Busy July

I'm so glad my search bar for my internet has the "drop-down" helps... I don't think I'd be able to find my blog ever again if that failed me. Today I googled sure-jell to look up a raspberry peach freezer jam recipe. Instead I found a plethera of sites instructing me on how to use sure-jell to mask my marijuana use in a urine test. Without even opening the links, I also learned that it does not work. So, you will not find me downing a pack of sure-jell. Ever. Which might come as a relief to you. I took Katelyn out to play with her water table today while I picked raspberries (for said jam) and she lasted a whole 5 seconds until she realized Daddy was working in the garage. Daddy's tools trump anything and everything mom has to offer as far as entertainment. Every.Time. The last I posted, I had said Kaden had a trip to the dr in his near future for his hurt elbow/shoulder. (It fluctuated based on the moment.) Well, last Tuesday we did take him in. I got an appointment scheduled and Luke came home so we could all go. I needed to be there because (sorry Luke) I'm just a little more familiar with the dr and what needs to be said/done/paid/etc... (that came out nicer-sounding than I anticipated, whew) But I could not be trusted to drive/make it through the appointment without Luke due to my overdose (or close to it) of meds for my on-going allergic reaction. Thankfully, we got to see Mindy-who is actually a Physician's Assistant- for his arm. I like her...in fact, I've consistantly liked the PA's better than the Dr's at this office. She checked him out, noticing- as we had- that he was not swollen or bruised and could not seem to pinpoint WHERE it hurt. Yet, she was convinced (as were we) that he was truly in pain, even tho all outward signs pointed toward fake. She ordered xrays and we were sent to the hospital. At least it wasn't the ER this time. I, again, was thankful that Luke was with me since when we got to the x-ray department we realized that Kate would NOT be allowed back and since I am obviously pregnant, I would not be allowed back either. I am quite sure Kaden would not have gone alone. So Luke and him headed back while Kate and I waited with a few very chatty fellow waiting room-waiters. (Apparently there were 4 people all with one person..and they were outgoing.) Kate thoroughly enjoyed their attention...good thing too, because we were there about an hour. Kaden got his x-rays (elbow, shoulder, collarbone) and came back to wait. Then the nurse informed us that we needed to stay in the waiting room because the dr wanted to talk to us. She then pointed to the phone on the wall (which I hadn't noticed) and told us to answer it when it rang...it would be the doctor. That was a new experience. It took about another half hour for the Dr to call and let us know that his arm was broken. We never did see x-rays, and we still sometimes wonder if he faked it. He just doesn't seem to be in enough pain to actually have a broken arm! We were then sent back to the dr's office to get a sling and ace wrap since they didn't want to cast it for a week. That took another half hour or so. It was a long time for all of us, and I was just very glad I had brought my benedryl. Kaden was supposed to get his cast Monday, (tomorrow) but since we had long-planned a trip to his Gramma and Boppa's house we asked if it could be sooner. No, it could not. Instead they moved it back til next Friday. We went ahead and met my parents in Billings and gave them Kaden for his MUCH anticipated 5 days with them. We are sad that it will be somewhat hampered by his arm, but I think he will have a great time anyway. They called last night for some last-minute instruction on his allergy meds and he was still up at 9pm and had (after driving home from Billings) already helped them water their garden, visited Gramma Gehman and presented her with his Peach Jam present which he insisted we needed to give her, gotten the wading pool out, and eaten dinner...all in 3 hours. Needless to say, he is having a GREAT time. I am so happy for him to have this time with them. Every day last week he would ask at least once (sometimes several times) "What day is today?" and this is what the rest of the conversation would be: mom: "Monday" Kaden: "What comes after Monday?" M: "Tuesday" K: "What comes after Tuesday?" M: "Wednesday" etc... M: "Friday" K: "What comes after Friday?" M: "Saturday" K: "AND I GET TO GO TO GRAMMA AND BOPPA'S!!!!" I would think he should know his days of the week in order by now.... Katelyn is doing JUST FINE without her partner in crime, so far. Granted, it's only been a day. She is very much enjoying being the center of attention and being silly to get said attention. Today at breakfast I heard myself saying, "Stop teasing her".... (pause for 5 seconds).... "she's trying to eat, stop. Leave her alone..." when I realized. "WAIT! IS KADEN HERE??? NO!!! WHY am I having to say these things???" Luke just shrugged. He had wasted no time picking up where Kaden left off. LOL! HOW is it already so far into July? And is it really possible that when I see my little boy again he will be FOUR!? I have a party to plan, cooking club, babysitting night, speech therapy for Kate and several other things to do as well before Thursday. We have 10 weeks until this baby is due... at the rate things are going that will feel like tomorrow! I'm really not sure I'm ready for labor.. bring on the rest of it! Someday I will post more Kadenisms. And Kate is talking just enough that we might even get to include her soon!

House of needies...

So, in my last post I neglected to mention that Kaden hurt his arm the same day I was at the ER for my hives. My first thought as he was screaming that he hurt himself falling off the couch was "if we have to make another trip to the ER I'm going to just die." We did not take him to the ER because after further inspection of his arm and asking him some questions we quickly came to the conclusion that he had over extended it. Nothing broken, nothing too terrrible. It was also right at bedtime, so we didn't know how much of the meltdown was truly his arm, and how much was just he needed some sleep. Although, he cried enough that we did know it wasn't totally just from being tired. Now that it's been a few days we are realizing that in the process of falling off the couch and over-extending his elbow, he also messed up his shoulder. It took us this long to figure that out mostly because he IS milking his "broken arm" (as he calls it) to the point of ridiculous. He wouldn't even open the door the other day til we MADE him. As if his right arm isn't perfectly fine...he would be perfectly happy to whine about everything and make us do everything for him. He cries when we even lift him under his armpits. And today I asked him to raise his arm above his head. He refused to even try it alone, so he used his good hand to lift it (ever so slowly) above his head. Then i told him to hold it there and let go. He tried and I could see in him that he wasn't faking as it shook and felt to his side. I could tell he had tried, and he was in tears at the end. I guess we'll head to the dr soon. The problem is, I don't trust myself under the influence of benedryl for the first 2ish hours... which leaves about a 1 hour window where I don't have the hives making me crazy or the benedryl making me sleep. How do you schedule an appt in that time frame??? bad timing, Kaden...bad bad timing! Poor Luke has gotten the brunt of taking care of this sad household full of needy people. He's done such a good job, but I can see it taking a toll on him too. We have date night tomorrow... I'm not sure we'll actually go on a date, but it'll be a good time to not have kids and just BE. And maybe my hives will be gone by then?

The month of June in a not-so-short nutshell

I just came here to update the blog and found a draft I'd never published. At least I have less to remember than I thought I did! Over the weekend of June 9-10, Luke went up to Montana for his parents 40th anniversary party. He left here saturday morning and got there about 5pm-in time for dinner with his parents and sister's family. He then stayed til about 4:30pm the next day and headed back to Gillette. So, he was there less than 24 hours... he was a tired guy when he got back. He was able to bring several coolers of much needed meat from both sets of parents, and some hand-me-down clothes from his sister, and some SAMS Club necessities while he was at it. Did I mention it was a BUSY 23 hours there? I don't remember a whole lot of what we had going on between then and now except VBS. This year I Co-directed VBS with a friend from church. She had a ton going on, so I think we both felt like VBS got a teensy bit overlooked...and it started to stress me out toward the end. I finally decided to just pray and let God know how I was feeling and purposely put my trust in Him to provide what was needed. I felt a lot better then and during the week of VBS God definitely made that provision! VBS started on Sunday the 24th... also, I ended up with a 18-20lb box of peaches that were NOT going to last another day. So after church Luke and I spent 4 hours washing, peeling, and finely chopping (in the food processor) all the peaches except about 8 which we saved to eat. We made 3 batches of freezer jam, then ran out of jars, sure-gel, and sugar. So I froze the remaining puree for another jam making session, maybe when the weather cools a bit! (it was over 100 the day I was doing this!) Then I left at 4 to head to the church to finish up setting up for VBS. It was a crazy night between setting up, registering all the kids (75 average), and making sure the volunteers for each age group and session had enough help. That night we had 14 four-year-old boys and 2 4-year-old girls. I was feeling bad for those teachers! BUT, at the end of the week when we did our "best behaved" awards it turned out that the nominees for that prize were 3 boys out of that group! I have nothing to say but GOOD about how VBS went. Each night we had exactly the help we needed, plenty of snacks and crafts prepared, and a great bunch of kids. I didn't even have to get up on stage and threaten them wiht "I'm NOT a nice person, and you DON'T want to come sit with me if you're naughty." Like last year! The downside to the week was that on the Friday before I had my normal OB appointment and had been having a LOT of contractions. Too many for my OB to be comfortable with. She thought they were due to a(nother) UTI and prescribed Macrobid (again). On Tuesday, when the contractions had only worsened, I called and they decided they needed to see me Thursday since it turned out I never did have the UTI. I went in on Thursday and they just did a few things to make sure I was not having pre-term labor and dilating or anything serious. They stopped my macrobid and once again it looked like I had a UTI. The very next morning I woke up with hives on my face and back of my arms. I searched high and low for benedryl (i have a history over very BAD allergic reactions when i have them...usually to bugs/spiders) and could find none but childrens. (Can we say "gross tasting"?) I called my dr, who said she thought it was probably an allergic reaction to macrobid and told me to take 25mg of benedryl every 8 hours. (That is less than half a normal dose, because of my pregnancy.) I did that all and thankfully Luke's jobsite had no contractors for the day so he was able to come home early to help me with kids through my benedryl fog. By that evening my hands were swollen to the point of "can't even make a fist" and raging with pain. The hives were everywhere. We called a doctor friend from the church who said to up the benedryl to 50mg every 6 hours, so we did that for the night. Somehow, miraculously, I slept fairly well all night...as long as I didn't try to graps my pillow or anything, and took my benedryl a half hour before i was supposed to. But when I got up in the morning it was BAAAAAAAD (as if it weren't already bad!) I was swollen from my fingertips half way up my arms, and my whole sides were one big hive, not to mention everywhere else. By this time I had tried the home remedies- oatmeal bath, baking soda bath, cold showers...I was willing to try ANYTHING. as I got out of yet another 30 second cold shower (which, by the way, does help the itching for a few minutes when your desperate) and looked at my fingers which were completely blue. Luke saw my eyes which were totally swollen and purple... that's when I realized we have to do more than benedryl! Even the insides of my ears were burning! So we called a friend to watch the kids and tried to decide between walk-in clinic or ER. At that point I had not felt the baby move in quite some time, and my contractions were totally gone. Our dr friend from church told us that at the walk in they would have to send us to either ER or OB floor of hospital if they were worried about the baby, so we opted to just start at the ER. I'm so glad we did. They got me right in (weird!) and the dr came to see me within a few minutes. He gave me some steroids and a prescription for more steroids and upped my benedryl again. By that time I had swollen up to almost my elbow and the hives had gotten worse (who knew they even COULD!) I was getting pretty depressed and wondering how bad could it GET? They checked baby's heartbeat- which was normal- and wouldn't you know it that about one minute later the baby decided to kick and squirm. (Isn't that always the case?) I guess we could ahve done the walkin clinic, but I don't care because we got treated so well at the ER. Also the ER doctor was able to call my OB dr to confer with her about his prescriptions, and checked my labs (that i'd done thursday) to make sure something major hadn't turned up. Thankfully, NOTHING. We are not 100% sure, but are being told to assume I am severly allergic to macrobid, which was probably what was causing the preterm labor and i had other symptoms of allergy that I hadn't noticed. (Like, feet hurting at night.... isn't that just pregnancy??? altho, the "pain" was a very weird sensation, not a normal achy feeling.) So here I am..able to type, and the swelling is back down to mostly just my hands (hence the reason I can even type, albeit a little uncomfortable!). About 5 hours after the steroids were in my system my hives were dissapearing almost as fast as they had come. I can still feel that I'm having the reaction, but am so thankful for the steroids taking the edge off! The pharmacist told us to expect a 3 day recovery. Let's just say I will never forget to tell a dr I'm allergic to Macrobid. And I'm so thankful it didn't turn into a breathing crisis (which I've had with bug/bees/spiders). All that to say, VBS week has sure been a full week! Oh, did i mention it was upper 90s and 100s for the week? This week I am looking forward to date night on Tuesday (we are now rotating date-night babysitting with 2 other families) and Luke having Wednesday off for the 4th. Then next Saturday we will meet my parents in Billings with Kaden so he can go spend 4ish days with my parents. THey will bring him back on his birthday (the 12th). I'll miss him a lot, but it will be fun to have a little extra one on one time with my Katelyn-girl. And make it easier to get his birthday party planned! So, I'm 29 weeks pregnant now...and hoping this was the most exciting week of pregnancy. Luke and I were joking while at the ER that it seems I only know how to do things in extremes: help in MOPS? why not co-coordinate, allergic reacion? the worse the better! baking bread? Why not do 8 loaves and freeze some? you know... I guess that's just me. Tomorrow is July 1 and I can't believe it!

june 8, 2012

I can never remember how far along I am. I finally wrote the weeks on my calendar so I at least have somewhere to go look! How different from the first time around!!!! Tomorrow morning Luke leaves for Montana for his parents 40th wedding anniversary party. It will be a long QUICK trip, which is why the kids and I are opting to stay home. During the summer Luke is very discouraged from taking time off work by his company (not that it seems to stop the other employees, but that doesn't mean Luke wants to be that kind of employee.) Anyway, so he will be leaving in the morning nad hopefully make it there by dinnertime (with one stop for us in Billings...when you live 2 hours from anything you HAVE to make use of the time you are in a city!). He will get to spend the evening with his family and then go to church (his dad is a pastor) in the morning. The party is at 1:30pm and he'll be headed home as soon as that is over. I wish it was not during the summer and that we could make a trip out of it, but I guess that's how life goes. Meanwhile, the kids and I plan to hold down the fort at home. We do have to get our bountiful basket at 10am and thats about our only plans! We are going to make the most of the weekend, even if daddy is gone! Life has been a little less hectic lately, but, interestingly enough, I actually feel more stressed. We have been playing outside a LOT and having a lot of friends over during the day. It's been so fun. I am co-directing VBS with another gal, and that has been a little different than last year. It seems to be coming together, but as always, I'll be glad when it's over! I am starting to hit that "third trimester fatigue" that I've actually never had in previous pregnancies...but now I am experiencing. By evening I'm usually totally wiped. I'm sure part of that has to do with being outside in the mid-80s for several hours a day!

just some more of life in general....

Yesterday someone told me they could tell I'd been outside a lot. Yes, on May 9th I was complimented on my start of a tan. I hadn't even noticed! Probably because I'm noticing my BELLY. Am I SURE I'm not 30 weeks preggo? Yes, and no. Nope. No pictures for curious minds. The house across from us (next to the one that I complained about last summer getting resided, light GRAY..yuck) well the house next to THAT is getting resided...light green. Seriously. First of all, OUR house just got resided and is (a good version of) green. So why would you choose green? Second...LIGHT green? These people aren't even old! It does make me wonder if smoking affects you more than the general surgeon is letting on. Also, maybe my idea of "acceptable house colors" is completely off. Who knows. Today I watched a couple extra kids and it was warm out. So we broke out the water table and eventually remembered the sunscreen..and eventually ended up with a kitchen towel bandana'd around the little girls head since it's still mostly bald. All in all, the kids spent about 3 hours outside and I didn't have to do anything besides make them lunch :) I sat in my camp chair and looked at recipe books (and sweated). I haven't done that since I can remember (the recipe book part. Well, maybe the sweat part too. sadly). I now have a half page of desserts I want to try. (Maybe this is why I seem to be 30 weeks pregnant-looking?) Lately (as in this week) I've felt so much energy. I've spent many naptimes DOING rather than recovering from the morning. I've baked, and baked, and well, basically avoided cleaning...but at least I've been busy/productive during that time. There were some days I wondered if I would ever be productive again. I'm not making promises though... this week could be the one and only. Today I cleaned up the kids room/closet (isn't that what I'm always doing when I clean? maybe because it's the least of evils of cleaning...) These kids are lucky I can't find my camera, or I'd have taken pictures of every toy to sell on the Upcycle facebook site. Well..maybe not EVERY toy. I had a movie on for Kaden (I've been having him not nap as he wakes up SO early every morning.) He fell asleep to the movie..which is fine, I figure if he needs the sleep he will fall asleep to the movie. Kate has been sleeping for almost 3 hours. That's about all I can think of. The last 10 days (since I last blogged) have been busy, but not overly exciting. Oh, Kaden does have swollen eyes..since Sunday. We are trying allergy meds (doesn't seem to be working) and the dr prescribed antibiotics just in case it's pink eye. I doubt it's pink eye. I hope not, since we've been fairly social... OH! And I'm done babysitting. D-O-N-E. Done with a capital D. DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I enjoyed it while it lasted (well, maybe up until one month before..) but I'm ready to be done. i think it has to do with the nice weather... and wanting to enjoy a summer without a baby around. I'm so enjoying how Kaden and Kate can play and play and play outside with minimal neediness. I wasn't going to quit til June 1...but it just worked out different than expected so I'm done as of last week. I had my last MOPS leadership meeting yesterday for the year...it was a bittersweet ending. I drove away thinking "wow, I'm really not doing this again next year" and was sad to not have that tie with those people, but happy that I won't be as busy. Apparently some women at my church are planning to start a similar group at my church, but I don't think I'll be involved with that either. I plan to fill my time with my new baby (and my other kids..haha) and playdates, and more 'important" things (in my priority list anyway). Well, it's time for me to go clean the kitchen a little more (you'd never know I mopped just yesterday) and get the living room picked up. If I find my camera you might want to check my facebook if you're interested in kids toys... just sayin'.

April FLEW by!

Wow... it's been a whirlwind weekend. and month. and life...really! For Easter we had some friends over and celebrated mid-afternoon with a ham feast and easter egg hunt for the kids. It was a really fun day.

From there we really don't know what's kept us so busy but somehow it has been! Somewhere in there we headed to Rapid City and ended up with a Toyota Sienna van. It's the Extra Luxury Edition. Yep.. I think it's awesome...even if it is a minivan. We've had some beautiful days this month and spent time playing outside in the water. Kaden learned to ride his bike with training wheels and was OH so proud to ride it to the park for the first time. I doubt we will go to a park without it now! Kate graduated from stroller to wagon for our park trips. She just climbs around in the stroller so I realized a wagon is much more suited for her! The kids also got to go to their first circus! The elephants were the favorite (possibly because they peed and pooped for them), and they also loved the tigers and cotten candy.

Kaden also got to meet Curious George. You should have seen his excitement! He found every monkey think he had to wear... then he frowned when George came in. He told me George is NOT that big, and he knew it was the real George. Oh well, he still loved it!

Friday (27th) was a day full of happy and sad. In the morning we had our 20 week ultrasound! We found out our baby is totally healthy and the amniotic fluids levels (the worry of this pregnancy)are GREAT. We don't have to have another ultrasound for that until 32 weeks! (What, 12 weeks without an ultrasound? the most we've gone so far is 4!) We also decided not to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl. I am so excited for the surprise. I think Luke is just willing... he'd sure love to know. I kind of think its a boy because the baby is already measuring a week older and is in the 90th percentile. (Following his/her brother, Kaden!!!) Friday was also a sad day when Allison moved out. We were all sad to see her go, especially the kids. Katelyn even through herself on the floor and wailed and cried. We miss her, and were glad to get to share our home with her. It is weird to go back to "normal". Thankfully, we had a busy weekend to distract kids from the sadness. On Saturday Kate turned 2. We spent the day cleaning and cleaning...and cleaning. And making potato salad, and marshmallow fondant, and cakes. That evening my parents came and the kids were so thrilled to see them. It had been since Christmas! On Sunday, the kids and Luke and Boppa went to church while my mom and I made the cakes and wrapped presents. The cakes were the easiest I've ever done, and I kind of think I'm hooked on fondant!!! I made the marshmallow fondant, so it even tasted good. My dad said he likes it better than frosting. I loved how it turned out..and Katelyn seemed to enjoy it too!

We had cake and ice cream first at 3:30pm-right after naps! Then we opened presents and played. Around 5:30pm we had polish dogs, hamburgers, potato salad and chips. It was a fun celebration. We got her a water table, but I don't even have a picture!

Pregnant and telling. (this is because I now know I will never remember this stuff)

Yesterday I turned 16 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy has definitely been the easiest so far (and I'm hoping that doesn't mean hardest baby!) It has been a lot easier to be excited for the baby instead of just "making it" through the day..the nausea, etc.. Both Luke and I feel like this is the most excited we've been. I think we always knew we'd have 2 kids...but this one is the kid we never PLANNED on having. I mean, yes, the pregnancy was planned...no surprises here...but it wasn't one we always knew we'd have. We haven't always pictured 3 little rascals in our lives.

Some of the things that stick in my mind lately are the THREE ultrasounds I've had in only 7 weeks. The first at 9ish weeks showed a giant bean with a heartbeat...and proved there was only 1 baby with a due date of Sept 12ish. The second at 13ish weeks showed that the bean had grown into a full fledged baby. It was so fun to see how much could change in a little over 3 weeks. I have a picture of just baby's feet in that ultrasound. They are about the size of a pencil eraser. The third ultrasound was yeterday at exactly 16 weeks. It was truly amazing how much bigger the baby was and how differently it moved. We could see it's spine and ribs, both chambers of the heart beating, and baby kept flipping around...proving that I DO feel baby inside me this early! It's been such a fun progression to see this baby so often and it has been truly mind boggeling (to put it nicely) to know that people kill babies at these stages.

I started feeling the baby flutter around last week, around 15 weeks along. Lately the flutters turned to kicks..and yesterday, at exactly 16 weeks, I felt a kick from the outside. I was SO shocked. I was just laying on the couch after a very busy long day, and the baby started kicking, so I put my fingers on the spot and started poking. Right then it just kicked my fingers right there...as obvious as could be. In the middle of my sentance I just went "WHOA! The baby just kicked me!" and do you think it would do it again for Luke?

I did get a stomach virus at 15 weeks and it lasted a LONG time. I never threw up (I'm crediting the nausea pills for that) but I wanted to. I almost think it was worse to not be able to. It felt like a brick in my stomach while sick. It caused heartburn like I've never had, and was truly miserable. Adding to that, it was the days we were traveling... So, that makes pregnancy #3 to get the flu in. I had been hoping to avoid it.

Now that I'm officially well again, I have decided to cut my nausea medicine down to 1/2 pill. I'm on day 2 and I seem to be doing ok. I do feel nausea throughout the day, but it is doable. I am anxious to be off all meds, and have the side affects gone too. However, I did start a acid reflux medicine, so I'm not sure how successful I will be at going off all meds. I'm just taking it a day at a time, and determined that I will do what it takes to feel ok for the sake of everyone in this family! (Within reason and limits, of course.)

I can't believe I'm already 16 weeks. I find out what I'm having within the next month (not sure when...) I do feel like I am having a boy. In fact, I am pretty convinced. I tell myself all the time that people are always wrong, so I somewhat expect to be! I feel like it is a boy because this pregnancy is so similar to Kaden's. I feel the kicks so much sooner (compared to Kate's) and am carrying so high that I can wear regular jeans even though I look fairly pregnant. It's all the little things that lead me to believe it's a boy. But I will be just as happy if it's a girl...maybe just a little more surprised! Yesterday at the ultrasound the nurse asked if I knew what I was having yet (at the Resource Center they are not allowed to tell) and then kept saying "he" then correcting herself... "err..or her." Since I already feel like I am having a boy, this didn't help unconvince me. Time will tell! And we'll see if I'm right! Like I said, either way is totally fine with me :)

What a ride. I'm still having trouble believing that I'm pregnant with #3. Where has time gone?! How old am I? and (some days) WHAT WAS I THINKING?

But I'm so excited. so very excited.