Gingerbread

I love the aroma of gingerbread cooking in the oven. A new tradition I am hoping to continue is to make and decorate gingerbread houses every year during the Christmas season. So, I baked and rolled and baked some more and invited two families over and we kept up the tradition. And, it was so much fun. This is my family's creation.

Puddles

Spencer has decided that it is time to use the toilet instead of diapers. Yes, I am a very excited mom. That in and of itself is funny to me. I'm amazed just how excited I am about pee and poop. Back to the real story here. For almost a week Spencer has consistently peed in the toilet. We have one, maybe two accidents a day, not too bad. He is still working on the pooping thing (why is pooping in the toilet so hard?) and has been successful twice. I am so pleased with Spencer.

This is a story I should not share, but one that will hopefully make me laugh in years to come. I'm still quite embarrassed. I was at Walgreens yesterday with my three children that are home with me during the day. Spencer had just gone potty before we left, so I figured he was good to go for the 10 minute errand. I needed some candy for decorating gingerbread houses later that night. Walgreens would be quick in and out, perfect. So, we are standing in the candy isle trying to figure out what candy I needed. Spencer comes over to me and I see that he has left a quite enormous puddle of . . . pee in the isle. His pants were a synthetic material so they did not absorb anything, thus the very large puddle. I looked at it for a moment trying to figure out a solution to the problem. At that very moment a very sophisticated looking sort of woman in her early forties came down the isle with a cart and pushed her cart right through the puddle, along with her beautiful sandles/flip flops. Yes, she stepped right in the puddle of pee and kept walking as the pee splashed up the back of her ankles. I was horrified. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't about to tell her what she had just splashed on herself, I didn't want to get punched. So, I did nothing. I grabbed my three kids and we walked out of the store leaving everything behind, including the pee. I really didn't know what to do so I did nothing.

And if you are that woman reading this blog, I truly am sorry. All I can say is . . . well, we are in the middle of potty-training and accidents happen. Sorry!

Spinach

I try to eat a lot of leafy greens. I've never really liked them. It wasn't until I was pregnant with Taneal that I even ate any kind of green salad. And then I had a weird craving and I actually wanted a salad. The craving never completely disappeared, although I can only eat them with Italian dressing. So, 8 years later I am much further down the green leafy road. I eat a green salad nearly every day and usually get my daily recommended amount of vegetables. Pretty good considering where I was 8 years ago. But, I kind of still have to force myself.

Spinach is one of those that i am fine to eat with Italian dressing. But I could always eat more. Through the latter part of Nathan's pregnancy and then over the last few months I have been the smoothie queen. Almost a great smoothie every day. At Thanksgiving my sister-in-law, Karen, was making a smoothie and of course I wanted to try it. She told me what was in it and I loved it! So, I've tried it a few times at home and my kiddos LOVE it!

Yes, the main ingredient is Spinach. I add a few strawberries and blue berries. Maybe a little orange juice concentrate and some water. Oh, and flax seed. Wha laaa! A healthy smoothie providing me with probably two to three servings of my vegetables and two servings of fruits all for breakfast. And, it is super yummy. You can't even taste the spinach in it. Really. My children love it! I have to double it because Danielle, Spencer, and Camie all want one. It's that good!

Gingerbread houses

We were invited to decorate graham cracker houses at a friends house on Saturday. This friend of mine is amazing. She has all the homemaking skills that I dream of having. I was lucky enough to see her as Taneal's Activity Day teacher for a while and see many of her talents. She always knows what do do for dinner, knows how to cook anything, can sew anything, and seems to take life in stride, stress free. And, she has twin 2-year-old boys. I could sure use some of her homemaking skills.

Anyways, back to the houses. She got small milk cartons and covered them with graham crackers and let each of the kiddos decorate their own house. Even Spencer was able to decorate his own. And the kids loved it. They were so proud of their creations and so eager to eat them when we got home. Thanks Cindy!

Winter Wonderland

Last week we went to a winter wonderland. They had real snow (okay, so they made the snow, but it was cold and wet like real snow), hay rides, Christmas characters, wassel, and games. The kiddos had a great time. It was so funny watching my kids touch the snow. Taneal is the only one that remembers snow and anything about it. Danielle and Spencer have never even been in snow, and Camie has very little recollection. Strange. But they got to feel the snow and realize that snow is cold. I guess snow doesn't look cold on tv.

Nathan is getting better

Thank you to all for your prayers and concerned phone calls. Nathan is doing so much better. Monday I took him into the doctor for a follow-up appointment. His oxygen levels were great, but his breathing was still very fast and his chest was sunken-in. The doctor told me that he would need breathing treatments three times a day minimum for at least two weeks but probably longer. He is back to his old self, laughing, smiling, and wiggling like crazy. And, he is sure enjoying having his dad home.

Nathan's sick

Monday Nathan started with a nasty cough, one that Taneal and Camie had. The fever started in and he completely lost his voice. He couldn't cry! He wasn't too miserable. Well, Thursday he still had the fever, and I thought about taking him into the doctor, he wasn't eating too well, but I didn't. He had his voice back so I thought he was getting better. Friday morning he hadn't eaten at all since Thursday morning, he had only one wet diaper, so I decided it was time to take him in. I had a mid morning appointment. I was just concerned that he wasn't eating. He had a double ear infection. The doctor listened to his lungs and decided to check his oxygen levels and give him a breathing treatment. She still didn't like the oxygen levels so she had him get another breathing treatment. They checked his oxygen levels again and the levels just kept dropping. She came in and calmly sat down and said that Nathan needed to go to the hospital. I said okay. She then said he needed to go by ambulance downtown to the children's hospital. I asked if I could just take him, was an ambulance really necessary? After all, I was just there because he wasn't eating. She said that it was very necessary, that the ambulance would be there in five minutes. Right then they brought in the oxygen and put the mask on Nathan. A few minutes later they strapped his car seat to the ambulance bed and we left the doctor's office in an ambulance.

So, what I then found out from the EMT was what the oxygen levels meant. 95-100 is normal, okay. 91-94 is not good, they need oxygen. Anything below 91 is very scary. Nathan was fluctuating between 81 and 92. No wonder we were in the ambulance heading to the children's hospital. I think we could have gone somewhere else, but with Nathan being only 3 months, that was where he needed to be. While on oxygen his levels were at 100. Very good. The EMT took the mask off Nathan to see what he would do and he immediately started dropping until at 88 she put the oxygen mask back on him.

As soon as we walked in the doors of the children's hospital, they took his temperature and gave him Tylenol. They walked us back to a room and started monitoring him. And everything was fine! They couldn't hear anything in his lungs, he finally ate (it had been over 24 hours), and he kept his oxygen levels at 94+ all on his own. I asked the doctor at the hospital what changed, and she said she didn't know. So, around 5pm we went home. Evan dropped the kids off at his brother's house and headed downtown to get us. Nathan slept until we got home and ate very well again.

The doctor at the hospital told me what to watch for, I was concerned that they hadn't done anything and that Nathan was suddenly better. I do believe in miracles, but I also wanted to be prepared just in case he started having a hard time breathing. What scared me then was that I hadn't even realized he was having a problem when I took him into the doctor. The emergency room doctor told me to watch his chest, if there was a sunken-in appearance at the bottom of his rib cage before his belly. Also, if his nostrils were flaring as he breathed and if his breathing was quick.

Yesterday around 2pm I had just given him a bath and was rubbing lotion on his chest when I realized his chest was sunken in. His breathing was fast and his nostrils were flaring. Yep, I took him back to the hospital, just a closer one. There was no waiting, I bypassed everyone in the waiting room. They checked his oxygen levels and immediately took us back and stared a breathing treatment. He was at 89 and 90. They did a chest x-ray, checked him for RSV and the flu (both negative) and then gave him some oral steroids, which he threw up. He has bronchialitis (not bronchitis, but similar). The problem being that he is so little. It caused his airways to swell and then covered with mucus wasn't allowing much air in. They gave him a shot of steroids since he threw up the oral ones, and sent us home.

Last night was a rough one. I had to give him several breathing treatments which seemed to help him breathe better. I had to keep him "sucked out" with the bulb syringe, which he HATED! He is upstairs sleeping right now. Hopefully the steroids work and keep him breathing well. Poor little guy. Hopefully we are in the up-hill to recovery.

Replay

I guess I should not have been bragging about the gas prices being so low. Yes, they are still low and dropping. Well, Evan works in the oil industry and dropping prices isn't such a good thing for us, employment speaking. It was the same week last year that Evan was working for Wachovia when he called me and said his company was doing lay-offs and they had let 300+ employees go with him included. A week later I found out I was expecting Nathan. We were out of a job until the end of July when Evan got a job, and a really good job, just one that would require him working away in the oil fields. He left a week before Nathan was born, came home for a few days during the delivery and then twice after that over the next four months. Oh how we missed him and he missed us. It was really tough having him gone and adjusting to a new baby and having five children all by myself. But, I felt blessed because we finally had a job, and a good job.

And then the same week as last year, only a few days ago, right after Thanksgiving, I got the same call. Evan's company was doing lay-offs. Evan was included. Here we go again. This darn economy!

Thanksgiving

Evan was working out-of-town through Thanksgiving, so I decided to head to my parent's house about five hours away. Four of my five brothers were going to be there along with both of my sisters. They flew in from Vegas, Idaho, Indiana, and my sister came from San Antonio. It was a house full, but so good to see everyone. My kiddos were so excited to see my brother, Charles. He loves to play with the kids and is so much fun. They also were glad to see and play with cousins.

I think there were somewhere around 35 people at my parent's house. My parents also have two sets of missionaries from their ward living with them. Hopefully Thanksgiving wasn't too overwhelming for them, it kinda was for me!

It was pretty hard having Evan gone for Thanksgiving. I really missed him. I was glad I was around family, but during the feast it really hit me hard just how bad I wanted him there. I have so many things to be thankful for, I have amazing children that are so well behaved and make me so happy. They make good choices and laugh often. I have a wonderful family and some of the greatest friends. But, I still missed Evan. He is such a good man and works so hard to provide for our family. I am so glad I married him and have been able to spend the last 13 years with him. I do have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.