The Guinea Pig

Today was Julianne's doctor's appointment up at Primary Childrens Hospital, to see about her trigger thumb. I had gotten online and done some research and realized that the only way to fix it was to have surgery. So I was prepared to set a date for surgery and for the doctor to pretty much tell me what I already knew. That was not the case.

He actually told me that I had two options. One was surgery, but he wouldn't do that until she was three, because there is a chance that her other hand might do the same thing and he didn't want to operate twice.

Or...

We could do nothing. Apparently the lastest research coming out of Japan and Korea on this condition is showing that if you leave it alone, there's a good chance it might fix itself in five to six years. The doctor we were seeing was actually doing his own study on a hundred patients to see what will happen. I could tell he really wanted us to go with option number two. He said it probably won't bother her, affect her fine motor skills, or anything at all by waiting.

So I guess Julianne will be a guinea pig for the next five years as we see what happens and go back in every year.

(As a side note: Now I know why this guy only works two days a month. He's doing NOTHING!!! No wonder it won't matter if he sees us next week or in two months (that's how long we had to wait to get an appointment). He knew we weren't going to do anything. Now that's the way to go. That's the job to have. Charge folks for an office visit to tell them you aren't going to do anything. Couldn't we just discuss this over the phone? He's a pediatric hand surgeon and he said most of his patients come in with this condition. So your job is what? You specialize in something that people don't need to worry about? I'm just saying. I came out of that appointment shaking my head. But on the flip side, as I was walking out of the hospital and watching these families come in with children in wheelchairs and some without hair, my heart turned really greatful for the healthy children that I have. If all I have to worry about is a bent thumb, then I'm counting it as a blessing.)

Tender Mercies

Today, well actually the last few days, have been rough around here. I'm ready to give away my two year old. There is none stop fighting and crying, and did I mention whining, going on around my house. I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack at least once during the day because my stress level gets so high. We've been running to and fro constantly and my house has exploded. Today I was just feeling overwhelmed, tired, and kind of beat up. Miguel has had some late nights too, so throw that in the mix, and it's not good.

So today after gymnastics, I just sat on the couch, looked around at all the mess, and felt depressed. I called Miguel for some moral support, but that didn't seem to help. I finally decided what I needed was a short nap. I told the girls that they could watch a movie as long as they stayed in their beds and then when it was over, it was time for a nap. They eagerly agreed, so I layed down while they were watching their movie. Once it was over, I tucked them in and went to the kitchen to tackle the dishes. And when I looked out the window over the sink, this is what I saw!!!

And then she did this:

And I immediately felt love from the Lord. It was one of his tender mercies in my life. It totally changed my focus. She just layed there while I cleaned my kitchen and when I was done, she got up and walked off. I love nature and when I see wild animals, I sort of feel like a six year old again. I had a peacefulness wash over me and knew that the Lord was aware of my struggles. I haven't seen a deer in our back yard in probably two years, and that is usually in the fall.

So I went from Depressed to

and I got my dishes done.

and while I'm at it, one of my babies flew the coop. Here's my little update on the hummingbirds.

The other day, we noticed the babies like this

I guess the nest just got too crowded. The girls were so facinated by them. Miguel became worried that the mom wasn't feeding them, because Gabriela tried to knock them out with a stick one day. She said that she wanted to pet one. So I got the hair brained idea to see if I could get one down, now that he was already out of the nest, let the girls pet it and them put it back. Bad idea. I got the ladder, climbed up and rubbed his belly. I was super nervous, because I was worried once I took him off, what if I couldn't get him balanced back on the board. I looks big in the picture, but it's actually pretty small. Gabriel's below me and is chanting, "do it Mami, do it Mami" and grinning from ear to ear. I asked her if I should really do it and of course she said yes. When I rubbed his belly he started squeaking and making noise and then here comes super woman, a.k.a. Mommy Hummingird, flying in and squawking at me. I guess the baby told on me. Anyways, that made my mind up right there. So today I noticed this,

One of my babies had flown the coop!

Don't they look nice and pretty with their feathers on. I keep waiting for him to go flying off now.

Here's a shot from the other side.

It's been really fun watching this process. We'll miss them when they are gone.

The Best Dang Dentist Appt. I've Ever Been On!

Today I had a dentist appt. to do a little fixing up of some fillings and supposedly close a gap in my back teeth caused by my braces. I was going to meet a new dentist there in the office. Yes, I volunteered to meet the new guy. I pretty much told my regular dentist that I would much rather go see the gynocologist than have work done on my mouth. Having them cleaned is one thing, but getting a shot in the mouth is another. I have complete anxiety about it now. In the last several years, I've had some pretty painful experiences with shots. The first one felt like they were sticking a needle clear up my nose. It was BAD!!! The second occasion was worse. I already had anxiety about it and it turned into a nightmare. Not only did the shots hurt, but they wore off in the middle of the procedure so I was lucky enought to get another round of them. They said I must have had high metabolism and burned it off. I'm thinking yeah, duh, if my heartrate and adrenaline have anything to do with it I probably processed it as fast as it came in.

Anyways, so I'm introducing myself to this new dentist. He's straight out of dental school, so he's young, and I just layed it out on the table.
I said, "I would much rather be anywhere else but here right now."

He kind of looked at me, smiled, and said, "well o.k. then."

He asked me if I had any questions for him. So I asked him if he had any kids and how old they were. He had a two yr. old and a 3 mth. old. Alright, now we have some common playing ground.  I asked if the two year old gave him a hard time. And then I proceeded to tell them that I had a 2 and 3 year old and that I'm resolving to give my kids away when they are 2 and I'll take them back when they are 4. He laughed and then we all agreed that who in their right mind would take two and three year olds. 

Whew, o.k. we've broken the ice now.

He asked if I had any health concerns, besides my allergies, and I told him, "well I might be a little crazy." He said, "o.k. well now that we've gotten that out of the way!" and he laughed some more.

The assistant points out the fact that I had asked for laughing gas the last time I was in the office. Why is that so embarrassing? I'm a wimp, I guess. I didn't know what to do, but then I said, "we'll your new, so I guess I'll give you a shot!" Then they both laughed and said, "no, we're going to give you a shot." It was funny. Maybe you would have had to have been there. So we all laughed it up again.

I think my nervous energy was making me say all of these crazy things. He might really think I've lost my mind. Maybe it's a good thing I didn't have the laughing gas.

So he looks over my teeth for awhile and then tells me that he doesn't really think I need any of the work done. My teeth had shifted on their own and closed the gaps. The part of my mouth that I thought was bothering me looked fine, and the speculated cavity wasn't a cavity after all. He said we could wait a while and see if anything changes

Man that's the best news I heard all day. I told him he was my new favorite dentist. That was the fastest, most pain free, appointment I've ever been on. 

They even let me pick a prize at the front desk. Sweet! New hand sanitizer! I told the office ladies that I had some serioius negotiating skills, and I talked him out of everything. That's why I was being rewarded. That was awesome, not to mention it kept several hundred bucks in my pocket. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

What I Want!

We all have goals, right? We make goals in all areas of our lives. Everyone probably knows that I have taken a genuine liking to this family in the last year or two. Meet the Eyres. They have made me realize one of my biggest goals in life. To be an amazing mom and they have made me believe that I can do it.

Ever since I moved to Utah, some ten years ago, I've come across large families everywhere. They absolutely facinate me. I've only got two sisters, and they are 6 and 7 years younger than me. So I've never grown up with close siblings or siblings my age. But the think that amazes me the most in talking with people from large families, is that they all loved it! I don't recall ever hearing someone say, "man, there was just too many people around. It was so annoying!" Never. Not once.

I have been looking at pictures like this for many years. They large family portraits, with a cute older couple in the middle, with all of their posterity around them. What I want...is to be that cute older couple.

I want to spend my retirement years, visiting my grandkids, and having tea parties with my grandkids, and having family reunions (oohhh, I covet those too. I've never been to one). I want my life to be filled with family and surround myself with the people I love most in my life. My family probably thinks I'm crazy. Noone on both sides of my family have more than three kids. I can count all of my cousins on one hand and that's counting both sides.

I'll never have nine kids like the Eyres. That's o.k. I don't know that I'm ready for that, but I'm sure not done having kids. I just hope this body of mine can give me a couple more, because it's what I want most in life. I will feel so happy one day when I'm at my very own family reunion (maybe Mexico, I'm thinking Cancun) sitting there trying to get all the grandkids to look at the camera for just one picture. Cant' wait. It will be great. But until then, I'll focus on my three preschoolers, keep cleaning their messes, and know that one day, my turn will come.

"Thumb Stuck"

(Please Excuse the Chocolate Chip Cookie Face and Chocolatey Sandy Hand)

So, I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but am just now getting around to it. Several months ago I noticed that Julianne's thumb would get stuck or jammed and would just stay bent (see picture above). She would come to me and say "thumb stuck" while holding out her hand for me to see. I thought it was kind of crazy and wierd, but I could usually play with it until it would come unstuck. This was happening several times a day for about a month or so.

Well one morning while we were having a breakfast with some of our neighbors I happened to mention to the other moms there about her thumb. And low and behold, in she walks with her thumb stuck. Except this time I couldn't get it to straighten out. The other moms asked if I had taken her to the doctor about it. I hadn't even thought about it really. I figured they send me home and tell me she would outgrow it and it was nothing. But they got me thinking. So while my kids were playing with their kids, I made us an appointment and we ran over to the doctor's office to have it looked at.

We saw a PA there instead of our regular doctor, who was booked up. She had no idea what to do about it and thought it was really odd, so she goes to get our doctor to come in and he is just as stumped as she was. He said old people can get what's called "trigger finger", but that he had never seen anything like it in a kid. Neither one of them could get it back in place. Oh and did I mention Julianne was screaming like a wild banche the entire time and the we were having to communicate by shouting the entire time. Then they start throwing out words like hand surgeon, orthopedic doctor, x-rays. What? Wait a minute! I thought you were supposed to pop it back and send me home, reassured it was nothing to worry about. Nope. Not the case. We had to go over and get it x-rayed and it seems that all the bones are fine, which means it's a joint/ligament problem and we have to be seen by a pediatric hand surgeon up at Primary Children's Hospital. Crazy, huh! Julianne's thumb has been stuck since we came back from Yosemite almost a month ago. The surgeon apparently only comes into the office twice a month, so it has been impossible to get an appointment. We have ours close to Pioneer Day, so we'll see what happens. All I know is that he better stay away from Julianne's ears and just look at her thumb, otherwise this will be a very useless, and loud appointment.

We've got Carrots People!

 

Gabriela comes in to tell me she's making soup and asks if she can have some water. I said sure, as long as it stayed outside. Then as I pass by the window in the kitchen, I happened to look out and see the girls with these longs leafy things on the table they were sitting at. NO, NO, NO, not my carrots! What could I do, but to tell them not to do it again, but I invited them in to taste those babies. We washed them up and they were good! They scarffed them down and wanted to go pluck more. I picked too others and we washed them up and enjoyed them as well. We've never grown them before, but think they will be a big hit from now on.

On a random note, this is a hummingbird that had built a nest outside my kitchen window. It's been so fun to see her all the time, buzzing around, and sitting up there.

And today I saw this:

and this:

She's got two babies in that little thing now! Usually we see baby ducks in our pond, but this has been a fun treat for us this year. Another reason why we love our yard!

I'm a wedding planner!!!

Some of you may know that I got asked to put on a wedding last Wed. evening by my inlaws who serve as mission leaders in a Spanish branch in our church. I was told to decorate a room in the church for a wedding ceremony and to keep it simple. I had until Friday. That's right! Only 2 days to pull it together, and I had never really done this before, so I went to work. I hit Martha Stewart Weddings online and started looking for things I could make myself, to dress up the room. I immediately fell in love with these paper ornaments that hang from the ceiling and the everything else was designed around that. I chose teal based off what my mother in law told me the lady would be wearing. I made the bouquets and boutineers and thought the orange was the perfect accent color. All in all it turned out beautifully and I was really proud of myself. I was also blessed with an amazing woman who had a ton of stuff I could borrow and helped me along the way.

Here is the bride's bouquet.

 

These are the paper ornaments I made.

 

I also made these to go on top of the refreshment table. Love, love, love, them!

 

 

Everything came together perfectly and I was glad I had the opportunity to serve and help make someone else's special day memorable and nice. I enjoyed the process and who knows, maybe I could have a future in this. I did have several single girls there ask me to do their weddings someday and a couple of people told me I should go into business. That felt good and made all the stress worth it.