Monday, March 16, 2009

He's Mobile!!

Well, it finally happened...much to my disappointment! Caleb now gets up on all 4s & rocks back & forth. He then flops down on his belly & army crawls across the floor at a pace all too rapid for his poor mother to keep up with!

He also just recently got patty cake down. When he does something & we smile at him he gets quite proud of himself & claps until we notice & clap along with him. He loves to play patty cake too though & just giggles and giggles when you "toss it in the oven."

He has got such a cute little belly laugh. It completely cracks me up. And this new found smile (that just so happens to evade my camera every stinkin' time) reminds me of my niece Jade SO much!

I can't believe he will be 8 months old on Wednesday! Once again time has gone by MUCH too quickly!! Before I know it he will be the one in Kindergarten!!

Speaking of Kindergarten...we went to Samantha's parent teacher conferences last week. She is doing much better academically than last fall. I was worried after I saw test scores last fall but not only has she caught up to where she should be, she has passed benchmark! So, I'm now bringing home set 3 of the phonics books (much to HER dismay) to push her a little. She is working on set 2 with her reading group at school but she does so well with them I thought I'd give her a bit of a challenge. I guess that's one down side to having a mother for a teacher!!

Nash has been doing really well with his year end testing as well. I can tell he isn't where Samantha was when she was his age and that bothers me a lot (mostly guilt kicking in here). I guess it just tells me how much I need to work with him over the summer! I'm sure he'll be thrilled about that one! Dang that luck for having a mom for a teacher here too...

Travis got to come home this past weekend. He was ready for a visit too. He hadn't been home in 2 weeks & was getting pretty home sick for the kids & I. We were all pretty bummed out when he left Sunday night since he didn't know when he'd be able to come back home. But, we got a phone call today & he told us that they've put him on a crew & he should be coming home a week from Wednesday & it will be for a WHOLE week! We are all super excited for that one!

We are managing well despite being spread so thin. I think at this point we're just glad we both have jobs so we can pay all our bills & keep a roof over our head. Like everyone else we're hoping the economy turns around sooner rather than later so we can get our dad closer to home.

I'm hoping I can catch that sneeky smile of Calebs & get a picture of the kids in their St. Patrick's day shirts. I'll post as soon as I capture those smiles!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Only in UT

So on Sunday Sam wore a cute spring dress, Nash wore shorts, & we could see quite a bit of grass.

This is what I woke up to this morning:

(Yes, that's 13 inches of snow)

After an hour and a half of shoveling, this is what I was down to:


At 7 pm ish, this is what I found:


On the bright side...

NO MORE SPOTS!

Friday, March 6, 2009

First 5!

The first five people to leave a comment on this blog will receive something made by me. However there are some limitations:
1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make.
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year. (might take a while)
4. You have no clue what it is going to be, poetry, shoes, bags or a little invention of my own. I may bake something and bring/mail it to you. Who knows? Not you that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. It may blow your mind!

Here is the catch, if you choose to do this. You must post this on your blog and be ready to make something for five people too. This will be fun! When you receive the fabulous item I make you, you must post a picture of it on your blog.
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Thursday, March 5, 2009

It just doesn't quit...

2009 is not exactly starting out how I had hoped it would. Of course, we are ahead of last year in the fact that no one has had Rheumatic Fever...yet.

Last night I spent 3 (THREE) hours at InstaCare with Nash & Samantha. I took them in because Nash is still croup coughing after 2 weeks & Samantha after 1 week. Well, Samantha mentioned to me as we were headed in that her throat hurt...when the nurses asked me if I wanted to strep test her right off or wait until after the dr. looked at her. I knew better, so I said let's wait.

The dr. came in & took a look at Nash first...swollen lymph nodes but clear ears, nose, throat & breathing good.
Samantha up next...the dr. said that she could see white in the back of Sam's throat so we'd better strep test. It took 4 (FOUR) of us to hold that child down in order to get the strep test done. Mind you in the course of this battle she bit a tongue depresser in half & managed to break so many blood vessels in her cheeks that she now has giant red cheeks with tiny red freckles all over them. The dr. also looked at her ears - that child is as deaf as a post lately so I knew her tubes were blocked, AGAIN. The dr. said that one ear was completely blocked & she couldn't even see in it & the other was 2/3 of the way blocked & chuck full of fluid. GREAT. We finally left InstaCare with 4 prescriptions - 2 for cough medicine & 2 for Dexamethazone (steroid). Before we leave the dr. tells me that I need to call the ENT in the morning & get in as soon as I can (I told her that I had one scheduled for April 7th - 1st day of spring break but that was not soon enough). Strep test came back NEGATIVE.

Arrive at Smith's at 8 pm. Give the pharmacy the new insurance card we received from Trav's employer, Halliburton. They then ask me if I have a different prescription card because none of the numbers on the card I gave them are being recognized by their system. GREAT. Buy 4 (FOUR) prescriptions with NO insurance coverage.

Call the ENT this morning & am told I can get in at 3:45 and see one of the physician's assistant.

Prepare to leave school at 2 pm. Get 2 phone calls from Laura (my daycare girl) at 1:45 pm. Call Laura back thinking Nash has broken something or thrown up. She proceeds to tell me Caleb has a rash covering his entire body & it's been getting worse all day. The rash wouldn't be so bad EXCEPT he has this giant red squishy thing across the back of his head. GREAT!!!

Leave school at 2 pm. Pick up Samantha & am told by teacher that she has mentioned she doesn't feel well (maybe it's the new tongue depresser in her diet??). Pick up boys. Caleb has HIVES! Cover his ENTIRE body. Thing on the back of his head is freakishly huge & nasty squishy. GREAT.

Head to ENT. Physician's assistant comes in & Nash goes first. Ears are not infected, only 1 of 2 tubes are still in ears & 1 ear is totally nasty. Caleb is second. Both ears severely infected. GREAT. Why are we on antibiotics for almost a week & now covered head to toe in hives?? Caleb needs tubes..Nash needs new tubes (I swear we just paid off set #2 of his). Samantha goes last (surprised?) Ears are totally nasty & must be cleaned out.

Try to clean out Nash's ear first. Must soak with ear drops first because it is so crusted in there. Nash is much more brave than his big sister! Gets a "Good kid coupon" from dr. and gets to go pick out a treat from the pharamcy. Put Samantha on table. FREAKS OUT! Decide we should SEDATE her. Fabulous! Get sedative medicine in her & must wait 15 minutes for it to kick in. Meanwhile, fill out surgery paperwork & finish cleaning Nash's ear. Samantha because heavily inundated - acts like she's 3 sheets to the wind! Carry her to room where I must still lay on top of her & have another nurse hold her head still so physician's assistant can clean out ears!

Get a hugemongous piece of goober out. Physician's assistant asks how long her tubes have been in...3 years. Get told 3 years is the max they can be left in & still give the ear drum a chance to heal. Proceed to take out both tubes that are still in ears. Now has 2 holes in each ear drum (round 3 she had 2 tubes put in each ear so they could drain easier). One starts to drain some of the fluid out - wonder how long that will last?

Pre-register boys for surgery on April 9th (Spring Break here we COME!). Must wheel Samantha to the car because she is still three sheets to the wind. Drive home with Samantha crying the entire way (Specialty Hospital to Hyrum - 30 minutes!).

Make it home & get dinner in oven. Put poor Caleb in oatmeal bath - thank goodness he LOVES it! Get kids to bed - shake head & wonder why I keep having children & WHY on earth I want one more!