A name change for the blog?

After reading my last post my sister suggested I change the name of the blog to Bown Family Medical History.  Good, but I'm thinking more along the lines of "Chronicles of a homemade M.D."  What do you think?

Will it ever stop?!

Lets look at it this way:

Week before Christmas:
Sam gets flu bug and misses school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Nash gets flu bug and misses school Tuesday.
Caleb gets flu bug & is sick until the following week.

Christmas Eve:
Caleb appears to be on his death bed.

Christmas Day:
Travis & Brooke get flu bug.  Travis STILL has a nasty hacking cough.

Friday January 19:
Sam get sicks.  On Sunday we go to Instacare to be told she has Influenza.  She misses the entire week of school.  Has fever of 103 entire time - that's being on ibuprofen all day every day for the entire week.

Thursday January 24:
Caleb wakes up with temp of 101.4.

Friday January 25:
Rather than go to SLC to the conference I'm registered for for work I stay home and take all FOUR kids to the pediatrician's office.  Get told Caleb just has croup.  Get three days of Dexamethasone for Caleb.  Get Brooke a flu shot.  Caleb's temperature hits 104 this night.

Sunday January 27:
Caleb finishes the last of his Dexamethasone.

Monday January 28:
Really shouldn't send Caleb to daycare but have students doing presentations (that were suppose to be done the week before Christmas but I had to cancel classes).  Send Caleb to daycare double dosed on ibuprofen and acetominaphen.
Take Caleb back to Instacare after work.  Spend three hours there to learn that he doesn't have RSV, it's "just the junk in the air that's viral that's going around" and I'm "doing everything that can be done". Find out the "best recommendation" the dr. can give me is to get some saline nasal spray for Caleb.  Come home very irritated.
Get kids ready for bed and send them off.  Caleb is fevering again and is struggling for air (again/still).  Nash starts coughing....Nash starts croup coughing....Nash has fever.
Brooke wakes up after being asleep for about an hour.  Brooke has fever.

BAH!  I'm digging a very deep hole, climbing in and not coming out until June 1st!  What I don't understand is that I have 95 students in four different schools.  How the heck have I managed to be the ONLY person in this house that hasn't gotten deathly ill?  Seriously!  I hope God knows I consider this to be a VERY cruel joke on his part.

Relay for Life 2013

This year is my FIFTH year doing Relay for Life and my FOURTH year as being a committee member.  This year I am the chairperson for sponsorship again.  I'm hoping that we can raise more money through sponsorship this year than last year.  Last year we raised about $7,000 (which I'm told was twice what they did the year before, hence the reason I'm chairperson again - actually, I was told as long as I want to chair sponsorship, it's all mine).  We raised about $85,000 for the entire event last year.  That was about $10,000 less than the year before - in all honesty, I'm fairly certain that the torrential rain storm we had during Relay was the culprit because it killed a lot of the fundraisers people had planned to do up on site.

Our kickoff event is this Wednesday.  It is our second annual Dancing with the Relay Stars.  It's just like Dancing with the Stars, but the dancers are raising money for Relay.  I have volunteered to help at the event again this year.  It will be held at the Logan Rec Center again this year.  We have quite a few stars dancing this year too.  The USU ballroom dance team acts as choreographers for the dancers - which I think is pretty awesome.  They have also arranged to have several different dance companies bring teams in to dance while money is being counted (nope, Sam's not dancing - lucky for me).  We also use this event as a charity event for the food pantry.  People who come and bring a canned food donation get the price of their admission reduced.  Last year we were able to collect quite a few cans for the food pantry so I'm hoping we can do that again this year as well.

As for the plans I've made for my own Relay team...well, not all plans have been figured out but I'm kinda use to flying solo on this one.  I know I will have team members but most of them don't sign up until about April!  

**Travis had suggested two years ago that we appeal to the men.  I had promised him we would do so through our raffle & our shirts last year....and then I forgot.  So, to honor that promise, this year we will be "Huntin' for a Cure."  We will also be raffling off something that will appeal to the men as well as the women...perhaps a fishing pole?  Travis wants to raffle a gun but I'm pretty sure we won't be able to get one donated and I'm not assuming that liability!

**I'm planning to do a silent auction on the blog again this year.  I would like to do that about the first week of March so keep an eye out.

**I know I will be doing a yard sale again this year.  I've been collecting items in my basement since the end of the last one last May.  The pile is growing out of control!  If you have any items you want to get rid of and would like to donate them to the yard sale let me know.  I'm more than happy to come pick items up.  I'm planning to do the yard sale in early May.  I know we have a dance competition one of the first Saturdays & I believe the second weekend is Mother's Day.  So, I'll keep you posted on a for sure date.

**If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to my team (or register to be a part of my team), you can do so here:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=50483&pg=personal&px=2086508  I set my fundraising goal for $100 but I'd really like to beat what I did last year.  Last year my team did about $1,700 & I raised about $1,400 of that.  I really wanted to earn my red "Grand Club" shirt last year.  I'm hoping to earn another one this year as well.  That means I have to raise at least $1,000.  

**If you'd like to donate but can't afford to donate money I'd love donations for the silent auction.  Anything you can do helps us find a cure for this rotten disease.  If you know any business owners that would like to participate by being a sponsor let me know!

**And in case you don't know, here's why I Relay:

I started to Relay in memory of my Grandma Lea.  Now I have the honor of Relaying for so many others.  But, to be honest, this right here is why I keep Relaying:

I Relay for my family

I Relay for my Grandpa who kicked Cancer's Butt more times than any one person ought to have to

I Relay for my Littles because Heaven forbid I ever lose one of them to this horrific disease

I Relay for my "Other Mother" who kicked Cancer's Butt

And I Relay for my friends who have kicked Cancer's Butt

Basically, I Relay because it's a way that I CAN make a difference in this very large world.  It's a way for me to be involved in my community and help others who are in need.  It's a way for me to honor my Grandma and the fight she made.  It's a way for me to show my children the importance of caring about those around us -  because in the end, we're all human.

Sick-ie update

You know, I should have just gotten everyone a flu shot in October.  I've been working on turning the blog into a book to get it printed.  I sent 2008 off to the printer yesterday and was working on 2009 today.  I was reading through the first few months of 2009 and was reminded that Nash & Caleb had both gotten RSV that winter.  It was after that that I started doing flu shots for the kids and I regularly.  Last year we didn't get flu shots - I can't remember why.  Then this year I figured last year we didn't get the flu so I will bypass the flu shot this year....stupid!

Friday night after Sam did the USU half time show I could tell she was getting sick.  By Sunday she was in bad shape so we went to InstaCare and were told (after about a 2 hr wait) that they were classifying her as having Influenza.  Well, Thursday was the first day she had a temperature under 99*.  This means she went from Friday through Thursday of being sick (which is less than the 14 days I've heard it can affect kids).  On Thursday Caleb woke up with a fever of 101.4*.  I ended up canceling classes Thursday to stay home with him because I couldn't justify leaving a sick Sam home to take care of a sick Caleb.  I also ended up not going to SLC for the conference I was suppose to go to for work on Friday.

On Friday I took all four kids and we trekked into the pediatrician's office.  Dr. Clarke listened to Caleb and said he didn't think it was asthma so we didn't need to keep doing the albuterol with the nebulizer.  I told him that we had been doing it the night before to help with the wheezing and gasping for air.  Dr. Clarke gave us some dexamethasone for Caleb's croup.  I also asked him if he thought it was too late for Brooke to get a flu shot or if I should just do it.  He said that up until now we've had Influenza A hitting everyone.  Now Influenza A is tapering off and we are starting to see Influenza B hit.  So, I decided to go ahead and get Brooke a flu shot while we were there.  I asked Nash if he wanted one too (no point in doing Sam's or Caleb's at this point).  He semi freaked out and told me "NO!"

Saturday night Caleb ended up with a temperature of 104*.  That will freak a mamma out pretty quick. I got him striped and in a cool tub.  That lasted for maybe five minutes.  He wasn't too keen on the idea.  I got another dose of Motrin in him and called my mom.  She was kind enough to run to the grocery store to get me some acetaminophen and some Gatorade for him.  I was able to get his temperature to drop back down somewhat quickly by doing all that but it still freaked me out.  He didn't want to take his medicine and the only way I got it into him was by telling him his brain was going to start cooking if we didn't get his temperature down (fine mother moment, I know).

Today he woke up and his fever seemed to be down.  He's been eating, hasn't thrown up and has played during the day.  What's been weird is that the fever hits around 8 pm really, really hard.  I really don't know what else to do for the poor kid.  I can't cancel classes tomorrow because my kids are presenting (they were suppose to present the last week before Christmas but Sam had the flu and I canceled class to stay home with her.  Since there has only been 2 Monday's with school in session in January this was our only opportunity to present!).  I think I may end up canceling classes on Tuesday and possibly Wednesday as well - even though I have a meeting with the teachers after school Wednesday and Wednesday night is Dancing with the Relay Stars that I've volunteered to help at.  Just crossing my fingers that Nash, Brooke & I don't get this junk!

This has been his location of choice since Thursday:

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning the house all afternoon.  After I got all the cleaning done I had the kids help me get out our Valentine's Day decorations.  One of them looks at me and says, "Wow mom. You really don't have that many Valentine decorations!"  I had to smile and said, "Well, I don't run out and buy them all at once!  I have to collect them over time!"  I think it's probably just because I have an obscene amount of Christmas decorations so now that we're decorating again and we aren't looking for somewhere to keep putting decorations it's a bit of a shock for them!  I was glad I had recently bought a kit from Mandy (at One the Avenue - her link is on the left hand side of the blog).  I spent part of yesterday and part of today painting, modge podging and finishing it up.  It turned out super cute.  Right now I have it sitting on my table (notice the cute table runner?  Part of the collection my mom made me for Christmas.)  I have to agree with the kids though - considering Sam's birthday is right close to Valentine's Day (and I love this holiday) we really ought to have more Valentine's Day decorations.  Guess I'll have to be on the look out!

Best Pinterest Idea EVER

Ok, so I found this idea on Pinterest a little while back.  The pin said that in order to tame out of control doll hair you put 2 TBSP fabric softener into a spray bottle.  Then, you fill up the remainder of the spray bottle with water.  Spray the doll's hair, comb and Wa-lah perfect doll hair.

I was skeptical because let's face it - we have our fair share of out of control doll hair and we've never been able to tame it.  I kept telling myself to not get my hopes up but give it a whirl anyway.

Tori's (Sam's American Girl Doll) before picture

I used the doll brush (you can see it in my hand) that I bought from American Girl.  I could not believe how fast her hair combed out.  Sam usually asks me to comb Tori's hair and make it cute and it takes a good 30 minutes to get it combed out decent enough to put a pony tail in.  There was minimal hair shedding involved with this doll this time too.

Here are Tori's after pictures:

After I got her hair brushed out I was able to take her front section of hair (the part that Caleb gave a haircut to) and put a braid in it and then pull it all back into a pony tail.  I was so amazed at how well it worked that we busted out another doll.  I should have done a before and after photo of that doll.  The second doll we did is a doll Grandma Bown gave Sam for Christmas.  Now I'm not going to lie - the hair on this doll is gross.  It's just a bad wig or something.  The hair on this doll is always a disaster (it goes to her ankles).  This time I used a normal hair brush (I needed to glue the American Girl doll brush back together because the bristle part kept popping out).  There was a ton of hair that shed out (seriously, my garbage was half full of doll hair).  I was finally able to get it all combed out, braided in two braids & then I gave it a trim (hopefully it won't be so nasty now).

So, there you have it momas - best Pinterest idea ever!  PS If you live close and want 2 TBSP fabric softener let me know.  I don't use fabric softener in my laundry because so many of us are allergic so I had to buy a bottle of it just for this!  This should last quite awhile!  I also bought a new spray bottle and wrote "Mixed" on it so we don't let Brooke get a hold of it and drink it!