(Things are not necessarily in order but you'll just have to deal with that because I don't feel like moving the pictures all around)
On Ryan's Birthday we had his family down for a BBQ. Otto had fun with Keaton's guitar.
While Keaton ... made faces.
That was back when we still had the goat. The boys chased her around roping her. And they played horse shoes too.
For Allen's birthday he took us all on the zip line up Provo canyon! It was SO FUN!
I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous before I went. But it was not scary at all once I started. It was fun!
Cindy was so nice to not go with us, so she could take pictures and sit with Otto. They found this old Tractor on the property and Otto was in Heaven, I am sure!
The last zip line was the highest off the ground, but even that one didn't scare me!
After Jenna's wedding reception in Ephraim, my mom rented this cabin for all of us to stay in Mt. Pleasant. The kids had a fun time playing together.
Did I actually get Nicole to look at me for a picture and even kind of smile? .... YES I did!
There was a park and a pool right next to the cabin!
Jaylee was running barrels around the trees ...
So then Olin decided to rope her.
It was fun.
Otto still loves his slide, and playing outside.
He thought he was so funny running around the tree.
Telling stories.
The scowl.
We went for a check up for Otto at Primary Children's. Funny thing, when we went up to Urology one of Ryan's buddies from college, Ty Bevan aka "Pale Horse," was there with their little son they had recently adopted. It's a small world. The Dr. told us everything looked good with Otto and we don't have to go back. The nurse that did his ultrasound couldn't believe how good he did. He just laid there and giggled. She asked him to teach all the other kids to be as good as him.
We had been planning for a year that after this appointment we were going to take Otto to the zoo. I haven't been there since I was in Kindergarten. I think I was just excited about it as Otto!
I didn't ever realize that Rhinos are so big!
He wasn't so sure about touching the monkey hair. He just swatted at it :)
I think the sea lions were his favorite.
Checking out the sea lions!
We were standing there looking at them when another family with little kids came in. And he started pointing at the sea lion and telling the kids all about it. And he was kind of getting stressed when the kids weren't really paying attention to him. It was so stinking cute!
He didn't want to walk through this log until I went to the other end and called his name. And then he thought it was pretty cool.
Looking down at the sea lions!
He loved basically all of the ones in the water!
I must have gotten lucky with this picture because when he sat down it was only for about 4 seconds because he was running around pointing at things. He loved this part of the zoo so much!
He thought the carousel was pretty fun. He had to wave to Ryan every time we went around. And a bunch of other people.
YAY! A family picture!
Lots of pointing! It was so much fun watching Otto. This is the best part of being a parent. Getting to watch your kids have fun and enjoy new experiences! I love it!
Ryan said there was no way I was skipping the snake exhibit! Eek!
The train ride was definitely not worth it! It was less than a minute ride, and they went like 50 mph so you couldn't hardly see anything. It was pretty dumb.
On July 24th Levan was hopping as usual. It all started with the parade. The assisted living house brought down a bus full. They looked so cute sitting across from me I couldn't resist snapping a picture!
This made me miss the Young Women :(
Otto's parade debut!
Otto does the funniest things!
We went and watched the Steer show at the county fair. Otto loved it! He just kept pointing at them and saying "cow!"
After that we watched the Ranch Rodeo.
He loves Roping!
This is what happens when I "think" Otto is helping me feed the horses and he disappears. Guess we are playing in the sprinkler this morning!
When Cindy watches Otto she borrows this little car from her neighbors. He loves the door on it. He'll just get in and out opening and shutting the door for hours.
When Ryan is watching Otto and decides to take him swimming he just gets out a feed pan....What a redneck eh?
Otto got to go for a ride in the Fire Truck one Friday when Ryan had to take it into town to get worked on or washed by the jailers I can't remember which.
Otto is good at helping pick up sticks and apples in the yard.
Ryan did the city services fair again this year. Olin was out with Trent to help chop corn so I took him with us. We got a few fun things but then it started raining so we went inside the mall and got some dinner.
There are very few sentences that come out of Otto's mouth that don't include "horse" and it is commonly accompanied by "cow." He LOVES horses (and cows too).
He also talks about roping quite a bit.
Our neighbor Tim Larsen got a Smartie steer for roping. So he and Ryan have been going to the arena every Wednesday and Friday night to rope. Otto and I usually go down and watch. It kills me how observant Otto is. We take his rope and little roping dummy and he ropes while we sit there. Well after a few times of going and watching, he started backing up to my legs and then he would run and rope the steer. I realized he had been watching his dad and was "backing into the box" to rope. Then a few weeks ago he started putting his little roping steer behind his riding tractor and trying to pull it around the front room. We realized he had been watching them pull their Smartie steer around with the 4-wheeler and he was trying to copy them. It is so cute when he copys us, it makes you more aware of what you do though that's for sure!
Otto LOVES Books!
We had a yard sale and this little guy came with his mom. He and Otto just sat down on this pile of bricks next to each other. It was too cute not to take a picture of.
And I made lots of yummy goodness to sale at the yard sale!
The Hogan family had a reunion up Provo Canyon. Afterward we went over to Bridal Veil Falls with Jenna and Kelly. They had fish food that you could buy to feed the fish. Jenna bought some for Otto, and he loved it. He would throw it in there so hard I was afraid he was going to go in with it! LOL
Yep Jenna must have been shivering. All the pictures she took are blurry. LOL
These are some of my favorite shots of Otto. They just melt my heart. He likes to look out the window and so he figures his favorite animals like to also.
On Labor Day Ryan went and pushed cows (of course) so I had a "girls day" with Cindy. We went to Jaxie's for lunch and then took Otto to the splashpad. I have been wanting to take him there all summer. He is so much fun! He was kind of shy at first but in no time at all he was running into the middle!
We finally made it on a camping trip this year! We went up on Thousand Lake mountain. It was really nice to spend some time together.
The leaves were changing up there and they were so pretty!
Before we went, Ryan stopped and picked up a little camp chair and fishing pole for Otto.
I know you are jealous of the studs I get to hang out with. Its OK I would be too!
Yeah my face got just a little bit sunburned!
Daddy was the only one to catch a fish. Otto was checking it out thinking it was pretty cool. Then...
This is where it all went bad. The fish wiggled free and it fish slapped Otto's arm on the way down. It scared him pretty bad:(
This was so cute. Otto was sitting next to me in his chair, then he looked over and saw that Ryan had sat on the ground in front of his chair so he moved down to the ground too.
Otto was eating pudding and was waving the spoon around and got it all over his face. Then he looked right at Ryan with this face like Ryan did it. It was so funny. Now when he makes this mean face we call it "the Pudding Face."
But we were laughing so hard, pretty soon he was laughing with us.
We came back from camping on Sunday. The next day we went to work and I was having a hard time breathing. I couldn't even carry a conversation without panting for air. When we got home I tried using my inhaler (that I have for when I work out) and that didn't help, so Ryan talked me into going to the Emergency Room.
They gave me a few things, took an x-ray, and some blood work. They decided it was asthmatic bronchitis and sent me home with some meds, still not breathing any better. That night I woke up with the worst headache of my life. The next morning I didn't feel very good at all and hadn't gotten much sleep. I needed to get some stuff done at work so I couldn't take the day off and I didn't feel like I could watch Otto. I decided I would go to my Mom's with Otto and go into work later after getting some more rest.
Flash back: Starting about the end of May I started drinking lots of water. Like way more than normal. I used to drink about 45oz a day and almost over night I started drinking probably 100oz of water a day. I just figured it was because it was summer and the air was really dry. Then I started loosing a bunch of weight. Over about four months I dropped 3 pant sizes. I was loving it and just figured that it was because I am so much more active in the summer, and I was drinking tons of water which is good for you.
Back to the morning that I was at my mom's house. When I was making breakfast she looked at me and said, "I know you have been loosing some weight but you are really skinny Alese. What's going on?" I just told her my same reasoning that I just shared with you. My mom was a nurse and her father was an awesome Dr. She told me it kind of sounded like there was something wrong with my blood sugar. She was trying to get me to go into a Dr. in Spanish. I didn't want to pay another Dr. bill. I called down to the ER hoping that they would still have my blood and that they could just check my sugar with it. They told me the Dr. would have to order a test but that they still had my blood and could use it.
I called my Dr and they said the symptoms sounded right but that for the test to be accurate I would need to fast for 4-6 hours before having my blood taken. I said I could stop on my way home that day, so the nurse ordered the test. Well about an hour later they called me from the ER and told me I needed to get their right away! I started telling them that I thought it might be my sugar and I had talked to my Dr. They told me I was in Ketoacidosis and I needed to get there as fast as I could. If that doesn't scare you I don't know what will! So my mom rushed me down there. And Ryan left work soon after and came down.
They got me hooked up to an IV and started drawing my blood. If you don't already know needles are probably top 3 of things I am afraid of! Soon the Dr. came in and told me that they had tested my blood from the night before,and my sugars were almost 700. (normal is about 100), and that I am a type 1 diabetic.
No kidding I have said numerous times that I could never be a diabetic because I am crazy scared of needles!
My mom was so awesome through everything. Thanks to her for driving me down to the hospital, taking Otto home with her that night so we could figure things out, going to my house the next day to accept my couch delivery, cleaning and doing dishes while she was there, and even though she drove me crazy sometimes calling two or three times a day while I was in the hospital I am so glad to have a mother that cares and that loves me and wants to know how I am doing. Funny thing is about a month ago I had a question about cooking. So I texted my mom and she knew the answer. I told her I was so glad I had a mom that knows so much about everything that I can just text her and know that she will have the answer to my question. Well she proved that again. She knew the right questions to ask me about what was going on with my health and knew what it was. She is one awesome lady! Thanks Mom. Love you!
Long story short I spent the next four days in the hospital trying to get my sugar levels in somewhat normal range. For the first two days they two my blood every TWO HOURS! They must have been trying to help me get over my fear of needles!
Ryan and Otto were so good to come and hang out with me everyday!
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I have to admit when people told me they were diabetic I never really understood how much it consumes your life. I just thought that at every meal they had to give themselves a shot and not eat too much sugar. I didn't realize that you have to count your carbs and give so much insulin accordingly. I didn't realize that a diabetic can't eat ANYTHING without thinking about blood sugar levels. I didn't think about the fact that if you want to have a baby it automatically makes you a high risk pregnancy. Especially since with Otto I considered it a good day if I only threw up 6-7 times in a day. I can't even fathom yet how that will work with being a diabetic. I feel so bad for how insensitive I may have been when someone told me they were a diabetic. It really becomes a huge part of who you are.
That being said I really am doing pretty good. My vision was pretty blurry the first few days out of the hospital but it has gotten much better. The needles I had at the hospital were pretty brutal, but the ones I have for my shot and to test my blood sugar are tiny compared to theirs and I can ALMOST barely feel them. I still have to give myself a pep talk every time I give a shot, but I am managing. The hardest part for me has been feeling like I have lost my freedom. I can eat what I want but I have to think about how it will affect my blood sugar and take a shot accordingly. And most of the time I don't want anything bad enough to give an extra shot. Which will probably be a good thing to help me keep all the weight of that I lost, but it does kind of stink that I can't just have a cookie or drink a Dr. Pepper if I want. I wasn't quite ready to have more children yet either but that is the other thing that weighs heavy on my mind. My last pregnancy was so miserable I have been having a hard time talking myself into doing that again. And now I have another very serious element added to it. I know I can do it, but it surely won't be easy. I have an awesome Dr though, as well as an awesome Husband, and family who I know will all help me to get through it. (MONTHS OR MORE down the road of course)
Well did it take you three years to make it through this post? If a zillion pictures weren't enough I had to write a saga about diabetes, but people have been asking me how I found out and I also wanted to write it down somewhere. And since the blog is my new journal you guys get to share in it:)
