Thursday, December 18, 2008

December Activities

Sophie is feeling lots better now & things are starting to slow down. It's funny how you find out how really great your friends are when you are kind of a wreck (emotionally, mentally, physically). My family are some of my best friends & I have some other really great people in my life who I appreciate so much!

Anyway, we are all doing well & hoping to enjoy this last week before Christmas. The last couple weeks were rough with Sophie being sick & a lot of other things going on (I won't go into it all), but now I'm feeling like I have a little more control of my life.

We have been trying to do some fun Christmas activities! We have made a gingerbread house, played out in the snow, went on a fun sleigh ride at Brandon's aunt & uncle's house, painted Christmas bags, got the 12 days of Christmas again from my parents (so much fun!), drove to Preston to see Christmas lights, went to dinner with Grammy & Papa, & had Madelyn's Christmas program today at her school. Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year! I love it (besides the freezing cold weather), but I'm trying to figure out ways to make it last longer because time goes by so fast & pretty soon it will be over.



Chelsea is one of my BEST friends & she sent me these flowers. It meant more to me than I think she will ever realize!


Emma was scared once again of Santa, but really wanted to tell him that she would like ET for Christmas (don't ask me where that came from).


Sophie just stared at Santa. She didn't know what to think!


Sydnee made sure to ask Santa for a puppy with a puppy kit (everything she needs to take care of a puppy), which sadly she won't get because I had to write Santa a letter & tell him that right now a dog will not fit into our family. Unfortunately I think I have enough mouths to feed & poop to clean that it just wouldn't work out!


I think Madelyn asked for an art kit. She could color for hours!













My parents are so great!


And Madelyn did a FABULOUS job at her Christmas program!

THANKSGIVING




I know that it is now Christmas, but here are a couple pictures from Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving this year at my parent's house & we had YUMMY food! The turkey was wonderful! I love my family! We missed Trevor, Tami & their kids & also Chase (who has now been gone on his mission for 1 year). But overall it was a great day filled with many people who are HUGE blessings in my life!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The CRAPPY croup





The last 4 days for us have been AWFUL! Sophie woke up Thursday night with the croup. It wasn't as horrible during the night as in the morning. She sounded terrible! I took her in to the doctor's office as soon as they opened. When I was checking in the lady at the front desk asked if she had the hiccups (she was asleep in the carseat) & I told her it was her breathing. She ran back & got me in fast. Then in the room the nurse was all nervous & went looking for a doctor, in the meanwhile 2 other doctors stopped by because they could hear her breathing. Once the doctor we were seeing came in she quickly took us back to another room to give her oxygen, a steroid shot, & a breathing treatment. After they had given her "more than they are normally comfortable giving" & she was still having difficulty breathing, they admitted her into the hospital.

When we first got up to the room she got a nebulizer treatment & then less than an hour later she was having difficulty breathing so they gave her another one. She was supposed to go to get an xray of her throat, but they were not comfortable taking her down, so they brought up the xray machine to the room. (Later she had to get another xray because it looked like she could have possibly had a swollen epiglottis, but luckily that ended up being a bad xray.) A little after that last treatment she was doing SO MUCH better!

While we were there they tried to give her a IV & poked her in 3 different places to put it in, but the poor girl is too chubby they couldn't get it in. They put a tube down her nose to test & make sure that she didn't have something else.

So the next day after another steroid treatment they released us around 11:00 AM. While I was at the hospital, I developed such compassion for all of the rooms we walked by. Many of the people & kids you could guess had spent a fair amount of their lives in the hospital. How hard & difficult! For me, not only do you feel like you are in prison because the rooms are so small, dark, & depressing, but the concern that you have for your child is indescribable!

So back to our story...we got home Saturday. That night she was ok. We woke up quite a few times & took her outside, though. Sunday morning she did not sound very good. We didn't know what to do. I called the Budge clinic after hours to see if either Sheryl Hodges or Dr. Garg was there, but it ended up only being this socially retarded doctor (I feel bad saying this), but there is no way that I wanted to take her there because I couldn't even carry a normal conversation with him enough to explain what is going on. I used to be in the same ward as Sheryl so I tracked her down. I'm embarrassed to say this, but I know her well enough. I would normally NEVER do this, especially if it was someone else. Anyway, I called her at her house & she had me bring Sophie over so she could listen to her. Of course by then Sophie sounded a lot better. She said to just keep watching & if things got worse I could call her or bring her by. I ended up going to half of church (feeling like I needed some peace) & when I got home Sophie started sounding bad again. I called Sheryl & she could hear her over the phone & said to talk her to the ER. So we did & they gave us a breathing treatment with the steroid & some mix of Ibuprofen & something else. They watched her for a couple hours (because the steroid makes your heart race so they need to monitor). Then they let us go home. That night was pretty good. We took her outside I think 3 times.

So Monday day was really good. She sounded better than she had. Well, that has ended now that it is 4:00 in the morning & we have been up with her since 12:30. I can't sleep because I want to make sure that she is ok & take her outside when she needs to go. So basically we have not had any decent sleep for a good 4 days. I know that so many other people are going through much worse things than this, but for now this is our trial & it is hard! I just feel sick inside because I don't know when to take her in, when to worry. We were worried when we took her in the first time, but we weren't as worried as we should have been. Now both Brandon & I are on edge, haven't gotten any "beauty" sleep (basically I look like crap), & have a lot of other things going on at the same time. The only good thing that I can get out of this is that I have been able to have more one on one time with Sophie than I normally do. She is a beautiful, happy baby, & used to love people. Now that she has been poked & prodded, I'm afraid she might be scarred for now! But hopefully we are getting closer to the end of this CRAPPY croup!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

SYDNEE IS 7!!!

I really can't believe that Sydnee is 7 and then next year she can be baptized! It is so funny to watch her & see how she already is having so many experiences that I remember vividly having in elementary (having blisters on my hands from the monkey bars, chasing boys, writing notes to my friends asking if they were my best friends & having them check yes or no, etc.). Last week I had a friend from our neighborhood say that she was looking at our blog & her son saw our family picture & pointed at Sydnee & said "she is the popular girl at school". I know that if she is, it is only because she is the most warm, kind, tender-hearted little girl who loves friends & includes everyone.

On Sydnee's birthday it was so cute because she wrote this list of the meals she would like to have on her birthday. (She had been wanting breakfast in bed for her birthday for quite a while because the girls give me & BJ breakfast in bed for our birthdays & Mother's/Father's day.) Then at the bottom she wrote what gifts she would like to have. After she ate breakfast & opened her presents, her daddy surprised her with an ipod (it was a surprise for us all, but compared to the 4 wheeler, I thought it was a very good surprise. I will just pretend like I had not just ordered an MP3 player for her for Christmas. O'well!)




Sophie 8 Months

Sophie is now 8 months old & like I say every month, I can't believe how fast the times goes. This last month she has grown a TON & changed a lot. She is getting super chubby & last month really started crawling all over & is trying to stand up at things. She is the happiest baby & smiles at everyone! She is starting once again to sleep longer at night & is jabbering (ya, ma, da, etc.). I love that all of our girls are so different, yet equally wonderful! How blessed I am!!!


Thursday, November 13, 2008

PRIVATE

So I am thinking about going private. I keep going back & forth on if I should or not. Anyway, if I do & you would like me to send you an invite, please leave your email address. Thanks!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

HELP!!!

Days like this I wonder why I even try. Sometimes it would be better to have her go without diapers! I literally cut her onsie off of her it was THAT BAD! The problem is we have at least one blow out a day. I've changed diaper brands a couple of times, with no luck! Any recommendations anyone?!?

Halloween Festivities

We had a great Halloween from decorating pumpkins, making Monster Toast, going to Grandma Charla & Grandpa Paul's party, the school's carnival, trick-or-treating around our neighborhood, & Grammy & Papa's party. It was busy, but it was SO MUCH fun!!!










Thursday, October 30, 2008

Family Pictures

My wonderful sister, Chelsea, took our family pictures last week & I think they turned out great! I am so excited! Here are a few...






Saturday, October 25, 2008

THE 10 CLUB

I am starting a service club (The 10 club) & it is something that I am very excited about & have been thinking a lot about. I feel like if something comes to your mind frequently you probably should do it... so I am, with the help of my friends. The idea is each month we get together & everyone donates $10. (Anyone & everyone is invited. Obviously the more that come, the more we are able to do.) So we pool our money together & find some way to do service, whether it be for an organization or a person. I think it is important that everyone be involved, so when we meet we will do some type of a service project on top of whatever we choose to do with the money. For example this next month we are focusing on the Food Bank. We will be spending half of the money on buying food for Thanksgiving dinners & then the rest will be donated (so they can fill in whatever they are short of). Since that won't take everyone to do, when we meet we will be getting material & supplies from DI & tying 2 quilts. When the quilts are done we take them back to DI & they are given where needed.

Basically I feel like this is a simple way to make a big difference! If anyone lives in Cache Valley & would like to be a part of it please contact me! If you live away but would possibly like to start something similar please contact me as well. It is not only a great way to get together with your girlfriends & meet new friends, but to change people's lives in a small way & do something good.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Madelyn Dancing

This was one of my FAVORITE parts of our trip! I'm just sad that I only got this small portion of it! Enjoy!

Going Home

This is what Disneyland for three days does to you, plus getting picked up at 4:00 AM to go the airport. Sadly we made it to the airport before it was even open. And do you notice there aren't any pictures of me? Well...that was on purpose!