Monday, March 1st, 2010

So my parents should have guessed that my transition from the crib to the toddler bed went way too easily! Now, many months later it is coming back to bite them. I am definately going through a phase in regards to my sleeping (or should I say lack there of). In the last few weeks it has progressively gotten worse. It started with me sitting up in bed, then I started to stand up in bed, then I wanted to jump in my bed, then I started pushing my bed away from the wall and now I am actually getting out of bed and falling/hiding underneath it. Initially my parents would just have to sternly tell me to lay down and I would get my act together. Then they would have to start walking over to get me to lay down. Then a pat on my bottom was enough to relay the message. Well it has gotten to the point now that when Daddy walked over I turned over on my tummy and stuck my bottom up in the air for my "pat" with a big grin on my face! Yes, I am winning these battles and having a lot of fun doing it!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Almost two years ago my parents filmed one of my trach changes so curious family and friends could see what it was like. Now, over 11,000 views later on YouTube my parents decided it would be fun to film it again and see how things have changed. Enjoy!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

It's official we are now suffering from MTS in our household. MTS is short for multiple tank syndrome. Several weeks back we discovered we had two fish babies. One managed to make it in the tank for a few days the other close to a week. Although we would like to believe they passed away peacefully, most likely they were eaten by the adult fish. Imagine our surprise when we saw three new babies in the tank today! They were teeny tiny and we knew they would not last long if left with the adults so Mommy begged Daddy to find a way to keep them apart from the rest of the fish. Daddy came back from PetSmart a little while later with a brand new tank to house our baby fish - it's the fish nursery! If you look closely you can see our three new fish babies enjoying their new tank.

After a yucky rainy night it was a cold and overcast day but I got to go with my parents to run some errands. Now that Daddy is my weekend night nurse first stop was to find a blow up mattress he can use to sleep on in the living room. Not very glamorous but it works! While out shopping we also went to find me a bike helmet. I am a pro riding my tricycle around the house but now that it is starting to warm up, my parents are going to let me ride outside. Before I can do that, though, they told me I had to get a bike helmet. There were lots of cute helmets to choose from and I settled on Abby from Sesame Street. It's a little big but they don't make them any smaller. Unfortunately, I am not the typical kid and two problems quickly presented themselves - my hearing aids get in the way and my unusually small chin doesn't work well to keep a chin strap on. My Daddy is a pro at modifying things for me so I am sure he will find a way to make it work.

Mommy took me to the park in the evening to play and I had a great time - and a wet backside from the slides. Before bed I got to play around on the blow up mattress (it's an awesome trampoline!) and then Mommy read me some stories in bed. Great day.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Friday, February 26th, 2010

It's been a long week with Mommy out of town. She left Monday afternoon to go to Salt Lake for work and didn't get back until last night. Daddy has done a great job of taking care of me and made sure I got time to talk to Mommy in the morning after I woke up and at night before bed time.

This morning both Mommy and Daddy were anxious to get back to their egular work routines but Mommy was in for a surprise. When Lucille came to work she told Mommy she needed to talk with her. She said she has been having a lot of back pain and although surgery isn't scheduled until the end of April she won't be able to keep working until then. Mommy said she would call the agency when they opened to see about working something out for next week but Lucille said she couldn't even work today and would need to leave. Mommy had a conference call in less than an hour not nearly enough time to get a replacement so she waved goodbye to Lucille and scrambled to get me set up with movies and snacks so she could hop on the call.
It was interesting to say the least - Mommy trying to focus on a conference call while running after me and Yo Gabba Gabba blaring in the background. After several hours on the phone, Mommy and I got to spend some time together in between her checking emails. She wasn't able to get much work done today but I had fun! Later, the agency called and told her that Lucille would be back to work Monday on pain meds that shouldn't impact her ability to care for me. Mommy is crossing her fingers that it will all work out.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

That's right - future MD!

Peyton Nicole Smith

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Although it looked like it could start raining at any time, my parents made good on their promise yesterday to take me to the park today. We even brought Henry and Chili along for the fun. Unfortunately, some people showed up with a St Bernard and yellow Lab that they took off leash so while Daddy was busy protecting my brothers by keeping them far away from the big dogs, Mommy and I got to play on the ladders and slides. On the walk back home, Chili got pretty tired so he rode in the stroller with me the rest of the way - too cute! Once home, I wanted to walk the doggies myself but Mommy didn't think that was a good idea but she let me hook up a leash to my stuffed doggie and I dragged that around the house for quite a while.

Peyton Nicole Smith

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Now you've all seen me count from 1-10 but today during a visit from my hard of hearing teacher I was tested on number recognition. I already recognize my letters so maybe Mommy shouldn't have been surprised that I could point out my numbers too but she still was. 6 and 9 were a little tricky but Kirsten tried several numbers just to make sure it wasn't luck and it wasn't!

I had been complaining all day that my bottom hurt and in the evening when it was time for a diaper change it was clear why - I had a serious diaper rash that seemed to come out of nowhere. Daddy put on a lot of diaper rash ointment and then Mommy suggested a little Tylenol to help with the pain. One of the benefits of the g tube is that I don't ever have to taste nasty medicine if I don't want to - it can go right in the tube - no fuss no mess. Today I decided that I wanted to give myself my own meds so Daddy let me help. Once the meds were in, though, I wanted to continue using a syringe to put things in my button. So Daddy let me add some water a few cc's at a time. Being that I had just finished a feeding and my tummy was extra full, Daddy changed from a 10 cc syringe to a 6 cc syringe and finally to a 1 cc syringe! Once Daddy filled it with water I got pretty good and was able to put the syringe in my button and push the water in. As Daddy said in the video - they're in trouble now!!

Peyton Nicole Smith