Been a Minute!

Well hello world!


It's been a little while. As many of you know I have been trying to decide what to do as far as writing publicly. The long (try to make it short) story is this: When I started the writing about Brighton thing blog started to get a lot of followers. I was getting anywhere from 1-2k hits each time I posted something new, which is great. I started to write a little more because, you know, positive reinforcement. But then decided to step back and decide if I really wanted to write in that way. I wasn't sure i wanted to share my families story so publicly.  And my conclusion is that I dont. My reasoning for this is that I dont feel its my place to share this story, to share such a personal fight that our baby is going though. The thing is I've started to notice that she is already starting to be labeled as "Brighton, the one with heart problems" and I know I'm to blame for that with all my   #ourcardiobaby #littlemiracle  hashtags I have going on. But I don't want that to be what she's
known for. When she gets older and if she decides she wants to share her story, we will support her 100%. I think its nice for people to read some good things now and then. But for me to write about it, to share my personal feelings, her personal struggles and accomplishments feels like i'm invading her privacy. BUT that being said. I will still update the world on how she is doing via this blog and the other social media sites. But i'm not going to push the "Cardio Mom" story any more. I still write, I've come to love it. But they've all stayed in the draft folder.

Please please don't take this as me not wanting her support system to know how she's doing. Its not that at all. I just decided that this blog will go back to the monthly family updates, instead of the weekly random thoughts of Syd. We are truly SO thankful for each of you, even if we never met you, the emails, messages, comments, all of it have been a major blessing. And I did love getting the email from someone I've never met saying that my post touched them some how.  So thank you, thank you!



Moving on to the update!!!!!!

The last couple months have been crazy. I think the kiddos kicked it up a notch and have had me quite busy. I think I'll write a more detailed post about our time traveling, it was pretty fun, quite the adventure but still fun. We packed up the week before thanksgiving and headed to Mexico with my family. Came back for a short 24 hours to get Brighton her medication then flew out again to Reno, NV. From there we headed to Las Vegas, Jackson Hole (WY), Logan Utah and then landed in Roosevelt to spend Christmas with Shaun's family. Something fun that Shaun and I were able to do was ditch the kids so we could spend a couple days together in Vegas at the rodeo. You probably all know by now but AGCO, specifically Hesston is a pretty big sponsor of the NFR, and since Shaun is the marketing guy for Hesston we get to go! We get pretty spoiled while were there. This year we decided to stay for a week and loved every second.  After the Rodeo we split up and I went to Jackson Hole to meet up with the kids at my parents place and then like I said earlier, we met back up with Shaun a few weeks later in Roosevelt.

While in Roosevelt  we again were reminded how much we miss the country life. Carter LOVED going to uncle Levi's in his boots (had to have the boots) to see the moo's and tractors. I also found a new love for Dr. Pepper. I'm not really a pop junkie but I'm a Dr. Bomb junkie. No shame.  Dr. Pepper, cream, and raspberry flavor.... world changed. I may or may not make one every day sense then, some times two.


Shaun has been busy with work and that hay equipment. He's had a few farm shows but he's actually been home! Unfortunately thats about to change, but its ok. He just launched a new triple windrower attachment the end of last year that was pretty cool. I let you look that up if your interested, because lets be honest.... I dont know much about it. He also has some cool ideas for this year that will keep him busy all summer long, but its not all bad. A lot of that will be gathering hay samples to analyze or something like that. Sounds like a blast right? He's super excited about it.

I've been busy making lists upon lists of things I want to build and do around the house. I think its an addiction. Other than that I've just been doing my best to raise these two crazies we have.


Carter has become a full on 2 year old. Minus the fact that he's not 2 yet. He's really good at tantrums, screaming, jumping on and off everything, and yelling "no" at the top of his lungs. However he has become so much fun. He's talking a TON! I need to start recording all the funny things he's saying.  He says thank you all day every day, and will say it over and over until you say your welcome. He also decided he wants a new dog named nice. We also signed him up for gymnastics and its super cute. He's pretty good with all his physical skills so he rocks at the balance beam, bars and every other little thing she asks him to try.... if we can convince him to try.  Boy can jump, thats all we can say about it. Something not so fun is we have started to look into why he throws up so much. Sadly it went from him only throwing up when he was crying to throwing up randomly though out the day. He went back on reflux medication to see it that helps, not much yet. I think he was also getting car sick, so we turned his car seat around. Since then... no more throwing up in the car. Should have done that a few months ago.  If the reflux medicine doesn't change anything then he'll go see a GI doctor. Poor kid. Other things he loves lately are:  summersaults, spinning, running, jumping, pretty much anything that involves energy. Bubbles, popcorn, trains, hats, playing in the truck, and being a tease. Oh and, of course... his dad. One day he might love me as much. Maybe.

Brighton... oh little Brighton Kay. Goodness this girl. She is the calm in the storm. She's now crawling, climbing, and movin' all over the place. She's even ahead of the game when it comes to all her developmental stuff.  Brighton is expected to be about 2 months behind the "typical" child. But little sis is actually 3 months ahead of that!  She's a trooper! Unfortunately she sucks at cuddling, she drinks her bottle and then turns around and flops until you put her in the crib. It's quite unfortunate, really. But I guess I should be thankful for such a easy and content baby. She loves food and has the thighs to prove it. She also has a few bruises to represent Carter's love. She loves her mom and thats probably a good thing since Carter hogs dad. I get lucky some days and get those oh so rare cuddles, which of course melts me. She still sucks at sleeping through the night, but she is getting better so were at least happy about that. We don't know anything new about her heart but we'll find out on the 3rd of march. Hopefully its good news! Of course we'll let you know. Her likes right now include: dance parties, her blanket, being held by mom, food, tupperware, swinging, chasing Carter, and shoulder rides. She also has started to show us her sassy attitude. Its pretty intense. She doesn't every cry... literally ever, but she sure squawks and squeals if you dont do what she wants.


Thats the update for now, I plan on getting back to this and updating it at least once a month. It's my way of journaling :)

Happy reading folks!