Tragedy

First, a disclaimer/apology: I realize I haven't kept up on my blog lately. Life gets both hectic and boring with a newborn around. The best part of our days lately has been the funny stuff that Felix and Amelia say. They crack us up. Also, Oscar is a very cheerful and generally easy baby. Thank goodness. I'm sorry. I'll try to do better.

Now, for the reason I'm writing today...

It seems lately that there is tragedy all around me. Everyone is being hit. Either there is serious illness or financial distress, and often the two go hand in hand.

Money stinks. Everyone is wanting, and it's not frivolous stuff either. For example, there's the dear friend who's insurance won't pay for her son's $1500 per month growth hormones so he can be a normal-sized boy. There's the dear friend who just found out she has cataracts and will need serious and expensive surgery. There's the sister who's trying to support her family while her husband's business flails. There's the cousin who's son needs all sorts of reconstructive surgery for a birth defect. There's the sister who is finding her hours cut at work, despite needing to work full-time to pay her bills. There's the friend who's son was just diagnosed with a couple of serious illnesses and has been trying to raise money to get a service dog trained for him.

I, for once, got some amazing news recently and now I feel all sorts of guilty about it. I mean, I think it was about time our ship came in (so to speak), but I hate seeing my loved ones in distress.

I have got to figure out a way to help those around me. I hate the idea of fundraising. I do like the idea of being wealthy enough to help. I've got to figure out how to do that. I'm sure if any of my loved ones knew how, they'd already be doing that themselves, but if anyone has any ideas, please spread the love.

Latest family member

(sadly my pics are unavailable till I figure out how to resize them. I no longer have access to iPhoto)

So, the last month has been a bit on the crazy side of things. I finally got around to getting seen for my tooth that broke back in January. Turned out that it needed a root canal but it was salvageable with a crown. Medicaid paid for metal fillings (I needed 4) and a metal crown - I paid for the upgrades to ceramic, so my mouth is still all white. Yay!

I got the fillings and crown on the 18th and on the 19th of August I started having real contractions. I could tell from the start that they were different than the ones I'd had before. Even though I'd been in the hospital twice with serious contractions, the ones on the 19th were definitely different. For one thing, I could feel them deeper down in my belly and by early afternoon they had settled into my back. I was pretty sure that meant baby was coming so I cleaned up around the house, took a shower, and packed the hospital bag. It helped me feel at least a little bit prepared.

Since my parents were unavailable (mom was on a cruise with her mom and sisters, and dad was at work), we packed the kids into the car and headed to the hospital around 7 pm. I was dilated to a 3. I got two doses of the muscle relaxant that sometimes helps stop labor, because the doc was hoping we could put off the inevitable for a few more weeks.

When the doctor got there a little after 9 pm, we decided to break my water and just have the baby since my contractions weren't stopping. I was still dilated to a 3, but my bag of waters was bulging through, and given my history with super quick births, we figured maybe we could just get it over with quickly. My brother Daniel helpfully brought his son Ethan over to stay with the kids so it was just me and Brent and nurse Jennifer for the majority of the evening.

I progressed quickly, but not so quickly as we thought I might. Dr. Saunders went off to rest up and wait for me to be ready and the nurse assigned to me was amazingly helpful. She helped me labor in various positions and checked me periodically. After 2 hours, I was dilated to a 7 and I stayed there for about an hour. I got up and went to the bathroom, labored in various positions, and even spent about half an hour on my knees. Jennifer helpfully pressed on my lower back and rocked my hips back and forth during the contractions, which relieved huge amounts of back pain.

Finally about 12:30 am, Jennifer wanted to check me again so I got back up. Still dilated to a 7, she suggested I lay on my side. I was up for something different, but when the next contraction hit (they were almost on top of each other by this time) it was super painful and I knew that position was a really bad idea. Turns out that was transition, and when she checked me again just a few minutes later I was at a 9 1/2 (about 3 minutes had passed).

Another nurse popped her head in and Jennifer yelled for her to get the doctor. By this time I was really whimpering through the contractions and there was no down time between them at all. Hoping it was time to push, I gave a tentative one while Jennifer was putting on her gloves and she told me to stop. But then it really was time to push. She tried to get me to grunt through it - only short little bursts, no real pushing, but I knew this was it: "no! he's coming NOW!"

One big push and out he came. The official time was 12:42 am. Jennifer was still putting on her second glove, so little Oscar came out on the bed. Jennifer joked afterward that if it had been a shorter bed he would have shot out onto the floor.

With that one push I finally felt relief. No tearing and really there was no pain. Just the relief of the push. That part was essentially the same as with Amelia.

Less than a minute later Dr. Saunders came in. So yeah, no doctor attended the birth. Jennifer and Dr. Saunders spent a few minutes checking him out and making sure he was okay, while I got ready to hold my new baby. I had told both of them that I wanted to do skin to skin, but in the excitement the cord got cut immediately (we wanted to wait a minute) and he got passed to the special care nurse. Again I expressed my desire to hold him naked against my skin but nobody heard, so when I finally got him he was wrapped tightly. Dang it. That was really my only disappointment with the experience.

Little Oz was breathing a little fast so he was taken to the special care nursery. They did a skin response test that essentially told them his blood sugar was a little low. They decided to start an IV just to get some fluids in him, but it took them a long time to get it started. Apparently the strain was enough that Oscar cried heartily, opening up his lungs and clearing up the breathing issue. The special care nurses finally called in the on-call neonatologist, who got the IV started in his foot.

I felt great, a bit on the wired side. I did send Brent home to stay with the kids so Ethan wouldn't get overwhelmed in case they woke up in the night.

Stats: 6 lbs 8 oz, 18 1/2 inches long. Lots of dark brown hair. Super cute, of course. I think he looks a lot more like me than the other two kids. Good looking, either way. :)

Oz initially nursed well, but after the first two times he cried every time I tried to nurse him. He did have the IV so we didn't have to give him a bottle. It took four more days for him to nurse again and then it was spotty. By a week and a half, the docs wanted him to get feedings every 3 hours, so I did power pumps before going to bed and allowed the night nurses to bottle feed at night so I could sleep. It was helpful because I was getting so tired I could barely function.

Let me tell you, leaving a kid in the hospital can be both exhausting and helpful. It's nice to sleep through the night, but it's terrible to not be able to take your newborn home.

Anyway, Little Oz did well with feedings and he was released on Friday, Sept 3 - two weeks after he was born. We've now had him at home for a week and he's great. We're slowly adjusting to having three little ones. It would be a bit easier if we didn't have sickness to deal with as well.

Oh, Brent got salmonella the week Oscar was born. There was a 288 million egg recall. Brent went to the doctor to get updated diabetes medicine and the doc thought he didn't really have salmonella. Our eggs weren't part of the recall so we wondered. But then there was another recall, this time of more than 300 million eggs, and this time our eggs were in the recall.

I finally got sick the day Oscar was released from the hospital, but mine was/is a really bad cold. Felix and Amelia have both gotten it, although thankfully not as bad.

So now, Felix starts out the night in his own room, although he almost always ends up with me in the big recliner in the office. Amelia sleeps on the floor next to the recliner and most of the time she makes it through the night. Not always though, so when I've got both kids in the chair with me I don't end up getting much sleep. Not that I can complain much. Brent takes Oscar through the night.

As disruptive as it is to sleep to deal with two toddlers, I don't have to wake completely up to deal with them. But feeding a newborn in the middle of the night would require complete wakefulness, so that would actually be harder on my sleep.

I know, totally selfish. But I LOVE that my babies love their daddy so much because he feeds them too. They are infinitely bonded to him and it makes my heart happy.

The kids are adjusting well to having a baby in the house. They seem perfectly accepting of his presence. I've tried to explain that mommy has a special kind of pocket (we started with talking about giraffes) where babies can grow called a uterus. And when baby Oscar got big enough he came out. If it had been earlier in the day, I would have kept the kids in the room to watch. Yeah, I'm that kind of mom. :) We also talk about nursing, and how only mommies have milk. I tell that that if it's been a long time since I nursed Oscar or since I pumped then I can get really sore. That's important for when the kids climb on me because really I get beyond sore sometimes.

As before, I'm really loving being a mom to a newborn. Oscar is a beautiful baby that I feel totally in love with.

And as always, I love to show him off. Feel free to stop by and ogle my gorgeous baby, as long as you're not sick. :)

What the experts don't tell you about motherhood

1. Being pregnant is hard.
Hormones. We're talking serious influx of hormones here. There are extra levels of everything that makes women moody. Not only that, but there are certain hormones released that make your body do weird things. Like towards the 3rd trimester your joints will ache - especially in your pelvis. It's your body's way of loosening things so a baby can squeeze out. With all the hormones, pregnancy is hard not only on the pregnant, but for everyone nearby. Watch out baby daddies! Be prepared for some serious PMS-type emotions and crankiness because everything hurts.
There is the "morning sickness" that people don't tell you can last an entire pregnancy or can hit at the most inopportune moments. It can be general nausea or it can be wretching your guts out. Add to that the heartburn and what you eat during pregnancy can become difficult. You could be one of those women who can eat nothing but one particular brand of breakfast cereal - for the entire pregnancy. It could be that favorite foods can no longer be stomached. For some (lots?) the smell of cooking meat is especially disgusting. Or maybe you do have real cravings. I have to keep a jar of green olives in the fridge just in case. And I'm susceptible to suggestion. Like if someone mentions peanut butter and jelly, I have to immediately stock my cupboards with the supplies and I'll eat them for a week or two straight.
Then there's the exhaustion. Your body is producing serious miracles of growth and it takes every ounce of energy to make them happen. You've got a parasite sucking out your nutrients (seriously, that's why you HAVE to take a multi-vitamin during pregnancy) and making you desire (no, NEED) extra sleep. Every pregnant woman I've known has needed to take naps toward the end of pregnancy. There's just no way to get all the sleep you need at night. Especially if you have other kids.
Last but not least, pregnancy can be downright painful. I'm not talking about labor and delivery. I'm talking about the pregnancy itself. Think about it. At the end, you've got a watermelon-sized thing attached to your front that can wreak serious havoc on your back. The gravity and sheer size of your parasite and its housing require that you sit differently, stand differently, walk differently, and even sleep differently. And it's not like it's something you can get used to. This thing is moving and growing constantly. Babies instinctively want to stretch out and test boundaries. I had a midwife tell me that her 5th baby kicked and punched so much that it destroyed her appendix and she had to have an emergency appendectomy during the pregnancy. I've known women who claimed to have baby feet lodged under their ribs almost to their armpit. My babies seem to take pleasure in pushing a certain balloon-type organ that needs to be emptied regularly. And don't forget the joints. Not just the pelvis loosens during pregnancy. The hormone that loosens the ligaments of the pelvis works everywhere. All joints loosen up. Thus falling as a pregnant lady is too common. Be careful.

2. Being a parent is hard. Motherhood is spectacularly interesting and boring at the same time. It's exhausting of mind and body. It's hilarious. It's heartbreaking. It's scary and thrilling.
This winter my 3-year-old split his eyelid open on a piano bench he had moved into grandma's kitchen. Serious drugs and 8 stitches later, I brought him home all covered in blood and happy as a clam. A month or two later, my 15-month-old walked through the not-quite-dead ashes of a bonfire and got serious burns on her foot. My husband and I both cried as we held her down and the doctor pealed the dead skin off so the stuff underneath could heal. It took her almost a week to be able to walk again, but now just 3 months later you can barely see the pink discoloration on her foot.
Last night my 8-year-old niece took my kid to the playground near our picnic so he could play on the slides. Hannah monkeyed around herself, but fell from the top-side of the one of the big winding slides - breaking her arm. I felt guilty in my relief that it wasn't my kid this time around.
Every morning my little girl goes to her big brother's room to wake him up so he will play with her. The glee in her voice when she sees him and tries to wake him up just makes me want to squeeze her, but she only has eyes for him. He tenderly takes her hand to walk down the too-narrow hallway or to walk to the car from the grocery store, loving to help out in keeping her safe.
My little boy tries so hard to be a good boy. To be big and helpful and strong. When he got in trouble for whining too much last night (wanted to stay at the park all night) and he cried and cried and got sent to bed without his popsicle, he tried to convince us that he should be able to stay up. This tender little boy, only 3 1/2 years old, valiantly choked back the tears and told us he was done. I believed him, and my resolve to be consistent with his punishment made me want to cry too.

These little monsters, that can mess up a room way more quickly than I can keep it clean... these huge personalities stuffed in tiny bodies... they make me laugh and cry, bring me sorrow and joy, hope and despair.
Parenthood is absolutely nothing like what I expected, but it really is everything I hoped. Better in so many ways. It is by far the most heartbreaking and rewarding thing I have ever had the privilege of experiencing.

Bragging

I'm pretty sure I got the cutest kids ever. They're well-behaved most of the time even, but really they're just so freaking cute that they astound me on a very regular basis. This photo courtesy of nephew Ethan, who is as enamored with my kids' eyes as I am. :)

Felix is totally potty trained, although he will sometimes wait just a little too long to go and then get stuck with his pants and have an accident. At church one day he peed all over his new tie because it was a little bit too long. He does still pee at night, although most of the time he wakes up to go (some day he'll be able to get up by himself and go by himself, but for now he needs help).

Neither Felix nor Amelia sleeps very much. That is a constant source of frustration for me, but they're mostly very healthy so I don't actually worry. I'd just like more sleep myself.

Both kids are little meat eaters. They adore eggs and hotdog-type foods. Felix totally got into a steak on Sunday. Amelia loves jerky. Thankfully, they also both really like vegetables.

Felix has really gotten into role play lately and will jump around and say he's a rabbit. Or he'll crawl around meowing and saying he's a cat. He also likes to growl.

Just now he said he wanted to go upstairs and when I said he could go in a little bit he said, "But I want to go upstairs a whole bunch!"

Felix especially loves his grandpa and will spend every moment he can with him. When grandpa goes to work, Felix begs him to stay. Felix also loves his cousins. This morning he requested that Rachel come over to play with him, which will free me up and allow me to get some housework done.

Amelia has just a ton of little mannerisms that crack me up. She's so darn cute and I'm pretty sure she knows it. When she wants to be sad or angry she squints her eyes and gives a fake little cry. She always holds the back of her hair with one hand when she's drinking a bottle, which looks totally poised. She scrunches up her nose to grin. And she talks constantly. When she wants you to follow her, she'll half look behind the whole way to make sure you're still following, often running into walls and corners.

Amelia has a very strong opinion on many things and we're trying to break her of the "Mine!" habit.

More than anything, Amelia loves her big brother. She follows him around everywhere and if she can't find him she'll go looking, crying out, "WeWe! WeWe! WeWe!" For a while in the mornings she would come to me first, asking, "where's WeWe?"

Amelia is typically the first one to bed and the first one awake - usually by a couple of hours on each end. It's tough when my body wants to be asleep till at least 8 and she's wide awake at 6 and wanting to play.

She also dances. Like to everything. Give her any kind of tune and beat and she'll be wiggling all over the place. She LOVES music and dancing. Super cute.

And then there's water. I wish I had some pictures. The kids are both madly in love with any kind of water. This is bad sometimes because the kids don't ever want to leave. Or get out. Or stop playing in the sink. But it's a really easy/guaranteed way to entertain. I would really love to have a little wading pool for the kids to play in out back. And a trampoline. The kids both love those too.

All in all, my little monsters are about the cutest things ever. I'm actually kind of worried to have a third because I can't imagine another one could measure up in cuteness. Of course, that's a silly thought. It's like we've won the jackpot twice already. Odds are good little Oscar will be just as beautiful and lovable.

For now, however, I'm seriously enamored. Most of the time. They really can be monsters with a specialty in mayhem and destruction. But dang! they're cute! :)

Update - again

Okay, so we're having a boy. A little bundle of energy already. The kid is super active and I feel him a lot. I had a dream last night I could see his little hands pushing my skin out. Quite surreal.

Everything is going well with the pregnancy still. I do have quite a bit of back pain, and my sacro-illiac joint is totally on the fritz to where sometimes I have a really hard time standing or walking, but otherwise everything is on course. To hopefully prolong the pregnancy, I'm getting weekly progesterone shots from my sis Anne. When she first saw the needle she said, "Oh, that's the kind of needle the nurse uses when she's mad at the patient!" Apparently progesterone is really thick. She has to get the stuff out with one needle and then switch to the skinnier needle. Even so, the skinny needle isn't super pleasant. I did figure out yesterday that it hurts more to get the shot in the arm than it does to get it in the bum.

We're still going through plenty of sickness, but we're healthy enough. Amelia is quite the talker. She says a lot of words very clearly and she's using a tiny little bit of sign to augment. Her favorite is the sign for "all done" (kind of jazz hands) and she says it too: "ah none!" Super cute.

Felix and Amelia are finally sleeping in their own beds - at least mostly. Brent and I moved the big recliner into the kids' room so I could help them sleep there and so I could have a more private place to sleep. It works well enough, but I can't wait to be able to sleep in my own bed again. I'm sure it'll have to be in the fall when Brent is done sleeping with a fan (it just dries me out way too much to be comfortable).

Both kids wake up in the middle of the night a lot. Felix often does it because he's coughing and then he has to go to the bathroom. And that leads to the next milestone...

POTTY TRAINING!!!

I don't think I've said anything about this yet, but Felix is now potty trained. He does have occasional accidents, but he's more upset about them than I am. It did take a while to convince him to wear his underpants correctly. He wanted the big picture in the front so he could see it. :)

Night is a slightly different story. He will pee in his sleep so he's still wearing a diaper at night. But if he doesn't drink too much and you take him to the bathroom kind of late, it's very likely that he'll be dry in the morning. I've wondered if the tossing and turning about 3 am has more to do with going to the bathroom than with coughing, but I can't tell. Either way, he much prefers peeing in the toilet. Yippee!

The fun thing is that Amelia wants to pee in the toilet too. We haven't pushed it and she doesn't see much of a connection yet, but she sure likes to sit on that potty chair and try. I did get her to go once, but it was immediately after she woke up from a nap. She seemed surprised. heh

Yesterday at church Felix had to go to the bathroom so he went into the little nursery bathroom. Sadly, his brand new tie was a bit long and he peed all over it.

Amelia is also in the nursery now, but she's a bit different than Felix. She has turned into quite the mamma's girl and even if she gets distracted, she'll look around for me and have a fit if she doesn't see me. Brent is the only one who can calm her down (although her grandma and aunt Anne and a few girl cousins have had some luck). This week we had a relief society activity to make some craft things. Brent had a presentation at a friend's class so I took the kids with me since they had a nursery there. But the men who were helping in the nursery weren't successful in distracting her and she got super upset. I heard her screaming and got there just in time to get majorly thrown up on.

Yep, Amelia has turned into a puker like Felix.

Oh, we have also discovered that Amelia has lots of allergies. Looks like she's allergic to most nuts. She can do almonds without throwing up, but has fallen victim to peanuts/peanut butter, cashews, and even sunflower seeds. Felix has thrown up pecans and pistacchios as well. So it looks like only almonds - at least for a long time.

Sometimes I feel like my kids are missing out by not having peanut butter and jelly. :)

One last update - financial. So I got a garnishment on my checking account and they seized the whole thing. We're still trying to fight it, but Brent's brother John said we don't have a case against the lawyers. Sucky, eh? I still want it to go to court. We tried getting a loan to pay off everything and because the judgment had Brent's name too, it took a full 100 points off his credit score and now we don't qualify. Super sucky. Those lawyers essentially made it impossible for us to pay them back. Super idiots. Right now we're trying to file an official motion to get the case reheard so I can access my money again. And we figure our only options are to get a co-signer for our loan or to declare bankruptcy. Sucks either way. But that's where we are.

In other words, pregnancy is going well while we're taking precautions, Felix and Amelia are progressing and impressing, and financial woes stink. That's our spring, in a nutshell. :)

That's right, I'm amazing!

This comes from a favorite web comic called xkcd.

So, it's been really nice to stay at home these past couple of weeks. Mostly though, it's been kind of life-saving. What with Amelia's accident and all the other sickness (Felix has now been sick - fever and throwing up - for 3 1/2 days... this is the second time since I quit working), it would have absolutely destroyed us if I had to keep working during it all. As draining as it is to deal with all this, it really is nice to know that I'm really actually needed and appreciated. And not just during crisis.

This pregnancy has been quite different. For one thing, I've felt only the tiniest bits of nausea and heartburn. I've still eaten everything in sight and gained plenty of weight, but I blame part of that on just not following my eating plan I was doing last year. I was dumb to stop.

The biggest symptom I've had to deal with is just exhaustion. A lot of that is from the pregnancy directly, and almost all the rest is from pregnancy indirectly (I sleep worse when I'm pregnant). Mostly though, my clothes fit me differently especially around the middle. I don't know that I actually look pregnant yet. Definitely bigger though.

We do have names picked out, and as soon as the Medicaid kicks in we'll go get an ultrasound and see if baby #3 is an exhibitionist like the first 2 were. Feel free to make suggestions on names though. hahahahaha

Feelin' Groovy (relatively)

Amelia finally started walking again on Friday - one full week after the incident. She's doing great and her foot is starting to look human again. Dr. Freestone said it would still be a couple months before the skin on her foot isn't super tender and easy to tear. Poor kid won't be able to go barefoot till later in the summer. But she doesn't seem to mind all the bandage changing, and yesterday when I took her in the shower she didn't have any trouble with the temperature of the water (I did turn it to basically luke-warm, but it wasn't hard on her body or on her foot).

I feel like I'm finally coming out of this cold business. I'm not sure why nobody else in the family got it, but I'm extremely grateful that they didn't. It has been truly miserable. I can't imagine how tough it would have been if Amelia had been sick as well as injured.

So, the house is a complete wreck (and no, I'm not exaggerating with that description) and I have tons to do in the way of projects. Still working on the lawsuit stuff, as well as the medicaid stuff. I also have a couple of building projects and I will post pics if I ever get started.

On Friday I got together with my friends Michelle and Anne to brainstorm and write and it was extremely productive. I have great ideas and a definite direction. Now I just need to write it all out. This is the project I'm looking most forward to tackling.

We're good. Not perfect, but definitely good.

Update on Amelia - day 3 (caution - scary pics)

So, as requested, we took Amelia to the doc again this morning to change her bandages. Dr. Freestone said it's healing nicely with no sign of infection, but again, it was a difficult experience.

It was much easier than yesterday, but she still screamed. She can't put any kind of pressure on her foot and she won't keep the bandages on her hands. Still, healing well.

You can see Amelia's toes - they're essentially all giant blisters. The pics of the bottom of her foot - what's hanging off is the oily gauze they put over the top of the exposed under skin. First they put on some thick antibiotic ointment, then they cover it in this oily gauze (so it doesn't stick), then they cover it with regular gauze and then a stretchy sock-like thing. The bandage is pretty intense. We're going back on Thursday for another change of bandages.

"In some countries, she'd now be considered a man!"

So, I'm pregnant. Official due date is September 21. We have a boy name picked out and a girl name picked out, but we should be able to find out what we're having in the next few weeks. You're welcome to submit suggestions. :)

After the lawsuit* thing in January and the pregnancy thing right around the same time, life got a bit stressful. We did the calculations once I became eligible for insurance and we figured out that it would actually end up costing us for me to keep working. So last Thursday was my last day.

But the weekend before I got sick. Like really sick. I have no idea what's going on, but it's been over a week and I can still barely talk. I wake up every night coughing up a lung and if I go too long without coughing my throat closes up and I can barely breathe.

Thankfully, I'm the only one. Illnesses as a parent are actually easier to handle when it's just the parents. When it's the parents and the kids it's much worse.

Friday night we had a movie night with some friends. We invited lots but ended up enjoying the evening with Mike and Bethany and kids. It was incredibly pleasant. I really really really like them.

Saturday morning Felix didn't want to wake up. He was totally listless and mostly asleep all morning and if he did wake up he threw up. About noon we roused him again and he was thirsty. He wanted to get dressed and go out with grandma and grandpa in the yard. Acted 100% so I let him go.

Brent and I took advantage of the grandparents and when Amelia woke from her nap and wanted to go out we let her go too. My parents had been burning old sticks and such to clear out the yard, along with lots of cardboard that had accumulated.

Because Amelia is super quick and super determined, my parents didn't see her when she walked straight through the coals of their bonfire to get to Felix. She got right to the middle of the coals and fell over, and my mom was there almost immediately, but the damage had already been done. This was taken at the emergency room. It was pretty traumatic. They gave her some kind of narcotic which stopped the immediate screaming, till they had to wash off her foot. Tylenol with codeine, in tandem with ibuprofen, was a huge help, and she was walking on her foot very quickly.

Till this morning. We took her to her pediatrician (we adore Phil Freestone in Orem, by the way, if anyone needs a good pediatrician) and although he was very gentle, he still had to do some major work. This is what her foot looked like when the bandages from the ER came off:
This actually wasn't the worst of it. All that white skin on the bottom of her foot had to come off - it wasn't attached anymore. I did take a pic of it, but it didn't come out. And it would have grossed everyone out anyway. Brent came with me, thankfully, and held her down (with my help and that of the nurse) while Doc Freestone pealed and cut. That's a terrible thing for a parent... thank goodness she won't remember any of this.

Doc says there will be scarring and we have to take her again tomorrow. And this evening Felix had a reaction to a tiny amount of pecans. Sigh. It never ends.



*We next heard from the lawyers in February saying they weren't opposed to a settlement or payment arrangements. We figured they saw my response and got afraid so we didn't do anything - just waited for notice of the court date. It didn't come. End of March/beginning of April we got a big official notice from the lawyers saying that because we didn't come to court the judge threw out our response and sided with them. We talked to the courthouse and found that they had filed the "notice of pretrial" in February. We didn't get it - till the day I went to the courthouse to get copies. They had mailed it the day before - April 7. Court was scheduled for March 12. So along with requesting a new hearing, we're thinking of filing a countersuit because they've deliberately sabotaged our efforts to pay and to defend ourselves. I'm angry enough with them (and with their jerk of a legal assistant - she was never less than a complete ass to me on the phone) that I'd love to get someone fired over it. Stay tuned.

Stolen from Miss Cellania thru my friend Lis, who also understands

Toddler Diet

Day One


* Breakfast: One scrambled egg, one piece of toast with grape jelly. Eat 2 bites of egg, using your fingers; dump the rest on the floor. Take 1 bite of toast, then smear the jelly over your face and clothes.
* Lunch: Four crayons (any color), a handful of potato chips, and a glass of milk (3 sips only, then spill the rest).
* Dinner: A dry stick, two pennies and a nickel, 4 sips of flat Pepsi.
* Bedtime snack: Throw a piece of toast on the kitchen floor.

Day Two

* Breakfast: Pick up stale toast from kitchen floor and eat it. Drink half bottle of vanilla extract or one vial of vegetable dye.
* Lunch: Half tube of "Pulsating Pink" lipstick and a handful of Purina Dog Chow (any flavor).One ice cube, if desired.
* Afternoon snack: Lick an all-day sucker until sticky, take outside, drop in dirt. Retrieve and continue slurping until it is clean again. Then bring inside and drop on rug.
* Dinner: A rock or an uncooked bean, which should be thrust up your left nostril. Pour Grape Kool-Aid over mashed potatoes; eat with spoon.

Day Three

* Breakfast: Two pancakes with plenty of syrup, eat one with fingers, rub in hair. Glass of milk; drink half, stuff other pancake in glass. After breakfast, pick up yesterdays sucker from rug, lick off fuzz, put it on the cushion of best chair.
* Lunch: Three matches, peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Spit several bites onto the floor. Pour glass of milk on table and slurp up
* Dinner: Dish of ice cream, handful of potato chips, some red punch. Try to laugh some punch through your nose, if possible.

Final Day

* Breakfast: A quarter tube of toothpaste (any flavor), bit of soap, an olive. Pour a glass of milk over bowl of cornflakes, add half a cup of sugar. Once cereal is soggy, drink milk and feed cereal to dog.
* Lunch: Eat bread crumbs off kitchen floor and dining room carpet. Find that sucker and finish eating it.
* Dinner: A glass of spaghetti and chocolate milk. Leave meatball on plate. Stick of mascara for dessert.

Start over with day one.

Long week

This has been kind of a tough week. On Monday morning I finally made it to water aerobics. I decided I could run home after to change my shirt (it wasn't quite as clean as I thought it was) and pick up my water bottle, but on the way I got in an accident.

Very happily, it wasn't my fault. I did feel sorry for the teenager who hit me because she was taking her little brother and sister to school and just didn't look both ways before pulling out of the cul-de-sac and into the side of my car. There wasn't nearly as much damage as there could have been - as there would have been if I'd been driving a smaller car. As it was, the impact tore a hole in my front passenger tire, ripped my bumper and fender, and displaced a couple of things. A very nice man living nearby changed that tire for me so I didn't need to get towed. Especially nice since it was very cold (30-ish?) and I had no idea how to release the spare.

I got everything taken care of with insurance (her insurance admitted fault/blame immediately) and took my car to the shop on Tuesday. I got a rental through insurance. They were going to upgrade me to an SUV, but they started me out with a 2009 Chrysler Town & Country (fancy schmancy minivan). I called later to ask about the final estimate and they said it was just under $3000 and it should be done end of next week. Happily - nice rental for the meantime.

In sadder news, my back and neck have been pretty sore. I went to see a doc yesterday and besides cracking my back (which felt great for at least a little while) he recommended physical therapy. I've been needing a heating pad so I can sit for any length of time. I haven't taken much of the pain killer that I got though. I hate extra drowsy, especially since I'm already not sleeping well.

Anyway, Felix's eye looks great. Amelia is finally starting to walk (with some coaxing). Felix is finally getting excited about potty training (I think he's just happy to wear underwear) and has even talked about sleeping in his own bed (woo hoo!!!!!).

Brent and I have been seriously sleep-deprived for a while now so that's been tough, but the kids continually surprise and entertain us. Life is tough, but very good.

What trumped my brownies

I made brownies tonight. Didn't get to eat them. Felix was running around upstairs with one of his cousins. As he went through the kitchen he slipped and fell, catching his eyelid on the corner of the piano bench that someone had moved into the room.

Poor kid started bleeding all over the place so I ran him to the emergency room. Brent stayed home with Amelia, who had a little emergency of her own. She apparently is allergic to peanut butter.

Felix was a champ. His cut had stopped bleeding by the time we got in the car but it was pretty big. An inch maybe but it looked deep and the skin was separated quite a bit. The doc and the nurses were pretty good with him. Very patient and explained things well.

The doc decided to put him out because he didn't want Felix to struggle when he got scared. Ever heard of Ketamine? It has some weird effects on people. The doctor did warn me though so I wasn't too bothered. 8 stitches and two hours later we got home, and Felix threw up on me. Like everything in his belly. That wasn't very pleasant, but I've had worse.

So it's 11 pm and I should have been in bed an hour ago. I still haven't gotten my brownies but I think I deserve a big helping. Don't you agree? I'd share with Felix but he's zonked. Poor kid.

I got served

A summons a week and a half ago. Yeah, I got sued. Second time actually. I should be an old pro by now, but I have to admit I had no idea what was going on so I just let the lawyers do their thing.

This time I read everything carefully and had my bro who's in law school point me in the right direction (disclaimer: no legal advice was given), and created a large "Answer to Complaint", which I filed this afternoon. I'm hoping the judge will throw out the lawsuit and say I've paid enough. In fact, I kind of wish all the other medical bills from that unnecessary appendectomy of 2007 were included so I could deal with them all together.

Anyway, I felt prepared, which was a first.

And today, I got a haircut. I love Devron. She's the bestest.

Per request...

Super quick rundown of the last month and a half and then lots of fun pics.

New job is going great. I like it even though it's been really tough to keep up with everything. Brent's work is suffering although he has cut back some. Part of the difficulty has been because of a terrible month of sickness. We spent our Christmas break running to the bathroom and doing lots of extra laundry.

Christmas day we tried to go see a movie but Amelia's moaning got us kicked out. Talk about embarrassing. And miserable.

We finally got our kitchen installed, thanks to the competent and generous Denny Vincent. It's good being related to the highly-skilled. To make sure I'm not taking advantage (I did pay, but I'm sure his time was worth a lot more), I'm referring furiously. Anyone need the best contractor/handyman in Utah County?

Oh, Amelia's birthday party right after Thanksgiving turned into an impromptu family reunion. There was one cousin there I hadn't seen in more than 10 years, and another I hadn't seen in about 6. It was awesome to see everyone.

Amelia finally got a couple of teeth (after she turned 1) - she now has 3 and another pretty close. She's still not walking.

Felix is just a little crackpot. He's working on potty training with gentle nudging from his grandparents and parents. He'll now tell us when he wants to go pee and he'll often take off his diaper so he can go.

Both kids have so much personality and constantly make us laugh.

Enjoy the pics!