B goes to the ENT...

So Sunday night Brookelyn started telling me her ear hurt about 9:40 pm.  She had been sick for about 2 1/2 weeks prior, but, she had been doing so much better that day.  We had been to church and she had started being her perky self again.  She had even teased Grandpa Scott when we went for a short visit.  Come 10 pm she was screaming bloody murder that her ear hurt.  She kept covering her right ear and saying "Owie!".  When she'd try to lay on her ear she'd almost immediately start screaming.  Just before 11 pm I called my mom to ask what she thought I should do.  We decided that a midnight trip to the ER likely wouldn't yield many results and to just try to get her to take some Motrin and tough it out.  At 1:30 am Travis finally came home from work.  Brookelyn had been screaming the entire previous 3 1/2 hours.  I handed her to her daddy and within about 2 minutes the poor girl had completely exhausted herself and she was out.  Just my luck!  I went to bed while Travis stayed up with her (she didn't completely zonk for about another 30 minutes). 

In the morning I called the ENT's office to see if they had an appointment available and told them what my night had been like (in the hopes they'd get me in quickly).  Unfortunately, Dr. Blotter didn't have any appointments until 8:30 am Tuesday.  Seriously!  Fine.  I took it but warned I may cancel and go to Instacare before then.  Throughout the day Monday she didn't complain about her ear at all.  She seemed to be a little bit happier (still some of that previous 2 1/2 weeks illness floating around, but nothing major).  Just before we put Brooke down for bed she starts telling me her ear hurts again.  She isn't screaming like a Banshee this time, but she's telling me how much it hurts.  Monday night I asked Travis if he was still going to take her to her appointment for me in the morning....To which my husband replies, "You think she still needs to go?"  Me: Yes!  Travis: But she was fine all day.  She slept last night, she's fine.  I don't think she needs to go.  I won't lie...I wanted to throttle him right there.  I bit my tongue and said nothing planning to call the ENT's office in the morning and rearrange her appointment to a time of day that I could take her without missing work.

Tuesday morning I get up and start getting myself and kids ready for school.  Travis wakes up and asks if he's going to be late for her appointment.  I told him I had planned to just cancel it since he thought she was fine.  (Yes, he could tell I was mad about that.)  I finish getting ready and Brooke starts complaining again that her ear hurts.  She even starts to cry because she says it's hurting so much.  I leave to take the kids to school and call the ENT's office to see if there is an appointment available later in the day because she has, by now, missed her actual appointment.  I am sadly informed that no, there are no other appointments today because Dr. Blotter is going to go over to Tremonton.  I told the girl on the phone what was going on.  She was kind enough to tell me to go ahead and just bring her in now and he can look at her.  I tell her I'm in Hyrum and it will be at least 30 minutes before we get there - she's still kind enough to tell me to just bring her in.  I called Travis and told him to get ready to take Brooke into the dr.

Tuesdays are crazy days for me.  I have all 12 three yr olds in the morning from 9:15-11:15 and then go to the school to teach SEM from 12:45-3:15.  To top off this fabulous day Caleb threw up three times while I was teaching preschool.  Can I NOT catch a break here?!  I didn't get to talk to Travis about Brooke until after preschool was over and even then it was mostly to inform him I had to go to work and he had another one at home needing his undivided attention due to puking.  Against my better judgement, I asked what the ENT said........Guesses?????

Both of her ears are in fact quite infected.  The right one more than the left one.  Neither ear has a functioning tube left in it but there are tubes sitting in the ear canals.  Much to my surprise, Travis scheduled tube surgery #18 while he was at the ENT's office.  November 14th will mark a new milestone for this family.  Oy.  I'd seriously rather someone else hold this record!

Black Island Farm & Pumpkin Patch

Today I took the kids (& and my sister's kids & my sister) on a small adventure.  I was reading the news on KSL.com the other day and came across an article about the "Pick your own pumpkin farms" in UT.  I found three that were relatively close.  I found directions and whatever info I could on them and then convinced my sister she should go with me if I was feeling like I was able to rejoin the land of the living.  Fortunately for me (and the kids) I wasn't feeling as awful today as I have since Monday.  Bonus!  We headed out a little after 1 and made our way to Syracuse.  I knew the area we were headed to because my sister in law use to live just west of where we were going.  I wasn't sure what it was going to cost us to get in because they didn't have it listed on their website.  It was pricier than I would have liked, but we didn't want to go two more exits to Layton or down to Farmington, so we bit the bullet.  We did the courtyard first.  The courtyard consisted of some small farm animals, several different slides, some tires to play on (even one that was made to be like a bull that Caleb loved), a kid corn maze, a sandbox filled with corn kernels, a train ride pulled by a tractor, and a bounce house that looked like a giant cow!  We could have also done the rock wall and shoot corn on the cob, but it cost extra money.  For what we paid to get in, I think it should have been included but, oh well.  The kids were super well behaved (only one moment of B missing for just a short second or two) and they loved getting to spend time with their Bradshaw cousins.

After we finished up the courtyard the Bradshaws headed out.  They already had pumpkins at home.  We loaded onto a trailer pulled by a tractor and were hauled out to the pumpkin fields.  The kids were super excited to get to scour a field (of 10,000+ pumpkins) to find just the right pumpkin.  I was impressed with the fact that they listened so well and they stayed within eyesight and followed directions to the letter!

Nash hopped out of the trailer and found his perfect pumpkin almost immediately.  He asked if he could get one that weighed as much as he does.  I told him if he could carry that was fine!  I'm not carrying five pumpkins that each weigh as much as a kid!

B found her pumpkin pretty quick.  She tried to pick it up but couldn't quite get it off the ground herself! :)

Caleb looked a bit longer than B did and was quite proud of the fact that he found one he liked that we didn't have to cut off the vine.  "I just kicked the vine with my boot and it came right off Mom!"

Sam found her pumpkin after Caleb did but was too quick for me to get a picture of her with it!

Once everyone found their pumpkins and we were loaded back onto the trailer we headed back to the main farm area.  I told the kids my plan of action to get everyone and their pumpkins off the tractor without too much incident.  They followed directions to the letter again - amazing!  Twice in one day!  After we got all our pumpkins and kids off the tractor Sam & Nash headed off to find us a wagon to carry them all back to the car in!

I was SO glad when Sam came back pulling a wagon!  I had NO idea how the heck I was getting five pumpkins and four kids over to the Tahoe without a wagon!

Sam & Nash even pulled and pushed the wagon with all five pumpkins and the two little kids in it without me asking them to do it!  Sam lasted until we were only about 6 cars away and then I pulled the kids the rest of the way.

We had lots of fun today.  Brookelyn has been sick for two weeks and I know she feels just awful.  I was hoping today would put a smile on her face and help her feel better.  I think it did but it wore her out.  She feel asleep shortly after I put her in the Tahoe and didn't wake up until we came out of Sardine Canyon!  Our plan is to carve pumpkins in another week when our dad is home and it's a bit closer to Halloween.  Hope the pumpkins don't get pushed off the porch during preschool pick up before then!  I did stack them going down the stairs rather than across the front of the porch in hopes of avoiding a fatal fall!  We shall see...a lot can happen in a week when you have 20 3 & 4 year olds!