Happy 4th Birthday, Tyler

On Sunday, the 28th, Tyler turned 4 years old and boy was he ever excited! Although it was fast sunday, he picked out his favorite cereal - Fruit Loops - for breakfast and he asked for Totinos pizza for dinner. Not too hard to please this kid! He asked all day to know where his presents were hiding, which I thought was so adorable. He kept telling me that if I told him the secret of where they were hiding, he wouldn't tell anyone.

He ended up with 4 separate days of celebrations! For Preschool on Tuesday, the 23rd I made rainbow cupcakes for his school birthday celebration, and to celebrate Easter - the kids hunted for eggs. His cousin, Lexie's birthday was the 24th and since they were up visiting us for her spring break, I made a cake for Tyler and we celebrated both birthdays together. Sunday was Tyler's actual birthday, so we ate left over cake, cupcakes, and ice cream and opened his presents from us. And on Monday, the 29th and Jason's birthday, he got to open his presents from grandparents and cousins and we had root beer floats for his dad's birthday.

And the final celebration (totalling 5) will be on Thursday when he gets to have a few friends come over for a friend birthday party celebration! It has been crazy AND fun around here!!!

3/24 - Tyler's RAINBOW cake and FOUR candles!!!

3/28 - Tyler showing me how old he now is!

3/29 - Tyler opening a present from Grandma.

I couldn't help but reminisce on how much this kid has grown and how much we love him. Teaching him Preschool at home has been so rewarding for the both of us and I have loved watching him learn and grow. I won't be teaching anyone else, but him, this next year and am excited to watch him learn to read and write. He has learned all of his letters, letter sounds, numbers, colors, shapes, rhyming, and he can tell you what a word starts with just by figuring out the beginning letter sound (for the most part), which makes me smile! I have been remembering the sweet times of the past...

Tyler Michael Pannell came to join our family on Tuesday, March 28th, 2006 at 7:09 PM. He weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 21" long. His head was the biggest of all of my children: 14.5" and he was my smallest boy. He had a little bit of dark, reddish-brown hair and had long, skinny feet and toes.

TWO VERY PROUD BIG SISTERS!

We were excited to let out the good news that we were expecting another baby. At BYU Education Week in August 2005, Jason passed a note to his mom (Grandma Lori) during one of the classes, inviting her to spend a day at the hospital with us on April 5th. And while we were visiting Grandpa Jim and Grandma Sheri, we asked them if they were ready for Grandchild #20. Everyone shared our excitement for a new addition to our family!

Tyler was due on 04/05/06 (which would have been a fun birthdate), however Jason was going to Boise State University full-time and we opted to have the baby during spring break while we knew he could be home. Plus, we were also in the process of finishing up a 400-square-foot addition onto our home in Nampa and knew the week would give Jason time to make the last finishing touches. I was excited though to bring Tyler home to the new "boy" room that we had added on and decorated just for Bryson and you??? I had elected to find out what I was having and Jason didn't want to know. So... I knew that Tyler was a boy and Jason did not. We had talked about baby names, but most of them were girl names. I had no idea what I wanted to name a boy.

When I get the chance to pick an induction date, I first pick convenience for all the parties involved, and then I pick a good "date". Well, after a long debate, we decided that we DID NOT want the new baby and Jason to share a birth date. And the only other day that my doctor was available for an induction was the day before (the 28th) which just so happens to be the day that my brother, Michael Jay Blacker, went home to live with his Heavenly Father 14 years prior. My mother was not overjoyed to have me share this prominent day in her life, but I reminded her that it would bring new life and happiness to a day that has always been sad and mournful to her, and I didn't want to have the baby on Jason's birthday.

I was checked into West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell, Idaho at 7:30 AM on Tuesday, March 28th, for an induction. For me, having my fourth baby, the process was quite routine... schedule an induction a week before my due date, check in early morning, break my water about two hours later, get an epidural a few hours after that, and just wait for the baby to come... and wait... and wait... and just after dinner, and after the nurse shift change at the hospital (7 o'clock), the babies are finally ready to come!

Tyler definitely wasn't any different from the norm for me. Though the most exciting part of all was the look on Jason's face when he came out. Jason was quite certain, and almost slightly disappointed, that we were going to be having another girl. Tears trickled down his face as he recognized the gender of our newborn for the first time and gratitude filled his heart to have another son to bond with. Tears flooded my eyes and a smile covered my face as I rejoiced with him... to have another son... to have a healthy baby... and to not be pregnant anymore!

Each of my children have their own assigned color and Tyler's color is GREEN. I had this outfit picked out long before he was even in the womb. When I was pregnant with Kimberly, Jason made me promise that I would not find out what we were having. Since we had one boy (Bryson) and one girl (Megan) already, it didn't matter to him to know and we were going to be surprised. So it was at that time that I purchased a purple outfit and a green outfit to take to the hospital. I knew I would get to use it someday... and was so glad that day finally came!


Tyler in his blessing outfit: proof that his hair had a tint of red in it. Tyler received an official name on the records of the church on May 7, 2006, as he was blessed by his father. Tyler was a name we had chosen after much deliberation (about 24 hours in the hospital, tossing it back and forth with Trevor and Logan). And we knew his middle name would be Michael, after his uncle Michael, who had passed away 14 years ago on the exact day that he was born.

Life always presents it's own challenges, just different for different people. At about two months old, we noticed that Tyler's head was a little flat in the back, but I tried to keep him upright more and laying down less to help it. And at four months old, we took him into the doctor for a baby wellness check-up and Dr. Augustus entered the room and immediately said, "Wow, this little guy's head does not look right." He determined that Tyler had plagiocephaly, which is a congenital malformation of the skull in which premature or irregular closure of the coronal or lambdoidal sutures results in asymmetric growth of the head, giving it a twisted, lopsided appearance so taht the maximum length is not along the midline but on a diagonal.


Sure, we recognized that his head looked funny... very wide, flat in the back, a little bit of bulge in the forehead, but we didn't really think too much about it until that doctor visit. So, we went to the only pediatric specialist in Idaho that deals with this sort of thing, had a CT-scan done on his head. The CT-scan showed that he in fact, had craniosynostosis, which is premature fusion (or closing) of the sutures of the bones in the skull, which causes plagiocephaly. The good news was that none of them were severe enough to require surgery, but some of them required immediate attention to prevent blindness, deafness, mental retardation, and a few other things.


The correction that was required was wearing a cranial molding helmet for a minimum of six months. The purpose of the helmet is to put pressure in the place where his head is the widest, forcing his brain (and ultimately his head) to fill in the empty areas. Doing this would put the pressure off of the sutures that were fully closed and allow the brain to grow in the areas that were still open. Tyler had a half keel on his forehead (starting at the hairline, which made it difficult to see, yet it causes the forehead to bulge out). And the coronal sutures in the back of his head were already fused, causing his head to grow wide and flat in the back.



We were grateful that we didn't have to have surgery, but were not too excited about the $2,000 cranial molding helmet that insurance DOES NOT cover. It is viewed as a COSMETIC medical item, and therefore is not covered under most insurances, which saddened me, because without it, the increased risks for BLINDNESS, DEAFNESS, MENTAL RETARDATION, and other things are elevated. So as parents, you find a way to do whatever you can to give your children the best possible life.


Tyler was a great sport and hardly noticed his helmet. He was required to wear it 24-7, only taking it off for bath time and swimming. He was to eat, sleep, and play in it. And it truly became a part of him. The only downer was that he didn't officially crawl until he was about 12 months old (which was right after he got it off). My theory is that the helmet was way too heavy for him to pick his head up to motate on the floor. He was totally content just sitting on the floor with his toys, laying on his belly, or bouncing in the saucer.

The kids found it entertaining to make him a martian and stick on nerf bullets...

This is one of the few times he had his helmet off. Jason always felt a little sorry for him, and after bath time, he would let him keep it off for an extra half hour to play. I think he was hoping maybe he would get the urge to crawl... but, he never did. At this point, his head was already looking a whole lot better - rounder and filled in.

For Halloween, we dressed him up as a Boise State Football Player. What you can't see is the words on the back of his helmet that read, "My Daddy goes to Boise State."

So, after $2,000, six months worth of trips to Boise - weekly and biweekly, memory foam to line his crib, and a sweaty and smelly kid every day... his head, though still wide, was finally filled in IN THE BACK. The heavy ridge lines of premature sutures were less noticeable and the risks of any medical complications were minimal.


This is Tyler a few months post-helmet, playing in the dirt. The angle of the picture makes his head look far bigger than it really is, but the little guy does have a huge cranium. Like Father, Like Son, I guess is how it goes...

Jason and Tyler are the best of buds!

Two years old... those chubby cheeks and infectious smile get me every time!

And Tyler lucked out... he didn't get the BIG BLACKER EARS!

Tyler has always loved the outdoors... and keeping up with his siblings (no matter what it takes).

Tyler has LOVED being a big brother to Eli. He is always talking to him, playing with him, hugging him, trying to pick him up, putting him on the toy car and pushing him around, putting him in the doll stroller and pushing him around, feeding him, singing to him, reading to him, giving him toys, and every thing else a big brother would do for his baby brother (just shy of changing his diaper, but he has volunteered to do that, too!). And with Bryson and Tyler being 5 years apart in age and Bryson having been in school as long as Tyler can remember, he has been home with ALL GIRLS. He has been known on MANY occasions to daunt a pink tutu when the dance music comes on. However, I am grateful that he gets to share some time at home with a baby brother... and he is, too.

Tyler's First Birthday (and his first ball).

His first word was "Dah" Dah" because he loves his daddy!

Tyler's 2nd Birthday - His first bike (trike). Now he could keep up with his older siblings for sure. Tyler didn't really start talking until he was two. He began reciting scriptures and prayers, singing songs, and dressing himself. He loved the slide, the tramp - anything outside (as long as it was with the big kids), wrestling with his dad, and TRAINS!

Tyler's 3rd Birthday - Something Sporty (which he is far more into than his older brother, who prefers to build and create things). Still Daddy's side-kick for sure.

Again, sharing a birthday celebration (and cake) with his favorite person in the world - his Dad!

We LOVE you, Tyler. We are so grateful that you are a part of our family! You have grown leaps and bounds this year and have made me so proud! You were once my "thick", stalky little toddler, and now you are getting tall and skinny like your older siblings. Daddy's employees used to call you "Goldfish" after the guy on "The Guardian" because you were just a tough, little brute. You are my gentle, little giant. You pack a tough punch, but have a soft and kind heart. Thanks for always reminding us to do what is right... and what we are suppose to do.