My 'oh' My...How the Times Fly By

Finally starting to get the swing of things…being a full-timer worker and the mom of 2-perfect little boys! I didn’t realize how busy life was going to get with two little men to keep me on my toes! Kason had his very first ‘play date’ early in the month. We had a great visit with Shannon and baby Aiden (and even Kristie too) – hopefully the beginning of a great friendship and many future play dates!

I got in some good ‘friend time’ this month…along with a couple of evenings out with the girls. Time well needed and well spent with good friends. Mid-March, my friend Nikki and I took a road trip to Bozmean for a friend’s baby shower. It was a quick trip…over and back in one day, but I sure enjoyed our visit.




Kason had his 4-month check up…still can’t believe he is already 4-months old! I’ve been calling him a ‘moose’, but
his appointment sure confirmed that for me! He’s in the 70% for height and the 80% for length! We have ourselves a big boy! A happy boy at that. Damon has nick-named him ‘Smiley John’ – he’s always smiling or giggling at someone / something. Thank goodness for such a perfect little man.




Kylor continues to be our Ky-Man. He’s such a great big brother. Loves to love on Kason…loves to play ‘pat-a-cake’ with him. Loves every little bit of him…EXCEPT for the little bits that he does cry. The other day Kylor said, ‘why does Kason have to cry all the time?’ Funny thing is, Kason doesn’t cry very often. Must just get on Ky’s nerves when he’s doing something ‘important’ like watching Phinneus and Ferb! Ky said the funniest thing to me the other day: ‘Mama, Kason smiles at me all the time.’ I asked Ky, ‘do you know why he smiles at you all the time?’ His response was, ‘because I get in his face all the time?’ (Ha!) I said, ‘I think he smiles at you because he loves you’. Ky’s response to that was,‘that doesn’t make sense!’ (Where do kids get these things?) We learned this past month that Kylor has a slight lactose intolerance problem. He does okay unless he gets lactose ‘overload’…then watch out…he becomes an erupting volcano!

What did I do in life before my two boys? They sure keep me hopping! Thank goodness for them!

Cheering For My Children

I must say that the last two months have flown by – it’s like I blinked and it was February.

In December, Damon and I took Kylor to see Sesame Street Live – this was the second consecutive year we have taken him. He loved it so much that there was quite the meltdown when it was over as Kylor wanted to ‘see it again’! Hopefully we’ll have another opportunity in the future to take him to another show.

Quicker than we could have imagined the holidays were here…and then gone. As always, we had a wonderful time spent with family. We are so grateful for those in our lives – it makes time together that much sweeter. Although Christmas Day is a l-o-n-g day, traveling from house to house, we wouldn’t trade it for the world. The boys were certainly spoiled – but that’s okay. As Gramma use to put it, ‘if you are not spoiled, you are not loved’. Damon and Julie traveled to Fort Peck on December 26th for his cousin Katie’s wedding. It was my first time doing the ‘single-parent’ role, but sure enough, I survived.

Traditionally, I have a sleep-over with my niece Caprianna and nephew Carter on New Years Eve. 2009 wasn’t any different. After a nice dinner party at Aunt Susan’s house, we went home to crash for the evening. There was no ringing in the New Year on my part.

Our little (or should I say big) Kylor turned 3-years old in January! My ‘o’ my – where did my little baby go? We celebrated with an Elmo party! And a lot of red frosting! Kylor brings much love and entertainment to our lives. I can’t even count in a day how many times he says, ‘I love you so much’. On the flip side, when the little stinker gets angry, it’s pretty typical for us to hear things such as ‘you’re mean to me. I don’t love you anymore.’ Yes – the first few times I heard that, it was like a knife thru the heart, but that feeling was short-lived. These days, all it does is irritate me so I try and ignore him when he acts like that. Fortunately, within minutes of saying horrible things, he follows-up with ‘I love you so much’, in his sweet little voice. Ky loves to catch mommy and daddy saying ‘bad’ words. For example, the word ‘stupid’ is a bad word – if he hears something that we’ve not allowed him to say, he’ll tell us, ‘we don’t say that bad word – it’s not nice.’ He sure keeps us on our toes. Potting training is making a little progress. With constant nagging at home, he seems to be doing a little better. On an exciting note, Ky-man moved into a ‘big boy bed’ shortly after the first of the year. I was sure there would be some resistance, but thankfully, the transition went smoothly and he loves his new bed!

Kason continues to grow like a weed. He’s definitely a much bigger baby than Kylor ever was. I figured I’d be set for clothing as both Kylor and Kason were born in the winter months – about 1.5 months difference. But, recently, I went to pull out the next size clothes for Kason and found that Kylor was in summer clothes at that time! Towards the end of January, Kason developed a cold…which, unfortunately, turned into RSV – a repertory illness. What a scary ordeal for mom. After a couple weeks of nebulizer treatments, I’m happy to say he is healthy and recovered without a trip to the hospital.

After years of working on it, our basement is FINALLY finished and we are thoroughly enjoying living in it. For the time being, we’ve made one of the bedrooms into a ‘toy room’. There are times that we loose Kylor for hours in his toy room. He loves it. I’ve lost Damon to the family room – he glues himself to his extra-large TV. I find myself getting lonely upstairs. (Certainly never thought I’d feel that way).

Mid-February, I went back to work after a 12-week maternity leave. While it's bittersweet, I'm glad to be back. I've missed my job, co-workers and routine. Fortunately, Kason is a great little man like Ky is and he, too, loves going to Cheryl's.

Before I know it, I’ll be writing my February blog…until then…

Oh Baby

Here it is…mid-December…and I’m just now getting to my November blog.
Damon spent a bit of time hunting…and fortunately (or unfortunately), he was successful this year. He got an Elk – the first one since we’ve been together. In fact, his hunting partners, my Dad and brother, were just as successful. (The unfortunately part would be that I really don’t care for Elk…and now we have a freezer full).

I spent a few days doing my annual Christmas shopping with my Aunt Sharon. We usually spend a few days shopping after the Thanksgiving holiday, but being that baby boy #2 was due at the beginning of January, my gut instinct told me to bump it up a couple of weeks this year. So we shopped mid-November. Oh, how it feels good to be ready for Christmas.

November brought weekly appointments to my most favorite OB doctor – Dr. Braget. Dr. Braget was unavailable for one of my appointments so I had to see another provider. Being that the ‘substitute’ was not a ‘high-risk’ doctor, she felt it necessary to send me to the hospital for monitoring as she wasn’t happy with the baby’s heartbeat – she didn’t feel comfortable making a judgment call. So, off I went…a waste of a couple of hours, but better to be safe than sorry.

5 short days later, Kason John Heck blessed us - Monday, November 23rd weighing 7lbs 2oz and 20-3/4 inches. Like his big brother, Kylor, he came out of nowhere and was a complete surprise. Once again, my water broke…as I was on my way back to work from my lunch. I made a quick call to Damon and a call to my BFF, Kristie, and drove myself to the hospital. Fortunately, once I arrived, the staff and on-call doctor moved very quickly and were able to get me into the operating room for my c-section before I went into ‘labor’. I was a bit disappointed that my Dr. Braget wasn't able to deliver, but everything worked itself out. Damon sucked it up and tried to be by my side in the operating room. Poor guy – he only made it 5-minutes (or less) before he was on the edge of passing out…so there I was, alone, delivering a baby. What an emotional experience. Much different delivery than with Kylor being that I was awake this time. I got to see Kason as soon as he came out and got to hear his first cries. What a great feeling.

Things I’ve learned: expect the unexpected (as both of my babies came very unexpectedly) and trust your gut instinct (thus the early Christmas shopping).

We were fortunate enough to leave the hospital after a couple of days and we were home for Thanksgiving dinner at Gramma Ree’s house – just what I was hoping for.

Kylor loves his baby brother to pieces, but he can sure show a jealous side. There have been meltdowns over different people holding ‘his’ baby and when he wants the attention of mom or dad while attending to Kason’s needs. I think they’ll grow up to be great buddies. Thanks goodness for Grandma Julie who has ‘rescued’ Kylor from time to time to give him some ‘alone’ time.

My recovery is taking a little longer than last time. I’m sure that is normal – after being cut open a second time.

Until next time - Happy Holidays!

Take Me the Way I Am

My buds threw me a ‘surprise’ baby shower - the stinkers that they are. Actually, it was a really nice time and I’m very thankful for their thoughtfulness.

Great Falls held its 6th Annual What Women Want Expo. This is a great, big, fun event. I not only organize a booth for Mountain West Bank, I also love to go and spend a couple of hours walking thru the Expo. To top off the event, there was a fantastic Comedy Show that I was fortunate enough to attend.

Bad news – my car was ‘hit’ mid-October…in the McDonald’s drive-thru. To this moment, I’m still waiting on pending insurance information from the other side. Kylor and I were by ourselves, picking up some dinner when the teenager in front of us, threw his rig into reverse and backed into us. Fortunately, neither of us were hurt, although, Kylor was very curious to know what exactly was happening as he was hungry for dinner. He didn’t understand the ‘hold-up’. And, Ky was quick to lecture his mama when a few choice cuss words slipped – ‘Mama, don’t say those bad words!’ He’s asmart one!

Hunting has officially started – this takes Damon away from home here and there. If I have anything to do with it, Damon’s hunts will lead to nothing other than some good hikes. (I’m not into the wild game). It’s a good ‘boys’ time for Damon, though.

Halloween was super fun. Kylor dressed up as a Sea Otter – a cute one at that. We went for an early morning Trick-or-Treat at Gramma Ree’s. The only negative was that Ky woke up from his nap covered in hives from head to toe. A little anti-itch cream and Benedryl later, he was feeling better, but one cranky little man. We took Kylor to Trick-or-Treat at Gramma Julie’s, Grandpa Don & Grandma Denise’s, Aunt Sharon’s and Papa Jule’s. That was plenty of running and goodies for one day!

Kylor is finally starting to show some interest in his soon-to-be-born baby brother. He’ll point out things and ask, ‘is this for my baby brother’ and he’s very curious to know when he’ll get to see him and touch him. In due time, in due time.

Happy days to you!

Fall...Into Fall

September was HOT, HOT, HOT! My how our seasons are changing.

Damon took my little Ky camping for the first time. While the whole tent experience was a little challenging for Kylor, he had a great time and wants to go again…today. Damon is now in search of a camper…with a bathroom. The whole 6a, out house with a 2-year old ‘thing’ wasn’t Damon’s ‘cup of tea’. We’ll see what we can find for them in the upcoming months.They met up with some friends at Camp – Doug, Kristie Nelson and family as well as Kylor’s sitter, Cheryl, and some of Kylor’s day-care friends. And, me, I got a nice relax-cation. I hadn’t had some me / alone time since I’d become a mama.

Damon and I celebrated our 6th anniversary this past month. Expecting, it was a pretty low-key celebration. Dinner at Cattlemen’s Cut while Kylor spent some time with Grandma Julie. My, how wonderful the past 6-years have been. While we’ve had some ups and downs, I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I’m still happily in-love today if not more than 6-years ago.

I got to do some visiting and catching up with a long-time friend, Amy. It’d been such a long time since we’d gotten together – it was long overdue. I can only hope that the next time doesn’t take so long.

Our pregnancy is moving right along – in fact, doing some maternity leave planning at work made me realize how quickly the next couple of months are going to go. Lots to do, lots to do, lots to do.

Kylor is totally geared up for Halloween, although, almost everything related to Halloween seems to ‘freak’ him out. He tells me that I can’t bring Halloween decorations out because (and I quote), ‘you can’t – it’ll freak me out’. Yes, that’s my little 'fradie-cat' for you. Here’s a funny…driving home from Cheryl’s one night, we are stopped at a red light when Ky says, ‘come on lady, put your foot on the gas.’ Needless to say, I was appalled. I explained to Kylor that he couldn’t talk to mommy like that. Pretty much the end of the story – just figured he picked it up from one of his little friends. Later that week, the three of us were in the truck on the way to Damon’s mom’s house when Damon pipes up, ‘hurry up old man – the gas is on the right’. Oh My Goodness! That’s where Kylor got it. They are like little sponges. It was at that moment that Damon and I realized, more so than ever, that we really need to watch our mouths around our little man. Trying to gear up for the new baby, we got Ky his own 'baby' - baby Fletcher (aka Fletchert) - still seeing how it is going to go...

Happy Fall!!!

Simply Irresistible

August has come and August has gone…

It was nice to see and visit with some of Damon’s family early in the month – his Aunt Arlee, cousin Katie as well as his cousin Ryder and wife Savannah were here. It’d been some time since we’d seen them – what a nice visit.

I got to celebrate my BFF, Kristie’s, birthday with a lovely dinner at Jaker’s – Kylee, myself and Kristie turned our Jaker’s night into a birthday celebration. We had a great time…lots of laughs, smiles and friendship.

Some exciting news – I got to help ‘demo’ a 3D/4D Ultrasound machine in August. While it was a little early to see much of what I wanted to see, it was very neat. I can’t believe how detailed the machine is. We were able to pick up details as small as eyelashes! So far, Ky’s little brother, looks like a spitting image of him. Imagine that! I certainly hope I get the opportunity to do the 4D again as this pregnancy inches further along.

Lots of garage sale preparations in August to get ready for our 2-day sale. While I had a negative attitude about the whole thing, we ended up doing pretty darn good. So, after all is said and done, I’ll admit that it was worth it. Although, we couldn’t have made it happen without the help of Sharon, Julie, Nikki and Damon’s Aunt Colleen - Thank goodness for them!

Kylor is 2…and he can sure be terrible at times. Ages and stages. Although, we have our moments, I often find myself just sitting and staring at him – amazed by all that he is. He truly is a gift from God and I don’t know what I’d do without him. And to be blessed with another little boy to join us in December – my life is truly amazing. Kylor is starting to find some interest in his new baby brother. He doesn’t quite understand why he can’t ‘see’ him. Even with all of the explaining, he still doesn’t get it – which is completely understandable.

I sign-off, looking forward to what September has to offer!

A Wild Ride

Ju-ly…ho-ly cow, did it speed past.

We had a fantastic 4th of July. The three of us spent the day with Grandma
Julie. We fed ducks at Gibson Park, took a walk at Giant Springs. While
we were at the Springs, Kylor wanted to feed the ‘Whales’ (trout). He was
so cute – we couldn’t convince him that he was actually feeding fish – he
insisted that they were whales. I suppose in his eyes, they looked as big
as whales. We ended the day with a lovely lunch together. It was a great
day and we all had lots of fun!

Mid-July, we went for another fun-filled photo session with Cindy Cieluch.
It had been a year since we’d done an outdoor shoot and, although, Kylor
was a super-stinker, we got some great shots. Give Ky the World and he
will run – and that’s what he proved to us that night. It was hard to sit
him down to say the occasional ‘cheese’.

Our annual trip to Seeley Lake was HOT, HOT, HOT. We had lots of fun.
Kylor is quite the tuber – he loved it…until he fell off. To this day,
he’ll tell us the story of falling off of the tube. Unfortunately, early
in the week, Julie stepped on something sharp and had to be taken to the
Missoula ER for stitches. Kind of put a damper on the rest of her week. I
was proud of my ‘rock-star’ husband who stepped up to the plate to take
care of his mom – given his fear of blood, needles and everything in
between. The best part of the week was being able to visit and spend time
with my sister, Brittney, and her family who made the trip from Texas.
It’s been years since Brittney has been at the lake – it was a super nice
treat. Oh – how I miss them.

Coming off our vacation started a week full of night-show concerts at the
Montana State Fair. The shows were good, but a week of late nights kicked
my butt! I was tuckered out by the end of the week – ready to spend the
weekend sleeping. I got to enjoy the shows with my girl Kylee and my Aunt
Susan – always a good time.

Kylor obtained his first major boo-boo in July. The kids were playing with
the sprinkler at day-care (Cheryl’s) when another little boy picked up the
hose and started swinging it around. It clipped Ky right above the left
eye. We thought it was going to take a stitch or two, however they were
able to just glue it back together. Hopefully that’ll help lead to less
scarring.

Some exciting news…We learned that we’ll welcome a baby BOY in December.
I’m becoming more and more outnumbered. Bella and I will have to stick
together. All kidding aside, we are super excited. Kylor is such a joy
and blessing that we are really excited to welcome a brother for him to
play with.

Ky was full of it this past month…some regulars we are hearing are, ‘wanna
bet’, ‘I promise’, ‘I’m serious’ and ‘probably’. His vocabulary just
amazes me…and the fact that he knows how to use it correctly. Although he
can be quite sassy at times, I love that he is very good at describing
things and leading directions. For example, if I can’t find something,
I’ll ask him where to find it: “Ky, where is your sippy cup?’ – he’ll
respond with, ‘probably outside’. Sure enough – he’s always right. He
always leads us right where we need to be. Smart little bugger.

That’s it for now!