Wyland's first professional pictures all by himself.

  I am so pleased with how they turned out!