Build-A-Bear

We took Kaya to the Build-A-Bear shop in Orem...she had a blast.

The first 20 minutes were spent helping Kaya decide on only one bear. Naturally she liked every choice, and wanted all twenty options. We finally narrowed the selection and moved to the next station, where she was stuffed and where Kaya could put in the bear's heart. After the bear was "alive", Kaya had to give her a bath. Then came choosing the new bear's clothes (yet again, another 20 minute decision). We added an accessory backpack to the mix and then chose the new bear's name: Becca.

Kaya was so excited to have another friend (we can't wait until May when her brother/sister comes to be her new friend...she really needs a friend that moves--and cries, and sleeps and poops :).

Sticker monster!!

I think we forgot to lock the desk drawer...

Tasha's Tummy

29 Weeks along...we are getting a lot closer (and Tasha is feeling a lot fatter)!!!

Kaya's BIG 4

This is a really LATE post (Kaya will kill me later when she's a teenager), but hey, 1.5 months later is better than never! Kaya and Tasha were in Arizona visiting Tasha's grandparents on Kaya's b-day, then we had another party when she got back here. So she really had two birthday parties. In Arizona she went on a merry-go-round, went shopping, playing in the swimming pool (while we were freeeeeeezing in Utah), and to the circus. In Utah, we had all her cousins over for a big party(Thanks to Caitlin Nibly for these pics)

They really liked these glow in the dark sticks...it got dangerous in the dark. I think my eye almost got poked out.

It's fun to see Kaya growing older (I wish she was growing taller and heavier...she's probably the lightest 4 year old--21 lbs). Opening presents is fun (she actually likes her toys and clothes), she actually blows out candles, and she eats her cake (at least a couple bites).
We are hoping for 30 lbs next B-day, but 1st Quarter results are a little disappointing and we need to make up ground in the 2nd Quarter. Otherwise, the shareholders (Tash, me, all of you) will be in an uproar.

Baby Girl v Baby Boy.

We went to the doc today to have our 20 week ultrasound. We were excited and nervous all at the same time. After arriving at the American Fork hospital, we had a very welcoming surprise: the ultrasound tech was one of the nurses that helped Kaya a lot right after she was born. She was such an awesome person, we even set her up on a date with one of my brothers. (Side note, she's still single and still cool, so maybe my bro has a second chance).

Shortly after reviewing all the surgeries and issues that Kaya has (we've done this so many times that it becomes second nature after a while) we entered the same room where we were told of the many problems Kaya was going to have and that she had a 1% chance to survive after birth. It was surreal being in the same place...except the news this time was quite different. Our baby is doing GREAT, and nothing abnormal can be detected (except that it's related to me, of course). We are very excited!!

Oh yeah, we don't know what we're having either...boy or girl, the baby's still coming home to a pink room to share with Kaya.

Remodel update

We finally got our mantle. And we finally painted our old dining room light and put it in the entry way...

Happy New Year!!!

Every year keeps getting more fun. We are excited to see how another little Bigler will change our lives...note: I said "change" not "rock our world". Hope all your resolutions last longer than the 1.5 month average in America

Nachooooooooooo

Sometimes when you're a girl, you wear stretchy pants in your room...Pink boots...red tights...stripped shirt...she picked this outfit out...I promise. But all her dance moves she learned from me.

Christmas time, oh Christmas time

Our favorite time of the year! This was the first year that Kaya really looked forward to Santa. We didn't realize how lucky we were that she likes Santa. We had a party and had a "drop-in" from Santa and all the other kids her age ran to their dads and moms...scared to death. Even a free candycane couldn't pursuade them to go sit on his knee.

Snow came with fun mini snowmen and snow angels..."Kaya size", as we call them.

Kaya really likes the snow, except when she gets hit in the head with a snowball (we have really good snowball fights in the back yard, and sometimes Uncle Ryan missfires) or trips and put her hands in the snow. When she's warm she smiles and when she's cold, she screams. It's as simple as that.


After making snow angels we would come in the house and sit by the warm fire.

Christmas in Colorado was especially fun. We were missing Tasha's sister Heidi because she's still in cooooooold Wisconsin serving a mission.

While there we got really sore cross-country skiing. I knew I was out of shape, but didn't know I was that off track! Maybe it was more strenuous pulling our heavy-weight 22 lb daughter behind me on a slick sled, or the high altitude...

whatever the cause, I could barely walk the next couple days.My saving grace was being able to lay down on the couch and listen to Kaya play beautiful music on her new harmonica. Even dog ears liked it. Their dog, Dakota, almost howled he liked it so much.

Kaya's favorite gift was her new pink outfit, including her pink cowgirl boots. More than the gifts, we just enjoyed relaxing. There are so many things to do down in Durango, and we just scratch the surface when we go down there. I'm amazed at all the deer they have in the orchard right behind their house. One night, we counted over 15 deer...about 6 big bucks too.

Every year we have a tradition of attending the Bethlehem Night at the Sorensen house. It is an awesome event that creates the environment of a mini Bethlehem...and what Christmas is really all about. We hope you all had a great Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving with my family in Farmington/Kaysville. We realized that these pictures are probably going to be the last ones we'll get of Tasha with a normal sized tummy (since we're now expecting another kid, Kaya has been prepping to be a "mommy". It's fun to hear how she thinks she'll give the new baby a bottle, rock her to sleep, and put her to sleep. She realizes what a new baby does though...she says the new baby will "drink a lot and poop a lot".)

Memorable moments of Thanksgiving:
1. First time a Bigler family picture has been taken in a long, long while.
2. Lots of good food (I redeemed myself from a previous Thanksgiving mashed potatoe mishap...this time they were delicious)
3. Sleepless night with kids
4. Red Vine Licorice
5. BYU 33, Utah 31 - one of the best rivalry games of all time!

Post-cast bath

Pabla?

Ang would have killed me if I didn't publish this pic. Paul's going to kill me when he sees it. I guess I'm more scared of what Ang will do than Paul... :)

Cast

Dr Stott said that the greatest trial any parent would ever endure is for a 3 1/2 year old to have a hip cast for one month or more...he was right.This surgery resulted because of Kaya's hip dispacia, a condition where the hip joint doesn't wrap completely around the ball of the femur. The extra wear and tear that this creates makes a future hip replacement innevitable. For Kaya, that would have occured in her late twenties had we not done this surgery.

So, as with every surgery, we prepared Kaya by bringing her doll Emily with her, so she could have the same "surgery". The doctors raised their eyebrows when we requested them to put a cast on Kaya's doll, but they did it.

The first cast soon became a nightmare. With Kaya's vesicostomy and feeding tube, they had to be very creative with the cast around her abdomen. With the cast originally around on two legs, the urine from her vesicostomy soon began eating away her skin. It was terrible...probably the worst skin break-down we've ever had. Only 1.5 days after the cast, we decided to take the cast off the right leg and leave it on the left. We are very glad because the bar between the legs was removed and Kaya's mobility increased substantially.

Still, we had to adjust everyday activities; eating and bathing were the biggest changes for Kaya.
At first Kaya's movement was pretty much nothing. She always wanted to be carried. And talk about HEAVY. We have no idea what a regular 4 yr old feels like. The extra 10 lbs was a workout!!! (Or I'm just getting soft).






All in all, we're glad it's off...although it was fun to carry her by the cast and twirl her around in circles on the new wood floors. So far, so good though. Her leg is a little tender, so walking is still a little slow. But for the most part, she's doing good.

Happy Halloween

Little BoPeep, who found her sheep:
BoPeep Dress: $0 (Sandra Smith's mom)
Pumpkins: $.50
Candycane Staff: $5 (will soon be given to Grandparent's dog as a chew bone toy)
Cast (under the dress): $2,000 (from Dr. Stott, Orthopedic doctor at Primary Childrens)
Smile: PRICELESS

Wood Floors and Tile

Many hands make light work. With my family, it's not hard to make a big job seem small. My original estimate to wood-floor completion was one day...but it was soon apparent that if I didn't have more help, I'd never get it done. So, thanks to my Dad, sisters, brothers, in-laws, and friends, we finally got it done!Five hundred sq ft of floor doesn't seem to big when it's all in boxes. But when you start unloading each box and moving across the floor only 3.5 inches at a time, the task becomes daunting. The first line of the wood floor was the most difficult...if it was off at all, then the rest of the floor would be off. After much calculation, we determined the straitest line possible and began to lay the floor. And just as we began finding a rythum, laying the floor quicker than Billy the Kid's draw on a hot summer day, we'd run into a weird angle or a corner, or some other distraction that took one hour to figure out. It turned out that most of the difficulty was in the hallway--and thanks to Ryan C's and Matthew A's expertise, they finished the really difficult stuff while, Dad, Ann, Nate, and I finished the office and began on the dining room: by this time we had almost reached perfection in floor laying. Our system was too good. We finished in 10 minutes. ha, ha, ha. While Ann and I picked what boards were to be laid in what order, Matthew and Nathan would pound the boards into place and staple them down. Meahwhile, Dad was taking measurements and making strategic cuts with the mitre saw. All said and done, all wood floor contractors would be proud...and worried.

Dad promised to stay to the "bitter end". The end didn't come until later that night, about 10pm to be precise. But oh, what a finish! It looks so good, and was the bowling alley for Kaya while she was in her cast. She really liked being pushed across the floor and spun in dizzying circles.

Now, we like to get up early in the morning just to look at the floors :).
















These hardwood floors are just so much better than the subfloor particle board substitute we were living with.



















The next adventure took place the next weekend with the tile. Again, the Andreasen's came and helped, as well as Tasha's parents from Durango, Colorado.


We finished grouting and tiling in one day and were able to call it quits early evening. We certainly live in the "projects"...but since everybody's help, we are able to call our house a home.

Remodel update and Kaya's surgery

Where to begin...

Oh yeah, the remodel...it always begins with the remodel. We have come a long, long way.


After mudding sheetrock for the first time (which I highly recommend not ever doing again for anyone interested in keeping their sanity) we called a sheetrock guy over to give us an idea of what kind of texture to do on our walls (orange peel vs. smooth and holey "old world").

After seeing the work we had done, he recommended that we do the old world texturing (keword: we). We wanted him to do whatever seemed best--that is, until we found out what our walls would look like thousands of dollars later. It's funny how thousands of dollars instantly makes me think: "well, maybe we can do this ourselves".

So, against our better judgement, we decided to not only texture the walls, but rip off the chair railing, floor boards, sand the ceiling and walls,
rent a paint sprayer, prime the entire house (including both bedrooms) from floor to ceiling, and paint...ALL IN THE SAME WEEK OF KAYA'S G-TUBE SURGERY!!!!!

We are officially insane (not that you didn't know that already). Kaya's the greatest! Amid all the turmoil at home, she was a trooper. Wednesday Tasha and Kaya operated on Emily (Kaya's doll). They surgically drilled a hole (Kaya didn't see how the hole was drilled for fear of trauma...even though the Makita cordless did a great job, I hope that's not what they use in Primary Children's) and implanted Emily's G-tube, ie "button".Wednesday night was Kaya's last supper, Thursday afternoon was her last drink, and by Thursday at 3pm she went in the OR, with Dr. Downey at the helm. One hour later, we found out the surgery went great. Kaya had a hard time at the hospital and didn't want anyone to touch her tummy. But many toys later, she warmed up to the hospital environment, where all the nurses mysteriously schedule their check ups in the middle of naps. We walked around the hospital with a wagon, colored with crayons, and met some of the other patients, including Emma Sorensen who was recovering from surgery on her elbow. We were finally released Saturday evening. That night Mom and Kaya came home to a painted house. They really liked it.