Pish,who needs a pet?

I suppose at some point or another, we all wonder what it would be like to live in someone else's shoes. Or at least wonder what their life is REALLY like because sometimes the grass just looks greener over there.

My single soon to be 29 year old brother called me up yesterday just to say hi. He's really the only one in my whole family that ever just calls to say hi.

Anyway, he just got his own place. No more roommates, he lives by himself. I have NEVER lived by myself. I lived at home with my family (obviously), went away to college and had 5 roommates in a two bedroom apartment, then got married and had a bunch of lovably cute, but stinky, noisy, mess makers.

Now I'm not saying I would want to switch places or anything and I know my brother would love to come home to a messy house filled with screaming kids, but, what would that be like to have your own place that you would probably only have to clean once a week! I couldn't even imagine.

Now I never grew up with pets. My parents don't really like them. Maybe that's why I have no real desire to have any. I am told quite often by people out walking their dogs, as my kids run over and beg to pet it, that I should get one. And I just think, ya right! I have enough little things that stink and slobber and make messes, I don't need one that has fur!

(I'm sure I just got crossed off some people's Christmas card list)

Maybe if I lived on 10 acres and didn't have to clean up after it........ still doubtful, but maybe. A puppy or kitten might be fun, its when they get bigger I don't care for them so much.

So I have to wonder, do people find it fulfilling or fun to look over and see a little animal face watching them from their bed? I suppose they must, that's why they get them. Kind of like in the movies where the faithful pet keeps a vigilant watch over it owner, right? (Sorry, I never watched "Marley and Me")

So, is this what its like?

Nah, this is SO much better.

Well, I don't think I'll need to be getting a pet anytime soon.

I'm good.

Hmm, speaking of stinky messes....

I am SUCH a cool mom.

Its true!

Because only a cool mom would go out and catch a monster mantis and bring it in for the kids to look at.

Okay truthfully, it was pretty nasty. Even gross. But hey, the kids thought it was pretty cool.

Savannah was a little unsure at first...

...but while taking this next picture she was actually saying, "Oh you poor thing!"

The boys tried growling at it.

Joseph tried scaring it.

But in the end, since I wouldn't let them take the lid off they eventually got bored and we let it go.

But only a cool mom would give the kids Pop Rocks and tell them it was just like eating bugs.

Oh ya, I'm definitely a cool mom.

So if you think that just maybe you might be lacking in "coolness" with your kids, just go find them a big bug.

Trust me, it works.

The bus is SO overrated.

I honestly thought that having Savannah in school would help. She seemed so bored around here at times. She loves being around people. She loves to be social. So I thought she would be a little happier once school started, especially since she wanted to go so badly.

But I'll be honest, it hasn't helped a bit. In fact, when she comes home she seems grouchy and sassy. Like she needs a really long nap or something. Well, maybe she does but she stopped taking naps when she turned two.

My two best friends came up to visit me yesterday and even they commented on how much of a teenager she is. Its kind of hard to miss the attitude. Sometimes its cute, sometimes... not so much.

And yet, she's still my little girl. Today was her first time riding the bus to school. I had been dropping her off these first couple of days. As I walked her to the bus stop she was so excited she wouldn't stop talking!

When the bus finally arrived, it was already pretty full. I watched her climb on and continued to watch her through the windows as she made her way slowly to the back of the bus looking for a seat. Her smile had quickly changed to a big frown as she couldn't seem to find a seat.

Finally, a couple rows from the back, I saw her squeeze past a couple kids over to a window seat on the far side of the bus. So I couldn't smile and wave, or give her a big encouraging mommy smile. I actually, for a brief moment, wanted to cry. It all just seemed so sad.

I hope she's okay. I hope she has fun.

I wish she were back home.

Catching Up

Since the digital camera era combined its possibilities with parenthood, at least for me, literally thousands of pictures have been taken. It might just be me but I have a habit of taking ten pictures of the same exact thing, "just in case" I missed it or it didn't turn out the first nine times I took the picture.

Last week at the splash park, I caught one of those perfect moment shots. My nephew. You gotta admit, its a pretty sweet picture.

This one of Joseph is fun too.

And well, any picture I take of this beautiful girl is just perfect.

But kids love water, and mine are part fish. Even if its not actually swimming they will stay in the water until they are purple all over.

These two kept running back and forth with their drinks, sometimes nearly knocking over other kids. I guess we better have a "drinking while driving" conversation.

I know you can't really tell, but if you look really, really close at this next picture you can see that there is something on Jacob's cheeks.

Its nail polish.

Yes, his wonderful older sister wanted to make him all sparkly and pretty for the splash park. (sigh) Nail polish seemed to do the trick for her.

And of course we aren't allowed to leave without one ride on the carousel. Now that's trouble in a row!

Later that same day we went to Luke's work party at a park where we all ate a very healthy dinner.

Cause I'm one of those parents who make SURE my kids eat their vegetables first. Sometimes... occasionally... of course, I did eat two cookies and a piece of cheesecake before I ate my salad. (cough) Um... moving on.

We got a kick out of watching daddy act strange. Weird engineers. Jacob was fascinated, I think he wanted to try it too. (Luke's wearing the maroon shirt, one of the middle guys)

But we had fun. It was a good day.

...until bedtime. Maybe it was a little too fun.

It just happened and I saw it with my own eyes.

Jacob and Joseph are pretending to be puppies.

Jacobdog is feeding Josephpup yogurt. Some dripped onto Josephpup's chin, so he sticks his chin out at Jacobdog.

Jacobdog leans over and licks the yogurt dribble off of Josephpups chin.

I have nothing to say on the matter and no further comment to offer.

Thank you.

She's off to school!

She was so excited she kept giggling over breakfast. She even let me do her hair without any whining or fussing. (not that I'm particularly good at doing her hair)


Complete with her new, "I picked it out all by myself!" princess backpack, Savannah started school today.

I just dropped her off. Its too quiet around here! No one is here to ask me, "What shall we do today that's fun!" *sniff* She's growing up way too fast.

Just before we left for school, I pulled her into my bedroom so we could have a prayer together. I said I would say it and I prayed that she would be good and listen to the teacher, be safe, and all that other stuff that parents think of.

When I was done, I jumped up and said, "Okay, let's go!"

But I looked back down and she was still on her knees and had started her own prayer. She prayed that she would have fun, make friends, and all the other stuff that kids think of.

At one point in her prayer she said, "And bless that the other kids won't pick on me."

You know, that is one thing that didn't even cross my mind. Only goes to show the difference in thinking of a parent and a child.

And its a good thing too.

More on Alayna

I want you all to know that I greatly appreciate the emails, comments, and prayers. I'm sorry if I don't get a chance to respond to everyone personally right away, but I'll do the best I can.

When the doctor first called me to tell me the CT scan results, I was driving in the car with all the kids screaming in the back. So, I called him back later and we went through in more detail what is going on with Alayna's head. The Pediatrician said it was her sagittal suture that has fused.

This is from Wikipedia:

The sagittal suture is a dense, fibrous connective tissue joint between the two parietal bones of the skull. At birth, the bones of the skull do not meet. If certain bones of the skull grow too fast then "premature closure" of the sutures may occur. This can result in skull deformities. If the sagittal suture closes early the skull becomes long, narrow, and wedge-shaped, a condition called "scaphocephaly."

The sagittal suture is by the number 2.

The Pediatrician then told me a bit about the surgery. Traditionally, they go in and break the suture apart from the outside. Its a pretty intense, invasive surgery. Over the last last few years however, there is a new procedure where they drill a small hole and use a scope to go in underneath and break it from the inside. There is less cutting, less of a scar, less blood loss, and recovery is suppose to be shorter. So, there has been a lot of progress made. She will have to stay in the ICU for a night or two, then in the hospital as a regular patient for another four or five days. After that she will be in a helmet for who knows how long. She will also have periodic check-ups in Salt Lake so I'm sure we will be traveling quite a bit this fall.

Anyway, the doc also said that some of his info might be a bit outdated so I will know a WHOLE lot more after we meet with the surgeon.

So now you know what I know.

We will be going down to Primary Children's in Salt Lake on Sept. 1st to meet with Dr. Siddiqi for a consolation, who is suppose to be one of the best surgeons for this procedure.

Anyway, I will update the info after our visit with the surgeon.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support.

Savannah's Big Day

Yesterday, I had started a new post about Alayna, with a bit more detail about her condition and what will be going on in the near future.

But I had to put it on hold in order to celebrate a big event in my other daughter's life. Savannah turned 5 years old and had her first real birthday party!

She said she wanted a Princess party but since she has so many "boy" friends I told her we would have a Medieval party instead.

Our living room really isn't that big and our basement is unfinished and holding all our storage, we have no grass, so I figured the best place to have a party was in the garage. So I had to find a way to transform this into a party place.

Not really knowing what else to do, I figured I would just, paint the walls for starters. Don't worry, I put up paper first.

Now I'm warning you, I'm not a very good painter, so no laughing!! Besides, by about 1:30 am, things were starting to get a bit blurry.

Oh well, Savannah liked it.

When I finished Savannah's cake, she looked it and asked, "What is that?"

I told her it was a crown! Doesn't it look like a crown? I think it looks like a crown. Don't you think it looks like a crown?

Well, Savannah didn't have a real princess dress to wear to the party and knowing this, our neighbor decided to give Savannah their present early. Needless to say, it was a hit and Savannah was all ready for the ball.
My sister Angel came up and is going to stay for a while. So while we were working hard to get ready for the party, her little boy was also slaving away... oh, wait....

We invited 10 kids and said in the invites their families were welcome to come too. Slowly people started trickling in. And in the end, all 10 kids came! It was a huge turnout and I think the kids had a ton of fun.

I'm not very good at doing organized "game" parties so I just brought out some toys and let all the kids do their own thing! I think it worked out pretty well.

Cake time! It seems like there is always a ton of cake left over at birthday parties. Not this one! Every last piece was eaten as well as most of the ice cream cake I had made.

Pretty soon, it was time for kids to start heading home so one of the girls grabbed her present and said she wanted Savannah to open it. Suddenly, in a flurry of pink, all the kids had run to the table, grabbed their presents and ran them over to Savannah, begging her to open theirs! Pretty soon tissue paper was flying as all the kids were helping Savannah "open theirs first".

It was awesome.

Well, the party came to a close and the few remaining kids started leaping over the "lava trenches". (aka sprinkler trenches)

Yes, I think it was a great day for the birthday girl... and her brothers.

Now I just need to clean up the mess.

CT Scan Results - Not Good

I just got the expected call from Alayna's pediatrician, NOT with the news I wanted.

Some of her head plates have indeed fused. These WILL require surgery to break them apart. If it is not done, as her brain grows it will cause pressure and problems.

I'm all emotional just thinking about them cutting open my sweet little baby girl's head. And the pediatrician using words like, "invasive" "recovery time", "scar", and "night in the ICU" did not help one stinking bit.

Since there is no specialist around here it will require a couple trips to Salt Lake. First for a consultation, then for the actual surgery.

I don't know much beyond that. Supposedly I will hear back in the next few days about an appointment time for the consultation and the surgery will take place, most likely sometime within the next several weeks.

She is just so dang sweet, happy, and so very good.

My day is ruined and so is my make-up.

It was a Mall Ball

As life seems to speed up its pace and turn up the heat, my blog sits on the back burner simmering away while mainstream life next to it, boiling over in a torrent of sticky bubbles that I can never seem to scrub off the glass stove top of my days. (Wow, that whole comparison just came to me as I was typing. I think it borders on cheesy.)

But there are some things that just have to be recorded for posterity sake. So that when my kids are teenagers I can gather them around my knee, as much as they might not like it, and tell them the tales of their childhood, embarrassing and funny as it is/was.

***

My newlywed sister and her hubby came up to visit for a couple of days. Today we were suppose to play all day but... well, it didn't really go quite according to plan.

I realized Sunday night that my out of state driver's license had expired (Oops. I won't tell you how long it had been expired) so I had to go take the "knowledge" test and get a new license, which took all morning.

And I just have to say, my new license is good for eight years. So why do they put your weight on there? Who's to say I'll still weigh 1#2 in eight years?

Then the somewhat grouchy looking lady sitting behind the desk looked at me and asked "Do you want your hair listed as brown or sandy?"

I was stunned into silence. No one has EVER said my hair was sandy color before. So, I said, "Um, brown".

Again she looks at me and asks, "Do you want your eyes listed as green or hazel?"

Again, having always had brown eyes growing up I admit I was a bit shocked. As she looked at me with a blank expression, waiting just a bit impatiently I finally said, "Uh, hazel I guess."

So when I came home I gave myself a good look over and sure enough, my eyes are much more green than brown.

Such life changing discoveries.

Anyhow, where was I... oh yes. By the time lunch had come and gone I don't think anyone was up for too much excitement so when I asked my sister and her hubby what they wanted to do they said we could just go to the mall.

Okay, honestly I couldn't tell you how long it has been since I went to a mall. Six months? Maybe more, I'm not sure. Anyway, I'll break down the excitement to just the highlights.

- Savannah runs into Old Navy and makes friends with the new display manikin children while the boys pet and hug the fake dog.

- I catch Joseph with his pants around his ankles as he insists he needs to put on the shorts he sees hanging on the clothes rack... and I have to tell him the are "big girl" clothes.

- Jacob and Savannah try on the high heels and walk around showing them to other shoppers.

- The boys were trying out some cool hats and decided they needed to go show Uncle Joel so they ran out of the store to go find him, setting off the alarm.

- Savannah has a bit of an accident that requires her to go underwear-less for the last part of out trip.

- Alayna also had an accident that landed her a new outfit from Old Navy as I failed to bring an extra pair of clothes for her. Of course, I had to sell the boys to be able to afford the outfit.

- My sister and her husband met up with an old missionary friend who, upon introduction of me and three of my kids, promptly told me I looked way too young to have three kids. Then I told him I had four.

- Bath and Body Works' tester bottles are much, much lighter now and where ever my kids go for the next year, you will be able to detect a hint of Blackberry Vanilla.

- Savannah asked if she could have something from every single store we went into.

- On the way out of the mall, Jacob's diaper failed him and suddenly my hip was all wet.

- Once we finally manage to get all the kids strapped into their cars seats I realized why I haven't been to a mall in so long.

And at this moment, Luke and Jacob are asleep together on the couch in the living room. I guess I better go put them both to bed.

CT scan update and a little bit of fun.

I woke Alyana up two hours earlier than she usually wakes up, like I was suppose to.

Only gave her juice, no food or formula, like I was suppose to.

Luke and I dropped the kids off and got to the X-ray department 15 minutes early, like we were suppose to.

Then we were asked if we wanted to have her sedated or try and feed her a bottle of formula and try to put her to sleep myself since her head had to stay perfectly still.

Well, sedating my 6 month old didn't sound too appealing so I opted for just feeding her and putting her to sleep myself.

Worked like a charm. Until I layed her on the little machine... bed, thingy, and she woke up. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, she was ready to just look around.

But she was also very calm and allowed herself to be wrapped up tight as the techs decided that since she was so calm they would try and take the images with her awake.

She was perfect... until the last second, she moved and messed up the last image. After a few minutes considering, the techs decided to try one more time.

This time she held perfectly still and they got what they needed.

But the double dose of radiation appeared to have made her a little nauseous as she spit up a couple times afterwards.

The techs showed us the little gaps between the plates that the radiologist would be looking at and it appeared to all of us that you could still see a gap and that they have not sealed. But, I guess that is what the Radiologist gets paid a chunk of money to decide. They will also be checking a few other things to make sure everything is and will be okay. We were told we would hear back sometime on Monday most likely.

Well, that's about all the news I've got as far as that goes. But in other news, yesterday the kids enjoyed a bit of the almost over summer fun at the library. There wasn't much to do at this event but, well, I guess that's the joy of being a kid. The love to do ANYTHING.

Although I'm not so sure the boys liked all the competition that surrounded the ball activity. I think if the kids had been smaller they would have just charged in and taken over. (balls have a strange way of turning my sweet boys into vicious wolves) But, there were too many big kids, so they surrendered and mostly just watched.


I think getting her face painted (or in this case, colored) is one of Savannah's favorite things to do at activities like this.


Joseph enjoyed getting a cheek colored as well.


Jacob wanted nothing to do with it.



But he did try his hand at the "balance beam". He watched.

And decided it was doable.

Sort of.

I'm not exactly sure what this was all about. The kids dressed up then ran while someone counted.

Like I said, not sure what the point was but Savannah and Joseph sure liked doing it and it made for cute pictures!

Jacob wanted nothing to do with it.

Oh well, the kids still had fun.

I will let you know when we hear back about Alayna's scan.