Ryders first fish

Try as I may, try as I might....I could stinkin' try all night! But I would still not catch a fish!  Which comes as a shock to me because growing up, fishing was kinda a big deal.  In fact it still is with my brother.  You know that thing everyone has/does that they love? You know the thing that if you have an hour or two to spare, THAT is the thing you do?  Well that is fishing for my brother Joe and thankfully he was able to make a trip to Idaho this year and took my sweet boys fishing and this was the result....(After like 20 minutes. Amazing.)

After our hour or so of fishing, we (Joe) had enough to feed everyone and we had grilled Citrus/Cilantro marinated Rainbow Trout for dinner. Perfect.

Another beautiful spring day

My cup runneth over on days like these! My adventurous boys rode out in search of coyote dens. {most nights we can hear them howling} They didn't find any, but did find some bones, and for my boys that was just as cool!

A Friday well spent

We're home

in pre-op

getting dressed {which he hated...it might have been the worst part!}

killin' time

at the moment....

What a day! We left at 3 am this morning, surgery check-in was at 6:45, surgery at 8:15...

The drive was good, roads were clear the entire way. I left Noah and Ridge with Chases mom {Sheri}... Thank You Grandma!!!! It made the trip nice and easy to only have to get Ryder and I out of the house.

Ryder was amazing! He was so composed this morning before surgery, even in pre-op, where they go through details of the surgery...emotions got the best of him when the Dr. that was performing the surgery {Dr. Randall...who we see a few times every year, so Ryder is very familiar w/him} came to talk to us before surgery. Ryder saw him in full surgical attire, and told him that he looked weird today and that he usually wears gray pants! Ha, so funny! He started to get a bit teary but overall did so good!

Surgery was scheduled to take 1 1/2 hrs, but only took 1 hr....things went very smoothly. Ryder was very sleepy in post-op. I think alot of it had to do with the fact that we left home at 3 am! But recovered quickly and we left the hospital about noon I think...

Sigh...and a miracle.

Well we are back from Utah...AGAIN. More appointments for Ryderman. We have a new surgery date for his legs....December 2nd, if all goes well and he does not have any more relapses from the Minimal Change Nephrotic Syndrome. Its a double-edged sword. On one hand, the steroids he is on alleviate the negative side effects of the kidney disorder BUT... on the other hand, steroids are also an immunosuppressant, meaning it weakens the body's ability to fight off infections. And infections {i.e. colds, flu, etc.} are what trigger the relapses of the kidney disorder. Which is what has happened again.

During our ortho visit, the x-ray of his legs showed his left leg {the shorter one} caught up to the right leg by almost a 1/2 inch in 4 months! Amazing!!! There hasn't been that much growth EVER! It is still significantly shorter {1 1/4} but we are definitely seeing progress! Thank you all for your continued prayers, we are definitely seeing God's work in our lives!

Following in dads footsteps...

Isn't it amazing that a 40lb child can control a 1300lb animal!? Unbelievable! Ryder has become quite the little horseman lately. He swindled my horse {the one pictured above} from me and hasn't looked back since!

Ryders first day of 2nd grade!

Today was our first official day of school. {Our 3rd year homeschooling for those that don't know} It was fast and furious, but kind of exciting too! Ryder wont smile or admit that it was a good day, but it was in fact a good day! :) There is definitely going to have to be some scheduling kinks to work out. I kind of "forgot" to put Noah down for his mid-morning nap and set him down to help Ryder on the computer and turned back around and Noah was sound asleep on the couch!

P.S. Ridge is totally into school! He was right in the middle of things today...making his own school "schedule", counting pennies, "writing" in his journal, and singing the Alphabet!

Another PCMC trip...

Yesterday we made the 3hr trek AGAIN to Primary Childrens Hospital. With Ryder and Noah in tow, {Ridge stayed with grandma} we made it {barely, but thats a whole different story...}

We went to see Dr. Randall, {Ryders Ortho doc for his legs}. No change, good or bad for his legs. His left leg hasn't caught up any to the right leg, but it hasn't gotten any worse {bowed} either. So the next step is to schedule a surgery date for August. Late August more than likely, so he is hopefully off of the steroids he is currently on for the Minimal Change Nephrotic Syndrome. {more on that later} The plan is to place an "8" plate on the outside growth plate of the left knee to straighten it out more {Again}, and to remove 2 of the screws from the "8" plates that are on the right knee to allow the growth plates to "breathe" so they don't forget how to grow. Phew!

Ryder also has an inguinal hernia. I asked Dr. Randall if we could possibly speak with Urology and be able to fix that at the same time we do the ortho surgery in August and he didn't see why not sooooo...now we schedule an appt. with a Urologist for sometime next month. On the bright side, Dr. Randall gave me the name and number of the bes....well not the best he said, they are all good, which I am sure they are {but he is probably the best}. He said this Urologist is always booked way out, but to "drop" his {Dr. Randalls} name if I have too and he will get us in!

As for the Minimal Change, it hasn't come back thus far and things are looking good. Starting the 1st of July we are starting to wean him off the steroids and hopefully be done! Please pray for no relapses. Poor kid just can't seem to catch a break!

On this visit, I was also able to visit a good friend and fellow NICU mom, Shelly. I was able to go and hold her little Brinnlie who is still in the NICU at Primarys. What an awesome visit! Thanks Shelly! I hope you are able to bring her home soon! She looked so good. I was hoping some of Noah's old primaries were working, but no one was Darn it! Oh well...

The guitar lesson & the cat lady...

Sounds like it could be the title of a really awful horror movie or something right? But it happened... A couple of weeks ago, Ryder expressed an interest in taking guitar lessons. So Chase and I were super excited about it and rented a guitar, found a teacher in our area {the cat lady}, and his first lesson was last Monday. Mrs. Cat Lady lives here in Pingree and seemed to be a pretty decent teacher but...her house smelled like pet presents {you know, the brown and yellow ones} and I kid you not, Chase had to keep shooing the cats out of Ryders guitar bag the entire lesson-NOT COOL! But in a half hour lesson he learned about frets, directions, and the notes E, F & G. He has been practicing everyday. So maybe we should try Mrs. Cat Lady one more time!? What would you do?

Happy Birthday Ryder!!!

Today was Ryders 7th Birthday! Where does the time go? Sitting here reflecting on 7 years gone by, 7 YEARS!!! No, that can't be right, there is NO WAY I am the mother of a 7 year old...but I am.
Well, we decided to split up his birthday into two parties {yes, TWO!} a family birthday party and a friend birthday party, as he is Mr. Socialite these days. So today we celebrated with the fam. Lots of swimming, pony-play, chillin' by the fire, and dutch-oven cooking! Mmmmm...
Ryder went 100 miles an hour ALL day long, and is now deep in slumber...Sweet dreams handsome!

Where do I draw the line?

I realized this morning that I haven't given anyone an update on how Ryder is doing with the Minimal Change Nephrotic Syndrome. So here goes...the plan is to keep him on the prednisolone {steroid} for 2 months, and then take 1 more month to wean him off of them, for a total of 3 months. Even though at his appointment last Friday he no longer had protein in his urine and the swelling is 100% gone and he is back to his normal weight. His pediatrician is working with the nephrologist at Primary Childrens Hospital {thankfully his pediatrician is confident we can treat him locally and we don't have to go to SLC} and they see the best success of this condition never coming back if we stay the course of steroids for 3 months.
I am so thankful that we have seen such great success with the steroids, but...I am beginning to see the side effects that everyone has been asking about. The first appointment with his pediatrician he asked me how Ryder had been? Not just like you would ask someone in a friendly conversation, it was a loaded question! Like he was expecting me to say something to the effect of "A monster has taken over my sweet Ryder and I want to hit him over the head with a frying pan a trillion times a day!" At the time of the now infamous question, Ryder had been on the steroids about 10 days and was handling himself quite well, NO LONGER! I am seeing the things I had been hearing about all along...so my question is, "Where do you draw the line?" Do I accept behaviors I normally wouldn't because they are probably from the steroids? I am so uncertain! So we are just doing the best we can for the time being. Did I mention he eats like a 15 year old boy these days??? {another side effect}
To be continued... :)

The Simple things in life!

I would like to share how my day started today...I got up around 9 a.m. thinking to myself-I can't believe the Ryder and Ridge are not up yet! Upon entering the kitchen I find the two of them in the beginning stages of making breakfast. The griddle was out of the cupboard, the placemats were set and the homemade menus (made this morning!) were also on the table. They greeted me with a warm good morning and a "menu" of items to choose from. I decided on bacon and french toast...and we proceeded to make breakfast together! What a wonderful way to start the day...