Soooo…once again I’m a “little” behind…sorry. This is an official all time record. 8 weeks, wow! So I really have forgotten a lot but luckily I keep a pretty good calendar and can refer back to it and all my photos are uploaded by date which also helps. So, here’s my attempt to overload you completely.
Monday some friends came over for Family Home Evening and Ryan worked on his wall. Not bad for his first time making a wall, huh?
Sylvie woke up in the middle of the night (again) with this very, very odd rash. It’s happened 3 times now. I give her some allergy meds, cover her in ointment and put her back to bed and it’s gone in the morning. Doc says it’s hives…but from what??
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY NEPHEW, DOM!! LUV YOU!
Tuesday my SIL, Rachel visited with us for a bit AND Ella has her 1st loose tooth! (Actually both the front ones are loose!) At first she was EXTREMELY upset (to say the least) but, after watching Corben pull out a tooth today right in front of her (talk about timing) she was excited. Go figure!
Wednesday I made it to the temple YEAH!, had a parent-teacher conference with Ella’s teacher (she’s going to start taking Ella outside every afternoon to help her get out some energy so Ella won’t be so stressed when she gets home), AND I was lucky enough to get to help the girls at church learn how to braid! Not bad for a first time, huh?
Thursday there was pollen…everywhere….
Friday was early release for Ella and the start of her Track Out! – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY NEPHEW, LOCH!! LUV YOU!
Saturday I headed out early while my awesome Dade watched the kids so I could go see the Hunger Games with some friends! Great movie.
Sunday was quiet as it should be. Here’s some stuff the kids did…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my niece BEAN!! LUV YOU!
4-1-2012 week in review
Monday I was able to visit with a friend from church and then Dade and I headed out to his Wrestling Awards ceremony.
Wednesday I took Corben to get his first filling EVER. I am SO proud of him. He was totally freaked out by the drill. Not the pain, but the actual fact of having a drill in his mouth. It took them almost an hour to convince him (he’d already gotten the HUGE shot to numb everything). We even almost left 3 different times but he couldn’t handle giving up more than he couldn’t handle the drill. He finally just did it and everything was fine. I know he felt great about overcoming his fear! Way to go, Corben!
Thursday my mom and I headed east to attend the memorial for my Great Aunt Gwen. She had a long hard battle with her lungs. She had a transplant last year but things just didn’t go well. I don’t get to see my great aunts and uncles very often, if ever, but it was so nice to walk in to a room and have people recognize me and hug me and want to know about my life. I love family.
Friday was the boys official first day of Spring Break! And Dade started it off very sick! He can’t eat and has been throwing up. Hoping he’s better by Monday so he doesn’t miss his big hike!
I took the other 3 munchkins to Farm Days. It’s becoming an annual tradition! Corben spent his entire time with Aunt Jessica so I don’t have many pictures of his adventures there.
Top the day off with a photo shoot and it was great!
Saturday was another photo shoot and General Conference! (My favorite)
Sunday was more General Conference, April Fools Day and we had the Elders over for dinner along with a good friend we hadn’t seen in a while! Here’s the kids jumping off the swings. We’ve decided to play outside every day this month just like we did last year (minus the photo journaling). Can’t wait!
For supper I attempted the coolest thing EVER. I ATTEMPTED to make a pizza that looked like a cake and dessert that looked like pizza and sushi. The pizza/cake was an epic fail but it was a mistake on my part that wasn’t fixable in time so Ryan saved the day with some awesome calzones. However, the dessert/dinner went great! The pizza is cookie, icing, grated white chocolate and fruit rollups, the sushi is twinkies and fruit roll ups.
4-8-2012
So, Dade was supposed to leave for his hike at 5am Monday morning but he was still far too weak and ill to go. We made plans with the leaders for my mom to drive him up a day late and meet them on the trail Tuesday. Excited about the chance to hike the Appalachian Trail, mom grabbed a friend and Dade and drove up a day early so they wouldn’t miss the scouts at their meet up. My mom is Amazing! That’s a 5-6 hour trip one way!
I spent the morning getting my glucose checked. Definitely NOT my favorite thing. Feeling nervous about the whole thing. Today is also my SIL, Erin’s b-day – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIN!! We spent much of the rest of the day outdoors while Ryan worked on the wall!
Tuesday I went to visit my dear SIL, Heather for a makeup lesson (THANKS!). I then attempted to take the kids shoe shopping. FAIL. Check out the HUGE canvases my SIL had made for their stairway! I’ve never seen my work that big before and it was really cool! Sylvie wanted to pose with the bunny she made Averie for Christmas…
Finally got the call from my mom that Dade was successfully on his hike and feeling fine. What an adventure already! The hike started out with 5 leaders and 11 boys. When they met my mom they’d already climbed hundreds of feet multiple times, been hiking and camping through torrential downpours and HUGE hail, and dealing with sickness and blown knees. When my mom showed up to just drop off Dade she ended up helping 3 leaders and 6 scouts end their journey. She drove the leaders back to pick up a van while the boys waiting in the pouring rain. It was just more than they had anticipated. It was a VERY late day and luckily mom’s friend was able to get them home safely in the middle of the night.
Wednesday I attempted shoe shopping again to much better success. Found out today that Dade’s group lost another leader and 2 more scouts. That leaves only one leader and 4 scouts! The weather has been rough and I’m just praying Dade’s doing alright!
Thursday, while working on the wall and in the garden, Ryan found us a new little friend! A Salamander!
Friday I got a call that Dade would be arriving home about 3 am. Their hike was cut a bit short but he made his 50 miles! Details when I get them…
Ryan took the girls out this morning…
Saturday we woke to Dade looking nothing like himself. Between the illness last week and the hike he’d lost over 15 lbs!! Here’s a video of me recording his thoughts on the hike. He didn’t want to be filmed so you get to stare at the ceiling. Sorry.
Sunday was EASTER! The kids were excited because not only did the Easter Bunny bring candy, he brought them each a gift from Jesus. The girls got new CTR rings (that they haven’t taken off since), Corben got a tie tack and Dade got some scripture stickers. Later we attended my niece’s baby blessing and then headed over to my SIL’s house for the family Easter Celebration! The kids found eggs and participated in an awesome egg drop contest.
4-15-2012
Monday started out yucky. I found out last week that I failed my first glucose test. My worst nightmare EVER would be to have gestational diabetes. I have food issues already and a horrific fear of getting my fingers pricked… I even sacrificed eating ANY candy yesterday (and that was a huge sacrifice!
I started getting a little bit of abdominal pain today also. I guess I had some yesterday at the gathering but it was more pronounced today. Mostly annoying I guess.
Tuesday started off BAD and just got worse. I was woken by a phone call informing me that I did indeed FAIL the glucose test. It was all I could do not to burst into tears on the phone. WORST NIGHTMARE. Later in the afternoon I started getting this horrible pain in my back on the left side. It reminded me of kidney pain I had back when I was a teen. It started getting so bad that I called the doctor who instantly asked me if I’d gotten myself worked up over the diabetes thing or if I was having gas. I told her it felt worse than that and she told me to come in. My wonderful neighbors ran over to care for the girls but then suddenly it passed. Reminded me of my gallbladder attacks just in a different location. I decided not to go in and instead crashed on the couch while everyone else took care of my kids for the rest of the afternoon (Thanks so much to my mom and to my amazing neighbors!)
Wednesday things just kept going down hill. By the morning I was convinced I was getting a kidney infection and since I had to go in to talk to the nutritionist anyway I brought it up to the doctor. They ran some tests and everything came back normal. Doc told me it must be back spasms and to take some Tylenol. REALLY??
The nutritionist appointment was a nightmare. My nutritionist is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but just hearing everything I can’t eat makes me feel like I’m starving to death already. They she handed over my finger pricking kit (kindly called a LANCER??!!) and told me I have to prick my finger twice a day. My level of finger pricking phobia is off the charts, you have no idea. They tried to have me to it in the office but there was no way. Ryan was a great support and they agreed to let me just do it my own way at home.
To add to the joy of the day, Dade got word that he’d been accepted into a local residential high school that he’s been very excited about. I, however, have not felt good about it at all and have been struggling with mixed emotions over the whole thing. We have to accept or deny the acceptance by Friday night. This is an AMAZING school and perfect for Dade….except for the living away from home part. Sigh. More tears from me.
The day was topped off with horrible back and side pain all night.
Thursday you can see how I was feeling. On and off pain during the day but it would subside pretty quickly so I just lived on the couch all day.
Dade’s been working all week on a school video for a local contest. He even dyed his hair blonde to match the character from High School Musical that he was playing. They finally finished the video today after school and Dade spent ALL NIGHT (seriously he got no sleep at all) editing and syncing the music. He did an amazing job!
Friday Dade headed to school EXHAUSTED but with this to show for it!
He got home ready to crash but instead found a mom curled up in a painful ball, the neighbors over ready to watch the kids, and me requesting he drive me to the hospital. Of course…by the time we got there…the pain was gone…again.
After 5 hours of tests (none of which included any sort of ultrasound/xray/or even looking at the spot I said hurt) I was told that they had no clue and that it was probably gas (NOT GAS, TRUST ME) despite my insistence it had to do with my kidney. Dade slept through the entire thing.
Upon time to leave I was freaking out over having to accept or deny Dade’s acceptance to the high school of his choice. I finally just begged God for an answer and was told I just needed to Trust Dade. NOT what I wanted to hear but we went home and I let him click the accept button. I then cried and cried and cried.
Saturday morning started early as I drove Dade out to meet Ryan’s dad and brother for a fun filled day of shooting off rockets! BIG ONES!
On the way home the horrible pain started back up. By the time I was back home it was almost unbearable. I knew Ryan had to leave for work soon and there was no one to watch the kids so I told him to find a sitter and I drove myself to the ER. A different ER than last night. Ryan was still in bed half asleep when I left. 9 hours later they finally figured out which pain medication would give me some relief without hurting the baby. I was admitted to the hospital with a 5mm kidney stone. The pain was constant at that point. Ryan was able to take the day off of work and came up to be with me once he got someone to watch the kids. It was a long hard night.
Sunday Ryan was back and this time he brought back up! Our Home Teacher joined him so that they could give me a much needed Priesthood Blessing! YIPPEE!!
As soon as the blessing was over I knew that the way Heavenly Father was going to heal me was to push the stone through as quick as He could. I was kind of scared but determined to help in every way I could! I started drinking TONS of water and asked for help from my friends and family.
Super prayer chain needed!! -- I'm currently in the hospital. 7 months pregnant with a Huge kidney stone. I'm on day 5 of pain and day 2 in the hospital. I've received a blessing and know it's time for this thing to move on out so if y'all will please pray pray pray I'm gonna drink 8000 tons of water, grit my teeth and let God do whatever He's going to do so I can get home to my kids and be mom again! I luv you all, thanks for your prayers!
The pain started back up pretty much right away and I knew from the fact that the medicine was no longer strong enough that God was getting things done. I was blessed to be able to push through the pain. (Thanks to my visiting teachers for visiting with me!)
A few hours later my nurse came in and said something strange. She said that it looked as if some sharp little pieces of sand were coming through. She said, “Wow, it’s like someone just broke all the sharp points off your stone and sent them through!” Soon after another nurse came in and commented that it seemed my stone was turning to sand. They were all shocked. I wasn’t! Just super duper GRATEFUL!! Very soon my pain was GONE and I had one of the best nights sleep EVER.
4-22-2012 – Happy Anniversary Jason & Cassie!
Monday morning they were ready to send me home!
Wonder if prayer works?? I AM HOME!! Thank you SO much for everyone's prayers. I have been pain free since 10pm last night and the docs say that somehow my stone seems to have disintegrated and is coming through as sand. I am so grateful I was able to receive a priesthood blessing and that everyone was so willing to add their prayers. God sure is Great!!
Tuesday I finally rid myself of what was left of the teeny tiny stone. Definitely NOT 5mm anymore! I went in for an OB appt and to let them know they’d missed the fact I had a stone and that I was not feeling very confident about their work.
Wednesday I was feeling pretty worn out (and bruised) from the past week but managed to get to Dade’s scout awards where he got his 50 miler badge and chess badge. Way to go Dade!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AWESOME SISTER, TAM!! I LOVE YOU!!
Saturday I discovered Instagram for my Android. It makes even ugly pictures look cool!
Sunday was Earth Day and my SIL Shelby’s birthday!! HAPPY B-DAY, SHELBY! I LOVE YOU!
We also were able to go and visit with a childhood friend of mine, Liz!!
4-29-2012 – STILL READING?? REALLY????? Okay….
Monday we had Family Home Evening over with some friends.
Tuesday Dade had his follow up MRI from his pituitary tumor scare from a few months ago. Luckily modern medicine and my mom going in with him helped him not get stressed and we got the good news that everything looks fine. No change is good news.
I’m having a hard time getting back into life after last week so some wonderful friends have stepped in to help me out. Sylvie has a place to go play almost every day and she is LOVING IT!! Thanks to everyone for your love and help!
Wednesday I went and sat at the church while my mom stayed home with the girls and helped me out with the house. Don’t you just love how Sylvie ate this orange? Apparently I wasn’t helping her fast enough…lol.
Thursday had Sylvie on a super fun playdate where they got makeovers! She was thrilled!
Friday was early release for the kids and Corben’s night to sleep over at my mom’s. Sylvie and I went out to do some shopping and she asked me to take pictures of her with the toys she wanted so I could put them on her Amazon wish list. LOL
Saturday started EARLY with Dade and I headed out to tour and test at his new high school. It was an ALL DAY affair and my prego self was not up to it but I made it somehow. WAY too much walking. Mom and Corben dropped by near the end to bring us some food and see where Dade will be living the next two years. Sigh….
We got home JUST in time to grab the kids and be a few minutes late the the ward talent show.
Can I just tell you how cool and awesome my kids are? Corben & I both signed up for things but at the last minute both Ella & Sylvie insisted on participating as well. No shy kids here! So while Dade manned the popcorn machine for everyone I yodeled, Ella did cartwheels and pushups, Corben played Looney Tunes on his cello and then played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star while Sylvie danced. It was AWESOME.
The boys also got the treat of see a picture of their dad in Afghanistan! They miss him a lot! He’s the one one the far right in case you didn’t notice the resemblance to the boys.
Sunday after church, it was time for Ryan to head out of town for a week to go train some folks in Utah for his company. We dropped him off and then, acting on a feeling, I stopped at the airport observation deck to make sure he got out okay before I headed home. Sure enough he called me 15 minutes later to tell me his plane was broken down and he was rescheduled to leave in the morning! So we picked him up and hung out at the playground for a bit with the girls.
While at church today, Corben and his classmates made this video about Alma and the Sons of Mosiah! Corben get’s to play Alma the Elder.
5-6-2012
So, this is where my sleeplessness begins… Ryan had to be at the airport EARLY so we were up at 4am.
I get home only minutes before it’s time to get Corben to the bus but tell Dade he can’t leave for Seminary until I get back so that the girls won’t be home alone. Well, Corben’s bus never shows HUGE SIGH OF FRUSTRATION so we get back to the house leaving Dade very little time to get to seminary. I then have to go wake up the girls, pack everyone up and head down town to Corben’s school. The girls and I get home EXHAUSTED and try to take a small nap (30 minutes) before it’s time to get back up and take Ella and our neighbor to school. At this point I would have loved to have just gone back to bed for the rest of the day but I’d made special plans to meet a friend for lunch and she was then going to take Sylvie for the day. I somehow made it through lunch and was so grateful Sylvie was on a play date so I could try to sleep! However, there was just too much to do at home so there was no sleep for me…
9am and I've already run Ryan to the airport, got home in time to take Corben to the bus stop (bus never came), back in time for Dade to leave for Seminary, go inside wake girls up so we can take Corben to school, drive downtown to the middle school, get home & sleep for 30 minutes so we can get back up and get ready to get Ella and her friend we take to school. Drop everyone off & come home and CRASH! I think it's nap time...at least until I get to go meet my friend at 11...hope she doesn't mind my snoring through lunch. :)
I then talked to my friend who usually runs the afternoon school route and she needed me to run the route today so it was a full day. Saw this on the bus in front of me after carpool this afternoon. Nothing like proper grammar on Official School Transportation!!
My wonderful friend asked if it would work better for me if she ran the morning school route and I took the afternoon one. Sounded GREAT to me!! So…
Tuesday I get up early and take Corben to the school bus but he’s so exhausted from a LATE night (he and I were up until 1am working on homework) that he overslept and…MISSED THE BUS AGAIN!! AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!! SO, I get the girls back up out of bed and we drive downtown and then come home and crash. We are all so tired, in fact, that we slept until 10 and I just drove Ella late to school. As soon as I got home, Corben called to say he was sick and could I come pick him up from school. REALLY? Luckily Sylvie had another wonderful play date planned so I was able to try to catch up on some sleep until the afternoon school route time.
By Wednesday I was doing better and mom came to help that night with Scouts. The girls called Ryan to wish him a goodnight only to find out he was at my brother’s house eating dinner and hanging out! SO JEALOUS!!
Thursday the girls both had dentist apointments which they were VERY excited about. Ella went bounding in already knowing what flavor of everything she wanted and showing off how big she can open her mouth. Both girls were cavity free and did great. I got home in time for Dade to call and tell me he was sick and could I pick him up from school. As we were pulling into the driveway….
So...just hit one of my cars with my other car...in my driveway...for the 2nd time ever...can I blame hormones?
Yep, the wagon has a flat tire and is parked in the front of the driveway so I’ve been cutting around it everyday in the grass to pull up close to the house. Somehow I whipped it too closely and ran the back bumper of the wagon all the way down the van. No damage on the van, just some new green paint but the wagon has a dent and I broke the bumper. I’ve only ever had 2 accidents my entire life…and BOTH involved me hitting the wagon in the driveway with the van. I timed it so nicely with Dade in the car, didn’t I? I told him that when he was pregnant he was allowed to hit his own cars in the driveway any time he wanted. :)
Friday I had an OB appt and to pass the time I let Sylvie have the camera.
Also, today is May the 4th…Star Wars Day! Get it? May the 4th be with you!?? lol
My Awesome and Amazing SIL, Jessie came over today to help me with sorting baby clothes. She then took both girls for a wonderful sleepover!
I picked Ryan up a little after midnight. He was glad to be home but not to hear that, while he was gone, I managed to break 2 cars, 1 mower & 1 computer…and forgot to water the garden. Good thing he loves me, right?
Saturday Ryan and I headed out on a DATE! YEAH! He even bought me some new maternity clothes. It was so nice to be out with him.
While searching for baby names online I looked up all the other kids’ names and found out there was a music video with Dade’s name in it! It’s about kids who want to learn but their mom breaks down after a broken relationship and leaves them to the world. I hear it has inspired many people to become teachers. Anyway, you don’t have to listen to the entire song but Dade thinks it’s awesome that there’s a boy in the song with his same name. You can hear it at 1:02.
Monday Ryan worked on his wall and we found KITTENS in the yard! No pics, sorry.
Tuesday Dade was out working on a video on Going on a Mission for church. He’s not interviewed in the video as at the time he was supposed to be filmed he was cleaning a broken pen out of his clothes and then headed out to share the sacrament with a Sister who can’t come to church. However, he did help produce it and is in it a few times. It can be viewed HERE. No really, you should go see it.
Wednesday, Sylvie had a friend over much of the day and then Dade spent the entire evening babysitting for some of his favorite people. I headed out in the morning with Sylvie and a camera (she got one, too) to try to get some pics of the rabbit in our yard.
I had a zoom lens on my camera so I had to climb up on the table to get a good view of the wall and Sylvie…
I then thought my shirt might be too high and so I tried to pull it down before Sylvie took a picture…she thought it was funny…
On a side note…here’s how big my grandmother’s tree has grown and here’s the blanket I’m working on for the baby!
Thursday Corben was home sick….seems like he may be dealing with his Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome…
Friday the boys headed out after school with my brothers for a church campout!! (My brother’s ROCK!) They would probably think I rocked, too, if I’d known beforehand that my tent had TWO bags of stuff you needed to put it up correctly. Luckily they are good with rope and it didn’t rain! :) Ryan couldn’t make it due to work…
Saturday Ryan took the girls out for some Strawberry picking and to get some things for me for Mother’s Day!
Meanwhile….Corben woke up…outside of the tent LOL
My brothers and Corben & RJ participated in a fire building contest. Corben & Jason were the first to get theirs done with only flint and steel. Adam & RJ came in second with matches! YEAH!!
Then it was LAKE TIME!!
Then my brothers (who haven’t gotten to play together in years) found the lame zip line that was too low and too loose….so they fixed it!
Everyone had a great time and I was so thankful to my family for the time they spent with my boys.
Sunday was MOTHER’s DAY! I got the most beautiful homemade flowers from the kids and Ryan that they made at church. A few extra special things that happened were…Dade laying his head on my shoulder through the first hour of church. :) AND then Ella’s sweet gift to me…
See, everyone made a flower in Primary and they were able to tape a candy bar to it. Ryan made me one and tossed it to me jokingly laughing that here was something I couldn’t have. (No sugar for me…sigh.) Corben showed it to me and asked if he could eat it since I couldn’t have it. Sylvie gave it to me but was worried about the sugar but since she wasn’t sure if it had any she gave it to me anyway. I let her have the candy bar for her thoughtfulness on the no sugar issue. Then Ella showed up and handed me a flower with no candy. I asked if there was a candy bar and she said that NO there wasn’t because she knew that candy was bad for me and the baby and so she didn’t even get one from her teacher because she wanted us to be safe. I was SO THRILLED with her thoughtfulness and lack of thought for herself. She is so sweet. I gave her the candy bar off of the one Ryan gave me.
I later got jewelry and hugs from my sweet family. It was a nice day. Ryan played outside with the girls and built castles and such in the sand. The girls even took some pictures and told us how to make our faces…lol.
THE END!!!!!!!
1 comment:
That was a really fun read! Thanks for the update! Good luck with the next month or two!!
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