FYI

Last night I was messing around and clicked on the link in my list "How does she". If you click this link it pulls up a blog & just under the slideshow to the right is a link called Free Calendar = Perfect Present. I was feeling venturous and went ahead and clicked. I ended up at vistaprint (I've bought business cards from them and have been happy). Anyway - you can get a wall calendar that you personalize with your photos (you choose background, add birthdays/events, etc.) or a desk calendar for only the price of shipping! I did one for my mom & one for my father in law. I know it isn't as awesome as when I did the scrapbook calendars, but lets face it...I don't have the time or energy (or the empty calendar sitting in my office not to mention that would mean I would have to finish shoveling out my office so I could work down there) to do the scrapbook calendars this year!

Anyway, I still had fun creating it and I know they'll love it anyway because it has all our beautiful smiling faces on every single month of the year! I thought I'd pass along the info - you know, just in case you're feeling venturous too!

In a completely random side note - I sold my 2nd item on my etsy website! It was even one I designed this time! HA! It was one of my baby tag blankets.

On another completely random side note - I left Caleb with my friend today & came home to sew (did I mention I might get a booth in Paradise this Saturday?). Anyway, I finished 8 (yes, 8) baby tag blankets & 3 burp cloths! I was excited! I have 2 blankets I'm going to finish tonight & I've also cut 6 inch squares (7 x 7 size for the finished product) for 3 more baby blankets that I'm piecing (yes Cass, you can pick one - all 3 are girlie!).

Baby updates

Today I went to see my dr. (Dr. Fowers). He had a hard time finding the baby's heartbeat, but after some searching was able to catch it long enough to make sure it was a strong heart beat. Apparently baby was doing somersaults - not looking forward to that in the near future!

The "highlight" of my appointment was when Dr. Fowers looked at my chart and then back at me and said, "You know you're on the track to gain a LOT of weight, right?" Um..yeah, last time I gained 62 lbs!! After I reminded him of that he asked me if I lose it all ok. I had the pleasure of telling him that although I gained 62 lbs last time, I also lost 80. His kind reply was "I guess gaining a lot is just your norm then." Thanks...I hadn't figured that one out. I have to remember that he didn't see me with my first two pregnancies. In fact, he didn't start seeing me until half way through Caleb's pregnancy. So, I guess I'm still "new" to him! I think the reason he pointed this out to me is that I've already gained like 30 lbs. Yeah, I said 30. Normally I gain a pound a week until the end of the second trimester and then it kicks into overdrive. I guess this baby might hit the 10 lb mark! He asked me about my diet and as I explained to him, I eat fairly normal. I'm not freaking out on treats - unfortunately the sound of many of them make me want to puke. I'm going to blame it on the fact that my body knows I'm pregnant and is just gearing up for the long winter!

I was able to schedule my ultrasound for Dec. 13th. Unfortunately, Travis won't be home. That's the day before he gets here. I didn't have many dates to choose from though, so that's what we took.

Since my appointment was this morning, I left the boys at Laura's house. She was kind enough to let me leave Caleb until 3. In that time I managed to get 3 burp clothes and 8 (yes, 8) baby tag blankets completed. I cut them all out last night (Caleb REFUSED to stay in or go to bed until midnight). Now I have 2 baby blankets pinned and ready to sew and 2 more that need to be cut (6 inch blocks of 2 different fabrics) and pinned. My girlfriend from next door told me she might be able to get me a booth at the art/craft/music thing in Paradise on Saturday. I'm crossing my fingers since the Lewiston booth didn't work out! Looks like I've got a few long nights ahead of me. I guess if the booth doesn't work out at least I'll have more items for my etsy.com website!

Pictures!

You know, it's moments like these that I think, "Ah...maybe 1 more won't be so bad." And then they wake up! ;)I picked out some fabric to make a carseat canopy. When I know if we're having a girl or a boy then I'll know if I can girly it up or boy it down! I'm planning to make it reversible and use ribbon to attach it to the carseat handle.
I also picked up some fabric to make a cute bag for my mother in law for Christmas.
My aunt's family was sealed in the temple to their adopted daughter today. Miss Sadie requested a chocolate purple panda bear cake. Not to disappoint......
I did send a picture to Trav on my phone & he said it looked blue. I assured him it was quite a lavender purple. Later I guess he watched Kung Fu Panda and he told me that I did a good job because the panda cake looked just like the panda on the movie! Thanks for the vote of confidence Trav!

And tomorrow I will be 15 weeks. I don't think I look as big in this picture as I did in the last one. However, I think it's only because I'm not holding my belly so my shirt is much more poofy!

The diagnosis....

I had Sam's file from the pediatrician faxed over to the ENT the other day. When Dr. Blotter (the ENT) came into the office he was kind enough not to mention the bulging size of her ever growing folder!

He took one look in her throat and said, "Yeah...those do not look good. They need to come out." Awesome. Yes, we can wait until January (an awesome without sarcasm). Check her ears while we're here why don't we? What? She still has a hole in her left ear drum from the tubes that were taken out almost a year ago?? Awesome (yes, more sarcasm).

Proposal:

1-Take out the tonsils

2-Check the adenoids while we're in there to make sure they haven't grown back (wouldn't that be awesome?)

3-Do a sort of sheetrock patch on the hole in her left ear drum. What the heck, why not?

When Dr. Blotter and his nurse told me that when Samantha gets older and asks why we didn't take a lot of super expensive family vacations I can just show her her medical file and say, "Because we did THIS instead!" I told Dr. Blotter I am positive we have paid for his summer home. His response? "Looks like a few over at the Budge Clinic too." Gee, thanks. I hadn't noticed! Keep in mind, this is just 1...ONE...of my children out of soon to be 4...FOUR...What in the blazes was I thinking??? Apparently not about their bulging medical files!

Dr. Blotter told me that normally to fix the hole in her ear drum they would do a 2 hour surgery where they essentially life the ear drum up and graft behind and over it. However, since she's already going to be down 30 minutes for the tonsils and who knows how long for her adenoids (depends on if they've grown back or not and need to come out again), he doesn't really want to keep her under another 2 hours. So, instead he is going to a do a procedure that has a slightly (yes, I said slightly) lower success rate (still 60-70%) but takes less time. This is where they go in and do a sort of sheet rock patch on her ear drum. He said the 2 hour surgery is super delicate and finicky as well. He did it on another patient and she got the flu the next day so her ear surgery didn't take. That would NOT be awesome!

I asked if we could wait until January seeing as how it would actually be awesome to get some of our new deductible out of the way before baby comes. It helps that we'll have a whole new year of increased medical flex spending to use as well. He said that would be fine but he's fairly certain that she'll get sick again between now and then. So, (since he's so awesome - NO sarcasm) he gave me a prescription for when that happens because as he said, "It will probably be midnight on Christmas Eve and the only place open will be the ER." To which I had to say, "Or we'll be in Manti & the only place open will be the ER." He smiled and told me "Keep it in your purse!" No need to tell me twice...that last trip to the Gunnison ER in Oct. is going to cost me over $100 - not awesome.

Dr. Blotter did tell me she'll be out for about a week for recovery. Sam's excited about that. I told her I don't think she'll be so excited when it comes. In fact, I think she'd much prefer going to school when it comes! Let the drama begin!

Since we're waiting until January they haven't got a schedule that far ahead. I have to call back in mid-December to schedule a surgery time. I'm hoping I can get a time when Trav's home that doesn't interfere with either Relay for Life kickoff that I'd like to help with and that's close to the beginning of the month so she doesn't miss too much after Christmas vacation....here's to wishful thinking!

At least all our dr.'s ARE awesome (and no, there's NO sarcasm there)! That helps me have a better attitude about it. However, one thing still bothers me. How is it that my husband and I still have tonsils but now 2 of our children won't? Blame it on recessive genes I guess??

PS I got some really cute pix of the kids last night and some good video of Sam. Unfortunately, it is nearly midnight and my children (yes, all three of them) are still awake. So, I will have to post them tomorrow!

Ramblings

Since I'm sure everyone that follows my blog is just DYING for me to update, I suppose I will! ;)

This is the new form of go-kart at our house. Apparently it's SUPER fun because I can't seem to keep the barstools upright anymore!

On Monday I took Caleb to the dr. He had been croupy and had a nose that just wouldn't clear up. We got dexamethazone from our favorite pediatrician and was pleasantly surprised when he said it WASN'T a sinus infection! When I went to pick the kids up from school I started to pull out of the parking lot but before I could hit the road Samantha was throwing up. GREAT! Awesome way to start the week. And to think I changed the sheets on all the beds today! She only had a few small episodes after school (she said she was fine until lunch but had felt junkie after that). I thought she was done and we were in t

he clear until 11:30. I put the childproof lock on the inside of their bedroom to keep Caleb in bed several weeks ago. I heard someone fumbling with the knob & figured it was him. After a few minutes I got up & went to see what was going on. It was Sam, standing in throw up and had thrown up in her bed. Yeah....had a mother of the year feeling at that moment. I was glad Trav was there to clean that one up! So, we got her cleaned u

p & back in bed. Trav thought I was mean b/c I wouldn't let her sleep on the couch (I changed the sheets again). But dude! Have you tried getting puke out of a couch? Especially one that has cushions that don't come off. Um..yeah. No thanks for a repeat in that experience department!

Trav took Caleb for a bike ride one day while he was here. Apparently, it's quite the workout for EVERYONE involved!

Tuesday was fairly quiet. I kept Sam home just to be safe. We made a trip to KMart and I finally found a baby book. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find one that's unisex? Dang near impossible!

Travis just left Wednesday morning (like 4 am) to head back to Rock Springs. We were all bummed. There was a bright side....Trav's brother went up Monday to Rock Springs and wasn't planning to come home until Thursday or Friday. At least he'd have a smidge of home that way?? His brother was going for work too.

I sent Sam to school Wednesday since she was fine Tuesday. When I picked her up after school, her first comment was, "Mom! I didn't even feel like calling you once!" Sweet! I'm thinking it's over & we're good. Stupid me. I thought I was doing awesome. I had the kids in bed at 9 pm (that's EARLY at our house) and I didn't even hear a peep out of any of them! I stayed up and made more super cute bows while I watched 2 movies I checked out at the library. At midnight Sam woke up and said she was cold and didn't feel good. I told her to go get in my bed. It should have been a clue when she took a fleece blanket to my HEATED water bed & still used my blankets too.

Here comes Thursday. Sam woke up with a fever. AWESOME! I got the boys up and dressed and fed and left them at daycare while I took Sam to Instacare. Diagnosis? Strep.....AGAIN! This is the third time this year (June, October, November). I called the ENT's office and made an appointment with our super favorite ENT whom I'm sure we've purchased a summer home for. I think Sam might need her tonsils out. On the bright side....if we could put it off until January, it would go towards the new year's deductible & we could use the money we will have in flex spending. Hmmmm...Lord works in mysterious ways??? Perhaps! Not positive she'll need them out, but I'm just saying. Nash has had his out so I think it's a possibility. Besides, the dr. she saw at Instacare (the same one that saw her with her broken arm & asked her where her cast was) asked if she snored. When I told him she snores bad (like last night I thought I was sharing my bed with Travis again) he said that's another sign that they might need to come out. So, tomorrow I get to keep Sam home again (suggestion from her teacher ;) ) and check Nash out of school early so I can take Sam to the ENT to see if I can contribute further to his summer home purchase! At least I have a good attitude about it, right? :)

I talked to Trav about 10:30 tonight. I've decided things could be worse. He got sent to Vernal (again) today. He told me that he gets to get up at 3 am & head out to the site where they will do 3 wells (12 hrs each) before he'll get to come off the site again. That means that he's going to be onsite for 36 hours straight. Awesome....glad it's not me. At least it's better than the 44 hours straight he was onsite last time. Did you know that apparently it's LEGAL to leave guys onsite for 48 hours straight?? Wonder when he'll be forced to hit that mark. Hope he gets a few naps in here and there! What a man.

Here's to TGIF!