Spencer Turns 6

Spencer turned 6! I can't believe that little boy is growing up so fast. I mean seriously, look at how grown up he is. He has his own opinions. He has humor. He can read. He loves to help others. He is considerate. He will go out of his way to do something nice for someone. He holds the door open for me everywhere we go. He can sweep the floor. He does an awesome job on baseboards. He is a huge helper. He is funny. And he STILL does not like vegetables and has major texture issues. He won't try any new food without me inflicting consequences, and even then it is a big deal to get him to even take the first bite, after which he usually gobbles the rest up because I am such an excellent cook.

He is a REAL person, so grown up!!!!!

For Spencer's 6th birthday, he finally asked for a friend birthday party. My rule of thumb is my children can have a friend birthday party every other year, typically on even birthdays. But I will not offer to throw them a birthday party. They have to realize that they want one all on their own. And then they have to start talking about it and asking for it.

Which is why this is Spencer's first friend birthday party.

Of course Spencer wanted a Star Wars Themed birthday with Jedi robes and life sabers. Yah, that's a lot of work. And work is something I am not afraid of, I just like it in fairly small doses. So I limited his party to 7 Jedi robes. 2 of those 7 being him and Nathan, his dear brother. So that meant he could only invite 5 friends.

And guess who his first friend that he wanted to invite was?

Ellie. Yes, a girl.

To a Star Wars birthday party. And then he listed off about 15 other people he was planning to invite. I helped him narrow that WAY down. He insisted two of his cousins that just moved here needed to come.

He was quite concerned about inviting Ellie. He really wanted her to come, but didn't want her to feel uncomfortable because she was the only girl. So should he exclude one of his good friends and invite another girl so Ellie would be okay with coming? I insisted that Danielle would be here so Ellie would not feel uncomfortable.

And then he had another concern. He said that all the girls on Star Wars are ugly. If he invited Ellie, he didn't want her to think that he thought she was ugly. Because Ellie is NOT ugly. Ellie also couldn't wear the brown Jedi robe because girls are special and need white robes. So I had to make Ellie a special white robe.

Here are the pictures from the birthday party. My nephew, Tyler, came and helped out. We had a special visitor, Darth Vader. And all the Jedi knights attacked Darth Vader. It was so much fun. Tyler was such a good sport

I made a pinata, the Death Star. That sucker took several days to make. But it was kind of fun. Spencer said it was one of his favorite parts of the party. Tyler was also a super big helper and held up the pinata while the boys took a swing at the Death Star. They were super delighted when candy spilled out from it.

We also had lunch with Galactic Pizza and Yoda Sodas. Those were a pretty big hit. You know, cheese pizza with a really cool name and lime sherbet and sprite, done like a root beer float.

The party was so much fun. We invited a sane number of children. It was very manageable, so much fun, and Spencer felt like he was a super star. Success.

Now for the family party. I was convinced I had put enough effort into Spencer's birthday party, so I was either going to skip the cake and do cupcakes, or just buy a yummy Costco cake. After the friend party, Tyler asked what my plan for the cake was and I told him. He looked at me with disbelief and told me I could NOT buy a cake. Completely unacceptable. So I brainstormed for a minute. Camie walked in the room with a sketch of a cake. And there it was. See the cake below? I threw a cake in the oven, and left for Hobby Lobby to buy some fondant. And Target to get some Star Wars figures. Camie stayed home to pull the cake out of the oven for me. Two hours later, we had a cool Star Wars cake that Spencer really like.

Happy 6th birthday my sweet boy. I look forward to celebrating many, many more birthdays with you.

Sleepy Gavin

Every child does this, and every time I see it I am amazed that they can fall asleep in these positions. I have to be laying in a bed with a comfortable pillow and a blanket before I can fall asleep. I also need almost total silence. All my children have to be accounted for and asleep before i can fall asleep. I can't fall asleep sitting. Or even laying on my back. And I need at least 20 minutes to get my mind calmed down. So to find someone asleep, like Gavin in this picture, I am amazed. He was eating lunch at the table and then next thing I knew, he was asleep. Evan has this same ability to fall asleep anywhere. At stop lights. Sitting at the computer with his head tipped backwards and mouth wide open. Right in the middle of asking a question. He can fall asleep anywhere, anytime.

Taneal Swim Pictures

 Taneal LOVES to swim. She would swim year-round if I would let her. And even though we just do summer league, Taneal has talent. She is a GREAT swimmer. She swims all the strokes beautifully. And she wants to swim them even better. She is always looking for ways to improve what she does. And if year-round wasn't such a big commitment, I would have her in there yesterday. I don't think I could juggle her swimming 6 days a week for 2 hours each day. She is still a kid, and she is competing against those kids that swim year-round.

 Here are pictures of Taneal swimming the Butterfly, her favorite stroke. At the swim meet, she placed first. In the 4 years we have been doing swim team, we have never placed first before, and Taneal nailed it today. I was jumping up and down with excitement as I watched Taneal accomplish one of her dreams.

I LOVE how these pictures show the stroke. This is a stroke that I am yet to learn. I try it at least every week in my swim class, and I just haven't figured it out. And then I go to the swim meet and watch Taneal and Camie successfully swim it and it makes me so proud. Danielle, age 7 can even swim it. She still gets disqualified on it, but she just about has it down.

 Taneal is so exciting to watch. She has a love for this sport, she succeeds, and she gives it her all. And the excitement she has bubbles over into everyone around and into everything she does. She is such a fun person to be around. And those times when she doesn't win, she is cheering and congratulating the winners.

Camie Swim Pictures

Camie has really improved her technique and time this year on swim team. She is a lot like me, loves the crafts, cookie, indoor kind of stuff. Sports aren't really her favorite. But that is where she is different. Although she doesnt' LOVE swimming like Taneal and Spencer, she is really good at it. She has a great attitude and really tries her best. And her best is really, really good.

 I really like watching Camie swim. And she really like me watching her swim. Sometimes I feel like Camie gets lost in the mix of having 6 children. And when she swims it really gives her a time to shine and do well. To be the center of attention. And she has really become a beautiful swimmer. She qualifies in all her strokes. Her butterfly stroke is beautiful to watch. I'm so impressed that a 10 year-old can swim as well as Camie. She amazes me.

And look at how she is putting her all into what she is doing.

She improved her times and earned coupons to the pizza place. She proudly presented them to me. And I was excited to congratulate her.

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.