Quick Halloween Funny

The kids were looking through through all their Halloween loot when Preston exclaimed:

"I got some liquor! And look, here's some more liquor! I really like liquor."

{Really? You got liquor from the church Trunk or Treat? That's very surprising!}

Haley responded, "I didn't get any liquor! Can I have some of yours?"

Preston: "Sure, you can share my liquor."

I'm so glad he's willing to share so that Haley didn't have to go without liquor at Halloween. ...


And for the record, the liquor they were so excited about turned out to be licorice.

Not What I Was Hoping To Hear

I went in for my weekly doctor's appointment this morning. We started off with an ultrasound which showed that baby is estimated to be 6 lbs 11 oz right now. Good size baby for full-term, let alone one with another 4-5 weeks to go! But his growth has slowed down enough that she's not concerned right now that he'll grow too big to deliver, since my other babies were all around 8 lbs.

We moved on to the non-stress test, where baby refused to cooperate. This is the test where they put on the monitors to watch baby's heart rate, and each time he moves, the heart rate is supposed to go up by 10 beats per minute for at least 10 seconds. And he has to have 3 of these movements with raised heart rate before they let you off the monitor. Our baby was apparently feeling quite lazy today. After 10 minutes on the monitor, the nurse started suggesting chocolate to wake baby up. After 20 minutes on the monitor, the nurse brought me juice to drink to wake baby up. After 30 minutes on the monitor, the doctor buzzed him with a little noisemaker to wake him up. After 40 minutes on the monitor, the doc decided to send me back for a SECOND ultrasound to check on his reactivity. While she was gone arranging that, he finally decided to wake up and wiggle around a bit. So she came back, looked at the strip, and went back out to cancel the ultrasound. After a grand total of almost 60 minutes on the monitor, she was finally ready to send us home. (You know, for a couple days. Until I have to go back again.)

She asked if I had any questions, and I asked: "So is there some magic point like 36 or 37 weeks where I will get to go off bed rest?"

And then came the part I was hoping not to hear. She laughed. That wasn't a good sign. And she said, "Yes, in 3 weeks when we induce you."

*sigh*

3 weeks is very long time. Here's hoping this baby will decide on his own to come at least a little bit earlier than that!

There was a BIT of good news, though. I'm allowed to go to the Halloween Trunk or Treat this weekend, as long as I rest before and after and stay sitting down and quiet while I'm there. I'll take it! I'm excited for a chance to get out of the house and see people for a while!

I'm Seeing a Pattern Here

It just occurred to me that there's a disturbing pattern starting to form in my family.

When my little sister was pregnant last year, she had some pregnancy complications. She ended up delivering at 35 weeks due to preeclampsia. Happily, both she and baby were okay in the end. But at the same time that all this was going on, my mom was not doing well, and my dad had to go in and have a pacemaker inserted. Plus my brother & sister-in-law had a brand new baby. I ended up in Utah for a week or so to help out. We literally left the hospital in Salt Lake City with my father and drove to another hospital 3 hours away where my sister was being induced. My poor dad didn't even get to go home and rest for several hours.

So this time around, I'm pregnant and having some complications. My poor sister-in-law unexpectedly lost her mother (I can't even imagine how hard that's been to deal with). And my grandfather has been diagnosed with Stage 5 cancer. I didn't even know there WAS a stage 5 - I thought it only went to stage 4. So my family back in Utah has been dealing with all of this while we have been coping with the pregnancy issues.

So now the question is... does pregnancy cause health problems for other family members? Or is it the other way around? Either way, it's a bit of a disturbing pattern.

Quick Funny from Haley

I walked past the white board that the kids draw on and saw this (written by Haley). Not sure what game this was part of, but they seem like good instructions.

Step 1. Tap your feet.

Step 2. tap forward with your rite foot.

Step 3. tap with your other foot.

Step 4. Add your own moves.

And that's how you do my Dance.

A Little Bit of Halloween Fun

So for the 2nd year in a row, my kids are getting a bit short-changed in the Halloween fun department. Last year we were dealing with H1N1 and Preston in the hospital and all that rotten stuff, so we obviously didn't do much for Halloween. Even trick or treating was largely skipped, since Preston was released from the hospital ON Halloween, and we didn't figure taking him out trick or treating afterwards was the best idea. (I did take Haley trick or treating, since I did not yet know that my sniffles were the precursor to my own case of H1N1. We didn't visit many houses, since I was worn out from 3 days at the hospital with Preston, so hopefully I didn't spread H1N1 to TOO many houses in the neighborhood.)

So fast forward to this Halloween, and again we're not doing much. With me stuck on bed rest, the kids have been out of luck when they bring home flyers for this corn maze or that fall festival. We never even managed to get to the store and get pumpkins - which we wouldn't have carved anyway, because Aaron hates to clean them out so that's always my job. Haley keeps coming up with all these ideas for Halloween crafts she'd like to do - but they would require a trip to Michael's (craft store) for supplies. Or they'll see a fun Halloween treat to make on Food Network - but I'm not allowed up for long enough to make stuff like that. So they've missed out on all that stuff.

But when I was placing my Bountiful Baskets order this week, I saw that you could get a "Decorate Your Own Halloween Cookie Pack." So I added it to the order, hoping it would be something fun for the kids. Turned out to be a box of sugar cookies already baked into Halloween shapes like pumpkins, ghosts, and bats. And there were 4 little bowls of icing in Halloween colors. Yay! A Halloween activity they could do that didn't require me to do more than I'm supposed to!

So I turned them loose with the cookies and icing...

Haley and Preston were very focused on decorating those cookies JUST RIGHT.
Notice that Brekken's cookie is mostly gone already, before he's even considered putting icing on it.
Haley was generous with the sprinkles that she added to her cookies.
But I think Preston had more sprinkles than cookie!
Brekken ate the cookies, and he ate the icing... but he rarely bothered putting them together. Ate the cookies and then got a spoon and ate the icing. Whatever works!

It's Funny Because It's True

So true... I followed almost this exact progression with my kids! What does this mean for number 4? Does he have to fix his own meals? LOL

Too Much Like Her Mother

Haley is a little too much like me in some things, especially when it comes to school. I was always very much a perfectionist about school. She is definitely following in my footsteps there, as demonstrated when she came home from school on Friday.

She was clearing out her backpack so it would be ready to go for Monday. Suddenly, I realized that her lip was quivering and she had started to sniffle. I asked what was wrong, and she burst into tears and told me:

"I'm just so sad about my vocabulary test and my spelling test. I got 6 out of 7 and 9 out of 10."

That's right, she missed one question on each test and was just so very upset by it. It took a while to convince her that she still did very well and that it was okay that she missed a question, as long as she tried her best.

But I totally understood how she felt, because I was just the same way! (I completely deny all rumors that I'm still that way.)

Now what do I do?

We have an alarm system that beeps at us when someone opens an outside door, but that's not a lot of help if you're in the back of the house and don't hear the beep. Instead, I need an override that keeps people (specifically, children) from opening the door at all! That way I wouldn't get caught by surprise as I did today.

I was in the bathroom at the back of the house. I was a taking a quick break from the recliner to clean up and change clothes (since I'd been working in my sweats all day). So I'm completely naked when I suddenly hear Preston shout, "I have to get my mommy!" Then he runs to the bathroom and tells me I need to answer the door.

"Someone is knocking on the door?" I asked him.

"No, I answered the door! They want to talk to you now." And he ran off.

Here's a dilemma. I already put my clothes in the laundry in the bedroom before going into the bathroom, but forgot to take clean clothes in with me. Not a big deal when I'm just home with the kids. But with someone waiting at the door, it's a problem. Walking from the bathroom to the bedroom (where I would find more clothes), would make me visible to anyone standing at our front door. I'm not sure what to do here. Do I wear a towel and make a dash to the bedroom? Do I try to get Preston to tell the person to go away? Do I just keep waiting and hope that Aaron returns very quickly (he was picking up Haley from school)?

Luckily, after a moment of panic I realized that my bathrobe was just outside the bathroom door, so I only had to stretch an arm out to grab it. Then I had to go get rid of the salesman wearing only a bathrobe in the middle of the afternoon. I'm sure he thought I was the worst kind of slacker!

After I got dressed, Preston and I had a talk about when it was okay to answer the door and when he needed to just ignore the knocking...

I'm Not That Kind of Girl...

By which I mean, I'm not the kind of girl who believes in the whole all-natural, homeopathic, anti-vaccination kind of thing.

I've read several blogs and talked (well, typed) with some friends lately about these issues, and I just have such a hard time with it all. Part of it is that I grew up with a grandmother (right next door, so I saw a lot of her) who DOES believe in all the herbal homeopathic medicines. From the time I was little, she was pushing various all-natural cures for everything on us all the time. There was Shaklee, and Sunbreeze, and noni juice, and colloidal silver, and shark cartilage and SO MANY other things. There's always something new. And usually expensive. And pretty much always a big rip-off. It's made me really prejudiced against any homeopathics, supplements, etc.

It's gotten even worse since my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer. My grandmother is just so convinced that all this herbal stuff works that she doses him with all kinds of stuff... and doesn't want him taking any of the things that the doctor thinks he should have. She's as anti-medicine as I am anti-homeopathy.

It's gotten to the point that I just hate anything that seems to be along those lines. Aaron takes a lot of supplements for various issues... and while I wouldn't tell him to stop taking them because he feels they help, deep down I feel like they're useless. Which is probably not true. Taking vitamins is probably a good thing. But I have such a hard time even with something like that. I do take my prenatal vitamins. But that's because the doctor tells me to.

I believe in science. I believe in doctors. So I listen when they tell me things. But I just can't bring myself to believe the claims of all the supplements and herbs at someplace like Vitamin Cottage. It always just feels like a huge scam to me.

And the whole anti-vaccination movement just feels like more of the same. I feel so badly for families dealing with things like autism. I understand how they just want to find something that can explain things and have something to blame. But there are just so many studies showing that there is not a link between vaccines and autism. There are so many studies showing how children are protected by vaccines. And since I believe in science, the studies are convincing for me.

So I'm staying away from the herbal cures. And much as my kids may hate the shots, I'll keep taking them in for the vaccinations. Okay... rant over!

Quick Funny from Brekken

This morning we somehow got on the subject of Subway sandwiches, and how we hadn't had them in a long time. We reminded the kids that we haven't been to Subway because Mommy can't eat lunchmeat until after the baby is born.

Haley said that she was glad that we could eat Subway after the baby is born. (So am I - I love and miss Subway while pregnant!) Brekken was briefly disturbed: "No! Mommy don't eat baby!"

LOL. We reassured him that no one was planning to eat the baby. Then he suddenly changed his tune. In a funny, growly voice he told us: "I eat baby! Nom, nom, nom! Yummy baby!"

Another Bed Rest Update

Well, I had great hopes that I would be released from bed rest at today's appointment. I had visions of being able to get things done around the house... maybe even get back to the office one day a week...

Guess not. The doctor was really pleased with the results of the bed rest. I'm no further dilated or effaced, which is good. My blood pressure is down to normal - the nurse commented that she hadn't seen it so low since July. And the swelling has gone down so much that not only did I wear my regular shoes to this appointment, I lost 9 pounds between last week's appointment and today, just from all the reduction in swelling!

So all great things... and the doctor's reaction was, "Why mess with success?" Since the bed rest has worked well to get things back to normal levels, she wants me to stay with the bed rest. I am allowed to get up a little more than before, but not back to normal activity. And when I asked about the 1 day at work, she just laughed at me. That was definitely a no. {I got several "I told you so" comments from Aaron over all this...}

I guess this also lets out tonight's school carnival, which I was really hoping to attend. The kids have been looking forward to it so much. I was hoping to go see them enjoy themselves. I'm sure they'll still enjoy themselves, and I will stay home and play with my new Kindle. :)

The boys had a great time while we were at the appointment. A friend of ours watched the boys while Aaron and I went to the doctor. When we picked them up, we asked Preston if they had fun. He told us, "It was lots of fun. Until Daddy came." {picture a bitter scowl on his face} He was quite annoyed at us for spoiling his fun by coming to take them home!

Bed Rest Update

So when I went to my regular 32 week doctor's appointment on Wednesday, I was feeling pretty good. So I was expecting a quick in and out appointment. We were caught by surprise when the the nurse practitioner (my doc was out on vacation) decided to check me and found that I was 1 cm dilated - which was not a change from last time - and 40% effaced - which was a significant change from the last appointment.

The NP was not happy with that. Since my doc was out of town, she decided to go have a phone consult with the covering doc. This doc just happens to be the doctor who delivered Brekken... in a surprisingly fast delivery wherein the doc told me to give a "quick practice push to see where we are" and ended up catching the baby one-handed... one glove, no gown, none of that.

So given my history of "precipitous deliveries" as the NP termed it, they decided it was worrisome that I had effaced so much in the last 2 weeks. She came back in the room and we expected to hear more of the usual - take it easy, don't do to much, etc. So we were quite taken aback when she told me to go home and go to bed. And don't get up except to go to the bathroom. Yikes! Not ready for that! She wanted me to follow up with another appointment on Friday. Of course, on Friday my doc was still out of town. The NP would be out of town. The consulting doc that she had talked to would also be gone. So they set up an appointment for me with a completely new doctor for a non-stress test and OB check.

I tried to behave on Thursday and Friday. I stayed down in either the bed or the recliner. I may have made a slight detour or two on my way back and forth... but don't listen to Aaron when he tells you I'm a bad patient. ;)

We went to the doc on Friday and the non-stress test was just fine. Baby is very healthy and moving all over the place. The doc did a quick check and said I'm still 1 cm and about 50%. So a slight change, but not much. In the process of the visit, he also made me feel like a complete idiot for being there at all. He basically said that because it's my 4th child, of course I have lots of contractions. And of course my cervix will start to change, that's the whole point of contractions. I asked him if I needed to stay on bed rest, and he implied that if I here HIS patient, he'd never have prescribed bed rest in the first place. But since I'm NOT his patient, he wouldn't take me off bed rest, just loosened it up a bit and told me to follow up with my doc on Monday. I saw him for all of about 3 minutes and that was enough to make me feel like we'd wasted his time and shouldn't have bothered coming in. I won't be switching to his practice any time soon.

In the meantime, I feel like I should get to be off bed rest, since the doc was so dismissive. Just the nurse practitioner being extra cautious while the doc was out of town, right? Aaron disagrees. Before leaving for work today (Saturday) he gave the kids strict instructions to monitor my activities. Every time I moved to get out of the chair, Haley questioned me on why I was getting up and reminded me that I was only supposed to go to the bathroom. When I attempted to go to the bathroom and just incidentally run a bath for the kids (during which I could certainly be sitting down and resting), Haley informed me that "Daddy said you're not allowed to give us a bath." She and Preston refused to have bath time. So I stayed in the chair.

I will be following up with my doc on Monday morning. I'm hoping she'll side with the other doctor (much as I didn't like him) and let me off bed rest after she sees the appointment notes and test results that he was sending over to her office. I'm willing to keep working from home - though it would be helpful if I could go in at least one day a week. And I'm willing to give in to Aaron on the bus issue - he doesn't want me making the walk to and from the bus stop, so if I do go in, I'll drive and skip the walk. But I REALLY hope that I don't have to stick with bed rest for another couple of weeks. I have to admit that I'm not very good at it...

Funny Memory

I was talking with a co-worker yesterday and the conversation ended up reminding me of a funny story that I decided I wanted to share on the blog... If for no other reason than to write it down for myself so I don't lose the funny memory someday!

It was back when Haley was born. I was at the hospital, in labor, and pushing. My doctor was sitting on one of those round, rolling stools that doctors often use. As I was pushing, she was counting, "1, 2, 3..." She leaned forward a little - and suddenly she disappeared!

That rolling stool had just moved, shot out from under her, and she hit the floor. Everything kind of stopped for a minute. What should we do? After a moment of silence, we saw a hand poke up from the floor. It waved at us with a 'keep going' kind of motion. A disembodied voice spoke from the floor, "Keep pushing!" she said. "6, 7, 8..."

When the contraction and pushing ended for a moment, the doctor picked herself up off the floor and calmly asked a nurse to go find her a stool without wheels. The rest of the delivery proceeded without incident. (Okay, there was a little bit of drama, when Haley's shoulder got stuck and they had to break her collar-bone to deliver her. But no one else fell down.)

When it came time for Preston's delivery, the doctor came in when it was time to push. She asked one of the nurses to bring in her stool. She turned to us and said, "Ever since I fell off one of those rolling stools during a delivery, I always make them get me one without wheels."

"I know!" I responded. "That was me!"

My Parents are Awesome

A while ago, Aaron and I lent some baby stuff to my sisters when they had new babies. Like the crib, bouncy seat, that sort of thing. Once we knew we would need the baby things again (and since my sisters were done using them) we made plans to pick them up on a trip to Utah this summer. We ended up cancelling that trip back in July, but no worries - we had PLENTY of time to go get the stuff before our baby came.

Fast forward to October and us suddenly realizing that we still hadn't gone after the baby things, and now I wasn't allowed to travel that far away from my doctor. So we sent out a message to my family, hoping someone would be making a trip to Grand Junction (where my brother lives) in the near future. Then Aaron could make a day trip to GJ and back to pick things up.

A couple of days later my Mom checks in and asks if we had plans for the weekend, two days away. My wonderful parents decided to make a sudden trip over here and bring the baby things we needed!

Against Aaron's better judgement, I spent Saturday morning cleaning up around the house. I couldn't help myself! The house was a mess, and I just had to tidy it up a little before they came. (I bet my parents are surprised to hear that, considering the state it was in when they arrived. Yes, that was the TIDIER version of our house!)

We had a great time visiting. The kids were SO happy to have Grandma and Grandpa come to stay. I enjoyed catching up on everything that was going on in the family. (My mom and I are NOT good at talking on the phone. Neither of likes talking on the phone, so too much time often goes by before one of us calls.) Grandma and Grandpa played with the kids and took them out for walks with their scooters - things that I've been too tired and grumpy to do very well lately.

On top of that, they cleaned up! They cleaned the stove, counters, tables and chairs, and toilet, washed the backlog of dishes I have been meaning to get to for too long, and even convinced the kids to "help" straighten up the messy playroom. I feel much less stressed looking around at my house today. And I feel very loved that they took vacation time to bring over our stuff and clean up the house.

Thanks Mom & Dad!! We love you and can't wait to see you again soon!

Quick Funny from Preston

It occurs to me that most of these Quick Funny posts are from Preston. He is a funny kid!

A couple of days ago I told Preston that I had a song stuck in my head (Weebles weeble wobble, but they don't fall down...) because Preston kept singing it to me. Very seriously, he informed me that he knew how to get the song out of my head.

Just make a lot of scary noises, he told me. That scares the song away and makes it go out of your head. Then you should go to sleep and when you wake up - the song is gone!

It sounds as reasonable as any other remedy. :D