Check this out

I was reading the news on msn.com when I came across this article - http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/09/6820540-dying-teens-bucket-list-goes-viral?gt1=43001 Her blog address is http://alicepyne.blogspot.com/ I suggest you check out the article and her blog.

Which kid is it?

Summer begins...

This one has finished his first season of soccer:

This one has decided he's done with these despite any and all begging & pleading from mom:

This one is turning out to be fairly decent help:

This one got in the tub & actually didn't scream the entire time!:

We managed to get a few pictures of her looking cute & not screaming yesterday & today:

I think Brookelyn totally looks like Caleb did! I'll have to post a picture of him for comparison!

What I want to do this summer:

1. The library's summer reading program began yesterday. We've got our reading passports and are all ready to begin!

2. Samantha begins summer dance today. She's excited to have her cousin Jade in her class. I think Jade is just as excited!

3. I've got to get a yard sale done! I have a ton of stuff & I have done absolutely NO fundraising for Relay for Life!

4. All 3 of the big kids are signed up for Summer Learning Camp with Miss Shannon. Miss Shannon was Sam's Kindergarten teacher and is going to be Caleb's preschool teacher this fall. The kids are going to her place on Tuesday mornings for 2 hrs where they will get to do a craft, a story and a snack. I think Sam's just as excited about it as Caleb. Sam LOVES Miss Shannon! I'm hoping that it will get Caleb use to going and use to Miss Shannon before preschool starts in September!

5. I told Travis we need to make a trip to Manti in June. Unfortunately, I might not make it in June. It might be July! The kids would be bummed big time. They are looking forward to going. They haven't been since Easter and before that it was Christmas. I hate to go without Travis, but I might have to.

6.Travis & I are trying to plan a family vacation. We originally talked about Zions and Bryce Canyon. Now we're thinking perhaps South Dakota (Mt. Rushmore, etc). If we can round up some money & plan a time we will be off! Lets hope that Brookelyn does better in her carseat on that trip than Sam did in her carseat on the way to Washington her first summer! That was a LONG ride!

7. Brookelyn has given me 5 minute intervals to weed my flowerbeds. Unfortunately with all the rain we got this spring the weeds are out of control! I'm not even exaggerating! Caleb went with me to buy flowers a few weeks ago. If I don't get them all in the ground soon, they are going to be dead! I did manage to get our few garden plants planted when Travis was home. They are looking good. Now if I can get the flowerbeds to match! I also need to weed what small area of a garden space I have left. My mom has raspberry starts for me!

8. Samantha is looking forward to the church activity day when they go swimming (next week). I'd really like to take the kids to the Aquatic Center several times this summer. I just don't know if I can keep a close enough eye on all 4 of them by myself! Perhaps we'll have to commission Uncle Zack to go with us!

9. I'd also really like to take the kids to the park regularly. I wanted to go to Willow Park yesterday, but with the migraine I had and the lack of listening skills Caleb had, I figured it was a BAD combination! Too much wind to go out with Brookelyn today. Perhaps we'll make it tomorrow! Good thing we've got baseball 2 times a week because the kids hit the park then!

10. I've got a bunch of super cute 4th of July fabric I bought a bit ago that I want to get some pillowcase dresses made out of. I'm fairly certain I have a booth for the 4th in Hyrum. My sister's BFF, Heidi (my other little sister), is doing a booth at Founder's Day in August that she said I could share with her (she's going to share mine on the 4th) so I've got to get some stuff done for then too! Let's hope that Brookelyn's crying spurt doesn't last too much longer!

11. If we don't get the boys moved downstairs to their new room soon we're going to be in trouble! I couldn't put many of Brookelyn's clothes in the closet (4 kids' clothes in 1 closet just doesn't work well). Besides that, Brookeyn will be too big for her bassinet soon and I'm going to need my crib (which is currently a toddler bed for Caleb)!

Looks like we're going to be busy & stay busy the entire summer!

Kid stats

I took Nash & Samantha in to see the pediatrician today for a well check. Amazing, I know! Caleb did get a prescription while we were there because the child does have another sinus infection! His tonsils and adenoids are coming out June 23rd. This makes 9 sets of tubes, 3 sets of tonsils and 3 sets of adenoids. Any bets that I have to buy another 3 sets of tubes and have another set of tonsils and adenoids removed within the next 3 years?? Lets hope NOT!

Anyway...the 2 healthy ones are doing well. I was surprised to see how much they have grown. I haven't had them in for a well check since they were 4 because they haven't needed any immunizations.

Samantha:

66 lbs - This puts her in the 74th%

53 inches tall - This puts her in the 81st% - she is super tall compared to other kids her age (at least in my opinion)

I can't believe how big she's getting! She's become really good help with the other kids (when she wants to be!) She's such a cute little mom to Caleb - being one to Nash is another story! She just likes to boss him around! She's getting pretty good at the piano and I'm surprised at how much energy she has! She likes to go and do everything! She's quite the social butterfly around kids but is fairly quiet around adults (except her parents). She loves playing school with other kids - I think it's because she's so bossy! She loves to read as much as her parents and especially likes non fiction. She's more like her mother than she realizes! She loves being outside & will spend all the time she can out there. She's quite the girly girl but isn't afraid of a little dirt - she'll even dig for worms with Nash! I can't wait to decorate her room all girly! I've wanted to do that since she was born but haven't really had the chance to.

Nash:

47 lbs - this puts him in the 57th% - the kid is scrawny!

45 1/2 inches tall - This puts him in the 48th% - I don't think he looks short!

Nash is getting so big! He has his first loose tooth. I hope he isn't as big of a boob about having it pulled as his big sister is! His hair was finally laying flat for the first time in his life & I took him to get a haircut. If it wasn't for the terrible duck butt in the back, I'd have let him leave it long. He's such a tender heart and gets his feelings hurt fairly easily. I feel so bad lately because he's got an obvious case of middle child syndrome. I'm wondering if it will carry over to Caleb now that they are both considered the middle child. He'll tell me, "Mom. I love you." at least 3 times a day - usually more. He loves his LEGOS and building. He's so good at entertaining himself. Sometimes I feel so bad because there aren't any boys his age in our neighborhood close by. That's actually the reason I signed him up for soccer and t-ball this year! I wanted him to have a chance to meet new kids (boys) his age that live within a close distance to our house! He really liked playing soccer and I think he'll want to do it again next year. He's doing really good at t-ball (he doesn't dog pile on top of the pile to get the ball!). He's fairly quiet but he can be just as noisy as the rest of them when he gets excited. He loves to color and I'm impressed at how well he does to stay in the lines and how particular he is about what colors he uses and how sharp his crayons are (he spent quite awhile sharpening crayons the other day). He's getting to be a pretty good reader and likes to take at least 4 books to bed with him each night!

Caleb insisted on being weighed today too. He's a whopping 27 lbs. He wanted me to check his height too but he's difficult to get to stand the right way. He's about 3 ft. tall. The kid is a whirlwind these days! Once he learned to crawl I should've seen it coming! He hasn't slowed down! He thinks he's done with naps, but he still needs one. The last couple days he hasn't gotten one in and when he stops moving for 5 seconds he has crashed for the night. I guess that's good for me! No bedtime drama! He idolizes his big brother and wants to do absolutely everything Nash does. This tends to drive Nash nuts and we haven't been able to get him to completely understand why Caleb's doing it. Caleb also loves his big sister to death! She's such a good little mom to him that he will ask her for help as readily as he'll ask me. I'm surprised at how interested he is in his little sister. I'm not sure if it's because he sees Sam & Nash helping with her that makes him interested or if it's something else. Either way, he likes to hold her and feed her. Tonight he helped with her bath. He's always asking me questions about why she does certain things. I think it's the beginning of the "why?" phase! He hasn't mastered the art of potty training yet, but we're working on it and he generally doesn't fight me on it. He's still working to earn that "DS" he picked out at WalMart a month or two ago. He is excited to go to preschool in the fall so he can go to school like his big brother and sister. This one too loves his books and will take at least 4 to bed with him as well. He'd sit and listen to me read to him all day if I would!

Brookelyn - Yesterday was the first day in a week that she didn't cry all day long! I was THRILLED to say the least. She actually spent the majority of the day sound asleep. I think she was so exhausted from crying so much for the last week that she totally needed all that sleep too. I was worried she'd be awake playing all night last night but, she slept! Today, however, the crying was back with a vengeance. The poor girl was crying even when I was holding her today. I've decided she's super constipated. I asked the pediatrician what else I could do besides take her temperature. He told me I could give her MiraLax (poop medicine we've used with Sam). He also told me to use 1 tsp of milk mixed with 1 tsp of oil as an enema. She did NOT like that! Yesterday she didn't get any formula at all. I gave her 1 4 oz bottle of half juice half water and she drank the entire thing. I thought that would help get things going today. Nope. It took the juice mix yesterday, the milk/oil enema, a suppository, a 3 oz bottle of breastmilk with dark karo syrup in it, and finally another juice mix before she finally pooped! Poor child. After she pooped I put her in the bathtub. It was the first time she hasn't screamed like a banshee the entire time she was in the tub. She actually seemed to enjoy it in there tonight. Once I got her out and got her dressed I could tell she was tired but she was acting hungry. So, I nursed her and she fell asleep. Poor baby has been sound asleep since. I'm glad she at least gets enough relief to sleep at night - otherwise we'd both be going nuts! I'm hoping that tomorrow she'll be happy again. Otherwise, we will be going back to the chiropractor on Monday!

The girls

Samantha has now officially started softball. Her dad is thrilled she's attempting to play the organized sport this summer. He went and "helped" at her first practice while he was home this past week. I say "helped" because I don't know if he really was help or if he just horned in and rained on the coaches parade! He's kinda like that when it comes to baseball!

She had her first game on Tuesday night. She got to bat twice and got a single each time. I was impressed with her swing. Most of the girls on both teams were cutting down toward the ground when they swung the bat. Sam did good with a straight follow through and made a great connect with the ball. I'm sure her dad was proud! Trav was here for her first game. He "helped" again by coaching first base. Sam played really well during the game. She did almost take out her own first baseman though! Wasn't Sam's fault - the first baseman wasn't paying attention & they could've gotten the runner out if she had paid attention & caught Sam's throw!

On a different note...this one has been screaming for the past six (yes, SIX) days (yes Travis has been home & yes I'm glad. No he's not home any more and yes, I'm sad about that!). At first I thought it was just colic/fussiness. It would start at about 9:30 pm and last until about midnight or so. Then about last Thursday she got pretty congested. That's when the sadness started around the clock. I thought it was just because of the congestion, but the congestion cleared up and the sadness didn't. Then I thought maybe it was because she hadn't pooped in several days. But, on Sunday she pooped. It was seriously the consistency of paste! I thought, "Well, no wonder you've been sad!" and figured the problem was solved. Nope, she was still crying the next day.

On Monday the pediatrician's office was closed for the holiday. I managed to tough it out and was able to get an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. Luckily, she doesn't scream if she's being held. Of course, you have to have just the right hold on her. The only other time she doesn't scream is if she's nursing and between midnight and six am (thank goodness for that!). The dr. told me he wanted me to try this hypoallergenic formula instead of the formula I was using. She only gets about 2-4 oz of formula a day (pretty much only if we're in the car and I don't have a bottle of pumped milk and she's crying because she's hungry). He also wanted to do a urine test to check for a urinary tract infection. He sent home all the stuff for me to do the urine test at home so I didn't have to pay for it if it came back negative. He told me if it turned out positive to take the sample into the lab at the hospital and they'd run it. I managed to get a tiny bit of urine & used the dipstick he gave me to test her urine. The little pad turned purple almost immediately (a positive). So, I hauled it into the lab at the hospital. Unfortunately, it was after 9 pm. I asked if I would be able to get antibiotics that night if the lab ran it and it was positive. I was told yes, but I'd have to see a dr. and since it was after 9 the only dr.'s available were the ER dr.s. So, I called to talk to the dr. on call and told the operator why I wanted to talk to the on call dr. The operator reminded me that since it was after 9 there were no pharmacies open. I asked "Can't the hospital fill it?" Nope. Ok, glad I called first and didn't just pay a $100 ER co-pay!

Called the dr.'s office this morning. They had the lab results back and apparently there was NO sign of infection. What the??? When I was at the dr.'s office on Tuesday he said that if it came to be Friday and she wasn't doing better to give him a call (little did he know I already had a well check scheduled for Sam & Nash on Friday morning! :) ). He said that it's extremely rare but sometimes Reglan (which he put her on for her reflux) can cause stomach cramps. If she's not doing better by Friday he might take her off the Reglan. She's suppose to be getting the Reglan 4 times a day (every six hours). However, I DO NOT wake her up to give it to her (I'm not taking my chances that she'll go back to sleep!). So, she's only getting the Reglan between 1 and 3 times a day. I don't think it's the Reglan bothering her.

So, now what? Well, I gave her some of the hypoallergenic formula tonight (about 3 oz). Up until that point she'd only scream if I laid her down. After she had the formula she was screaming even when I held her. AWESOME! My mother finally came to my rescue around 9 tonight and was given the task of just holding Brooke! I was able to finally get the kids in bed, a little laundry folded and put away, Brooke got a bath & I got a shower. Plus, mom unloaded and loaded my dishwasher and washed my dishes! THANKS MOM!

For your random viewing pleasure, here's a picture of Brooke and my niece Olivia (born 5 wks early 3 days before Brooke). I think Olivia makes Brooke look like she's 6 months old!

To wrap up this terribly long post I say this: If you get bored, call me. I'll put you to work holding my baby so I can get some stuff done!