Life

It all seems to be going by too fast. I have a picture of me during my first year of college on the kid’s dresser. I glanced at in the other day while putting the kids clothes away, and I was struck by how much younger I looked then. Those memories don’t seem so long ago. Can it really be 11 years? I watched a video of a young family just beginning- a tiny baby snuggled in a pink blanket and a new mother and father with big grins on their faces, not really aware of how much their world was about to change. I’ve been there. I did that. That innocence is gone. My children are growing up entirely too fast. Jody wants to be done with having babies. The thought of that phase of my life being over makes me want to curl up into a ball and cry. Having babies is what I’ve always dreamed of. What happens when it’s over? Before I know it, the kids will all be grown and I’ll wonder where that time went. It seems like it was just a few years ago when I left for college and found my place in world. Is there any way to slow the passage of time down? A way to enjoy every moment I have now before it slips away?

Sick kid

Sawyer just got off a round of antibiotics and steroids on Monday. Wednesday night he started running a fever and ran one off and on until Friday night. The last two nights he has not slept well at all. Which means I didn't sleep well. Which means I'm tired and grumpy. Today I noticed Sawyer has a rash all over. So what is it? My first guess is roseola. But I don't think that would explain why he isn't sleeping well. Looks like we may be in for another trip to the ped tomorrow. For the third week in a row. Ugh.

Paxton

Random thoughts

A traded a sister from church dried beans for 50 pounds of rolled oats. I have nowhere to keep a 50 pound bag of oats so I vacuum sealed them into 15 gallon size bags. Well I also don't have anywhere to keep 15 gallon size bags of oats. I have managed to stash 11 of them around the kitchen and pantry. I have 4 left on the counter I need to figure out what to do with. I'm hoping MIL will take a few. Food storage is a great idea until you realize how much room it requires.
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I never realized how quiet three kids are until my sister and her three kids moved out of our house. It's been a major change of pespective.
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I watched a tummy tuck and boob job on Dr. 90210. I think I will stick with my baby pooch and saggy boobs.
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I am into bargain shopping full force again. Jody helped support my addiction by driving me to 5 different Walgreens all over central AR. Now that the weather is nice, I can turn my stock. I made $150 the last time I set up at the market. And I get to shop. It's the best of both worlds.
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I've been reading a lot of books lately. Maybe that means my depression is lifting. I've read The Nannie Diaries, 90 Minutes in Heaven, First Comes Love, the first 3 books of the Twilight series, and the first Harry Potter (I an rereading the entire series). My parents called tonight and they are sending more books down with my brother when he comes to visit this week. Now I have to balance reading with housework.
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I still haven't adjusted to the time change. I stay up too late and want to sleep in. Too bad the kids won't let me.
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I took Sawyer to the ped on Friday. He had an awful cough and started sounding rattley. He is on 4 days of antibiotics and steroids. I asked the ped about his "not seizures", and he said not to worry about them. I said but he cries after them like it hurts and the ped said he's fine. I've always been happy with this ped up until now, but to go from he might be having seizures to don't worry about, that bugs. We have my sister's ex-husband who is a doctor researching it now. Hopefully we get some answers.
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My sister and I have started playing Scrabble when we have free time. So far I am ahead 2-1. But who's counting? lol

Multi-tasking

Meet #4

Olivia had her fourth and final gymnastics meet of the competition season. She's been sick so she wasn't able to practice much the last two weeks. Regardless, she did great! She got 1st place on beam and 3rd place on floor, vault, and uneven bars. She got 3rd place all around. I'm so proud of her. She is such a good little gymnast.


Warming up:



Performing her beam routine:

Proudly wearing her medals:

Bargain Shopping

I took a couple months off from doing major bargain shopping. I got behind on cutting coupons and the thought of getting caught up was overwhelming. I also had a lot going on with my sister and her kids living here. It's been too cold to set up at the market and turn items so I didn't have a lot of motivation. I've started back at it this week and I had forgotten how much fun it is. Saturday is suppose to be gorgeous and I bet the market will be crawling with people. I'm working on getting my inventory up so I can *hopefully* make lots of money.

Total after coupons and RR: $26

Received $12 RR

Total OOP: $14

Total savings: $86

Little Monkey

The kids were in their room playing today when they started yelling for me. I ran in the room to see what was going on. Sawyer had managed to climb to the top of the bunkbed ladder. I got him down and took him to the livingroom. Not two minutes later, he was back to climbing. The kid still isn't walking but he can climb like a monkey. Soon nothing in the house will be safe.

A new addition

I am a sucker for black labs. They are smart and great with kids. Someone dropped two off at the market, and the man set up next to us was trying to find them a home. Sendai wants a dog when she moves to the farm so she started tossing around the idea of getting one. Once I saw them, I wanted one too. Darn cute puppies. Of course all the kids really wanted them. We started to work on Jody. At some point he said the dog could be my Valentine's Day present since he didn't get me one. He's such the romantic. The rest is history. The dog on the left is mine. Her name is Jasmine. Sendai's dog is on the right and her name is Bella (pronounced bay-ya). So far they've figured out how to get out of their pen, made their way to the IL's house, and dug up part of my flower bed. But they sure are cute!

So what is it?

We had the follow up with the neurologist today. After viewing the 6 or so episodes we got on video, he doesn't believe it is seizures. He's seen thousands of seizures and these just don't fit the mold. He said to call if they get worse but otherwise he's healthy. I'm relieved it's not epilepsy, but what is it then? I'm going to go back to his pediatrician and talk to him. There is a connection between the episodes and Sawyer's bowel movements. He doesn't always have a bm with the episodes, but I think he always has an episode with a bm. I wonder if maybe he has a fissure or something that is making it painful for him to poop and maybe that is causing the problems. I don't know. All I know is something isn't right.

The Country Life

Diagnosis unknown

It's been a long day. We didn't sleep well. Sawyer has a horrible cough and is wheezing and was restless. We left at 7:30. The clinic is 2 long hours away. Sawyer had the EEG. He was up early and we didn't let him sleep on the way there because they wanted him asleep for the study. He cried the saddest cries not because he was in pain, but because they were touching him and gluing electrodes all over his head. I was glad my sister was with me because Jody would not have been able to handle it. They did the test, we left and got a bite to eat and we headed back to meet with the neuro. The EEG was normal but by the descriptions of what is happening and the video of an episode I have my cellphone, he suspects it is complex partial seizures. He wants us to videotape some more episodes so he has "more ammunition" to work with. We are to go back next Wednesday with the videos and decide on a course of action. He gave us a prescription for a medicine in case he has a bad seizure that he doesn't come out of. If it is seizures, they will put him on topomax for at least two years. While we were there another ped heard Sawyer's cough and said it was worse than any of the patients she had seen today. I commented that he was wheezing and he's been on antibiotics for a week. She said he needed steroids so they wrote a script for that too. The two hour drive home seemed like it took forever. Sawyer slept the whole way. Poor thing. Now that we are home, I realize that he's running a low grade fever too. He looks sick. If he's not doing better in the morning, I'll probably make an appt with out reg ped. I can't imagine him being so sick after having a shot of roseffin (sp?) and being on oral antibiotics. I feel so bad for him being so sick after going through everything else today. Anyway, I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to give Sawyer a bath and try to get some of the goop out of his hair and then we will curl up in bed. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. They've really meant a lot to me.

A new place to call home

My sister and her kids have been living with us since Christmas. They are planning to relocate here. Her temporary housing finally made it down from Iowa last week- a 54 year old trailer. The interior is in great shape. The exterior is a lovely pink and silver. I love it because it looks so hillbilly.

TIMBER!

You have to be creative to find ways for entertainment when you live in the middle of nowhere. Our house is down in the woods, and if there are more than two vehicles here, parking is a nightmare. My sister and I decided to take down a tree so we can have a circle drive. All it took was a sawsall, a hatchet, a rope and a van. We managed to get the tree down without injuring anyone or anything. We rock!

Meet #2

Olivia had her second meet today. She only had two practices since her last meet and I thought she did great. Her scores were:

Floor: 8.67 1st Place

Vault: 8.25 7th Place

Bars: 6.80 3rd Place

Beam: 8.05 4th Place

And she got 3rd Place for All-Around. Great job, Olivia!

I took Sawyer to the ped today because he's been having some worrisome episodes. He starts making a weird nose with his lips, his head pulls back and his legs tense and curl up. He usually has about a dime size worth of poo after it's over. I originally thought it was because he was constipated and it hurt to poo. But the episodes are getting worse and his bms aren't hard anymore. It occured to me that he might be pooing because of the episode and not vice versa. I counted yesterday and he had at least 10 episodes. My mommy radar says something is not right.

The ped confirmed my suspicions and thinks it may be seizures. He is referring us to a pediatric neurologist. He wants Sawyer to have an EEG and we will go from there. They are suppose to call me with an appt date on Monday.

I'm trying not to freak out. It is what it is and we will deal with it. One of the scariest thing for me is the meds used to treat seizures. I've seen the side-effects they had on Anna. They are some strong stuff. Part of me wants to hold Sawyer and cry. Watching him have these episodes is heartbreaking. I know it has to be scary for him, and he is too young to understand what is happening. I am going to get him a priesthood blessing tomorrow. Hopefully there are some words of comfort in it. If you would pray for my sweet little baby boy I would greatly appreciate it.

A happy house

One of the best things about the holidays is the post Christmas sales. Sendai and I picked up 2 gingerbread house kits at KMart for cheap. We had the kids make them for Family Home Evening. Our house had a bit of an issue with a broken roof but we worked it out with an icing patch job. The kids loved decorating the houses with the candy. Sawyer loved eating all the candy Nerds that fell on the floor. His middle name should have been Hoover.

Merry Christmas

This is the first Christmas we have spent at home since having children. In the past, we have always gone to Nebraska. It was nice to not have the stress of traveling for the holidays. Luckily my sister and her family were able to join us. That made it a bit easier to not be so homesick. It was fun having the ILs come down to watch the kids open presents. They've never got to experience it before. The kids got thoroughly spoiled. I feel blessed that we were able to get them so many things. We made sure to include our family tradition of crab for Christmas supper. It was delicious! That is one tradition I hope we never give up.

Iceland

That's not snow on the ground. It's ice. The temperature hasn't gotten about 27 the last two days. It sleeted off and on yesterday and for most of the night. Today was a stay inside and bake kind of day. It's crazy to think that on Friday and Saturday the high is suppose to be in the 60's.

Meet #1

Olivia had her first gymnastics meet in Hot Springs on Friday. Paxton stayed with the ILs and the rest of made the two hour trip to the competition. Olivia was so nervous before the meet. She did really well. She got 1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th place in 6 year old Level 3s. There were only 6 kids in her age level so I don't know how she got 7th place. They rushed the awards so I think they messed up somewhere. Olivia had a blast. She got a trophy and ribbons and two goody bags. And now she knows what she is working for at the gym.

Warming up:

On the beam:

Floor exercise: