Spencer's Surgery

Spencer's surgery went very well. We had to be at the surgery center at 6am, which was a little tough. I told Spencer he got to pick out new pajamas (hospital gown) so he was excited. I also told him that they needed to talk to me for a while, so they were going to take him in another room that would be much more interesting. I also told him that the doctor was going to fix his eye, that it wouldn't hurt while the doctor was looking at it but it might hurt a little afterwards. I wanted to let him know something was going to happen without scaring him. I think I put too much of a good spin on it because he was so excited.

Spencer woke up screaming from the anesthesia. After he tore off his hospital gown and underwear, refused to let anyone cover him up, and about 20 minutes of pinning down his hands to keep him from rubbing his eye, I finally figured out he needed to use the bathroom. So, I carried a kicking and screaming naked boy to the bathroom and put him on the toilet and nothing happened. I guess that is one of the side-effects of anesthesia. He refused to get off the toilet and after about 15 minutes of sitting on the toilet, he finally went and he really did need to go. And he calmed down immediately.

The doctor said the procedure went well. He was able to easily lift the mass and cut it off. He put in three stitches to the eye ball. He said he didn't open the mass, he didn't want to ruin it, he would send it to pathology to analyze. He also said because the mass lifted right up, he was pretty sure it wasn't cancer. Huh? I didn't even realize that was a possibility!

The hardest part about the after surgery was the eye drops. They were a thick liquid so the eye had to be open to put the drop in, and I had to do it 4 times a day for a week. Spencer has such long eye lashes and cannot stand to have anything in his eyes, even bath water. It was a fight and I could not win. He would squint his eyes and I couldn't pry them open and then his eye lashes would get in the way. It was basically impossible. So, I resigned to getting up during the night and putting the drops in while he slept. It worked and it kept the infection away. And he usually slept right through it.

Yesterday was the follow-up. The night before I was looking at his eye and it looked like the mass had grown back, just not as big. It freaked me out a little. So when I went into the doctor appointment, I was sure the doctor was going to tell me something horrible. But, he said the pathology report came back as suspected, that there was a foreign object lodged in his eye and his white blood cells went crazy trying to get it out and couldn't so they cocooned it to protect his eye. His body worked just like it should. The cells around the sliver were inflamed and red but no cancer anywhere. His body worked perfectly. I was so relieved. And what I thought was the regrown mass was a flap of eyeball that couldn't be stitched down because eyes don't stretch like skin. It will heal, just takes time. ALL IS WELL! And what an unexpected ride.

Spencer's Eye

Strange things happen. Two Sundays ago I was sitting in church and noticed that Spencer had red in the corner of his eye. I was teaching Sharing Time and Evan was at home with a throwing up Camie. My first thought was, "man, Spencer has pink eye and I brought him to church, I don't have time to take him home and I didn't bring my cell phone to call Evan to come get him. Ahhhh! I don't have time for this!" I looked at it closer and decided I had no idea what it was, but it didn't look like pink eye. Danielle said she had been wrestling with Spencer the night before and accidentally hurt his eye. Solution to the red eye found, we are good to stay at church.

Well, the eye didn't get better. Since it was in the corner of his eye, I rarely noticed it. A week later my dad came to visit and noticed Spencer's eye. I really hate going to the doctor because of the wait and the copay that always result in just waiting it out, it will go away. But, if my dad was concerned, maybe I should take Spencer in, especially since my dad was willing to watch the kids.

I took Spencer in and guess what the pediatrician said, "I'm perplexed." Not a good sign if the pediatrician doesn't know what it is. She suspected it was allergies, but to be on the safe side, she scheduled an appointment with an Opthamologist at 1pm that afternoon. Wow, that was quick. Another bad sign.

The Opthamologist looked at it, checked Spencer's vision, dilated Spencer's eyes so he could get a look on the inside, and then told me what he thought. He said the inside of his eyes are clear, his vision is great. He can see an entry wound where it looks like something like a sliver of some kind, went into Spencer's eye and stayed on the surface. It was so swollen that he could not see if anything was still there, but by the reaction of the eye, it probably was. Solution: try antibiotic eye drops (Vigamox) and see if that clears it up and if it does not, surgery to remove whatever it is.

Well, three days later it has shown no sign of improvement. We are scheduled for surgery Monday morning. Basically what they will do is put Spencer out under general anesthesia. This is largely due to his age, a three-year-old cannot be still. It will be a 15 minute procedure where they cut off the spot, stitch the eye ball up, and it's done. Not a big surgery. It is on the white part of his eye, doesn't mess with the muscle, so it is pretty safe. He will be groggy the rest of the day and his eye will be bright red with some bruising. It is a pediatric Opthamologist doing the procedure at a Pediatric hospital, so I feel confident that they will be able to help Spencer be as comfortable as possible. But surgery is still surgery and that is never any fun.

Evan will eat ANYTHING

Evan brags about his ability to eat anything and not complain about it. It is part of being a "Black". All 16 kids (at least all the boys) and parents love to share how they are not picky, they pretty much like everything. Great quality, I suppose, one I do not possess nor wish to possess. I think my taste buds are too sensitive. If it isn't real Oreos, I won't eat them, why waste the calories on something that isn't great? If it isn't real Blue Bell ice cream, why bother? I can really taste the difference. Maybe this blog entry really has nothing to do with that. But as I continue, Evan really will eat just about everything. If dinner isn't put away from the night before, he will put it away in the morning. Do things really go bad? Eggs don't really need refrigeration, right? ANYTHING! I'm sure he has limits somewhere, I am just yet to find them.

So, Nathan must have figured out how to open the dishwasher last night. Evan was sitting in the living room watching tv and Nathan brought him a cup of water. Nathan said something, but he is still hard to understand. Evan took the cup from Nathan, didn't even look into the cup, just took a drink. He stood up, ran to the kitchen sink, and spit it out. Evan realized that Nathan had brought him a cup from the clean dishwasher that had turned over and filled up with yucky, soapy, nasty dishwater. And Evan took a drink. Evan then realized what Nathan had been saying to him, "yucky!" Yes, indeed yucky, disgusting, and nasty! I don't think I have laughed that hard in months. Thank goodness Evan was laughing right with me. And thankfully Nathan hadn't been dipping the cup in toilet water.

Let's Be Frank

For those of you who live close, you've probably already noticed the bulge. For those of you not so close, you've probably noticed I have totally checked out, barely even blogging. And for my dear, dear friends, thank you so much for the compassion you have shown to me through supporting me, listening to me, bringing me meals, watching my children, and helping me in my calling. The last many weeks could not have been survived without you.

I am expecting baby #6 and am so excited, but oh, so sick. I just am not any good at being pregnant. I throw up, loose every bit of energy, and sometimes wish I could disappear for 9 months. I've been throwing up so hard I have black eyes because I have popped the blood vessels all around my eyes. I feel like I have the flu, my bones ache. I don't know if I am just getting old. I have had rough first trimesters with all my babies, and hopefully any day now the nausea should go away. I am praying because it is getting to be a bit too much. The couch and PBS have become my best friends. If I don't move, I don't usually throw up. But, with 5 children, I have to move, and being Primary President of a new ward also requires movement. I love my family, I love serving in church. I love that I get to have another baby. I have been so blessed. I do not love the sickness that comes with pregnancy. Obviously the end reward is worth it or I wouldn't do this 6 times, but when I am in the thick of the morning/all day sickness, I wonder how I can possibly survive.

So I am being "frank". Probably shouldn't be. I'm not trying to get sympathy, because I know a lot of women have it a whole lot worse. I like to be upbeat and positive, I know nobody wants to be around a negative person. And I usually am pretty positive, I think. So please forgive me for telling it like it is. I am so blessed. Come September when I have my strength back and life can return to normalcy, life will be good. I know this because I've done it so many times before. Until then, I will endure to the end and pray for a few good days here and there. And hope the nausea goes away soon. I'm not looking too pretty with black eyes.

Primary Activity and FHE lesson

Today was the first Primary Activity since I was called to be Primary President. I didn't realize before how much I didn't do. Because of the size of our Primary before, a 3rd counselor was called and she was over the quarterly activities. And the activities were always so good and took a little work on my part. After today I realized just how much she did. It was fun, I think all the children had a great time, but I came home and took a nap. We divided into 4 stations and I was only in charge of one. Everyone worked just as hard as me and I am grateful there are such wonderful people who are so willing to help.



We have a good amount of children who show up to Primary each Sunday. So, I figured planning for 15 less then what show up for Primary on Sunday would be PLENTY. I was wrong. I was a little short, so I ended up splitting the FHE lesson that I prepared between children in each family. So sorry to those families who were the last group to come through my station. I hope you don't feel jipped. So, here is the lesson with links to the stories so you can have a complete set. And, if you weren't in my ward and like the lesson, here ya go.



The theme of the activity was Tell Me The Stories of Jesus. So, I prepared a song, scripture, and 6 stories to go along with it. I explained Heavenly Father sent his Son to show us the way we should live our lives, just as the song, He Sent His Son tells us. I also included a super easy cookie recipe made from a cake mix as the treat.




























Here are the links to print off the flannel board stories in the lesson part:
The Good Shepherd
The Baptism of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ Heals a Blind Man
The Good Samaritan
Jesus Christ will come again
Christ's Life on Earth

I hope you enjoy the lesson. It was fun to prepare and the children really seemed to like it.

Taneal's Elementary club made the Real Newspaper!

Every Tuesday and Friday, Taneal goes to school early to write for the newspaper that was recently started at her Elementary School. It was pretty cool having the local newspaper do an article on them. Taneal was excited but also pretty disappointed that the guy standing in the white shirt was in the way so you cannot see Taneal. Taneal loves to write so this newspaper club is wonderful. Taneal is doing an article on some of the sports and PE activities in the school.

Another really cool part about the paper is my good friend, Jana, is in charge of the paper. She decided she wanted her son to be challenged a little more so she went to the head GT teacher of the district along with the principal and fought hard to get the paper going. It has taken her since September and it is finally up and going in February. Whew! Thanks for all your effort, Jana!

Nathan graduates to Nursery

Nathan is finally 18 months old and can go to nursery on Sundays. Evan was pretty excited.

I am in Primary, so Evan has had to take care of Nathan since the early days. On his first Sunday in nursery, Evan dropped Nathan off and headed to Sunday School and Priesthood. Two hours later Evan picked Nathan up. Nathan was wonderful in nursery, no crying or any problems. And Evan actually got to sit through his classes instead of being out in the hall. I always wondered if I would ever have a child that would actually go to nursery without crying. Nathan is the first!

Spencer writes his name

After 3 and a half years, Spencer can write his name. It is so exciting. And, a month before he finally accomplished this, I bought a Go, Diego, Go Lego car that sat out on the counter as an incentive. He was so excited to finally earn his toy and to make me so happy.

Happy Birthday Taneal

My little girl turned 10! I cannot believe it! She certainly acts old enough to be 10, but it is still wow. I haven't been feeling very energetic lately so I talked Taneal out of a birthday party, at least the kind that requires work from me. I decorated her a very simple cake and she invited 5 friends over for games, a movie, and cake. They had fun and Taneal was excited to have her friends over. I only let her invite 2 from church, 2 from school, and her cousin Audrey.

And of course Nathan scooted the stool up to the counter and was dipping his fingers in the cake. So cute!

Camie's Baptism

Camie was baptized January 9th. It was wonderful. A lot of family was able to come and many, many people showed up at her baptism making Camie feel like a super star. Even her teacher from school was able to attend. Her dad baptized her, her cousin, Rebecca sang a beautiful song, and her Aunt Becky and I both spoke. It was a wonderful day that was completed by a dinner of Camie's favorite meal: lasagna and bread sticks. Because we had so much family from out-of-town, we invited family over for dinner after the baptism. I wish I could explain just how happy Camie was that so many people were at her baptism. It meant so much to her. The Relief Society room was packed with all our family and so many friends that live close. We are so blessed to have so many people that love Camie so much.

Addilynn Ann

Congratulations to Daren and Shannon. They were able to adopt their first baby on January 11th. Check Addi out!

Too busy

This is how I feel.

The first week in January my ward split and I am now in a wonderful new ward. It is full of wonderful people, I couldn't ask for a better ward. But, I stayed in Primary (which I am so thankful for). There are no teachers, no nursery toys, no manuals, no snacks, no chorester, no pianist, etc. No one has been called and that leaves me feeling a little crazy. To top it off, Camie was baptized the same weekend. I was so fortunate to have family and friends come into town, but I'm sure they thought I was crazy, because that is how I feel. On top of that I am still the PTO treasurer. I still have 5 children. And I still have a husband. They are all wonderful blessings, all of them. But all combined together in a small amount of time are leaving me brain dead. And crazy!

New Year's Eve

Danielle and Nathan were still running pretty high fevers on New Year's Eve. We were supposed to go out to the ranch with Troy and Becky, but we decided against it, didn't want to get them sick. Again, we were home and couldn't go anywhere. Troy was so nice. He called and asked if we had any fire works. Of course we hadn't bought any. They said they were

leaving the ranch early and were going to come over to our house and share their fire works with us. They stayed outside the whole time to avoid catching anything. It was so nice of them to do that. My kiddos LOVED the firecrackers, especially, well all of them did. Nathan liked watching them and all the rest of them liked the sparklers and watching. It was great and so nice of Troy and Becky to come celebrate with us outside.

Christmas Break

This is an example of what our Christmas Break was like. The first week the kids were out of school, Spencer ran a fever of 103 for 6 days. It lasted through Christmas and I finally took him into the doctor on the last day of his fever and he tested positive for the flu. Poor little guy.

We were fever free in our house for three days when Nathan and Danielle started in with the high fevers all in the same hour. Theirs lasted 5 days and they were so sick. That was the second week of the Christmas break. So, we stayed at home with very sick kids for two weeks. I felt bad that Taneal, Camie, and Danielle didn't get to do anything really exciting, that we stayed at home the whole time. It was still a great Christmas and New Year. Fortunately it was only the three little ones that got sick and not the whole family.

Camie is getting baptized

Just a quick invite to all of you. Camie will be getting baptized next Saturday, January 9th at 5pm. I erased the address from the invitation because I was posting it on my blog, but it is at the Stake Center. If you need the address, please email me and I will send it to you.

Coyote Journal

It began last year. They had just started construction for the new school near where we live. They had cleared a bunch of tree from the wooded lot and I guess some coyotes lost their home. We were driving down the road and we saw a coyote cross the street, searching for a new home or some food. I guess Spencer was pretty intrigued, because he had all sorts of questions. And for the last 10 months he has made a comment about coyotes at least once every day. I finally started writing down some of the things he would say, but I only got a few because most of his comments were early in the morning while I was getting dressed or while we were out and about or when I couldn't get to a pen and then later forgot what he had said. But I did write a few down. Here are some of them:

"Mom, if you could do this (he closed his eyes and made snoring noises), coyotes will hear you. If you do this (he closed his eyes like he was sleeping and was silent), the coyotes won't hear you."

"Mom, coyotes don't have hands."

"Goldilocks can scare coyotes away."

"Sometimes coyotes say, "Boooo, Booooo, Booooo!""

"Mom, coyotes are strangers because we don't know them."

"Mom, coyotes can't see my lizards because it is dark."

"Coyotes sleep in trees and then they fall out with the snakes."

"I shoot coyote's houses. But it doesn't work. My gun is broken. It needs more batteries." (his gun doesn't take batteries.

We were standing in front of the Humphery's house and the kids noticed dog poop on the front lawn. Spencer came over to tell me about it. I asked him if it was Sister Humphery's poop. He gave me a funny look and said, "no". I then asked him whose poop it was. He got a very serous look on his face and said, "It was a coyote!"

And these comments went on and on at least once a day and even several times a day for about ten months. I love having a little boy. And especially one with an imagination.

Christmas Day

Over the last few months, I have been trying to figure out what we could do on Christmas day, once all the presents were opened. Usually I want to take a nap, but can't. Usually Evan wants to take a nap and does. And I find myself a little jealous, which I don't like. I wanted something that we could do together as a family to enhance the Christmas spirit already in our home. I asked around and got some great suggestions, but then I had to convince Evan to do something other then take his usual nap. I felt that was impossible to do. So, when I was planning Christmas Even with Evan's family, they invited us over for Christmas dinner. All I had to do was bring some pies. Here was something fun we could do that Evan would be willing to give up his nap to go and do. A great plan. We showed up at Troy and Becky's place around 2pm. Becky had a very nice ham dinner ready. We ate and then decided to go on a walk since the golf course behind their home was closed for the day. We got out the double stroller and headed off.

It was a very long walk, I think we were gone three hours. It was so nice to get out, stretch our legs, burn off some calories, and be out together. Evan took over the stroller, so that was even better. On our walk we decided to go over to the new church building that was recently built. We haven't started attending the building yet because it was only finished in the last few weeks. It was a real treat to walk the beautiful new building.

My poor little Spencer. He was so sick. I was so glad that Troy and Becky still wanted us to come over even though they knew he was sick. He was freezing and wanted to be held. I felt so bad for him. I ran out of Motrin so I had to go to CVS on Christmas day. I was glad they were opened. I thanked the girl working for working so I could get some medicine to help Spencer feel better. I was ready to take Spencer to the emergency room, he wouldn't take him medicine and had had a 103 fever for five days. I also got some benedryl to help him sleep, even though the label advised against it. I was at my wits end and didn't know what to do. Troy was so nice and came and took Spencer and calmly talked him into taking his medicine (I had been trying that, why wouldn't he do it for me?). Evan and Troy gave him a blessing and peace washed over me. We loaded up in the van and Spencer slept until the next morning. I did take him to an urgent care in the morning and he tested positive for the flu, but didn't run a fever after that.

Christmas Day was wonderful. It was so nice to have Becky cook us such a nice meal, to go out on a long walk, and to spend time with family who we absolutely love. They are a great family and we are so blessed to live close.

Camie got a new camera for Christmas. She chased Danielle all over the house trying to get pictures of her. I really liked this picture of Danielle running away from Camie.

This is Troy preparing the ham.

My nephew Austin. He is really become a young man.




Audrey playing with her new Christmas present, an IPOD Nano.

Spencer in the sand pit on the golf course.

Taneal running on our walk. I love the action shots Camie got.

Spencer. You can just see the sick look to his eyes.

Danielle. Man that girl has personality.

Taneal at the golf course in her new coat from Santa.

The adult table at dinner. Can you tell we are all adults? My kids love to be where I am. Danielle and Spencer both joined us. Nathan was sleeping or he would have also. Camie and Taneal liked being at the other table with their cousins.

Becky

The boys helping with the stroler.

Audrey, my neice.

Christmas Morning

We decided to make a few rules this Christmas. Nobody could wake anyone up before 6am. If they all happened to be awake that was okay, but NO WAKING ANYONE UP BEFORE 6! Camie came into my room at 5am and I told her she needed to go back to bed. I felt so bad having her do that, but experience has taught me that if my kids get up too early, they are super grumpy and they do NOT take naps. I wanted a nice Christmas, so I sent her back to bed. I am sure she did not sleep. At 6am Taneal and Camie both came into my room. I told them not to wake anyone up yet, but they could go downstairs and look around but they could not touch any of their presents. They could check out their stockings. So, they did this and Camie came upstairs announcing that Santa had brought her a guitar! She was so excited.
Since it was after 6am, I let them wake Danielle and Spencer up. Danielle woke up the instant Taneal whispered in her ear "Santa". It was cute. I told them to hang on while I got the camera ready. They all came tearing downstairs and excitedly opened their gifts.

It was a great Christmas. Taneal got some speakers for her MP3 player, clothes, a cool alarm clock that projects onto the ceiling, a messenger bag, Inkspell, and a few other little things.

Camie got a guitar, CD lessons, a camera, Flyte, shoes, and clothes. I know she got some other things, but they aren't coming to mind right now.

Danielle got a Leapster, My Little Pet Shop toys, clothes, and makeup.

Spencer got a camera, a remote control car, little turtle, lizard, and frog toys, a cool dinosaur shirt, and some books. The only think Spencer asked Santa for was a turtle and he was happy with a plastic one! Whew! Of course Spencer had been running a 103 fever since Monday night, so he wasn't quite feeling up to par. He was miserable. I finally took him into the Dr on Saturday and he tested positive for the flu and an ear infection. 6 days of a fever. Poor guy really didn't care much about anything on Christmas. He held onto the reptile toys he got and just wanted to watch Diego and Dora all day. I felt so bad for him.

Nathan got a car road map and cars, a big dump truck all to himself, and no clothes. He was happy with his dump truck and really didn't care about anything else.

It was so funny how the girls really just wanted clothes. Taneal didn't know what to ask for other then clothes. They also got some wii games to go with that wii they got last year that only has the game it came with. They got Mario Cart, The Biggest Looser, and Sing It.

They were all happy and I thought it was a little too much. I think I want to simplify next year, REALLY simplify and focus on the true meaning of Christmas and giving, not receiving. I know my kids didn't get nearly as much as a lot of other kids got, but after reading stories from President Monson and others and then watching my kids, I think I could really teach them some wonderful things to simplify. I'm going to have to think on that one a little more. I think I still want to get them nice gifts, just not as many.

I know there are a lot of pictures, but how can I possible choose just one? I have the cutest kids in the world.