"Dear Santa,
Please come to Gramma and Grand Dad's house because we are having Christmas there. And because we're going there, please give us lots of presents this year, and please get Sydnie and Scotty presents too. And so that we get presents, please read your list a lot! We like presents because on Christmas Eve we sing Silent Night. Please don't forget my microphone.
We love you,
Shelbie, Scotty, and Sydnie"
12.24.2007
12.21.2007
Santa Claus
Here are some pictures of the kids with Santa.
This is Shelbie's 5th picture with Santa and has loved every one.
Scott is a little worried about who is holding him.
Sydnie is not freaking out because this man has a big white beard...No, she's like this with everyone.
12.14.2007
Early November trip to Gramma & Grand Dad's
We went up North for a surprise party for my dad who turned 60! We also visited Tilden Park, we went hot-tubbing, we went on a BART adventure, & we witnessed the replacing of the washing machine.
Sydnie & Shelbie's Funny Movie
This movie was shot on Oct 24. Sorry about Shelbie's clothes...her cousins have shown her the ways of Berkeley. Gotta love the love handles, though. :-)
12.06.2007
Update - ramblings - clearing my head
This is the spoon that was caught in Sydnie's throat. The handle was down her throat and the rounded spoon part was too big to allow it to be swallowed.
So, I guess most of you have heard by now that we had a little 911-worthy crisis. It went like this: Around 845am on 27th Nov, Sydnie was sucking on a little toy teaspoon and (I didn't see, so not positive but it doesn't make sense any other way) as she was crawling with it in her mouth she fell face first and it got jammed down her throat. She was choking at first and that is why I ran to the phone to call 911 while doing the baby version of the Heimlich. Needless to say that I was hysterical and ran out of the house hoping to get some neighborly help. I did! My neighbor was just walking to her car to go to work and was able to help me. Now, although Sydnie was choking in the beginning she did start to gag and cough a little so she was getting air. She never turned blue but I needed the ambulance because she had a spoon stuck either in her airway or her throat. We now know it was stuck in her throat. The paramedics whisked us away in the ambulance and Alice stayed with Shelbie and Scotty. I did manage to call Scott and tell him to come home and during the ride to the ER I managed to call Chela (who would pick Shelbie up for school and bring her home after and keep her until I knew what was going on) and Meggan who would take Scotty and watch him for me until further notice. Side note: I am so grateful to have some awesome friends who would do anything for me and my family. Alice was an amazing support to me during the most frightening bit and then to stay with S & S without me officially asking her while we went off. Chela has been and continues to be Shelbie's other mom who takes her to school for me (I cannot tell you enough how much of a help that small thing is) and often has her over to play so I can get a little break. Meggan is like a sister to me. Always there and willing to do anything, gives the best advice, is the one of the best mothers out there, and I know I can always trust her with my kids. I knew Scotty was in good hands (for two full days) and I am so grateful for that.
Once at the ER they determined that she was breathing okay and was getting the oxygen she needed. We went in for xrays and because the spoon was plastic it didn't really show up well. They could just see a little bit of a shadow that is not there on a normal image so they determined that it was stuck in her neck area and didn't go down all the way either into her lungs or stomach. Scott gave Sydnie a blessing and one of the things he said was that she would sleep most of the day and be calm. Which she did and was. I am so blessed to have a husband who is worthy to hold the Priesthood and who is worthy to use his Priesthood to bless our family. Now we play the waiting game. The docs at the ER said they want to transfer us to CHOC because they are the best with children and have the right specialists etc. So, around 1pm the CHOC transport team comes and gets us and takes us to CHOC. Poor Sydnie still have a spoon in her throat but she is staying calm and still on my chest and is sleeping about 20 minutes at a time. She will wake up and move a little which will cause her to gag and choke and then whimper then she will get calm again and fall back to sleep. The poor girl was in pain and hungry and probably nervous. I could tell that she knew something was not right. It really makes me sad to think about her being only 9 months having to go through this ordeal, but then I remember that she won't remember any of it so there won't be lasting trauma. Shelbie on the other hand is who I worry about. I am probably being overly whatever about it but Shelbie witnessed some very not-so-pleasant things...She saw what happened to sydnie and told me right away "MOM, She's choking get her!!", she saw me crying hysterically and shaking, she saw the fire truck and firemen get out and come up to us with all their equipment and the sirens and then the ambulance, she saw me and sydnie get in the back of it and drive away. I didn't even tell her that I loved her or goodbye. I did manage to tell her that she was being so brave. I hurt inside when I think about what she must thinking about everything. Later talking with Scott I found out that she broke down several times that day in preschool and wanted to know if Sydnie was going to be okay. She was probably thinking that she might not see her little sister again or well, she is only 4 so maybe she was thinking that Sydnie might be scared at the hospital and have to get a shot and she was very curious as to how they were going to get the spoon out...I do know she was afraid and nervous because of me being completely hysterical. Alice was so kind to be there and put her arm around her to comfort her.
Back to the hospital and more waiting. Finally we got word about getting into the OR around 430pm. We did and the surgery went smoothly and quicker than they had told us. They said they weren't sure which pipe the spoon was in so they would scope things out with a camera, extract the spoon and then look with the camera down the air pipe and food pipe (too tired to think about spelling the official words for them) and into her lungs and stomach to make sure nothing else got down there and to check for any scratches or tears that the spoon being there might have caused. There were some small abrasions on her food pipe but they would be healed in about a day. They took a picture of the spoon stuck in her throat for us. The handle was down in her esophagus and the round spoon part was still up in the back of her throat behind her tongue right where the gag reflex is. It would go down because it was too wide. Sydnie was too dehydrated to find any veins for an IV but not enough dehydrated to really require one and the surgery went so quickly that they just gave her gas to breath to put her out and a shot of pain medication in her shoulder. She was so cute waking up in the recovery room because she was still so groggy that it took her a good 20 minutes to wake up to her normal self. She is completely back to normal and fine now. We did have to stay the night in the hospital to make sure there was no swelling and that she could eat well enough. We did stay the night but I can't say we slept during the night. For some reason CHOC doesn't have private rooms on this particular floor so the little girl that came in at 11pm screaming for 3 hours because she was scared of the exams she was getting (for bad asthma) kept us awake and then the 3 week old baby screaming for 20 minutes every two hours didn't help us any. Oh yeah, it also didn't help that I didn't even have Sydnie's pacifier with me and she is hard to get to sleep without it. The next day was a joke. I know, there are procedures and paperwork and this doctor signing off on that and that doctor signing off on this and nurses logging their vitals etc to no end. I was getting grumpy of sitting in the corner of the hospital begging to get them to kick me out and make more room for more sick kids that need a room. Finally at 3pm I got the discharge papers and luckily I could just walk out and not have to wait another 15 for someone to bring a wheelchair and wheel me out carrying Sydnie on my lap. I was so glad to have my father-in-law come to get me and stayed with me for 2 hours while we waited to be discharged. I am sorry that he had to see my bad side of non-patience, complaining while looking like a grease ball. We got out just in time for me to get home and get Scotty and Shelbie and run to the pediatrician's office for the twins already-scheduled 9 mos check up at 4p. At this point I was feeling so much like a zombie. I hadn't showered since Monday morning and it was now Wednesday afternoon. I hadn't eaten anything but a turkey sandwich on tuesday, two mini muffins & hot choco on Wed morning, and a bunch of water. And I got maybe two hours of sleep maybe 20 minutes at a time. Scott had a very nice talk with Shelbie about what happened and answered all her little 4-year-old questions about how the spoon was taken out and how come it didn't hurt her to do that and if she was going to be okay.
BIG SIGH! HUHHHHHHHHH!
I am sorry about my ramblings but I felt like I needed to do that. I still have a few things that I need to think about and work out for my emotional sanity but I think that this has helped a lot.
I am sorry if I sound like I am complaining but I am not, I am just writing out in all the details that I can remember what happened those two days for my sake and for posterity's sake.
So, I guess most of you have heard by now that we had a little 911-worthy crisis. It went like this: Around 845am on 27th Nov, Sydnie was sucking on a little toy teaspoon and (I didn't see, so not positive but it doesn't make sense any other way) as she was crawling with it in her mouth she fell face first and it got jammed down her throat. She was choking at first and that is why I ran to the phone to call 911 while doing the baby version of the Heimlich. Needless to say that I was hysterical and ran out of the house hoping to get some neighborly help. I did! My neighbor was just walking to her car to go to work and was able to help me. Now, although Sydnie was choking in the beginning she did start to gag and cough a little so she was getting air. She never turned blue but I needed the ambulance because she had a spoon stuck either in her airway or her throat. We now know it was stuck in her throat. The paramedics whisked us away in the ambulance and Alice stayed with Shelbie and Scotty. I did manage to call Scott and tell him to come home and during the ride to the ER I managed to call Chela (who would pick Shelbie up for school and bring her home after and keep her until I knew what was going on) and Meggan who would take Scotty and watch him for me until further notice. Side note: I am so grateful to have some awesome friends who would do anything for me and my family. Alice was an amazing support to me during the most frightening bit and then to stay with S & S without me officially asking her while we went off. Chela has been and continues to be Shelbie's other mom who takes her to school for me (I cannot tell you enough how much of a help that small thing is) and often has her over to play so I can get a little break. Meggan is like a sister to me. Always there and willing to do anything, gives the best advice, is the one of the best mothers out there, and I know I can always trust her with my kids. I knew Scotty was in good hands (for two full days) and I am so grateful for that.Once at the ER they determined that she was breathing okay and was getting the oxygen she needed. We went in for xrays and because the spoon was plastic it didn't really show up well. They could just see a little bit of a shadow that is not there on a normal image so they determined that it was stuck in her neck area and didn't go down all the way either into her lungs or stomach. Scott gave Sydnie a blessing and one of the things he said was that she would sleep most of the day and be calm. Which she did and was. I am so blessed to have a husband who is worthy to hold the Priesthood and who is worthy to use his Priesthood to bless our family. Now we play the waiting game. The docs at the ER said they want to transfer us to CHOC because they are the best with children and have the right specialists etc. So, around 1pm the CHOC transport team comes and gets us and takes us to CHOC. Poor Sydnie still have a spoon in her throat but she is staying calm and still on my chest and is sleeping about 20 minutes at a time. She will wake up and move a little which will cause her to gag and choke and then whimper then she will get calm again and fall back to sleep. The poor girl was in pain and hungry and probably nervous. I could tell that she knew something was not right. It really makes me sad to think about her being only 9 months having to go through this ordeal, but then I remember that she won't remember any of it so there won't be lasting trauma. Shelbie on the other hand is who I worry about. I am probably being overly whatever about it but Shelbie witnessed some very not-so-pleasant things...She saw what happened to sydnie and told me right away "MOM, She's choking get her!!", she saw me crying hysterically and shaking, she saw the fire truck and firemen get out and come up to us with all their equipment and the sirens and then the ambulance, she saw me and sydnie get in the back of it and drive away. I didn't even tell her that I loved her or goodbye. I did manage to tell her that she was being so brave. I hurt inside when I think about what she must thinking about everything. Later talking with Scott I found out that she broke down several times that day in preschool and wanted to know if Sydnie was going to be okay. She was probably thinking that she might not see her little sister again or well, she is only 4 so maybe she was thinking that Sydnie might be scared at the hospital and have to get a shot and she was very curious as to how they were going to get the spoon out...I do know she was afraid and nervous because of me being completely hysterical. Alice was so kind to be there and put her arm around her to comfort her.
Back to the hospital and more waiting. Finally we got word about getting into the OR around 430pm. We did and the surgery went smoothly and quicker than they had told us. They said they weren't sure which pipe the spoon was in so they would scope things out with a camera, extract the spoon and then look with the camera down the air pipe and food pipe (too tired to think about spelling the official words for them) and into her lungs and stomach to make sure nothing else got down there and to check for any scratches or tears that the spoon being there might have caused. There were some small abrasions on her food pipe but they would be healed in about a day. They took a picture of the spoon stuck in her throat for us. The handle was down in her esophagus and the round spoon part was still up in the back of her throat behind her tongue right where the gag reflex is. It would go down because it was too wide. Sydnie was too dehydrated to find any veins for an IV but not enough dehydrated to really require one and the surgery went so quickly that they just gave her gas to breath to put her out and a shot of pain medication in her shoulder. She was so cute waking up in the recovery room because she was still so groggy that it took her a good 20 minutes to wake up to her normal self. She is completely back to normal and fine now. We did have to stay the night in the hospital to make sure there was no swelling and that she could eat well enough. We did stay the night but I can't say we slept during the night. For some reason CHOC doesn't have private rooms on this particular floor so the little girl that came in at 11pm screaming for 3 hours because she was scared of the exams she was getting (for bad asthma) kept us awake and then the 3 week old baby screaming for 20 minutes every two hours didn't help us any. Oh yeah, it also didn't help that I didn't even have Sydnie's pacifier with me and she is hard to get to sleep without it. The next day was a joke. I know, there are procedures and paperwork and this doctor signing off on that and that doctor signing off on this and nurses logging their vitals etc to no end. I was getting grumpy of sitting in the corner of the hospital begging to get them to kick me out and make more room for more sick kids that need a room. Finally at 3pm I got the discharge papers and luckily I could just walk out and not have to wait another 15 for someone to bring a wheelchair and wheel me out carrying Sydnie on my lap. I was so glad to have my father-in-law come to get me and stayed with me for 2 hours while we waited to be discharged. I am sorry that he had to see my bad side of non-patience, complaining while looking like a grease ball. We got out just in time for me to get home and get Scotty and Shelbie and run to the pediatrician's office for the twins already-scheduled 9 mos check up at 4p. At this point I was feeling so much like a zombie. I hadn't showered since Monday morning and it was now Wednesday afternoon. I hadn't eaten anything but a turkey sandwich on tuesday, two mini muffins & hot choco on Wed morning, and a bunch of water. And I got maybe two hours of sleep maybe 20 minutes at a time. Scott had a very nice talk with Shelbie about what happened and answered all her little 4-year-old questions about how the spoon was taken out and how come it didn't hurt her to do that and if she was going to be okay.
BIG SIGH! HUHHHHHHHHH!
I am sorry about my ramblings but I felt like I needed to do that. I still have a few things that I need to think about and work out for my emotional sanity but I think that this has helped a lot.
I am sorry if I sound like I am complaining but I am not, I am just writing out in all the details that I can remember what happened those two days for my sake and for posterity's sake.
11.19.2007
11.02.2007
Cuteness!
Sydnie was crawling around and ended up here. 
Sorry about the booger :-) Don't know how to do PhotoShop yet.Happy Halloween
We went to our annual ward Halloween party and had a fun time. There is always a jump house and the kids just love that. There was a cute "carnival" type game of throwing the bean bags at the pumpkins on the fence to make them fall over and I thought it was such a cute place to take pictures. Reminds me of the fun song Shelbie sings called 5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate.
Scott and I dressed up as a street and a stop light. Scotty was Superman, Sydnie was a lady bug and Shelbie was Dorothy.
Scotty, Shelbie, Sydnie
Shelbie's preschool class had a fun Halloween party that we all went to. The class sang us (the parents and sibs)their Halloween songs that they learned and then we went over to the park so the kids could hunt for their pumpkins and decorate them and play games. We ate lunch and visited and the "balloon man" made some fun creations for the kids. The girls wanted a butterfly on a staff. The boys mostly wanted swords.
Scott and Shelbie do not like to carve pumpkins because the gunk inside is too gross for them. I decided that I was not going to carve out 5 pumpkins by myself...So, we bought one pumpkin for the family and I found these great "Mr. Potato Head" toys that you "plug" into the pumpkin. Shelbie decorated hers like a princess.
We went Trick or Treating with the Clayton family. We were running a bit late to meet them and Shelbie wanted her hair to have "Dorothy Braids" in it. I was hoping she would choose her usual "straight clip" style but nope. So I rushed through it not really caring what it turned out like...after all she is only 4. But I was very surprised that it actually turned out looking so cute. I was very proud of myself, because I am usually a perfectionist and I make Shelbie hold still for me for a long time while I do and redo her hair until it is just right. I think I am going to rush through all her hair dos now and not care and maybe they will be great every time! I also made her Dorothy dress and glad that it came out so nice. Just after I was done (probably too early) Shelbie said she wanted to be something else this year. Oh, I put a stop to that really quickly, she was definitely going to be Dorothy after all that work!
Scott and I dressed up as a street and a stop light. Scotty was Superman, Sydnie was a lady bug and Shelbie was Dorothy.
Scotty, Shelbie, Sydnie
Dorothy and her friends Belle & Cinderella
Shelbie's preschool class had a fun Halloween party that we all went to. The class sang us (the parents and sibs)their Halloween songs that they learned and then we went over to the park so the kids could hunt for their pumpkins and decorate them and play games. We ate lunch and visited and the "balloon man" made some fun creations for the kids. The girls wanted a butterfly on a staff. The boys mostly wanted swords.
Scott and Shelbie do not like to carve pumpkins because the gunk inside is too gross for them. I decided that I was not going to carve out 5 pumpkins by myself...So, we bought one pumpkin for the family and I found these great "Mr. Potato Head" toys that you "plug" into the pumpkin. Shelbie decorated hers like a princess.
We went Trick or Treating with the Clayton family. We were running a bit late to meet them and Shelbie wanted her hair to have "Dorothy Braids" in it. I was hoping she would choose her usual "straight clip" style but nope. So I rushed through it not really caring what it turned out like...after all she is only 4. But I was very surprised that it actually turned out looking so cute. I was very proud of myself, because I am usually a perfectionist and I make Shelbie hold still for me for a long time while I do and redo her hair until it is just right. I think I am going to rush through all her hair dos now and not care and maybe they will be great every time! I also made her Dorothy dress and glad that it came out so nice. Just after I was done (probably too early) Shelbie said she wanted to be something else this year. Oh, I put a stop to that really quickly, she was definitely going to be Dorothy after all that work!
Ghost Treats
October 26 - Shelbie and I made Ghost Treats. I found this cute idea in a parenting magazine and just had to do it. Shelbie loves to help cook and do simple projects in the kitchen. This was so easy and fun.
10.30.2007
Late night thoughts
Sydnie started rolling first, then she "army"-crawled, now she can crawl slowly.
Scotty started crawling first, but before that he could only scoot (backwards, that is), then he scooted forward, now he crawls very fast, and he is working on pulling himself up to the couch.
They can both pull themselves up to their knees then feet on me if I am sitting on the floor. Sydnie can easily pull herself up using the couch but Scotty still just gets to his knees. They both can sit themselves up after crawling or being on their stomachs.
They both absolutely love the bath and will do anything (cry, whine, claw at the closed bathroom door) to let us know they want one.
Sydnie is clingy...period
Scotty is happy playing with anyone.
Sydnie is very thoughtful and can look at someone for quite awhile without smiling.
Scotty almost always happy and flirts with everyone.
It is hard to get Sydnie to laugh and she is not very tickle-ish.
It is easy to get Scotty to laugh and he is so tickle-ish.
Shelbie loves to tackle, tickle, and traumatize her little babes. She screams at them which makes them jump in surprise and then they realize that must have funny so they will laugh.
Shelbie's latest skill is memorizing things. She has part of paragraph 7 from the proclamation memorized and Matt 5:16 (those happen to be the scriptures that she was assigned in primary). She has a ton of songs memorized that Scott sings to her and that we play in the car. She loves to sing and make up her own songs too! She likes to dress up especially with her friend Cherish. They play great fantasy games and roll play stories. She loves her preschool class and has so much fun singing and doing art projects and cooking. She comes home and uses phrases like "you go girl" & "way to go, sista" on Sydnie. I guess her teacher talks like that to her :-)
Shelbie and I play Go Fish and Memory and CandyLand together all the time. Shelbie is also doing great in drawing. She draws spaceships, flowers, people, and many other fun things that only she knows what they are. She also likes to show off her spelling power. She will write DAD, MOM, SHELBIE on her own and then draw the faces to go with it. She can also sound out and spell many other simple words. She is also reading simple words. Scott will type words on the computer and she will sound them out and tell us what they are. Scott likes to make her read words like SNOT GAS BOOGER...she gets a kick out once she realizes what she is saying.
The most wonderful thing is to watch all three of our children interact with each other and play together with so much love. It is only going to get better as the years go on.
Scott and I are truly blessed!
(Good Night)
Scotty started crawling first, but before that he could only scoot (backwards, that is), then he scooted forward, now he crawls very fast, and he is working on pulling himself up to the couch.
They can both pull themselves up to their knees then feet on me if I am sitting on the floor. Sydnie can easily pull herself up using the couch but Scotty still just gets to his knees. They both can sit themselves up after crawling or being on their stomachs.
They both absolutely love the bath and will do anything (cry, whine, claw at the closed bathroom door) to let us know they want one.
Sydnie is clingy...period
Scotty is happy playing with anyone.
Sydnie is very thoughtful and can look at someone for quite awhile without smiling.
Scotty almost always happy and flirts with everyone.
It is hard to get Sydnie to laugh and she is not very tickle-ish.
It is easy to get Scotty to laugh and he is so tickle-ish.
Shelbie loves to tackle, tickle, and traumatize her little babes. She screams at them which makes them jump in surprise and then they realize that must have funny so they will laugh.
Shelbie's latest skill is memorizing things. She has part of paragraph 7 from the proclamation memorized and Matt 5:16 (those happen to be the scriptures that she was assigned in primary). She has a ton of songs memorized that Scott sings to her and that we play in the car. She loves to sing and make up her own songs too! She likes to dress up especially with her friend Cherish. They play great fantasy games and roll play stories. She loves her preschool class and has so much fun singing and doing art projects and cooking. She comes home and uses phrases like "you go girl" & "way to go, sista" on Sydnie. I guess her teacher talks like that to her :-)
Shelbie and I play Go Fish and Memory and CandyLand together all the time. Shelbie is also doing great in drawing. She draws spaceships, flowers, people, and many other fun things that only she knows what they are. She also likes to show off her spelling power. She will write DAD, MOM, SHELBIE on her own and then draw the faces to go with it. She can also sound out and spell many other simple words. She is also reading simple words. Scott will type words on the computer and she will sound them out and tell us what they are. Scott likes to make her read words like SNOT GAS BOOGER...she gets a kick out once she realizes what she is saying.
The most wonderful thing is to watch all three of our children interact with each other and play together with so much love. It is only going to get better as the years go on.
Scott and I are truly blessed!
(Good Night)
Pumpkin Patch Visit
We went to the pumpkin patch on the 20th and had a fun time...Scotty not as much as the rest of us.
10.23.2007
Updates
Well, I obviously haven't posted in a while so I worked on getting my pictures on the computer and put these together. :-)
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