Poop

While this post contains more than just poop, who could resist such a catchy title?  I will be getting to that a little later.

Since my last post, Lyston has started soccer.  It's so rewarding knowing Lyston has found his life long passion.  I know, as his mother, I'm partial, but I really do believe Lyston is the best water-drinker on the team.  He drinks the most water by far (as proved in last week's game where he went to the bathroom twice in the span of one hour.)  Lyston has an intense dedication to the game as seen in this photograph:

 

He's the one sitting on the ground playing with grass in case you missed that.  Even though Lyston's interest in kicking the ball is lacking, he loves his coaches and shouting "Rattlers" at the end of the game.

 

Mother's Day Out has gone better for Lyston this year, not near as many timeouts.  He did go once this week for peeing on the playground (I thought we were past this.) The best part is that he told his teachers that I had said he needed to do that to water the grass.  What?!? 

 Lyston is quite the ladies' man.  Most of the little girls flock to him and call his name when he walks in the door.  It will take a special young lady to tame him in the future:)  I'm praying now.  Lyston told me that one friend doesn't have a daddy.  He said we should go buy her one since they are $5.

 

Levi is doing well and amazingly still alive after Lyston's attempts to pick him up and bury him with stuffed animals.  He's almost 9 months and crawling everywhere.  I've caught Levi in the dog's crate and crawling out the front door. He loves pulling himself up on everything and has even stood without holding on for a few seconds.  Levi finds Lyston hillarious (imagine that.)  We love our chunky monkey!

 

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for...the poop story.  Matt was on the floor playing with the boys when he tells me he thinks Levi's diaper needs to be channged.  I said I'd get to it in a minute or that he could do it;)  A few minutes goes by, and we notice Lyston is no longer in the room.  I go to the bathroom to investigate.  There he is on the potty, and the room smells like poop. He then informs me that he had pooped in his underwear (I thought we were past this too.) I ask him where he put the underwear.  Lyston points to the dryer which is running because I had been drying one of my shirts (he restarted it on his own.) I open it up, and there are his nasty underwear, my now nasty shirt, and one nasty smelling dryer.  Thankfully, my amazing mother-in-law told me to scrub it with water and vinegar, and the odor finally went away.  She claims this never happened to her, but I wonder what secrets of Matt's she's keeping.  This would explain so much about our son.  Just saying;)  When I asked Lyston why he pooped in his pants, he simply said, "the poopoo disobeyed God."  How can you argue with that?

 

 

 

 

Life with Lyston

Life with Lyston is many things but dull is not one of them.  Sometimes, I think God answered my prayers for an extraordinary life through this one crazy boy.  Lyston kicks the flavor of the day up to extra spicy.  No mild for this child.

Last night, I was in the kitchen cooking when I hear Lyston whoop, "Gitty-up, horsey."  I look over to the living room, and there's Lyston riding his designated horse--his 7 month old brother, Levi.  "Lyston, you never ride your little brother," I admonished.  Never expected to be saying those words one day nor most of what comes out of my mouth these days!  Levi seemed unfazed by his brother's actions. You learn to adjust in this house, whether you want to or not:)

This morning, we're getting ready to leave for BSF, and, as usual, we can't find Lyston's tennis shoes.  We searched everywhere to no avail, and Lyston ended up having to wear his crocs.  I had become very frustrated and apologized to Lyston when we were in the car for getting upset.  Lyston, the wise one, says, "Just take a deep breath, mom." I ended up finding his shoes when we got home in the laundry basket.  I guess he wanted them washed.

Not only does Lyston offer excellent advice, but he's also developed a strong prayer life.  While we are searching for his shoes, Lyston prays out loud for God to help find his shoes.  The best demonstration of his prayerfulness was right before Matt was going to give him a spanking.  Lyston bows his head and starts mumbling about not letting Daddy give him a spanking.  Matt tries to talk to him about the reason he's getting a spanking.  Lyston says, "Shhh, Daddy.  I'm praying!"  Lyston's prayers were not answered affirmatively that evening. Although, almost.  Sometimes it's so hard disciplining with a straight face.

Lyston has started back at Mother's Day Out.  Levi stays home with me.  So far no timeouts and no peeing on the playground.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed! 
We started back at Bible Study Fellowship today.  Lyston has his own class, but a class hasn't opened up yet for Levi.  So Levi got to come with me today.  He made his presence known by spitting all over me, tooting horrendous odors, and grunting loudly while pooping. I guess Levi has to compete with big brother some how!
All that said, I love my boys and thank God for choosing me for this adventure.  It may not always be pretty, but it's sure not dull!

 

 

Updates on the Boys

Lyston has been learning the art of comedic timing.  Before I can share this story, I need to present you with a bit of background knowledge for those not familiar with the critically acclaimed show, Wonder Pets.  This is Lyston's favorite cartoon which features animals that rescue other animals--genius I know.  One of the characters is a duck that sings "this...is...serious" everytime an animal is in trouble.  So, we are in the car and Lyston keeps acting up.  I turn around and tell him that the next time he disobeys, he's getting a spanking.  Lyston's response: "This...is...serious."

Some of you may wonder why Lyston is always peeing outside everywhere--birthday parties (most recently his cousins' this past weekend,) in the bushes, next to pools, and the list goes on.  I admit that we do let him pee outside at our house.  We have no neighbors and live on 50 acres of land.  We do tell Lyston not to pee outside at other people's houses, but he tends to forget this.  Today, however, I did something horrific that will only serve to promote this behavior. 
We were in the check-out line at Walmart when Lyston tells me he really needs to go to the bathroom.  I then remember that I had forgotten to have him go before we left home.  Levi is fussing because he's tired of beeing in his seat.  I have a full cart of groceries, and there's people in line behind me.  I tell Lyston to hold it a little longer.  We were already loading groceries at the car when Lyston reminded me that he really had to pee.  I start looking around the parking lot, praying to see someone we know (small town) that can watch Levi, so I can take Lyston to the bathroom.  No such luck.  It's hot.  The ice cream is melting.  Levi is crying.  So I do the unthinkable.  I put the boys in the car, drive to the back of the parking lot where there's grass, and (oh yes I did) let Lyston pee there.  And I wonder why Lyston acts the way he does...

Levi has not really been contributing to the stories I will one day publish about the boys from the sanititarium I will be committed to.  Right now we just get a lot of comments on his size:  "That's a big boy right there!"  "Is he crawling?"  "Look at that fat baby!"
We had his 4 month check-up yesterday, and he's weighing in at 17 lbs. with a height of 25 1/2 in.  Levi is a really great sleeper.  He can roll from back to stomach but not stomach to back (opposite of what most babies do.)  Levi is a terrific baby, and I have high hopes that he will be my calm child!

ER Visit #3

So Thursday, Lyston made his third appearance at the Hondo ER.  Third visit in two years.  The first trip was when he had just turned one and cut his finger on a can lid.  The second was this past August when he ran his eyebrow into a drawer (still has the scar for that one.) This third visit was by far the most serious. 
Matt and Lyston were down at the barn.  Matt had just finished welding a piece of metal, placed it at the back of the table, and told Lyston not to touch it since it was hot.  In the past, Lyston had heeded these warnings (He doesn't listen to anything else we say but has always avoided touching hot things.) I guess the temptation was too great this time. Lyston picked up the piece of metal and burned his hand. 
Matt took him to the ER (I was at home with Levi,) and the doctor determined they were second degree burns.  Lyston saw a hand specialist yesterday who said his hand should be fine (praise God!)  We just need to change the bandages daily for 2 weeks and keep it clean. The challenge will be keeping Lyston out of the dirt (which he loves) and keeping it wrapped (he's already taken it off once when he was suppose to be napping.)
Lyston's reflections on this crisis: "I won't touch metal again.  I will get a gun and shoot the metal that hurt me." 

Levi's Story
In honor of Levi turning 3 months today, I'd like to tell his story.  Many were surprised to learn of his birth since we kept the pregnancy off facebook, so I will now fill in some details.

After waiting 3 months to get Kinley's autopsy results back, we learned that a genetic cause for Kinley's brain malformation wasn't detected.  They couldn't give us a reason why Kinley's brain didn't form normally, but they had no reason to believe it was genetic.  Waiting to get that report back felt endless.  I am not a patient person, and I desperately wanted some closure and hope of future children.  Little did we know that Levi's story would involve a lot more waiting.

We found out Father's Day weekend that we were expecting baby #3.  Elated.  Grateful.  Blessed.  Yet a little fearful.  Would history repeat itself?  Would I carry this baby only to say goodbye to it shortly after it was born? 

Time seemed to stand still as we waited those first 17 weeks for the ultrasound that would look at the baby's anatomy.  It was at this appointment with Kinley that we learned of a problem with her brain, feet, and hands.  I prayed fervently that that wouldn't be the case with this baby. The ultrasound was...NORMAL--my new favorite word.  Feet -normal.  Hands-normal. Brain-normal.  Thank you, God!  Oh, and one other thing--It's a Boy!

We saw a specialist every few weeks due to the past issues with Kinley and because I had delivered her 3 months early.  It was at one of these appointments a couple days later that an ultrasound showed a spot on Levi's heart.  This spot would not affect his heart at all, but it was a possible marker for Downs.  Fear returns.  We did a quad screening which looks for abnormalities that would indicate Downs.  We waited a week and a half for the results, and they came back NORMAL (you can see why this is my favorite word!)  However, our rollercoaster ride wasn't over yet.

A month later another ultrasound showed that one of Levi's kidneys was measuring large.  This was another marker for Downs.  Also, if the kidney continued to measure large, it could mean surgery shortly after his birth. We would have to wait 7 weeks to check the kidney again to know about surgery. But it was still a marker, and we would have to wait until his birth to know if Levi would have Downs.  I'm not going to lie.  At this point, I was really discouraged and really mad.  Could God really be allowing us to go through more?  Hadn't we suffered enough?  After everything we went through with Kinley, I wanted a free pass.  I felt like I had paid my dues.  Why couldn't this pregnancy just be simple, NORMAL? 

God's answer came in the form of my favorite verse John16:33. This has been my favorite verse since 9th grade, but means so much more to me now:  "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.  In this world, you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world."  This trouble isn't a one time occurance.  It's not like "Oh, I had my trouble, so I'm good to go for the rest of my life."  This may be obvious to you, but it was a new revelation to me.  I'm not entitled to an easy life.  Jesus promised that life's going to be hard, but take heart.  And here's the best part---HE HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD!  These trials are temmporary, and our home with Him is eternal.  Ok, back to the story.

7 weeks later the ultrasound showed that the kidney looked...wait for it...NORMAL.  Our doctor also felt confident that Levi didn't have DOWNS.  He couldn't promise us that, but he felt pretty sure.  Now to wait for February...

Because Kinley was a c-section, Levi would be too.  My due date was February 22nd, but my dr. would do the c-section a week early on the 15th.  However, due to some unexpected and unexplained bleeding, we went in on February 11th, a few hours before we were suppose to be having one last date night (thanks a lot Levi;)  The doctor said everything looked fine but thought it might be good to go ahead and have the baby since we were already here.  Makes sense to me!  So, Levi Clif Blanks made his arrival Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 7:57 p.m.  And he was...that's right...NORMAL!
PRAISE GOD!!!

It's taken a lot of waiting and a lot of growing up (mostly on my part,) but we will be dedicating Levi at church this Sunday, Mother's Day.  Thank you God!  Our Bible verse for Levi is Luke 5:27b-28---" 'Follow me,' Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him."  Go with God, my precious son!

This is my first attempt at blogging.  I appologize in advance.  Some of my facebook posts have been pretty lengthy, so I thought blogging might be the way to go.  First step: blogging.  Second step: best selling novel on the antics of Lyston and Levi (they've got to earn their keep somehow.)

Lyston's thoughts on having a brother: Lyston likes to make it very clear that Levi belongs to us.  He tells people, "That's our baby.  Not yours."  Lyston has moments of interest in Levi but overall, finds him a little dull.  Before Levi was born, Lyston varied in his emotions about having a little brother.  One day he would talk about how he would share his bed with Levi, and the next day he would talk about eating the baby.  My favorite comment from Lyston during my pregnancy: "Mommy, I can get my special knives and cut the baby out for you."  Such a helper!

I hope my boys will grow up to be great friends.