One of Kaylee's Misadventures....

VIEW THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

CONTAINS IMAGES OF A CUT ON A FOOT AND HAS A LOT OF RAW LOOKING SKIN.  DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU GET EASILY GROSSED OUT. 

DON'T BLAME ME

 HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Well as you might remember we made a trip to California back in June.  We left on a Saturday, and by the following Monday Kaylee injured herself.   Luckily I wasn't around to see all of this play out, but

I've had to deal with a lot of the aftermath since then.   So don't look on, if you get squimish looking at cuts and raw looking skin...  Just scroll all the way down and see what it looks like now.  (Just a scar and all healed) 

These pictures were all taken almost two weeks after the accident happened. 

Soaking her feet in a sink so we could loosen the suture strips that were placed there by a nurse that looked at her while we were there, thus saving us a $750.00 copay to the ER... (Don't get me wrong, we would have taken her in if this were a more life or death injury, and as it turned out it wasn't -- thank goodness)

But by this time after being on for a week and a half they were getting loose and starting to fall off.  And I knew I could let her just go around with them half falling off, because the site was oozing stuff, which made me think it could have been infected. 

So we soaked, and used peroxide to work off the suture strips.

Seriously GROSS!!! 

 I was nearly wanting to FREAK out when I saw this because it still looked BAD and the accident had happened almost two weeks prior.  NOT A GOOD SIGN AT ALL. 

Ta DA!!  We got them all off, and proceeded to use peroxide to clean out the wound as best we could and then put some Neosporin type stuff with a pain reliever in it on and used some bandages to cover it again, to wait through the weekend and take her back in to the doctor on Monday. 

As it turned out, the doctor saw her on Monday and felt like there must be an infection deep inside the cut that was preventing it from healing, so they soaked her foot in a soap solution for about 20 minutes and then cleaned her up, gave her a prescription for antiobiotics... and asked us to go back in 1 week to look at it. 

I didn't get pictures of it then, but it was amazing how quickly it changed once we got her on the antibiotics.  The skin started coming together and sealing off.. and it was just amazing!!  What a miracle. 

And just earlier today about 5 1/2 weeks later since those

other pictures were taken here's what she looks like. 

I do have to say it looks a lot better now. 

So my problem ....

** READ AT YOUR OWN STOMACH's RISK.

So the other night I was getting ready for the date with my husband.

Place: Thanksgiving Point

Time: 6:30pm

Date: Thursday Dec. 4th

We had a babysitter lined up, a previous co-worker of my husband. She was so THRILLED to get to spend time with my kids.

The PROBLEM: Well before we left to go to her house, T-Man threw up all over himself, and the living-room floor.

DO I STILL GO ?

or

Do I STAY HOME?

What would you have done??

Well, I cleaned him up, changed his clothes, and within 15 - 20 minutes he was feeling lots better. I told myself that if Grandma and Grandpa had been the designated sitters that night we wouldn't have felt that bad, leaving and we would have gone anyway. So I said the same thing with the lady that was lined up. We did, however, bring a bucket "just in case". Luckily he never needed it, but as we returned back to the sitters after our dinner, we were informed that Little Monster had just tagged the floor himself .... and I was off running down to the family room. Poor little guy looked so Sad. Luckily I planned ahead, and for whatever reason had an extra change of clothes in the diaper bag, and changed him before we headed home. Not only did he throw up before we picked him up but he did it a total of 4 more times before he fell asleep that night.

Story doesn't stop there though. Sunshine came home from school on Friday the 5th, feeling okay, but by dinner time ( a few hours after she gets home) she started saying her tummy hurt. "Oh GREAT!" Sometime during the night she came into my room crying because she threw-up in her room. I got up and cleaned the mess which covered two different blankets. Did I say how much I hate cleaning these messes up!! THEY'RE GROSS!!!

She threw up a few more times the next morning, and stayed glued to her bed Saturday. Smartie Pants started saying her stomach was hurting after returning from a baptism with her dad, and sister and brother. *** DING DING DING!!!! Warning SIGN!!

Guess What?? Yep. Her too. During the night she threw up, luckily she managed to get it into the toilet. Mostly. I woke up Sunday morning to use the bathroom to find that she tagged the seat!! So I had to go fetch down my Clorox Wipes and clean off the seat, throw away the toilet paper, because somehow she got it on there too. But the one thought going through my head was this, " Of course, I have to go to the bathroom something bad, and now I get slowed down because I have to sanitize the toilet RIGHT NOW!!" -- if you know me, you know when I gotta go, I better go NOW!!

Luckily everything worked out okay. So most of today they have been resting and laying down, and whining here and there, and whining some more here and there, but hopefully this week they will be better.

But what I forgot to tell you was who started it. That's right Sleeping Beauty wasn't feeling good on Monday after Family Home Evening and didn't want more than one cookie that DH made for refreshments. A few minutes later while I was wanting to watch HEROES -- yes I WATCH IT!!, I hear the noise -- and again, and again. I get up to check on her and all over the bathroom floor. She didn't even make it to the toilet. All I have to say is, I'm glad I'm not prego because that was GROSS!!!

But all this on top of them all suffering from Strep Throat during Thanksgiving and now this.

But the reason I wanted to share this story is so my kids will know the things I went through in being their MOM!! To let them know that moms don't always get to to the things that they want, they have to take care of things that are GROSS, and NASTY.

________________________________________________________________

I also have to say that I had fun, getting ready for that date on Thursday. I wish I would have taken a picture of the two of us just before we left, but I forgot. So here are just a few pictures -- I'm not usually vain, but I really like how this turned out.

After I got my hair to this point, I gathered it in the back gave a little twist up and clipped it with a butterfly clip - or whatever you call those. And let the curls cascade down the back of my head. I had my bangs curled, but obviously here they weren't. And I was wearing a green shirt under a red shirt (the layered look) with a long flowy black skirt. Some day I'm getting my hair permed again, because I LOVE the way my hair looks while it's permed. Hopefully soon, I can do that again.

... and the bill came back and I don't even owe $1.00

FINALLY !!!!

REMEMBER THIS POST followed by this one well I just looked at my mail from the other day a noticed a statement from my insurance company that says the midwive's office rebilled the insurance company using the main Midwife's name and now I don't owe ANYTHING!!! NADA !!! ZILCH!!!!

What a great Christmas Present!!! I thought we'd at least have to pay our $20.00 co-pay but we're not going to have to pay that either. Now I can truly say that persistence does pay off. Quite the headache, but well worth it.

This is a procedure that I had done back in August of 2007 and it just now has been settled the way in which it should have been done the first time.

Just a word to the unwise -- seriously know what you should and shouldn't be charged ahead of time, and really know if that provider is "in-network" or "out -of -network" by calling the insurance company with the exact providers name. Document everything, dates you call people, who you talk to, and what they said, it'll help you in the long run, I didn't write it down, I just told people what happened verbally and it's taken a really long time to get it worked out. But all worries laid aside, I'm not going back to that office to have anything done again, unless my insurance changes.

My Checklist

For the last five days this has been my checklist to be sure I didn't leave anything out. Curious?? Well I was too!!

Here is the checklist of things to do while in California this last week - or rather for three days, and spending two days traveling - one there and one day home.

• Keep Sleeping Beauty home from school on Monday and take her to the doctor. (CHECK)
• Have a Strep test come back positive for Sleeping Beauty ( CHECK)
• Have Little Monster whine and cry on the entire trip unless I lean back between the two front seats and hold his hand so that he won't cry. ( CHECK)
• Have T-Man hollar numerous times that he wants to go home while we drive and then make sure he says it repeatedly on the trip. (CHECK)
• Make four pink skirts while on the trip before the wedding on Saturday. (CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK)
• Have Sunshine laying on the couch with a fever and throwing up the first day we're there, and not get to have any sort of fun. (CHECK)
• Have Sunshine resemble similar symtoms to Sleeping Beauty and then call the DR. in Utah while visiting California to call in a prescription. (CHECK)
• Have Little Monster not sleep during the night so that I don't sleep longer than an hour and half at any given time. (CHECK)
• Attend the wedding on Saturday (Check)
• Help clean-up and have fun dancing to ICE ICE BABY (Check)
• Go to a few stores before Sunday to buy food for the trip home and gas up van. (Check)
• Experience seeing a family member totally wasted/drunk. *CHECK*
• Have Smartie Pants throw up the last night we're there. After I witness the effects of alcohol on a family member who has a little LOT to drink. (CHECK)
• Have Little Monster run a fevor on the last night we're there and really not sleep all night long. (Check)
• Start to feel sick on the day to drive home (CHECK)
• Once back home on Monday take T-man to the doctor for an infection on his hand and find out that not only does he have that but strep as well. And leave the office with prescriptions for 4 PEOPLE, and I count as one of them. (CHECK)

So as you can tell I think I accomplished my to do list for my trip.

18 month check up.

This was for Baby Boy's 18 month check up. On Friday the 10th of October. Exactly 18 months!! The doctor checked him out and everything looked fine. We opted to pass on the boosters this visit and we'll just do them at his 2 year visit. But the very next morning Baby Boy woke up and had goop in his right eye. So I knew he had PINK EYE!! NOOO!!!! Plus his nose was runny and he had a bad cough. None of this he had the day before at all!!! So I waited it out Saturday and Sunday (kept him home from church) and on Monday I took him into the doctor again. Not only did the poor thing have a case of PINK EYE but he had signicant ear infections in both ears, plus a nasty sore throat. So we were given a prescription for the antibiotic and things have gone much better since then.

But to make matters a little worse, a few hours later while sitting at home, T-Man came up and said that his ear hurt. His left one. And once he said that, he was crying about it non-stop. So I yet went back to the same doctor and he said that sure enough T-Man had an ear full of Pus!! GROSS I KNOW!! ! So both boys have been on meds since last Monday. And they are both doing better.
And these were pictures I took later the same day. He loves to get into the baby bathtub and just relax in it. Playing a game of peek a boo with me.

Baby Boy turns 18 Months Old!!

Technically not until Friday, but I want to get a head start on what I want to say right now. This was Easter Sunday 2007 just two days before I had this bundle of joy, frustration, silliness, pain, tears, and love.
April 10th, 2007 my fifth little child made his debut. The birth story goes something like this: On Wednesday April 4th I had an appointment with the OBGYN, and was said to be dialated to almost a 3 but because I wasn't technically due for another 3 1/2 weeks they weren't going to do anything about it -- despite the fact that I was having labor pains on and off for the last few weeks before that. Plus they also told me that the presentation of the baby was breech. OH GREAT - NOT AGAIN!! So I got a little freaked out hearing this since child #2 was breech also. Which required a c-section for hers. So Friday the 6th of April, our family drove to Manti to attend a wedding there for a friend of my husbands. My sister was visiting us this weekend and was staying with us, so she came along as well, to watch the four kids outside the temple while we were inside. While in the middle of the ceremony, I started having contractions!! Mind you I was in Manti and about a good almost 2 hours from the hospital we needed to go to. The contractions were coming regularly and were hurting, and everything was by the book. I was having the contractions for nearly 30 minutes and then they graciously subsided while we drove frantically the rest of the way home. But as soon as we hit Spanish Fork headed north on the freeway they started up again. And they were happening for the next few hours. I decided to finally go to the hospital to see if I was in fact in labor or what. (these were starting to get painful) -- we had my sister watch the kids for us while we ran to the hospital, and then were there for nearly 6 hours before they finally sent us home. The doctor wanted to give me a morphine shot but I refused due to the extreme effects it had on me with child #4 T-Man. (Which story I will retell later) -- But while at the hospital the nurses checked me and said that I was a four but they wouldn't do anything because I wasn't showing any progress since I showed up there.
I seriously was fuming because here I am a pregnant lady and was told just a few days earlier that my baby was breech and chances were good that I was going to have a c-section for the delivery of this child, and I've been having labor pains up the ying-yang and was not sleeping well, and pains galore all over the place and they were sending me home. AAGGHHH!!! So they simply put me on bedrest for the next few days and said that I needed to take it easy because they didn't want the baby being born too early. The due date was April 21st, and it was April 7th now. So all day Saturday I was in bed, and left getting Easter stuff ready up to my husband, who said he would take care of it. I think that was the first time ever since we had kids that he was taking care of it. He made the dinner too!! Which was nice by the way!!

Tuesday April 10th, I had my next appointment and while I was there I explained what was going on and that despite the fact that I was put on bed rest, I still had contractions on and off all weekend long. Bless the lady who I saw that day because she checked me and said that I was an easy 4 and was surprised that I was told to go home on Friday. She did check to see if the baby was still breech and then talked with the doctor to see what could be done. That was all that was needed all plans were now in motion and the baby was being born that day. I had left my two kids that weren't in school yet with my friend Brenda. The older two were at school already, so I called my sister to see if she could come down from Roy to watch the kids until Chris was able to go back home and be with them. She was on her way but would take a good 2 hours or so before she could get there. So I called the school and talked with my daughters teacher, Cheryl who lives in my neigborhood, and asked her if she could bring home the girls because I wouldn't be able to get them. She quickly agreed -- she was pregnant also but not due for a few more months. I called Brenda and let her know what was going on and she said that she could watch the other two until my sister came down. Let my sister know what was going on with the kids and where they would be. And left it at that. I called Chris before all of this of course, and he was granted the rest of the day off and then had the rest of the week off so that he could be with the kids while I was recovering in the hospital from the last minute scheduled c-section. I was nervous, of course, but with a reassuring blessing from my husband I was able to feel more calmed and was able to go through the ordeal a little less frightened. Our little guy was born breech and had his cord wrapped around his neck, when just a week earlier they had done an ultrasound that said the cord was nowhere near his head. Luckily we had the baby that day, because any later he probably would have died. Luckily he didn't and now 18 months later he is quite the boy.

Here he is at his first Halloween. 6 months.


This is from our vacation in August 2008 when he was almost 16 months old. What a journey it has been. I have his well child check up on Friday morning which is the 10th of October and we'll see how he measures up. This kid is a CUTE MONSTER!!

Weighty Issues

Okay so I keep hearing friends that are "working out, and exercising" to try and lose weight but only end up "unhappy, and diappointed" because they aren't losing "WEIGHT".


The muscle cells in the body are lean and long cells. Fat cells are opposite. When you engage muscles in a workout, especially one that works the muscles as with "strength training" you tend to develop those muscle cells more, and muscle cells are more dense - so they weigh more. So a few good rules of thumb if you are trying to "lose weight" :

Don't look at the scale!!! It's not the numbers on the scale that you want to be watching to drop. Its the amount or percentage of body fat you have that you want to shrink. There are a few ways to do this.

----- You can get some kind of device to measure your body fat like this one listed with Amazon. This uses the skinfold method -- which is the most common. Which means that you pinch your skin and with the device it can tell you your percentage of body fat based on your weight too. And through hospitals and such you can get more accurate tests done but they can become quite costly.

Here is another great website that you can check out just to get some answers to some of your "questions" about weightloss.
MyFitnessTrainer -- the site is owned and operated by one of my friends from college and she's good at what she does. I took fitness for life back in college and have been very athletic most of my life, until about 10 years ago, when I only get on and off workouts as time and children permit. One of these years when my kids aren't so "helpless" and I'm not so "financially challenged" I think that I will get a membership to a gym, and what I wouldn't do to play Basketball, Volleyball and maybe Softball again. I played all three in high school, and loved almost every minute of it, I was in such great shape and I was working with weights and I felt really good back then. But of course, I've been a SLACKER lately and know I need to do something about it, but my kids just cling to my legs if I try to do anything at home, and well, I could just come up with a million and one more excuse of why I don't, but I'll not waste my precious time on that and instead do something more productive like "workout".

It's Been 1 week !!

Okay so T-man had his surgery one week ago today. And if you didn't know he was having a surgery you'd never even know!! He was up and running around later that night. Here a few pics from the day we spent up at Primary's in Salt Lake.

So now it's been even longer but I just wanted to remember this time in his life. It's now been over a month and he's still doing great. He had a surgery June 13, 2008 -- which involved some work on his male anatomy. The incision itself was laprascopic, so it's really tiny. And he bounced back so quick afterwards, you'd never guess he had a surgery. I wish I could be this resilient.