Trying to Win a Essential Babywearing Collection

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)
The more places I post this info the more entries I get. Sorry for such a non-informative entry. Unless you are looking for babywearing info, than I guess this could be a very informative entry.

Time flies on wings of fun and frustrations

Well, Sophia and I have had quite the eventful month. We have been so busy as of late with one thing or the other that we haven't had the opportunity to get on the blog and mention any of the wondrous and less than marvelous things that have been occurring as of late. We have been busy with doing repairs on the house and trying to resolve other associated frustrations. Being a homeowner is great. We have had plumbing and air conditioning issues which led to a leak in the attic. Unfortunately, the leak in the attic was not discovered until we saw water dripping from the ceiling and water damage to the sheetrock on both the ceiling an the wall. Yeah, hurray. Fortunately we were able to poke a hole in the sheetrock before the water accumulated sufficiently to break through. We then had some help from my dad to get the insulation moved since I was still having a hard time crouching down very far due to my ankle injury, so it could dry and not become the bearer of mold and other such fun things. It's amazing how quickly it dried out in the cool and dank environment of an attic here in Houston during the summer. I was sure it would take at least a few weeks. Now we had a plumber come out to help us find the leak in our house that was causing our ridiculously high water bills. He found no leaks that were causing that but did discover and repair the backed up pipe that was causing the water to overflow from the drip pan. Then the A/C guy came and said that things looked okay, so at least we didn't have to replace the A/C unit. We still don't know what's causing the high water bills, so now we have to get a sprinler guy to come and check them for problems. Only time will tell. The leak in the attic prevented us from putting in more insulation like we had originally planned to do the weekend that it was discovered. While we were doing the repairs up there, we noticed that the air conditioning unit was leaking large amounts of air in the attic, so yesterday with the benevolent help of Quentin, I was able to tape them and hopefully stop trying to cool our attic. Now that I have talk about the fun stuff, oh wait. Anyways, around mid June we had the privilege and pleasure of going to Illinois for Bobbi and Paul's sealing in the Nauvoo temple. Bobbi is one of Sophia's best friends from high school and they're more like sisters. We had a really great time the week that we were there. Other than this one wonderfully glorious event, I'm going to let Sophia share all of the splendid wonders and marvels that have occurred in our lives this past month. Besides, it's late and estoy cansado.

Crazy month

So, I didn't blog like I said I would. The room with our computer was out of commision along with the computer for a few days. We have had lots going on and our house keeps finding something else that wants to be repaired. Brian got good news from the Orthopedic Surgeon. The surgeon doesn't think that Brian will need any surgery. Brian was prescribed physical therapy for 5 weeks then he goes back to the Orthopedic Surgeon and see where things are. If he has made progress then he will continue with physical therapy and be done with the orthopedic surgeon if not than there might have been muscular damage and surgery would be needed to repair it. Brian already seems to be making progress though so our hopes are high. I have been having a heck of a time trying to be a wife, mom, home maker and full time babysitter and a Relief Society secretary on top of all that (that is why I haven't hardly been blogging at all). This month I watched baby Lexi from 8 1/2 -11 hours Monday through Friday starting at 6:15am. Starting next week I will be watching her Monday, Wednesday & Thursday for 12 hours a day starting at 6:15am. Next week we are going to Illinois so that we can go through the Temple with on of my best friends in the entire world & visit with all of my "adopted" family that are out there. We get to go through with her & her husband on Friday and then be at their sealing the next morning bright and early. I am so excited to go out, she is like a sister to me and getting to go through the temple with her as her escort is such a blessing. Plus, we get to go to the Nauvoo temple which has a very special place in my heart. I am also excited to go and spend time with the families I lived with in High School & after my first year in college. I apologize for the completely neglected blogging. Hopefully the few of you who actually read my blog will forgive me.

Pictures

I have been a slacker face blogger. Here are some picture of Cameron that will hopefully help you forgive me. I will blog tomorrow night.

Moving leaps and bounds then slowing back down

Well, a great deal has happened in this past week. On Sat. morning, I went to the church and played pick-up games of basketball as usual. We played several good games, and then in the last game, I was on a hard break towards the basket. At this point I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but I was "floating" through the air until I landed very hard on my ankle. I felt immense pain and something give out in my ankle. I then slid to a stop and everybody came to see what happened. All the other guys were worried that I had landed on my face because I was biting my finger hard to help block out some of the pain (gate theory of pain). I was extremely grateful to be surrounded by worthy priesthood holders who kindly gave me a blessing at my request. Sophia was then called but her phone didn't ring, so I nonchalantly left a message saying that I thought that I had just broken my ankle and would call to let her know which emergency room I was going to. She pulled in to pick me up as Kevin was getting his van ready to transport me to the hospital, but I instead rode in ours. I was carried out to the van and we were off to the ER. Kevin and Ryan offered to come along to help me get inside, for which I was extremely grateful. I can't help but be grateful for theirs and everybody's concern and offers to help out with anything that we needed. Once inside the ER, Sophia, Kevin, and Ryan all assisted in filling out forms and signing in, yet again making things much easier for me. Surprisingly, I was able to get in very quickly. I was given a shot for pain and had X-rays taken. We found out that my ankle wasn't broken, but they thought that I had blown all the ligaments in my ankle instead. They referred me to see an orthopedic surgeon and sent me home with some pain meds. I was somewhat loopy as I left because I kept feeling dizzy, and I remember some girls laughing at me as I was wheelchaired out to the car. Jared and Caitlin met us at our house and Jared helped me get inside without falling on my face. They also watched Cameron, so Sophia could run and pick up my prescription while I was a wonderful host and promptly fell asleep mid conversation. I hope they got a good laugh over that. Then starting on Monday we started playing hot potato with insurance as to who I would go see first, specialist or primary care physician (PCP). We were finally told we could see the PCP the following day and post date the referral, so we went in to the appointment only to be told at the desk that I had to see the PCP first. It was quite the game of monkey in the middle and of course the insurance company won. On Wed., I saw the Ortho surgeon and he basically said that I had a sprain and had bruised the bone, but the swelling was too bad to give too much more information. I was then given a very stylish black boot and told to return in two weeks at which point I'll find out whether or not I will need surgery to reattach or rather replace torn ligaments (hopefully not necessary). For now, I'm back to business as usual, so hopefully this black boot and crutch won't slow me down too much this Saturday during basketball. I guess everybody else gets their wish that I'll slow things down a little;)

-Brian

Hmmm... Where to start?

This week has been a little crazy, to say the least, & chaotic and scary, to say the most. We started the week by having baby Lexi join us. I watch her Monday through Friday from 6:15-3:30 ish. Cameron is getting better and more used to the idea of having her around, but I still need to watch him carefully around her lest she get a finger in the eye. Cameron's hardest time that he has is when I am feeding her her bottle because I try to give her just as much attention as she would get if she were being breast fed, meaning Cameron is getting less attention than he likes. He likes to hit the bottle or her & try to push or pull her out of my lap or arms. Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to successfully go to playgroups and get both children in and out of the vehicle, I was very proud of myself. Thursday we babysat for a little boy who had lots of energy and Cameron had a hard time. The little boy was 2 1/2 or 3 and had a hard time sharing & since Cameron is nearly his size it made it worse because he thought that he was a peer instead of a baby. Anyway, a friend came and picked him up because he and Cameron were having a VERY hard time getting along and I was having a hard time managing the two and baby Lexi. Friday was another day of babysitting. Brian was home so that was nice to have the extra pair of arms. We babysat for the daughter of a friend of a friend who's nanny called late Thursday night to inform that she wouldn't be able to make it Friday. My friend gave her my number and we agreed. Her daughter (16 months) had never been watched by anyone except her nanny or her grandmother so when she was woken up early she didn't eat and when she was then dropped of at our house, complete strangers to her, she was less than happy. It took us 3 of the 6 hours we had her to calm her down. Brian held her in our new Ergo , which I LOVE, most of the that time and she slept for about an hour of that time. Once she calmed down she attached herself to Brian like a leach. The one time he got up, to go to the bathroom and change into something besides his pajamas, she bawled the whole time he was gone. Brian spent the next three hours reading every board book in the house 5 times and sneaking her food (she wouldn't eat before) through the story time.


Saturday we were very excited with plans to go to Galveston after Brian played his typical Saturday morning game of basketball at church. I had woken up, I am usually asleep until he comes home at 9:30, so I took him to church so I could shop for his anniversary gift with out him. I figured since our 2nd anniversary is Monday that I should probably get something, I know I am the slacker that waited 'til the last minute, not something I usually do. Well, It turns out it was a good thing that I took him and and that I bought him his gifts that morning. When I pulled into the parking lot around 9:35 to pick Brian up a friend was coming out of the church and said "there you are, did you get the voicemail?" I was very confused because my phone didn't even ring. I told him "no" and asked "why?" and he said " because Brian just broke his ankle and we need to get him to the ER". We called Brian's best friend, who happens to be a paramedic and firefighter, and asked him where the best and quickest place to go would be. We went to put Brian in the back with the seats down. Brian needed something to lean again something for underneath his leg, "happy anniversary dear", they used the gifts that I had just bought. So much for a surprise.


We got to the ER and our friends who had followed us there helped us get him in. The place we went was great. While he was filling out paper work they brought out ice for his ankle and as soon as he was done they got him into triage. Once he was in the room though we got a fairly incompetent nurse who kept forgetting things and fumbling through everything he did, he was super nice, but not very confident in what he was doing. Anyway, it turns out that it was not a brake but a third degree sprain (a brake would have been way nicer). The doctor said that it looked like all of the ligaments in his ankle were ruptured. We get to go an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to follow up. Luckily, Brian's dad's assistant's sister knows who is good and who is not. So, on Friday when we called Mom & Dad to tell them Dad called her and we had an appointment set up within a few hours of having called Dad. Brian's pain medication has had in in and out of lucidity so we have laid pretty low. Brian will be missing work Monday & Tuesday. Mom had us over for lunch and dinner today after we had stake conference.


We sat in the hall for conference so that Brian could have his foot up on the couch. We got to see quite the parade of toddlers and babies, accompanied by there parents for the most part. There was one person there that made me upset. Cameron went up to play with her daughter and she said "don't let him touch her, she has been sick with some disease I don't remember and is it contagious for 14 days after the fevers have broken, but it has only been 7 days." I said "I have never heard of that disease what is it?" she went on to explain that the mouth tongue, cheeks & tonsils get covered in ulcers and that her children (there were three under the age of three) had all had fevers over 105 *F, but then said that it wasn't airborne that it was caught by touch. I know that you can get stir crazy from being home with sick kids, but if your kids are contagious with a disease that will leave my kid hospitalized they should not be anywhere near other small children! Aside from being all of a sudden very aware of this lady's children and their whereabouts conference was very good.

A few of this weeks pictures

Cameron with one of his new wool diaper covers

Cameron feeding himself a dinner of spaghetti on Friday night

Baby Lexi sleeping on the couch (I will get a better picture)

and then there were 4

Today I had 3 children to watch beside Cameron. Mondays I typically watch the RS presidents two youngest girls in the morning until mid afternoon. Today was also my first day watching baby Lexi. I will be watching her full time Mon. - Fri. Cameron had a difficult time adjusting, but I think that it was partly because there were now 3 others demanding my attention. I am hoping that tomorrow won't be so chaotic & that soon we will fall into a nice routine of sorts where having Lexi here will just be second nature to Cameron. I am hoping that all this time with me watching others will help him make a smoother transition into being a big brother, whenever that time comes (not an announcement), and that he will have learned to be gentle by the time that comes too.

Photo's of planting the garden

Just some pictures of us planting our garden. Cameron used the dustpan from his broom & dust pan set (he loves sweeping, dusting, and using a wash cloth to wipe things clean) as a shovel.

Our crazy week and our new garden

This week was crazy on Monday around 10:30-11 am our water stopped working in the neighborhood & we didn't get it back (just us though) until Wednesday around 5. It was a very frustrating situation. First the water went out for the neighborhood so I called and filed a report and then when we finally had to pay to have it fixed we found out that the people from the city who had inspected it had turned the faucet for the water that leads to our house off and then told us we had a private line problem. Now I know it wasn't either of us because we didn't even know where the water line faucet was. Anyway, we were blessed to have Brian's parents, who live close by, offer us a place to stay until we got the problem resolved, but it required a lot of extra driving. On the bright side though, the guy who came to fix the water saw our Utah plates on the car that we keep meaning to change and because he grew up in Kearns, Utah he started chatting and ended up fixing our sprinklers too, which was definitely not in his job description, with out charging me.
This was a huge blessing because since the weather become warmer (almost in the 90's most days) I have had a hard time manually water everything so our plants were starting to look a little shabby. We were afraid we were going to loose all of the veggies and herbs that we planted last week for FHE. The watering by sprinklers has really done the trick, the roses are blooming again & basically all of our plants, vegetables included, have just perked up a lot.
While I am on the subject, we finally got our vegetable garden in! I am so excited. This year we are sticking to just a small amount of things to see what we will and won't use and give us an idea of how manageable things are. We have 3 kinds of tomatoes: Juliet - they are like Romas but a little bigger, Champion - a good slicing tomato & Sweet 100s - a type of cherry tomatoes. We also have several types of peppers: yellow, green/red, Serranos, and Macho Nacho jalapenos. The last two will be great for spicing up our food a little more, which brings me to the herbs. We planted our own private Little Italy with thyme, oregano, basil & Rosemary. We also have a bay tree and chamomile & mint.
Cameron has been beating himself up. as most toddler boys do this week. Wednesday he tipped a chair over while standing on it and landed on tile. Luckily, it was a child size overstuffed chair which helped brake the fall, he also put his arms out. Resulting in only a small bruise over his eyebrow, it was scary than it turned out being. The next morning he came running around the corner of the bathroom trying to find me (how dare I take a break when nature calls) and tripped on a toy he had left on the floor. He landed teeth first on the tile floor and gave himself a big fat lip and the gums, the scab is off already and it didn't effect his teeth at all, which I was worried about. Friday was a double whammy, he fell backward in the kitchen while trying to climb up the back of his highchair and forward in the entry and hit his forehead on the door when his dad came home. I feel really bad every time he hurts himself I feel really bad, but he bounces back really quick. I never cease to be amazed at how resilient children are. I worry about concussion or loose teeth and after a hug he is ready to be up and playing again.

Catching up

Last week we went to the park for the toddler play group. Cameron had a good time except that the older kids don't play with him as much :'( He got hit and pushed around and then on top of all that he fell down the stairs (there were only 2 or 3 thank goodness) from the pavilion where they had picnic tables to the concrete slab and hit his face. The funny thing is that he got a mosquitoe bit later that day that swelled up bigger than the goose egg. Anyway, we went to the baby playgroup later that day and Cameron too his newly learned skills from toddler play grou p (hitting and pushing) and employed them on the younger kids there. Needless to say, we left early. I feel like Cameron is too young for the toddler play group but too old for the baby play group. I don't really know what to do because I really like the socializing I get from going. Maybe we will just have to go to the toddler one and Cameron will learn to toughen up a little. I am just afraid that he will turn into a bully and hit and push kids out of frustration and anger from being pushed or having things taken away from him by the older kids. Cameron is bigger in stature than most of them so I worry a little.