Dylan is home...and photographed!

Dylan is finally home! After being in the hospital for 23 days, we finally brought him home Saturday night. He's put on almost two pounds since he was born. He now weighs 5 13! Jack loves "Baby Di-Den" and so far hasn't tried to sit on him, carry him or throw him the basketball so that's good news. We went to Fotofly this morning and got these pictures done. I tried to get a few with Jack in them but he threw a huge fit and wouldn't pose for a single one. Kind of a bummer but at least Dylan was photogenic! I'm not sure I'm up for outings yet though, it was kind of crazy this morning! Hopefully I get better at parenting two children at once.

Dylan's doctor told us to avoid public places and crowds for 2-3 months so it looks like I'm home bound for a while. I'm going to try not to go crazy. Come visit me?!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

I got a baby Dylan this year! Dylan Jason Buhler is here! We're so excited to have such a little angel. He was born Friday morning at 5:16 am. He is a tiny little thing! He weighed 4 lb 0 oz and was 17.5 in long. He was 37 weeks exactly but my dr thinks he stopped growing around 34 weeks and that's why he's so small. A little about the labor and delivery - it was fast! He was born a little less than an hour after we got to the hospital. I'm always so afraid of going into the hospital and getting sent home so I wait until the very last minute when I decide I REALLY must be in labor and by then I force myself to go through all the hard contractions without any epidural, which is totally opposite of what I would want to do. I'm all about avoiding the pain. So anyway, Jason and I left Jack in the care of our neighbors at 4 am (thanks, durfees!) and went to the hospital and I was dilated to a 6. They told me the anesthesiologist was already there so he would be in to take care of me in a matter of minutes. It seemed like hours. It was probably only about 15 minutes, and I should be grateful I was even able to get it because at one point I heard one of the nurses telling the anesthesiologist he had to hurry because if I breathed wrong my water would break and we'd have a baby. So by the time I finally got it, Jason's hands were crushed and I was feeling like the pain had definitely beat me in a battle of wills. Then a short 5 minutes and two contractions later we had a baby! He was with us most of the morning, but his temperature kept dropping and his blood sugar wasn't quite high enough so by early afternoon they took him into the special care nursery where he's been ever since, and will probably stay for at least another few weeks. His blood sugar has been fine for two days, but because he's so skinny he can't keep himself warm, and he gets too warn out and burns too many calories when he tries to eat so he's on a feeding tube half of the time so he won't have to work so hard. So for now, Jason and I are making 3 or 4 trips a day over to the hospital to be with little Dylan until he can come home with us (luckily the hospital is around the corner from our house!). It's not the ideal situation but I know we're lucky to have such a healthy, albeit pint size, little boy! And now for the good stuff...

P.S. All the tubes and wires look a little scary, but the IVs in his head are for a dextrose 10 supplement which gives him a few extra calories and supplements, and a precautionary antibiotic that they took him off of because they decided he didn't have any infections. The oxygen is mostly just to give him a little more stamina but also to make sure his oxygen levels stay up. So in my opinion it looks worse than it really is. I have to keep reminding myself of all this every time I start to get a little freaked out!

Awesome red-headed mullet

Jack got a haircut! This is the before...

This is the mullet he had for a few minutes...

And this is the slightly grumpy but oh so grown up little Jack afterwards. I have to say I miss the luscious red locks.

Twinners

Are these some cute cousins, or what?

My little guy is sure looking grown up. Kinda makes me sad...

Island Park and Yellowstone

We just got back from Island Park and Yellowstone tonight and I'm already blogging about it. This is some kind of record for me, I just know it. We went with my family and stayed at a cabin up at Pond's Lodge. The mountain air sure was nice! It was a ton colder up there than it was down here. I think the temps peaked at about 65, but it was down to about 48 during the day on Friday because it was rainy most the day. Unfortunately that was the day we were supposed to float down the (Snake, maybe?) river, so we had to cancel the river and we went into West Yellowstone and went to the museum and the Wolf and Bear Encounter. Then on Saturday we headed into Yellowstone and got a nice surprise- it was a free weekend! That saved my family $100 with the large convoy that we had. But it also made for a very crowded Yellowstone! Oh well, I would love Yellowstone in any condition! It was Jack's first time seeing geysers and waterfalls and buffalo and all the many other wonders of Yellowstone, and do you think he loved it?!? Nah, he was pretty neutral. What he did love was the fudgesicle at the general store. And I don't blame him. I admit I had two myself. Consecutively. You would too, they are that amazing. In 2005, Jason came with my parents and me on a Yellowstone trip and we took a picture outside of the store with our fudgesicles, so we thought it would be a fun tradition to take the same picture in the same spot everytime we go back, and just add in any new kids that there might be. Here is our 2005 and 2010. Jason says we look a lot older now. And I say that one of us looked a lot skinnier. I won't name any names.

2005

2010

Two of my cute nieces.

I sure love spending time with my family. I feel like I never get to see my sister and her family so everytime I do is a treat! Love you guys!

This makes me happy...

St George

We took a fun little weekend trip with our friends the Ashbys last week. It was tons of fun! Lots of sun and outdoors. I went mountain biking for the first time ever and it worked me over pretty good but it was a really good time. Jack had a ball spending time outdoors. We haven't been able to do much of that in the rain at home.

It's always funner to swing with a friend.

We also went to Zion National Park and did some hiking, including a little trip up to Angel's Landing. The view was AMAZING!

This is the ridge you hike up to get to Angel's Landing.

At the Emerald Pools.

We took the kids to a splash park and got lots of cute pics of the little man. Thanks again to the Hatts for letting us stay at their home!

Jack thought it was pretty awesome to spray us with water.

One of all the kiddos.

It's all fun and games until your bum gets wet.

The down side- Jack got sick. Then Lindsay got sick. Then Jack developed croup. Then we drove home a day early at midnight and had easily the worst night of everyone's life. Especially Jack! We took him to the dr's the next day and had to get him on some breathing treatments and steroids. He's lookin' pretty buff now. And then Jason got sick. And that's where we are currently.