Parenting is Hard

Sometimes when I talk to my kids I have to restrain myself from what I really want to say to them.  For example:

Dexter:  (crying hysterically while he talks)  "I bit my finger when I was trying to eat my lunch like cookie monster."

Me: "I'm so sorry, dude.  You should try to be more careful.  Are you okay?" 

  What I want to say: Duh!  What did you think would happen while you shove giant amounts of food into your mouth while chewing all crazy?  You're lucky you didn't pull back a nub!

Ivy: "My mouth feels hot."

Me:  "Do you need a drink?" 

What I want to say: How can your mouth possibly feel hot when you just ate pancakes smothered in syrup.  Just ask for a drink like everyone else.

Me:  "Did you brush your teeth, put on your shoes and go potty?"

Dexter: "You don't have to tell me everyday.  I can do it without you asking me."

ten minutes pass...school time approaches...

Me:  "Did you brush your teeth, put on your shoes and go potty?"

Dexter:  "Oops...I forgot."

Me:  "Well hurry up!  Its almost time to go."

What I want to say: See!!! I freaking knew it wouldn't happen unless I continued to nag you about it.  You'd be hungry, naked and dirty if I didn't remind you to eat, get dressed and wash yourself!

Ahhhhhh....I feel better now that everyone knows that deep down I'm kind of a jerk.

Happy Thursday!

Malcolm is 5 Months

Well he's a little older than that actually, but what can I say.  I have a very busy life these days.  

 Anyway, Malcolm is a totally awesome little baby boy.  He is so happy all the time, which makes things easier.  I can't imagine having a sad baby adding to the chaos of everyday life.  He just started rolling over last week, and now does it constantly and makes himself angry because he keeps flipping to his belly, but doesn't really like being on his belly, but can't roll the opposite way yet, so he's stuck like that until I can help him out.  Its so cute.

He weighs about 16 lbs, which is pretty average if I recall correctly....I can't remember the exact percentile and I'm not going to go search for the paper from the doctor's office.  He seems big to me, but both my girls were always way below average, so maybe I'm just used to smaller babies (The big boys were always at least average or bigger, but they're old now so I don't remember that well).  

He thinks his brothers and sisters are the funniest people alive.  He laughs at them like crazy when they just jump or something....Scott and I have to work super hard for laughs, but the kids walk by and he busts up!  So unfair!

Anyway, we love our little dude.  He's a great addition to our family.  Here are just a couple of recent pictures of Malcolm moo!

I walked away for 2 seconds, and Ivy and Dex decided to decorate him.  He loved it.

Here little Malco laughs at Bonnie (Ivy's favorite doll) while he sucks on his fingers.  (Hey members of my family-do you see the way he has his fingers in his mouth?  Remind you of anyone?  Britteny perhaps?  Luckily it was just a fluke that they were like that.)

Anyway, those are just the pics I had on my phone, my real camera's battery is dead, and I don't want to wait for it to charge.  I'll have to post those pics later.

I think I have Mastitis...

So I think I've done pretty well for myself.  Having breastfed most of our kids (didn't get to nurse Ivy, but she did get the milk that I pumped for her) and not getting mastitis ever...until now.

Yesterday afternoon I noticed some tenderness in my right breast while I was nursing.  It wasn't bad, and I didn't think much of it at first.  But by about 8:30 pm it was pretty painful and I started feeling sick too.  I went to bed at 10pm (which is pretty early for me).  During the night I was freezing!  I got extra blankets, cuddled with my warm baby and tried to warm up, but it wouldn't work.  I finally shivered myself to sleep and woke up at 3:30am soaked in sweat.   I felt terrible and I'm pretty sure I had a fever, so I asked Scott to give me some advil, and then I went back to sleep.

Morning came and I still felt pretty crappy, so Scott walked Corbin to school for me and I lounged around for a while.  Eventually I decided that a warm bath would help loosen up the clog in my breast, so that's what I did.  I noticed my breast had some red streaks across it and I tried to massage out the lumps.  It was painful.   Anyway, that was a few hours ago, and I'm starting to feel slightly better.  I read that Mastitis doesn't always need antibiotics to clear up, so I'm trying to wait it out for a little bit longer, but if I don't start to feel much better soon, I'm going to give the doctor a call.

Stupid mastitis.  Its ruining my day.

iPad Pics round 2

It was like a year ago that I last posted pictures from our iPad.  Well, I think now is a good time to post some new ones. They are so funny.  Most are of the kids, but some have Scott and I, cousins, and friends in them too.  Enjoy!

Warm Weather Makes Me Happy!

It was 57 degrees in Boise today.  57!!!  It was such a great day.  We did not let that sunshine go to waste.  We spent hours outside enjoying it.  We finally took our Christmas decorations down!  I know, I know.  But it started snowing the day after Christmas, didn't stop for a while, then the freezing temps came, then more snow, now its finally mostly melted, so it was a good day for it.  Tomorrow is supposed to bring snow again.  Boo! Anyway, our inflatable reindeer was frozen to the ground....so that was fun!

Here's Scott chipping away the ice, but if you ask me, it looks like they are booty dancing!

 While Scott and I took down lights and chipped away at frozen inflatables, our cute kids, got out bikes, pumped up tires, and had so much fun riding up and down the street for the first time in months, and playing hide and seek outside!  Imagine that!  They also got in some trampoline jumping.  What a great day!

Malcolm and Echo slept through most of the outdoor antics since they took place during naptime.  It was nice for me because I could help Scott with the decorations, and trim our ugly bushes in the front yard.  But just to prove that they are still alive, here are a couple of pictures of their cuteness!  

I really hope the meteorologists are wrong about the snow tomorrow....I might cry at the first sign of snowflakes.

Bless Ivy's Valentine's Day Heart

Did you know that Valentines Day is also National CHD Awareness Day.  I don't know where I'm going with this.  I just wanted everyone to know that congenital heart disease is actually a lot more common than you think.  It is THE MOST common birth defect among babies (Not specifically Ivy's heart defect, but heart defects in general), affecting more than 35,000 infants every year.

So in honor of my sweet little CHD survivor I just want to shout out to the doctors who made it possible for us to have our amazing little girl brightening up our lives every single day. None of them even know this blog exists, but I want to honor them anyway.

Dr. Peter Kouretas:  He preformed Ivy's Norwood Procedure when she was 6 days old, as well as the Norwood repair 11 days later when she had a complication.  Then when she was 11 months old he preformed her Glenn Procedure as well.  Without his steady hands and expertise, we may not have our little ray of sunshine.

Dr. Michael Womack:  He has been Ivy's Pediatric Cardiologist since before she was born.  I have sung his praises many times.  We seriously adore Dr. Womack.  He is the doctor who gave us her diagnosis before birth and has always been so optimistic about how everything is going.  He is a great guy and we are lucky to have him!

Dr. Joseph Kiehl:  He is Ivy's Pediatrician.  We seriously adore Dr. Kiehl also.  He is great with Ivy and all the other kids too.  He always remembers all the kids by name, and does such a great job.  I remember right before Malcolm was born Ivy hurt her leg on the trampoline and refused to walk.  The next day I took her in to his office, but he was out of town so I saw the nurse practitioner instead.  She sent us to the hospital to take x-rays and it was discovered that she had no broken bones so we were told rest the leg and that she should be walking again soon.  2 days later when Dr. Keihl returned to work he heard about Ivy and was concerned so he called me to check on her and make sure she started walking again.  I was so impressed that he cared enough to call.  I don't think our old pediatrician in SLC would have given her a single thought!

Dr. Phillip Burch:  This is the doctor that preformed Ivy's most recent surgery, the Fontan, last July.  We don't know him as well as the other doctors, but he did his job well and Ivy is here today because of that, so we are eternally grateful.

Also, all the cardiologists (even Dr. Jerkface who will remain unnamed), nurses and other random people at PCMC who helped care for Ivy over the years.  We don't know all their names, and they probably don't even remember Ivy because they deal with so many people, but we are very thankful that they are competent at what they do and were able to help us keep our sweet girl.

We are also so grateful for our support system.  This includes everyone who knows our situation and actively supports us by giving us a place to stay during surgeries, babysitting, praying, bringing us food, giving shoulders to cry on, calling to talk things out, and just being there when we need.  We are so grateful for all of you out there.  You keep us going.

And thank you to Ivy for being so darn great!  We are honored to have her in our lives.  She makes life worth living and brings so much joy to our family.  I can't even imagine what life would be like without her, and can't even think about that.  We love her so much and are so proud of her everyday.

If you are still reading this, bless you for your patience.  Happy Valentines Day, and CHD Awareness Day!

The Power of Positive Thinking

Scott pointed out to me the other day that I've been kind of complain-y lately.  Winter does that to me I guess.  So I've decided to start thinking more positively, so as not to complain so much.  Here goes.

Its a positive thing that we have at least one person in our family that is sick on any given day.  It gives us all a good chance to build up our immune systems.  Its also a great way for me to spend quality time with these sick kiddos.  I enjoy rocking them in the rocking chair hours past bedtime, while they scream and cough in my face.  And cleaning up puke gives me the opportunity to serve them more, and do more laundry.  Plus you never know when the puking is going to happen and its such a fun surprise when it does.  Especially when it happens at the kitchen table during dinner.

I think its awesome that I rolled my ankle on Echo's sippy cup while holding her on our way down the stairs. It was great opportunity for Echo to see that the stairs maybe aren't the best place to keep it.  Because falling down the stairs, even when you are cushioned by mom, is very unfun.  Also, it was good practice for me to try and protect my child in an unexpected situation, while sacrificing myself. (We are both fine by-the-way).

See, my mood is already turning around! Hooray for being positive!

(if you think this post seems riddled with sarcasm....you might be right)