Blog Challenge Day 22 & 23, Cinco de Mayo & pictures

I went back to the dr. today to have my membranes stripped again. I didn't see "my" dr., but rather the PA. She was super nice. She told me "Don't be surprised if nothing happens. I've known ladies that have walked around at a 4 for 2 weeks." Wasn't happy about that. She was sympathetic to my situation though. She told me "you're about as effaced as you can get" but I'm also still at a -2 and a 3+ cm. While we were at Trav's parents' house tonight I got to "waddle briskly" around the block with my sil and mil. Been having some contractions. Let's hope they do something already. Although, it would be kind if it would wait to get serious until after Nash's Mother's Day Tea at school tomorrow. His little heart is set on me coming!

We had the "pleasure" of making a trip to the dermatologist for Nash today. He's had this wart on the joint of one of his fingers for ages. We did an over the counter thing once about 6 weeks ago. It made it smaller at first, but after about 2 weeks it was back to its original size. The PA we saw froze it off & then discovered a second, very small one, so she froze that one too. We're hoping she got it good enough that we don't have to go back and have it done again. I think we'd have to drag him in kicking and screaming to have it redone. He cried for quite some time after. Tonight both warts are totally engulfed in blisters. I can't believe how fast they blistered and how big the blisters are. We put bandaids over them before he went to bed tonight so if they pop, he won't get "wart juice" all over his bed. Nice image, huh?

For Cinco de Mayo we got to go to Trav's parents' house for dinner. They bought a new trampoline (Travis killed theirs last fourth of July) and Travis and the kids helped grandpa set it up. They were THRILLED! Oh how they have missed the trampoline. Yes, Samantha was allowed to get on it. I'm not one of those mom's that's like "NO! Stay off the trampoline so you don't get hurt!" I figure we have a daily injury quota at our house that must be filled by someone at sometime. It's just part of growing up, right?

Day 22: A place I've traveled to

I've not traveled much, but then I've traveled a million miles! We make regular trips to Manti (which my kids absolutely love). Trav & I have traveled to St. Louis, Phoenix, Zions, Bryce & Yellowstone. The kids & I traveled to Oregon & Washington. We make fairly regular trips to Lake Powell. We've seen the Grand Canyon. We always love Flaming Gorge. Taking the kids and going off for an adventure is always fun. I always say "It's not camping with the Bowns if there isn't catastrophic weather or some kind of "event"." This year it sounds like we might be making a camping trip to Zions with the kids and with Trav's sister's family. Should be interesting to say the very least. Nothing worked out solid yet, just an idea.

The one major trip I have been on was when I was a senior in high school. My grandparents were on their mission in Wellington, New Zealand. I was lucky enough to have parents that had the time and the means to take us to visit them in New Zealand. Not only that, but we stopped in Sydney, Australia for about 7 days, and then hopped over to Oahu, Hawaii for about another 7 days. We were gone for a total of 3 weeks. Talk about a senior trip! It wasn't even too bad going with my family! We had a ton of fun and there are still certain things we joke about to this very day. I'd love to be able to go back with the kids and Trav some day. Maybe if I'm lucky.

Day 23: A favorite recipe

Anyone that knows me well knows I have a recipe book addiction. I have quite a few favorite recipes. I think one that tops the list these days is the Pampered Chef Chicken Enchilada Ring. It is super yummy and super easy. My kids won't eat it though, so I can only make it when Trav's around - otherwise I end up with lots of food for just me and it ends up going to waste because I can't eat all the left overs quick enough. I'd be happy to send anyone the recipe that wants it.

Samantha update, Project of the day, Sam's dance pix & Blog Challenge Day 21

Samantha update: The radiologist called this morning & we were told that it doesn't look like a fracture. However, she still has to wear the brace for a week & then go in & get new x-rays to make sure the growth plate didn't fracture.

Here's the project I finished today:

In case you can't read it, it says Dance like nobody's watching. I'm going to put it in the girl's room once we get the boys moved downstairs. I still want to do at least one more for the girl's room, but I don't know what saying I want yet. Suggestions welcome!

We were able to get Sam's dance pix back today. When I posted them on fb I hadn't cropped them so they look better here. I should've scanned the group pix, but didn't know how many parents would appreciate it. So, I just did her individuals.

Blog Challenge Day 21: My friends

Not sure what to write about my friends. I have lots of friends - and I love them all dearly. I do however have 1 friend in particular that I consider my "bestest" friend. Laura & I have been friends since we were about 5 yrs old. I'm not even sure I remember how the heck we met! I just know we've been friends for EVER! She's the one that watches my kids while I work. She's the one I refer to as my children's "other mother". She's about the only person (besides my mom) that I talk (or text) to on nearly a daily basis. When I was working in Ogden, I'd call her on my way home & we'd talk until I pulled into her driveway! Travis found out about Halliburton because that's where her husband use to work. She has 3 kids & they fall between mine so together we've got quite the herd. In fact, she's had people ask her if my kids were hers! I keep telling her they could be! Here's to being friends for another 25 yrs "bestie!" ;)

Sam's latest adventure & Blog Challenge Day 20

Sam's latest adventure:

So I should really learn to keep my mouth shut. Nash scaled to the top of the "fuzzy ball tree" we have out front. I took a couple pix and sent one to Trav asking "Any bets on how long it will be before he falls out and breaks an arm or something?" That was my first mistake! Saying it on a Monday night was my second mistake.

I had just finished mowing the lawn (most of it anyway - it ran out of gas) and had come in to check my email. Not 5 minutes later I get a knock on the door. Katelyn was at the door and told me that they had been jumping on the trampoline doing popcorn and Emily accidently landed on her arm and that Sam thought her arm was broken. I told Katelyn I was sure Sam was fine because she's just a drama queen. Meanwhile Emily ran inside & got her mom to come out. Poor Amber! I told her I was sure Sam was fine that she was just trying to help put me in labor.

Luckily when I got there it wasn't all bent out of shape or anything like it was back in August. Plus, it was the right arm not the left (she broke the left one last time). It hadn't started to swell yet either. The only thing I noticed was a bump just below her thumb but I couldn't decided if it was suppose to be there or not because he other hand had one too - just a bit smaller.

Off to home we go to get an ice pack. Now I love my Sam K, but the girl is a serious drama queen. To prove this point, tonight she said "It feels like I'm going to die!" Yeah. You aren't going to die Sam.

I decided it would be easier to take her to Insta-Care and have it checked out at 6 pm rather than listen to all the drama that would for sure insue during the night and into tomorrow. I didn't want her to miss school tomorrow and I knew she'd call me after being there for a short time. Besides, Insta-Care is a $20 co-pay and the ER is a $100 co-pay every time I go! We all loaded into the truck after I called Grandma Kris to ask if she'd keep the boys while we went to get x-rays.

We didn't have to wait too long at Insta-Care (a nice change from YESTERDAY). The dr. we saw was actually the same dr. we saw last August when she broke her arm - ironic? He felt her hand and she told him where it hurt. Then we went to get x-rays. I was back by where the pictures were loading and I couldn't see anything that looked tragic on any of the films. When the dr. came back in I fully expected him to say everything was fine. Nope. He says, "Well, there is something that looks suspicious to me." Great.... He feels Sam's hand/wrist again and asks if it hurts here or there to which she mostly replies yes. He pulls up one film in particular and shows me where a piece of bone juts out just beneath her thumb. Yup. The one I thought might look funny.

He said it's hard to tell in kids because sometimes it's a growth plate and sometimes it's a fracture. He said based on where she was hurting and the film, he was pretty sure it was a fracture and NOT a growth plate. But, to be sure he was going to have the radiologist read the film and give me a call back. He said it would probably be morning before I hear back. If it IS a fracture we get to go back to the orthopedic surgeon (We meet again Dr. Finlayson.). If it ISN'T a fracture, he gave her a brace to wear that she needs to wear 24/7 until she either goes to the orthopedic surgeon or we hear back from Insta-Care. In the case that it isn't a fracture, she wears that brace for a week. At the end of a week, if it isn't feeling better, we repeat the x-rays. Why? Because it is possible to fracture a growth plate and have it not show up on x-rays for an entire week. AWESOME.

Do you think our insurance hates us yet?

Blog Challenge Day 20: What did I wear today:

I must very sadly report that the border collie got the flip flops I got for Mother's Day last year last night. My mom had just commented the other day that they were pretty dead. But in my defense - I had broken them in & they were sooo comfy and let's face it - flip flops are the best.

So, I started out the day in a different (and uncomfortable) pair of flip flops, jeans and a purple maternity shirt. After walking the mall for an hour this morning and stopping by the house (before the 2.5 hr riverwalk) I grabbed my tennis shoes. By the time I got those flip flops off my feet were swollen enough that I had dents in the tops of my feet!

Blog Challenge Day 19

Something I bought recently:

That's a loaded question! I've been trying to stay away from the store because I know I'll find cute baby stuff!

Today I ended up taking Nash to the Insta-care because this morning he was crying about his ear hurting. I kinda thought maybe he was just being dramatic (the kid IS dramatic after all). Then I thought to myself, "Well, if I don't take him today I'll go into labor tomorrow & then his dad will have to deal with it and he deals with it by not dealing with it. So, we better go today." Samantha had spent the night at the neighbor's house and I left Caleb with mom. Off Nash & I went. For there only being 2 people in the waiting room when we got there, we had to wait forever to be seen! Typical of Insta-care though. When the dr. finally came in she looked in his ears. His left ear looked great & the tube is still in. His right ear however, well, that's another story. I guess it's red and swollen. But, of course that's not the worst of it. The dr. said it looked like his tube had been pushed back behind his ear drum. What?! She said it could just look that way because of the redness and swelling, but it could actually be back there. She gave us a prescription though so we went to Shopko to fill it. (Yes, Shopko knows who we are without asking our name when we show up to pick up prescriptions!)

So, in answer to that very short question, today I bought exactly 1 co-pay to Insta-care, 1 prescription for $3.99, 1 prescription for $15, 3 Mother's Day cards, and 1 pink bag to wrap a Mother's Day gift in! Then I came home & checked my Winder Farms order & fixed it so there's about another $30! So much for not spending any money! And I didn't even get to buy anything fun!

Sam's dance competition & Blog Challenge Day 18

Random side note first. I know I posted my 37.5 wk pic in the slideshow in the previous post. But, I was curious to see what it looked like next to my 37 wk photo with Caleb. I still think I look way more enormous with Caleb (way more enormous - is that even grammatically correct?). Just look at my ankles with Caleb! I still have ankles this time (you can't see them through my pants though).

Blog Challenge Day 18: What makes me different from everyone else.

Hmm.. You know, to be honest, I don't think I've ever thought about this question. I know there are lots of things that makes me unique and different, but to pin down one thing that makes me different from everyone else? Hmm....

I think that maybe I'd have to say it's my ability to throw myself into whatever I'm doing 1,000%. It doesn't matter if it's my job or if it's something at home. When I set my mind to something I tend to take off and let it consume me. Granted, that's not always a good thing, I know. But, I think it has its benefits too.

Sam competed at the Dance Spectacular out at Sky View today. She was pretty excited to go. She didn't even give me any grief at 7:20 this morning when I got her up! Last year when she went to the Dance Spectacular she only did one dance and we didn't stay for the entire thing. This year she got to participate in the entire event since she's doing the performance dance group. At the beginning of the competition they did a drill down. This is where all the girls line up and they call out things like about face, left face, right face, attention, parade rest, etc. They ended up going by age and she was in the k-2 group. There were about 20 kids in this group and she lasted until 3rd. Both the girls that took 1st and 2nd are in her dance group and she's pretty good friends with the one that took 2nd. I was impressed at how long she lasted and how good she did. I had no idea!

She performed 4 dances. I video taped 3 of them - I was talking to her piano teacher during her first dance (the one to Tangled). I was excited to see her new hip hop dance and her dance to "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie. She did great and had fun. She didn't argue during her costume change and she kept her hair looking decent the entire time!

After everyone was done performing (30ish dances) they did a dance down. This is where Jenny, the owner of LaShars, taught them about 20 or so seconds of a dance. They were given a few times to practice and then they performed what they learned. They broke it down by age again this time so there were fewer girls to watch at once. She did good. I think it was the arm movement that threw her off - it was kind of complicated for her. Anyway, she didn't place but she did get one of her ribbons for participating in it as well.

The only thing that I wasn't happy about is there was a mom behind me that was the mom of one of the girls from another dance company that kept talking smack the entire time (9 am - 12:30 pm). I wanted to turn around and say, "Seriously? You're worried your 16 yr old daughter isn't going to get a trophy? Come on. That's not why they're here." I didn't though because I figured she'd have a snotty retort and then I'd just get mean. I told my father in law when we went to get Caleb that I am NOT going to be a good athletic mom. I'm just not an in the face of my child when s/he screws up, obnoxious type of person. He laughed at me. Yes, those soccer moms (and apparently dance moms) are pretty evil! It's funny because I was telling Sam about it after we left. She was like, "What? That's stupid. I thought all the girls were doing great! It doesn't matter if you get a trophy." Glad I've instilled that in her early. Let's hope she maintains that attitude!

I'm trying to upload the videos of her dances I got taped, but I don't know if it's going to work this time or not. I left it up and running for a good hour a bit ago and it still hadn't loaded!