Monday, June 25, 2012

Father's Day, A Staph Infection, and A Plea for Hair Help

 Father's Day.  My kids have a great dad.  He brings home the bacon both literally and metaphorically.  He loves and supports their mom.  He has a better idea of scale when it comes to things like Christmas and Birthdays.  He is fun and warm and present.  Those things might seems silly but I'm a girl who grew up without my dad and so I really understand how important those things are.  We love our dad and wanted to tell him so.  A few weeks ago we bought him a kindle.  He has all kinds of gadgets but he wanted to try his hand out digital ink.  So far he hasn't really had to the time to use it.  So that gift was not so much of a hit.  Meanwhile this pintrest find was.  There is not a single one of those m&ms left, two bags, completely gone  The kids also put together a book for him, which of course he loved because the man is a sentimental type guy.  He'd like you to believe otherwise.  Don't be fooled.


Meanwhile on the home front I was pretty much dying.  I got this sty in my eye.  First the bottom swelled up, then the top.  I used some drops that I had an allergic reaction to.  My left side of my face was a mess.  I pretty much went blind in my left eye and was in throbbing pain.  At 3:30 in the morning I almost took myself to the ER.  But then I realized Dr. J had to leave for work in less than three hours.  So there you have it folks.  Your medical emergencies are more important than mine.  Welcome to being the Doctor's Wife.  That entire day I couldn't see, couldn't tolerate any sun in my eye and  in some horrible twist of fate could also barely open the one that wasn't red.  The kids watched movies all day.  They ate whatever they wanted.  I stayed in the dark and nursed the baby, occasionally venturing out to get more sugar cereal down for them.  The third day the blindness only lasted until one.  The forth day only until noon.  The fifth day by nine I could see.  My eye is no longer red and for the most part the swelling has gone down.  I think there is still a little there, seems to me my right eye is just a smidge bigger than the left still.  Maybe it's just my imagination.  I'm still having a little sensitivity to light but at least I can see, and read, am no in pain, and no longer look like a zombie.  It got pretty bad!

I blame this illness on the craziness of the Relief Society.  A few weeks ago we had a young woman's activity where we borrowed the Relief Society's white table cloths.  I brought the table cloths home to wash.  We'd had a lasagna dinner and some of the cloths were covered in sauce.  I tried spray and shot.  I tried Tied.  I bleached them.  I put lemon juice on them and set them out in the sun.  Some of the spots would not leave.  Dr. J told me I was a nut. "No one cares that much," he said.  Later when I turned in the mostly cleaned table cloths (although still slightly stained in some places) the Relief Society president told me about how she'd been working on a couple of stains for a year.  They care.  Anyway back during the cleaning process I managed to splash a little bleach on the corner of my eyelid.  I rinsed it thoroughly but in the end had a little sore right in the crease.  Every day a little crust would build up in that corner poking me.  I'd wipe it out with a finger.  My guess, I gave myself a staff infection on one of those swipes.  Remind me to never to touch my eyes again :)

Finally, any suggestions on what to do with Peach's hair?  It is so fine and thin it just is always everywhere.  I've tried barrettes, clips, ponies.  I wet it down.  I brush it.  I use detangler.  I'm thinking about just gelling it flat.  This girl just has wild hair.  It is always all over, in her eyes, and standing straight off the back of her head.  I cut it into a bob but it is the craziest thing you've ever seen.  She is constant ragamuffin girl.  What is a mom to do?




Thursday, June 14, 2012

You Remember When I Mention Cheetah Getting Into Everything...


Well it gets worse.  Is there a higher infant mortality rate for fourth children to first children?  I'm serious. This kid gets hauled around way more by unsteady hands, is exposed to more on the floor, and gets a lot more unsupervised time.  My least favorite thing that the kids do, pick her up and then start fighting over her while she is in their arms.  Yes she has gotten hurt in these scuffles.  Yes they have been forbidden to hold her for entire days because I'm so ticked off about it.  I understand she is their favorite toy, but for crying out loud, I'd like her to make it to adulthood without too many ER visits.

Speaking of which I almost took her yesterday.  I got home from running errands at noon.  Cheetah was asleep in her car seat so I started to unload the groceries.  All the sudden I heard her screaming.  I got her out and then went next door to talk to my neighbor.  I figured she'd calm down as soon as she realized she was being held.  She didn't.  I tried to nurse her, figuring she was hungry.  She was irate.  I bounced her, rocked her, talked sweetly in her ear.  Nothing helped.  I finally brought her back home where the madness continued.  There was one position she'd let me hold her in, facing me, my arm across her back.  If I moved her at all, jostled her going up the stairs, tried to turn her, tried to lay her down she would scream.  I had to do everything one handed.  I was worried so I called Dr. J.  "Something is wrong with Cheetah," I told him.  He gave me a list.  Does she have a fever, is she eating, is her stomach rigid, is her fontanel bulging, are her lips bluish, is she gassy, can she move her legs, will she let you move her legs."  "No, no, no, yes, yes, yes."  The questions and my responses gave us no answer.  He told me he'd check her out when he got home, then went off to work with patients.

An hour later things had not resolved. I was seriously worried.  I texted him again and he told me to call the pediatrician if I thought it couldn't wait.  I did and they had me leave a message on the nurse help line.  Two hours later they still hadn't responded and I was texting friends asking if they could watch the other kids while I took her to urgent care.  Finally the nurse called back.  They asked the same question Dr. J had asked.  Got the same answers.  "Well," the nurse said, "Sounds like something is wrong.  Bring her in tomorrow if she is still acting like this.  Take her to the emergency room if you can't wait until tomorrow."  Um, ok, thanks I guess.  At this point she'd been in pain all afternoon and I'd had enough.  I called Dr. J to tell him I was taking her in.  "Ok," he told me, "I'm on my way out the door and I'll watch the kids when you go."  At this point she screamed and did a giant poop  I took her upstairs to change her diaper.  I wasn't looking forward to it because a diaper change earlier had led to a screaming fit.   This change was met with the same.  As I went to put diaper cream on her, my finger brushed up against a hard edge at her anus.  What the heck, I wondered.  Then  Dr. J walked in.  I told him what I had felt.  He gave her a cursory exam and then opened her diaper.  "There is something definitely coming out," he said.  He gave it a couple little tugs while I stood around cringing and was rewarded with a plastic sticker star.  Instantly we had a happy baby daughter.  She started rolling around and trying to crawl on everything.  She was tear and pain free.  "Well I think we found the problem," Dr. J announced.  No kidding Sherlock :)

We talked to the kids about how we need to keep the floors cleaner.  I'm sure it will last a day.  Definitely not looking forward to what she chooses to eat next.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

You Know Those People Who Lose Their Children....

Well we are them, but that comes later.  We have never taken our family on a vacation that didn't involve going to Utah to see family.  There was never the time or the money to do anything besides our yearly pilgrimage to Utah.  I didn't feel bad about it but this year when Dr. J got three weeks of vacation time, I was anxious to use one on a family vacation.  The first week, we originally saved to use on Cheetahs birth.  Of course she surprised us and came 11 weeks early.  Instead that week was used for Dr. J's kidney stone surgery.  The second week was a trip to, you guessed it, Utah.  The finally week we planned to drive down to North Carolina.  Then reality hit us.  We'd spent most of our savings on medical expenses and our house this year, we were broke, and we weren't really feeling the long drive.  That's when I remembered some friends mentioning they'd done some camping on the great lakes.  And I remembered a Parenting article that mentioned Indian Beech as one of the top 10 family beaches.  With less then half a day drive, the option to camp, and no worry of sharks it was easy to decide this trip was the one for us.

Location, Location
-When doing anything with children location is key.  Originally Dr. J wasn't to queen on the fact that our campground had showers and running water bathrooms.  Turns out with four kids they were a necessity.  Especially the night that Peach crawled into Dr. J's sleeping bag and peed all over him!  Boy was he grateful for the washing facilities then.  We were also close to a playground, the perfect place to send our high energy brood during set up and pack up.  Our site was on the back end of the dune and we were surrounded by sand.  While it wasn't the most pleasant to clean out of the tent on our pack up day, it kept the kids entertained for many hours!


I bought this tent for Dr. J Christmas two years ago.  This was our first time using it!  Hurrah for the eight man tent.  Turns out families of six with tons of child hud need the extra space :)

We also were super close to the nature center, a small museum about the dunes, the animals there, and the history.  It was a fun place to visit, a great place to watch birds, and these crazy squirrels, and later when we lost our kids a place to run for help.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Preemie Life - 7 1/2 Months, 5 Months Adjusted



This whole adjusted thing got me all messed up, I thought we had a little more time before our house became a baby death trap.  I was wrong.  Mom's of four, is it even possible to babyproof or should I just give up before I even start?  This little lady is everywhere. She loves to pull things down and everything goes in her mouth.  Yesterday I found her on the floor, face covered in blue.  She'd gotten a hold of a blue piece of sidewalk chalk.  I also found a paper ball in her diaper,something she ate, partially digested and then pooped out.  I guess that's one way to improve your fiber intake!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Troops Are Already Restless

A week and a half into summer vacation and the troops are already getting restless.  Thank goodness our summer is only 60 day.  I don't think we could do 101 days of summer vacation.  To pass the time we've been having a daily dance party.  This Calvin Harris song, Feel So Close is one of our current favorites.  This A capella version cracks me up....the facial expressions and the "Feel Good Dance Move" make me laugh so hard...plus it's kid clean unlike the original, although it gets really weird at the end so be warned.






Obviously I'm trying to avoid working on my camping post, but here is so more fun stuff...
My favorite commercial ever!  What unicorns only get 12%...for me they are at least 15%

And then weirdest thing I've seen in a long time JULIANSMITH.TV


Friday, June 1, 2012

Real or Tim Burton Creation, My Reality TV Guilty Pleasure

It's always bummed me out that all the TV programs I loved went off for summer vacation just when I actually had time to sit around and watch.  Summer TV reruns were the worst.  Then I stumble upon this little show So You Think You Can Dance.  This will be the ninth season I watch and I've every second has been a delight.  I have zero dance talent but I love the music and seeing the different styles, the way music, choreography, dance talent, and story are so masterfully combined for our entertainment.  A few years ago the kids started watching with me as well.  They will often spend the whole program leaping around our living room.  Even Dr. J will occasionally catch an episode, and always enjoys the talent.  If you've missed the beginning of the season you can catch the first episode on hulu.  These were my three favorite dancers.

Hampton Williams...this guys is unreal, I mean seriously.  I had to watch it three times because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  It was like watching a Tim Burton claymation come to life.  I kept waiting for Helena Carter or Johnny Depp to pop out on stage.  Something truly unique and amazing.


Then for those of you that prefer classical style, a hot bod, and a nice accent enjoy a little Daniel Baker.


And the prize for most adorable kids ever...Bree Hafen.  Did you catch Salt Lake Temple in the background.  There have been multiple Mormons on the show including Benji Schwimmer who won in 2006.  Seeing as they are holding auditions in Salt Lake this year I'm sure Bree won't be the only one that makes it to Vegas.

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