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Pinewood Derby

Riley's pinewood derby was last night. Just one more thing to feel bad about missing... He took first place. I wish I could have been there, but Rob did his duty and took video for me. Here is one of the heats... He is in the lane farthest away.



He was SOOOOOO happy when I talked to him on Skype, but I think my dad might have been even prouder than Riley...

Emotional Rollercoaster

So today is my birthday. This morning I went over to have my NST like normal and I returned to a decorated room. Balloons, a Happy Birthday sign and more than 50 butterflies hanging from my ceiling. So here is my happy photo for the day...



The day sort of tanked immediately after that. I started crying when I came back because it was just so unexpected and nice of everyone here, I hadn't even sat down yet and Rob called, he heard me crying and said, "So I guess you heard about your dad." I guess it's payback from me calling Rob and waking him up to tell him my water broke. This time it was my turn to say "uh, what?"

Apparently, my dad had an appointment this morning and they did a stress test. Admitted him and had heart surgery by 1:00. I hear he is doing fine. I'm sure he will be asking for fireballs soon. Needless to say, it's been a stressfull birthday!

yesterday

This was definitely the best part of my day yesterday.



The boys had school off for the holiday and spent about 7 hours here with me. We played battleship and Busytown Mysteries I spy and went for a walk. It was so nice to see them. I feel like I've been missing so much lately between the school performances and baseball games... Anyway, they made my day. I love you guys! Can't wait til we can do it again at home.

Just Not In The Mood Today

I just haven't felt in the mood today to take photo's of my room, so I'm showing you a photo that I have from the puppies that were born on Riley's birthday a few years ago. I will also share with you a dream I had the other day during my morning nap... I sound so old! I feel like I'm 90, I swear, they bring me my dinner at 4:30, take naps in between my shows and have to wear diapers. When I get older and have to do this all again for different reasons I really want something to kill me.... Anyway, back to my dream... I had a dream that instead of a baby I had a puppy. And by that I mean I BIRTHED a puppy. He was really cute. He was a scottish terrier, black, like the one in the Lady and the Tramp. And to top it off he was born with a hat on. (No pun intended...) The wierd part (besides the obvious weird part) was that I just kept looking at him and thinking "He doesn't look like any of my other boys." Of course my second thought was that the aid in the nursery was going to make fun of him because he was such a hairy baby.

When I woke up I told Rob. First he asked if they had been giving me any pain meds, then he wanted to know if the puppy talked. Silly Rob, doesn't he know that babies can't talk?

Final Count Down!

This may not be the most 'interesting' of photo's to any of you, but for me it is a light at the end of a tunnel. June 13 is final day this kido will be kicking around in my belly and June 16 I finally will get to go home! The count down is on!

My life 24/7 right now...

I know that both of you that still ocationally glance at my blog already know what I've been up to for the past week or two, but I figured that for documentation sake this kind of ranks up there in things going on in my life right now. So here is the story:

Thursday, May 12 I went to work that night like normal, around 3am my water broke. Honestly at first I was a little hesitant to say anything because I was really thinking "I hope I didn't just pee my pants!" Finally, around 5am the 2 nurses that were in the nursery with me talked me into going over to OB Emergency and getting looked at. So I finally went over and asked if anyone could tell me if I just peed my pants or if my water broke. It is really a strange feeling to actually wish that I peed my pants, but alas, not all wishes come true. 10 weeks early, so I earned myself a room with view. Lucky for me they are not going to let me go to 40 weeks. I only have to try to get to 34 weeks. So, now just about 2 1/2 weeks to go. So far, Logan (I THINK that's who he will be) is doing great. I have vital and fetal monitoring every 4 hours day and night and a daily Non-stress test for the baby everyday. Needless to say I've been a little bored being on bedrest. I've decided to have a little challenge for myself... I have this new camera and nothing to do, so I am gong to see what interesting photos I can come up with in my room. Here is my photo from today.



My nurse came in my room when I was taking this photo. She took one look at me at got this concerned look on her face and said "I'm going to go get a wheelchair, lets get you out of your room for a little while." Whatever works...

Electronic Fatality

So, as you will notice, there are no photo's with this post. That is due to a tragic fatal accident with my hard drive. And I am the retard that has no back up for my photo's. Pretty much Jackson's whole life is gone. Fortunetly I do have a few photo's that I put on picasa in order to put a slide show on my blog and anything that I have blogged about I have photo's for, but that is about it. I'm tettering on the edge of a deep depression about the whole thing. I took it to simply mac and they said they couldn't retrieve anything there, but they gave me the number of a place that that is all they do.... it's a $1000 to just recover the jpeg files. Just about the only thing keeping me sane (ish) right now is the fact that I have about 5 years until it's unrecoverable. Hopefully I can talk Rob into it by then.

Due to the above photo I've decided that it's time to make a post and update the blog. We are going blue. I really wanted to be able to make it pink, but it just wasn't to be. I've had a few weeks to acclimatize and I think we are going to be okay.

Today I tried to let Jackson feel the baby kick and he took too long to respond (shocker) and missed it. So while he was sitting there with his hand on my bulging belly he said "He's asleep mom." So I said "Well, tell him to wake up." Instead of doing that, he pointed to a spot on my belly and asked "Is this his face?" I told him I wasn't sure and he confidently assured me that it was indeed his face. Then he promptly gave him a good poke it the face and ran off. At this point I'm thinking it's possible we might have some sibling rivalry issues coming.

A little later he comes over and asks me if he started hitting me yet. I said no. So he comes over and gives me a hard poke right in the boob and says, "There, now I got him in the eye! Ha!"

This is my life to be with 4 boys...

About a year ago my dad started making this go-kart and since finished it and now, that is all Riley wants to do. At first it was the source of a lot of contention due to the fact that the first time we let the boys loose on it the brakes didn't work and Rob had to launch himself on top of it (while it was going) and got dragged for about 20 feet. He's got a nice new scar on his leg from the road rash. However, now the brake pedal has been adjusted and works like a charm and it was a big hit. If fact it was such a hit that my dad then had to make a trailer that could pull more kids so that more than one at a time could ride. This is the only photo I have of it, but you can't see the bulldog painted on the front or see the cool trailer that has flames on the sides and a fake license plate "fireball2" and license plate frame that says "my grandkids are faster than yours". The boys absolutely love it and pretty much think that grandpa is the bomb. Of course they thought that before the go-kart too.

The Wisdom of a 3 Year Old

Today I HAD to get my oil changed. Rob threatened to take away my keys if I didn't because I was WAY overdue. So I got there and Jack and I were sitting on the couch waiting for them to be done when another group walked in. The girl was wearing some tight cut off shorts and a very much too small tank top .... and she was not very much too small... it looked a little like this:
Obviously it wasn't this exact photo, this is just a look alike, but more about that in a minute. The blog worthy issue was Jackson's conversation when she walked in.
Jack: (in a very not so quiet voice) Mom! Her butt is sticking out!
Me: (Struggling to keep it together) ssshhh.
Jack: (Not anymore quietly than before) Mom! Her butt is sticking out!
He has a habit of repeating something until he is sure I have heard and acknowledged his statement.... So, for fear of him getting even louder,
Me: I know Jack, but be quiet, when we can see peoples butts we don't talk about it out loud, it's like it's a secret.
Jack: It's not a secret, mom. I can see it right there, her butt is sticking out! Everyone can see it!
I had absolutely no comeback for that. On some level I think he is right. If she is going to show her butt to my 3 year old, maybe I should let him tell her it's sticking out?
The really funny part about this whole experience is that when I was looking for a photo to use I had the above photo up on my computer and Riley walked into the room and took one look at it and said "Is that Grandpa?"

I Love Eating at New Restaurants!

I know I'm doubling my post for the year in one day, but when Rob was on his way home from work today the boys had an idea of a new restaurant that they wanted to go to and I just couldn't say no. In fact our waiters (who kept calling themselves waitresses) were just so cute that I had to ask if I could take their photo. The food was okay, but it was nothing compared to the service.

Medical Mystery

The past few weeks Jack has been sick on and off. He just hasn't been able to kick it. He will get a fever and writh around in pain hitting his head and ear saying it hurts. We've taken him to the doctor numerous times thinking it must be an ear infection, but every time they have sent us home saying no. He's also been complaining of pain in his knees, back, neck... everywhere. Of course, every time we are actually in the doctors office, he is just fine.
Since he has been having the fevers so long they decided get some blood work. From that they sent us up to Primary's to get a bone scan due to certain markers being too elevated. They inject him with a dye that gets absorbed into the bones where there is a lot of blood activity, showing where infection or masses are. About a minute into the scan a bright white spot showed behind his right ear.
So, from there, they sent us to get a CT scan of his head. It showed that his Mastoid bone (a honeycomb-like interior) behind his ear was completely filled with fluid and now has filled up his ear as well. They thought it was Mastoiditis, an infection of his bone that can corrode the bones in the head and cause the infection to leak into the brain. They planned on admitting him and giving him IV antibiotics, but in order to do that they had to okay that with the infection control at the hospital. Infection control on the other hand said it's not mastoiditis because it showed on the bone scan (meaning that it's already in the bone), but the CT scan showed no destruction of bone. They said they thought it was bone cancer. Just what any mother wants to hear.
They sent it to Oncology and they had no clue. Unfortunately they are not ruling out any of these things, including cancer. So for now we are just loving him.
You know, I think I can handle the medical stuff. I can understand what they are telling us and I feel confident that they are doing what they should. What I can't deal with is Jack not understanding what is going on.
When I took him for the blood work I had to hold him so they could stick the needle in and they had to dig a little. He just started crying and very quietly asking us to take it out. When that didn't seem to work he just looked up at me and said "help me" with a confused look on his face, trying to figure out why I would help this man hurt him. I have never been so crushed before. When we left I took him to get and ice cream cone and told him it was because he was so brave. He said "I wasn't brave Mama, I cried." CRUSH!!! CRUSH!! CRUSH!! Not that he didn't have me thoroughly wrapped around his finger before, but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to deny him anything.

What I Do When I am Procrastinating

Yesterday we had ward conference. In the past I haven't really enjoyed ward conference, but this time it was awesome. The State President taught sunday school and let me just say I was inspired. Never before have I felt like family home evening was more necessary. Never. Not even when I was a missionary and was all gung-ho about everything. So, I told the boys about me and dad being chastized for not having it as much as we were supposed to and we would be having it this week. Riley said he wanted to do it TODAY, with grandma and grandpa. He did the lesson, he thought of it, and it was amazing!

He got 2 oranges and put them in a bowl of water. (did you know that oranges float?) The water represented the temptations of the world. When we do bad things a little piece of the Holy Ghost is taken away. (peal a little bit of orange peel off of one orange) And it doesn't take long for our mistakes to not allow us to rise above the tempations of the world. (the orange will sink with the peel not in tact.) Fortunately for us, Jesus (a zip-lock baggie with the pieces of orange peel and the orange in it) made it possible for us to repent and get the Holy Ghost back in our lives for a protection, and allows us to rise above the temptations of the world once again.

It was a night worthy of repeating. I may have to use it for one of my relief society lessons this year.

I have an english assignment due tonight... I really have been putting it off... so this is what I made this morning instead... and blogging about it now is further helping me procrastinate.

What's in a Name Anyway?

I'm thinking that the people that made up the names for things were not as creative as most 3 year old's. Sometimes when Jack doesn't know the name for something he makes it up based on his experiences... For instance, today he farted and I asked him if he had to go poop. He just said "No, that's just my burp in my crack."
I may be bias, but I think burp in my crack is such a cooler name than fart .

Happy Thanksgiving

On this fine day of eating pumpkin pie I thought I would just let you think about where they really come from....

A Scary Day, Even for October...

Yesterday I left the boys at my parents while at an eye appointment. When I was almost back my dad calls and says "Where are you?"
"I just pulled into the Checker by your house to pick up some brake lights for my car."
He says "Okay. Just hurry."
I could hear Jackson crying in the background, but he had been asleep when I left and I thought he must have just woken up. Nothing they couldn't handle for 5 minutes. So I go about my business and buy the light bulbs and then go back out to the car and start over to my parents. My mom calls. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"Van Winkle and 9th East, be there in about 5 minutes."
"Hurry! I'm not sure if he needs to go to the hospital or not."
"Uhhhh, What?" (applying pressure to right foot)
"Jack fell and hit his head and his face is swelling. I'm not sure if he broke the bone or not." Just what I wanted to hear. I went in and my mom pulled the ice pack off of his face and all I could say was "Oh! Okay, lets go." His check looked like he has somehow managed to put an orange cut in half in his check to save for later. I wish I had pictures! It was huge. However, I am not unused to head swelling. My kids get goose eggs with the best of them. The thing that had me really worried is that he was like a sack of potatoes. Totally limp. I would talk to him and he wouldn't even look at me. When I asked where his eyes are he pointed to his nose. And he hadn't said a single word since it happened. After a couple of hours he slowly started moving and then he finally said a word. They ordered the CT just to be sure there was nothing else and found his bone was broken, some bleeding, but not in his brain:) that was causing swelling... Really? I didn't need the CT to tell me there was swelling. Not bad, but broken. Since it wasn't depressed into his skull they won't have to do surgery. Brings new meaning to the words "Lucky Break". Anyway, this is what he looks like today... Still a tiny bit swollen, but NOTHING like what it was. Hard to see in the photo's. As you can see he's handling it better than I would expect. He even went to his dentist appointment today. He is acting totally normal... which is making me crazy because Jackson's normal is crazy and it's not uncommon for him to trip. As proven by this post.

ps. Might I just add to dad... Maybe next time my kids face is swollen say something like, Jack is hurt and then maybe I won't go in the store...

One of the Many Unblogged Events of this Summer

My Grandma died earlier this year and I was going through my photos and realized I didn't blog anything about it. Not that a funeral is a hot topic or anything, but it happened and here it is. I am sort of at a loss as to what to say about it. For the past few (quite a few) years, my grandmother and I have been shall we say, at odds. It was actually really nice to go to the funeral and listen to Michelle talk about her. It was really just random memories, but they weren't the ones I always think of when I think of her. It was nice have someone elses thoughts floating around in my head, rather than my own. She would have been 100 years old this fall, it's hard to imagine all the change she saw in her life time.

The boys actually had a good time. They didn't really know her, so it was really just a good get together with cousins for them.

They all found gravestones with their names on them, Parker actually hung out with his for a while.

I have also decided that I want a black and silver casket... not for a while, I hope.

There was actually a really funny moment when Bus leaned in to giver her a kiss before they closed the casket and just about knocked it over. I don't think I have ever seen comic relief work so well as it did on my dad at that moment.

Come to think of it, I guess the kids aren't the only ones that had a good get together.

RSVP

Just so you know Saturday Riley is getting baptized.... the date was changed kind of last minute and haven't had time to really invite anyone... so if you would like to come please send me an email or call me and I will let you know where and when.

A Funny

Since Rob's surgery we have heard most of the pig jokes out there.... from swine flu to canabalism, to oinking, sweating like a pig, etc. This is however my favorite so far. From my mom.