Good Times, Noodle Salad

After months, years really, of worrying about Emersyn's sleeping problems I finally took her to see an ENT dr. I told him about her snoring and showed him video I took of Emersyn while she was sleeping when she stopped breathing repeatedly for up to 15 seconds. He looked her over and recommended removing her tonsils and adenoids.

We took her in for the surgery on Thursday and she did really well. The dr told us that her tonsils were "huge" and that her adenoids were so large that instead of being side by side, like they are supposed to be, they overlapped. She cried for a few minutes as she was coming out of the anesthesia but after it wore off she told me she was hungry and ready to go home. She ate really well on Thursday, pretty much everything I gave her.

The dr said that the worst days are usually the 3rd and 4th after the surgery. Today is the 3rd day and it is by far the worst she has had, she doesn't even want to swallow her own saliva so I am struggling to keep her hydrated. Hopefully this is the low point and tomorrow is better.

For Halloween this year the girls picked out really cute costumes, Emersyn wanted to be Minnie Mouse but not the red dress Minnie it had to be the pink dress (luckily I found one). Marti wanted to be Cinderella (shocking I know), but since she was that last year I made her pick something else, so she picked the character with the dress that most resembled Cinderella's and was Alice in Wonderland. They both looked so adorable and had a really good time trick or treating. It was fun this year to stand back and let them feel like they were doing it by themselves.

After many months of excited anticipation, Marti started preschool this week. She's in the afternoon class so she had to wait all morning long, when it was time to go she grabbed her little bag and shoved Emersyn into the car (literally, poor Emy didn't know what hit her). When class was over I went to pick her up and in true Marti form she got in the car and then wouldn't talk to me, she's so funny, she needs a little decompression time. After she got home, had a snack and a little time alone she got out her papers and told me about what they did. My favorite quote was "Mom, I am the smartest in the class", she is definitely not lacking in self confidence.

It's official, Emersyn is a big 3 year old. I can't even call her my baby anymore, she gets her annoyed face and says "Mom, I'm not a baby, I'm Emersyn". She had a My Little Pony/Winnie the Pooh (let's call it pony pooh) themed birthday. She picked out My Little Pony decorations then she saw the Winnie the Pooh cake and she had to have it. It was really fun watching Emy open her presents, she is so excited by everything.

Happy Birthday to Emy, no matter how she fights it she will always be our baby.

Marti turned 4 years old on July 1st. This year, for the first time, she was allowed to have a little party. She was so excited, she asked me about every 10 minutes all week if it was time yet. It was fun to watch all the little girls run around together, pretending to fly and playing ring around the rosie. After Marti had opened all her presents Kory went to the car and pulled out her special present from Mom and Dad, a brand new bike. She saw Kory coming up the sidewalk with it and she started running to him. She really, really loves that purple bike.

Happy Birthday Marti, a very special part of our family and our feisty little princess.

Last week Marti and Emersyn had a fun "princess" sleepover with Brinley, Kaily and Londen. The girls all wore their princess pj's and had a really good time dressing up, eating snacks and watching princess shows together. The next day we played a game of hide and seek with some other kids in our neighborhood (sorry about the filthy clothes, we had to have a long talk about why you shouldn't hide under a car during hide and seek). Thanks to all the moms for letting us take their kids, we loved having them here.

Subtitle: It's raining vomit.

Poor Emersyn, I am not sure what to do with her anymore. We are having another bad episode where she can't keep any food or liquid down, it started on Tuesday and who knows when it is going to stop. I have tried all sorts of different foods and liquids, but without fail she will eat something and then usually within 10 minutes she has thrown it up. It has gotten to the point now that she is so hungry that she is just exhausted and sleeps a lot.

If anyone has any suggestions on what to give her I would be happy to hear them.

Marti got her cast removed last Wednesday and by Sunday we were back in the ER. Marti did a flip off Grandma's lap onto her head/shoulder and fractured her collarbone. Thankfully it doesn't require a cast, but she has to wear a sling for the next 3 weeks. I hope this is the last injury for the summer, she isn't going to be happy if she can't go swimming this year.

Marti ran in her first race in Ogden a few weeks ago. I was so proud because she ran the whole time, not very fast, but she ran.

Marti is officially my child. I thought for sure that Emersyn would be the first in a cast, she seems a lot more clumsy.

It was about 8:30 at night and Marti had just put on her princess pjs she was busy twirling like a princess when she fell. I knew as soon as she fell and looked up at me that she had broken her arm, there was just something about the look on her face. Kory and I took her to the ER where they did an x-ray and confirmed it was broken just past her wrist (luckily past her growth plate).

Marti was so good the whole time at the ER, didn't cry once, the only thing she was concerned about was getting a "poke" (a shot) so she told every orderly, nurse, x-ray tech and doctor she saw not to give her a poke.

P.S. Note the purple cast....obviously I didn't get a say in what color she picked.

I know Easter was a while ago....but I just downloaded the pictures off the camera. So, better late than never.

We went with Auntie Trystal and the boys to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. It's so fun to see the kids play together. Poor Nathan, being the oldest, probably doesn't think it's so great but he is a really good helper.

This is a picture of Marti clutching Auntie Trystal's leg. Marti loves Auntie Trystal and would live with her if I let her. Marti was looking at some pictures of family on the fridge and she was pointing out who are her favorites. I asked Marti who her favorite mom was, expecting her to say "of course it is you dearest mommy" followed by a loving look and maybe a big hug. Instead she said, and I quote, "ummmm, I think I'll pick Auntie Trystal".

I know it was yesterday, but I still wanted to say Happy Anniversary to Kory. Thanks for being an awesome husband and daddy. I love you.

(See I can be a little schmoopy.....very little)

Emy and I took a trip to Denver last weekend for my brothers baby's blessing, her name is Jefrie Lynn and she is very cute and little. Marti was pretty jealous that Emersyn got to fly on an airplane. Emy didn't even notice, she slept the whole way.

On Saturday we played at the park, went swimming at the hotel pool and then ate dinner at my Aunt & Uncle's house. I also got to play some Rock Band, my poor cousins were subjected to Lynn and I's horrible singing (no one should ever let us have a microphone).

After the baby blessing on Sunday we went to return our rental car. Poor Emersyn hadn't had a real nap for a few days and was just exhausted, I went to wake her up when we got to the rental car return and the guy that was checking us out must have felt bad because he said that she needed more sleep and that he would drive us to the airport and drop us off. It was only about 15-20 minutes more sleep but it was definitely very helpful.

By the time we got home Emersyn was done with traveling, and I think my dad was done lugging her car seat all over the airport. Every time I fly I am reminded how much more work it is when you have babies/toddlers, there is the undressing and then re-dressing at security, you have to carry around (kind of like a pack mule) a car seat, a diaper bag and enough toys and treats to keep them occupied. Then there is the ever present worry of what am I going to do if I have to change her diaper while I am on the plane. When Marti was a baby I tried to do it in the plane bathroom, but I am pretty sure that is impossible. The only real option I could come up with is to put down the tray table and use it as a changing table. This works ok if you are sitting next to someone you know, but if you are not it gets a bit awkward.

Sorry, kind of got off the subject, anyway here are some pictures of our trip (good thing you had your camera Trystal).

To celebrate my mom's 50th birthday we had a bowling pizza party, complete with matching shirts that had our nicknames on them. I thought that if we put names on our shirts it would somehow magically make us better bowlers, no such luck, my score was still about the same as the little kids.

After months of procrastination by me, Marti finally started gymnastics a few weeks ago. She has been asking me to sign her up since her birthday last July.

She loved it, I hated it. I know that it is a good thing for kids to do things on their own and gain more independence...etc. etc. etc. but I love having my kids home with me, all to myself. I am already dreading the first day of school and it is still 2 years away.

Geez, where has all the time gone?

It has been a busy time for us lately, we were dog sitting for Aaron and Lynn while they were in Mexico and then we watched Conner and Kaily while their parents were in Florida (with lots of help from Dave and Val).

Unfortunately we also had a scare with Emersyn, about a week before Christmas she came down with some sort of illness. She wasn't able to keep any food or water down but she didn't have a fever or anything else. She would barf and then ask for a treat or to go play. It lasted about 10 days and I was just about to call the doctor for an appt. when she seemed to get better. So when she started barfing again I decided I wouldn't wait as long to go see the doctor.

I took her in on Thursday and they decided to check for a bladder infection in case that was the cause. They ran her urine and it came back that she didn't have a bladder infection but the doctor was concerned because she had too much bilirubin in her urine. That could have been an indication that her liver wasn't functioning like it was supposed to so we needed to get her blood work done to find out. Well that was horrible, I had to hold her while they took her blood and she screamed over and over again "oucheeeee". They were going to run the blood work right away and if it was bad news they would call us that night. That was the longest night of my life, I really can't imagine anything worse than waiting around for someone to tell you there is something wrong with your child.

Luckily the phone call didn't come and when I talked to the Dr. the next day he said that her lab work was normal. We still don't know why she was sick, maybe a virus or something, but she is doing better now. It wasn't a fun experience but it really reminded me of how special Emy is and how grateful I am to be her mom.