Wells' World

Hayden's friend Addie gave him a Mater/Finn McMissile hat for Christmas, and when paired with his Lightning McQueen sunglasses, he looks like one cool dude. He wanted the combo on while he colored the other day.

Hayden went to the dentist for the 3rd time a few days ago, and did an outstanding job.  He was a little squirrel-y while my teeth were being cleaned (bouncing 4 bouncy balls around the room), but when it was his turn he was all business and was the perfect patient.  He held absolutely still when the x-ray machine went around his head.  He loved the tickle of the tooth polisher.  He kept hoping that the hygienist would let him use the water and air tube on his own. :)  He did so well the hygienist let him take home 2 bouncy balls.  Best news:  no cavities!

After a grueling 4 hours I finally finished our taxes.  Thankfully my brother Ben is an accountant and he helped me "maximize my return."  I tire of hearing that phrase around tax time.  My poor brother, I call him to ask for tax help and after we are all done with the logistics our conversation went like this:

Me:  Thanks so much for the help. 
Ben:  No problem.  Forgetting anything?
Me:  No, I don't think so, the rest seems pretty straightforward.
Ben:  Are you sure?
Me:  Yeah, I am pretty sure.
Ben:  Anything not relating to taxes?
Me:  Um, I told you I'm having a baby, right?
Ben:  Anything else?
Me: (as I rack my brain for anything I neglected to tell him).  Um, thanks again?
Ben:  Getting closer.

Then it dawns on me.  February 24th.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!  What kind of sister calls up for help and doesn't remember her brother's birthday?  It didn't make me feel better that I was the first besides his wife to say it to him.  Lame.  Slave away all day doing people's taxes on your birthday, without so much as a few phone calls from your family.  I let everyone know they better call him. 

The good news is, we got a tax return!  I can send my brother a gift card to rectify my forgetfulness(and for the fact that he helped us get a better return), AND we can afford the lawn!  Hallelujah!

We spent the weekend filling and patching holes in the walls and fixing any imperfections to the texture.  The downside?  We thought we had a gallon of our wall paint out in the garage that we could use to touch up the spots and that we could go get matched if needed.  There are 4 colors in the garage...none the color of our walls.  Now we have over a hundred nice white patches on the wall.  On the bright side...one step closer to it feeling like it looks "nice."

We watched "Courageous" on Saturday night for family movie night.  We loved it.  It's to rare to watch a movie that leaves you feeling like you want to be a better person.  I think it hit Dax especially hard.  He spent nearly 2 hours straight on Sunday reading books with Hayden and spending one-on-one time with him.  Kyra and I took a nice long nap.

Sunday I decided I'd had enough wrestling and tried my luck taking Kyra to nursery 2 weeks early.  They took her, and better yet, she took them!  She didn't cry once.  Sunday school and Relief Society was a whole new experience...for another 4 1/2 months. :)

We are so glad we get to have Dax around today for President's Day.  We are spending the morning doing laundry, playing baseball outside, and showing our last piece of unwanted furniture (an entire bedroom set actually) to someone.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we sell it.  Afterwards we are heading out to Grandpa Wells' and hoping for a relaxing rest of the day.

I've got a bad case of food poisoning.  The worst I've ever had.  I'm not 100% positive in my diagnosis, but I'm the only one with it and I can't figure out what else it would be.  I had some pretty rare steak at a restaurant last weekend (I didn't ask for it rare) and by the time I realized just how rare it was I was two-thirds of the way through the steak and figured all I could do was tell the waitress that for medium-well done my steak was very rare.  I made a side comment about food poisoning to Dax, but he wasn't worried about it, and because I wasn't sick, neither was I.  I discovered through research that it is actually fairly common to get symptoms of food poisoning from undercooked meat nearly a week after eating it.

Fair warning, the rest of this post is personal and a little graphic.  I document it to remember that "there have been worse days."  I don't need it to be read for pity.

Yesterday I felt nauseous and tired from the start of the day, which was odd because my nausea/vomiting/lack of energy has been confined to the mid-afternoon and evenings for over a week.  I thought working on the rocks outside would help me feel better, but after an hour I came in feeling worse.  I started my steady relationship with the porcelain bowl at 2 o'clock, and spent the rest of the day evenly divided between there and my bed.  Hayden usually comes in while I am over the toilet and says, "Mom, you are sick because of the baby?"  I told him this time was different, I was sick from food.  My poor kids were neglected until Dad came home at a quarter to six.  I couldn't even get up to spend any time with them, because it would send me right back to the bathroom.  I didn't realize it wasn't morning sickness until the third go around when my body would not stop trying to squeeze out every single drop in its digestive tract.  Eventually my body only had bile to get rid of. 

As I climbed back in bed, I could hear the sounds of my family downstairs.  Dax was making dinner and chatting with the kids.  He was humming "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Joy to the World."  I never want to forget that.  Dax did the dishes and got the kids ready for bed.  While he was helping Hayden, Kyra came and started knocking on my bedroom door, and kept trying to turn the knob.  She eventually started crying and pounding as hard as her little fists could pound.  I laid in my bed, my heart breaking, listening to her little sounds at the door.  If I got up, I would only make it as far as the bathroom.  I kept hoping that the worst was over and that I would feel better in the morning.

Today I do feel a little better.  I braved some toast and watered-down apple juice.  I still feel nauseous, but it doesn't feel so intense, and my stomach doesn't hurt nearly as badly.  I've been getting impatient lately with my nausea and vomiting, wanting so badly for it to be over.  I think the Lord told me through this experience to be grateful that I have been getting half the day where I feel good.  I could be extremely sick all day, every day.  Still, I will be grateful for the day that my husband sees me when I feel good.  By the time he gets home every day I am already sick, and can't wait for the minute I can climb in bed to escape it.  He feels like the bed has half of my heart these days.  Even though he can't tell from my actions at present, every day that he silently goes through, carrying much more than his fair share of the load, I come to love him more deeply.  I intend to make it all up to him by spending every evening doing whatever he wants, when I get to the point where I can stay up past 7:30. :)

I feel like I haven't been productive in any way for the last 3 months.  If I could sum them up in one word it would be SURVIVAL.  I'm finally getting some energy and desire back to work on tasks and projects that have been neglected for months. 

Project #1:
Regular preschool activities for Hayden.  I've got to figure out how to get him wanting to write, because right now he has no interest.  We are currently working on recognizing all of the lower case letters.  I decided I just need to be patient with him, because his brain works just like his daddy's, so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't develop the same love of reading that I have.  He is really into puzzles and taking things apart and figuring out what is going on inside.  Maybe I should just find a good curriculum and that would simplify the preschool process.

Baby #3 is on the way!  I am 13 weeks along and can say I've had better days.  I've also had worse though.  I usually don't start feeling better until 16 weeks.  I'm holding on for 3 more weeks.  Right now mornings are great and as the day goes on I feel more nauseous and sick.  I try to be really productive in the mornings, but that is about all I can do.  Lucky for me the kids have been going to bed at 7 and 7:30 so I have been able to go to bed at 8.  The more sleep I get, the better I feel. 

This pregnancy is much like the other two, except I'm already showing, which is sad.  I can normally get to 20 weeks and then have to be wearing the right outfit to be asked if I'm pregnant.  I can still hide it with the right clothes, which I obviously try to do.  I've also gained more weight than I did with Kyra up to this point, but I started out 5 lbs lighter so I am still the same weight that I was with Kyra.  I am already struggling with varicose veins and my uterus already seems to be tilting (evident by the fact that sometimes it is hard to go to the bathroom), which both don't usually happen until about mid-way through a pregnancy.  I've heard women say they get bigger more quickly with each one, but I didn't expect the changes to be this dramatic from #2 to #3. 

I prepared much better this time and froze a lot of meals in advance for the days when I just couldn't pull myself off the couch.  Luckily Dax has only had to fend for himself for 2 nights.  I haven't touched a bathroom since I've been sick, and Dax has been so helpful in that way.

Hayden has known since I was about 6 weeks (it was too hard to keep if from him when I was so sick), and STILL hasn't told anyone!  When I told my mother I asked him if he wanted to tell her our secret and he said no.  I am still shocked by his silence.  He'll be a good friend. :)  Obviously Kyra is clueless, but it is fun to see Hayden excited about it this time around.  The other day he said:  "We just can't have a lot of girl babies, because they will bother me."  I think he's rooting for a boy, and Dax will always root for a boy.  I have no guesses, I just prefer a healthy baby. :)

As we were perusing family blogs Hayden and I came across a picture of his cousin Sariah.  Hayden began going into depth about how he longed to see Sariah and her siblings Hyrum, Bryant, and Talmage.  He kept telling me how nice they were and how badly he wanted to see them.  I kept telling him that it would be so nice to see them, but they live a long ways from us so we don't get to see them as much as we like.  This then ensued:

Hayden:  Sariah, Hyrum, Bryant, and Talmage are nice, but some people are not nice.

Me:  Oh yeah?  Like who?

Hayden:  Like the other Hayden (a boy he knows from church).

Me:  You are right,  sometimes he isn't very nice.  Why do you think that is?

Hayden:  Probably, he doesn't have a very good heart.

We are hoping we have "good hearts" towards everyone we know, especially leading up to Heart Day.