JJ's tongue & lip tie

When JJ was in the NICU, I noticed right away that he made a loud clicking noise when he nursed. The lactation consultant (LC) there told me it was because I had an overactive letdown and that it would go away. I didn't think much of it.
At two months, it was really getting annoying. It wasn't so much a painful latch as it was just a very loud sound that was really not normal-sounding. I asked JJ's pediatrician if he thought it was tongue-tie (which Dr. Google told me it was) and his pedi took a quick look under his tongue with a popsicle stick and told me it looked fine. So then I was really baffled.
Nursing was getting worse at 3 months, not better. I finally caved one night and gave the poor guy a bottle instead of trying to get him to nurse. So glad I did that! I noticed immediately that he was still clicking while drinking the bottle. A lightbulb went off in my head and I just knew that this wasn't a letdown problem. Neither of my girls ever clicked when drinking their bottles, and this was the exact same bottle that they used.

Long story short(er), I ended up stumbling upon a "tongue-tie support group" where people posted pictures of their babies and the symptoms and real-life ENT specialists confirmed what they thought was wrong. I took one look under JJ's lip and knew 100% that he had a lip-tie. His tongue was harder to see under. After seeing another LC who actually knew what she was talking about, we were told he had a type 4 tongue and lip tie (type 5 is the worst). His tongue tie was a "posterior tongue tie" which means it is farther back in the mouth and thats why his pediatrician missed it at first.

The LC said he had the classic tongue-tie blister

We were incredibly blessed to find out that the only pediatric dentist in Utah who uses laser to fix tongue and lip ties on infants was only 10 minutes from our house! He was awesome and definitely knew what he was doing. The nurse said they do these "frenectomies" multiple times a day because tongue and lip ties are so common. Laser is way better than using scissors to cut it loose because it is less painful, heals quicker, and doesn't re-attach as often. Also, less blood = great.

Dr. Richter doing the laser revision:

No numbing cream, just sugar water. Thankfully it only took a few minutes to laser!

Before:

This is how far his tongue could go

After:

After! He loves sticking out his tongue now

Before:

Lip tie before

Before

After:

3 weeks after revision (LOL at his face--he is so sick of the post-laser stretches)

I am so happy that this problem is behind us now! The improvement has been like night and day! One thing I didn't expect to happen was the immediate sounds that he started making. I didn't realize it before, but JJ never babbled. The day after his revision I started noticing him "talking" and now (almost a month later) he is so vocal! It must feel nice to be able to move your tongue after having it tied down for so long! :)

Happy baby! We adore him.

easy spice rack + frame re-do

If you are on Pinterest you've probably seen the "spice rack turned book shelf" rage. I wish I could take credit for being the smarty who thought to do this with a spice rack! Seriously the greatest thing ever to happen to a $3.99 purchase at IKEA!

 Before:

After:

I spray painted it yellow. Done and done.

Here in Utah there is no Goodwill store, instead its called Deseret Industries or ("DI" if you are super cool). We love going to DI and browsing. It is quite the experience.
There are some hardcore DI'ers that I've seen waiting in the store for the "new" (donated) stuff to come out on the carts. They literally run to the carts and immediately start grabbing stuff that looks good. One couple snagged a cool dumptruck that I wanted for JJ because it was "worth something"--then proceeded to grab everything that was metal and/or wood. They obviously did this for a living, buying and then reselling for higher. Whatever, that dump truck wasn't cool anyways.

Anyways. Here is my $1 frame that I found with a very unique "homemade pulpy paper molded into the SLC temple and topped with glitter" thing (seriously, not even sure what to call it). The moment I saw it I knew it would be perfect in the girls' room above their dresser.

Before:

After:

Gray spraypaint on the frame and then scrapbook paper on the mats. Easy.

be kind.

So it was 6:00 in the evening and we were at Smith's grocery store. I had JJ in the cart and both girls were running wild behind me. They were good for the first few minutes because they got a cookie from the deli, but as soon as the cookie ended so did their calmness.

We were in the produce section and Emsley must have slipped because I turned around to see her flat on her back and an older lady with outstretched arms helping her up and asking if she was okay. It wasn't a bad fall or anything, but it was a brief moment of kindness that I appreciated.

Awhile later at the other end of the store, the girls' patience (and mine) were pretty much gone. We passed the book aisle and I saw all the awesome kids books and coloring books. So we went to that aisle and the girls started pulling books out and getting extremely excited over all their favorite characters. I attempted to put a few books away before grabbing both girls and walking away.

I was about 2-3 aisles away when this lady from the book aisle TRACKS ME DOWN and points to the books saying, "You are not going to buy those books? Those books your kids left all over the floor? You need to pick those up!"
She said a few other things that I don't quite remember because I was so caught off guard. I looked at her and motioned to my cart and toddlers (who were screaming at this point) and yelled "SERIOUSLY?!?" DO YOU SEE THEM??" (meaning my kids). I was already in a terrible mood at this point so I was in the mood for a good fight. She said something mean about how I needed to pick them up and I yelled at her that someone who works there would do it. She kept glaring and shaking her head at me and walked off as I yelled "YOU SHOULD DO IT THEN!"

So:
To the lady who helped Emsley off the floor and wiped her off:

Thank you for your kindness. You saw my baby slip and land on her back and you were genuinely concerned. You watched out for her when my hands were obviously too full. You didn't judge me for not keeping a better eye on her. You are one of the good ones.

To the hispanic lady in her 40-50's who had the audacity to come after me:

Who do you think you are?
Did you not see me trying to pick up books and get my kids out of that area, realizing quickly that it was literally impossible to get them all cleaned up? The moment I put 2 books back on the shelf, they had already gotten 5 more down. I only have two hands. They have four. You do the math.

Did you know that I didn't want my toddlers running wild, but that ridiculous store only ever has 2-3 racecar double shopping carts (when almost every person who walks through those doors has at least 2 kids)?
Did you know that with twin toddlers and a baby, not to mention a snoring husband with an early work schedule, I am lucky to get a 4 hour stretch of sleep at night? I am so tired, lady. I couldn't care less about books on the floor.
How about the fact that the only reason I was in that aisle was so that I could get a stolen minute of peace to figure out where to find a special lotion for my baby who has eczema getting worse by the day? (Which I never did find, thanks to you).
You saw my burden, I clearly pointed them all out to you in my anger, and yet your only mission was to embarrass and harass me.

It would have been so easy for you to pick up those books for me and move on. So kind, even. You were with a daughter my age, who had a baby around the same age as mine, and yet you followed me through the store just to call me out.
Shame on you. Not me. YOU. You made me cry, as much as I hate to admit it.

And while we're on the topic of manners, you and your daughter both saw me in that book aisle and wouldn't move your cart over no matter how many times I tried politely to get around you. You were speaking spanish then, so maybe I should assume that in your country that is how they do things. But here at the Lehi, Utah Smith's, I really doubt anyone cares about a bunch of books left on the floor.
Unbelievable.

This experience is a reminder to me of how important it is to be kind to complete strangers because you never know what they are going through :)
{and perhaps also a reminder never to shop at stores without double carts...}

Little things

Here are a few little things that I never want to forget.

The rolls on these chunky legs:

Thighs in the mirror are larger than they appear 

Calm down, ladies. 

The hair on these ear lobes:

It was much thicker as a newborn...*tear*

Squishing ants and chalk scribbles everywhere:

Can someone teach them that chalk is not allowed inside?

Looking at the clouds for the first time:

Not sure why they chose to lay on the hard concrete instead of the grass...

Emsley's "cheesy face":

Naked with popcorn, water, and a soft blanket...living the dream.

This sleeping face:

Waiting for "trash man" every Thursday and the excitement when he finally gets to our street:

They are obsessed. "TRASSSHHH MANNN WHERE AWWW YOU?!"

Joel's baby blessing

We did Joel Jr's baby blessing at the Smyrna Ward on our last Sunday in Tennessee. It went great and we managed to get a picture of all 11 cousins together at once. Getting them all to look at the camera...not so much. Out of the 11 kids, 8 of them are 3 and under. It is so much fun (and so CRAZY!) when they are all together!

From left to right:
Henry, Brandon, Sam, Joel Jr, Allison, Chloe, Summer, Emsley, Sophia, Emma, Lily

And a few of our first pictures together as a family of 5 :)

kids table re-do

Last year I got this kid's table and stools from my sister-in-law Emily. I had big plans of repainting it, but being pregnant and moving across the country put those plans on hold...until now!

Here is the before:

Sorry this pic is blurry--it used to be a cute brown and white but had lots of chipping and coloring on it

And here is the after:

I used Behr "Intense Teal" for the table and stools, and then I had that same shade lightened about 75% at Home Depot with white paint (AKA: "Not-So-Intense Teal"). Thats what I used for the center piece and the numbers. I used stencils for the numbers and then put Polycrylic (my favorite topcoat EVER) on top of everything to prepare for the massive amount of destruction that is soon to come from the girls. I hope this table still looks cute after all the crayons, food, sticky stuff, etc!

 

They approve :)

Summer vacation 2013 {picture overload}

This past month we spent two weeks visiting family in Tennessee! It was a great time--the girls pretty much went non-stop from the moment they woke up to the moment they went to sleep every day! Nothing wears a kid out more than playing all day with cousins and swimming pools!

The 3 1/2 hr plane ride to Nashville wasn't terrible as soon as we got in the air. The terrible part was waiting almost an hour just sitting on the tarmac because our plane was "overweight". Two year olds do NOT have that sort of patience. It was rough. A huge thank you to Nana and Grampa for sending these awesome laptops for our trip! The girls loved them.

Summer

Emsley (sitting next to daddy)

Before this trip the girls really hadn't ever swam in a pool so I wasn't sure if they would love it. Silly me! They took about 30 minutes to figure it out once we first put on their "puddle jumper" floaties and then they were swimming around like little fish! Love those floaties--best invention ever!

Swimming with their cousin little Emma behind them!

Just chillin!

Playing outside at Auntie Em's house:

Emsley and Allison

Summer was SO proud of herself for swinging like a big kid!

Picnic! Brandon, Alli, Emmy (left), Henry, Lily, Summer (right)

We went to the Discovery Center (children's museum) two times!

Summer SO excited to see the turtles 

Emmy checking out the birds

JJ is not impressed LOL

The girls rode their first train at the 4th of July celebration. And cried huge tears when the ride ended. Haha! They are obsessed with "choo choos".

Nonstop coloring, all day every day.

Triplets! Cousin Lily has almost the exact same hair as the girls!

And lastly, Joel and I got to have a few date nights! So fun especially since we never go out in Utah because its hard to find a babysitter who can handle two hyper 2-year olds and a newborn. We played mini golf and arcades!

I wish I had more pictures of all the kids together, but unfortunately I forgot my camera and so these are all from my phone. No pictures of Sophia and Chloe or Sam and Emma. Darn it! Oh well.