My little Potter

Isn't he so stinkin' cute! Seriously!

But....this poor little guy has to have surgery. Remember last year when he knocked his teeth crooked & his mouth swelled up and stuff? Well, he basically killed the teeth. And since last summer they've just been decaying nad have started breaking off and rotting out. I was hesitant last year to put him through oral surgery, but as his teeth have detoriorated, we've decided that it can't be put off any longer. So on April 4th they're going to go in and dig out all of the decay. If there's enough good root, they can do caps on those four front teeth. If not, well then, he'll be toothless until his permanent teeth grow in.

I'm Looking Forward To...

Getting a NookColor. Don't know exactly when this will happen, but it's on the wish list. I want to read Agatha Christie's entire library in order of publication and since a lot of books and plays are out of print (but available in electronic format) this seems to be the best way to accomplish that. I'll never give up books, I like the tangible things about books. The smell, the feel, being surrounded by them. But there's something to be said for being able to carry around an entire library at my fingertips.

Running the half marathon in SLC on April 16. I had signed up last year, but due to the knee injury I sustained in Myrtle Beach, I couldn't run. It will be fun to actually do it.

Our 9th wedding anniversary (March 12.) Hopefully Travis will be home and we can go to a fancy B&B for the night.

Gideon's 3rd birthday. He's really into the Backyardigans right now, so that will be the theme of is party. Plus for the first time we're not just inviting family for cake & presents, we're going to have a few friends over and play games. I've been having fun putting together goodie bags & prizes.

March Madness (of course!) So my Tarheels have lacked chemistry this year, but make no mistake, even though they're currently ranked 19th in he Top 25, they're still one of the most deeply talented teams in the country. Plus, there are other reasons to watch. Jimmer Freddette (above) for one. He's last year's Gordon Hayward, only with a way more fun name!

Spring! I'm so tired of ice and wind and snow. I'm ready for warm weather. And to be able to take my kids outside and play in the sunshine. It's hard living here this time of year! Serious cabin fever! Plus, I miss my tulips!

The baby showers I get to throw this summer for Jesse & Ashlynn. (I love planning parties!) And the new babies we get to add to the family in September!

Deja Vu

So here we are again. We spent a wonderful week at home, during which time, Travis got a call about going back to work, at least for 2-3 weeks. (It's not much, but after a two month layoff, you take what you can get.) Amidst the stress and worry of getting him packed & ready to go, Princess Parker started to sound congested again. Wednesday was bad and that night was AWFUL!!!!!!! By Thursday morning it was obvious that she was having trouble breathing so I called the doctor's office as soon as they opened & they were able to squeeze us in 45 minutes later.

Long story short, he said he hated to do this to us, but she needed to go back to the hospital at least for overnight. He hoped she'd only have to stay a day or two this time, but until they could get her breathing without working so hard, he didn't feel comfortable sending her home. So we came back to the hospital. So far it's been about the same. It's just been a little more of a juggling act with Travis gone this time. Fortunately, she's experienced a quicker turnaround this time. She's off oxygen already today and if she can stay off all night, we can go home tomorrow. YAY!

In other news, so we found out a couple of weeks ago that my sister Jesse is expecting her first child on September 7. We're all super excited for she and Kelly. And then my sister Cami informed us today that she's pregnant with number 3 due September 8. So now we only need my remaining 3 sisters to get pregnant this year and my parents could add 5 new grandbabies. Hey, it could happen.

My New Mantra

I've always been a big believer that having a positive attitude can affect everything in your life. Moreover I love being surrounded by positive and uplifting sayings and quotes because I've seen in my own life how repeating positive phrases to yourself can not only affect mood, but also an entire situation.

A couple of months ago Runner's World magazine ran a story about developing a mantra to use during races (and even in life) when things get tough. I've thought about this a lot over the last weeks trying to develop a mantra that would fit every aspect of my life. I could think of great words like "Powerful" and "Strong" but I couldn't seem to weave those into a short saying that seemed to fit me. I guess the trouble is that I have a lot of confidence and I already know I'm powerful and strong and capable so repeating those words just seems empty and even trite.

It wasn't until this last week that I came across an old WWII poster issued by the British government that I found my perfect mantra.

I now have a bookmark with this phrase on it and have doodled it at least a dozen times in notebooks, on letters and in txt messages to friends. I even shared it with the nurse in pediatrics before we left.

It applies perfectly to me for several reasons 1. I tend to be a little bit high strung, so a reminder to stay calm is always appropriate. 2. Because I have a lot of confidence I don't need to be reminded that I'm strong or powerful, I just need to be reminded that I'm already doing what I need to be doing, I simply need to keep going. 3. It's short enough that it's not easily forgotten. 4. It applies to any situation, weather I'm dealing with an out of work husband and two sick children or I'm hitting the wall at mile 18 of a marathon. I simply need to remind myself to "Keep Calm and Carry On" and suddenly it's like I've hit the reset button. I take a deep breath to stay calm and reconsider what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.

It may sound simple and very cheesy, but I swear it's helped me get through the last few days. And now that we're back home trying to keep kids healthy and sink back into real life, I find myself repeating those words over and over again, "Keep calm and carry on" as I deal with a fussy baby, a mountain of laundry, stress over the job and bills, an active 2 year old, my jobs at church and a million and other things. And it helps. It always helps. It might not work for everyone, but at least I've found a mantra that works for me.

And again...

You know that saying "Life isn't about weathering the storm, but rather learning to dance in the rain." For some reason I really feel like that applies to me lately. It's just been one thing after another lately, but please don't think I'm complaining. In fact, it all seems kind of comical if you ask me. Travis being laid off has really been a blessing in disguise this last week and a half. With Gideon so sick I've been grateful to have extra help around the house. And even more so when Parker started getting sick on Thursday.

So once again we find ourselves at the hospital with one of our sweet babies. We took Parker to the doctor yesterday morning because she had a terrible cough and was having trouble breathing. They diagnosed her with RSV, gave her a breathing treatment and sent her home with strict instructions to us on what to watch for. By 8:30 last night it was clear to us that her condition was worsening. So we brought her to the ER. They gave her another breathing treatment and said they wanted to observe her for a while before sending us home. After an hour they moved us from ambulatory over to triage just to "keep a closer watch" on her since she seemed to be getting no better. Another hour passed and they informed us that she was "just having to work too hard" to get air, so they wanted to keep her over night. By the time they got us up to Pediatrics it was around midnight and her condition had deteriorated to the point that they decided she needed oxygen.

Despite being beat up on, and not feeling well and hating the tubes in her nose, she's been in a pretty good mood about the whole thing.

It was yet another sleepless night in a fold out chair for me, but with the oxygen Parker got a few hours of uninterrupted rest, which was good.

And this morning when the doctor came by, he informed us that her condition was still pretty bad and so it's going to be a couple of days before we get to come home.

Grandma Cindy came up and visited as well as Aunt Jesse. And we're expecting a visit from Nana and grandpa sometime this afternoon. Gideon is being shuttled between grandparents houses for the next couple of days and with any luck, we'll get to home maybe by Monday.

In the meantime, we're just hanging out at the hospital, watching movies and using the free wireless internet. It's not so bad. But to be honest, I'd rather not spend next weekend here. Let's just go to a movie instead.

NOT FUN!!!!!

So I have more Florida pictures I've been meaning to post, but given our hectic weekend, it just hasn't happened yet. See we got home really late Wednesday night. I had been nervous about flying by myself with 2 babies, but actually it worked out okay. They really are pretty good travelers and I was fortunate on our long flight to be seated next to a lady who loves kids and actually asked to hold the baby. (Which was a blessing when I had to change Gideon's diaper.) Anyway Thursday Gideon had a cough and was kind of cranky, but I chalked it up to us traveling and coming back to the cold, dry climate. Friday morning he woke up at 5:30 just burning up with fever. (103.1 actually.) So I gave him some tylenol, which brought it down to a lower grade, but didn't really get rid of it. I had to babysit on Friday, so I sent Gideon to Nana's house for most of the day hoping to keep him from getting the other kids sick. Friday night was bad. He woke up again burning up with fever and all day Saturday all he did was sit on the couch in my arms, crying "Owie, Owie, Owie, it hurts!" At that point I figured he had fever aches as well as a headache. He was so listless and every 3 or 4 hours his fever would spike above 103 and I'd give him more Tylenol. Finally we decided to take him to the doctor. Fortunately our pediatrician's office is open on Saturdays, so we took him in around 4 pm.

After 2 hours they'd tested him for everything they could think of and everything came back negative (Flu, RSV, Strep, Kidney Infection, Bladder infection etc.) Getting a urine sample was the worst, because he was so dehydrated he couldn't give a sample, so they had to use a catheter to get one. Poor baby! I think it traumatized me and Travis as much as it did him. Still having a significant temperature and a lot of pain, the PA sent us over to the ER for x-rays and scans, believing that it could be appendicitis. (He was complaining of a lot of abdominal pain.) Of course at the ER there were more tests. This time an IV (which was good because he really needed fluids anyway) and a blood draw and x-rays. Poor baby felt like a pin cushion! After 2 more hours they came in and informed us it was pnuemonia and they were going to keep him at least overnight. Because of the sever abdominal pain he was having they weren't willing to rule out appendicitis just yet. So they decided to keep him, get him started on an antibiotic and do another blood draw in the morning to check the white cell levels, which would tell us if it was an infection (aka appendicitis) other than the pnuemonia.

He DID NOT like having the IV in. In fact, shortly after this he started kicking and screaming and trying to tear it out, so they had to re-wrap it more like a cast so he couldn't get to it.

The popsicle helped a little, but he was still crying "It hurts!" and "Owie!" so much that they gave him a little morphine to help him calm down.

By the time we got up to pediatrics, the painkillers had definitely kicked in and he was being quite funny. Singing little songs and acting silly. They put him in some pj pants, made him some mac & cheese, gave him a juice box and turned on a Disney movie, so he was totally Chillaxed!

Finally sleep! It was after 10:30 before he finally dropped off. He was so exhausted he actually slept good for quite a while. (Until they came in at 5:30am to draw more blood!)

I sent Travis home and this is where I slept. It's good that they have those chairs that will fold all the way down, but they really are not very comfortable. And between the stress and the worry, I wasn't sleeping that well anyway. And then of course I was up every hour when they came in to check his temperature and his vitals. His fever finally broke around 4:30am so that was a relief.

Breakfast was good. He didn't eat much, but nibbled on a few things and watched cartoons.

Man he was so happy to get the IV out! As soon as it was gone, he jumped out of bed and started running in circles. Amazing the difference 12 hours of IV fluid and antibiotics will make!

We got to come home yesterday around lunch time. He's still not totally back to himself, he still doesn't feel perfect, but it's definitely an improvement. He'll be on antibiotics for 10 days, but at the follow-up at the Dr. today he said we're definitely progressing in the right direction! Thanks to all those who were praying for us over the weekend. I know it helped!

Cindy Sue’s wish come true!

My mother has never been to a Disney theme park. At least she hadn’t until Monday. She’s always wanted to go, but there just never seemed to be time or money or opportunity. So Cami and I (because we’re the favorite daughters) decided to remedy that this year. On her birthday (Christmas Eve, she got a call from Mickey Mouse, informing her that she’d be going to Disney World. On Monday, still tired and sore from the race, we got up at 4:30am and headed for the Magic Kingdom.

Gideon had been asking to go see Mickey Mouse since we arrived in Florida, but mom was really the most excited. All the way up to Orlando she’d randomly shout out, “I’m going to Disney World.” And all day long she wore a goofy grin on her face. She was just so tickled with everything about being there. It was so funny!

Lily, Grandpa & Ransom on the tram ride from the parking lot.

Me & babies. Cami’s friend Barbara had made each of the boys a monogrammed Mickey Mouse shirt and each of the girls a Minnie Mouse dress.

On the ferry ride over to the park.

The Christmas decorations were still up, so that was kind of fun to see.

See, I told you my mom was giddy. We weren’t 10 steps into the park before she saw the barbershop quartet & had to have a picture with them.

Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. Parker and I waited out by the strollers so she could have a bottle.

Cami and Ransom!

Poor Parker was so fidgety, her dress just would not stay down!. But she was still stinking cute!

That’s me and Gideon on Aladdin’s Magic Carpet ride. (Gideon’s actually to the inside of me, so you can barely see his little head. He loved it though.)

My favorite ride was the Pirates! I was so excited to see it since they re-vamped it. It was awesome!

And when we came out of the ride there was a pirate show going on, complete with a Johnny Depp impersonator. Okay he didn’t really look like Johnny, but he had the voice and accent down pretty well. We didn’t stick around for the show though, instead we took the jungle cruise.

The jungle cruise was fun, but after having gone on the safari at Animal Kingdom last year, the mechanical animals seemed a little hokey.

I did, however, like the playful elephants. They were fun.

After the safari, it was lunch time, so we borrowed the pirate stage and broke out our sandwich stuff. It was funny because all these people kept walking by us saying, “That’s a great idea, we should have done that.”

Our sweet kiddos, Parker, Gideon, Ransom & Lily.

Okay this photo is a little out of order but later in the day Gideon crashed hard! He looks so big in this stroller!

Seriously, my mom cracks me up! She grinned and giggled at everything!

My sweet sleeping babies!

Gideon had the most serene, happy expression I’ve ever seen while on the Merry-Go-Round. He loved riding the horse. The only thing he like better was the Peter Pan ride, which we literally had to drag him away from kicking & screaming.

Dumbo was the longest line we waited in all day, but it was a MUST DO since we were with little kids. And really we only waited about a half an hour so it could have been much, much worse.

Grandma decided she and grandpa needed to get Gideon and Lily some mouse ears. They were a big hit!

Gideon enjoyed getting to run and play in Minnie’s house.

Grinning grandma & her kiddos.

Handsome Ransom was Grandpa’s boy!

Lily & her daddy switch hats!

We took turns going through the Haunted Mansion. Mom & Daddy went first, then held the babies so we could go. At least they found a relaxing place to pass the time.

Parker slept better on top of the stroller than anyplace else.

Waiting for the Electrical Light Parade to begin. (The kids LOVED the parade, but no pictures. I had Gideon on my shoulders and had to hang on tight to keep him from jumping down and running into the parade.

Have you ever seen two more different reactions? Mom was still laughing and grinning with a “This was the best day ever!” And Gideon was…well…devastated is probably putting it mildly. Still, it was a great day and Gideon has asked to wear his Mickey Mouse shirt everyday since then. We definitely will be making trips back to the Magic Kingdom.