A typical Day: February 2014

It's typical day time again.  If you are new here this is something I do every three months.  I like to see how many things change and how many things stay the same.  This is my first Typical Day post with Brandon in Korea.  I'm interested to see how this day will compare to the typical day posts for May and August.  This is everything that happened on Wednesday, February 26, 2014. Here is what my life is like with two three year old girls, an almost 2 year old boy, and a 5 month old baby girl.

5:30  Its still dark outside when I wake up.  Usually I don't get out of bed until Veronica cries, but I'm feeling surprisingly well rested.  Veronica hasn't slept through the night for the past week so I went to bed around 9:30 the night before.  I'd expected to wake up in the middle of the night to feed her, but instead I only briefly woke up when Lydia climbed in bed with me.  I decide I might as well get up and work on my travel blog. 

7:00 When I'm done writing the text for my travel blog I sign back into my regular g-mail account and chat with Brandon for a minute.  It's 10:00 pm his time and he is getting ready to go to sleep.

7:05 Derrick is the first child who starts making noise.  I go to get him out of his bed.  I glance over at Charlotte's bed, but she's not there.  I find her in my room.  She says she needs a diaper change.  I glance in at Veronica and see that she is awake too.     

 Things are a little crazy for a minute as I try to change Charlotte, get cereal ready for Derrick and Charlotte, get Veronica up, and keep track of what I'm doing for this post.  I briefly consider that maybe today isn't a good day for doing a typical day.  But this is typical so just try to keep track.

 7:15  Derrick and Charlotte are eating their cereal so I sit down to feed Veronica.  My conversation with Brandon is still open so I continue typing him while I nurse.

7:30 Veronica is done feeding.  I hold her and chat with Brandon for a little bit longer.  He isn't feeling very well so I let him go so he can sleep.

7:35 Lydia is awake.  I get breakfast for her.  I change Derrick.  His pajamas are a little wet so I take those off and start washing them along with the sheets from all the kids beds.  I slip into my room and hurry and get dressed.  Charlotte runs in wearing clothes that she put on herself.  I am so proud.  We go back into the living room and take links off of the count down chain.  We take links off every three days so the kids each get to take one link off at the same time.

7:55 I go into the kitchen and start washing dishes by hand.  Derrick's habit of spinning the dishwasher cycle knob has made it so using the dishwasher is pretty pointless these days.  The kids play around while I wash the dishes.

This was supposed to be a picture of Veronica, but first Lydia and then Derrick decided to photo-bomb.

 Charlotte starts helping clean up the living room.  Lydia starts trying to help, but Charlotte gets made at her and says that only she can do it.  That argument doesn't last long because they both get distracted.  Charlotte starts building a little house.  She's always building houses these days.

 8:15 Derrick starts getting in my way so I turn on Curious George to keep him occupied.  I've decided that I love the layout of my kitchen.  I can wash dishes and see the TV and out the windows.  I think the view is one reason I've started washing dishes by hand.

 8:45 We do a quick clean of the living room and vacuum the floor.

9:00 Derrick's Speech Therapist, Christina, arrives.  She and Derrick play games and look at books for 40 minutes.  Christina brings some puzzles for Charlotte and Lydia to play with while she works with Derrick. I sit on the floor with Veronica so Derrick feels comfortable.  After a while Veronica gets fussy so I put her down for a nap.

 10:00  Christina leaves.  Lydia is still in her pajamas.  I help her get dressed.  I ask her if she wants to wear underwear and she says "no."  She has been wearing diapers since Brandon left.  Then I reminder her that she will get a Starburst if she changes into underwear.  She perks up and pulls off her diaper.  This is the second day in a row this incentive has worked.  Charlotte also changes into underwear.

I start working on putting away my huge pile of laundry.

I put Lydia into regular clothes, but she finds one of her crowns and wands.  She wants her "Princess Pea Dress" so I find that and help her change. Then she pretends to be Princes Pea from Super Why.  Charlotte pretends to be my sister Lindsey.  Hundley, her stuffed dog, pretends to be Lindsey's dog Gretta.

10:20 Derrick brings a book to me so I stop hanging up my clothes to read with him.

10:35  Derrick wants to go outside.  It's a cold day so I don't want to go to the park - plus Veronica is asleep.  So I just open the back door and let Derrick go out there so he can get his daily throwing sand around fix.  I go back to working with the laundry.

 10:41 Derrick is back inside.  He goes into the storage room and brings back juice.  I pour him some.  Then we read some more.

10:56 Lydia wants me to get her some paper.  I get that for her and then go back to the laundry.

 Charlotte is playing by herself in the toy room.  She's building a castle.

11:10 Veronica is still asleep so I decide I should get lunch made before she wakes up.  I start boiling water for macaroni and cheese.  Lydia wants to help.

 11:25 We all have lunch.  Lydia insists that I address her as Princess Pea.  Charlotte still wants to be called Lindsey. Halfway through lunch Charlotte spills juice on herself.  She changes clothes and starts pretending that she is the Doorman from Curious George.  Hundley becomes Hundley again.

 11:45  Lydia announces "I NEED TO PEE"  and runs off. She and Charlotte end up playing in the toy room.

 12:00  Charlotte and Lydia both poop at the same time.  One of them sits on the potty and the other sits on the toilet.  I want to take a picture but Derrick needs a diaper change too.  Then I wipe the girls and give them each a bite size candy bar as a "pooping treat."

12:05 Derrick seems tired so I give him three goldfish crackers and put him to bed.  Charlotte and Lydia want crackers too so Lydia lays down in my room and Charlotte lays down on the window seat.  I hear Veronica letting out happy screams so I get her up.

I try to feed her while working on the computer.  I start trying to write a blog post for the day, but I seem to have used up all my creative juices this morning.

12:25 That's just as well, because Derrick is still awake for some reason.  I go into his room and can tell that he is poopy.  I get him out and change him.  Then I let him play around.

Since Derrick is awake I can put away all the kids' laundry in their dressers.  I bring Veronica into the older kids room and lay her on the floor while I sort through the clothes and put them away in the drawers.

Lydia comes in and sees the Cinderella costume.  She immediately wants to change.

1:00 Derrick smells poopy AGAIN!  I change him.  He starts rubbing his eyes so I put him to bed.  Then I go put away Veronica's clothes.  The girls start playing with their barbies in my room.  Veronica plays on the floor of her room.  Everyone is playing so well that I'm able to get everything and I mean EVERYTHING put away.  That hasn't happened in a long time.  

1:30  I pick up Veronica and discover she is poopy.  This is a big deal because she has been only pooping every 24 hours or so.  She had her doctor checkup the day before and I asked the doctor about it.  He said to feed her fruits and veggies instead of rice cereal.  So I came home and fed her prune baby food.  Obviously it's working now because this is the second time she's pooped in 24 hours and her poop looks just like prunes.

1:45 The girls are ready for some time with Curious George.  I use packing tape to fix some I-Spy books that were a little too well loved by Derrick.

1:50 Lydia wants me to sit with her so I sit on the couch and read the March Ensign while she watches TV.

2:18 Veronica starts acting tired so I put her to bed.  Charlotte and Lydia are done with Curious George and start playing some more pretend games in the toy room.

2:25 Veronica isn't really asleep. I get her back up and nurse her.

2:32 She falls asleep and I transfer her to her crib.  I go look up some stuff online.

3:00 Charlotte and Lydia have been doing really well in underwear.  They both use the potty and ask for their treat.  They each get one skittle every time they pee on the potty.  I give them a treat and then decide to lay down on the couch.

3:10 Veronica starts making noise again.  I get up and play with her while sitting in the rocking chair.  She smiles and laughs at me.

4:00 She's starting to act sleepy so I swaddle her and lay her down again.  She lets out little screams and can't seem to settle down to sleep the way she normally does.  I'm fairly certain she'll fall asleep so I just leave her alone.  I straighten up my room while I wait for her to fall asleep.  I love how good my room looks when it is free of toys.  It's like my sanctuary.

Veronica is still making noise so I move onto straightening up my bathroom.  This room never gets any attention.  I'm usually either too surrounded by kids or too tired to do anything in here.  Case in point: my box of hot curler holders has been on my counter since the military ball at the beginning of January.  I finally get that and some other things put away.

Charlotte and Lydia have been playing really well together all afternoon.  When I come out of my room I find that they have made a "road" out of books.

4:15  Maddy knocks on the door.  I pay her $2 a day to help me with the kids while I make dinner. Veronica never did fall asleep so I get her up and hand her to Maddy.  Derrick wakes up.  He likes to snuggle on the couch for a minute when he wakes up so we do that.  This is one reason I have Maddy come help me every day.  It's so nice to have an extra pair of hands.  Derrick gets happy so I start making pizza.

5:07  The pizza is in the oven.  I sit down with the kids and we read the newly re-paired I-Spy books.  Derrick loves to point to the pictures and ask, "dat dis dit."  Earlier today both me and Christina were impressed by how much clearer he is saying, "what is it?"

5:12 Veronica is crying tiredly again.  I wrap her up and this time she goes to sleep.

5:20  The pizza is done.  Maddy stays and eats with us for a minute before heading home.  The kids just kind of pick at their pizza.

5:40  We are done eating.  Normally we go to the park after dinner, but tonight it is too cold for us.

5:45 I check my e-mail with the computer that is hooked up the the TV then I turn on Super Why for the kids.  

5:55 Lydia runs into the bathroom and poops again. Sometimes I wonder how a girl who eats as little as she does can poop so much. She gets another pooping treat.  Veronica wakes up again.  I feed her more prunes.  Then I nurse her.

6:40 Veronica is very happy.  I lay her on the floor.  I straighten up the house a little tiny bit.

7:00 It's time to get the kids into their pajamas.  I grap everyone's pajamas and then sit in the hallway.  The kids take turns coming to me to get put into diapers and helped into their pajamas.  Veronica lays on the floor next to me and coos the whole time.

7:15 We go into the living room and have scriptures and prayers.  We do our routine of singing a hymn, reading a chapter from the Book of Mormon, reading a page from the conference edition of the Ensign, and writing in journals.  I do all these things while the kids play quietly.  The girls love it whenever I read the words "The Holy Ghost."  They learned about the Holy Ghost in Primary and its always fun for them to make the connection between home religious stuff and church religious stuff.

Veronica poops during scriptures and prayers.  We are all really excited for her.

7:35 After I change Veronica it's time for the kids to go into their room.  The girls love to make little beds on the floor.  Lydia went through a phase where she didn't even get in her crib for almost two months.  That phase is over now and she usually gets into her crib.  But tonight she wants back on the floor.  Charlotte wants to sleep on the floor too.

Charlotte and Lydia say prayers where they ask Heavenly Father to "bless Daddy in Ko-Weee-Ah."  Then I say the family prayer.  Everyone gets three goldfish crackers as a "bedtime treat."  I take Veronica around to each of the kids so they can give her a hug and a kiss.  Every Derrick takes this very seriously.  I also sing "I know my Father Lives" and hug and kiss each of the kids.  Then I talk in a high voice and pretend like Veronica is talking to the kids.  She's in charge of telling the kids what we will do the next day.  Everyone loves this little joke.  Then we have one more hug and I tell the kids goodnight and I shut the door.

7:50 I breath a huge sigh of relief that we have successfully made it though another day.  I take Veronica into my room and lay her on my bed with some toys to play with.  I go take a shower.  

8:08 I can hear the girls outside my room so when I get out of the shower I put on a towel and send them back to bed.  They cry.  I blow dry my hair.  

8:20  I'm done blowdrying my hair and I go proof read my post about the La Brea Tar Pits for my travel blog.  Veronica is happy and plays around while I work.  

8:50  Veronica starts crying and I put her to bed.  I'm hoping this is the last I hear from her for the night.  

9:00 My post is ready to be published.  After I publish it I take care of some housekeeping items for my travel blog.  

9:10 Veronica is awake again!  What the What?  I nurse her and continue to work on stuff.  

9:30 It's 12:30 in Korea and its Brandon's lunch time.  He skypes with me and Veronica.  Veronica is always really animated when we talk to Brandon.  She smiles and coos at him.  She never does that when we watch TV so I can tell that she knows Brandon is a real person who loves her a lot. I'm exhausted but Veronica isn't so I stay up.  Otherwise I would go to bed.  

10:25  Veronica starts crying so I hurry and tell Brandon that I love him, but I need to go to bed. I put Veronica into her bed.  Then I check on the kids.  Charlotte is asleep under her bed and Lydia is on the floor.  I put them back in their beds and cover them up.  Derrick always falls asleep with a blanket on his head.  I move it so it is covering his body.  

10:30 I've found that I can't fall asleep right away after I've been working on the computer so I read Anne of Ingleside for a few minutes. I'm actually really close to the end so I read it for longer than I normally do so I can finish it.

10:45 I turn off the light and settle into bed.  As much as I miss Brandon I really love having the bed to myself.  It's nice to have my own space after a whole day of taking care of other people.

10:46 Veronica is awake AGAIN!  I get up and nurse her one more time.

11:10  I give up on Veronica.  I lay her down in her crib.  She starts crying again, but I don't care.  This is so unlike her but she doesn't seem to have anything wrong with her.  I lay down.  Within a few minutes I realize that I can't hear her any more. I know I should get up to make sure she is fully covered up, but I don't care.  I fall asleep.

3:15  Veronica wakes up.  I get up and nurse her.  Then I put her back in bed and she doesn't make any noise.  I check on the other kids and then go back to sleep.  I decide that I wont get up to work on my travel blog tomorrow.

Lydia crawls in bed with me sometime during the early morning.  She and Charlotte usually migrate into my bed.

6:15  Derrick wakes up.  This is not cool considering how late I was up with Veronica. I lay in bed and hope that he goes back to sleep.

6:45 It's pretty apparent that Derrick is fully awake.  I get up and snuggle with him on the couch until Charlotte wakes up at 7:15.  Then another day starts all over again.

Today's post

Today is Day 3 of the 7 posts in 7 days challenge.  My post for today is about my 2009 visit to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.

But you wont find it here.

You'll find my post for today over on my travel blog at www.51centadventures.com.  Go check it out.  And feel free to share the website if you like what you see.  In fact, please share the website.

Love Story: Part 6 - February

Before I met Brandon I would wonder how people could meet and fall in love so fast.  But within two weeks of meeting him I knew that he was someone I could marry.  It took him a little bit longer.  Still it was only about 5 months later in January 2007 that Brandon and I were pretty sure that we wanted to get married.  

At the end of January I'd somehow convinced Brandon that we should get married sometime in May.  We both wanted to be sure that marrying each other was what Heavenly Father wanted for us.  So we decided to fast about our decision on the first Sunday in February.  The LDS church designates the first Sunday of each month as a "Fast Sunday."  This wasn't our first time fasting, but this was probably the first time I fasted for something so important.  On Saturday night Brandon and I knelt down in his living room and offered a prayer to open our fast.  We did't eat or drink anything until Sunday evening when we again knelt and said a prayer to end out fast.  Neither of us felt any sort of spiritual promoting one way or another.  

I was a little worried about the lack of an absolute "yes" answer from heaven.  Did that mean we shouldn't get married?  I pondered about it the next few days and the words of the scripture Doctrine and Covenants 6:22-23 came into my mind: 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.

Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?

That reminded me of the time back in the fall when I had been praying about whether or not it was a good use of my time to date Brandon.  I'd been praying about that question for a few days.  Then one morning while I was taking a shower the thought, "It's okay to pursue him" came into my mind.  I knew from the peace I felt that it was the Holy Ghost giving me an answer to my prayer.

As I remembered the peace and absolute certainty that I'd had about dating Brandon, I realized that those feelings also applied to marrying him.  I knew Heavenly Father wanted us to get married.

I didn't tell Brandon yet, because I could tell he wasn't so sure.  I was used to being ahead of him as far as the plans for our relationship went, so I didn't worry.

Despite Brandon's reservations about if we should get married, he was still a good boyfriend.  My 22nd birthday was the Wednesday after we fasted.  I invited a few friends over to my apartment and Brandon made a German Chocolate cake for everyone.  He gave me a really sweet card too.  And he gave me some nice pens.  The pens had special significance because he'd been talking about how he looked forward to addressing wedding invitation envelopes with me.  

I was excited about the meaning of the pens, but Brandon still seemed to be holding back from me.  That weekend we had a heart to heart conversation.  

Brandon admitted that he'd spent all week worried about getting engaged.  He said that he just wasn't sure if it was something we were supposed to do.  Just as I started getting worried he told me, "but then I was thinking about it while I was taking a shower.  And I thought about that scripture, the one that says something like 'did I not speak peace to your mind?'  And I realized that I always feel so much peace when I think about marrying you.  So I think we are supposed to get married."  

I started crying.  I couldn't believe that we had both thought of the same scripture.  I told Brandon how that scripture fit into my own spiritual confirmation that we should get married.  Brandon couldn't believe it either.  "Well I guess we should get engaged then." he said. 

From that moment on it became Brandon's goal to torture me with anticipation for how and when he would officially pop the question.  

Valentine's Day was coming up and I kind of suspected that he would propose then.  Unfortunately I was really busy that week.  I told Brandon, "Um I have a ton of homework and projects this week.  So please don't propose to me on Valentine's Day."  And Brandon said, "I wasn't planning on it anyway."

I don't know why I thought I would be able to focus better on school if I wasn't engaged, because I was very distracted by anticipation.  

Even though we weren't officially engaged I started planning out wedding.  I went to another bridal fair and got lots of ideas.  I came back from the fair and told Brandon, "I can't decide what kind of backdrop I want.  There was a really neat one with water in the back, but there was another one I liked that had a mirror.  What do you think?"  He said, "why not do both."  Then he sat down and drew a sketch of what would eventually be our waterfall on a mirror backdrop.

One weekend we went down to Salt Lake and I talked Brandon into checking out the cultural hall of my parents Stake Center.  I'd already dreamed up how I wanted everything to look, but I wanted Brandon's input.  I showed him the room and told him all my ideas.  Then he walked into the middle of the room and said, "I think we can do this.  I'm excited about doing this."  I fell in love with him all over again when he said that.

As we drove back to Logan on Sunday night we decided to take a quick detour up to the Bountiful Temple.  Brandon had been trying for weeks to convince me that I didn't want to get married in the Salt Lake Temple.  His argument was that everyone gets married there.  He wanted to do something different.  His choice was the Bountiful Temple.  He had me 95% convinced but I needed to see the temple to be sure.  So we went up there and walked around.  It was beautiful and I knew we should get married there. 

The brakes to Brandon's crappy Pontiac overheated as we drove down the steep hill from the temple.  So we pulled over in the parking lot for the Bountiful Rec Center.  We decided to go on a little walk while they cooled off.  We ended up at the Smith's MarketPlace about 10 blocks away.  We loved that store so we took a break on the patio furniture inside the store.  We joked, "Bountiful has a Smith's MarketPlace.  We should move here."  We had no idea that three years later we would live a mile away from that store.      

I had sort of hoped that Brandon would propose to me while we were up at the temple.  But I was starting to get used to the endless waiting.  Everything Brandon did seemed like a potential engagement opportunity.  He'd say, "do you want to go on a walk?" and I'd perk up.  About an hour into the walk I'd realize it was just a walk.    He'd make me dinner and I'd expect a proposal but it would turn out to be just dinner.  This went on for the rest of the month.

I wasn't being very helpful in my own way.  For some reason I couldn't stand to go ring shopping.  I knew that Brandon didn't make a lot of extra money putting things together for Home Depot and Smiths MarketPlace.  I knew that he had a lot of student loans.  I knew that any money he did have needed to go toward his flight account.  I just couldn't bring myself to go into a jewelry store to pick out a ring that he couldn't afford.  Brandon tried to get me to at least point out a ring that I liked, but every time we tried to go near a jewelry counter I would end up turning around.  I finally told him, "I don't want a ring.  I want you."  

We'd settled on Thursday May 17th as the day that we wanted to get married.  Even though we weren't officially engaged I had Brandon call up the Bountiful Temple and reserve a sealing room for 9:45 am. I was worried all the rooms would be reserved if we waited much longer.  

By the end of February I was getting pretty anxious about how long it was taking Brandon to propose.  He kept reassuring me that it was just a matter of timing, but I was still getting worried.  We both had big family get-togethers scheduled for the first weekend in March.  I didn't want to go to those events and have to sidestep the inevitable "so are you two planning on getting married" questions.

I told Brandon that if he didn't propose to me by March 3rd I would propose to him.

Read about how we finally got engaged here.

My thoughts on un-medicated and home birth

I've wanted to write this post pretty much since the moment Veronica was born in the hallway of our home.  It was such an dramatic event that it was kind of all I wanted to talk about for a while.  Every time I met someone I'd want to blurt out "I had my baby at home!"

I've waited to write this post because I wanted some time to reflect on her birth.  Veronica turned 5 months old today so I feel like enough time has passed that I can objectively talk about the subject.

Back story

Before we get too far into this you might want to go back and read the post where I described Veronica's whole crazy birth experience.  Here's the link: http://illguthlife.blogspot.com/2013/09/veronicas-drama-filled-birth-story.html 

And while we are catching up on things, lets talk really fast about my other two deliveries.

In October of 2010 I had a C-section to deliver the twins.  Charlotte was Baby A and she was head down.  Lydia was Baby B and she was breech.  My doctor advised a C-section and I didn't have any problems with that decision.  I still am glad I had a C-section.  Read the whole story here.

One reason I wasn't too worried about a c-section was that I knew I could try a V-BAC (Vaginal birth after Cesarean) for my next delivery.  And 17 months later that is what I did.  Derrick was delivered in April of 2012 and was a successful V-BAC.  Read his birth story here.

A few months after Derrick was born I sat down and compared the C-Section and the V-BAC.  Both were positive experiences, but overall I preferred the V-BAC.  You can read that post here.

When I found out I was pregnant with Veronica I knew I wanted to do a V-BAC again.  I ran into a bit of trouble when my new OB/GYN had rights to a hospital that didn't allow V-BACs.  But I resolved that by switching to a new doctor and hospital.  Here is the link to that whole story.  (Sorry about all the links, but I want you to have easy access to the details.)

I briefly thought about signing up for a class on the Bradley Method of delivery.  I was really interested in the idea of husband coached labor.  I also wanted to try to deliver Veronica without pitocin or an epidural.  I'd had both when I delivered Derrick, and while I felt they were okay for that delivery, I thought it would be cool to do a completely natural birth.  I ended up deciding against taking a Bradley Method class because it would have been a huge time commitment for both of us to attend the 12 week course.

Okay lets talk about un-medicated and home birth

First off, I should be clear that Veronica's birth was very much an accidental home birth.  I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would ever have a baby at home.  It certainly wasn't something that I wanted to do.  I couldn't wrap my mind around the thought of doing something so bloody in my own home.  

But my labor went quicker than I anticipated.  I went from contractions coming 10 minutes apart to transition in an hour and a half.  I threw up, my water broke, the head crowned, and Veronica was born all in 10 minutes.  Brandon barely made it back from dropping the kids off at the babysitters when Veronica was crowning.  There wasn't any option to say, "hey lets see if we can make it to the hospital so we don't have to have the baby here."

I think one reason my labor went so fast was because I was at home.  If I'd gone to the hospital they would have sat me down on a bed and hooked me up to a bunch of monitors.  I suspect that would have slowed things down at least a little bit.  Instead I was at home standing up and walking around.  I was trying to get last minute things packed and get the kids ready to go to the babysitter's.  When I did have a contraction I'd just hunch over, grimace, make funny noises, and breath through the pain.  Then I'd get back to trying to find shoes for the kids.

Another thing that made my labor fast was that it wasn't medicated.  I'd been given pitocin to help things along with Derrick.  The pitocin made the contractions really painful and so that, combined with the fact that it was 2:00 in the morning, made me decide to get an epidural.  The epidural had slowed down my labor.  Obviously when I was at home that wasn't the case.

One final thing that made my labor really fast was that it was my second vaginal birth.  I'd heard that each birth got faster, but I had no idea it could be that fast.

Even though it was a fast labor the delivery still hurt.  Words really can't express how much delivering a baby hurts.  Agony is probably the best word to describe it.  I thought I was going to split right open and die in the bathroom when Veronica started crowning.  Screaming really isn't the right word for the sounds I made during that time, but it's the only word that I can think of.

As much as delivering Veronica hurt it was totally worth it for the feeling of relief that I felt as she came out.  I've heard of people describing it as orgasmic.  I wouldn't go that far, but it was amazing.  To go from utter pain to utter relief in one second was wonderful.

After she was born I also felt really empowered.  I had just gone through one of the worst experiences of my life - and I survived. After that I felt like I could do anything.

I highly recommend doing a totally un-medicated birth.  It is truly transcendent and life changing.      

But I don't necessarily recommend home birth.  Because after Veronica was born I very much needed to be at a hospital.  I had a retained placenta that ended up falling apart inside of me.  That resulted in a D&C procedure to get all the placenta out.  And that, combined with all the blood I'd lost, caused me to have low blood pressure and faint.  I was really close to needing a blood transfusion.

This is when the maybes and what ifs start taking over.  Brandon and I think that if I had been able to deliver the placenta at home then all those crazy things could have been avoided.  Maybe if I'd had a midwife and doula around they could have helped the placenta come out when it should have.  But on the other hand, what if my uterus had ruptured because it was a V-BAC delivery?  Things could have been really crazy then.  Or what if Veronica hadn't been born perfectly fine?  What would have happened if we didn't happen to have a bulb syringe in our first aid kit?  

We don't know the answers to those things.  What we do know is what happened.  So based on what happened to me I can't recommend home birth.  I still would prefer to give birth in a hospital.

But let me reiterate that I really really really recommend un-medicated birth.

Even though the delivery was painful it wasn't the worst pain I experienced that day.  The very worst pain was when the doctor had to reach up inside of me to pull out pieces of the shredded placenta. I cried and screamed as I held the side of the bed while she did that.  It was awful.

The next worst pain was when the doctor tried to sew me up without any medication.  I don't know if they'd given me medication and it just hadn't taken effect yet, or what, but it hurt!  Fortunately that ended when they noticed that I still had pieces of the placenta coming out of me.  They finished sewing me up after I was all numbed up from the D&C.

The third worst pain was when I was in the ambulance and my body started contracting to get the placenta out.  I was laying flat on my back with my legs strapped down to the stretcher.  I couldn't push the placenta out even though every instinct was telling me that I needed to get it out.  The EMT kept telling me that we were almost at the hospital.  That ride felt like it lasted hours.  This is probably when the placenta shredded.  

The fouth worse pain was when the nurse or somebody was trying to draw my blood after I fainted.  I was just so tired of being in pain at that point.  I honestly wished I could just die so I wouldn't have to be in any more pain.  This is the point where I decided we were done having kids.

And the fifth worst pain was delivering Veronica.  So do with that information what you will.

In the end it all turned out just fine.  Veronica was born healthy and I was able to recover and be healthy again.  And that's really the main goal of every labor and delivery experience.  


This my first post for the 7 posts in 7 days challenge from Jennifer Fulwiler at www.conversiondiary.com. Click here for the linkup party so you can see everyone else who is attempting the challenge. You can also join too if you want.  

It takes a village to replace a husband

I'm so grateful for all the help that is available to me.  I'm naturally a very independent person so asking for help is hard for me.  But over the last few years I've learned that there is nothing wrong with accepting help.  In many cases the people who give the help are grateful for a chance to serve.  

Today I want to highlight some of the amazing people who are helping me out while Brandon is in Korea.  They are the ones that have helped me stay sane and happy while my family has adjusted to our new way of life.  I'm also going to talk about some of the things that help me out as well.

Maddy

A few months before Brandon left, my 11 year old neighbor Maddy told me she wanted to start learning how to babysit.  She wanted to know if she could watch my kids for me.  This went perfectly with an idea I had to ask her if she wanted to help me out while Brandon was in Korea.  

I pay Maddy $2 a day to come down to my house and "babysit" the kids.  This has been such a great deal!  I should have done this months ago.  For the first time in YEARS I am able to work in the kitchen without multiple children crying.  It is wonderful.  Derrick especially is so much easier to handle now.  He used to wake up from his nap and be super grumpy.  Then he'd get grumpier because I wouldn't pay attention to him.  But now Maddy will sit and play with him, or she'll play with the other kids while I feed Derrick a snack.  Derrick is so much happier in the afternoon these days.

  

Maddy is also learning lots of great things like how to feed a baby a bottle.  She's going to be a very well qualified babysitter when she is older.  

Lately the weather has been really nice in the evenings so Maddy will come with us to the park for a little while.  The girls love this because that means they get to ride down the hill on Maddy's skateboard.  

Trinity
We met Trinity at the park one day.  Derrick and her hit it off right away.  They like to rough house with each other.  Trinity comes over sometimes when Maddy can't.  She's still a little too young to be a big help, but hey an extra pair of hands is and extra pair of hands.  

Elder and Sister Coombs

Our military relations missionary couple is wonderful.  Elder and Sister Coombs have become something like surrogate grandparents to our family.  Their calling is to help out the military families in as many ways as possible.  For me that means they come over once a week and play with the kids for about an hour and a half while I get things done around the house.   

I look forward to seeing them each week.  Sister Coombs and I are very similar and I love talking with her. She doesn't get to see her grandkids while she is on her mission so I'm glad she can spend time with my kids.  Both she and Elder Coombs love taking turns holding Veronica.  

 Last week the weather was so nice that we decided to go to the park.  Elder Coombs said he'd be along in a minute, but first he was just going to sweep my floor.  That was fine with me.  Twenty minutes later he still hadn't shown up at the park.  He'd gone ahead and cleaned up my whole kitchen.

In addition to helping out once a week the Coombs' have also picked up things for me at the store when I can't get there myself.  They also have offered to help me take the kids to appointments and on special trips.  I am so grateful for them.  

Kelly, Arika, and Ange

I have really wonderful neighbors who are willing to watch the kids.  

Arika has been there for me since I went to my first doctors appointment for Veronica.  The kids love it when "Arik's mom" watches them.  

Ange has also been a favorite babysitter and a good friend.  She always comes up with great art projects to do with the kids.  

Kelly moved into a house that is basically up the street from me a few months ago.  Her husband is currently Brandon's roommate in Korea.  She is great to come down and watch the kids when I need to go grocery shopping.   Kelly and I have also started hanging out at the park and yesterday we went to McDonalds with our kids.  Kelly knows so many community resources and helps me know about things that are going on.

Basically everyone at church

We've been sitting with the Coombs' at church.  But this week they were the ones speaking in Sacrament Meeting.  Derrick sat with the RS President and her husband (who took Derrick out into the hall when he started crying.)  Veronica sat with three older women who beamed every time she grinned at them (which was a lot.)  I sat with Charlotte and Lydia.  During Sunday School my friend Julie took Veronica while I taught my class.  

Other people help out in small ways by holding doors open for us,  chasing Derrick down, helping me out to the car, and holding Veronica.  I love all the help that is available at church.     

Community Programs

I'm in the process of getting the kids signed up for some childcare time that is available for free to children of deployed service members.  I didn't want to do it at first, but Sister Coombs told me about a lady who calls it "pre-school" and sends her kids on the same day every week.  That sounds like something that would work for us. 

I also have us signed up for a lawn mowing service that Fort Hood Family Housing provides when a spouse is deployed.  I'm so glad I don't have to worry about taking care of the lawn.   

Curious George

Sometimes there's nothing like getting stuff done while the kids watch TV.  They all LOVE Curious George.  And I love him too.  That show makes me so happy.  Everyone is nice, everything is resolved in 15 minutes, George is allowed to explore, and the humor is intelligent.  It's great!

The Pod-Goblins

I started listening to 101.9 The End as I would drive to my doctors appointment when I was pregnant with Derrick.  I loved the Chunga and Tyson show.  Soon I started listening to it every morning at home.  My favorite segment of the show what when Kenny D would review movies.  Even when we moved to Texas I still listened to the show online.  I liked having something to think about that wasn't kid oriented.   I was devastated when the show was cancelled in August. 

Thankfully Chunga, Kenny D, and a lot of the other guys have been able to put together a podcast website called Podgoblin.com.  They started recording right about the time Brandon left.  I was so happy to hear Kenny D's voice. It's like my friends are back again.  I love cleaning my house while listening to the latest podcast.      

Frasier

I've always thought Frasier looked like a boring show.  It's just a bunch of people talking to each other in a beige apartment.  After things calmed down with Veronica's birth I couldn't sleep because I kept reliving everything.  I was channel surfing at the hospital and Frasier came on.  Brandon was half asleep but he said, "watch this, you'll like it."  I started watching it and I was hooked right away. 

I've been putting the kids to bed around 7:30 so I still have a lot of time to do stuff in the evening.  On the nights I don't feel like doing anything (which is most of them) I just sit on the couch and watch Frasier on Netflix.  The show is so funny.  I laugh out loud during every episode.  Niles especially cracks me up.      

51 Cent Adventures

My travel blog is what gets me out of bed in the morning. Well technically Veronica gets me out of bed, but it's my blog that keeps me up. Veronica usually sleeps through the night, and then wakes up around 6:00.  I'll feed her and then put her back to sleep.  Then I spend the next hour or so working on my blog.  It's so nice to have that time to myself before the kids get up.  My day feels off if I don't get that time to write.  It's also really fun to relive all the great times that Brandon and I have had together.  I look forward to when he is home again and we can go on more adventures.

"Silly Carts"

As much as I love leaving my kids with babysitters, I also really like taking them places with me.  I'll take them with on quick trips to the store.  Last week we went to Target to get some household things.  Target has the really big carts that we call "Silly Carts"  I love these carts because I can keep all four kids contained as we look for things at the store.  It's nice.  

When I considered staying here in Texas during Brandon's deployment I knew it would be hard, but I was also pretty certain there would be a lot of help available.  I'm glad to know that I was right.  There is no way I could do all this on my own.

That time I decided to sing a Christmas hymn

A few months ago I decided to take a tiny step out of my comfort zone.  The Military Relations Missionary couple was planning a Christmas Program with different musical numbers.  Sister Coombs announced that she was looking for some singers for one number, specifically Soprano singers.

Normally I completely ignore any request to sing in church.  I don't feel I have the time to be in the ward choir.  I also really struggle with reading treble clef music.  I played the string bass for 8 years in school so I am awesome at sight reading bass clef, but I still have to count spaces and lines to figure out notes in treble clef.  That makes it kind of difficult for me to sing. 

But something about Sister Coombs' request for singers caught my attention.  I went up to her after Relief Society and told her I was interested in being part of the group.  I thought, "It's a Christmas Hymn.  How hard could it be?"

And then I saw the music.  And I realized I was in over my head.

First off the song was, With Wondering Awe, one of the less well known Christmas hymns.  I didn't even know all the words.

Second it was an arrangement that had some high soprano notes.  Not ridiculously high, but still higher than the "standardized" arrangements found in the hymn book.  I was pretty certain I could hit the notes, but I didn't know for sure.

Third, there were Ahhhs.  Which seemed easy enough, but after our first run through I realized they were hard to do because I actually had to count out the length of the ahh instead of just saying a word.   

Learning that music was difficult.  At first I felt like I should just give up and drop out.  I felt like the weak-link in the whole 12 person ensemble.  Every one else just seemed to "get it" a lot easier than I did.  

I stayed in the group because I enjoyed our rehearsals.  Brandon would take care of the kids and I would go to the church for an hour each week.  I loved that little break.  There was one week that I was suffering from some crazy postpartum anxiety.  I honestly spent 3 days feeling worried about every little thing.  I knew there was something wrong with my "emotional depth perception" but I couldn't fix it.  I finally calmed down and relaxed while singing at one of the rehearsals.   

As I learned my part along with the other people in the group I realized they weren't perfect singers.  They were all learning too - maybe not as much as I was, but they were still learning.  

We only had about 6 rehearsals total.  Three were on Wednesdays and three were after church.  During those 6 rehearsals I got to know people better than I had in the last 10 months.  It's interesting how actually doing something together - not just saying hi in the hallway at church - really builds friendships.  I felt like I belonged.

I really enjoyed the challenge of learning that song.  I was thrilled when I hit the high note along with our director (who sang the note so we would sound better).  I was also really happy when I knew that I could sing through the ahhhs with the correct timing and notes. And I even learned all the words to the song.

The actual performance of the song was kind of overshadowed by some silly things that happened that night.  The fire alarm was going off when I arrived with my family.  There wasn't a fire. A little girl had pulled the alarm.  Fortunately the alarm was only ringing in the hallway and wasn't very noticeable if the chapel doors were closed.  So we went ahead with the program.  

Brandon spent most of the program out in the hall helping the bishopric members and firemen get into the box that controlled the alarm.  Later he told me, "I've always wanted to see one of those boxes up close."  He was so engrossed in figuring out which key opened the box that he didn't notice that Derrick had slipped away from him.  

Derrick somehow wandered into the chapel and walked across the front the the room.  Sister Coombs brought him to the back of the chapel where I was sitting with the girls. I was like, "oh look at that cute little boy who is walking with Sister Coombs.  He looks familiar.  Wait that's DERRICK!  Where is Brandon?"

There were a few panicky minutes where I wondered what I would do if we couldn't find Brandon before it was time for me to go up and sing.  But then he poked his head into the room with a worried look on his face.  He was relieved when I pointed to Derrick in my lap.  He came and sat down and said, "If it makes you feel any better, I'm the one that helped turn off the alarm."  

Some of our group hadn't been able to make it to the performance so there were only 8 of us there.  I was glad I hadn't dropped out.  We sang the song really well.  And then it was over.  

To someone watching us sing it probably seemed like such a small thing - less than 5 minutes to sing a Christmas hymn that everyone had heard before.  But to me it was one of those pivotal moments in life. Working hard to learn that song taught me a lot more than just how to be a better singer.  I realized that I don't have to be "perfect" or "a natural" to do things.  Learning along the way is just fine.  

I also learned that I can do new things.  So much of my life is on hold right now while I raise the kids.  I've kind of forgotten what it's like to do something out of the usual routine.  I'm okay with the fact that my kids are my world right now, but I'm also excited to know that I can successfully step out of my comfort zone. 

Derrick has a delay - and what we are doing about it

I try not to compare my kids to other kids.  But a few months ago I started to notice that Derrick didn't say as many words as other children his age.

He had about five sounds that he used like words but he didn't really say any real words.  Here is pretty much a complete list of Derrick's vocabulary.

Ahhhhh-Duhhhhh = Vacuum
Ou = Out
OOOOOOOO = Dog, Stuffed Animal, Baby, Veronica (I think it's funny that Veronica is classified as a stuffed animal)
Dadadada = something really interesting possibly means "that that that"
Dah? Dah? Dah? = what is that.  He loves to point at things and say this word.
Hmmmmmm Hmmmmm = his response when you tell him what something is.
Unna-Unna-Unna = I want something

I didn't worry too much about his lack of other words.  He's always been they type of kid that waits to do something until he is absolutely ready to do it.  For example, when he was learning to walk he stood for weeks before he took his first steps.  And then he hardly ever fell.  I figured he was just waiting to talk until he felt comfortable.

He was just fine in every other area.  He could run, jump, drink out of a regular cup, eat with a fork, climb things, play with his sisters, and do everything else that a little toddler boy should do.  I made jokes that he was "just a jock."

My eyes, or rather ears, were opened when we spent time with Brandon's brother Bryan and his family over Christmas.  Bryan's daughter is only 3 weeks younger than Derrick but she could say many words and was putting 2 and even 3 words together into sentences.

At first I told myself that she was just advanced, but then I started thinking about the fact that Derrick still only had a vocabulary of less than 10 words. Derrick should at least have more words by this point, was there something wrong?

I decided that I'd talk to Derrick's doctor about his lack of words at his 2 year old checkup.  But then I noticed that Derrick seemed to get really frustrated.  Like fall on the floor, high pitched screaming, frustrated. April seemed like a long time to wait.

So I did my usual due diligence research and asked my facebook friends what they thought.  This is what I asked.

I need some advise from any parents who had children who talked late. Derrick will be 2 years old in April and he doesn't say any words. He has about 5 phrases that he uses like words, but he doesn't say any real words. He doesn't even say Mama or Dada, or yes or no. He can hear just fine and understands pretty much everything I say.
Right now I'm not concerned, but I wonder if I should get him checked out just in case I'm missing something. At what point do I worry?

I am so grateful for the many people who responded.  Several people shared that they or someone they knew talked late and was just fine.  Other people suggested that I get his hearing checked. Some people gave me advise on how to get him to talk.  Several people suggested calling up the local Early Intervention people to have Derrick evaluated.  One of those suggestions came from my friend Tanja who has a back ground in speech language pathology.  She sent me a link to the Texas Early Intervention program.   

As I read through all the comments I realized two things.  

1.  I had no idea how to get Derick to talk.  Usually I have tons of ideas.  I'm an idea person.  But I didn't have any ideas for things that would help Derrick.  Some people had suggested that I wait to give him things until he said the word.  I thought, "there is no way on this planet that will work.  He will just scream his high pitched scream and fall on the floor."     

And 2. I had nothing to lose by calling up Early Intervention.  If they said he was fine then at least I could stop wondering.  And if he wasn't fine then we could put together a plan to help him.  

So I called the number that I found on the website Tanja gave me.  That number directed me to another number where I gave my name and a little bit of info about Derrick.  A few days later a lady from the ECI office in Cove called me up and scheduled an evaluation.  

At the evaluation I answered questions about Derrick while a lady played with Derrick to evaluate his abilities with language, cognitive thinking, and fine and gross motor skills. At the end of the evaluation it was clear that he did have a speech delay.  Once the ladies told me that I was like, "Well duh.  I've known that forever.  But I just didn't realize it."  It was also nice to know that there wasn't anything else wrong.  (I'll admit, I was worried about autism.)

We had another appointment to set up some goals for Derrick's development.  The ECI staff observed that he doesn't make a lot of consonant sounds so getting him to say those is one of our main goals.  We also want him to be able to point to objects when asked.  (Right now he doesn't even point to his own nose or other body parts).  I asked them if we could work on teaching him to say "Yes" and "No."  I don't care if he yells "No" at the top of his lungs.  Even that would be so much better than his current way of flipping out.

We are also in the process of getting Derrick's hearing checked.  He can hear, but we don't know what the quality of his hearing is.  He's had some ear infections so it's possible he has fluid in his ears that's making everything sound like it's under water.  

In the weeks since his evaluation, Derrick has started saying Array for Hurray and MMMMM when we read the M page of Doctor Seuss's ABC book.  He says something like "eaeh" when he wants to read the ABC book or when he sees letters.  He's also been known to say, "ar" for "car," but he wont do it for me.

Today was his first in-home therapy session.  A very nice lady named Christina came to our house and basically played with Derrick for an hour.  She also gave me some suggestions for things I can do with him to help him learn his sounds.  I'm glad its an in-home service.  I don't know if it would be worth it to me to find a babysitter and drive Derrick somewhere every week.  

I put together this little video to document some of Derrick's sounds.  That way I can look back on it and see the progress he's making.  It's a really long video so I only expect the Grandparents to make it all the way through.  (Charlotte "reading" to Derrick was just to cute to cut.)

So anyway, this has been kind of a long winded post.  I guess the point of this whole thing is that I'm glad I am able to get help for Derrick.

Getting out of Debt: The Honda is Paid Off!

When you are trying to pay off close to $100,000 worth of student loan debt as quick as possible the last thing you want to do is have to take out another loan. But that's the situation we found ourselves in when we needed to buy another car to make room for Veronica.  

Brandon and I spent a lot of time debating whether we should buy a clunker car with cash or take out a loan to buy a more reliable vehicle.  Ultimately we decided to go with a car that we knew we had to make payments on rather than one that we'd always worry about what would break next.  In July we bought a 2004 Honda with a large down payment. We had a 42 month (3 1/2 year) loan with a monthly payment that we could afford.

I resigned myself to the fact that we'd be making those payments along with the student loan payments for the next 3 1/2 years.  Then, over Christmas, I decided that we should put most of our tax return money into paying off the Honda.  I didn't think we would get enough to fully pay it off, but I thought we could at least make a big dent in the loan.  I had plans to just save the refund until the size of the loan was small enough to just pay it off in one lump sum.  

And then I filed our taxes and found out we were getting A LOT of money back.  Somehow I'd never realized how military pay is set up tax wise.  The Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) that pays for our home isn't taxable.  Furthermore, it doesn't count as income for the Earned Income Credit.  Based on the income that we do report on our tax return we look rather poor.  Factor in that we have four kids, and boom, we receive quite a bit of money from the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit.  

So much in fact that we could pay off the Honda and still have money left over.

I actually feel rather guilty that we receive so much.  But then I remember that my husband is in a foreign country for the next nine months.  Then I don't feel so guilty.  

Doing something responsible, like paying off a car loan, also helps me feel less guilty about the amount we received.  

Now that the Honda is paid off I hope to start funneling the amount we would have paid into extra payments on the smallest student loan.  By my calculations that one should be paid off around the time Brandon gets home.  

My only regret about paying off the car early is that I never made a debt pay off tracker for the car loan.  It would have been fun to rip off 36 squares all at once.  

Instead I took the kids out for ice cream cones at McDonalds.  Elder and Sister Coombs, our military relations missionaries, met us there to help with the kids.  

We enjoyed our ice cream cones and then the kids had a blast playing on the play ground.  I think we were there for over an hour.  I can't wait until we can come again to celebrate paying off the next loan, and the next, and the next.

PS I almost didn't write this post.  On one hand, I want to shout it from the roof-tops that our car is paid off three years early.  On the other hand, I don't want to seem like I'm bragging or acting like I'm better than anyone because we received so much money.  So please don't be offended. That isn't my intention.  

Korea 2014: Week Three - getting the hang of this

This week has been a lot better than last week.  And I'm totally going to give credit to the fact that we've managed to do scriptures and prayers every night.  There was one night where I honestly had all four kids sitting/laying on me and three of them were crying (Derrick was happy and trying to snuggle with me).  I was laughing because it was such a ridiculous situation. I told myself that I would at least read one verse of the scriptures.  The kids calmed down as soon as I started reading.  Charlotte was even asleep before the chapter was over.  It was really cool.

It also helped that I had my Valentines Day Party to look forward to.  I'm planning on doing some sort of get together once a month.  My neighbor, Ange, and I have already started putting our heads together for what the theme of the March one should be.      

So lets take a look at the picture highlights from this week.   

Lydia wanted me to take this picture of her with the webcam.  It's kind of a big part of our lives right now.  

 On Tuesday Lydia fell (or was probably pushed) off a stool onto the corner of our window sill.  She got a pretty nasty puncture wound and for a few minutes I thought I might have to go to the emergency room instead of grocery shopping like I had planned.  But by the time my neighbor showed up to watch the kids, the bleeding had stopped.  When I got home from the store Lydia announced that she had sticky tack up her nose.  Again I thought I might have to take her to the emergency room, but luckily the sticky tack came out when she blew her nose.  She was pretty accident prone the rest of the day and I was very happy when she fell asleep and took a long nap.

 I was also happy she took a nap because it meant we could go to the Relief Society meeting that night.  The kids had a great time playing with toys and other kids while I got to see my friends.  At the very end we all had chocolate and talked.  My friend Camie let the kids take home the balloon decorations.  The girls were so excited.  They kept giving Veronica the strings to play with.

 They tied their balloons to their beds.  After I put them to bed I could hear them playing around. Later, when I went to check on them I was SHOCKED to find both girls in their beds with blankets covering them.  I am so used to finding them in strange places and positions.  I think this was the first time ever that they played around and then got into their beds on their own.  Balloons are amazing.

 The balloons continued to inspire more fun the next few days.  The girls set up this play ground for their baby dolls and incorporated the balloons.

 Here is Lydia nursing her baby at the "park.'

 And here's Charlotte on her "motorcycle."

 One of the girls took this picture of me and Veronica.

 And this one of just Veronica.  I can't believe how big Veronica is compared to how small the girls were.  She will be five months old on the 24th and she is wearing clothes that they wore at 9 months.  She has pants that have knee marks from when the girls learned to crawl.  We have pictures of Lydia learning to walk wearing the same jeans Veronica is wearing here.

 This next picture is actually of something that happened last week.  We were coming home from story time and I saw FLAMES and SMOKE coming from the power station that is in the middle of this picture.  That spot happens to be only about 500 feet behind my house.  I quickly called 911 and reported the fire.  They sent out the MP's (Military Police) and the fire department.  I was happy to be at the right place at the right time.  I wouldn't have been able to see the flames from my back window until they were a lot closer to my house.

When I got everything ready for my Valentines Day party I wasn't able to get my floor mopped.  I decided that was okay because there were probably going to be spills anyway.  And there were.  So I mopped the floor on Saturday.  The girls created this obstacle course out of all the chairs.  Derrick is crying in the movie because he'd just slipped on the wet kitchen floor. (It happens every time I try to mop while he is awake.)

 Last night Charlotte stayed up with me while I got every thing ready for Sunday.  She was really cute and helped me pick up toys in the living room.  Then she fell asleep on the couch while I did the dishes.

 She also put this balloon on her little wagon where she put her baby to bed.  I though it was so cute.

 Today we opened a Valentine's Day present from Brandon's mom.  She sent chocolates. The girls loved the little heart shaped boxes they came in.

 Charlotte made this little "house" for our toy rhinoceros out of the boxes.

After Derrick woke up from his nap we all drove out to the children's hospital in Temple.  My Ange's son is there and so I thought visiting the hospital would be a good Sunday appropriate activity.  Plus is got us out of the house.  

I told the kids to expect to see our neighbor in a hospital bed and hooked up to wires.  I told them there would be expensive machines that they couldn't touch.  in reality the hospital had a really great kids toy room that we were able to visit in.  There were shelves and shelves of toys.  

 It was great!  The only problem is that the kids are all going to be severely disappointed when they visit someone in a normal, boring hospital.

That was pretty much it for the week.  There were some other things that happened that actually deserve their own posts.  So I'll be posting about those things during the next few days.