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.