Birthday pics

Last week, I took the boys to get their pictures taken, because once a year is about all I can handle. It's just too hard! But it must be done. I wasn't super thrilled with the photographer (I felt like she could have tried a LITTLE harder to get the boys smiling at the camera), but for the price, I can't complain. 

Here are the best ones of Carter:

And the best of McKay:

And finally a couple of both of them:

 This one is my favorite. Not big smiles, but still so sweet. I love Carter's little foot sticking out behind McKay. So cute!

McKay's One!

McKay is one. We made it. Sometimes I'm not sure how, because it seemed the days would never end. And while everyone reminds me that I'm going to miss these days when they're gone, I can say with confidence that there have been MANY days during the past year that I won't miss at all. But that said, I have had so much fun watching my baby go from this...

...to this.

What a difference a year makes. In McKay's it makes all the difference in the world. We celebrated McKay's first birthday with Jeff's parents and sister's family on Sunday. Because I really didn't get McKay any presents (besides the new car seat he desperately needed), I decided to make his birthday fun for everyone else. We had yummy food and lots of balloons and lots of people calling him "king."

McKay had no trouble at all putting his entire cupcake away in about 30 seconds. And he would have gladly devoured a second if I had allowed it.

McKay's best new trick is walking. He took steps over a month ago at grandma's house, but has been hesitant since. Finally, a couple of days before his birthday, he decided it was time to walk. And so he did. And now he walks more than he crawls. I can't get enough of it. He was so funny with these balloons. He was dragging them around the house laughing. And getting tangled in the strings. 

Here are some things I want to remember about McKay at one year old:

1. He still has only two tiny teeth. The top ones are close to cutting, and he is a drooling machine, but he's still mostly toothless for now.

2. He weighed 24 lbs (90th) and was 31.5 inches long (85th). He's only 6 lbs smaller than Carter, and their hands are almost the same size, too. He's my biggest one year old, which is fitting, since he was my biggest baby.

3. He figured out how to come down the stairs recently too. He can get on his hands and knees, turn around, and come down backward. It has opened up a new world for him as he has been going down to see what's in the basement (not much, as it turns out).

4. He has transitioned fairly seamlessly to whole milk instead of formula. He still prefers it a little warmer, but will take it straight. He's doing better with a sippy cup (with a soft nipple) and doesn't need a bottle anymore. Thank goodness, because I am down to two bottles and it was getting annoying washing them all the time. 

5. He wants to eat everything we are eating, and lots of it. How else do you think he got to be 24 lbs?

6. He loves his "night-night" and sucking his thumb (which he rarely does outside of his crib), and is still good about taking two naps a day, going to bed between 7:00-8:00 and not getting up until 7:00-8:00 the next morning. Love thumb suckers.

7. He says "mama" when he sees me fairly consistently, and tries to mimic other sounds we make, but I don't think he has any other words yet. I haven't taught him any signs yet, but he has copied me doing "milk," so I think it's time to teach him a few.

8. Carter seems to think he is big enough to wrestle, and is always torturing him, sitting on him or pushing him down. McKay may be big, but he's not nearly big enough to take on Carter. Soon, though. Carter better be ready!

9. He has his moments, but overall, he is such a sweet boy. He is tender-hearted and loves his mama most of all. He loves to laugh with the other kids, although he has no idea what is so funny. 

10. He has recently discovered that there is another world outside and wants to be a part of it. It's been a little too cold (most days), but when we have been able to go out and play, he is in heaven. I can't wait until we can play out there every day. He's going to love it!

I am so completely in love with McKay. He has been the perfect addition to our family. He has made my life so much harder, but SO much better. I am so excited to spend the next 17 years getting to know him, and hopefully staying his favorite person in the world! Happy birthday McKayters! You are our lucky charm!

The Leg

I think I have put off writing about Jeff's leg injury because it's exhausting even thinking about it. But I'm already tired this morning (Kyla threw up in her bed at 1:00 and I couldn't fall back asleep), so why not go ahead and write about it now?

A couple of weeks ago, Jeff went with 94 other men on a motorcycle ride in Mexico. They are part of the Utah Trail Machine Association and drove 16 hours to Baja, Mexico, and were riding 1,000 miles in seven days (I don't know how many days they actually rode and how many were spent traveling, and it really doesn't matter. He left early Friday morning and got home late the next Friday night).

He didn't have any cell phone coverage for the week, but every couple of days I would get a text from a messaging service saying that everything was fine and the guys were great. When he got back, though, I heard a different story. On Tuesday, while he was riding, he didn't see where the road had washed out and ended up in an 8-foot ravine going 40 mph. He bailed off the bike at the last minute, pushing off so that he wouldn't crash right into the bike, and hit his leg on the handlebars before rolling off to the side.

He knew it was hurt, but didn't bleed hardly at all and he felt like it wasn't broken. Just a bone bruise, and he felt lucky that he could continue the ride (considering they were in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't really another choice). There was a lot of internal bleeding, though, because when he got home, his whole leg was purple. It looked like he had sprained his ankle really badly, but he said it really only hurt on the shin, where he had hit, and everything else was just the bruising spreading throughout his leg.

Four days after accident

He sat around on Saturday and Sunday, trying to get the swelling to go down, and once it finally did, it really started hurting him. He saw the doctor on Monday, and he could still barely walk on it. The doctor wanted him to have a CT scan to make sure that it wasn't broken, and that there was no damage to his knee. He also started him on antibiotics to avoid infection and had him wrap it during the day to help with the swelling. He had to work Monday-Thursday, so when he got home at night, he tried to keep it elevated and stay off of it as much as possible. The CT scan showed no break, just a large hematoma right on the shin bone, which was good. He wouldn't need surgery or anything major.

Let me just take a minute and say how hard this has been on me. I'm not complaining, just simply stating a fact. I thought I had done well to survive a whole week on my own, but I've ended up being (basically) a single mom for much longer. Because he has had to lay around and stay off his leg, I have had to do everything. Every diaper changed, meal made, dish washed, child put to bed, nose wiped, floor swept, bed made has been all me. And it's been HARD. And exhausting. The dinner-bedtime hours are chaotic, and I just try to do the best I can.

It's been hard on Jeff, too. He doesn't REALLY want to just sit there and watch me barely keep things together. I know that. But we also both know that he needs to get better, and that standing and walking are slowing down that process.

Okay, enough sob story. Back to the nitty gritty. By Thursday, 9 days after the accident, it wasn't that much better. Jeff felt like he needed to have it drained to help the healing process. The doctor (who is a family friend and works closely with Jeff's mom) said he needed to check with Nancy, and nothing got decided. Then on Saturday, when we were with Jeff's family, they sent a pic to the doc and he said it REALLY needed to be drained. So on Sunday, in Nancy's guest bedroom, he performed the "operation." He numbed a small part of Jeff's leg and drained a couple syringes of blood. Soon, though, it was too thick to come out via a needle, so he made a small incision, and using some large q-tips, and a lot of pressure (really hurting Jeff), he was able to drain a significant amount of old, clotted blood.

Twelve days after accident

Fortunately, there was no sign of infection, but they started him on another antibiotic to help avoid staph and MRSA. He was AGAIN told to keep off it as much as possible. We were sure that he would be feeling a lot better and that it would start healing quickly. And while it did look better, it just wasn't healing very fast at all. He had to work again Monday-Wednesday, so it was more of the same. He tried to stay off of it at work as much as possible, and at home, he would be on the couch for the night. The NCAA basketball tournament started yesterday, which has been a great distraction as he is determined to stay off of it until Monday.

                                                   Seventeen days after accident

The swelling is almost all gone and the wound around his leg is finally looking a lot better. It's crazy how long it has taken to get to this point. It has tried the patience of all of us, and I know that all of the prayers being said in his behalf have really helped. Thank you all so much (and those who would have been praying had you known)! I tend to sort of just turn inward when I need to, going into survival mode. At least now it seems like there's a light at the end of the tunnel and that soon Jeff will be back to full strength. And maybe he'll avoid his motorcycle for a while. We'll see...

Some pics

Before I get to all the craziness surrounding Jeff's recent motorcycle trip to Mexico, and his slowly healing leg, here are a few pictures I took from my phone.

Carter loves doing "fuzzles." 

Carter also loves pudding and kisses. 

Carter also loves his "bubba."

Damon got a little dirt bike. He has ridden it around the neighborhood a few times, but hasn't gone out on any trails yet. He needs Jeff to get better so they can go!

Kyla didn't listen to me when I told her she was going to get hurt laying on the bottom of the shopping cart. She should have. Her finger got run over and infected...

...and then the nail fell off. Weird looking.

While Jeff was gone for a week, Carter started parking in his spot in the garage.

Kyla's school celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday and the kids were supposed to come dressed up as a character. She let me attempt a "Cindy Lou Who" do, but took it out the minute school was over.

During the girls' ice skating lessons, the boys like to climb up and down the bleachers. 

McKay got to swing at the park for the first time since the fall. He was a fan.

February Funnies

Kyla, looking closely at my upper lip, "Mom! You're starting to grow a beard!"

Kyla, climbing up on the counter to where the candles were, "Let me have a smell of that!"

Damon, in a prayer at pack meeting, "...please help us to get our awards safely."

One afternoon, I was making lunch for the kids, and while the water was boiling, I started to play a round of Scramble on my phone. Kyla, anxious for lunch, said, "Mom! What's better, playing a game or making lunch for little persons?"

Damon, to his sisters: "Carter gets the most attention. You have to learn that!"

Kyla, when I told her I needed to clean out her finger with rubbing alcohol: "Good. I love alcohol."

Kyla, counting how many seconds it took us to drive home, announced, "Affinity six! I counted to affinity and then it was six more."

A note I found attached to Allie's homework, next to a problem that was especially difficult for her said, "Dear Sra Revuela, please don't send this hard anymore. From Jeff Trapnell and Krystal Trapnell, Allie's parents. OXOX Happy Valentine's Day! (and on the back) You are nice, you can still send it, but not very hard. From Jeff."

Kyla lost a fingernail in an unfortunate shopping cart accident and lamented, "I miss my fingernail. It was my favorite one."

One night we went in to Damon's room for prayer, and found that he had drawn up a contract for becoming one of his "evil minions." He had convinced his sisters to sign it, which enslaved them to him. (I am still looking for it, and will post the exact words if I can find it).