Breathing is not optional

After almost 2 weeks of random illnesses, I still don't feel like I'm caught up on anything around my house. I feel like I haven't stopped long enough to relax and my legs are aching. And apparently I look as tired as I feel. :) Thank you Lisa for watching my kids during Super Saturday!! You're the best!

Friday was Jeff's turn at the doctor and the return for me to get allergy shots. Both were in adjoining offices - very convenient. :) Jeff has had asthma since forever. Although since we've been married, he stopped using any meds for it and has not been to any sort of doctor in the last 8 years. He finally had time to go and the specialist we (Lea and I) see for asthma/allergy didn't have an opening for 2 weeks - we needed it now. Another doctor was available and off we went. Turns out when you only use 58% of your lung capacity - not good. After a breathing treatment - up to 60-something% - still not good, but better. This could explain why Jeff has such a horrible memory - lack of oxygen to the brain will for sure decrease your memory. Or it could be the 3+ concussions he had when he was younger. Either way, the boy needs help! :)

Back on a bunch of new meds for Jeff to increase his breathing capacity - just in time to run a Ragnar Relay Race in February!!! The doctor told Jeff he was a passive something-or-other. (She didn't actually say that, but I can't remember what she called him) Basically he had gotten used to using such little oxygen or he was so sure he was "better" that it never occurred to him he might not have been better.

This whole breathing better idea will definitely help in the losing weight battle - he's losing inches and lbs and is getting back to the Jeff I first met - yeah! A happier, healthier husband! And hopefully a happy, healthy family - maybe with clean laundry and dishes if I can motivate myself to do anymore loads of either.

 

Aren't they cute?! Jeff was home for an entire week of work - this is absolutely unheard of for our family - although he was sick, it was fun to have him around. Jeff "styled" Abbey's hair too - she's finally back to normal and totally adorable! Aside from the crazy do.

Lea A., First Grader and the case of the extra tooth......

We like Junie B Jones, can you tell!? For weeks maybe even months, Lea has been asking when she'll lose her first tooth or at least have something to wiggle. All of her friends are starting to lose their teeth and it's a little disheartening for not to be in that club yet.

Well, today is different, she has a loose tooth! Only one problem, which I can see causing more problems in the future......................the tooth is not that loose and her teeth are very tiny. Okay, but the big problem: the next tooth has already pushed through behind the "loose" tooth..................*sigh*. Prediction - the tooth will have to be yanked and there could be future visits to an orthodontist if this is the pattern for all her teeth.......*more sighs*.

Lea and her cousins: Brianna and Ashley sitting by Lea. Wickenburg, AZ

PS: I tried to take picture of it and all I got was a black hole. haha! :) So you'll have to ask her the next time you see her - she will gladly show it to you. Although we're going to the dentist this week to get it figured out, so look fast! :)

NEW DIET! Lose 6 pounds in 3 days!!!

I'm sure you're all just on the edge of your seats waiting to hear about my new found diet and weight loss....well, here you go....be warned it's not pretty, but it was easy. :)

Tuesday: Lucas woke up not feeling well. He spent the better part of the morning (5 am-ish) throwing up, dry-heaving and then had diarrhea. He finally finished and was able to sleep most of the day. Great...that's over.

Wednesday gone, here comes Thursday: I was under with only half of what Lucas had and it wasn't the throwing up part although I felt like I should have several hundred times... Erin was sweet enough to take my kids for me Thursday morning, returned them for nap time, then picked them up again in the afternoon when she brought me a pregnancy test...yes a pregnancy test. I had to explore all the possibilities as to why I was at 5 minute intervals doubled over in pain for 2-3 seconds and it would go away....if this was the beginning of 9 months of pregnancy, this was the last time and it was going to be a long haul. I took the test and it was negative, means nothing to me so I'm still uncertain about that option.

Friday: I called Erin that morning to see if she would take my kids again and she wasn't feeling well so she couldn't (keep reading erin...), Jeff finally came home early - I think that was about 3:30 to help out. Later that night (I'm still miserable, no cramping, and the bathroom runs are less frequent - yeah!) I called Erin to see how she was doing. Turns out I never called her, she wasn't on her way to take her boys to school because they don't go to school on Friday and I need a nap.... :) She was fine other than I called during the "getting kids to bed routine".
Bedtime: Jeff flips on the light and hands me Abbey and says "I need help." Breathing heavily, high fever and runny nose....yuck - that's Abbey, not Jeff. :) Jeff spent a good part of the night giving her an ice bath with towels to bring her 103.7 fever down to 100. She finally sleeps and is up later with me. A little more sleep and the other kids are up at 6:30.....why oh why do my kids get up that early!!!!?!?!?!? I think we've watched more TV/movies than ever recommended by anyone....

Saturday: Jeff takes Lea and Lucas to Lea's soccer game - after missing the first 2 practices, she's starting soccer again...YEAH! I love it, but didn't go - under strict orders from Jeff to stay in bed....right because Abbey loves to just lay still and not move around. Saturday afternoon, finally found someone (thank you Palmers!) home to watch our kids while we went to urgent care (after a somewhat sad email to my nurse friend Kehau in Portland I was convinced I should go). Of course the clinic was closed and Good Night Peds didn't open for another hour. We drove out to a different office - much cleaner one, but there was already a line at 5 pm and it just kept getting longer and longer by the minute. Very sad to see so many sick little ones and tired parents - we were all in the same boat: miserable and lost. We meet with a very nice doctor, they test Abbey and she almost kung-fu'ed the nurse in the head while she swabbed Abbey's nose. Quite entertaining actually. She's a fighter! :) Doctor comes back and oink, oink we have the Type A/Swine flu - whew, now what. Take this and should be okay - will lessen the symptoms and off you go.

Of course all 24 hour pharmacies are anywhere but close to us in Laveen. Jeff drops me off with the kids at home and drives for another half our to the pharmacy, spends a couple hours there, and returns home....4 pm to 10 pm was a long day for everyone.

It's finally Sunday, Jeff took Lea to church, Abbey and Lucas are napping and I'm finally eating - oh yeah back to my weight loss diet. I am down 6 lbs in 3 days from 3 days of diarrhea and not eating or drinking (some water here/there and couple of freeze pops). It's not recommended by any doctor, but it sure does work. Abbey is still recovering, but is doing better and well my house looks like we've been hermits for about a month.

Attitude of Gratitude:
*my friends near and far who were there to help
*Jeff has a job now where he can leave without others condemning him for having a "Family first" attitude
*health insurance - we went 3 months without it this year....scary - we are family who uses the insurance to the fullest!
*knowledgeable doctors and nurses
*my sisters and mother-in-law who would show up in a heartbeat if I asked
*I still need my mom even though I'm 30 and have my own children. I now understand why my oldest sister would call home when I was younger and ask for her mommy....I thought she was insane..... she might still be, but she never reads my blog so she won't know any of this. :)
*I have goodly parents whom I miss very much!
*the priesthood is a beautiful power to have and my husband is pretty amazing! A pest yes, but still the right one for me!
*Lea is not sick and hopefully she will not get sick - she's been a very big help!

Fun Abbey

Abbey is such a blast! This little one is fiesty and crazy! She does whatever she can to run with the big kids, no way is she going to be left behind. She chases Lucas and Lea and even tries to push around other big kids who come to play. She runs along the couches and dives for the armrests. I have caught her a couple times before she nose-dived off the edge.

She has an open door ocd - she can't stand to have them open. The other day she was running our hallway, came past the laundry doors, stopped, turned around, closed the doors (you couldn't even tell they were open unless right next to them), and kept running to the living room.

She has learned a few new words - very important to any girl's vocabulary.

hewo - hello
bah-bah daddy - bye, bye, daddy
byyyee - bye

All of which are said into anything used as a telephone - the remote control is one of her favorites "phones".

choo- shoe, she will back up on my lap for me to put her shoes on.
and my all time favorite she learned today was "cool".

Yes, Lucas is climbing in the cupboard. He would open the door for me to take his picture and before I could even say "Smile", Abbey had closed the door in his face - they crack each other up!

One other crazy thing - she loves the ice maker and every time anyone uses it, she is right there to pick up the ice that falls to the floor. Or she will plop right down and wait for her cup to be filled and the lid on. Funny girl!

I wanna be like.......Coach

That last two Sundays and even a couple more before this, I have been fixing Lucas' hair for church. I part it on the side and it's really cute. Lucas is full of chatter and usually it's whining about how Lea hit him, someone took his toy or Abbey pushed him. Poor boy with only sisters. :)  Anyway, he looks in the mirror and comments "You fixing my hair?" yes. "I wanna look like coach." Oh yeah, Coach Jeff? "Yeah, I wanna look like Coach Jeff."

Well, coach is not my Jeff. Coach is Jeff Porter - who coached Lea's soccer team back in February and we have probably seen Becky's Jeff  maybe 4 times since then. (we refer to our husbands as mine, yours and your Jeff because there are at least 3 of us with Jeff/Geoff husbands) They are in a different ward and are finished with church before we even get started. The couple times we've seen Bishop Porter (see he goes by so many titles, it's easy to be confused...) at church, Lucas has said, yelled, shouted, whatever, "There's Coach, Hi coach, there's Coach. Mom, there's Coach, Lea there's Coach. Hi Coach, hi!" It's never to Bishop Porter, it's merely stated that we can see him across the parking lot or as we walk into the church. So Lucas adores Coach Jeff and wants to look like him every Sunday - Jeff,  you have a fan! :)

What do you think - do they look alike?! No? At least the hair is the same style. :)

Sink or swim

Lea and Lucas took swim lessons twice this year. For one week at my parent's local pool in WA and then each for 2 weeks at Aqua Babes with Miss Erin. Lea's lessons were great as she had done swim lessons before. Lucas has never taken swim lessons, but the kid is not afraid of the water. We (actually it's Jeff and my dad) have pulled him out several times while swimming because he just keeps running - thinking he can run on water, but he does in fact sink. I was really nervous for him to start, but he definitely needed it.

At Luke's first swim lesson with Miss Shayla, the teacher held his hand and helped him jump in. I told Shayla the next day, he will jump in by himself, just be prepared to catch him....sure enough he jumped in saying "CATCH ME!" on his way into the pool. Crazy kid.

Being helped off the diving board by Miss Shayla - he would only go off one time. They'd ask if he wanted to go again. "No" and he kept walking.

"CATCH ME!" Jumping to Channing (I used to babysit him and his 3 brothers when they were Luke's age...another time and a whole bunch of stories....)

Lea is quite the opposite - very cautious, loves the water, but will not do anything without someone to watch her. She loves Miss Stefany and has had her for the last 2 years when we go to Washington. She's great with the kids and doesn't put up with any whining and crying. She's very patient and sweet with the kids and well she's just great all around.

Miss Stefany trying to coax Lea to come with her to swim

She has improved greatly on the board - the teachers (even my sister-in-law helped a couple times) used to hold her hand until they couldn't reach her anymore and she would move ever so slowly to the end of the board and wait....wait.... and finally jump in. This year, she's all on her own, but still needed to jump to someone so she didn't go too far under. She doesn't even plug her nose anymore - thanks Miss Erin!

Abbey got to sit on the sidelines and hang with me - next year though, next year. She loves the water too.

While on vacation this July, I decided it would be best for them to get more than a week of lessons (this was only because we were at my parents house for one week of a 2 week session) - so we signed the kids up with Aqua Babes having heard great things about Miss Erin. She didn't disappoint - she's a fantastic teacher!

Lea started first and started on the first day of school - it was a LONG day and a LONG, LONG two weeks while we adjusted to the new schedule. Lea has a strong dislike for putting her face in the water (sorry that's my fault - I hate getting my face wet). Everytime she was swimming, Miss Erin would say "Chin down, Lea, chin down" I would find myself pushing my chin down as if that would make Lea's head go down. Kind of like when your husband yells at the TV at his favorite football team - as if they can actually hear you and will do what you want....not so much, but a good effort. Anyway, Lea did great and was able to swim one lap of the pool by the end of lessons. She absolutely detests doing sitdown dives (thus the dislike of getting her face wet), and was "helped" more than a few times by Erin to get to the bottom of the pool for the diving ring. Lea told me once "Miss Stefany doesn't make us do sitdown dives." She does, she doesn't make you dive to the bottom of the pool - nice try. :)

Pics: First day; Lea and Madelyn waiting their turn; popsicle day! - she passed! wahoo!

In Luke's class - there was him and another little 3 year old Mereck (brother of Madelyn in Lea's class - they're about 6 days apart) and then 2 - 5 year olds. I was nervous about putting him in a Beginner 2 class, but he did so awesome! It was such a boy class - like a little locker room of boys. Cheering each other on, giving high fives and just being crazy! They bonded and were a great team.  He was disappointed the first day because he wanted to jump in and Miss Erin had him stay in the water to practice. Lucas struggled to close his mouth when he went under water. You'll see she'd tell him to take a big breath, but he would take it too early - she had to squish his cheeks one day to make him take a new breath. There was one day where I thought he was going to drown, but he was able to flip over on his back with some assistance from Erin. That was the only time I saw him panic in the water - heart wrenching, but he was amazing! I would hear the same thing about Lucas "Chin down, Lucas, chin down...." come on kids! :) By the end of the 2 weeks, he was doing sit down dives and swimming a half lap.

He passed! Well sort of, needs to take this course again and get better, then can move on - still not to shabby for his first full lesson!

Even Jeff and Abbey had a good time watching - Abbey has finally taking a liking to her dad. Which of course Jeff loves - it only took a year, but we made it! :)

Thank you so much Erin, Shayla and Stefany!!