Abby's 7!

Today is Abby's seventh birthday.  I can't believe she is already seven, and yet I can't remember life before kids.  She is my oldest kiddo, the one who made me a Mommy.  She is the trial-and-error kid, the test pilot, the leader of the pack.  She is my favorite Abby ever, the one who makes me smile, and sometimes makes me crazy.

Abby loves her little sister (and sometimes her little brother), she loves pink and purple and black.  She likes candy and frosting and requested steak for her dinner tonight.  She loves art, anything drawing, writing, creating.  She loves to play with the neighborhood gang of kids, and hates it whenever she feels like she's missing out on anything.  She is sensitive and sometimes shy and often nervous or anxious whenever she is doing something new.  And yet she is so brave and so tough I can't believe it.

I never wanted to have a baby in December, too close to Christmas and cold in the winter and everything.  Two years before Abby was born Jeremiah's mother died suddenly four days after Christmas.  It was heartbreaking and the next year Christmas was lonely and hard for the Gregg side.  When I found out I was pregnant I was elated!  We had been trying for a baby for almost a year and I was starting to get nervous, every month I would cry and think, I'll take any month, I don't care if it's winter, I just want a baby.  So, go figure, it ended up my due date with our first child was December 3rd.  Oh well, at least I got Christmas off from work!

God's timing is always perfect, and everything happens for a reason, to glorify Him.  The one month I didn't want to have a baby was the month He had chosen.  Jeremiah said looking forward to having our first child gave him a reason to like Christmas again.  And having a tiny baby made celebrating Christmas so much more special.

We found out she was a girl at the 20 week ultrasound and then tried to pick out her name.  We didn't tell anyone her name before she was born, only that it was a girl.  We chose Abigail because it was one of the only names we could agree on.  It's Hebrew in origin and depending on where you look it means "father's joy" or "gift of the father."  PERFECT!  A baby, sent from God, at Christmas time, for my husband.  Abigail in the Bible was one of King David's wives and considered a righteous woman.  Her middle name is Elizabeth, in the Bible she was Mary's cousin, the mother of John the Baptist.

My little girl, she's turning into a big girl.  I love watching her grow up and, as much as I miss her as my little tiny baby, it's wonderful to see the person she is becoming.

Happy Birthday Abby!  I love you!

Monthly Mission - New Month, New Mission

Well it's December 2nd, how did that happen so soon?  Of course we are having a hard time believing it in Colorado because it has been 60-something degrees forever.  It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when the kids are wearing shorts.

So my mission for this month, and I'm excited about this one, is exercise.  I'm more excited about this than giving up the internet.  I have chosen Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred to torture myself with.  And I've already learned a few things about myself.

1. I am out of shape.  Really out of shape.  I was grunting and yelling in my basement today trying really hard to get through the easiest workout.  And my body hurts, a lot.
2. I don't think I'm going to like Jillian Michaels much longer.
3. I have muscles where I didn't know I had them, and they all hurt.
4. Motrin is my friend.

It's going to be a long month.

I hope at the end of this month I will be stronger, have more endurance and more energy.  I'm not trying to loose a bunch of weight, but it would be nice.  I really just want to be healthier.  I'm thinking somewhere around day 10 I'm going to want to give up, or skip a day, and it's then that I need to maintain my self-discipline and get my butt out of bed and down to the basement first thing in the morning.

Wish me luck!

Monthly Mission: Wrap Up

So my first monthly mission was to limit internet and give myself a curfew with the iPad and the internet in general.  I'll be honest, I didn't do so well.  I started out really well, not spending more than 2 hours total a day on the internet and iPad, but somewhere after the first week it started to go downhill.  And then I really kind of lost interest!  I know that's awful, but you, dear reader, probably found this boring too.

I guess I expected some major breakthrough or enlightenment regarding the amount of time I waste on the internet...but I already knew that I waste time on the internet and iPad games.  What I lack is the self-discipline to keep myself from staying up browsing on pinterest until 11:30 at night.  

Yesterday, without my asking, my husband set up some kind of internet filter that turns off my internet after 9 pm.  TURNS IT OFF!!  Like a curfew, for a kid.  At first I was insulted.  But then I realized my husband is just trying to help.  He's not always around when I'm going to bed and need someone to tell me to go to sleep.

You may not realize this, but I lack self-discipline.  Have I mentioned this already?

Somewhere in between vowing to eat only fresh fruits and veggies and organic meat and dairy with my first pregnancy with Abby, to wondering if it was okay to top belgian waffles with a chocolate donut and whipped cream when I was pregnant with Hannah I lost my self-discipline and willpower.  That's kind of what this whole project of mine is about.  Trying to teach myself how to be disciplined again while learning good new habits and getting rid of old ones.

November is almost over, December starts on Saturday.  I have a new mission planned for a new month, and hopefully a little more willpower to see this one through.

Super Saturday Six

Oh my goodness!  I completely forgot to put up my Saturday post last week and then waited until after work on Saturday to write this, but then Jeremiah needed to use the computer and I was so tired that I just decided to finish later.  Now it's Monday!  Yikes!  Anyway, my favorite things:

1. We had Eli's "kid birthday" party a few weeks ago.  I had eleven kids in my house all dressed as superheroes!  My mom made capes for all the kids and I made masks that they got to decorate.  We played "Pin Spider-Man on his web" and Superhero freeze tag and they devoured cupcakes.  Eli was thrilled!  I can't believe my little baby boy is so big.

2. Last Saturday (when I forgot to post, forehead slap!) it snowed on and off and was so cold, so the kids and I made hot chocolate and stayed on the couch watching movies.  Recently Abby has started to show more interest in "real people" movies instead of just cartoons, she says they will watch scenes from musicals in music class sometimes.  She wanted to watch The Sound of Music because she had seen parts of it in class and wanted to see the whole thing.  Eli said it was "boar-wing," and Abby wouldn't let me sing along, but it was fun to cuddle on the couch with her and she was really engrossed in the movie.  I think this year she will be ready to watch White Christmas with me.

3. On that same Saturday Jeremiah was off and we got to have dinner as a family, it's amazing how much I love that.  While we were getting everything prepared and setting the table we had the music turned up loud and had a dance party in the kitchen.  It's fun when we all get silly like that and all three kids are hoping around (well, Hannah wobbles).  It's those times that I know my kids will remember when they're older.  Plus, I have some pretty cool moves!

4. Jeremiah did a little mini-bathroom face lift a few weeks ago.  It all started with a leaky toliet and soggy carpet (who puts carpet in a bathroom! Really!)  So now we have a new floor and a fresh coat of paint on the walls and new towel racks.  I hope we can put in a glass shower door in the near future.  It wasn't the $10.000 bathroom remodel I had dreamed of, but really, I don't need that right now anyway.

5. I took Hannah to visit her cardiologist this past Monday.  She didn't want to lie still for the ECHO at all and I had to kind of restrain her a bit, it didn't matter that Elmo's Alphabet Countdown was playing on the big screen.  My favorite cardiologist, Dr. C., said that it was hard to read her ECHO, but what he could see looked like it had improved a bit.  Her tricuspid valve is still leaky, but is growing with her and that's good, her heart is not enlarged and the pressures are slightly improved.  All good news.  We go back in six months!  Six months!

6. This week is Thanksgiving!  I love Thanksgiving, the turkey, spending time with my family, the Macy's parade.  I will be spending this Thanksgiving with my work family and eating our cafeteria turkey, but then I get to come home and cuddle with my kiddos and hubby and be thankful for them, and all I'm blessed with.  God is good.  Through good and bad times, always, God is good.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Super Saturday Six

Well, Saturday is almost finished and I almost forgot to write this post.  In fact I'm having to cheat a little past my Internet curfew in order to get it finished and posted tonight.  Here goes:

1. Hannah went to the pediatrician this week.  She weighs 15 pounds at 15 months, a far cry from where her older brother and sister were at this age, but still good for Bitty Baby.  She isn't speaking words yet, only lots of gibberish, but she has really come along with walking this week.

2. Abby's insulin pump + Halloween = AWESOME!!  Really every moment with the insulin pump keeps getting better, but I really noticed it when she had a class party and was able to eat the snacks and keep her blood sugar in range.

3. It's November!  That means I get to do the Thankfulness project on facebook, where I get to write about something I'm thankful for everyday.  I did this last year too, in the midst of Hannah's surgery and it was so awesome to think about how much I had to be thankful for instead of dwell on any negative things.  Some days it's very deep and intense, like being thankful for the saving Grace of my Lord God, and some days I'm just thankful for coffee...actually, I'm thankful for both all the time!

4. Daylight Savings!  I don't know if it's ending or beginning or whatever it's called, I've never really gotten that part down, all I know is I get an extra hour of sleep tonight!  Wohoo!!!

5. Eli's birthday party is tomorrow.  That is part of the reason I'm late with this post, my mother and I spent the day sewing capes and masks and baking and getting everything ready for when my house is invaded by lots of little kids tomorrow afternoon.  He's excited, I'm excited, it should be fun.

6. I started the Monthly Mission project this week.  So far I've done okay with three days of less internet/ipad type distractions.  I've stuck to my internet curfew the last two days and am only cheating today to write this post.  It's not going to be perfect every time, but I'm always a work in progress!  I still haven't gone over my limit of 2 hours today.  I haven't been on pinterest in three days, I kind of miss it, but I've gotten a lot done in the real world!

Have a great week!

Monthly Mission: unplug (a little)

I have to hurry up and write my post because my internet curfew is coming up at 8 pm and I'm almost out of internet/ipad games time!  Today being the first of November it is the beginning of my monthly mission, you can read more about this here Monthly Mission.  I have decided this month to give up the amount of time I waste on the internet.  I'm not cutting myself off completely, but instead limiting my usage of internet and ipad games and other general time wasters.

So today I am writing to you to let you know that so far I'm doing well!  Of course we haven't hit 8 pm on the first day yet, details, details.

I'm glad I didn't choose "giving up sugar" this month.  We have oodles of Halloween candy on top of the fridge.

Of course I am also posting my reasons to be thankful everyday on facebook for this month, I started that last year and I really liked it, so I'm doing it again.

I will have to make sure I get the important work done early, like online banking, emails, blogging and of course, Pinterest.  I'll let you know how this goes, and what I do with all my extra time!

My Monthly Mission

So has everyone heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit?  I've done a little reading and discovered that it's more like 66 days.  That's quite a difference from 3 weeks to over 2 months!  I've been thinking about a little project involving forming new habits/breaking old ones for a little while now.  So I've decided to try a little experiment over the next several months.

My Monthly Mission, I'm calling it, for lack of a more creative term.

My creative juices must be a little congealed, I think it's the colder weather.

Every month I'm going to try giving up a bad habit or forming a new and better one.  So far I've brainstormed things like:

-giving up sugar
-going to bed earlier
-starting an exercise program
-giving up meat
-getting up at the same time
-cutting down on internet
-reading a book a week

I'm starting with internet restrictions, and it starts November 1st.

I spend a lot of time on the internet.  I have my laptop, my iPad, my smart phone, I'm never more than a few steps away from checking my email, facebook and pinterest.  So this is a big one.

I'm not quitting the internet entirely.

I'm not crazy.

Or that strong.

Instead, I'm setting limits for myself.  Most nights I spend the last hour or so of my day in bed with my laptop or my ipad, and most of it is time wasted.  I end up staying up way too late while browsing pinterest.  So my restrictions are as follows:

1. No internet, no laptop, no iPad, no cell phone after 8pm. Important email excluded.
2. I'm shooting for two hours of internet time a day.  I have a few important reasons to be on there, but not many.  Therefore I'm limiting my time.  I think I'll buy a special timer to track my time on the computer.

Of course I realize the slight irony of writing about my giving up the internet on my blog and then linking it to facebook.

So while I'm only trying something new for a month at a time and not 66 days, I'm still hoping to change some of my ways, there's no reason I can't continue with a habit past the 30/31 days I try it, I just get to pick up something new every new month.

Stay tuned to see how it goes.

Super Saturday Six!

I've been thinking about doing a "Things I'm thankful for/excited about" regular weekly post for awhile now.  But I can't decide which day I want to set it on and I can't come up with a really cool name, I'm still working on it.  But I refuse to put it off any longer, I must be thankful/I'm so excited!  So here goes:

My Super Saturday Six!

1. Abby was off from school last week on fall break and it was nice to have slightly calmer mornings and not have to worry about homework/strict routines, etc.  Even better, I had a vacation day this week and since I only work two days a week and didn't work until this weekend that meant I was free all week long!  I felt slightly guilty as we are getting record numbers of babies at work this month.

2. A few weeks ago Jeremiah bought me the bestest floor vacuum ever!  Well, that might be a little exaggeration, but it has changed my life.  I call it "sharkie" because that's what it's name is or the brand or something, anyways, this thing is awesome!  I wish I'd had it when we still had the dog, it's so easy to vacuum the hardwood floors in the kitchen, and the kids can use it with much better results than a broom and dustpan.

3. Hannah has started walking.  Little steps here and there.  But she is gaining confidence and strength everyday.  She is really cute and tiny and I love watching her.

4. Eli turned four on Monday.  See what I did there, #4 is Eli turning four!  Like how I did that?  I'm clever.  We just had the Grandparents over for dinner and cake and presents.  He got oodles of superhero stuff.  He is really into the Avengers and Spiderman and the old Batman with Adam West (he loves watching it with my dad).  I'm planning a superhero party with a few of his friends in a few weeks, he asks me daily if it's time for his "kid birthday" yet.

5. Two words: Honeycrisp Apples.  Yummy.

6. I can finally paint my fingernails.  Remember when I had hand, foot and mouth disease in May?  Well my fingernails started to peel from the cuticle bed up towards the tips, and they were in various stages of peeling and tearing and shredding all summer long.  It was gross, and a little painful.  They have finally all grown out and I can finally polish them with all the fun colors I got in my Birchboxes and Glambags all summer.  Ignore the poor looking cuticles, now that the weather has turned cold I will fight dry skin and ragged cuticles all winter.  Sigh.

The other day...

A little story I thought I'd share with you all:

I was folding laundry in the laundry room off of our kitchen one evening last week while the older kids were playing outside with the neighborhood gang of kiddos when I was interrupted.  I don't remember if I heard the screaming first or the screen door slamming shut, but my oldest child was screaming like I have never heard her before, and hope I never hear again.  It was a terror scream.  I fully expected to come around the corner and see a bone protruding from an arm or something.

I came around the corner to see Abby shaking and screaming and dancing all in one big motion.  I was surprisingly calmer than one would think I would be in a situation like this.

"What is going on?" I asked.

Screaming: "There's a spider on me!  It's huge!  Get it off!  Get it off! AHHHHHHH!!!"  She is crying now and shaking her leg up and down.

At this point I'm thinking I'm going to look down and see a big fat Black Widow with it's fangs deeply imbedded in my sweet daughter's little pink calf.  She was wearing black capri length leggings with lace on the bottom, and I could definitely see something dangling off her pant leg.

Let me pause here for a minute for a little bit of side information.  I had about four inches of my hair cut off about a month ago.  I desperately needed to get my hair cut as it was getting very long and breaking off and falling out in chunks and we were finding little clumps of hair knots all over the place, I'm still seeing some on occasion.

Back to the story.

I manage to get Abby to hold still for a moment and I reach down and pull off a little clump of my hair that is stuck on a loose thread dangling from the lace trim on her legging.

"It's not a spider Abby, it's my hair."

"Oh."  She says, a little embarrassed.  We stare at each other for a moment in silence, she takes a deep breath.  "Thanks, I'm going back outside now."  And I hear her telling her friends, "it wasn't a spider, I'm okay" when she goes out the door.

I told my mom this story today and she just laughed and said to me, "like mother like daughter, only you were a lot older when you did that to us (meaning my parents)."

Yup, I remember it all, funny how traumatic events can be frozen in your mind forever.

We were visiting the Henry Doorley Zoo in Omaha one summer when I was in junior high.  I was ruthlessly attacked by a hideous black bug with venom so powerful that I was sure my death was imminent.  It flew right up under my glasses and bit/stung/stabbed me in the tender skin of my lower eyelid.  I dropped to my knees clutching my eye screaming, "my eye! I need first aid!" (Oh yeah, I'm not exaggerating about that part.)  The pain was pretty intense, I was crying and screaming for help while my parents were frozen in fear (or too embarrassed to want to acknowledge that I belonged to them).  We never did find out what kind of bug viciously attacked me, but I'm sure it was some kind of evil africanized demon bug sent from the bowels of hell.  I'm lucky to be alive to tell the story, I was sure I was going to go blind, my eye would fall out of the socket and the flesh would completely melt off the right side of my face.  By the time we found the first aid station the only evidence left behind by my brutal attacker was a small welt surrounded by a reddish area under my eye, it must have only been a warning attack.  I got an ice pack and some ice cream and continued with life as best as I could.

Stupid bug.

Honestly, that Abby, she is such a drama queen.  I don't know where she gets that from.

Oh geez Hannah...

It's Tuesday night, it's been a long day.  It all started very early this morning.  Shortly after two AM I heard Hannah crying in her crib and got up to check on her.  She's been running a fever and has had a cold on and off for a few days so I figured she was just fussing and got her some tylenol.

The poor baby was lying on her tummy crying and feverish.  When I picked her up she was just limp and had blown out her diaper.  Poor peanut.  I changed her diaper and her jammies, she didn't fight me at all.  I guess being feverish and postictal is the only time I can do stuff to her without needing three more sets of hands.

Sarcastic humor is my coping mechanism.

I couldn't get her to settle down and she seemed disoriented and completely not herself.  After sitting with her for about ten minutes debating between calling the peds, a trip to the ER or waiting it out I decided on ER.

Least favorite moment of the night?  Waking Jeremiah up to tell him, "hey, I'm taking Hannah to the ER, she's not right."

Highlight of driving to the ER at 2:30 AM?  Not a lot of traffic on the road.

By the time we got to the ER, Hannah was coming down and starting to act a little more normal.  In typical Hannah fashion she mustered a little smile for the doc when she came in.  She was less happy with the nurse who had to straight cath her for a urine sample.

So the ruling is, febrile seizure.  Simple and yet so scary in the middle of the night.  She has a head cold  and nothing else.  A febrile seizure is due to the rapid rise in body temperature.  It occurs in kids between 6 months and they grow out of them by six years.  One isn't that big of a deal, today I've kept her on Tylenol and Motrin to keep her fever down.  If they continue she may earn herself some blood work and some head CTs, MRIs and various other screens and scans.  She's not going to end up with epilepsy.

We were back home and tucked into bed by five am.  We've spent the majority of the day napping and cuddling.  Hannah hasn't been quite herself, but she's still adorable, and I don't mind holding my baby close.

I don't anticipate anymore exciting events.  Well, at least for tonight.  Sweet dreams baby Hannah.

Mom's Birthday

Today was my Mom's birthday, I've been looking forward to it for a few weeks because for once I knew just what to get her.  The kids were so excited they wanted to call her first thing this morning to wish her a happy birthday.  I love my Mom, she is the best, and my kids love her so much too.  My parents are retired so they watch my kids while Jeremiah and I are working, and my Mom was so incredibly helpful during the school year with getting Abby to school or staying with the others so I could get her or run errands.  My parents kept Abby and Eli while I was staying in the hospital with Hannah for a month.  And my Mom still comes over sometimes to entertain the kids so I can get some of my "nutso-cleaning-and-purging" done.  And I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but she does about half of my laundry.  If she didn't my kids and I would all be wearing our underwear inside out half the time.

My parents came over today and brought pizza.  On the recommendation of my Uncle Joe we tried Papa Murphy's Thai Chicken pizza, it was delish!  It has a sweet kind of spicy sauce instead of marinara sauce, with chunks of chicken and some thinly sliced zucchini, yummy.

For dessert we made my Mom a "fruit cake."  I saw the idea on Pinterest, ah, sweet pinterest, where my time goes to die.  Anyway, I thought I would give this a try, it was super easy and fun.  The hardest part was trying to keep the kids from eating the fruit while I was decorating it.

The kiwi was really good.

We also gave her a flower.  But not just any old flower, it's a gift card hiding flower.  Abby and I made it, each petal is like a little envelope with a gift card tucked inside.  She also gets to keep the coffee mug!  I have to say I'm pretty sure I came up with the idea for the flower on my own.  I can't always trust my mom-of-three-kids-scatter-brain, like when Jeremiah asks me why the remote is in the fridge or I can't find my phone anywhere and the whole time I've been holding it in my hand.  Kids kill your brain cells people!  But I think I can take credit for this one.  

What the flower looked like when we first gave it to my mom.

But if you look closely you can pull a gift card out of each petal. Sneaky huh!

Hi Mom! Love you! Glad you liked the cake.

After dinner we finished off the night with a trip to Peachwave for some frozen yogurt.  My kids get a little yogurt and cover it with gummy worms and Mike & Ikes and those little popping bobba things.  My favorite at Peachwave is the pineapple, it reminds me a little of a Dole Whip.

What an awesome day!  Love you so, so much Mom!

Hannah update and a little more.

Thursday I took Hannah to her cardiologist for the first time in three months.  I think that is the longest we've gone without stepping foot in his office since my first visit last March.  When he walked into the room he asked if we missed him, I think Hannah did a little, it's no secret she loves all the attention.

She weighed 13 pounds according to their scale, and if you're more into kilograms she gained a whole kilo since her last appointment, not to shabby.

The ECHO was a little hard to do this time.  Hannah loves the tech that does the ECHO so she was talking up a storm and trying to roll around and help her with the ECHO, you know, grabbing the wand thing and her hand, eating the cord, kicking.  So the images they got weren't the best, but we tried.  Dr. Christensen says the tricuspid valve still leaks, it was kind of hard to see how much because she was so wiggliy.  We just have to wait and see if the valve stops leaking as she grows.

Dr. C wants to see her in 5 months.  They don't schedule appointments that far out, so we will be getting a reminder card in the mail about a month before she's due.  I cheered a little, we have reached the "reminder card" stage!

Hannah is ten months old, she is dragging herself all over the house.  Her newest favorite thing to do is "crawl" around the coffee table in the family room.  She is eating really well and loves to stuff fruit puffs in her mouth.  Her physical therapist and I are trying to get her to crawl on all fours and teach her how to sit up from lying down.  She loves bath time and swimming, splashing in the water is awesome!

Can you see her scar? Yup, it's pretty faded and hard to see in person too!

Kindergarten graduation

Eli is still my busy little guy.  He loves Legos, I have yet to step on one in the middle of the night but I'm sure it's coming.  He is a typical three year old, one minute he is my sweet little boy who is so helpful and the next he's throwing a fit on the floor.  Good thing he is so cute.

Abby is loving summer so far, although last night she asked me what day school starts.  Jeremiah bought her a razor scooter for finishing kindergarten and she loves riding around in the cul-de-sac with the other kids.  This summer I think she may grow gills, or at least 2 inches.

I have almost fully recovered from my hand foot and mouth disease, I'm just dealing with peeling hands right now.  I'm still working on spring cleaning and purging the house.

Jeremiah is getting the hang of the working at night/sleeping during the day cycle.  It was easier before we had kids.

My birthday is on Wednesday, we're planning on going to the zoo.  I like Starbucks cards, I'm just saying. :-)

My Epic Battle with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease

According to the CDC website, "hand, foot, and mouth disease is a common viral illness that usually affects infants and children younger than 5 years old. However, it can sometimes occur in adults."  I also read in more than a few places that it's mild.


Mild my itchy, blister covered right foot.


Hannah was the first one to get HFM, she was covered in blisters, I don't think they itched.  She didn't seem much different than usual, a little fussier and needier, she wouldn't eat food, only drink bottles.  The blisters scabbed over and now they're almost gone.


Abby and Eli barely developed any symptoms.  Abby had itchy feet one night.  Eli had a fever, itchy feet and a very sore throat for a few days.  


And then there is me.


Tuesday I had a fever and was so achy I wanted to cry.  Wednesday my throat started to hurt as blisters popped up in my mouth and on my hands and feet.  Thursday the blisters got worse and the itching became intense.  Thursday night I was in tears, the itching was awful and it alternated with pins and needles feelings.  Friday morning I woke up with less itching more needles of fire and twice as many blisters.  

Spotty hand blisters. This picture doesn't really do them justice, my fingers look like a topagraphical map.

Itchy feet suck! Walking on pins and needles is no fun.

My arsenal against HFM.

I called my doctor's office on Thursday morning asking for anything that would help, the advice nurse said it's really rare for adults to get it, yeah, thanks, I know, I read that too.  She told me I could take zytrec, really?  I took 50 mg of benadryl and the rest of the day is a blur.  My plan from there on was to remain as drugged as possible so that I would sleep thru most of this.  Thankfully my Mom and husband were both around to help, well, do everything.  And have I mentioned how much I love Motrin, Benadryl and my big gun pain killer!? 


This morning I woke up and the itching is greatly resolved, the needles are gone too.  The latest development is that I have lost feeling in the tips of most of my fingertips.  


I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

I guess there is a pretty good outbreak of HRM this year.  It's contagious when the person has a fever, before the blisters ever appear, so you don't know it's coming.  Awesome.  Wash your hands, a lot.  In case you get it here is what I found helped and didn't help.

*Epsom salts soaks in tepid or even cold water.  Heat aggravates the blisters, a lot.
*Motrin and Benadryl round the clock.  The night I was so achy the Motrin didn't touch it so I added a big gun pain killer I had leftover in my cabinet (yes I save my meds and I'm glad I did).
*Hydrocortisone cream, this helps for about 30 seconds, the best part is rubbing it into my hands like lotion let me kind of scratch and rub them without my husband or Abby noticing and yelling at me not too!
*Sore throat spray stung, a lot, but it helped a little.  I just kept cool water with me at any time, it was the only thing I could swallow that didn't burn my throat.  Also, it was the only way I could swallow.
*In desperation I tried using tucks pads and dibucaine ointment (I told you I was a med keeper, these were leftover from having Hannah).  They're for swollen, itchy tissues, the dibucaine is a topical analgesic, it didn't really work, but it was worth a try.
*I didn't like the calamine lotion, it made my hands and feet to dry and it didn't help the itching.
*The neosporin works to soothe the blisters if you accidentally scratch them open, I did this with a few on my legs.
*I put vaseline on the blisters around my lips and nose that are itchy and dry.

The lessons I've learned from Play Doh

I like Play Doh, I really do.  I love the way a new can smells, I love the feel of brand new Play Doh squishing through my fingers, I like to make stuff and I love the Fun Factory thing.  Most people like Play Doh, but a lot of Moms say they hate it.  I used to be one of those women.

Long ago (it seems like forever) when Abby was still a tiny infant, a wise mother gave me some advice.  She told me "let the kids play with Play Doh."  She was pretty adament about it.  The point of her advice was that I shouldn't be so worried about keeping my house perfectly clean, but instead I should play with my kids, and spend my time making memories with them.

Okay, I thought, I am going to be the best mom, we will play with Play Doh.

Then kids happened.

Somewhere along the way, I learned to hate Play Doh.  But I didn't really hate it.  And yet, every time my kids asked, "can we play with Play Doh Mom? Please?" I cringed.  But I would hear that mother's voice in the back of my head, "let the kids play with Play Doh."  Begrudgingly I would dig out the Play Doh and set it all up, then fight with them, "no, no, don't mix the colors! Oh, don't let it go everywhere! Pick it all up, it's going to dry out!"

About 6 months ago I had a revelation, it's just Play Doh.  Does it matter if they mix the colors?  Not really.  If it falls on the floor I can just sweep it up, my floor needs a good sweeping anyway.  When it finally dries out there is more at the store, or I have the recipe to make more home made (doesn't smell as good).  There is no wrong way to play with Play Doh, so what if they aren't using the right colors for the pretend food.  Thankfully they are past the eating it stage, but it says non-toxic anyway.

This was like a light bulb moment for me.  It was so freeing.  Now we have tubs of blueish-green Play Doh and I probably throw out a small can's worth from sweeping up the crumbs off the floor every time we play with it, but we have fun.  I can sit down with my kids and make green elephants and purple spaghetti with the Fun Factory.  Now when I see Play Doh on sale at the store I get excited.  I love Play Doh again.  And more importantly, my kids do too.

When my kids are grown and have kids of their own hopefully they will still love Play Doh too.

Bye Bye NG tube! and other things.

Well it's actually been a few weeks, but Hannah is officially done with her NG tube.  She had a weight check at the pediatrician's about 2 weeks ago and she was 10lbs 11 oz, over a pound of weight gain in a month.  Thanks to tips from her physical therapist and with some time and patience she now finishes a whopping 4 ounces at a time.  She has decided she will eat carrots, and so far only carrots, but it's a start.

Not having to drag around all her feeding tube stuff made our trip to Omaha this last weekend so much easier.

My Grandmother (Big G) turned 90 last week and my Aunt Kate and cousin MaryAnn planned a surprise party for her.  They pulled it off wonderfully, she was truly surprised and so excited.  My parents and husband and our kids came in after the party had started, she was so surprised.

My Grandma has met Hannah before, but this was the first time the rest of the family got to see her.  She did not disappoint.  She was bubbly and smiley and was very busy blowing raspberries and chewing on her toes.

Showing Big G her giraffe. 

After the party we had an Easter Egg hunt for all the Grandkids, it was a big hit.  

This is the best we could do.  There is a stupid sunspot on my Mom's face and Eli wouldn't look at the camera because it was too bright (he has freakishly sensitive eyes.)
 

We also took Hannah swimming for the first time.  This happens to be the same hotel we stayed in with Abby when she was about 4 months old and took her swimming for the first time.  Hannah is actually 8 months old, but about the same size, and she took to swimming a lot better than Abby did.  She was smiling and kicking and splashing in the cold water.  I think we are going to have so much fun this summer as the pool!  She just needs to learn to sit up. 

Hannah did really well on the trip.  It helped that we broke up the driving into two days each way.  I wish we could have spent more time seeing all our family, but I guess for now Facebook will just have to do.  Thanks to my Aunt and Cousin for some of the pictures.  

"Fuuu", blow the dust off this blog.

So I'm lying in bed one night about to fall asleep when I hear a tiny little voice somewhere in my house.  It's so quiet I think I'm the only one who hears it.  It sounds like,

"hello? hello Jill? are you still there? it's me, your blog. I miss you, please come write something on my virtual pages."

Oh blog, I'm so sorry I've neglected you, I will try to be better in the future.

So let me blow the dust off this blog and wipe the cobwebs out of the corners...

I'M BACK!!!!

For the week of March 25:

Abby is on Spring Break this week and next, she is already bored.  In the last day and a half she has asked to go to Chuck E Cheese, the zoo, Target, swimming, a friend's house, play in the sprinklers and do her nails (among other things.)  She and Eli play really well for a little while, leaving a trail of destruction in their path, then fight.  This sibling thing is something new for me, I'm just kind of winging it.  She is looking forward to a tea party birthday party this week, my little social butterfly.

Eli is potty trained (daytime only) with about a 96% consistency rate, sometimes he gets a little distracted and wets his pants.  It's funny when he yells, "I haffa go potty!" from across the room then runs to the bathroom with his pants and underwear around his knees... wait to pull them down until you get to the bathroom boy, that's not going to fly in Target son.

Hannah has physical therapy tomorrow, the therapist comes to our house and spends an hour with her every week giving me a few exercises and tips to try and help Hannah.  She has really developed a lot of strength in the last few weeks and is close to sitting up.  She rolls everywhere and has started to eat better.  Thursday we visit her pediatrician for a weight check.  I'm really hoping this time he says the NG tube can come out for good.  Oh yeah, and she's getting her first tooth.  Doesn't seem to be bothering her much.  I'm a little bummed, I love big gummy toothless smiles.  Oh well, it had to happen eventually.

Jeremiah spent this afternoon in our garden.  Last year we had a huge weed problem, and since I was hugely pregnant I wasn't much help.  I have no excuse this year, so I guess I will be out there working on our veggies again.  

I have been inspired by lots of different stuff I've seen on Pinterest (worse than crack) and so I've got a few crafts and projects and such in the works.  Depending on how they go I may post my successes here.  Lately I've been working on a plan to keep our house picked up and somewhat in order.  I've divided our house into several zones and pick up each zone on a certain day, sometimes I even have time to clean that zone, but not always, kids happen you know.  

It's Sunday night, which means breakfast for dinner.  Time to plug in the toaster for frozen waffles, tonight is not a recipe-from-pinterest night.  

What's everyone else been up too?  Anyone doing anything fun for Spring Break?

The Nose Hose

Well, we're back in the hospital. We took Hannah in for a weight check on Friday afternoon and she lost more weight so the cardiologist decided to admit her. I have to say I'm actually relieved. It was so stressful feeding her and she wouldn't finish a bottle and I knew she wasn't taking in enough calories or fluids and then the weight checks every four days, I think it was time. We tried, we really tried, to give Hsnnah as long as we could, the docs and I both kept thinking she was about to break out any minute and just start guzzling down formula but no deal. So here we are, on the pediatric unit at PSL for the weekend. We're hoping to go home on Monday. Hannah has an NG tube in her left nostril that runs down to her stomach, a nose hose, as one of the cardiologist calls it. She still nipples as much as she wants from the bottle but then the nurse just runs the rest into the NG. It's nice to not worry about how much she's eating. The hope is that we can stretch out her stomach and help her grow with enough volume and calories and then she will take over and start finishing her bottles. Now to just get Hannah to follow the plan. She will be going home with the NG tube. I'm excited to play with it. Did I really just say that? She has tolerated the NG pretty well so far, she did throw up after two separate feedings today. Big dramatic, retching, crying and choking episodes, it's hard to watch and I'm sure it's even more unpleasant for Hannah. I pray as she gets used to the larger volume she does better. That tube sits in her stomach and holds the sphincter open so I'm not surprised she vomits when she does. Overall she is still the smiley happy Hannah who charms all the doctors and nurses with her smile and personality. We had only been here for about two hours when one of the PICU nurses came over to say hi! Hannah has a fan club here. Much love to all, and thank you for all your prayers and well wishes!