Tonsil-less Madi

What a year this girl has had.  We have been blessed to have very healthy kids and I have always felt lucky that my kids never struggled with ear infections (Pierson has never had one, Madi only had 2 and didn't even get one until she was 2 years old) and besides a stomach flu each year and things like that they have been very healthy.  But in the last year Madi has seemed to get every weird thing in the book!

It started with head lice last October.  By far the most disgusting thing I have ever dealt with as a parent, I would take vomit and diarrhea clean up over lice any day!  I was so disgusted I wanted to just burn the house down!  Ok, not really, but I was pretty freaked out about it, imagine finding grown lice bugs crawling on your daughter's scalp, not once but 3 times.  SO GROSS!  The first time I found one I didn't know what it was and just thought she had gotten a bug in her hair from outside, when I found one again I knew it was not from outside and I called the school and had them check her for lice.  I was so upset because they checked her and said they didn't see anything, well then I found them again and did my own research and as soon as I saw a picture on line I knew they were indeed lice!  I was pretty ticked at the school for not catching it when I had them check, I had no clue what it looked like, and everyone said to look for the eggs, well I never even saw the eggs until I treated her hair, after finding adult bugs 3 times!  I think she actually had it for about a month and went through 3 cycles of eggs in her hair before I got it.  See why  I was thinking about burning the house down?  SO DISGUSTING!  I'm shuttering just thinking about it.

Next she had an "irritated bladder".  Fun.  Think, 6 year old girl having to go pee every 10 minutes, literally.  We had to do "bladder training" over Christmas break and time her and make her wait 5 minutes longer each day before she could go.  Ya, that was fun.

Oh and we can't forget the croup she came down with on Christmas Eve.  

Next she had Molluscum.  I'd never ever heard of it!  Think small warts, dozens and dozens all over!  Poor girl had them on the back of her knees, her thighs and her bum.  We opted to do injections to treat them since it is the most effective.  4 trips to the Dermatologist for a shot in her thigh.  Even more fun.  Especially for a drama queen.  Bless Dr. Ben, he was so sweet and patient with us and all the kicking and screaming.  Literal kicking and screaming.  Glad that's over.  Hope it never comes back.

Easter brought the worst flu virus we've ever seen and our first trip to the ER.  

Next was the start of the Strep throat, which was really the reason for this post.  Madi got strep in May, and 2 days after finishing the antibiotics got it again.  Nice.  I was thinking tonsils out for sure with 2 times in a row.  Our pediatrician, (who I love!) wanted to wait until she had gotten it 3 times so that we weren't jumping into surgery.  Ok, that sounded good.  Except for the fact that she was then strep free all summer (of course, away from school and all the nasty germs!), and then what happened?  School started on Wednesday, by Monday we were back at the pediatrician's office with strep again.  Now think about this girl getting her throat swabbed for strep.  Drama queen doesn't even really cover my Madi.  Picture me, the Dr. and the nurse holding her down just to swab her throat while she is kicking and screaming and then bit the swab in half!  Like I said, I love my pediatrician.  Bless that man.  It was a little funny when I warned him that she would freak out and he said, "oh it's not big deal, we do this all day."  Afterwards he said, "wow!  She is a fighter!  I've never had one do that before. I'd like to see that when she's dating."  Exactly.  Wish us luck.  Anyway, by the 3rd time she needed to be swabbed, Dr. Marsden in his brilliance and kindness let Madi swab her own throat.  She barley got it back there far enough, but it worked.  Seriously, love him.  So, on with the story, after her 3rd round of strep we got the green light for surgery, only now I was ticked because school had just started.  Of course.  Of course it couldn't have been easy breezy during the summer.  We scheduled surgery for the week of Fall break, hoping to miss the least amount of school possible, this put surgery 2 months out, so what happened?  Of course she got strep again.  This time we were closer to the surgery date and so we kept her on antibiotics up until the night before surgery.  Being the dramatic, intense little thing she is I was so worried about her anxiety for her surgery, but she surprised us.  She was so tired of having a sore throat that she could not wait to get those pesky tonsils out!  She mad a countdown to surgery calendar and hung it in the kitchen and marked off the days until Surgery Day, October 16th.   She did get a little nervous the few days leading up to it, but she amazed us and did awesome.  The night before she wrote a note to her class, since she was going to miss them and miss school.

"Dear Mrs. M's Class,
I miss you so much, I can't wait to see you guys next week.  I hope everyone has a fun fall break, better than mine, I'm getting my tonsils out at 7:45 this morning.  I  am going to school next Monday (maybe) but I hope I can be back at school by Monday it depends on how I'm feeling. 
Love, Tonsil-less Madi "

I decided I needed to make the most of it and do all that I could to make her feel loved and special, she was thrilled with the new Raggedy Ann doll and Hello Kitty blanket I gave her the morning of surgery.  We were grateful for Grandma coming over early in the morning to stay with Pierce and Jens and get Pierce off to school while we headed to the hospital while it was still dark.  Madi was in great spirits and surprised us by being completely calm and happy.  The staff was all so sweet with her and she asked a million questions as they were getting her ready.  Ryan gave her a blessing right before they wheeled her away and she went with a smile on her face.  Not a single kick or scream, miracles do happen. 

 Love this face.  She was excited to get to take Raggedy Ann with her.

 She was a little sad after surgery, but still did great.  I had to get this shot, I thought it was so adorable that they put a  mask on Raggedy for surgery.  Thankful for kind Doctors.

 We were pleasantly surprised how quickly we were out of the hospital, surgery went great and only took about 30 minutes.  We were in and out in less than 4 hours!

Her teacher was so sweet to have the class return her note and each classmate wrote her a get well note, Brother brought them home from school after surgery and she loved them!  She read them over and over and kept them by her bed.

She loved the get well balloons Daddy got her, here she is after a day of popsicles, ready for bed. 

Recovery went pretty well over all.  She did miss more school that I was hoping and missed almost a full week.  She was pretty comfortable the first few days and I had to keep reminding her that she needed to take it easy, but day 7 and 8 were pretty rough on her.  She thoroughly enjoyed all the popsicles and extra attention she got, she especially loved a special visit from Annie who brought her a new book and movie that she loved.  Deli was also a hit finding her some Baby Sitters Little Sister books at DI (score!), she loves them, and Great-Grandma Harrop surprised her with a cute Hello Kitty in the mail!  She also loved not having to do any chores for 10 days, it was a bit of a rough patch getting her back into routine.  She is doing great now, we are so glad to have it behind us and happy to have a happier, healthier Madi Girl! 

Back to School!

The First Day of school came so quickly!  I guess that's because Madi was so excited to start 2nd Grade that for the last few weeks of summer in her bedtime prayers each night she would say, "and please bless the first day of school to come quickly." Pierce was not as thrilled and would continually say, "I am not saying Amen to that prayer!" Gotta love them! The summer flew by and the first day was here before we knew it. Both kids had a great first day, here they are, even cooperating with Mom for pictures!

Madi my  beautiful 2nd grader!   She loved her new Hello Kitty backpack and also loved her new skirt she chose to wear for the first day. 

My big 5th Grade boy!  So grown up, too big for a character backpack, this one should last him through high school.  I could not believe how much his feet had grown when we went shoe shopping!  And I can't believe he's in his last year of Elementary School!

Todd Bench, we miss you buddy!

Madi and Annie, so excited to be in the same class again this year! 

Love these girls.  So glad Madi has Annie, she is such a sweet friend. 

Jensen was so funny about the kids going back to school.  As we drove away after dropping them off the first day he cried, "I go school, I go school".  He wants to be just like them, do everything they do.  The 2nd day, Julianne picked them up in the morning, look who was ready with his "packpack" when it was time to go...

He was so sweet, it just broke his heart that he couldn't go to school with them.   He didn't give up too easily, here he is the next week...

Shoes and backpacks, that's what we need! 

 

This boy just melts my heart.  "I go school, I go school" he wanted to go with them so bad!  After several days the kids started telling him, "Jens when you get bigger you can go to Kindergarten!"  So pretty soon he started telling me, "I get bigger I go Kindergarten!"  Then they furthered their instruction and told him when  he gets bigger he can go to preschool, now he is content with that and often reminds me, "I get bigger I go preschool!"  He can't wait to be bigger and I just wish he'd stay little.  If I could keep him at 2 for a few years I would.  I adore my 2 year old boy, he brings me so much joy and brings so much laughter and sweetness to our home.  Please stay little for just awhile Jens.  A few weeks ago he was also feeling left out now that Madi has started piano lessons, so he added that to the list and now also reminds me, "I get bigger I go 'plano' lessons"!  Yes you will baby boy, you'll go to school and piano lessons all too soon. 

Pierson's 10th Birthday

Ahh!  It's already November!  I am seriously wishing I could slow time down right now.  I feel like everyday I am saying,  "I just don't have enough time!"  The kids are sure keeping us hoping and my computer time is being dominated by my photography, the only downside about doing pictures for other people- my personal photos and blog are being seriously neglected!  Sometimes I wish I was a vampire so I didn't have so sleep.  Seriously, we could get so much more done.  Anyway.  On with the catch up.  Pierson's birthday is up tonight, only 3 months late.

He had a great birthday.  He got to party for two days this year, because so many of his friends were going to be gone on his birthday we did his party a day early so at least a few could come.  He chose Laser Tag again and took Joey and Jace with him.  His other friends were out of town and one got sick the day of the party.  He still had a great time with his two friends.  Ryan took them to Laser Mania so I didn't get a picture of them this year, then they came back and enjoyed pizza, cupcakes and presents at the house.

The 24th was, of course, a fun filled day with celebrating Pioneer Day.  We started with the parade that morning, which was especially awesome this year!  We got to see Elder Holland in the parade, I  love that man.  Wish we could have had the chance to meet him.  (Ryan and I had the chance to briefly meet him last year at the Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet when he received an award and I was so bummed I hadn't taken my camera with me!  He was so awesome to talk to and I especially loved how he seemed so perfectly "normal". Love him.)

After the parade, one of Pierson's favorite Pioneer Day events, the big races!  He didn't win this year but as you can tell, he ran hard and had fun.

Awesome.

 Present Time!  One of his favorites, Ninjago Lego Set.

Pierce had such a great time last year having a water party at Aunt Crystal's for Pioneer Day/Birthday, that he wanted to do it again.  We had a great time playing with our Hall cousins!  We are grateful for Aunt Crystal always letting us enjoy their beautiful yard, especially since our backyard is still 90% dirt.
 

 Quite a hilarious moment here,  as I snapped the first shot of Harrison, Pierce and Matthew, a little streaker ran right in front of the camera!  He was too close to me for the camera to catch more than just his head, butt....

 ...as I was saying, butt, I got that little guy on the run!  Dallin.  Someday he'll be embarrassed.  But for now, he's just enjoying himself. 

Thankfully Jensen kept his diaper on while he enjoyed some yard work...

 I just love this face.

Cake time!  Pierce also requested the same delish cupcakes that I made last year.  I think our Costco birthday cake tradition has officially ended now that I've made a few wicked awesome cakes from scratch and made this yummy ridiculous frosting a time or two.

Sweet Brother letting Jens help him blow out the candles.  Jens loves birthday candles. 

After cup cakes and ice cream cones, in keeping with our new tradition we headed to the cemetery to watch the fireworks.  The kids had a great time with sparklers and Mom attempted to catch some of the action on camera.  I tried to get them to spell out "Todd", we'll keep working on it next year. 

We all had a great time and enjoyed the fireworks.  It was a fun day for everyone.  Grateful for the Pioneers and the unimaginable sacrifices they made to come to Utah, and grateful for my sweet Pioneer Day Baby.  Can't believe he is 10 years old.  Please stop growing so fast.  Mom loves you so much. 

The 4th of July

Wow!  What happened to the summer?!  It seemed to just disappear.  I was honestly dreading summer and the fighting that was bound to happen between Pierce and Madi, but once again they surprised me and did pretty well, the first couple of weeks are always a little rough but once they settle into a routine of being with each other all day they did pretty good.  The summer just seemed to fly by and now we've been back in school for a month!  I've got some serious catching up to do!  The highlight of the summer for the kids was our trip north for the 4th of July and Lagoon!  We hadn't been to Huntsville in 3 years so we decided it was time we made it up there and we hadn't been to Lagoon since Madi was a wee 1 year old so it was definitely time.  They were so excited for the trip!  Here are the highlights of the 4th...

 Not the greatest shot ever, but the only one I managed to get of everyone!  They really were excited for the parade, not sure why we couldn't portray it in a photo.

 My Madi Doll in her new Miss Plunkett and special 4th of July outfit

 He's happy to sit on Dad's lap now that he's got some candy in his mouth!

 I know I may have mentioned it a time of two, but wow!  I love my boy's eyes!

Part of our summer-bribing-the-kids-to-be-good, was a sticker chart that they could earn stickers for good behavior, attitude and getting chores done, then each sticker was worth a ticket for our trip, they could choose how they wanted to spend their tickets for extras on the 4th and at Lagoon. 

 Madi chose face painting and loved it!

After the parade the kids enjoyed a few games and bouncy slide and I enjoyed sitting in the shade and seeing old friends.  I love visiting Huntsville on the 4th, it is so fun for me but it makes me just ache for my Mom, I miss her extra on days like this when I see her old friends and our old stomping grounds.  So many memories.  I loved visiting with one of her best friends from growing up, Heather, or "Heath-a"!  As my Mom would say.  I loved seeing Stac and Rod and Teresa and their crew.

 Rod & Teresa, getting a funnel cake and cotton candy from them was a highlight of the day!

Since we don't have a place to call home or crash in Huntsville anymore, we were staying at a hotel in Layton.  After wearing the kids out we drove back to the hotel and luckily got a small nap out of Jensen.  We decided that we better make the most of being in the Ogden area since we don't get up there much anymore and we hit 2 of my favorite spots, El Matador for dinner (Best chips and salsa ever!) and then over to Farr's for some ice cream!  I loved taking my kids here, it was the first time we'd taken them  (I don't think Ryan and I have been since I was pregnant with Pierce)  and such a fun place for special treat.  Love Farr's. 

It was also fun to get a glimpse of the Reconstruction of the Ogden Temple.  Wow!  Completely new!  It's going to be beautiful!  Ogden definitely needs that. 

We headed back to Huntsville for the fireworks and everyone did great, Jensen loved them!  I was watching his face as much as I was watching the fireworks, he was so fascinated!  Love this boy.

A Boy and His Cars

Just about the cutest thing you've ever seen, wouldn't you say? He melts my heart. ( And also I'm so happy I learned how to use my flash correctly, wahoo! Yay for indoor pictures now!)

"Peanut Butter Fingers!"

Jensen is his Daddy's boy for sure. Ryan LOVES peanut butter! Jensen has now made it very well known at our house that he also LOVES peanut butter. I snapped these pictures a few months ago, but I had to go back and blog about this, especially since this day was the beginning of what is a daily occurrence at our house. Jens is very into "helping" me do everything. On this particular day he was insistent about helping me make his sandwich for lunch. So I sat in him on the counter and he quickly snuck a taste of peanut butter out of the jar. I thought it was pretty adorable, so instead of taking the peanut butter away I grabbed my camera and let him go at it...

He's cute, I know. Small mistake though. The next day when it was lunch time he again wanted to dip his fingers in the peanut butter and said to me, "cheese!" I thought- oh dear, now he thinks we're going to eat peanut butter out of the jar and take pictures every day! What have I done?! Let me make a note, I took these pictures on May 2nd. Today is August 12th. Everyday in between that we have been at home for lunch, Jensen has eagerly asked for "peanut butter fingers!" I tried to put a stop to it but he through such a fit it wasn't worth it. So now we have come to an agreement. It goes something like this: Me: "Jens are you ready for lunch?" Jens: "Peanut Butter Fingers!" Me: "Ok, we gotta wash hands so we can have peanut butter fingers" We wash hands I put him on the counter and set the jar next to him, if I make the mistake of holding onto it he quickly lets me know that's not cool. Once the jar is set in it's proper place I say, "okay, only one." Jensen get his fingers, hands, and arm and goes for one big dip! Then I take the jar and quickly put the lid on. He's ok with one dip a day now. Thank goodness. I love him. So much.

Jensen is TWO!

Somehow this baby boy turned 2! TWO! 2! He was so excited for his birthday, with all of his practice candle blowing he was ready! Since singing "Happy To You" and blowing out candles are his favorite thing I really let him live it up on his birthday. We started the morning off with round one...

It took some serious effort, which was even funnier considering how many times he had "practiced for his birthday"! But he finally got it!

After lunch I let him go at it again with a cupcake, we just had to sample the cupcakes I had been working on to make sure they were good before we served them at the party...

The Party Goods... Jens has loved R2D2 this past year so I thought it would be so adorable to have an R2 Party for him turning 2.  My first time decorating a cake with icing tips, it resembled R2 so it was good enough for me!  Not to mention delish.  

We were so lucky to have Uncle Jeff and Aunt Crystal bring over their gigantic pirate bounce house and slide for the party! They started a new business this past year, renting out bounce houses, you can check them out at St. George Fun.com . It was a HIT! The kids had a ball and it made it the easiest party I've ever done! I think we've found a new tradition. Thanks Jeff & Crystal!

And finally the big moment, the official Happy Birthday candles!

We are so in love with our sweet boy and now we can't imagine life with out him. Jens we love your smile, your laugh, your prance and your run. We love your talking and the new words you say everyday, we even love it when you constantly say, "I do it. Self!" You are growing up so quickly and you bring so much joy to us and to our home. Pierce and Madi adore you and Mom and Dad love you more than words can say. Happy Birthday Jensey Boo!