Healthy Baby

Peyton's Pediatric GI just called to let us know that the results from her endoscopy came back, and everything looks perfect! She doesn't have any injury to her intestine, no infection, and best of all- no Celiac Disease! This means that her little body just absorbs nutrients differently than other children, and she will most likely just grow out of it. We have officially ruled out anything being "wrong" with her. As long as she keeps growing on her own chart, they're not worried about her, and if she ever stops growing, they will just get her on a supplement. I am so grateful that my little girl is healthy and happy. And just like the doctor said, "perfect".

Peyton's big week

The first part of this post is purely for photographic evidence. Peyton picked up this funny little habit somewhere, and it cracks me up every day. She likes to put things down her shirt. She puts everything down there- money, soap, food, toys, her binky, anything that will fit she will put down her shirt. Two times Peyton has snuck things past airport security in her footed sleepers- a bottle of travel size mouthwash, and a handful of hot chocolate packets. Both times I noticed something funny while we were sitting on the airplane, and Peyton just looks up at me like "I have no idea how those got in there."

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Here you can see her storing her sippy cupShe always looks down her shirt after she puts something down it. Almost as if she's just checking to make sure it's still there.Peyton's 18month birthday was this Wednesday! I can't believe she's a year and a half old!

For some Christmas fun, we Thelins thought it would be fun to take the kids on one of Oregon's longest standing Christmas traditions- the Polar Express. It's a train in Mt. Hood that takes a ride to Santa's Village in the North Pole. Santa and his elves come on the train, and everyone sings carols and has hot chocolate and cookies, and read the book The Polar Express. The kids absolutely love it. Well, it wasn't so fun for the adults (the train went back and forth along a couple mile stretch 4 times, it was old and rickety, cold, and crowded) but the kids thought it was nothing short of incredible. After our exciting ride on the Polar Express and some (less than) stellar pizza at Piedro's Pizza- which was also far too crowded, we sent all the kids over age 2 home with Grandma and Grandpa, and Justin, Ashley, Jade and I took the baby girls in our car for what we thought would be a nice, quiet ride home. So, we're pulling out of Hood River (the town where the train station is), and Justin (who is driving the Suburban) turns to us all and says "What do you think guys- my gas light just went on. Should we turn around or will we make it to Portland?" Jade voted that he would make it, since Suburbans have such big gas tanks- he said "You'll probably be able to make it all the way back to your house, but at the very least, you'll make it in to Portland." Ashley brought up the reserve tank, which gives you an extra couple gallons of gas, after your regular tank is empty. I was out-voted, and so we left Hood River. Approximately fifteen minutes later, we hear a funny noise, and all of a sudden we start slowing down. A big red warning light goes off on the dashboard. And then... nothing. We were officially out of gas. Now I've never run out of gas before, and I'm pretty glad because this was a seriously scary experience. After being out of gas for twenty minutes, the battery died, so all our lights went out, and we didn't even have flashers. We were on the tiny shoulder of a busy freeway, with no lights, pouring rain, and semi-trucks screaming by every few seconds. Scary. So we were stuck waiting for AAA for over an hour. Luckily a nice cop came by and put up some flares, and even gave us some extras in case the ones he put out died. AAA finally made it to us, gave us enough gas to get to the nearest town, and jumped us, and we were finally able to get home, not a moment too soon. It was quite the experience. Ashley and I just kept reminding everyone of all the positive points- we didn't have any whiny kids with us, it wasn't freezing outside (which means no ice- scary), we were in a nice big car, and we even had snacks! Needless to say, I think we all learned a lesson about gas lights that night.

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Peyton was excited for the Polar Express. This is her new "excited" faceI really love her pink, sparkly chucks, and her pink Santa jammies. Seriously, what would have I done if she was a boy?On board the Polar ExpressOur little elves- Gabe, Sam, Taryn, Max, Macie, Marley, Peyton, Trenton (Grandma and Grandpa in the background)With The Man, himself. He was a perfect Santa.Note our provisionsThank goodness for AAAOur car, stuck just 1 mile from the next exit.

Friday was another big day for us. Since Peyton has excessive fat in her stool, we had to do one last (MAJOR) test- for Celiac Disease. Peyton had to get an endoscopy so they could biopsy some of her intestinal tissue to make sure she doesn't have Celiac Disease. The good news is that this will be Peyton's last test. If it is negative, we will just know that her little body absorbs nutrients differently, and she will most likely grow out of it. She will probably just take PediaSure so that we make sure she's getting all her necessary nutrients. If it is Celiac Disease, the good news is that there is a 100% cure for it- she just doesn't eat gluten. The bad news is that gluten is in just about everything (wheat, barley, and rye) so we will have some MAJOR diet changes. More good news- gluten-free is SUPER healthy and since it is becoming more common, mainstream restaurants like Outback Steakhouse have gluten-free menus, so she won't have too hard of a time eating. But we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

I have been super worried about this endoscopy. Truthfully, it was much harder on me than on Peyton. The worst part for her was not being able to eat Friday morning. The procedure was done at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital, which is the leading children's hospital in Oregon, and one of the best in the Northwest. Peyton was admitted, then given a physical, then an IV (thank goodness protuberant veins run in my family, and it only took one try for the nurse to get her IV in, which is unheard of in kids Peyton's age). Once the sedatives kicked in, (I opted to just have her sedated instead of put under general anesthesia- which is much scarier) Jade and I went to the waiting room and waited for about 12 minutes while the procedure was done. Those were 12 very long minutes. Then they came and got us and took us back to her, so we could be there with her when the sedatives wore off and she "came-to". Every single nurse and the doctor told us how wonderful she was. They said she was so cooperative and so good natured and even tempered. I was proud of my drugged little baby. Everything went so smoothly, which made me more than relieved. The doctor had us wait an hour to make sure she didn't have any side-effects, and then we were able to go home. The down side for me was that the drugs didn't seem to have a normal effect on Peyton. Instead of making her drowsy, they made her active. She wanted to climb and run around. Unfortunately, she was not even able to stand up by herself, so I had to carry her around. As a result of this, she got pissed. She did not want to be held- she wanted to walk around and eat food (which she also wasn't able to do). It made for one unhappy baby, and one frustrated momma. Luckily, when we got home she took a nap and woke up perfectly normal. Thank goodness. You would never even guess she just had a medical procedure yesterday.

In her hospital bed, wearing her special jammies

She really was not happy about having to sit still in that bed. Note she is still holding her jammies. I don't think she was thrilled to be in different jammies.

After the sedative kicked in she was hilarious. She just kept looking at everyone and smiling like "I don't know why this is funny, but it everyone is really, really silly"

Right when the sedatives wore off after the procedure, she wanted to get out of that bed. She would try to get up, and then fall over. It was sad, but kind of funny. Then she started getting mad that she couldn't walk, and that was not funny.

She couldn't even keep her eyes open, or her head up. I was just so happy to be holding my baby.

Utah Visit

Wow I've really been a blog slacker. Usually I'm so good at keeping up my posts, but I guess somewhere between Halloween and Thanksgiving I got caught up. After our Thanksgiving vacation, we had about 4 days to unwind before our next adventures. In those 4 days, we had some family pictures taken, courtesy of my friend Julie, celebrated Jade's grandmother Mutti's 87th birthday (87, right, mom?), did a family service project, cleaned our house, took down fall decorations and put up Christmas decorations, cut our Christmas tree, went to Pump it Up, Jr, had the missionaries over for pizza, and best of all, we found out I picked up a bug in Jamaica (and then went on some heavy antibiotics to get rid of it).

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Almost everyone was there to celebratePeyton and her great grandma MuttiHere is a sneak peek of the pictures until I get the CD. Thanks Julie- we LOVE them so far!Then Jade and his 2 best friends, his brothers, went on their annual brothers football trip. They went to Arizona for 5 days and had a great time. They ate a lot, played a lot of Wii, swam in the pool for hours on end, went to the temple in Mesa, and went to the Vikings vs. Cardinals game (sad that the Vikings lost). While the boys were gone, my momma decided she would come play with me and Peyton to keep us company. We did all sorts of fun stuff! We went to our ward's Enrichment service exchange, we went shopping (a lot), I had a booth at the Holiday Bazaar, we went out to eat, we took Peyton to see Santa Claus (she was so cute- she sat on his lap and was totally happy. We even taught her to answer the question "What does Santa say?" with the response "ho ho ho"). We had such a great time with just the girls! The day Jade came back, my mom left, then the very next morning Jade, Peyton and I left for a little trip to Utah. So, now I remember one thing I really don't miss about it- the cold. I forgot what the single digits felt like. Burr! Despite the weather, we had such a wonderful trip! We got to visit some of our dearly missed Utah friends (though unfortunately not all of them).

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Our friends Peter and Amber have probably the coolest house for kids that I've ever been to in my life. I guess having 4 boys 10 and under will help you get creative with house design. They have a secret room in the boys' room with a huge rock wall! Peyton was obsessed. She did not want to get off the rock wall- she kept saying up, up, up. That girl has no fears!Jade worked almost all day, every day (after all, that was the original purpose of the trip), so I had the days with just Peyton. We did some fun things together. We went to the Discovery Children's Museum at the Gateway Mall with our friends Misha and Harli. Harli was too little to care much about the museum, but Peyton thought it was just about the coolest place ever. It was the best children's museum I've ever been to. Of course while we were at the Gateway we had to eat some lunch, and do some serious shopping.

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Peyton takes after her momma and loves all things animal.Peyton loved the water feature. By the way, she found a stool and climbed up into the structure while I was chit-chatting. She is quite an adventurer. Peyton was in love with Harli. When Harli was napping in her stroller, Peyton would walk over to it and say "baby, baby, baby" and point to Harli. She kept hugging Harli and kissing her head. It was adorable. Note the matching hats. That wasn't even planned. Misha and I just both have great taste.While we were shopping at Zumiez, Peyton saw a skateboard and started playing on it. I wish I had video footage of her skills. She was shockingly coordinated on a skateboard! She would pull herself on, using boxes and tables to balance, then push herself. I was floored. The boys at the store thought she was the most hilarious thing ever.

My tired little playmatePeyton discovered she really liked to play in the snow (until her hands got cold). We stayed with Steph and both Jade and I got our hair done. And Peyton got a mani/pedi. Thanks so much Stephy!

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This is Kuma, Steph's roommate's dog. Peyton would ask for him about every 10 minutes, and Kuma was ever so obliging and let her play with him.We even went to a Christmas party with Steph's ward- ice skating on the roof of a building! It was cold, but oh so much fun!!

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Us in action- look at those skills.

We love Steph and RawlinThis is how most of my night was spent- falling all over Jade and cracking up about it.Then on Saturday, the coolest thing happened- Peyton was in her first beauty pageant! We did it with Misha and Harli (Harli was in the Infant category- she was the youngest kid in the pageant- and Peyton was in the Baby category). It was so great! She did so well, and she absolutely loved all the attention. The pageant was holiday wear, so I just walked her down the catwalk in her Christmas dress and stopped at the end, and she turned around and smiled and laughed, and waved hi to everyone and blew kisses. She was such a little ham! She won about a million awards, too: best smile, best eyes, cutest face, best attire, personality plus, best model, best hair, photogenic, back cover of the pageant program (that category was out of all the kids in the whole pageant), and most importantly: Mini Queen!!! I was so proud of her- she was so cute, and she had so much fun.

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My little beauty queen spent the night in rollers. Beauty is pain, I guess. I don't consider it child abuse though, because I spent almost every single night in rollers from the time I had hair until I was 3.This is Peyton's cover shot.This is Peyton's Miss Photogenic shot.2 Proud mommasBeauty Queens Peyton and Harli (notice again how happy Peyton is to be hugging Harli)

CatwalkPeyton in line with the other girls in her age groupPeyton gathering some of her winnings

She was loving the trophiesAs you can see, she was pretty pleased with herself. She loved all the attention.My little beauty queen! It was such a great trip. I never thought I would say it, but there are definitely a lot of things I miss about Utah. I guess that will make it so I always like to visit!!

Jamaican me Crazy

Wah Gwon! We're back from our Jamaican Vacation (well we have actually been back for almost 2 weeks. I'm a little behind.) For Thanksgiving, my mom decided to take us all on a really great vacation- to Montego Bay, Jamaica. It was seriously awesome. The weather was perfect almost the entire time we were there. We spent every day in the sun, sand, and water. Perfection. We stayed at the Iberostar Rose Hall Suites, an all-inclusive resort (the highest traveler-rated resort in Jamaica). So- a brief synopsis of our trip: Wednesday we left our house for the airport around 3:30pm, and after a seriously delayed and booked-full flight, we finally made it to Las Vegas around 10:30. Naturally, I stayed up all night with my mom getting things ready for the trip, so by the time 4:15am rolled around (time for us to wake everyone up to make it to our 6am flight), we were a little loopy. The 5 1/2 hour flight to Miami was not wonderful. Peyton was really uncooperative, and didn't take a nap at all, which makes for a cranky baby and a cranky mommy. Luckily I had my mom to help me wrangle my little busy-body. We also had a 5 hour layover, which could have been horrible, except we were able to go to the American Airlines Lounge, which made our layover actually enjoyable. They had snacks, drinks, computers, TVs, and even a kids room where Peyton tired herself out and was finally able to take a nap! Sweet nap time. The short flight to Jamaica was totally fine since Peyton was more cooperative, but by the time we went through customs and immigration, and also got our shuttle to our hotel, it was almost 10pm. We grabbed some food at the buffet and went back to our rooms and passed out. The next morning (and quite a few of the following mornings) we slept in until 10am, when Peyton finally woke us up. Traveling for almost 24 hours straight is no fun at all with a toddler! The rest of the trip was wonderful. Peyton tuckered herself out with all her swimming and sunning- she was sleeping about 14 hours every night, plus taking two 2 hour naps a day! We spent the days in the WARM ocean, in the cool pools, and in the hot sun. We ate a ton at the hotel's different restaurants- Mexican, TeppanYaki, Steakhouse, and the Buffet. We did some really fun activities while we were there: windsurfing (Jade tried it for the first time, and he was actually pretty good!), ping pong, chess, playing in the lazy river at the hotel, kayaking on the ocean every day, snorkeling, boccie ball, beach soccer, working out at the gym, going to the spa, playing countless games of cards, water volleyball, scuba diving in the hotel pool, gambling in the casino, water polo, beach volleyball, playing on the trampoline in the ocean, and coming up with fun games to play in our down time. We went to beach barbecues, aerobics classes in the ocean, and the flea market, and we had such a great time! We only left our hotel one time- to go check out some shopping nearby. We consumed approximately 150 frozen drinks- pina coladas, strawberry daiquiris, and "Miami vices"- each while we were there. When it came time to leave, we were so sad to go. We had a really bad time getting home- it was Thanksgiving Day, so we thought it would be a great time to travel, but apparently a lot of airlines combined their flights since they were so empty; which made for delays and crowded flights, getting through customs was a nightmare in Miami, our flight was delayed, then we didn't make it in time for Thanksgiving at my Grandpa's. But, the next day we invited my mom's dad and sister and her husband, and her 2 kids, plus my cousin's husband, plus her 2 kids to dinner, and our friends Cheryl and Paul cooked us a dinner that was to die for. Even though our Thanksgiving was on Black Friday, it was so great! Jade and I flew home that day, and by the time we went to bed that night, Jade decided he was never traveling with a toddler again (we'll see how many days that lasts!) It was a wonderful vacation, and a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I am so thankful for everything I've been blessed with in my life.

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Warning! Continue at your own risk! Heavy Pictures to follow:

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You can tell how much help Jade and the kids were on the flight to Miami. Not at all.She was my lifeline on that plane. Peyton was eating Cheetos so funny- like a rabbit eats a carrot- front teeth only.Our beautiful hotel- The lazy river, activity pool, beach entry pool with a bar, and then the private beach.This is Peyton, experiencing her first strawberry daiquiri. My mom cannot say "no" to that girl.She loved the ocean. She didn't want to stay in the float though, she's far too independent for that.The older I get, the more I love my siblings.I love this picture. At the steakhouse restaurant for lunch.This is her newest face. She makes it when she's really happy.She loved climbing all over the beach chairs and rolling onto the sand.She saw us in the lazy river and was yelling at us from above.She decided she liked the lazy river, too.The water wasn't super clear, but it was SO warm! I love my beach baby.Little family.This is the flag for the water conditions. She thought it was pretty amazing since it was just her height.This basically sums up Peyton's trip:I wish I had video of this. She is so stubborn. In the middle of floating on the lazy river, she decided she wanted to walk along side of Jade. She refused help getting out, and did not want him to hold her hand. She wanted to do everything by herself. She is so fiercely independent. Uh-Oh.Love her first French braid, and her jelly shoes.The infinity pool, and the ocean. Notice another drink in Jade's hand?Jade surprised us all with his windsurfing skills.I love my family so much.Sad day- the day we left.On the flight home. A few things to note: my mom has a black eye. My daughter hit her when she was trying to get something and actually gave my mother a black eye. Sorry mom. Also if it looks like Peyton is naked on the airplane, that's because she pooped all over herself and we didn't bring a change of clothes. Whoops.Before dinner.My Aunt Suzie taught Peyton about olives on her fingers. Peyton now asks for olives constantly.She thought this was the greatest thing ever!