Tyler's appointment, Christmas and Jill's 9 months

Okie dokie, this post will be all over the map;
Wednesday December 22 was the long awaited nuerology appointment. And it was a total fail. The guy is looking at the MRI as we walk by to the room, then comes in, does your basic exam stuff (stand on one foot, follow my finger, that kind of stuff) then tells us that the cyst is not causing any pressure therefore is not the problem. Then he asks us if we've been seeing a neurologist (?!!) We said, we thought that's what we were here for, and he says all snotty like, "No, I'm a neuroSURGEON, I only deal with things that require surgery, a nuerologist deals with all the other stuff that doesn't need surgery" So basically, we waited two and a half months for the WRONG doctor. And we sent that MRI down to him before he'd even let us get an appointment to "make sure we don't waste his time or yours" so if he actually looked at it (doubtful) then why didn't he call and say, the cyst isn't your problem, look elsewhere? Tyler has had to deal with this horrible pain and dizzyness for 4 months now, and it could have been taken care of by the time we all sat around on our butts waiting for the WRONG doctor to do absolutely nothing. Annoying.
Anyway, on to happier things, Christmas was great. Tyler got me some pearls, I love them. I feel so grown up. lol! Kari had a whole pile of presents, I think we went a little overboard. But Jill quite a few things too. lol! The kids woke up at about 8:30 and then we opened presents (which took forever because the kids kept getting distracted) by the time we'd opened everything, then got everything out of the packaging to throw all the garbage away and put together whatever needed "some assembly" it was about 12, an hour later we all went to this year's Christmas in Ice and had our picture taken with Mr and Mrs Claus (the REAL Santa) I told him he should take a nap and he says, "oh hoho! When?" :) Funny guy. We didn't really do Christmas dinner. We had home made chicken soup (yum) instead because with all the stress and stuff with Tyler's issues I didn't really feel like doing a big huge production.
The next day was Jillian's 9 month day. It's crazy to think that it's already been 9 months. Here are some things about Jill:
She has been sleeping through the night for almost a month (yay!!)
She will NOT take a bottle, she will steal Kari's sippy cup though and drink whatever is in it.
The ONLY baby food she will eat is sweet potatoes, everything else we feed her is big people food.
She thinks that she can walk, and ends up biffing it often because of that thought.
She'll pull herself up to her knees and then just sit there kneeling, I have never seen a baby do that, and both my mother and my mother-in-law agree with that observation.
Kari is her favorite person in the world
She finally loves baths
She get's knocked over or stepped on or whatever by Kari a lot (by accident usually) but she'll only cry about it if it really hurts. She's a tough kiddo
She did NOT like going out in the cold and being all bundled up, but she did like going down the ice slides with me.
She GROWLS for her food
She's growing like a weed and I love every second!!







In Santa's ice sleigh at Christmas in Ice (and yes, those are authentic Alaskan fashion fur hats, we're stylin')














Jill being not happy














But so cute










Kari opening presents














Our picture with the REAL Santa











Jill's growling "feed me" face














Kari's smile at grandma face













Kari and her bff Caroline













Jill on Christmas morning.

Just a chatty update

So what can I say? We're sitting around waiting for a call that may or may not come about Tyler's heart echo and monitor results. Christmas is ten days away and I am nowhere NEAR ready, and Kari is going to be heart broken when the tree comes down and the snow melts. She LOVES it. The snow, the lights, the tree, the "sparkles", the music, and especially the Nutcracker. We watch the Barbie Nutcracker pretty much every day and I've got a little wooden Nutcracker that has a music box in the base. She calls it "wonderful" and wants him to sing all the time. It's pretty much her best friend and she'll probably cry when it's time to put "wonderful" away. Is it just me that thinks that this particular holiday season has gone too fast? With all the worrying and tests, and doctors appointments that we've been having/waiting for it seems that I've focused very little on Christmas, which is very unlike me. I did finally get (most) of my cards out, and I'm just waiting on something in the mail to get to me so I can send the last thing out. It will probably be late, I'm just going to say that now. lol! This is the first year that I wasn't completely and totally done by now. I don't like the feeling and it's costing me an arm and leg in shipping since everything costs more/takes longer to ship from up here.
A little about my kiddos, Jill will be NINE months the day after Christmas!!! Seriously, NINE months. I don't know when she did it, but she's grown up. She's crawling all over the place, eats everything in sight (even things that are not food items) I have to sweep/vacume about twice a day because Kari leaves a mess that Jill trys to eat. Yuck. She also learned how to sit up by herself. It's actually pretty funny looking. And the other day she tried to stand up! I told her she's much too young to be trying to walk. Although, her being farther from the floor does have it's benifits........
Kari is such a little princess, but the nice kind, not the snobby kind. She's usually very helpful and adores her little sister. She's not really great at sharing right now though. She'll come up to Jill, take whatever she has that hasn't been designated as "baby's" and throw it behind her. Little booger. We're working on that one. I was working on a project the other day and she wanted to see it and feel it. Go figure, my two year old knows "velvet" and "mink" lol! I think she might be a little seamstress when she gets a little older. And she wants to be a ballerina. All I hear all day is her wanting to see the "pretty dancers" then she'll put her arms above her head and go around in circles (while saying 'cicle, cicle, cicle") So when she's three I'm going to put her in the local dance school. Kid could use some grace if you know what I'm saying. Poor thing definately takes after her momma. Klutz.
Anyway, I'll let you all know if something comes up about Tyler's heart. Until then I think I'm going to eat, drink (hot chocolate) and be merry. :P

Championship indoor football game

We went to the championship football game that Tyler was being the ref for. I think the girls had fun.


























Jill exploring the "grass"

Kari randomly lays down everywhere. It's strange. lol!

Kid pics

Well hey, with all the gloom and doom that is currently my life I haven't been posting cute pictures of my cuter kiddos. Guess I should fix that huh? :D




Jill's first time actually liking her bath!!!!! :D



















Proof that I'm behind in getting "baby" stuff put away. No she's not sleeping, just playing around.














Jill being cute.



















So I was trying to get a cute picture of the girls in holiday dresses by the tree.....



















At least one is smiling at me right?

















Kari helping decorate the tree

















Or rather, daddy helping Kari help decorate the tree. lol!




















Jill is interested....

















oooooo, shiny



















Love this picture. The first thing Kari wants me to do in the morning is turn the tree on. They both play by it every day. It'll be sad when it has to come down.

Tyler's cardiologist appointment

So here's what we learned today;
Tyler has a slow heart, and there is something that is weird with the electrical "wiring". It could be that his heart is a little bigger, it could be that the nerves that is connected to his brain are being "depressed" by the brain cyst, it could be that this particular nerve is hyperactive. Because Tyler is not fainting or having black out episodes, we have time to do more tests, which is what we're doing. Tyler got blood drawn for 5 different tests including cholesterol and thyroid. He has an echo (an ultrasound) appointment for his heart on monday, he will also be getting a heart moniter that he'll wear and record his activities for 24 hours so they can see just how low his heartbeat gets and also if his heart rate will actually get up to where it needs to be when he exercises. If there is anything alarming, they will call us in, if not we have a follow-up with the cardiologist on Jan. 14 When he's done with the heart moniter he is going to try a patch that is supposed to calm down the hyperactive nerve, so Tyler wearing it will let us know if that is the problem since he'll feel less dizzy, light-headed, ect. Until then we're just hanging out. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. We've been suprised with all the support we've been given. We love you all! Thanks again.

Update on Tyler

It's been quite the last couple of months. I haven't been blogging much because I just don't really feel up to dealing with anything. In August Tyler was having really bad headaches, and they started getting really bad. Eventually when it was so bad he couldn't focus on anything I dragged him to the ER. The doctors hmmm'd and haaaa'd and said that he was dehydrated (wrong) the next day things were even worse so we took him back. They did two CT scans and didn't find anything. Fast forward a month, Tyler goes in for a follow up. He's still having constant head aches. They never go away. Some days are worse, but no days are better (and this is coming from the guy that cracked three ribs and didn't want to go to the doctor because "it doesn't hurt that bad") So the doctor got him an MRI. They found an Arachnoid Cyst on his brain. Freaky. So we get referred over to a neurologist in Anchorage, but he is only in one day a week (the rest of the time he's cutting heads open at the hospital) so the appointment is not until December 22nd so we're just sitting on our hands worrying and waiting. Then last wednesday Tyler goes in with his primary care doctor to talk about how things are and pain management and they take his vitals and his heartbeats per minute is only 41 (to put things clearer, "normal" is anywhere from 60 to 100, so 41 is way low. He's a walking zombie) so they did a cardiograph or a EKG and they didn't say anything about it, his doctor immediately called a cardiologist in Fairbanks and got him an appointment for this coming up wednesday. Normally the doctor sends your info to the referral office, and they deal with it. The fact that the doctor did this himself is very worrying to me. So now we're doubly freaking out. The two most important organs in the human body is the brain and the heart, and Tyler might be needing surgery on both. And the sad fact is, only one of those surgeries would have the Air Force looking into medical retirement, having two is almost a guarentee that we'd be out. Needless to say, our future is most uncertain. Tyler was feeling okay about the cyst but for some reason he's really freaking out about the heart, which has got me very scared. I know that whatever happens will be what is supposed to happen and our lives, literally, are in the Lord's hands. It's hard to wait and not know what's going to happen but we'll deal with it. We appreciate all the prayers and fasts that have been going on for us and we know that the Lord is blessing us. Thank you friends and family. We love you all.