Another ER visit

So I've decided Florida is cursed for us medically.  Other than burning my hands in our first year of marriage, we have not had medical stuff other than baby stuff.  Well, in May Luke went because he bit through his bottom lip (useless trip), end of June/beg of July was Mike's grand adventure, and now August was Michael's turn.  He was wrapped up in a towel leaving the pool and tripped on the stairs resulting in 3 stitches on his chin.  Awesome. Of course this happened at Mike's family reunion at Daytona Beach (future post after I get all the pictures collected!)  Nothing like missing out on fun. Who's September?  We're hoping the only hospital visit is to deliver a fully baked, ready to go baby.

They had a hard time keeping him still to get the shot and stitches in, but they managed.  The doctor put in stitches and then dermabond on top so he could swim after 24 hours.  Well after about 12 hours, not only was all the glue gone, so were 2 of the stitches. He would not stop picking at it.  Despite all that, it's looking great.

Oops! (Sorta)

Apparently I bumped the thermostat down too far.

"Handy"

With all my down time, I've been BORED OUT OF MY MIND!!!!!  I have a book close, and kiddos are obviously all over me, but I'm seriously having a difficult time coming up with stuff to do.  I feel yucky enough I don't want to concentrate.  I thought of picking up crocheting or knitting again, but meh, too much thought to re-figure it out again, not to mention some serious digging to find hooks and needles.  And so I'm grateful once again for too much technology.  I've downloaded a bunch of brainless new games on the tablet and iPad.  One of which is Candy Crush.  A fun game the entire family is enjoying.  My kids love to sit and watch and try to play too.  Luke specifically thinks it's his game.  Anytime he sees a tablet he starts going crazy, "Handy! Handy!" (Candy).  He sits and loves to watch things go crazy when he is successful in actually matching something up. He will cry for quite a bit when you take it away from him. 

Survival Mode

Where have I been?  Well, I've been literally sitting at home trying to keep this baby in. While this pregnancy in general has been physically very difficult, the last 2 weeks have been hard, and last week was even worse. On Monday, I had to start timing contractions because they are coming often enough I actually have to pay attention.  I'm only 30ish weeks along and the best part was Mike was out of town all last week. As long as I don't get up, they keep to 1-2 an hour during the day and go to 3-4 at night.  If I'm up and moving at all they get much worse. We are officially in survival mode. Do you know how hard it is to sit with 3 small children running amuck and a household to run?!?!?!?!?!? I didn't realize just how OCD I was until this week. This week has been challenging to say the least.  I lay in bed, I sit on the floor to play with kids more, and I sit on the couch or my playroom chair even more and watch the mess expand exponentially.  It's quite adventurous really.  My kids have been ANGELS considering the circumstances! We have implemented lots of extra routines that have helped, but there is no Mom going around constantly picking up the extra things. My house is only somewhat destroyed, and no one has died yet.  We are good. :) When Mike is in town, he's picking up lots of slack.  He met me at Costco for his lunch break before he left last week to get kids out of the car, push the cart around, load the kids and stuff into the car.  When he's out of town, we are getting pretty creative.  This last week with Mike gone, each night I bribed the kids with ice cream to pick up the whole house since I literally can't do any of it!  They thought it was awesome they got ice cream 4 days in a row, and I didn't even care because I found myself much grumpier and snappier than necessary just because of the mess.  I'm much nicer sitting if I'm not staring at that one piece of garbage that just needs to get thrown away or a few stray legos hanging out.  I really didn't think those things bothered me.  It's one thing when I'm choosing not to do it, it's a completely different scenario when I CAN'T!  SO frustrating!

I usually love just sitting in my playroom with my kids around playing.  Or all of us sitting in my one rocking chair together to read a story, but this week I found myself saying, "Stop touching me"  "You're breathing on me," "Scoot over"  "Go play" and so many other phrases that are not regulars for me.  I'm determining it's attributed to the fact I'm bored, I'm uncomfortable, my body is DYING for a good workout, or even just a walk I think, and I'm tired of "easy" food.  Luckily we are stocked up on fruits and veggies, but there are still lots of things Isabelle isn't big enough to prepare yet.  She can pull out baby carrots, wash grapes, or peel an orange, but she can't exactly prepare cucumbers or cantaloupe yet.  A couple of nights friends showed up with food for dinner which was SO good to have real food! But one night goldfish, carrots, cheese, and blueberries counted for dinner. Sure enough, they were all alive in the morning. :)

I'm kind of a cereal snob for various reasons I won't get into now, but we don't eat it much.  I told the kids to grab cereal for the 3rd morning in a row and Isabelle about had a cow.  "MOM!  That's not healthy!  We can't have cereal 2 days in a row, for sure not 3!"  To which I explained what the term "Survival Mode" means.  "We are making sure nobody dies here.  No one will die by eating cereal 3 days in a row.  Eat it, or get something you can fix yourself."

I've had more time to sit and watch my kids play and their personalities.  On that note, it's been a great week.  They are so funny to just sit and watch.  Luke's vocabulary is really growing like crazy.  He LOVES basketball and cars. And will now sit and watch a little tv!  Which has been a huge blessing!  He likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Backyardigans.  He loves to dance to all the music.  Michael, when you can tear him away from a tablet or the tv, he loves to play baseball and soccer and cars, but has a short attention span for anything that doesn't plug in.  Isabelle is just a mom all the time if not to her brothers, to her dolls.  She still just loves to mother everyone around her, which has helped me a ton.  Together all 3 love to read, dance to the music on our keyboard, and will play with the GeoTrax forever.

This is just the beginning (hopefully) of some long weeks.  I hope I can not get discouraged or overwhelmed and stay optimistic that another day sitting is another day of baking for baby. I'm so grateful for help from neighbors, friends, our ward, and Mike.

"Baby Alert!!!!!"

Luke is definitely my worst (or best) "getting into things" kid.  He's ALWAYS into something!  Somewhere along the way "Baby Alert" got started.  When Isabelle or Michael find him on something or into something, they yell "Baby Alert! Baby Alert!"  It's pretty funny.  Anyway, the other day Isabelle came in "Baby Alert! Black makeup!  Baby Alert!"  I'm thinking, what?  Where did he get black makeup?  My kids have never gotten in to my makeup. Well, putting on make up on the way to church, got left in church bag, church bag on office floor, office door left open....yeah, disaster. 

The interesting thing is Luke has never seen me put on makeup.  He's still rear facing, so he doesn't see me if I'm in the car, and he's a crazy mess in a bathroom, so the door is always closed with him on the outside when I get ready.  He still knew exactly what to do with it.  He had some on his arm and leg, but the bulk was just around his eye. He also stuck a bead up his nose this week.  First time fishing something out of a nose, not surprised it was Luke's.  Even though he's my 3rd, I sure get lots of firsts with him!  Love this boy!  He definitely keeps me on my toes!


(This is Ana....she is going to get her own post soon.  Love this woman!)

Happiest Hub On the Block

Since MARCH, Mike has been complaining about how hot it was mowing our 1/2 acre with a push mower.  Every single week, he would come in gripping and complaining and claiming he wasn't doing that again and was going to find a lawn service or going to by a riding mower.  Yet every Saturday, he went out and did it again.  Just to complain again.  He was just too cheap to spend the money.  A couple of weeks ago he found a riding lawn mower for only $350 on Craigslist.  HUNDREDS of dollars cheaper than anything he had found. He came home grinning from ear to ear. It has been fabulous!  He comes in still hot, but happy it only takes 1/2 the time and effort.  Our kids are loving it too.  While Mike mows, the kids do their Saturday morning chores to earn a lawnmower ride.  How redneck are we?!  He finishes up about the time we do and then he gives them a few rides around the lawn.  They get to steer and it's pretty much the highlight of their day.  Not to mention a fun time with Dad.

(should have cropped these, but i'm not fixing it.)




And check out Mike's new glasses!  Luke broke both mine and Mike's glasses within a few days of each other a month or so ago.  I was so irritated (and yes they were high up and put away, DANG CLIMBING KID!!!!).  We just weren't replacing them since we really only wear them around the house on Saturdays and mornings, etc. A friend told me about this awesome website to order glasses from (Zennioptical.com).  Sure enough only $17.00 later Mike had new glasses in our mailbox!  Yay for sweet deals!!!!!

Freeze Frame

Isabelle has been talking about loose teeth and claiming she had some.  After being a 1st grade teacher, the the number of claimed loose teeth and number of actual loose teeth was not anywhere close.  I didn't believe her or her claims for a second.  Then she told me she was getting a new tooth, so then I investigated.....WHAT?! Not only did she have one tooth half way in, both her front bottom are loose and the second bottom is coming in too. YOU CAN'T LOOSE YOUR TEETH!!!!!  This is the biggest sign of growing up.  Those big smiles full of holes that get overfilled with massive buck teeth.  NO!!!!!!



Her two bottoms are about to fall out any second, so I took one last "all baby teeth" picture.  :(  I've seriously never been so sad.  I want to freeze time with her.  She can stay 5 forever.  But she is excited, especially for a visit from the tooth fairy soon, so I will play the happy mom and just pretend she isn't growing up.


(This tooth fairy thing is just another thing that I know I'll forget eventually.  Would it make me a bad mom to just start out that it takes the tooth fairy up to a week to stop by?  Haha!  Gotta set myself up for success and no disappointed moneyless kiddos!)

Add it to the List

I'm too pregnant (or too short, but whatever) to reach the bottom of my washer without a stool. Yes, laugh it up. Isabelle decided this week to take on laundry to help me out more.  She did all the laundry this entire week.  Every morning she looked at the laundry and decided which load needed to get done for the day. She sorted it, put it in, switched it to the dryer, emptied the filter, and pulled it out of the dryer when it was done.  The only thing I did was put in soap and fold. With her doing laundry, and all the kids unloading the dishwasher and basic toy pick up together, my difficult bending jobs are limited these days!  Her list of helping chores is getting pretty long especially for a 5 year old, but she asks to help and rarely complains, so I'm just going with it. :) I feel so blessed to have this cute little girl want to help so much around the house.  

"Best day of my LIFE!"

I've always trimmed Isabelle's hair.  Well the upside to only one girl, I don't feel bad paying to have her hair cut once in a while.  I know how to cut boy hair, but girl hair is a mystery to me, not to mention her curly/wavy stuff she has going on. So a week ago Saturday, we went.  Just a fun mommy/daughter date.  On the way there, she was squealing "This is the BEST day of my LIFE!"  She was so excited to go to a "hair salon" to get her hair cut.  It was pretty cute. All of her super curlies at the bottom are gone. :( And I have yet to take an after picture.

Mike's Big Adventure

Long story short esophageal spasms. (Spasms of the esophagus) I don't recommend them.  He had 4 bad "episodes" and is 100% fine now.  We've had a few crazy days around here.  Feel free to read the rest, but it's the Julie version, long, and wordy. Haha! You have been warned!

Sunday night Mike and I were watching some tv with all the kiddos in bed.  A quiet Sunday night around 9 quickly turned quite exciting. Mike started having this weird feeling that soon turned into wheezing and chest pain and difficulty breathing.  At this point I'm completely frieking out.  He's literally rolling on the bathroom floor unable to really talk.  When his hands, feet and face start changing colors, I tell him to get in the car, and call Ana to come stay with kids. (a lady in our ward, across the street that has been a huge blessing in our life.  My kids consider her almost another grandma).  We are walking out to the car as Ana walked up and Mike collapsed in our front yard.  She called 911...blah blah blah.  My favorite part was when the paramedic tells the pregnant woman to keep her emotions in check.  Ha! They got him able to breathe and hooked him up to all sorts of things.  Not a panic attack they said.  His heart rate and EKG looked great, but for heart attack symptoms, to the hospital he must go. He was able to tell me just as they were closing the doors, "I feel just fine now."  So while I knew he felt fine and was in good hands, still following behind an ambulance watching your husbands face the entire time is enough to make any wife an emotional mess, add pregnancy hormones on top....yeah, well..... :)

We made it to the ER and he was laughing and joking and talkin up a storm with the paramedics.  They started running tests, X-Ray, ultrasounds, etc.  The waiting had just begun.  They have these awesome chairs that have just enough hint of padding to pretend to be comfortable chairs. Some of our great friends came and gave him a blessing and stayed and visited for a bit. The nurse said, he would probably be there for the night.  I called Ana, she was planning on spending the night and taking care of kids the next day. HUGE relief!  I could be with Mike and not have the extra stress of trying to juggle kids. I pulled up another uncomfortable chair, got a couple of blankets and we settled in for lots of boredom.  He had a total of 4 more "episodes" with the last one ending around 2 am. Everything kept coming back as normal.  While that's great and all that he really is healthy as a horse, it doesn't tell us a dang thing about why he was about to die in my yard.   They took us to a room around 3am saying they needed to do some fasting tests in the morning.  We "slept" the rest of the night.  I ran home around 8 am to check on kids and Ana.  She was good with the kids for the day. Some of the youth in our ward down the street that love to play with the kids wanted to come play for a few hours to give Ana a break.  Kids taken care of for the entire day.  Another HUGE relief!

One of the doctors screwed up the order of the testing to the point Mike had to stay ANOTHER night for a stress test in the morning. They had to make 100% sure his heart was fine to discharge him, even though we were pretty sure we knew what it was.  At this point, he felt completely fine!  He was bored and frustrated he had to stick around longer.  He told me he wanted me to go home and be with the kids, I was "useless here."  Gee thanks. :)  I got home just after Ana had fed them dinner.  (She had also done dishes, cleaned some of the house, and done some laundry!) I ate and took the kids to the hospital to visit dad. They were so good!  After all, who doesn't love to ride the bed?!  Haha!  I took them home in time to put them to bed and for me not sleep much that night. I had a slow morning Tuesday morning with the kids while he got his stress test done. A friend took the kids at her house for some play time for a few hours.  I headed to the hospital to hang out.  Still wouldn't discharge him this time due to elevated blood levels of something. If they went down, he could go home, so take more blood and wait.  I went back and picked up kids (and this woman, while watching all 3 of my kids on top of hers, also made us dinner) and took the kids back to the hospital to visit dad again this time with McD's ice cream for everyone. While everyone was there the dr came to discharge him.  YAY!!!  We all got to come home together Tuesday night right after dinner.

Tuesday night another friend showed up at my house to do dishes and clean up my house a little.

It was a stressful few days for me feeling stretched thin.  Needing to give kids attention, but wanting to be with Mike, "just in case something happens." Today I'm tired and my pregnant body is feeling the effects of stress.  I'm taking an easy day with the kids and just enjoying being home!!!!  And Mike went back to work today.

I'm so grateful for a great ward here to help us with everything.  I had so many babysitting and food offers!  I was overwhelmed with the amount of service offered and rendered to our family.  Medically as well, the benefits of a healthy lifestyle are evident in all of these tests they ran. The blessings of the Gospel far surpass the spiritual!!!!!