Nixon and the weird EKG

Last week I went into the Doctor because we finally got insurance, and the kids really needed a check up. Oakley was in perfect shape! Needs to catch up on her immunizations, but other than that, perfectly healthy.

Nixon mainly went in for some bumps on his knee that he has, but we walked out of the office with a very different topic in mind. The doctor had listened to Nixon's heart, and told us he had a murmur. "Has anyone every told you that?" She asked. Nope. We never knew. However, when someone says heart murmur to me, it is also not a big deal. Lots of people have or murmurs and go through life without any issues. She was telling us a little more about murmurs and how it was best to be safe than sorry. Nixon was off the table, but after she explained she said, she didn't feel right about it, and put him back up on the table lying down to give it another listen. After a few seconds she said, "nope, I don't like the sounds of that" and gave us a referral for a heart specialist. Well, we quickly got into the Children's Heart Clinic, and today was the day.

Nixon went in and had to get weighed and measured, they took his EKG, and sent us off for an ultra sound. 

An EKG for those of you who do not know, is a test they do on the heart. This stick on a bunch of stickers that look like magnets on the chest and tummy, attach a bunch of cords onto them which are hooked up to a machine, and then check for any irregularities within the heart. It comes out with a bunch of lines showing the different parts/ventricles and how they are functioning. 

The specialist was the one doing the ultra sound, he said that the ultra sound looked good, but the EKG looked bad. He thought that it must have been a new person that did not know what she was doing. The technician came back into the room, and did 3 more tests, and the results where the same. Nixon was then taken to another ultra sound machine so that they could see more clear everything that was going on and make sure the heart was all connected correctly. (I am sure an educated heard person is just laughing at me right now, but I was glad that the DR dumbed things down for me.)

This is Nixon after having the first EKG, all the little red spots from the stickers being taken off, he did not like that part. But he thought the Jelly for the Ultra sounds was cool.

The conclusion: Nixon has an irregular heart muscle. It is very rare that he would have such an odd EKG, but such a normal Ultrasound. His heart is a lot like someone who has down syndrome the doctor told me. I am not sure what to think about that, does it mean it is not as strong? I know they have a lot of different things going on in a body of someone who has the syndrome, but I did not really think their heart was much different. Anyways, it is something that will need to be monitored, but nothing can really be done at this point. So it is not good news, but it is also not bad news.... the doc said he wasn't going to put any restrictions on him because I had not noticed Nixon being any different or having any shortness of breath or being lethargic very much. He said it was my discretion as his Mom, and if I saw anything different to get him in right away. I think I have been quite level headed about this. I told my parents about it, asked them a few questions, but I tell them and ask them about everything and just a few friends. The doctor told me I did not seem too concerned which is good for my child as he will pick up on that. Honestly, I am just not too concerned. Like I said earlier, its common for people to have murmur or other heart things and never have any issues. I guess I just look for the best and hope there are no issues.

Here are a few pictures to sum of the past little bit. We had an interesting Easter weekend with the vehicle vandalism happening and all....... oh brother....

 Oakley got a doll from the Easter Bunny.

Nixon's loot, plus an Easter egg hunt. 

The Lil' fishy in action.

I found a sweet deal on a wagon, and it has been a huge hit with the kids, I have used it every day since I got it.

Then this is our car....... The tires also were slashed, but it was night time, and not like you can see that they are flat... and we had nail polish on our car too, but it was just bad words... 

You can see a few drips of nail polish on the hood, and part of the letter F on the window.... 

Yup. Bad things come in 3's right?... what's next?

-K.

We love visitors!

Since we have moved here to Las Vegas, we have had the most visitors ever! But we love it!

My Mom came to stay for a week. We indulged in Cafe Rio almost daily, Jeff was getting disgusted at how much we loved it, but it was great! Nixon now says its one of his favorite places, and his face lights up when we say Cafe Rio, probably because he knows Grandma will share her pop with him.

My Mother had a girls weekend with her sisters, they had a blast. To start out their fun I refereed a massage place where I got my massage from Jeff from Valentines day. I absolutely loved it, and came away from their feeling quite relaxed and pampered, but boy oh boy was this a different experience!  I felt like I was being beaten, while my Aunts were having quite the experience as one of the massage therapists climbed on top of one of my aunts and started digging her elbows into her back! I felt horrible that I had said we should go there, wow, I will never refer a massage place ever again! I was completely embarrassed and felt horrible that they all just endured this experience, and that it was all my fault. ohhhh boy. It was bad. Really bad. They chalked it up to being quite the experience, but I am still not glad I helped them get there..... :(

Anyways, Nixon loved having his Grandma here. Nixon and my Mom have a very special bond. Nixon just absolutely loves her, and is attached at the hip with her every moment when she is around.  It could be the long summers we have spent with her every year... no matter it was, I just hope it never changes. I love that he just loves my Mom, I know that she is so special, and I am glad that he sees it too.

We have been going to the pool more and more as the water has been warming up and the hot tub is now working! It is a big thing keeping me loving it here, because I really miss family, and would love to live close to at least a sibling. Maybe someday, the great thing about Jeff being a teacher is that there are schools everywhere, so hopefully we are not in one place forever.

Here are a few pictures from our past few weeks!

Nixon's eyebrows are just hilarious! He wanted to do emotions with me and take pictures. We have been talking a lot about verbal and non verbal communication.

Oakley at a friends house enjoying the swing!

Nixon loves to play games, but HATES the old maid card!

My mom and Oakley!

Oakley, have you been in the shoes?? YUP!

We got a visit from Flat Stanley, we took him to a few of our favorite places!

My Pretty little girl!

Grandma reading to Nixon, he LOVES it!

Late night swim night. T'was great!

Oakley has been sick, fever and lots and lots of throwing up.

Grandma hanging out with Nixon, they enjoyed their little walks/bike rides.

We have been swimming lots, trying to get Nixon better and more comfortable in the water. He got this ring as a prize for jumping in 5 times!

Over Achiever.

This little girl is an over achiever.

She has been rolling since 1 month, crawling since 4 months, and standing up since 5 1/2 months. SLOW DOWN KID!!!!!! I never realized how much I love the baby stage, until I only got to see it for a little blimp! She even got her teeth pretty early, at about 5 1/2 months they started coming through. She has her 2 bottom teeth and 2 top teeth, not the middle ones, but the ones beside them... I find it quite adorable when she smiles! Here is a good pic to show her odd top teeth...

It will be only a short little while until she is walking, and she is only 7 1/2 months.

I guess Nixon was quite the over achiever though too. He crawled at 5 months, and started walking around 10-11 months.  I love little little babies that sit still and you can keep an eye on, my kids are movers and shakers though, and hardly sit still. I guess it leads to a lot of fun and adventures though, and they sure are skinny from never sitting still!

Random thought, but growing up when my Mom would hear us asking about food (and with 5 kids I am sure she heard about it all the time) she got to a point where she would almost cringe at the word food. You can ask any sibling, she hates it... and now I know why! I hear at least 20-30 times a day, Mom I am getting kind of hungry. Mom I'm hungry. Mom I need some food. Mom whats for Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner? I already hate it and I only have one kid!! So Nixon is not skinny based on the fact that he wont eat, he eats, he eats all day long!

Anyways, Nixon is also an over achiever. He has always been quite smart. He has known his ABC's since he was like 2, and has known most of his letters since 2 1/2. He also loves to count, and has been able to count to 30 since he was 2-2 1/2 years old. Recently he has been pushing me to teach him how to read an analog clock. What 3 year old asks that?!!! We have been doing a little bit of math with him, adding and subtracting with our fingers because he likes to count his bites of food or crackers he has, and add them and subtracts them all on his own..... I think the next thing I teach him will be the game UNO. He knows his colors and his numbers very well, so I think with some practice he could understand it, and think it was fun. (of course at a kid level, nothing too intense.)

Anyways, here are a few pictures from the week! Of course we hit up the pool a few times, because we LOVE it! :)

Morning snuggles...

So pretty, especially when she is sleeping

 Selfie

 Nixon and I taking a selfie. He likes to be in photos!

 Jeff ignoring me. :)

 Oakley got a picnic set for Christmas, we just let her open it, but she hardly gets to play with it because Nixon absolutely loves it.

 Swimming!

 She is just adorable!

 These things are amazing!

 First good watermelon of the year. YUMMMMM
Generally we eat a watermelon in 2 days... and we get the biggest ones we can get!

 Oakley will learn to love it too

 Nixon thought he needed a pic too

 Oakley being soo cute!

 Friday night we went to our friends house, Nixon is an inexperienced rider haha

My little girl. I just love her!!!!

That's all for now!

-K.

Terrible threes.

I am a victim of the terrible threes. Nope not terrible twos, although we did have some rough days, but the horrible terrible threes.  I have decided I need a break from my kids, and here is why....

The Cookie Theif.

The Wednesday before St. Patricks day I decided I would make some sugar cookies.  It was perfect timing because I could take more than half of them to those I visit teach, and we would have a little treat, but not too much temptation. Well apparently, Nixon had too much temptation!

I had bundled up the prettiest cookies as the ones I would give away... obviously! I had them all prepared, and had taken 3 of the plates out on that Wednesday night. I left some on a plate for our family, and put the others up higher so that Nixon could not get to them. I also put them in a Ziploc bag to make it more of a challenge for Nixon, especially since the ones he could eat were wide open on a plate! I had told him he was allowed to eat the ones from the plate, but to ask first, and not to touch the other ones. I even repeatedly showed him which ones were good and which ones were bad. Well Thursday morning I woke up and noticed a few of the cookies on the family plate missing, which was fine. I talked to Nixon, and said I would like him to ask first, but was not mad at him. Then Friday morning came. As the number of cookies had dwindled down a bit from being around a few days, I knew I  had to keep the ones for the lady I visit taught safe. I moved them to a harder spot for Nixon to get too Thursday night, and also put a piece of bread in the bag to make sure they stayed soft. Well that morning, I went into Nixons room and saw him eating a piece of bread. I knew we did not have any left in the house except for my special piece I had just put in the cookie bag last night. His reply. "Good cookies Mom!" I was ticked, but thought I could use some of our family cookies to give to my friend if Nixon had really eaten the saved ones. Nope. He had eaten the bag of 4 cookies, and either took a bite of every other cookie in the house, or ate the icing off of the top. Oh boy was I ticked! He made a HUGE mess in his room, and in the kitchen and the little turd ate pretty much ALL of the cookies. There were not to salvage and take to my friends, but she did enjoy the story, and Nixon was even there to back me up when I told her what had happened.

I have to laugh though, because I used to always find the smarties chocolates in my parents house growing up and eat them all. I guess like mother like son!

The Game Lover.

Nixon recently has had a big interest in playing games with the family. We have some kid friendly ones such as Candy-land, Snakes and Ladders, and Trouble so that we can have a fun game night with him and help him to learn how to be a good sport.

Nixon LOVES Candy-land, and any one that plays with him instantly becomes his best friend. He is pretty good at it because he loves to count, so he really doesn't even need our help unless he starts to get bored.
Nixon also LOVES to bring everything into his room, especially while I am still sleeping early in the morning. Jeff will wake up to get ready for work/school, and Nixon will be hiding things in his bed, and most recently it has been either food (we will get to another story in a minute here) or games. One morning it was Candy-land, the next Dominoes, Sequence, Things in a Box, Snakes and ladders, Trouble, decks of cards, and the worst, Dominoes. I am glad he did not go for our expensive games that we love like ticket to ride, but come on, every morning he gets a talking to about spreading these games through out the house, but he doesn't seem to care! He gets in trouble, we have tried taking toys away, time outs, spanking, NOTHING WORKS! We tell him the rules, we try to be firm, and we are being consistent, but we are not getting through to him!
Any suggestions here?
I have locked up the games in a big bin and put heavy bins on top of it to stop this for now because I do not want to have missing pieces to a bunch of games, or have them be ruined because hes three, and still drools, and does not take care of things too well... I hope tomorrow morning we do not hear a big crash and have these bins falling down on him. I just do not know what else to do! They are even in a room he is not allowed in, our guest room. All day long he doesn't even bother it, he acts like the room isn't even there... but during the night when we are all asleep, we have come to know he is really searching through it and being a pest.

Bed Bugs.

No not real bed bugs, but I told Nixon that he was going to have a bed full of bugs if he didn't stop it!

To go along with hiding everything else in his bed, Nixon has also been taking food from the kitchen, and bringing it back to his bed to eat in there. We have a rule at our house, first off no food in rooms, second of all, Nixon is not allowed to get out of his room until 8am, which is when his "alarm clock" has a sun that "comes up" to show that it is morning time. Well, it worked for us in Rexburg, but since moving here the kid hates his room, and simply is done with trying to listen to us. I have even done everything I have tried to make his room comfortable.
(Little rant ahead...)
He has a huge bed, sweet Cars sheets, lamps, and night lights. I have noticed though that our "condo" is bad for sound, and his window is right where the walkways up to the front doors on our buildings are at, so a friend of mine suggested getting him a CD player and getting the Primary songs on CD for him to listen to at night. (I am a big fan of no noise at night because I think people get too attached to the idea, and also I don't want my kids having hearing issues), but I thought it sounded like a good idea, and went ahead and got one. Nope, doesn't make a difference.
(End of rant)
Anyways, Nixon gets up in the morning, before anyone else, and very quietly goes to the kitchen and will take things like Cookies, watermelon, applesauce, bread, cereal, etc back to bed with him. Its gross. At first I tried to explain that's why we have a table, and he can come get me to help him and when he wakes up I need to be with him, but no leaving his room until the sun comes up. Then after time and time again, I am just getting mad. I have been frustrated and trying to work with him, but he is a little stinker, and will not work with me.
So again, any suggestions???

See why I need a break? I am not even exaggerating, probably I am under exaggerating all of the things he has been up to. I wish I could lock everything up, or just lock him in his room, but sometimes he will call for us at like 3 or 4 in the morning to come and wipe his bum. Who Poos in the middle of the night?! I am just glad it is in the toilet....

Anyways, if you have any suggestions please let me know. I have been trying to get to his feelings, but he's a tough cookie, and hard to break through to.

Here are a few pics from last week......

Date night with our friends Pete and Lisa.

Hanging out at our pool!

St. Patricks Day I decided Oakley was ready for the booster, she loved it!

On Sunday in sacrament, I asked Nixon to draw me an E. This was his first go EVER, I was stoked, he is a boy genius... just not the best behaved one... 

Oakley sleeps so weird. She always pushes her chin way up and looks like a snob.

-K.