It kinda makes your heart skip a beat...

I was trying to prepare a yummy birthday 'cake' for My lovely daughter for tomorrow, and while I was taking it out to put in the fridge in the garage... My little guy, who had said he wanted to go see Hannah, and I told him she was at school!, got the desk chair from the computer desk, unlocked the chain lock on the front door and went to find/get Hannah! YIKES!!!!!! I came back in the house from the garage, and realized my front door was open and Liam wasn't in the house!
I went outside looking for him and yelling, and I see him running back home on the sidewalk, with my across the street neighbor chasing along behind him!
She said she saw him from her window in her house, and came out to see what was going on with him. As he was walking down the street, she said she didn't' know whether to come get me or go after him first! I'm glad she went after him, because as it was, he made it out of my cul-de-sac, and around the corner, before she was able to catch up to him!!!
He said he wanted to get his sisters! We frequently go to the corner to meet them at the bus stop, but, oh my goodness gracious! Now I'm afraid to go to the bathroom! We may be getting another kind of lock!

LDS & Mormon Videos - Youtube: Glenn Beck and the LDS (Mormon) Church Video

LDS & Mormon Videos - Youtube: Glenn Beck and the LDS (Mormon) Church Video

Below is the link to the You Tube video of this talk.

What a Testimony!

LDS & Mormon Videos - Youtube: Glenn Beck and the LDS (Mormon) Church Video

A friend posted this on her blog and if you've got time (it is a long talk, and I got very involved watching/listening to this, this morning and didnt' get to some of the other things I should have been doing, but now I want to pass it along to you.

This is really worth listening to.

Pay it forward...

Pay it forward...
O.K. I probably do way too much of these type of things... I got this on a freind's blog and thought this sounded fun.This is how it works.....

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (That means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, the first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones!

I have an awesome family!!! and Fabulous kids!!!!!

I've been busy the past little while.
Last week I began teaching a Naturally prepared Childbirth Class... it was sort of dropped (thrust) into my lap, if you will. The gal who was going to teach the class for my friend at her store, backed out sort of at the last moment. So, when my friend/store owner found out (realized) I was actually a certified Child Birth Educator, I was asked to teach. So, this is new and hard for me. I do alright one on one, with couples talking over their pregnancy and their birthing options, but I don't particularly like to stand in front of a group (for any reason), and teach them, and be 'the Authority' on things.
So last week I taught Childbirth classes, had Hannah's Surgery, and attended a birth. By the end of the week, I was readying myself for Bill to go on another trip TDY, to Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX, the onto Washington D.C. where he will be speaking to Congressmen. On Friday night the other mom I had due this month, contacted me to say they were planning to induce her on Monday morning (after she was there for cervical ripening over night).

Saturday, we had a very busy day... Sariah was doing a service fundraiser for the Beta Club at school. You bought tickets and then went to a pancake breakfast at Guthrie's. So off we went to that first thing. Then we attended New Beginnings for the Young Women at Church. After that we rushed the kids home so that we cod go back and take the kids to the primary activity day! On top of that we had some errands to run, and go on post, and then hit the commissary. We were able to make a deal with S. (Thanks S!) we dropped our kids and a few of hers at the church for the activity. Then she picked up the kids and brought them all back home.

Monday morning I dropped the little girls off to school on my way to the Hosp. for the birth, Bill got Liam up and ready and dropped him off at H's (thank you H for helping me out!), and then he was off on his trip.

The mom I was helping didn't deliver her baby till midnight, and I didn't arrive back home until 4:30 a.m. after waiting on mom to get out of recovery and helping her get BF'ing started, once she finally got to hold her baby...

The main reason for my post title today is that during all that time away from my family, and KNOWING dad wasn't even here, I knew that I was able to go about what I was doing with very little worry about my family at home. The kids all worked together and helped each other out and took care of what needed to be done. When I arrived home exhausted, I knew that someone had Liam and was helping with him - and didn't find out till later, that it had been a bad Liam night!

Liam occasionally has bad nights with his foot/feet/legs... He will wake up and cry out that his feet/foot hurts, and he needs some one to 'Rub' it, for him! So I do some foot massage. Or he wants you to rub it with, 'queem!' (cream), "I, need queem!" or, "I need some wotion!" or then sometimes he will get to the point with me that he will just need/want you to, "Hold it!" and he will reach out and find your hand and put his foot into your hand!

I can sometimes pinpoint that he had too much activity that day without wearing his 'hotdog' (orthotic) shoes... and so his feet are aching. Sometimes if I KNOW he's not had his shoes on his feet enough in a day, I will even dose him up with Tylenol before he gos to bed, and he will sleep much better. (sometimes he will complain of foot pain, in the evening before bedtime, that is a BIG clue). He however doesn't like the medicine most of the time. He doesn't care for the chewable tylenol usually (although occasionally we can convince him it is 'bubblegum' when it has that flavor...). Or we tell him the grape flavor liquid is 'grape juice'... bad I know in the big picture, but it works for us in the moment - sometimes. It is usually more successful when he is fully awake, than in the middle of the night when he is actually crying out in pain! The trick is knowing when he is going to be in pain and need something.

This can be a one time occurrence in a night, OR it can be the better part of the night. The girls said he woke up almost every hour on the hour, 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, (at least those are the particular times I heard about) needing his foot rubbed or needing, "Queam!". They had to find the 'blue emu' muscle ache cream we use on his foot/feet, they had to run around and find the tylenol, and try to convince him to take it. They had a LONG night with him, and yet they were up and taking care of things, breakfast, and each other. When they went to bed, they didn't actually know if I would even be home or not... I did send them a message at midnight after the baby arrived to let them know I'd be home, so they would see it in the morning, when they got up.

In the morning when the alarm went off (after I'd had barely an hour of sleep) I woke up the little girls, then I laid back down on my bed, and Rebekah actually made pancakes for breakfast and they made sure everyone got out the door to school on time.

I ended last night and the end of two LONG days, with a trip to the store to buy supplies to make valentines (why do I continue to get magazines with cute idea's in them!?!?), and then Amanda and I took a trip out to Harvest/Toney to a friend (former doula client) who sews, (I just didn't have the wherewithal to manage this one this week), because Amanda brought home her new band uniform - dress- and needed it hemmed. it has a lot of fabric and it is a nice dress (considering), and I just didn't want to screw it up! I knew my friend sews, but didn't actually realize she sort of has a little tailoring business - in the middle of her 4 kids, and homeschooling, etc. She has made custom bridesmaid dresses (from scratch, no pattern).She is asking her husband a gorgeous tailored long dress coat - it is on the mannequin dress form thing. Wow It looks great! Anyway, so aside from making time to hem this dress that Amanda NEEDS, for a band competition thing on Thursday!!! My friend can certainly do the job, almost a no brainer! it is obnoxious fabric to me, and I just didn't want to screw with it.


Thank you, thank you, thank you, to my family for being AWESOME!!!!!!!

Hannah's 'Special' Bump!

When Hannah was born, the Midwife found a little bump on her right clavicle/collar bone during the newborn exam. We took her to see the pediatrician at the Army hosp. They took x-rays, all the pediatric staff came to 'see' and it, and yet no-one knew what it was. They sent us to a pediatric orthopedic Dr. he couldn't' figure anything out, so we have just 'watched' it over the years.

We had x-rays again a little bit before she turned two, and they thought it showed that there had been a 'break' in her clavicle, and they asked me all kinds of questions... "had it been a difficult delivery?" "was she a large baby?", etc. My response was no it was a very gentle nice home birth delivery. She was only 6 lbs 12 oz. at birth. The bump had ALREADY been present at birth, how could there have been a break - that had already caused calcification to be formed/grow on the bone AT birth.

We had hoped that it would stay the same, and as she grew it would become less and less noticeable. (you had to really look for it to 'see' it as a baby). As Hannah grew, so did her bump...

We had x-rays taken every couple of years to check it see if it looked like a problem. If we wanted to have it removed it would have been purely cosmetic surgery, and as such, not covered.

In the past year or so, it had become a problem for Hannah. It was now protruding enough that it was causing her difficulty. It would get bumped and it was tender. She couldn't carry her backpack on that shoulder as it would rub and put pressure on it. So, we got another referral to see the orthopedic Dr. here. He agreed that with it causing Hannah discomfort, we could remove it.

So, Yesterday, Hannah had her little surgical procedure to remove her bump. I will admit I was a bit nervous as she had to go under general anesthesia. Dad gave her a fathers blessing that all would go well. We dropped Liam off at K's and he even got to go on a field trip with the K sisters. He said he had lots of fun! (earlier in the week Liam had said the K was his Best Friend!). He cries whenever we drop him off anywhere, but he calms down pretty quickly, or so I'm told, and has a good time.

We spent more time sitting around 'waiting' for the surgery to get started than it took to do the actual procedure. That part went really quickly. While we waited dad read a book to Hannah . The Tales of Beadle the Bard. They took us back to her in recovery, and she was still 'out'. Then all of the sudden she came around. looked at us, but was most definitely unamused! Dad was trying to crack jokes and she did not find them funny. ;-) OR was just too out of it to bother to respond still.

When we finally left, it was abt. 1:00 pm. She was starving, as she had not been allowed to eat anything since the night before... I asked if they had anything that she could eat, like crackers or anything, they'd already given her apple juice. She was still hungry after that and she wanted waffles from IHOP. She was released around 1 pm, and off we went to IHOP after stopping off to get her prescription for pain reliever filled. Rebekah got out of class early, so we had her go pick up Liam, and be home for Marissa when she got off the bus, in case we weren't home yet.

We had also promised her she could get a stuffed animal/web-kins, so after eating we stopped at Hallmark. She picked a cute little Ground Hog. I thought that was good so that she would remember him from her surgery day and that it was near (2 days after) Ground Hogs Day. I thought she should call it Sergio, and call it Surg(e), for Surgery... No one liked my idea. ;-) After they took her I.V. out of her arm they wrapped it with this sticky wrap thing. They let her pick her color. Liam thought it was really cool, because it was Green (his favorite color), and it had a long neck (he's into his dinosaurs lately). The nurse told her that after she got home if she wanted to keep the wrap part for a while she could put it on a special doll or stuffed animal or something. So today Groundy the groundhog has a belt. ;-)

We stopped at target to buy some chocolate pudding to try to disguise the taste of the medicine, which she had already taken her first dose of at IHOP, after getting something in her stomach, and she had gagged and thought was horrible. Of course while we were at target, and while she was 'hurting' having just undergone surgery... we were suckered into buying all sorts of things. She got some new sweat pants for while she is laying around trying to be comfortable, and several snacks that were not-needed. Bill noticed that the swimsuits just came out and so instead of waiting till they had all been picked over and the season was upon us... (like we usually do), we went ahead and let her pick out a bathing suit for summer as well.

The Dr. didn't think that she would WANT a sling, as he said, most kids don't, but she felt like it gave her more stability to not move her arm around and cause herself pain, so we asked for a sling. The Surgery Center didn't know if they even had a small/child sized sling, but the nurse finally came up with one. She is under orders to do no throwing, pushing, pulling, running, jumping, for the next three weeks.

As for other events of the day, a mom that I'm working with had called to say she was at 6 cm when she went to her Dr's apt. earlier in the day. her dr. offered to induce her, for excessive dilation. She declined as she went through an induction with her first baby and it was a horrible experience for her. She wanted to go into labor on her own.

I was expecting to get a call soon (over the weekend at the latest), and so when I got home from picking up Marissa from Activity days, I was told she had called. I called her back and this was it. I got to her house just after 8 pm. we went to the hosp. shortly afterward, and she had a beautiful little baby girl at 10:30 p.m. I didn't get home till 2 am, though so I am kind of wiped out today...

I GUESS I can just plan that if we ever have a surgical procedure planned, someone is going to go into labor... it was a big day to be sure.

Oh My Goodness, My secret is out...

I began the new year reading about so many of my friends and their goal to exercise, etc... I felt a little guilty as I thought... well that's nice for you guys, but I'm just not an exercise kind of person. It's not that I wouldn't like to be healthier, and more in shape, but I have all these 'reasons' why it's just not my thing...
It's sort of a logistics thing.
First of all, I am a what you could consider a vain person. If I am not 'ready' for life - Hair and make up done - I don't go out, I don't do anything... If I don't get started getting ready when I first get up in the morning, it is hard for me to get back upstairs and get ready. I try to shower before Liam is awake so that I don't have to worry so much about what he's doing, tearing up, or getting into. This whole thing puts a bit of a crimp in any exercising I might be inclined to do.
I sort of don't like going to the pool in the summer for the same reason... If I get up and get ready for life, and then go swimming, If I get in at all, I have to come home and take another hour to get myself pulled back together again in order to go out in public!
So... I decided I would give it a try.
I have started doing wii fit. It may not be the 'best' workout for some people, but for me it has been a great place to start. I am trying to work out at least 30 minutes several times a week. I would LIKE it if I could get done exercising before Liam wakes up so I don't have to compete with him to 'play' the wii. This has been a bit challenging however, since I sort of wanted to keep it a 'secret' at least until I started to see some positive effects of the exercises, and even better, if someone noticed a difference in me!
Well, this meant I have had to wait until the kids were out the door and gone in the mornings for school. When Bill is home, he drives Sariah just after 7 am to her friend's house where the girls get ready together, then go to school... With Bill out of town the past two weeks, I don't drive Sariah anywhere, so she has been home until she gets picked up until about 7:40 in the morning. I gave up and let her in on my 'secret life', and I could get started on my exercises so I could get going with my day before 8 am.
Liam has been waking up earlier than usual (for him) and he will wander downstairs usually while I am exercising. One day last week, Sariah was still at home and we heard him awake and wandering around upstairs looking for people. He came downstairs, and his first words... "Oh My GOODNESS Gracious!" I'm not sure WHY he was so surprised or shocked. He's been seeing me exercise for nearly a month now. or if that was just something to say, I don't know, but it cracked both Sariah and I up!
(Now to explain the statement just in general --- We have tried over the years to get the kids to say "oh my goodness", instead of 'oh my gosh' because, often, the 'sh' gets dropped off the end and it sounds too much like using the name of the Lord in vain. When they hear that as part of every one's daily vocabulary, I worry that it will either become something they might slip up and actually say, or that others will think that is what they are saying... therefore making them seem the same as everyone else who uses the name of the Lord in vain every day...
Liam has become the WORD police at our house. If he hears one of us say "Oh my gosh", he will get after us and tell us to say, "Oh my Goodness" instead... Obviously at some point along the way, someone has said Goodness Gracious and he has heard it! It was just so funny to hear him exclaim it and out of the blue!
And Oh... Bill was home Friday morning, and I had things to do, places to go... and so I exercised while he was here. My secret is out! I didn't like being watched... it made me self conscious, and I felt like I had even less coordination than usual. Meanwhile, Liam is vying for 'his turn' and I didn't want to lose the aerobic benefit I was going for, so I plugged away and kept going, but I got lousy scores! I was sort of glad that he knew I was exercising... perhaps it might help if I have accountability, and people are asking me 'if' I have exercised today or not???
From now on, however... I will have to wait until others are out of the house so that I can exercise though, so that I can stumble along without an audience over 2-3 yrs old.