Summertime!

At least I have caught up to the summer now. Almost done!

At the end of June, my family called me and wanted to see if I could meet them at Canyon Creek for a day trip with the kids. I got a few things arranged and we were able to spend the afternoon with my family while a lot of them were in AZ. I think half of the kids in my family (4 out of 8) were able to come, so that's a pretty good size group when you consider all the grandkids that belong to those families. The women and little ones sat around in the grassy shade for a time while the more adventurous ones went off hiking and fishing. Later, the rest of us went to play in the water while the men were still fishing. Even later, we had a few people go off and search for the men, who were STILL fishing, so some of us non-night-drivers could leave before it was completely dark. It was a fun and very relaxing afternoon, one that was well-needed! It was nice to see my siblings that came from all over the country to play together (FL, TX/OH, UT). We did REALLY miss the other half of the family, but we understand that when you have a newborn, are in the process of packing up your entire house to move cross-country, or if you have to work all day that it's a little hard to come a play for an afternoon. :-)

Grandma sitting with Kate and Aimee.

Grandpa helping the boys fish.

This one is probably my favorite from the entire trip. I think I might just have it framed sometime.

Everyone else playing in the water.

Another vicory for Jayke. He's now up to two fish. Cousin Isaac was so kind and let Jayke take home his two fish, so we were able to enjoy eating three fish that night. So yummy! I still can't believe that Ryan can't stand to eat fish.

Up next...July.

More...

Back in January of this year, I found Kate playing doctor. (No, not THAT kind of doctor.) She looks so grown up with a stethoscope around her shoulders.

Back when I was harvesting our experimental wheat garden, Kate found the seedhead to one of them and decided to turn herself into a country girl. I thought it was hillarious! Although, I think she looks better as a doctor.

On Aimee's birthday this year, she saw my camera and immediately started begging, "Take picture me! Take picture me, Mom! Take picture me!" So, I gave in and took pictures while she posed.

"I'm two."

"I'm silly!"

"I'm so funny!"

My silly face!

Still can't put the other fingers down to say she's two.

Absolutely TERRIFIED of the flame! She was standing up to run away from it.

Thanks for blowing it out for me, Dad.

Yummy ice cream, my favorite!

Normally, I would not post pictures of myself on here. For one, I don't take pictures of myself. That means that I'm not the one posing myself just right in order to hide all of my double chin-ness caused by my 4 beautiful children and amazing cook husband. BUT, the reason I am posting this one is because the other day I was scrolling through my pictures on the computer and Jayke saw this one and told me, "Mom, that's you when you looked pretty." This one was taken shortly after my surgery after I had my hair cut. I thought it was sweet that Jayke thought I was pretty (for at least a few weeks in my life before my hair grew out again). So, for his sake I am including it on here.

Some of my favorite moments as a mom are when I happen to find my husband playing outside with the kids. It makes my heart want to burst from an outpouring of love. This one of Ryan pushing Aimee in the swing was taken through the blinds so as to not disturb their together moment, so forgive the horizontal lines and fuzzy screen look to the picture.

Later on that same evening, Ryan was testing the golf cart to make sure the new battery worked in it. Oh, how those kids love their daddy!

Also from the same day, since I had my camera out, Aimee started begging for me to take her picture. I think this girl loves the camera more than anyone else in the entire world! Gotta love the messy faces of 2-year-olds!

Then there is Jayke. He is so fascinated with anything from nature. Lately, he has been talking about how different things mate (yes, including humans). We were out in the yard and he found these two insects obviously in the middle of something, so he picked them up so he could observe them better. He discovered which one was the male and which one was the female by the way they were connected. Very observant little guy! His curiosity makes me laugh.



Yes, there is still more to come...

Catch-up

I realized that it has been a few months since I last posted, so I'm going to attempt to fill in a few gaps. I have noticed that since I got my new camera, I have more pictures of other people's kids than I do of my own. So, my goal for the next 12 months is to change that. I will take pictures of other people's kids when it does not interfere with my time with my own kids. :-)

This post will go back all the way to May 2010, when I found Kate trying to potty-train her dollies. I have to say that it was the most adorable thing I have ever seen!

When I was in my furniture building spree a few months later, Kate decided that she wanted to build,too. Can you tell it was a miserable hot and muggy August day on the back porch?

And Ethan, oh how I love his creativity. I have no idea what he was trying to dress up as in this picture, but it is such a great blackmail picture. The little stick he is holding has a little branch on it that he is pretending is his gun's trigger. That boy! He loves his weapons!

Then we had Kate's 4th birthday. I made her cupcake cones instead of regular cupcakes.

And this is what Dad thought of them.

Then in November we had the chance to go to the mountains and visit my parents. On the last day, we decided to take a day trip to Canyon Creek and go fishing. My mom came even though she had to study for a test. She ended up studying while the "guys" were fishing. The first pictures are from when we walked around the fish hatchery.

Excited about all the fish!

Grandma and Aimee posing for mom.

Grandpa walking with Aimee.

Grandpa and the girls looking at the little fish.

Checking out the huge fish.

Girls chillin on a rock while the men fish.

Grandpa and the boys getting ready to fish.

Grandpa teaching Ethan how to fish.

Grandpa teaching Jayke how to cast his line.

Grandpa teaching Ethan where to fish.

Victory! First fish he caught!

More to come in the near future...

Short Update

A new year. A renewed committment. Same blog.

This year I turned 30. I was a little afraid of this birthday, with it starting a new decade in my life. So far, it has been just like any other birthday. I don't feel any older than normal. I'm just 24 hours older than I was the day before. Phew!

This past year I have been doing A LOT around the house. I am learning to make furniture and my dearest Ryan has bought me a few power tools to help me. I have made everyone beds, a nightstand, a toy chest bench, 2 closet bucket organizers, and 2 bookshelf benches. I have plans for making a dining set, an entertainment set, a laundry folding table/clothes sorter, a corner computer desk, and playing with the idea of a storage couch. We'll see. I'm a little scared of the upholstering part of the couch.

For a very short time, I was thinking about putting the kids in an online school, just to ease my stress a little. I chickened out at the last minute, though. Right now I am glad that we still unschool. The kids have so much fun and really learn much faster this way. I just need to trust myself and them. We went on a field trip today. We went to look at different buildings, sidewalks, trees, etc. The kids were learning about drawing with perspective. It makes so much more sense when they can actually go out and experience everything rather than just have someone tell them "this is the way it is".

Ethan is becoming a very good reader. I was really worried for a while. I thought we were going to have a lot of problems with his education. We took him off his asthma medication and finally the light in his mind is starting to turn on again. He can actually concentrate for more than 5 seconds at a time and he doesn't have his anger fits like he did while on the medicine. He is becoming a very inquisitive learner. He is proving to be a true boy all the way through. He loves anything to do with hunting, bugs, and dirt.  He is growing up so fast.

Kate has taught herself all her letters and most of their sounds. She wants me to teach her to read every day. She is still my most sensitive child and is completely girl, much to my dismay at times.

Jayke still amazes me every day. I try to teach him something and halfway through he starts teaching me the rest or sometimes he just says, "I already know that, mom." My goodness, where did he learn everything?!

Aimee is my most talkative child. She talks more than any kid I know. She's only 1.5 years and is already talking in phrases. She says so many words I can't even count them anymore and everyday she's saying several new words! She is very high maintenance, but wants to be left alone. I really have no idea what to do with her. She is the first of the kids to actually sleep in a crib. I really like that.

Let's hope this new year is a new start for all of us. The best is yet to come!

family pics and Aimee

we just had family pictures taken yesterday. We wanted to get some nice family pics before aimee goes under the knife tomorrow. It was actually the worst pictures my camera has ever taken. I was really disappointed. The worst part about it is that I don't know what the problem was. I think it was because of the 2 filters we used, but it could also be the lighting. I have never taken afternoon/evening pics outdoors before. They will eventually turn out, it's just going to take more editing than I am used to.

We decided to use the same outfits that they are going to wear to the wedding on saturday. They looked so darling! I even made all the men black ties. I think they cost me a total of $6 for the material and I still have tons left!

So, about Aimee. A month ago we found a mass growing on her neck. After lots of dr visits and medication, we are having it removed tomorrow and having it biopsied. When we found the mass, it was about 1 cm in diameter, maybe slightly larger. Now it is about 4cm by 2+cm. It is right below her jawbone on her right side. You can actually see it in the picture above. In the picture, it is right where her jawbone and neck meet her ear. See that little bulge there. That's it.

Anyway, her surgery is at 9am tomorrow, so if you would like to pray for her and her surgeon, please do so.

You would think that we had an exciting day or something, with 3 blog posts in less than 12 hours.

This morning we were doing day 2 of ethan's egg challenge. The first day we were supposed to touch the egg to his lip and wait a while. If there was no reaction, we would proceed to give him a small amount of egg to eat and that would be it for the day. The amount we gave him was no larger than 1/8 inch diameter. Almost a ridiculously small amount.

Day 2 (today) we would start by giving him a miniscule amount, wait 30 minutes. If there was no reaction, give him a piece that was a little bit bigger. I would estimate that the second piece we gave him was 1/8" by 1/4", so about double his first "dose". We waited an hour or so and he seemed to be doing just fine (my first blog post today). Within the next 1/2 hour or so (about 2 hours after we initially started feeding him egg today), he started to get full-body hives. We gave him a large dose of benadryl and waited 15 minutes. He did not improve, but was not getting any worse. I decided to put a call into the allergist's office just to make sure I was doing what I was supposed to. They advised that if he was not better soon to give him another dose of benadryl and possibly take him to the ER if he did not improve. So, we double dosed him and waited a few more minutes (while I typed my 2nd post). After 15 minutes he was not any better. He had actually gotten much worse. He had hives 2"x3-4" on most folds of his body (inner arm, shoulders, back of knees, legs, groin, armpits, etc.) Anywhere skin touched skin or clothing, he had these huge hives. He started to get hives on top of those hives. His entire body was red and burning. He was shivering and shaking from being so hot (kind of like what you do when you are starting to get a fever). He wasn't having any problems breathing, just horrible hives, so I called my nurse friend to see if she had a blood pressure cuff to check what was going on inside his body. She couldn't find it, so I decided to just take Ethan to the ER just to be safe. I had called ryan and told him to come home from work and started to get the kids ready to go to the hospital. My friend called back and said she had found a blood pressure thing and was going to someone's house to pick it up and would be over in a little while. I told her to not worry about it b/c we were just going to take him in. She offered to take the kids and told me she would be here in a few minutes. So, I started getting Ethan ready to go by having him go potty before we left. I was watching him the whole time just to make sure nothing happened. When he went to wash his hands he said he just didn't feel right and that he felt weird. His whole face was white and he had a purple line around his lips like he was wearing lip liner. He was losing blood pressure and going into shock from the allergic reaction. I quickly laid him flat on the floor and watched him for a second. His color didn't change and at that instant I knew he needed the epi-pen. I yelled to Ryan to get the epi-pen and he fumbled around in the diaper bag for what seemed a lifetime (probably 1/2 a second) and he gave ethan the shot right as my friend walked in the door. After a quick thank-you (and no further instructions for the other kids) I left, carrying Ethan to the car. I sat in the back with him while Ryan drove. Ethan's color wasn't getting any better while he was strapped in his carseat, so I took him out and laid him in my lap. By the time we got to power rd, the hives were gone and his color started to return. We got him to the ER and they got us a room immediately and we waited while they monitored him for several hours. You could still see the red spots from where his hives were, but they were not raised at all. As we were getting ready to be discharged, they gave him some oral prednisone and everything went away. So, he is better at the moment, though they say that he can relapse anytime in the next day, so we still have to watch him for a while.

Some things that we have learned from this:
1. The needle on the epi-pen is long and if you administer it to a thin child, you will bend the needle by hitting the bone. It tears the skin on the way out.
2. A 5 year old will tell you he likes the epi-pen (only after he starts feeling better, of course).
3. The epi-pen is not as scary as it seems.
4. When you need to use the epi-pen, you will know it (if you are watching for the signs).
5. Even a small amount of allergen (1/8" x 1/4" x 1/4") can cause anaphylaxis.
6. Eggs aren't that hard to live without. I would much rather live with my child than with eggs.
7. When you are holding your child in your arms, knowing he is about to die if you do nothing, time goes REALLY SLOWLY.
8. Doctors go crazy on their staff when there is a possibility that their protein extracts may have been bad (maybe left out too long?) and caused a child to go into anaphylactic shock b/c of a negative allergy test that shouldn't have been negative.

Oh, man! I spoke too soon. It has been a couple hours since E ate the egg this morning. I went to check on him, just to be sure. Upon examining him, I realized that he was in the middle of getting full-body hives. His entire body was all red and I started to see little white spots in the middle of all the redness. So, he has a double dose of benadryl and we wait to see if the hives go away.

He does not feel well at all and doesn't want to have anything to do with eggs anymore now that he knows how he reacts to them. Just a few hours ago he was so excited to touch and eat eggs!

Anyway, just wanted to give you guys an update on his allergy status.

We have been doing the egg challenge for 2 days now. Everything seems to be ok. There is no life-threatening reaction so far. He has only eaten about 1/2 tsp of egg (mostly yolk) so far between both days. The first day he did get two red bumps on his face, although I won't go so far as to say they were hives. Today his throat 'felt weird'. We are going to take it much slower than the dr told us to. Tomorrow he is supposed to have a lot of egg (basically the entire egg). I don't think his body is ready for it yet, so we are going to just slowly introduce the egg back in to his diet. The only time you eat a full egg at one time is when you're having boiled/scrambled/fried eggs or something like angel food cake. All the rest of the time, the 1-2 eggs are divided between all the servings of cookies, cake, or whatever you put it in. We just won't have him eat plain egg for a while. So, unless something changes drastically in the next little while, we will be allowing eggs in his diet on a very limited basis. phew!

We are having to slowly introduce eggs to Kate also, since she has never had them before. She seems to be doing just fine, too. That is definitely a relief. We are going to keep them out of Aimee's diet until she is 3yo, though, just to be safe.

I was looking through the cookbooks last night at all the different foods we can have now. I must say that I was really amazed and excited at the same time. It feels like we have a brand new chance at life now.

My camera lens should finally be coming tomorrow. Since the east coast was blanketed in snow for so long, we had to change who we ordered it through and it should be in Phx today. I'll post some samples as soon as I get them. Hopefully my skills (or lack thereof) won't disappoint me.

Lab results

We received conflicting results with the blood tests. This could be a bad thing, but maybe not. The items that he showed no reaction to on the skin prick (eggs, peas, pears) showed a reaction on the blood test. The peas and pears were marginal and the egg was similar to the peanut. Tree nuts are showing a mid-range on the blood test and skin prick, so she does not suggest even challening them. She said we could try to peas and pears to see how he does with them. The egg is really confusing, since the skin showed no reaction but the blood test shows a severe reaction. She said we could try a challenge over a 3 day period and see how he does with them. Typically we do the challenge over a 3-4 hour period, but she does not advise that for him with egg. We would have to do it seperately with the yolk and whites, each being 3 days.

Right now, Ethan has an upper-respiratory infection/possibly pneumonia (again) so we cannot start anything until that is completely cleared up.

When I told Ethan that the dr called with his results, he was really excited to try eggs. When I told him the results, he was really disappointed and upset by the conflicting numbers. He really wants to live a somewhat normal life and be able to eat things that other kids eat. Please keep Ethan in your prayers over the next couple weeks so that he can get over his illness and that he will be able to pass his egg challenge. It would mean a lot to him!

As a side note, here is a sneak peak into what's new in my life.

We're just waiting on the lens now. It should be here any time now. Once I get to know my camera, I will be doing 2 months of free photo shoots (in exchange for advertising, of course) ...  I might have to bring it to SF in June and take family pics for anyone that wants one... give me a heads-up if you think you might be interested in a free family shoot so I can be sure to bring my equipment.

Ryan and his dad have been more giddy over it than I have. Ryan's dad is letting me borrow a lot of his equipment until I can afford to buy my own.

allergy test

Ethan's test was much improved today over the last 4 years of tests. Usually, every scratch has at least a small (but usually very large) wheel, meaning that he usually reacts to everything in some degree or another. In the test today, there were only about 10 that had reactions. Most of them had no reaction at all. We know for sure that some of these are false positives, b/c he can eat the foods just fine. We also did blood work on a few foods, just to compare results. We should have the final results within two weeks, so we will keep you all updated. Thank you for all your fasting, prayers, and for putting his name on the temple roll. I know that miracles truly happened because of it.
Love,
Heather