Danielle Swim Pictures

Danielle is so fun to watch swim. And play. And be all over the place. And not care about anything. And even with her lackadaisical attitude, she does really well. She swims well. Has many friends. She is happy. And playful.

She just looks like she is out in the pool having a great time. Taking a leisurely swim. She continually improves her time. But even those few that she doesn't improve, she just kind of shrugs her shoulders and smiles. I love her carefree attitude. Life just doesn't seem to get her down, no matter what. And she tries, just not too hard.

And grinning the whole way.

See her smile? She is always smiling, even as she is holding her breath, jumping into the water.

She loves playing the hand-clapping game with her friends as she waits at the ready bench.

 And we have the pictures in backwards sequential order. And I am not going to change them because I am lucky to even get these pictures up onto my blog.

With swim team going, not much else is happening. Tuesday - Friday swim practice from 5:15-8:15. Yes, that is because I have 4 children on the team. It is intense. Saturdays we have to be at the meets at 7am. They are usually over by 3pm. Out in the heat. Thankfully it only lasts 7 weeks.

 See how much fun Danielle has? Makes it all worth it.

Spencer Swim Team Pictures

I have the best kids on the swim team. Even if they aren't the fastest, they are still the best. They are the cutest. They try the hardest. And the coaches like my kids the best. You know, they give them personal treatment. They yell their names as they are swimming. They yell personal instruction as they are swimming.

Obviously the coaches are just awesome because they do this for ALL the kids, I just like to think mine are extra special because, well, they are!

These pictures are all ones that I took of Spencer.

And I know I tend to favor my own children, but Spencer really is fast. He placed 5th place in freestyle for his age group. Not to shabby for a boy who still has another year in his 6 and under age group. But what makes him even better, is he doesn't use his arms. Maybe that doesn't make him better, but imagine how awesome of a swimmer he will be once he figures out how to use those arms. He can place 5th just off kicking!

I love how the swim cap squishes his face. Makes him look so kissable and squeezable! And it makes him look like Taneal. And Gavin.

I had to get a picture of his coach yelling instructions right before the heat began. She was telling SPencer to USE THOSE ARMS. And did he do it? Nope.

He didn't improve his super fast time and that made him cry. He said it felt like he swam fast. And yes indeed, he did swim fast, but when you are already fast, it's really hard to improve every single week.

Yucky, Stinky, Gross, Disgusting

This little boy is the cutest thing.

I mean, look at that face. This is a face that is well trained.

From the time my little ones are old enough to be interactive, I play this little game with them.

As I am changing their diaper, I start saying the words, "Yucky! Stinky! Gross! Disgusting!"

What's funny is they eventually begin to say the words, copying the expression and all.

And then the words that happened during the diaper change venture out to other things.

Like in this picture. Gavin was sitting at the supper table and didn't like what I served up. He looked at me and said, "Yucky!", followed by, "Gross!", and finally "Disgusting!". No, those words should NEVER go with something I have cooked up, but he thought they were fitting. Words and expression. Check out that cute little crinkled nose!

Hair cuts

Saturday at the swim meet I realized just how much my boys looked like my girls. And I wondered why I hadn't noticed it before. I realized it was probably because I hadn't let their hair grow that long before.

Yep, those boys needed haircuts. So that's just what we did.

And being the red neck that I am, I decided I wasn't up for cleaning out the shower after that hairry mess. So I cut their hair outside on the back porch ( at least it wasnt the front porch) and hosed them off afterwards. I had taneal run inside and grab the shampoo to make the hosing off an official shower.

Hair stays outside, inside stays clean. Boys no longer look like my girls. Free haircuts by mom. We are talking a win win situation all over the place here.

Why I Went

Since I have had all these heart issues and was bold enough to publish them on this blog, I have had many people wondering what prompted me to even get my heart checked out. Why did I know to go to the ER? What happened that made me feel the need to go?

It all started back before Taneal was even born. I was about 23 years old and was working full time as an accountant. I remember walking through the front lobby and my heart seemed to have skipped a beat. It happened several times more over the course of a year. I mentioned it to one of my coworkers and she mentioned she had that happen when she drank Dr. Pepper. I occasionally would have a Dr. Pepper, usually not more than one per day. So I cut those out and didn't notice a difference. It chalked it up as normal. If it happened to the first person I talked to, it had to be normal.

The problem progressed over the last 14 years. It became more frequent. It would also make me catch my breath when my heart seemed to skip the beat. It happened normally while driving or when I was really tired. A little while I exercised, but a lot while I was resting. I mentioned the problem to several of my OB/Gyn doctors over the years and they said it was normal in pregnancy. Well, I was always pregnant or nursing so I figured what was happened was normal, although it made me feel very uneasy by the frequency and just how much it was making me catch my breath. Now when I say catch my breath, I mean only for about 1 second. Nothing long, nothing that made my lips turn blue. Just a simple catching of my breath.

And I also had recently watched this video. I don't usually watch videos, but the title caught my attention because of some of the symptoms I had been having.

Then one night in February, I was up late, tired, had some super stressful situations. And I had chest pains. My neck ached a little along with my jaw. And my shoulder. Not a bad ache. But the chest pains were there although not very painful. I was worried with the skipped beats and chest pains that something was wrong. I called my sister at 2am and asked her opinion and she agreed with me that I should go to the ER.

At the ER they heard a clicking in my heart which means Mitral Valve Prolapse. My nurse there at the ER said she had that and took a pill daily for it. It was nothing that limited her for anything. It isn't life threatening. But they recommended I follow-up with a cardiologist. They also did blood-work to check for enzymes and also did a chest x-ray. All came back clean saying I was NOT having a heart attack and all was well.

I followed up with the cardiologist and he heard the clicking right away. Yes, Mitral Valve Prolapse. However, this is not a big deal. Many, many woman have this. It can cause chest pains.

The problem I have is I have regurgitation. This is where the blood flows backwards instead of forward because the Mitral Valve is not closing properly. That is what is making me catch my breath. My heart isn't skipping beats, but it isn't working properly because it leaks allowing blood to flow the wrong way.

So there you have it. I am 37 years old. 2-4 years from now I will have to have major open heart surgery. The surgery will knock me out completely for about 2 months where I will not be able to care for my family at all. I will have to have someone come into my home and completely take over or my children will have to go somewhere. I will not be able to do anything. Then for another 6 month I will not be able to resume normal activity. After about a year I will be able to begin to get back to normal. And once that is over, my heart will be all fixed. But that year I will become a major Relief Society project.

I am allowed to exercise and they highly recommend it. The better shape I am in the easier the recovery will be. The tricky part will be to have the surgery soon enough that I don't damage the valve so that it can be repaired instead of replaced. I will have to follow-up with the cardiologist regularly to ensure this. And take medication that I suspect makes me feel exhausted all the time. Or maybe it is just lack of enough sleep. Or trying to raise 6 children.

Hopefully this answered any questions as to why I decided to get my heart checked out. I highly recommend if you have any concerns, just make an appointment with a cardiologist. They can run all these simple tests and rule anything out. I wish I had done it years ago. The peace of mind would have been worth it. I just didn't know.

Honorary Student

I was the lucky mom to be invited to attend the awards ceremony for Taneal. They even sent an official letter in the mail inviting me. And at that awards ceremony, I couldn't have been more pleased to be the mother of my remarkable young daughter.

I also must say, I have the most beautiful daughter. She is just gorgeous. But it doesn't stop there for this young lady. Not only is she breath-taking, but she's also super smart. She was awarded for all A's. Yes, you read that right. Taneal's lowest grade this YEAR was a 96. And, she took all pre-AP classes. So they weren't just any normal run-of-the-mill classes. They required more. More homework. More thinking skills. Probably a considerable amount of more tests. And she excelled. Didn't hardly blink twice about them. That is one super duper smart girl. And beautiful.

But the award didn't stop there. No, she didn't get the award for perfect attendance. I let her take a day or two off.  I figured any girl who has grades like hers has the right to a day off.

Taneal was awarded the honorary History Award. Each subject picked one student to give an award to. Her all time favorite teacher picked her. So here is where Taneal starts bragging. She wouldn't ever say this to any of the other students, but she said it to me. She said that, "all the other students think they are his favorite. But I really am his favorite because he picked me!" He is one of those extraordinary teachers who make learning fun. He even wrote in her yearbook that she was the most impressive students he has ever had the privilege to teach. He once told me he was so impressed with Taneal because of her discipline and determination. He was very impressed when he found out that she gets up every morning at 6:00 to practice her piano and then her viola. He said some other wonderful things. Wish my memory was a little better.

Taneal is a pretty special girl. I really am the luckiest mom alive to be able to have her as my daughter. Not sure why I got so blessed, but I thank my Father in Heaven often that he sent this amazing girl to me.

  

It's Your Day

I'm not sure how it works in most families, but in this one, we have issues. Issues that do not need to exist. For example, who gets to say the prayer? Here, the children would begin arguing over who said it last and how they never get a chance to say it and please, I just said it.

We also have the problem with who gets to read scriptures first. Or last. And who gets to do this and who gets to do that.

Where my problem lies is all these activities that we are doing are so good. Things we are supposed to be doing, right? But throw in a little contention and it feels like regardless of how good of intentions I may have in doing these things, I loose all the positive benefits by all the contention they create.

So I came up with a brilliant idea.  Not sure if I am the one who actually came up with it, but I can't remember who did and I think it was me, so I'm going to take the credit.

Now that I think about it, actually, my grandpa gave me the idea years ago. I was in college visiting him. I remember having morning prayer, breakfast prayer, lunch prayer, supper prayer, and bedtime prayer. It was just my grandpa and grandma living together alone. Each day the same person said all the prayers for the whole day. I remember thinking it strange but great. Because how else are you going to remember whose turn it is? Brilliant.

So here is the brilliant idea incorporated into my family.

We each have a day. We started this about a year ago and it works! It really works. Most of my ideas work for a few day. If I'm lucky they even work a week. But then piddle out. This one really stuck and I love it!

Monday is my day. I say all the prayers. Or I can assign the prayer to someone willing. I get to start out with scripture reading in the morning. And in December, I get to do all the advent calendars for that day. Nice perk. We alleviated all the contention from these activities and many more by assigning days of the week to each person. Tuesday is Taneal. Wednesday is Camie. Thursday is Danielle, Friday Spencer. Nathan gets Saturday and Evan Sunday. Because we know he will be home on Sunday.

What am I going to do when Gavin wants his own day? And that is just around the corner! I may have to share my day with Evan. I refuse to share the candy from the advent calendars!

 

Smokin'

I'm too busy. Plain and simple, I have too much going on. If you look at my blog, you would think nothing is going on. So I am going to take the few small moments that I have and I am going to record even the little things. They might be big things, but I am going to just record them, even if I don't have time to elaborate. Please pardon the smallness of the posts. We are surviving here. And yes, swim team has begun yet again, adding a whole new element to my load. My choice, but so much work.

Here is for today's post:

Nathan, my cute, spunky, adorable, feisty, imaginative little boy, was running in front of me the other day as we were headed to school to pick up the kiddos. We are still walking everyday to get them and it is such a wonderful thing because my boys, and girls, use their energy outside. Not inside destroying the place, but OUTSIDE. And as hot as it is and as much work as it is to walk the 1.5 miles twice a day to get my children, it brings peace to my home because of the energy well spent.

Back to my Nathan running ahead of the stroller as I try to keep up. He starts shaking his bum with a little wiggle as he runs. Such a cute little wiggle. Then he announces to me, "I'm smokin!"

huh?

Nathan: "Mom, my bum is smokin! There is smoke in my pants!" He said it with a super hero kind of voice. Maybe a little southern twang.

Not sure what he meant, but the wiggle sure looked cute and the comment even better. Then he came and hopped in the stroller for a break and asked me if I knew what the smoke in his pants was. I didn't reply because he wasn't really looking for one. And then he told me exactly what that smoke in his pants was.

Yep. Gas.

I just closed my eyes and shook my head. Only would Nathan come up with something like that.

Easter 2012

This Easter we went to my parent's home. Most of my brothers and sisters and their children and spouses were able to be there. Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt. We candy filled so many eggs that everyone was able to collect eggs until their baskets were full.

This is a picture of all the grandchildren. Wow! Okay, there are 3 missing, but that's still a lot.