Why 3 is Enough for Me!

I get asked all the time if we will have any more kids. As long as it is up to me, three is good! I love my little Care Bear but she has humbled me from day one! We always said we would have 4 kids but I have decided Care Bear is baby 3 and 4 in one busy little body!

In a matter of 11 days my blue eyed little lady self medicated herself with cold medicine, attempted to light the house on fire, and broke her leg!

Medicine

Care bear had a bad cough and it got especially bad at night so for several nights in a row, I gave her a dose of children's cold medicine to help her sleep without coughing all night. On July 19th, she asked for medicine and I told her no because she seemed better and I didn't think she needed it. I continued helping the girls tidy their room before bed when Care Bear disappeared. She came back upstairs and with pride announced that she had given herself the cold medicine! I ran downstairs and sure enough, the bottle was open with a measuring spoon next to it. The only thing that kept me from calling poison control was the fact that the bottle was almost empty and she maybe got 1/2 tsp too much, at the most. We talked for a long time about how dangerous it is to do that so hopefully she will listen to me next time!

Fire

We do not use matches at our house. All we use are lighters with child safety latches and I keep them up high. But, the other day (July 23rd), as I was cleaning and sorting papers in my room, I found a souvenir box of matches Justin had brought home from a golf course. Not thinking, I set them on my dresser. Care Bear found them and asked what the "candles" were for. I told her they were not candles but matches and they are dangerous so don't touch them. Once again, not thinking, I turned back around and continued sorting papers. A few minutes later a terrified Care Bear came running back to my room and told me "that stick is on fire!" I asked her if it was still burning and she said yes it was! I ran to her room and discovered small flames on the blanket on her bed! Without even thinking, I smothered the flames with the blanket. I was shocked to say the least! How on earth did she manage to light the match? I truly think she did it accidentally and then got scared and threw the burning match on her bed. She was so frightened and would not come talk to me. I had to coax her out of hiding and I repeatedly told her she did the right thing by telling me what happened. We talked about what would have happened if she didn't tell anyone and I tried my best to paint a very scary picture in her head in hopes of keeping her from ever touching a match again! She wanted to throw the blanket away even though only a very small section was burned but I told her no because it is her favorite blankie and I knew she would be devastated the next day. Then she wanted me to cut the burned part off but again I told her no. I told her I want her to have a daily reminder of what fire can do so she will never play with matches/fire again! I pray I do not have a firebug on my hands!

Broken Leg

Our good friends the Bruners inherited a trampoline from some friends that were moving away. On Wednesday the 28th Justin helped Travis set it up and we all ate pizza while the kids had a ball jumping and performing tricks on the "new" trampoline. Thursday the 29th, Care Bear was across the street jumping as soon as she could. That evening I had book club so Justin and the kids barbecued dinner with the Bruners while the trampoline was thoroughly enjoyed by Care Bear, Camdyn, Raegan, and Peyton. (La-La was at another friends and Jaco was being "electronic" like usual). Right as I got to book club around 6:30, Justin called and said Care Bear had hurt herself on the trampoline. He said Camdyn had "popped" her up and she hyper extended her knee. She talked to me and broke my heart because she was so sad but I chose to stay with my friends and received updates via text from Justin. He said she was really hurting and he wondered if he should take her in. Danielle said she knew it was bad because of the way Care Bear acted when it happened. She said it was like Care Bear was frantic to get away from the pain. I couldn't really leave because we had carpooled to a home 40 minutes away. I know if it had been really serious, the other ladies would have brought me right home but I figured Justin could play care giver and I would be there soon. When I did finally get home, she was still so sad and really hurting. She would not move her leg and there was no way she would even think about standing on it. We decided to see how the night went and take her in the next morning if needed. I let her sleep with me and the poor girl cried and whimpered all night. I knew we would be going to the Dr when I noticed she did not move her leg even an inch all night long. I started feeling so guilty for not taking her in the night before!

So first thing Friday morning, La-La and I took Care Bear to an urgent care center. The Dr did a great job of distracting her while he did the exam and the only time she grimaced or cried was when he straightened her leg all the way. Because of this, he was positive it was just a bad sprain and that we would just need to give Advil, carry her around for a few days, and keep it wrapped with an ace wrap. But just to be safe, he ordered x-rays. We were waiting to get the results when a pair of nurses walked in with a cast kit. I was surprised and asked them if it was broken. They didn't realize the Dr had not talked to me yet and they told me they could not say. The Dr finally came in and confirmed that yes it was broken. He showed me the x-ray and even with my untrained eye, the fracture was very obvious.

Transverse Right Tibial Fracture

My heart sunk as all kinds of thoughts raced through my head. Surgery? Cast? How long? How much? etc... He told me she already had an appointment with an orthopedic Dr. They put her in a soft cast, gave her a prescription for Tylenol with codeine and sent us home.

About an hour later, we went to the orthopedic Dr. They said it was a bad break but thankfully clean, meaning that it was not displaced. The biggest concern is the fracture involves the growth plate.

They put her in a full leg hard cast right away and warned us not to allow any weight to be put on her leg. If it twists at all, it could be bad! We will go back in on the 9th to get a new x-ray and new cast and hopefully it will still be lined up just right! As of right now, she will be in the full cast for 6 weeks and non weight bearing for most of, if not the whole time!

Cast signing!

Little known side effect of a broken leg is massive bed head! It could be quite difficult to get rid of this rat's nest!

La-La has been so sweet and caring to Care Bear. She helps in the bathroom, getting ice, playing games, and is being a great sister!

I feel so bad for Care Bear. Summer is still in full swing but no swimming, biking, running or playing outside for her. Plus, her birthday is in a few weeks and her main gift which I have already purchased is roller blades. We borrowed a jogging stroller for a "wheelchair" so that helps but taking her potty and carrying her around is a little tricky. I am sure we will have it all perfected soon and it will seem no big deal...at least I hope!

I know this was a long post but I wanted to get all the details in for "journaling" purposes to show Miss Care Bear someday. Now can you see why three is enough for me?

July 22, 2010 Good & Bad

The GOOD!

Happy Birthday to my sweet, smart, funny, Jaco! I can not believe he is 11!!! He has been anticipating his birthday all week and could not wait! Wednesday night he was so frustrated because he could not fall asleep. Then he was up at 6 the next morning but I had warned him he could not come wake us up until 7:30. So right at 7:30 our door was just about knocked off it's hinges by a very excited boy!

Jaco's birthday was fairly low key but he had a great day. He started by opening his presents which consisted of 4 books (The 1st 2 Hunger Games, Percy Jackson #5 and Percy Jackson the DemiGod files), a remote control dragon fly, a small blow up raft for the river and Scribblenauts for his DS. My parents gave him some origami paper because he loves folding origami and he got some cold hard cash from the other grandparents that is burning a huge hole in his pocket!

Having a summer birthday, he rarely gets to do anything for school like take cupcakes. This year he has taken a short summer violin session through the school and it worked out perfect that today he had class so he was able to share cupcakes!

After his violin lesson, we picked up his friend Ian to come hang out and have a sleep over. I didn't really see him again until dinner because they were having so much fun being boys!

We have a tradition that the birthday person gets to choose dinner. This year Jaco wanted a fish fry. I don't do seafood so this took me way out of my comfort zone! I bought shrimp for the first time ever and we fried some cod Justin had caught on the ocean. Plus we had onion rings, fries, and corn on the cob. Both Justin and Jaco LOVE seafood and they are ever so slowly getting me to come around. I still don't think I would ever order it at a restaurant, but I can say I don't hate it now. There is hope for this Idaho meat and potatoes girl!


After dinner, our friends the Bruners and The Savages came to have cake and ice-cream with us. I found a fun tutorial online for a Rubiks Cube cake so that is what I made. It turned out pretty cool but the black icing was a pain to work with! The birthday boy loved it so that is all that matters!
Love you Jaco and Happy Birthday buddy!

The BAD

Yesterday morning Jaco called my parents to say thank you for his origami paper. After he was done, I talked to my mom for close to an hour about all sorts of stuff including a suspicious spot in one of her breasts. She had had a biopsy on Tuesday to check it out. They had found it in a routine mammogram in June and after an ultra-sound was inconclusive, they decided to do a biopsy to be safe. The radiologist who performed the procedure was very optimistic that it was benign as it did not present as something malignant. My mom was very positive yesterday morning that it would be fine. She told me they would send out an e-mail later in the day after they got the report back but she really thought it would be OK. I hung up feeling reassured. Later in the day my sister Michelle called and asked how I was doing. I was curious what she meant because of the way she asked. She then told me the bad news that Mom does in fact have breast cancer. I was shocked and crushed and sad and in disbelief. Mom can't be sick. This is Mom! She has to live forever. I was in a fog for the rest of the day and am still having a hard time. It hurts to live so far away and not be able to do anything. She goes in on Monday to figure out the game plan and we are all praying it will be OK, that it was caught early enough, and that her relative good health will help her through it.

I am now wearing my yellow Livestrong bracelet, the same one I wore for my nephew when he was diagnosed with brain cancer and I will continue wearing it for a long time! Brian is living and doing great after 7+ years so like my mom said, if Brian can do it, she can. It just makes me sad to think of her having to deal with chemo and radiation and go from feeling fine today to being made sick tomorrow in order to kill the bad guy.

If you want a glimpse into what an amazing person my mom is, check out this post I dedicated to her on Mother's Day this year.

Love you Mom and pray that everything will be OK!

My Sweet La-La

I think it is about time for an update on my sweet adventurous middle child! Miss La-La finished 1st grade this year and did great! Her reading skills exploded this year and it has been so much fun to see the world of words open up for her.

La-La LOVES babies. When she sees one, she aches to hold it. She is so sweet and nurturing and I think this desire to hold and cuddle babies is just a part of that nurturing personality she was born with. Even if the baby is almost as big as her, La-La still wants to hold it!

La-La's desire to hold babies has been a small source of conflict at our house. She gets really mad at me because I feel like our family is complete but she wants a baby in our home really bad! When I say babies cost a lot of money she says she will save all her allowance to help pay for diapers. I tell her babies wake up a lot at night and are a lot of work. She argues back that she will get up to help at night and that if I home school her she will be home all day to help whenever I need it. She sees me looking at the kids baby pictures and she comments on how cute babies are. Then she tells me how fun it would be to have another baby and take lots of cute pictures. I'm telling you, the girl has come up with every argument possible! Thankfully, friends from church let her love on their babies so I am off the hook, for a few minutes at least!

La-La has beautiful curls. I have always wanted curly hair and had countless home perms growing up trying to get soft perfect waves. So mother nature decided to be cruel and give my dream hair to my daughter! Only problem with La-La's hair is the bottom layer is really curly while the top is just slightly wavy. She has always wanted long hair so we have just been doing short trims to keep it healthy.

I was having to pull her hair up everyday because if we left it down, it would get stringy and look nappy because of the straight top and curly bottom. It just did not lay nice! So about a month ago, I talked her in to going short. I told her she could leave it down more, it would look better and it would be curlier. She agreed and I could not be happier. She loves it too and that is what matters most!

I love how much thicker and healthier it looks!

For many years La-La has been plagued with random skin issues. She will break out in hives for no apparant reason. We did allergy testing which came back clear. It appears to be a psycho-somatic reaction to stress. If she is sick, she might get hives. If she is worried she might get them or if she knows I am really worried she will get itchy. Her skin seems sensitive to bug bites but not detergents and cleaners. She also reacts strongly to poison oak. At one point she had it on her arms, face, and legs. It took close to a month to clear up and that was after buying just about every product available to treat it! I bought her special organic soap designed just for poison oak. We used over the counter and prescription strength cortizone cream. I bought Tecnu which is an expensive product just for poison oak. I gave her benadryl at night and zyrtec during the day to try to stop the itching. I was worried she was going to get an infection from scratching so much! Then we added an herbal supplement called antronex which was not cheap but it did seem to help. As of today, she seems to be clear of the itchy welts but we think the cats are bringing it in so who knows when she will break out again!

Remember six months ago when my little lady sprained her ankle? It took several months before it felt good but even then, she would favor it when she ran and it was still not 100%. Well Friday she managed to re-sprain it pretty good.

I was running errands when the nurse from the day camp La-La was attending called to say she was hurt. I was skeptical as to how bad the sprain was because La-La can be a little dramatic but when the nurse said it was swollen, I was a little more worried. Once I got her home, I checked her over and it was indeed quite swollen and very painful.

I feel so bad for her especially now that it is summer and she wants to be running and playing but is limited in her activity options. Dr Daddy thinks she will need some physical therapy to get it healed correctly. I just hope and pray she is not doomed to a life of weak ankles!

4th of July!

Like the 4th of July last year, we headed to the coast to hang out with our great friends the Bruners. I sang at a wedding Saturday evening so we had to wait to leave. Justin wasn't too thrilled to set up the tent in the dark but he did great with some help from Travis.

The men in camp woke up really early to go Sea Fishing. Justin went a few weeks ago for the first time and LOVED it so he was really excited to go again. They all caught fish and had fun doing it!

The rest of us back at camp had a lazy breakfast and hung out. We headed to the beach late in the morning. The tide was out so there were all kinds of critters to be found. I have never seen so many starfish! The kids found a tiny eel, anenomes, lots of crabs, and shells. La-La climbed a huge tree stump while Jaco played catch with a football. Care Bear was having fun exploring until she slipped on some seaweed and caught her face on some barnacles. She was tired, hungry, and hurt and let everyone know that she was done!


The men finally returned from fishing just in time for lunch. After lunch Justin took Care Bear, La-La, and Raegen crabbing but came back empty handed. Not a good day for crabs!

The best part about camping with the Bruners is the food! They have a huge feast with everyone bringing something to tasty to share. Justin was in heaven with fresh fried fish and fresh sushi. I even tried the sushi and can't say I hated it but I don't think I would order it at a restaurant. We had chicken, fish, cabobs, fruit, salads of different varieties, cake, cobbler, bread, and corn! So YUMMY!

Justin made cherry cobbler in the dutch oven over hot coals. It was SOOO good! Once it was baked, he threw the hot coals into the river. La-La was walking around bare footed watching Justin work. I kept telling her to be careful and to put her shoes on before she stepped on a coal. Sure enough, my warning was not enough and she managed to step on a coal that did not quite make it to the river. She blistered her toe and cried and cried as the burn pain came and went.


Last 4th of July our dog Cody was the biggest nervous wreck you have ever seen! He was panting like it was 100 degrees and his body shook for HOURS! We knew we didn't want a repeat this year so we took a trip to the vet before we left and got some doggy valium. The poor boy was drugged but calm so it worked! He ran to find us when he heard a firework but never freaked out and stayed calm.

This year the forecast was clear and warm so we actually got to see the fireworks go off over the ocean! We watched the big fireworks and lit off some of our own, some legal and a few not so legal. Shhh...don't tell anyone! Both Care Bear and Justin were too tired to watch the whole show and fell asleep. Once we got back to camp, we all quickly fell asleep and slept great!


Monday morning we ate breakfast and cleaned up camp. Everyone went their separate ways and our way was down to California! We wanted to go to the Redwoods but did some exploring first. We stopped at a rest stop for lunch. Justin got creative and lit some charcoal, put his trusty cast iron skillet on top and cooked up some brats and hot dogs. It worked surprisingly well! Once the hot dogs were cooked, we took the skillet off and roasted marshmellows over the hot coals. We told the kids we were eating a "hobo" lunch. It was pretty funny!

After lunch, we found a coastal view road that took us on a crazy little trip! Huge potholes, single lanes, lots of curves, little to no pavement and beautiful views of the Pacific ocean! At one point we found some old WWII farm houses that actually were spy locations for the military to use to monitor foreign boats. They were pretty cool!

Once we got back to a real road, we found Ocean World, a small aquarium.

We learned about starfish, that anenomes are only poisonious to humans on the tongue, and we got to pet a shark!

I was surprised that La-La was nervous to pet the shark. She usually jumps right in for something like that but this time it took her a bit to warm up to the situation. Once she did, she didn't want to stop. Care Bear did it after seeing La-La do it and Jaco had to have his hand pushed in the water by Daddy to do it.

Finally, I got my Redwood fix! We checked out a new trail and loved exploring among the giants! I really love it in the Redwoods. They are so spiritual to me!

We had a fabulous 4th of July and plan to make it a yearly tradition to go camping with the Bruners!