A family that shares....

We spent last weekend at a indoor waterpark resorty-hotel place in Wisconsin Dells. It was supposed to be a lot of fun. We had a cool room with a loft, we were going to play in the water park all day long, waste lots of tokens (free ones, wouldn't waste my OWN money) in the arcade, eat yummy food, stay up late and just have lots of fun. Well, #1 Wisconsin had a blizzard while we were up there. Now, the waterpark is indoors, so really, the snow was ok, but the building we were staying in was brand spankin' new, and NOT physically attached to the waterpark. So we had to drive or take a shuttle over, which meant running around in the very heavy and deep snow to get into a building where we had to shed layers of clothing down to near nakedness, find a place to stash all our crap and then keep track of all the kids. Easier said than done when about half the populations of Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa had the same brilliant idea to spend part of their spring break there. Keeping track of the kids was stressful -- we lost Emily for a little while and had to get the "powers-that-be" in on the search. I told them to look for a girl in a pink swimsuit, with long pigtail and braids, who would be crying. And when we found her, I was right -- she was crying!

You know, we could have handled all that -- the snow, the crowds, the stress. But on TOP of all this, I was sick. My throat was so sore, I could hardly swallow, yet alone yell loud enough for the kids to hear me above the suprisingly loud noise of rushing water echoing throughout the waterpark. I tried hard to be nice, but ultimately, everyone ended up playing gameboys (including Jason) in the loft, while I slept and downed ibuprofin and Chlorospetic lozenges. It wasn't all bad though. They had great smoothies at the waterpark snackbar that were very soothing to my throat. The breakfast buffet was INCREDIBLE. I think we'll go again. When I feel good.

Once we got home, Jason's throat started to hurt. I mentioned something about strep, but by this time I was down to 2 coughdrops a day and only taking the ibuprofin in the morning, so I didn't want to go get tested. Jason held out a couple more days and finally went in. The Dr. kept saying he really thought it was viral, but J held out for the big long q-tip down the throat. Gotta love it when those smug doctors are wrong -- he had strep! So, if he had it, we knew I had it. And if 1+1 =2, it would probably also = 4! The next day, just to be safe, I called the kids pediatrician. It went something like this:

Me: Hi, I'd like to get my 4 kids tested for strep.
Receptionist: Ok... all 4 have symptoms?
Me: Um.. no, but my husband and I both have strep and we'd like to have them all tested just to be safe.
Receptionist: No fevers... no sore throats?
Me: No... but I'd still like them tested.


Geez lady, is it so hard to take my money? Just do the darn tests!

So then we got to the dr.

Nurse: So, what are everyone's symptoms>?
Me: (sigh) No symptoms, just strep in Mom and Dad and we want to check the kids to be safe.
Nurse: No one has had a sore throat?
Me: No...
Nurse: Fever?
Me: No....
Jason: Well, Dani threw up last week, and Brendan has had a really bad cough for a couple of weeks now.

Way to go , jumping in with the totally unrelated symptoms Jason! The nurse seemed appeased though and went out to get the Dr. Guess how he started

Dr.: So what are everyone's symptoms?

AUGHHHH! Doesn't anyone in that office communicate?

FINALLY, the kids got their tests and just GUESS who was right? Us. 3 of the 4 were positive for strep throat. Oh, its so nice to be right. If only it didn't involve pain and antibiotics!

Ready to Go!

Brendan loves backpacks, bags, any kind of zippered carry-all. He thinks my purse is the biggest, bestest carry-all of all! Throw my church shoes on and the boy is ready to go!

Easter Clothes

I cannot even begin to describ how hard it was to get this picture. Getting 4 kids to look cute at the same time is nigh impossible. When you throw in the fact that it was Jason taking the pictures (not as good as me with the camera, we'll just say) and the fact it was pretty cold outside, we're lucky ONE turned out good. Jason did have the brilliant idea of putting the camera in burst mode, which is why we have our one good shot and 28 lousy ones. But the lousy ones are funny enough that I am including them in a slide show. Especially watch Dani for some classic faces!

Public Health Warning

We would like to take this opportunity to encourage all wearers of contact lenses to beware of sleeping in them. Especially if you don't have glasses to use the next day, causing you to have to continue wearing those contacts. Even if its an accident. You might wake up at 4 am and be horrified to realize that you can read the alarm clock on the other side of the room. But don't assume that just becuase you know people who wear their contacts for weeks at a time, that you're going to be ok. Cause you just might NOT be ok!

Say you have this accident twice within a short period of time, you may expereince some eye discomfort, some goopiness of the eyes, a little itchiness. It might go away on its own... or that discomfort might increase to include light sensitivity and become so unbearable that, even though its only 6:30 and you have hours yet before you go to bed, you'll yank those contact out of your eyes. It might even seem that there is something wrong with the contacts themselves, rather that with your eyes, but here is where the truth will become apparent

As you try to claw your own eyeballs out because of the extreme itchiness thereof, you could call your doctor-dad and whine to him about how much your eyes hurt. He'll probably ask you a few questions and then recommend a course of action, like, call your doctor, you doofus. While you wait for the doctor to call, you'll want to sit in a dark room with your hands over your eyes while they stream tears down your cheeks. Incidentally, without being able to use your eyes, there won't be much you can do to distract you from your pain and discomfort.

The doctor will call, but of course, if its a Saturday night, you won't be able to see him until Monday morning, but he can give you some $70 eyedrops that will actually be quite helpful. Of course, you'll probably still have to wear your sunglasses to church the next day, prompting more than a few questions and making you feel like a total idiot. And don't forget -- you can't wear your contacts anymore, so in addition to the eye discomfort, you are also almost as blind as a bat.

On Monday morning, you'll be able to see the Dr., who will inform you that you have a large corneal ulcer, that you're lucky its not in your field of vision because then you'd REALLY have problems, that its going to scar (how weird is that -- an eyeball scar!?!) and then prescribes you OTHER eyedrops that cost $60. You'll then have to run to the one-hour glasses place, where you'll spend 2 1/2 hours getting a pair of new glasses.

But if you're really good, and you don't throw a tantrum or cry or whine too much, they might be really CUTE glasses. But if that is your ultimate goal, there are much cheaper and painless ways of accomplishing that. So take your contacts out when you start to get tired. Trust me, you won't regret it.

Happy Birthday, Dear Dani

Danielle turned 7 today. We celebrated with bowling, pizza and presents yesterday. I can hardly believe we've survived seven years with this unique, wild, and very demanding child. I still remember so clearly, 6 1/2 years ago, sitting with her in the PICU of Hartford Children's hospital, after several frantic hours, an amulance ride, followed by a helicopter ride and a lot of praying, and swearing to myself that I would always and forever be sure to appreciate this sweet little baby all the days of her life. What a wild ride it has been so far! She has tried, frustrated, angered, irritatated, amused, amazed and touched me in so many ways and on so many levels -- truly, even in the midst of absolute bewilderment, I have not failed to appreciate Dani for the unique personality that she is -- not that I knew quite how unique she was when I made that promise all those years ago!

Dani has grown and changed SO much in the last year. I think the most marked difference is the change from the queen of mischief to actively seeking out ways to be helpful and loving. Rather than trying to figure out how many ways she can torture Evan, she lets him have turns with her Stars Wars gameboy game and helps him clean his room from time to time. Instead of demanding my attention over and over and OVER again, she asks what she can to do help me out. So drastic is this change in her that is sometimes goes completely in the opposite of her former protocol. She hardly makes a move without asking my permission anymore -- when we were in Hawaii, everyone was highly amused by her constant asking for permission to do the most innocent of activities. When she wants to go play with a friend in the neighborhood, she asks when to be home -- if I say 5:00, she says, "Ok, I'll come home at 4:30!" She cleans her room without being asked most days and is usually the only one to help with a job until it is completely done. She thanks me for EVERYTHING -- from making dinner to taking her shopping to letting her stay up a few extra minutes. The girls definitely has learned to show gratitude! This is not to say that she is perfect, by any means -- she is still known to provoke Evan and Brendan from time to time, and she can still be very demanding of my attention, but that any of the previously mentioned events ever happen at ALL is a pretty big change for her. It makes me so happy to see her be a little less in a state of constant aggravation, always at odds with the world; instead, finding some peace and making an effort to go with the flow.

She still struggles with handling frustration. I think one thing that creates problems is that she had tubes put in her ears in December. Of course, it was supposed to help things -- she failed several hearing tests and we found that she had fluid trapped behind her ear drum, making her hearing muffled all the time. Her teachers have seen great improvement in her work with them, but at home, it seems to me that ambient noise really throws of her concentration. If any of the kids are playing downstairs while she does her homework at the kitchen countertop, she will throw a typical Dani-fit, ball her fists up over her ears and screech, "Everyone GET OUT! I'm TRYING to do my HOMEWORK!" Hopefully this will pass, either through learning how to handle frustration, or just getting used to hear more sounds.

I also still worry about her a little bit socially. She has a hard time making friends. She is such a tomboy that the girls don't really know how to take her and while she shares many interests with the boys, she still IS a girl and so the boys don't know how to take her, either. Most of her class has gotten used to her now -- when I go to help in her class, they are so proud to tell me that they are her friend and how they defend her from one particular bully in class. She has made effort on her own with the girls, telling me several times, "I sat at the girls' table for lunch today. Is that good? To sit with girls?" I assure her that yes, it is good to sit with the girls, but its ok to sit with the boys too.

A few times she has been teased because she likes "boy things" and I have reassured her that it is perfectly ok to be a girl who likes boy things. That is what people love about her (well, people other than some snotty little conformist first graders) -- Dani is totally unique and true to herself. And luckily, I think that red-headed determination of hers will ensure that she always will be uniquely Dani. Happy birthday, Dani-girl. I'm so happy we have survived 7 years together!

Blast from the Past

So, I'm sitting in my Seminary inservice meeting last night and apparently the lady sitting next to me has been newly called and the Seminary supervisor chats with her, and I hear her say her name... Its familiar, but the woman I knew by this name was my Merrie Miss teacher 20 years ago (dude, did I just reference something that happened to me TWENTY YEARS AGO?????) when we lived in Oregon. I ended up spending the rest of meeting watching her and trying to figure out if it could possibly be the same woman. By the end of the meeting, I decided that even if it wasn't her, I'd risk making a fool of myself and ask if she'd ever lived in Lake Oswego and believe it or not, IT WAS THE SAME PERSON! I helped with an object lesson during the meeting and she sort of recognized me too. How crazy is it that 20 years and 1000 miles later, you can run into people from your past?

Tagged

Brendan, of all people, got tagged! By his six month old cousin Cael, no less! Now I will commence to list eight great (or maybe just cute) things about our Brenny.



1. The boy will NOT sleep in a bed. Every night when Jason and I go to bed, we first have to locate Brendan. He is always easiest to find when he's on the stairs. His favorite place is on the floor in Emily's room. He has scared us a couple of time -- look us 10+ minutes to find him -- once he was in Dani's room on the far side of the bed, and the other he was crunched up in Em's beanbag chair. And it doesn't seem to matter if we put him in his bed, he always makes his way into ours before the night is over.

2. He is a snuggler. Most of my kids want to snuggle on their terms, which either means not at all (Evan) or on demand (Dani), but Brenny will snuggle up to any time I want. He just wraps those skinny little arms around my neck and hugs like only a boy who loves his mommy can hug. He gives good kisses too.

3. He is a very sympathetic little brother. If anyone is hurt or sad, he will voluntarily give comfort hugs -- even if they are a bit perfunctory sometimes.

4. He has a talent for finding the shortest path to danger -- i.e. sitting on top of the stove, digging in the medicine cabinet, grabbing hot curling irons, getting outside into the front yard all alone, wiggling out of his car seat, climbing the pantry shelves to find snacks. He's good.... in a really bad way!

5. He is completely and utterly addicted to chocolate milk. It is all he wants to consume -- 24 hours a day, with perhaps for a slight change of pace, a little candy once in a while. His "choc-it" is like coffee to him. He needs it first thing in the morning and as soon as he has it, he is a happy, sweet tempered two year old, but before he's had his cup-a, watch out!

6. He loves, and I means LOVES Backyardigans. Which is really nice for me, becuase I do too! He calls it "Ty-wone" and, as with his chocolate milk, would watch it 24 hours a day if allowed!

7. He is pigeon-toed, so he runs totally crooked. I love it! Everytime I see him take off running, I think of a line from "Cars," where Lightening McQueen is being chased by the police car and he thinks he's being shot at and he says, "Serpentine! Serpentine!" It makes him fall down frequently too though, so we have to get it fixed.

8. He turns more into a little boy every day. He wrestles with Evan, sings songs, counts things, plays imaginary games. I love watching this process. Aww... my little big boy.



We tag Denver Henrichsen, cause we know he and Brendan are two peas in a pod!

Revised

We're going to the Scrapbook USA Expo on Saturday, not Friday.

For your consideration...

My birthday is next month. The big 3-0. Since this is a "special" birthday, I felt a little justified in asking for a "special" gift. So, I'm going to Utah to scrapbook with my sisters and my mom! Woohoo! I think Jason's feelings are a little hurt that I want to GO AWAY for my birthday, but I've tried to explain, I'm not leaving for my birthday, leaving is my birthday PRESENT! I will actually be here with him and the kids on the actual day of celebration, so I think he is appeased. At the very least, he is letting me go!

For any friends, family or other beloved ones out in Utah, if you have any interest in meeting up with us, Mom, Rach, possibly Lani, and I are going to be attending the ScrapbookUSA Expo in Sandy on Friday, April 18. I am making this suggestion now becuase registration is THIS WEEK. Hope to see you there!

I love this....

If I happen to be on the couch while Brendan is watching tv, he will invariably wrap a little arm around my neck and put his cheek on mine as he watches. Its nice to be loved :)

What once was lost....

Emily was baptized a year ago. It was a totally crazy day, though I don't remember many specifics of why. I just know we barely got to the church in time to get things set up and once we were AT the church, we realized that we had forgotten our camera! My dad was still at the house, so he brought me the only one he could find -- Dani's, which BROKE before we could get the pictures off of it! So I've had this broken camera kicking around the house, hoping we could someday fix it and get my pictures back!




Today, Jason took a crack at it, and recovered some! Unfortunately, the one of her in the baptismal clothes is very blurry and probably not salvagable,

but we did get this one
















So at there is some photographic remembrance of her big day.

Also on the camera, Jason pulled this gem:

Worth a 1000 words, no?