[I promise this is my last post before my favorite things giveaway]
Over Christmas break we painted upstairs (more on that later). While the girls' room was under construction we let them sleep in our room. After I put the girls to bed I heard them jumping around and screaming upstairs. I thought I would let them play for a few minutes before I made them get back in bed. A few min later I heard Siena crying - like the real "I'm hurt" cry. I ran upstairs and she was laying on my floor holding her foot. Through her tears she said she jumped off my bed and hurt her foot and bonked her head. Then she threw up! I was worried about a concussion but her eyes checked out. I put her in the shower while I cleaned everything up. She sat down the whole shower cause her foot hurt and after she got out she was limping around. I looked for bruising and swelling over the next few days. Several different times I would push and prod her foot to see if there was a point of pain or even discomfort. Nothing that seemed noteworthy.
Fast forward 3 weeks and she was still limping around. I would ask her why she was limping and she would tell me it's cause her foot hurts. During those 3 weeks Skye was so sick and in the ER, so I really didn't give Siena the attention she probably needed. I called our pediatrician's office and they said if it's over 2 weeks of limping that they want to see her. Of course this was Friday afternoon. So we ended up at instacare the next day.
They hooked her up with snacks and she made herself at home...
Based on her symptoms they decided to do an xray. I had the thought to bring her Apple Jack My Little Pony toy with us. Siena gets really attached to toys for a few weeks at a time. I'm so glad I did! We discussed what was going to happen with the xray and that she could bring her pony. She told me "Thank you for bringing Apple Jack. I am brave with my Apple Jack. (Hiding it behind her). See No Apple Jack - not brave. (Bringing in front of her) Yes Apple Jack - now I'm brave." so cute!
She did great for the xray. She sat so still while Skye and I watched behind some special glass and made silly faces at her. Afterward the xray lady let Siena look at the pictures. "Wow! Those are my bones?" The results came back that were a little unclear. So they told us to go to a pediatric orthopedist on Monday. They didn't have a toddler walking boot, so they just sent her home with nothing. Poor thing.
I called Monday. Oh my goodness, I spent over 2 hours trying to find someone who knew what to do. My blood pressure was through the roof! I had the wrong RX for a walking boot, then I didn't need a walking boot, the foot doctor doesn't do kids, you need a referral to get in, blah, blah, blah. I was soooo frustrated. Finally I found a lady who was awesome and said that we needed to get her in that day cause she shouldn't be walking around on that foot. Finally! Skye, Jaide, Siena and I jumped in the car and headed over.
The orthopedist examined Siena. He said that the xray doesn't show a fracture, but her pain is located on the Navicular bone in her foot and when he looks at that bone in the xray it doesn't look quite right. The edge is a little wavy where it should be smooth. He felt like the best path was to cast her foot and let the bone heal. Then in 3 weeks take it off and see if there is any more pain. Kids heal so quickly and he said there didn't need to be any intervention (like resetting or surgery). So really we're just going to give it a few weeks of extra support while it heals itself. I asked if she could have a walking boot instead. He doesn't like walking boots for this age (where they can take it off themselves without permission). But she would be able to walk on her cast.
Siena wanted a yellow cast, but they didn't have that color. So she picked "biolet" (violet). With promise that I would put yellow sparkles on it. The cast lady put like 10 layers of the cast material on the bottom sole so it was strong to walk on. Jaide watched very closely and the twirls talked a lot about how Jaide fell down the stairs and broke her arm (I'm pretty sure she doesn't remember any of that, just has seen pictures). I think these girls are taking the twin thing a little too seriously...
After we added the bling. She told me "I'm a super fast cheetah girl!" And she is! It took a day to get used to but now she cruises around on that cast.
She's been pretty patient with her cast. We got the waterproof kind but when it gets wet it's "too itchy!" We've been using old glow sticks at scratching sticks down her leg! haha! She has asked me several times to call the doctor so we can get it off cause it's so itchy. But if I wrap it well (bag, towel, then another bag) in the shower and it stays dry - then the cast doesn't seem to bother her. Only 2 more weeks left!
Trying to get a picture.... haha!
So now you have a great story to warn your children about the dangers of jumping off the bed.
I know what you're thinking, isn't it time for your favorite things blog? Yes, it probably is. But I decided I wanted to finish 2016 first. So, instead of dragging it out into a bunch of posts that I never have time to finish. Here are a BUNCH of photos in little collages to give you an overview of our crazy month...
The Sawayas invited us to their neighborhood Christmas party. We got to ride a train, see a real reindeer, eat snacks, the girls rode in a little Ferris wheel, and we even got to see Santa! The twirls were super nervous (as you can see by their faces) but Scarlett was super excited! Jaide wanted me to tell Santa that she wanted a "green toothbrush that is green with no blue on it."
We made lots of treats during December and sang lots of carols. I heard Jaide singing "Merry Christmas had a little lamb..." haha! Scarlett had a pajama day at school, and I made her hair into a Christmas tree (using a broken necklace I had). The girls wore their Santa hats at the Ward Christmas party (luckily I didn't have to play the trombone this time!) There were candy canes for sale at Scarlett's school for kids to buy for each other. Jake went inside at drop off one morning and bought her one from Siena and Jaide. She just couldn't figure out how her sisters got inside the school. She kept asking them questions about it but they had no idea! haha! Finally we told her - but it was so funny! And if you see all those gingerbread men... On the way home from school one day Scarlett told me "Mrs. Henry asked if you like making cookies, I told her that you like buying Oreos." hahahahahaha!!!!! Mrs. Henry and I both got a good laugh out of that. I made the gingerbread men for her class - mostly to show Scarlett that I can do more than just buy Oreos!
The last day at word before the Christmas shutdown at Ford, the bag piper comes around. When he comes that is the signal that you can go home early. What a fun tradition!
On Christmas Eve we had the Furness family over to celebrate. We all had so much fun!!! Ashley and I were making food and we looked over and Jake and Jordan were rocking out to Just Dance on the PS3! It was a wonderful day! I'm so glad we have "framily" to celebrate with out here. Then we did our Christmas Eve nativity story and jammies. The girls were sooooo excited for Santa to come, I was afraid they would stay awake, but they went right to sleep!
Scarlett gave a talk in primary about the nativity. I was so proud of her for practicing before so she didn't need my help with the words. I just stood next to her to help her hold up all the little people while she told the story and read the scripture all on her own.
Christmas morning! Since it was the sabbath, we let them open their stocking and gift from Santa before church. After church we dug into the rest of the gifts. There were lots of hugs after every present they opened. haha! Jake got me earrings that are the molecule of dopamine - they make me so happy! haha! He also got me a double helix necklace, I think I will wear it with a good pair of jeans (badumcha!) We let the girls take their ice breaker mints to church (that they love) and they ate almost all of them. About 3 hours later we had several incidents of explosive diarrhea - Merry Christmas!
Exclusive footage of the Glauser Girl Band (first practice ever caught on tape!) Missing from the video is the tambourinist Skye, who slept through all this noise.
I love these little ladies!
These photos are: Siena showing me her water bottle gives her a mustache, the twirls pretending to nap, Scarlett reading to her sisters, the girls in their new snow coats and boots, Scarlett made signs using bubble letters (I didn't know she could do that!), Scarlett typing on Jake's laptop and wrote this out, Siena rocking her yellow hat, Jaide trying to carry everything at once and scooting on her bum, and Jaide put her jammies on upside-down to be funny.
Some quotes:
Siena: "I can count to ten in zero minutes splat."
Scarlett: "Bananas are crazy - they have THREE A's!"
Scarlett: "I like Rapunzel. But I want to be RaScarlett."
Scarlett: "I know how to spell knee: N-E-E". Me: "It actually starts with a silent K." Scarlett: "What?! Seriously?!?!?!" *Mind blown*
Jaide: "I want to watch a show where the mom says shhh and the little kids have a red hat." haha (I have no idea what she was talking about!).
Scarlett: "I hope my after school snack is big so I can eat for a long time."
Scarlett: "We have bean bag frogs that come to life and have no noggin."
Jake shaved off his beard one night. He came downstairs with this creepy face! haha! Then after church one day I found him asleep in the middle of the room... They came. They played. They conquered. The bottom left photo is Jake holding up his lock pick set. He bought it cause we locked all our winter gear in a closet and couldn't find the key, so he learned to pick locks and liberated our snow coats!
Jake texted me one day and said "guess what celebrity is at Ford right now." I picked the first name that popped in my head and texted back "Dwayne, the Rock, Johnson." I was right!!!!!!!!!! hahahaha!!!! How crazy is that!
We were talking about Ford and Scarlett asked us, "is their a car called 'Fived'?" Four-d, Five-d! haha!
While watching Jake through the window as he used the snow blower to clear the driveway, Scarlett said "Dad is a very good boy." *sweet*
Jake came home and found all the girls on devices. And the other picture is my normal - people climbing on me always. Also, I was driving one day and a big spider crawled out of the air vent! GROSS!!! I didn't want it to climb around my car but I couldn't stop to find a tissue... so I just smacked it with my bare hand. YUCK. When I was able to stop I used a bunch of diaper wipes and hand sanitizer, but I swear I can still feel it crawling on my palm!
Happy baby Skye. When she gets hungry she makes a sound like "mom mom mom" It's like she's telling me "hey woman, get over here and feed me!" Love that Elvis popped collar. And Jake put her in the bouncer in the corner. Nobody puts baby in the corner. Well, except Jake.
I think Jake has such a talent for teaching our kids games at young ages. Scarlett was just a few weeks old and he could get her to stick her tongue out on command. It really is a gift he has. I was making dinner while he taught our barley 7 month old to play ball:
The girls all needed their hair trimmed. It was in their bum cracks in the shower. It took a few days of prepping them, by getting them used to the idea so they would be excited. They did great! I have given lots of hair cuts for different people, but this was the first time I've cut my own girls' hair. Kandy has given them their cuts before this (and if she was closer I would have had her do their cuts again). Skye slept through the whole process.
I heard Scarlett getting out of bed to open/close the door multiple times. I went in and asked her "What are you doing????" She replied "I want it to click 6 times cause there are 6 people in our family." Oh man. OCD!! She has several ticks, like needing all the light switches to be the same direction, etc. Having struggled with that myself, we are keeping an eye on her. I spoke with her about the door clicking and we decided together that 1 time would be ok cause we're one big happy family. So far none of the ticks prevent her from living her life. She's able to skip them or ignore them. Still, something to be looking out for.
Also, if you spoke with Scarlett in the month of December, you probably heard about her "wiggly tooth". It's pretty big news. She tells everyone. Like everyone. We got to facetime both of our families on Christmas. Scarlett was asleep when we chatted with the Glausers, but she asked me to tell Megan about her tooth. Megan's response was pure excitement "oh wow!" what sweet girls they are!
This was a fun preschool game. Dry erase markers, put letters on the glass, tell them a letter and they erase it. They thought it was a ton of fun. Jaide told me "I want to use red and blue to make biolet [violet]." These girls are so smart! Another time Jaide saw her sisters crawling on the floor, she exclaimed "Look, humans!" hahaha!
New Year's Eve at the Sawayas (with some of the best smoked meat and baked beans ever, Jake still talks about it).
The twirls like to wait for the credits to scroll at the end of a movie: "I like the elevator!" Since we've been back from Utah the twirls have been wearing panties 24/7. I realize that the pull ups were there mostly for me, but I just needed that extra security while I was dealing with a newborn. But they do great! We rarely have potty accidents and they don't complain about their "itchy bums."
Playing with friends. McKayla comes over on Wednesdays to do math. She's homeschooled so I help her through her Algebra 2 textbook. Then she stays and watches the girls while I get some stuff done. It's a wonderful, symbiotic relationship. One day she was wearing red lipstick and Jaide came over to me, pointed to McKayla and said: "There's something red over there. On those lips." haha!
We got to eat out with Sis Jones one more time before she finished her mission. I'll miss my little "sister"!
One day for an after school snack we ate popcorn. Jaide came up to me and said "I have popcorn in my ear" I laid her on her side and used a flashlight to look in. I could see something in there, so I called the Dr office and they had us come right in. The clump looks ear wax or could be popcorn, so we weren't sure. So they flushed out her ear several times to clean out the gunk. We're pretty sure it was just ear wax, but after they got it all cleaned out they were able to see an ear infection. Poor girl! Her ear was hurting and maybe was crackling, so she probably just thought there was popcorn in there. Glad it wasn't really a big corn kernel stuck in there.
Randomly Siena's eye was swollen one day...
One day we were at ballet. The twirls were running around and pretending to be puppies and kitties with Amber while I was chatting with my friends. Jaide came over to me and started coughing a ton. All that coughing made her start to vomit. I was breastfeeding Skye but Laura and I started catching the vomit while Christine grabbed Skye. I kept my cupped hands under Jaide's mouth while I ran her to the bathroom (thank goodness my exposed boob was under a nursing cover!) We got her and everything else cleaned up. While I was finishing, one of the managers at the Summit came over and asked "who is the parent for the twins in the butterfly shirts." He wanted to let me know that my girls were licking the glass wall and they could see from below. He wasn't upset, just wanted me to be aware cause he doesn't want them to get sick from all the germs on the glass. Seriously, how ironic that he would come say that like 2 minutes after Jaide just threw up all over everywhere. I felt like the best mom that night! We are such a hot mess!!!!
While I'm on the subject of vomit... after Jake got LASIK he threw up on our drive home. He had me pull over and he threw up out the window (his eyes were covered so he got car sick, plus the pain meds). Anyways, I just realized the other day that the place we pulled over is Scarlett's school!!! haha! He threw up in their parking lot 3 years ago! Hopefully the rain washed it away and the school isn't still looking for the culprit! haha!
I just seriously love this picture of Skye looking at the camera!!! It's a favorite! I feel bad that right after I took this she got 5 shots! (It was her 6 mo checkup and they were out of the combo shots).
The past 2 months have been rough for Baby Skye. Before Christmas she started coughing a lot. One night she even made herself throw up on her clothes and ended up in the sink...
After more coughing, fevers, and pulling on her ear I decided to take her to the doctor.
Turns out Skye has bronchiolitis with an ear infection and puss on her throat. Dr. Tosto said she would do a chest xray to see if it's turned into pneumonia yet, but since she has an ear infection we're going to put her on antibiotics and it's the same treatment for pneumonia. So we don't have to expose her to the radiation. Bronchiolitis can be caused by RSV or any cold. They used to always test to see if is RSV, but now they don't do that unless necessary.
Then a few weeks ago Skye started acting really sick. First, she threw up right after eating while in my bed... like a LOT. That same morning Siena had a potty accident, then Jaide accidentally stepped in the pee so I put them both in the shower. Then Scarlett was feeling left out cause Skye, Siena and Jaide were in the shower. So before 9am all four of my girls were in the shower while I got to clean up all the fluids.
Well Skye continued to throw up one or two times a day. She had a little fever the first day, but never after that. And she was acting sick:
Finally on Monday morning (after 6 days of throwing up) I called the doctor and got her in. The doctor said everything looked great, but we should do a catheter and test for a UTI cause sometimes the infection can cause vomiting. After her test (and a second dose of flu shot, poor girl) the results came back: she did have a UTI. They gave me antibiotics and sent us home.
The rest of that day Skye threw up every time I fed her - even though she would only nurse for a minute. By 5pm I realized she hadn't peed all day. I called the nurse and they said if it was more than 8 hours without a wet diaper that I needed to take her to the children's ER at St. Joe's. Right after that Skye ate and actually kept it down. So we decided to wait and hour and see if she would pee. We got the girls to bed and then Skye threw up a ton. That was the last straw. It was time to take her in, poor thing.
Luckily we didn't have to wait very long. We got right back to a room. The doctor came in (with a cute prego belly) and said she was concerned that Skye was dehydrated. Skye kept crying as she looked her over, but she didn't have any tears. So the doctor said we would get her an IV for fluids, zofran and antibiotic.
First was the IV. Because she was so dehydrated her veins were difficult. The first nurse came in and poked her 2 times. They can only try twice before they have to get a different nurse (I think that's pretty standard protocol.) But one poke doesn't mean one small poke, they put it in and dig around for the vein - for several minutes. Skye was SCREAMING and she even started throwing up again while they were digging, trying to get the IV started. She didn't have anything in her tummy, only stomach bile. A second nurse came in and only tried once before she realized she couldn't get the IV started. They gave Skye a little break. They gave her oral dissolvable Zofran in hopes that she could stop throwing up and I could nurse her to help her veins. The taste of the medication made her throw up again!!! She was so miserable (and so was I). Finally the NICU nurses arrived. They turned off the light then used this little red flashlight to shine under her skin (like in her hand, foot, etc) and they looked around all her body to see what veins were the best. They tried and couldn't get it. Then they tried again and finally got the IV!!!! What a rough hour! The nurses said they felt sooo bad and Skye kept turning to them and giving them sad eyes (she really did!)
They started Skye's fluids and gave her the Zofran. They told me to wait at least 30 min before nursing her. I picked her up and wrapped her in a blanket and she just fell asleep. Poor thing was so exhausted. We snuggled for a little bit then I nursed her and she kept it down.
While they were poking and digging around her little arms, I felt so helpless. I just wanted a priesthood blessing for my sweet baby. I just wished that I was in UT so I could just ask and several faithful Melchizedek Priesthood holders working in the hospital would just appear when I needed them. I wondered if I needed Jake to find a babysitter and come down to the ER (it was 11:30pm and we were a good 20 min away). I wondered if it was going to be one of those stories where the missionaries just happened to be at the ER right then. My mind was running through all these scenarios (while they were digging around in her arm as she was screaming). Then I had this peaceful feeling come over me. Yes, the priesthood is wonderful, and I'm so grateful to have the power and blessings that come from it. But Heavenly Father hears moms prayers too. He was aware of my little baby and He knew the desires of my heart. I just knew that He was listening, so I poured my heart out and asked to help the nurses be guided in there efforts to start her vein. I'm grateful for the power of prayer and for a loving Heavenly Father who is so aware of us and who is involved in the details of our lives.
After Skye started perking up they took us over to the xray area. They wanted to make sure nothing else was going on in her tummy causing all the vomit (besides the UTI). The xray technician said it's been a while since he's had a baby that small. He held her all stretched out and just had them do the xray while he was holding her. Results came back and showed everything looked normal. There was a lot of gas trapped in her stomach, but that was from all the screaming earlier.
It took about 3 hours to get all her fluids in her system. I turned the lights off and nursed her laying down and we took a little nap. Then she kept sleeping while I watched some shows on Netflix on my phone. She woke up a few times and was playing with her IV - so she got socked! (it was a clean sock, don't worry)
The nurses kept coming in and telling me she is a gerber baby (look at those cheeks!) We finally got released. They sent us home with her IV still in her arm. They said since it was so hard to get started, they wanted to leave it in til we knew she was done throwing up for sure. They told me that they can only do that with "reliable families" (haha, I fooled them!) Thank goodness she was wearing big jammies that fit over all the stuff taped to her arm.
While I was inside the ER we got a few inches of snow. It was really slick and no traffic on the road. So I called my mom (woke her up on the eve of her bday) and she talked to me the whole drive home to make sure we were safe and didn't slide off the road.
The next morning I went to see our pediatrician. We both agreed that she will not get as dehydrated as she was the day before and it would be fine to take out her IV line. Later that day Skye did throw up one more time but Dr Tosto just gave us some liquid Zofran to stay on top of it. As the antibiotics worked she got progressively better. It took 2 days to really rehydrate her. About a week later she was back to being our sweet baby Skye (sleeping through the night, eating, smiling, etc). The antibiotics hurt her poor bum. But we will take a poor, raw bum over a sick baby.
Jake and I went off sugar and caffeine the week before. What bad timing! I was sooooo tired! Jake worked from home the day after the ER to help keep the twirls preoccupied so I could catch up on some sleep. But man, I sure miss my Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry!
I love creating digital art. Luckily November and December I had lots of opportunities to stretch my creative muscles.
Jami started working at my dad's office. One of her first assignments was to put together a big holiday party for all the employees. I was in Utah when she was working on this so she "hired" me to help make the invite. She even payed me! haha! It was fun to make an invite for the hipsters!
Jake's sister, Carolyn, got married in November. They sent me some ideas of announcements, and I put this together. I just LOVE her red shoes!
My friend, Gina, used to live in our ward. She always picks a fun idea for their family Christmas card. For the past 3 years I have got to turn their photo into a Christmas card. I just love her creativity and coming up with ideas!
Here are the previous cards I've made for her... I love how creative and punny her ideas are!!!!
When we showed up for Thanksgiving in Draper, the Whites realized they were all in coordinating outfits! So I snapped a few photos of them out back. I wish I just looked this good on accident!
My cousin, Jenn, asked me to do some head swaps on their family photo. Head swaps are my jam! I love these guys. The current Jennifer Seaver and the previous Jennifer Seaver balance each other: 4 boys and 4 girls! haha! I love that they have their amazing therapy dog with them in the photo too.
This fall I got to take the Sawaya's family photos. They are so photogenic! Love these guys!
Laura had a worker over at her house. He saw Skye's birth announcement (crayon box) on Laura's bulletin board. He asked Laura if she knew me. He saw this announcement on the wall at the OBGYN's office and remembered it. So ya, pretty much I'm famous. haha!
