Follow Up

So for those of you who were guessing, yes I am pregnant. This isn't quite how I planned to announce it, but oh well. I was really unsure about my due date, so I didn't really want to mention anything until I had a better idea of when I was due.

I had previously tried to make an appointment with my OB. However because I wasn't certain of my due date, and because of our insurance, they needed me to get my PCP to authorize an ultrasound for verification before they would make an appointment for me. I had seen my PCP on Monday, and had an ultrasound scheduled for the following Monday.

So after my fainting episode, I decided to call the doctors office, to get checked out just in case something was wrong. Because of the before mentioned issue of making an appointment with my OB, I called my PCP's office. He wasn't in that day, but his nurse strongly suggested that I come into the walk in clinic.

I was assuming I was somewhere between 5-7 weeks pregnant. The doctor at the walk in clinic was concerned that my fainting might be connected to an ectopic pregnancy (a tubal pregnancy). That was her first concern. So she ran a bunch of tests, and determined that I was dehydrated and starved. Go figure. I'm pregnant and it was dinner time. She also determined that my hormone levels were high enough that I was either farther along in my pregnancy that I believed myself to be, or I was expecting twins. She also discovered that I had a lot of wax in my ears that could have contributed to me being dizzy.

So she scheduled an ultrasound for the next day. At the ultrasound, we learned it was not ectopic, I am not expecting twins, and the baby is just over 8 weeks along. Which puts me due the beginning of May.

So over all, we aren't sure why I fainted, but we do know that everything is now appearing to be the way is should.

Thank you for your concern.

Blackout

So this morning, as we were getting ready for Breakfast, Cinderella announced that she needed to use the potty. Yes we are still potty-training, and so I went with her to the bathroom. I squatted by her on the floor, and then stood up. Well I guess I stood up to fast, because the room started spinning. Now for me this is a common thing. If I stand up to fast, the room starts spinning and starts to go back. I usually just lean back against a wall, until my head clears. So I leaned back against the open bathroom door.

The next thing I knew I heard Daddy saying "Mama?" my head really hurt on one side, and my face was pressed up against some carpet. I was really confused wondering where I was and how I got there. I told him my head hurt, and asked where I was. It started to come back to me, that I had been in the bathroom with Cinderella, so I was trying to figure out the carpet thing. Do I have a rug like this in the bathroom? Why am I laying down? Why does my head hurt?
My husband told me I had hit my head on something, and had me try to move. I moved back, and realized that I had fallen into the hallway, and saw blood on the carpet. At this point I started freaking out. And got really emotional. I think I scared my husband, because he asked if I needed him to call an ambulance. I asked if it was that bad. So he got a damp wash cloth and took a look at my head. He told me it looked like I had just skinned part of it, so we pressed the cloth against my head to try to stop the bleeding.

I kept the cloth on my head for a couple hours, while I ate breakfast and then laid down on the couch. I felt terrible. Not so much physically, as emotionally. I felt like it was all my fault. I felt bad that my husband felt like he had to work from home today to help me until I was back on my feet. I felt bad, because I couldn't meet the needs of my kids. It is a terrible feeling.

Thankfully the bleeding stopped, and now I just have a slight headache in the spot that I hit. It comes and goes, and I think is getting better. It just made for a crazy morning.

What am I supposed to learn?

Do you ever have one of those times in life, when it seems like the same kind of thing just keeps happening to you, and you wonder "what am I supposed to learn from this?"
Lately, we have been dealing with illness in our house. And it definitely makes things harder.
The weekend after Labor day weekend, Cinderella's eyes started bothering her. She would rub and rub, and so they would puff up. She would wake up crying in the middle of the night because her eyes were bothering her. And I have no clue as to why this was happening. She did have a runny nose, and I thought maybe she had some allergies. But couldn't figure out what allergens were in the air, that wouldn't have been around before. I was stumped.
Well a few days later, Guy started coming down with a runny nose of his own, and my nose was a little runny too. I figured it was probably just a cold, but wasn't sure what that had to do with her eyes. By the next weekend, Guy was sick. On Thursday he had started to run a fever, and on Saturday his eyes started to get goopy. They weren't pink or red, so I didn't think it was pink eye, but I wasn't sure. When he still had a small fever Monday morning, I took him to the doctor. It turned out that he had a double ear infection. They got him on an antibiotic and all of his symptoms cleared up in about a day.
So by mid week last week we were doing good. Or so I thought. I had no idea what was lurking around the corner. First Daddy came down with a cold too. Then on Friday, Cinderella started to develop a headache. By dinner time her tummy was hurting too, and she had a fever. We gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed. At about 1:00 that night she came into my room to tell me she had spilled something on her bed. I went to see what had happened, and noticed she had vomited all over her bed. She spent the rest of the night with me in my bed, and Daddy moved to the guest bed. After she was sick 5 or 6 more times that night, I decided we should take her into the walk in clinic on Saturday morning. They did a strep culture and a urine analysis. I haven't heard back with complete analysis yet. But she is acting like she is feeling much better.
Then today, right before lunch, she started rubbing her eyes again. Which makes me wonder, "what is bothering her eyes, and what, if anything, is coming next?"

My Utah Trip: Family Week Day 6, Five Men and an Air Mattress

So my brother P got this brilliant idea for something to be done during family week. Buy an air mattress. The kind you sleep on. Some life jackets, some sailor hats and some oars. And take them all out on a lake.

This adventure involved my three brothers, my brother-in-law W, and my husband.
So they put on all their sailor duds. W decided to not have the life jacket. He felt like it would hamper his swimming ability.
Which left a jacket for Cinderella.
The grumpy face is because I told her she couldn't go in the water. I didn't find out until later, that her daddy had told her she could wade along the shore, with Aunt N.

Guy also had fun playing in the sand.

My dad used his pump to blow up the air mattress.
That is a full sized mattress by the way.
Then the boys hauled it into the water. I was trying to video this event, but my battery died before they got very far.


They all sat down, and started to sink.

So they redistributed their weight, and tried again.
This time they were able to stay afloat. And paddled far enough away, that they were just a small speck in the pictures I was taking. My dad was getting nervous because W didn't have a life jacket. He didn't want them to get so far out that he wouldn't be able to get back. We tried yelling at them to come back, but they didn't hear us. They also had a hard time steering the thing. They were finally able to bring it back with most of them swimming.





It wore them all out, but I think I remember them asking who wanted to go again. So I know they had fun.

My Utah Trip: Family Week: Day 5, Park and movie

On Friday, my parents ward, (the church congregation they attend), was having a BBQ at one of the parks in the area. This park has been a family favorite my whole life, so we decided to go after lunch, and spend the afternoon at the park. We then attended the BBQ, and headed out to go to the Drive In Theater, which was playing WALL-E.

When you go to the drive in theater, you pay to see two movies. It is a double feature. WALL-E was playing first, and Mama Mia, a movie we had no desire to see, was playing second. Well in one of the other theaters, there was a different family friendly movie playing in the second slot. Some of my single siblings, had the idea that we should have half our cars parked in one lot for WALL-E and the other half parked in the other lot for the other movie. They said they had done this with friends previously, and by all rights you should be able to do it, after all you are paying to see two movies right?

So that was our plan. My brothers, P and S parked their cars in the second lot, while my dad and my brother T parked his car in the lot with WALL-E. We were all meeting there. Well when we got there, we noticed a big sign at the front that said, "No switching theaters." So we knew our plan wouldn't work. The problem is, that my brothers had parked in a different lot. And one of them had gotten in trouble when he and my sister who had ridden with him, had walked through to the lot we were parked on. So then my brothers had to figure out how to get their cars to the correct lots. It was kind of crazy, but we got all of our cars together before the show started.

After WALL-E was over we just left. No point sticking around for a movie you don't want to see.

So we watched WALL-E, which I highly recommend. I haven't been very impressed with the latest PIXAR films. Not because of plot, I thought they were hilarious. But because of language. As soon as I hear some one say a cuss word in a movie, the movie is ruined for me. And ever since The Incredibles, PIXAR seems to think they should ruin all their movies by putting foul language in them. Well WALL-E passed by my standards. It was a good clean movie. Something you don't find much anymore. Cinderella loved it too. In fact since that time, she had chosen what movies she wants to watch based on whether or not they have a preview for WALL-E in them.

My Utah Trip: Family Week: Day 4, Down Town

On Thursday, we loaded up in the car and drove to the Salt Lake City cemetery, to visit the grave of Gordon B. Hinckley, the previous Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

After the cemetery we headed to The Gateway Plaza. This plaza is like a really big outdoor mall. With all kinds of fancy shops as well as some other things, like a children's museum, and a planetarium. We went to the planetarium, and looked at all the cool stuff they had in the lobby. Then we headed over to the actual plaza.

They have one of those areas that squirt water out of the sidewalk. My youngest sister, N, was very excited to get to do that. And Cinderella was too. When we got there I realized I hadn't planned very well. We just figured we would let the kids run through in their clothing. I had brought a dry change of clothes for my kids, and my mom had brought some towels.

Well the plaza was packed. And all the kids were in swim suits. So I decided to look at the rules they had posted and see if they had a rule against street clothing being worn. Well they didn't specify that they needed to have a swim suit. But there was a sign that said all children under the age of 4 (I think) had to have a swim diaper, and rubber pants covering it. And then in big letters it stated that "People who have had diarrhea in the last 2 weeks need to stay out of the pool." Now here is the controversy. Does water shooting out of the sidewalk constitute as a pool?

Both my kids had been sick with diarrhea within the previous week. So do I keep them out? Or let them go in? As we debated what to do, someone pointed out, that the lack of swim diapers was probably a bigger issue. So I thought we could look around and see if there was any place nearby that sold swim diapers.

Then I realized that my husband had the opinion that we should obey all of the signs. The kids had been sick, they couldn't go. I hated to tell them that, because I knew how much some of them were really excited to play in the water. I didn't agree with the sign, and felt like it would be OK. But I could also understand where my husband was coming from.

He pointed out to me, that if our kids had been completely healthy and we let them do this, and some parent let their sick kids play, and our kids got sick, we wouldn't be too happy with that parent, so we shouldn't let our kids play either.

So much to the disappointment of Cinderella and Aunt N, we told them we couldn't do it. We then proceeded to return to Grandma's house, were we set up the kiddy pool I had bought, and a slip and slide, and let them all play in the water there. Unfortunately by that time, there were clouds, and it wasn't as hot. Oh well. You do what you have to do.

After our adventure for the day, everyone was quite wiped out, and ornery, so we decided to forgo miniature golfing, which was on the plan for that night.

Moments of Inspiration: Rise to the occasion

Lately I've been noticing how my Heavenly Father teaches me in just the regular moments of life.

I believe those times can be a lot more effective, if you record them, or share them. So unless they are incredibly personal, I am going to do both.

I have had two sick kids lately. Guy has a double ear infection, and hasn't been sleeping the best lately. As you can guess that has it's own effect on me. I have also been feeling a bit under the weather, and my home has been reflecting that.

We had a really ornery day today. We were all get on each other about something. A little after 4 this afternoon, I looked around my apartment, and noticed that there wasn't a room that didn't look like a tornado had blown through. It made me feel really discouraged, and I didn't want to do anything about it.

Then I had the moment of inspiration. You can choose to let the way you feel determine the way you respond to what is around you, or you can choose to rise to the occasion, and make your surroundings be the way you want them to be. I decided I didn't want it to be a mess. So I started one thing at a time, and started cleaning. Then I got the kids to help. Within an hour I had all the rooms picked up and vacuumed.

I realized, that it isn't just this way with messes, but all the challenges we face in life. We can let our circumstances determine our response, or we can choose how we will respond. It is all up to us.

My Utah Trip: Family Week: Day 3, Visit to other family

Wednesday morning my brothers, husband, and dad went golfing. While they were gone, my sister-in-law D gave hair cuts all around. My nephew was first, then Guy got his trimmed. Then we let Cinderella get hers trimmed. Cinderella then had her hair straitened, to make sure it was all even. It was darling. My sister was next, and then it was my turn.

Now if I get my hair cut, especially if I pay for it, I want it to be noticeable. But I never know what cut to get. My hair is so fickle. So I had her take it about mid neck.


This picture is one I had Cinderella take of me today. So it had a little bit of growth since it was cut.

After the men got home, and my hair was done, my little family left for my husbands cousin's house. His sister had just moved down to Utah, and was staying with the cousin, so we were able to visit with her as well. It was fun to interact with some other family that we don't get to see a whole lot. And our kids got to play with some of their second cousins, who are about the same age as them.

About dinner time, we headed over to my husbands aunt's home for dinner. We had a yummy BBQ, and got to visit with some more family.

After the BBQ, we headed back to my parents house. The whole gang was gathered around my parents fire pit, in the back yard, having a hot dog roast. We joined them and made some s'mores for the kids.

All in all it ended up being a fun day.

Defiance

So this morning, Cinderella hit a curve ball at me that I'm not quite sure how to deal with yet. Last night I watched one of my friends kids, until quite late. As a result, my kids ended up staying up quite a bit later than normal. To top it off, when I was getting Guy in his PJ's last night, I noticed he had a fever. We ended up putting our kids to bed before their friends left, but not by much. As soon as my friend picked up her kids, my husband and I decided to call it a night, without even cleaning up. And believe me, with 4 toddlers, it was a big mess.

Well this morning, Guy still wasn't feeling well, and was quite ornery all through breakfast. So I put him down for a nap, as soon as I could. Well Cinderella wanted to play Kwala on the computer, and because I figured it would be a quiet activity, allowing Guy to get his much needed rest, I allowed her to do so. She played for about an hour, and then stopped for a snack. Then she and I played a memory game, on the floor. Then she wanted to play the computer again. I decided to let her.

About half an hour later, Guy woke up from his nap. I let her play a little longer. Then I told her it was time to be done, and we needed to clean up.

I asked if she wanted me to turn on some music, while we cleaned up. She didn't respond, so I turned some on. Then I started to pick up books off the floor. She said "NO!" then came over and pulled a book out of the book case and set it on the floor. It's not like she was even looking at it. It was out and out defiance. Mom is picking up books, so I'm going to pull them out. I'm not sure how to handle that. I told her if she was going to act like that, I wouldn't let her play Kwala. Then she started whining in a baby voice, "I want to play Kwala, I want to play Kwala." It is driving me crazy, and she is being so ornery. Any suggestions?

Blog Book

One of my friends told me that you can make a blog book, where a company will print and bind your blog for you. So I was wondering, have any of you done anything like that? What service did you use? Would you recommend it?

French Toast

French Toast is a meal that is served at my parents house, but we rarely make it. Cinderella asked me one day if her toast was French Toast. I told her it wasn't so she asked me what French Toast is. I told her it is a kind of toast with egg on it. So this morning, she put an egg on her toast, and said she had French Toast.

Cinderella's Haircut.

Just thought I'd let you know what she looked like, when all was said and done.

Scissors

So I need to write about this, right now, so that maybe I can see the humor in the situation.

Yesterday, Cinderella was wearing her dress that I made her for Christmas. In her primary class (children's class for three-year-olds) at church, she was cutting out some paper hearts. After she got home from church, I was helping her change her dress, and I noticed a hole in the front of the dress. A nice V shaped hole. Scissors.

She had cut her dress. I told her about the hole in the dress, and told her that I think she had cut her dress. She shrugged her shoulders at me, and said, "yeah, I think I did. It's not worth making a fuss over."

Well today, she wanted to cut out more hearts. I was slightly concerned after her cutting her dress before. Daddy was busy cleaning out the fridge and I was cleaning the computer desk. I asked Daddy if he thought it was OK to let her cut without some supervision. He said he thought she would be fine. So we let her cut. We went back to our respective tasks, and a while later, I heard my husband gasp. I turned around and saw Cinderella sitting on the chair, scissors in hand, and a pile of curly hair on the floor. I wanted to cry. Instead I went promptly to the other room, and called my brother. He and his wife, who is a beautician, just happen to be coming for a visit on Wednesday. I wanted to find out if she could help Cinderella's hair at all. I haven't talked to her yet, but I have a feeling, Cinderella is going to go around looking like this....

At least until Thursday, when my sister-in-law can fix it.

Here is all of the hair she cut off. I decided to save it in a bag. I'll probably take a lock or two of it, for her scrap book, for memories sake. I'm just not ready to bid it good by just yet.