"Who's afraid of the big bad wolf...?"

Remember that post about the calm before the storm? I guess I forgot to knock on wood when I wrote that. Well, the big bad wolf came. And he brought relatives!


In order of arrival on Monday, November 9, 2010:

SISTER BAD WOLF, 7am-- Lydia is projectile vomitting. Change of clothes 3 times before leaving the house at 8am. Continued vomitting all day.

FATHER BAD WOLF, 11am-- My gallbladder is coming out in the next month

BIG BAD WOLF, 6:30pm-- I start a load in the washing machine with the vomitty clothing and flood the house.

BROTHER BAD WOLF, 8:30pm-- I pull a borrowed fan out of the back of the truck, the cord gets stuck and then pops into my lip, cutting it open.

MOTHER BAD WOLF, 9pm-- We borrow a shop vac from the Bishop to start the cleanup at 8:30pm and soon flood the motor and break it.

GRANDPA BAD WOLF, 11:30pm, We borrow a carpet cleaner from another friend around 9:30pm, get things about as dry as we can, and break the carpet cleaner.


In all fairness, I was imagining a much meaner big bad wolf (knock on wood), so it really wasn't as awful of a day as I just made it sound. Just... interesting. More details on a few of the above-mentioned relatives soon.

Happy Halloween!

I don't know how I could have possibly forgotten to blog about Halloween this year! Our community had a Halloween carnival the day before Halloween that we decided to do a booth for, so we picked the fishing pond. We dressed up the girls to go to the Carnival; Brooklyn was a bumblebee and Lydia was a cow.



I had high hopes that Brooklyn would win/collect enough goodies to sustain the family for the next two months until Christmas... but those hopes were dashed as soon as we walked in the door and she started crying hysterically. Oh yeah... I forgot to "prepare" her for other people wearing costumes. She saw a little boy dressed up like Spiderman and decided she would be staying behind the fishing booth the entire night. I was pretty bummed about that. I have no doubt she and Lydia would have won lots of stuff. Granted, we needed both Tim and myself to run the fishing pond. But still. All the work getting into the costumes for nothing?!

At least the fishing pond was a success. We had customers non-stop all night, and we actually made quite a bit of money, even after paying for the toys and treats. I just didn't want to come out negative in the end, so I was pleasantly surprised!


I also donated a cake for the cake walk:


All in all it was a good time. We opted out of trick or treating on Sunday, but Brooklyn had no clue, so we're good.

4 Months Old

Lydia is 4 months old. It's hard to believe. So here's an update:


Weight: 17 lbs. 13 oz.
Length: 25 inches
Very interested in food, but has only had rice cereal 3 times now
Still wakes up 2-3 times a night to eat (and this is a good night)
Laughs at Brooklyn more than anyone else
Laughs at Brooklyn when she's crying
Loves watching Brooklyn
Likes kicking in the bathtub
Likes to be sitting up
Mainly poops when sitting up in the bumbo--> multiple up-the-back blowouts a day
Does NOT like having a messy diaper
Will suck on anything except a bottle or pacifier
Will sit and watch a movie with Brooklyn for a long time
Is pretty happy most of the time, as long as you are holding or playing with her
Is very needy
Likes being outside
Has rolled over a few times from stomach to back, but isn't doing this consistently yet
Does not like having her nails cut
Likes hearing songs
Doesn't mind being on her belly for a while

...and is adorable...

The Calm Before the Storm?

Do you ever get the feeling life is just going a little too good? Despite the little day-to-day things, that you have been sailing smooth waters for too long? Nobody has the perfect life, but is yours a little too perfect for comfort?

*sigh

That's me today. Part of me is wondering if I'm just becoming slightly paranoid, but the other part is wondering if these thoughts and feelings are to prepare me for something.

And then my imagination goes crazy, and it's really quite a downer. So I won't get into that.

So where's the big bad wolf and when is he getting here?

In the ER because I'm gassy... oh boy

Storytime. Does "emergency clinic run" ring a bell? If not, you didn't read my last post. Catch up and then read on.

While we were cleaning up the bullets after we went shooting, my upper stomach/rib cage area started hurting. The pain/pressure continually got worse, until I could barely move. By the time we were loaded up the truck I felt like I couldn't breathe... blah blah blah. Then I started hyperventilating, though I didn't realize it at the time. We weren't going to go to the clinic until after we dropped the kids off at home with Brooks and Miranda, but Miranda thankfully thought better and told Tim to go straight to the clinic. By this time, my arms and hands were numb, the pain was unbearable, and I couldn't take a normal breath. I really can only compare it to the pain of childbirth. I felt like I kept going "in and out" of it, and frankly, I wanted nothing more than to pass out to be rid of the pain. But to no avail.

So I got to ride the wheelchair into the clinic (That was a first for me, despite already having had two children. It was exciting). Anyways, after they got my breathing back under control and they ruled out a heart problem, I was given a GI cocktail (Yes, my first "cocktail") of lidocaine and mylanta, to numb my stomach and hopefully take care of the pain. It did reduce the pain considerably, but there was still enough pressure right underneath my sternum to be noticeable and annoyingly painful.

The doctor wasn't sure what the problem was, though we came to the joint conclusion that perhaps it was due to indigestion. As we were leaving I questioned: "So... you're saying I came to the ER (the clinic after hours) because I'm gassy?"


We all laughed, but what a horribly embarrassing story! I vowed not to blog about it. And yet, here I am.

I only blog because I am convinced my "attack" was not due to gas or indigestion, but to gallstones. I just wanted to make that public and on the record so when I find out it is gallstones, I can gloat.

This pain has happened 3 other times since having Lydia, all of which were during the middle of the night, and not nearly as severe. Pain underneath the sternum area, and through to my back. It's really awful, but only lasts a few hours. Antacids don't help, and neither does "stink-bugging" it.

(This is a stink bug... bum in air to relieve gas):


We went to the Center for Digestive Diseases (sounds scary huh) and now I'm scheduled for some blood work and an ultrasound of my epigastric region.

Hopefully we'll figure out the problem soon, and hopefully it won't involve the removal of my gallbladder. It's not like we REALLY need that organ anyways right? Well, no, not for survival... but 10-20% (depending on which website you check) of people that have it removed have chronic diarrhea.

NO THANK YOU.

Plus, I don't have time for all the shenanigans with surgery.

We love visitors

As I mentioned, Brooks and Miranda trekked to "Middle of Nowhere, AZ" to visit. We really appreciate them making such a long drive to visit us. We don't get too many visitors nowadays that we don't live on the way to anywhere.

We wowed them with a tour of the town, went swimming, carved pumpkins, beat them in a few games, went shooting, and let them babysit our kids while Tim took me to the clinic for an emergency run. But that story is for later...

Thanks to Miranda's amazing camera, which I secretly (or not so secretly) covet, we have some great candid shots.

Here are some pictures of Brooklyn's favorite hair-do, also courtesy of Miranda's talents. Brooklyn can't sit still for me to comb her hair, but she had no problem sitting for this fancy "do."


And if you ever wanted to see a picture of what Brooks would look like as a miner... (Yes, our park is modeled after the local mine) Here it is:


I kid. Brooks was a great sport hanging out while we did our boring everyday routine. Eat, nap, play. Brooklyn loved having him push her at the park.


We went out shooting the day before they left, which I thought, was a lot of fun. Don't underestimate the importance of your ear protection.


Here are a few more pictures of us shooting. I felt a little like GI-Jane out there... well, when I wasn't holding the wussier of the two guns.





Thanks for coming to visit you guys. We'll take you back ANYTIME.

We're a Pumpkin-Lovin Family

Hallelujah, it's October! In addition to slowly dropping temperatures (yes, it's usually under 95 degrees during the day now), we have also embraced pumpkin season. We decided to carve pumpkins when Brooks and Miranda came to visit, which made things way more fun. Carving was "cool" for Brooklyn for about 5 seconds of the poking/outlining, and then she was off. She wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin guts, nor the actual carving. So why do we do these things again and again every year? Traditions? Hmm... Thanks to Tim, we managed to put out two nice pumpkins.




The itty-bitty pumpkin was Brooklyn's. Unfortunately, by the next morning, someTHING had taken off with it and it was nowhere to be found. Yes, we looked. The THING did leave behind the candle. Much appreciated. (By the way, I'm not referring to some "spooky" Halloween tradition where someTHING, aka mom or dad, takes one of the pumpkins and hides it. The stealing of the pumpkin by the skunk and/or javelina that resides in the culvert next to our house, was not planned...)


The cat pumpkin belongs to Tim and I, and the vampirish one belongs to Brooks and Miranda. They claim that Tim and I making out was the inspiration for their pumpkin (like they've ever seen us do that. PLEASE, we are so not newlyweds anymore...). You'll notice the look of horror our innocent cat pumpkin is making as it watches the makeout session next-door.

Sadly enough, two days later, the top to the cat pumpkin was also missing.

Anyways. That's enough about pumpkins. More pictures and stories to come.