The Week in Photos

Remember a week ago last Thursday? A rainy, cool day in May? It was a strange reprieve from the weather. My kids were outside when I had deja vu. Then I realized why. Here's the picture from last week:

I searched on my blog and sure enough, I found the reason for my deja vu. Here's the post from May of last year. And here's last year's picture, also taken on the fourth Thursday in May (graduation day):

Funny. And, they each look a foot taller. Yikes!

That night (last Thursday) Mark's sister Stacey graduated from Mountain View. Great job Stacey, we love you! To our boys' other aunts: don't take this too seriously, but Stacey might be the favorite. And to Stacey: take it seriously, they think you're a blast. That makes the last of Mark's and my siblings to graduate from high school. Weird.

Last Friday we went with our friends the Browns to Chick-Fil-A for Western night. We owe it to Carrie and Thomas for our free dinner because they helped us with our costumes. Thanks guys!
Chocolate milk, a treat saved for Chick-Fil-A.Have you tried the cookies and cream milkshake? Come on, it's time.

For Memorial Day we get together at the Mesa cemetery with the Skousens--my Mom's side of the family. We travel from one area to the next cleaning off headstones of our ancestors. Here's our portion of the family behind my grandpa Skousen's grave. Whooo. Now we're caught up.

Scheduled

Guess what? We already know when our baby's birthday will be--July 13th, 2009 most likely. Are you jealous? Yep, all you regular-type birthing moms it's scheduled, and I even get to go in a whole week early.

Don't take me too seriously, but I do think it's a little funny that some moms tend to get jealous of c-section moms for having their deliveries scheduled. Guess what? It's the only perk to having surgery in order to get that little person out.

It does seem though that as a group, moms tend to get quite jealous and judgmental of eachother. Why do we do this? Why do we compare ourselves? I remember after someone saw Dallin for the first time and she commented on how nice and round his head was and that must have been because he was born cesarean. This is one of those comments that inferred to me that this woman had had children with mishapen heads when they were born. I don't remember if I said anything to her about his head being squooshed inside my birth canal for three hours before the doctor shoved him back up and did an emergency c-section. And maybe she didn't notice that he still had a hicky on his scalp from the vacuum that didn't work. Apparently he recovered nicely.

Not that I'm any better, I get jealous too. Especially when I hear Moms talk about their easy birthing stories. Or the ones that are worried that they won't even make it to the hospital when they start feeling contractions. If only.

With Adam I really wanted to not have to have a c-section. In the end, after a lot of prayers we realized we needed to have another c-section to be safe. This decision was made about a week before my due date. When I told the doctor what we'd decided he was ready to schedule my c-section for the next day. But I was nervous of another c-section and not ready so we waited until my due date. Fortunately we didn't wait longer because once I was being monitored I started having contractions.

So this, my third cesarean, is the one that will the least stressful of them all. For one, I've learned that recovery from a planned c-section is night and day different than recovering from 18-hours of labor and an emergency c-section. I realize looking back at Dallin's delivery that I was kind of a wreck after all was said and done. Definitely physically, but emotionally too. My doctor was concerned about me and strongly encouraged me to stay in the hospital an extra day. Through tears I agreed and when I was discharged he--in a very nice way--told me what to watch for in regards to post-pardum depression and to call him if I needed help.

It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I had to have a cesarean. I felt like a failure in some respects. But then I realized two important things: My little boy was alive and healthy. I was alive too. We made it through. I am grateful for modern medicine that saves babies' and moms' lives. Many women before me weren't so lucky to have a c-section as a backup.

So yeah, I think this one will be easier. But don't be jealous, okay? :)

Vacation Days

Mark took a couple days off of work this week. Just because. He's kind of a little over-worked lately but who can complain about something like that in this economy? We figure before last week he'd taken two days off work within the last year. Now it's four. Actually, more like three and a half because he worked half the day Saturday so he could take Monday and Tuesday off. This was our family vacation for the year. Wow, we are exciting aren't we?

On Monday we took the kids to the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium. It is a fun zoo for a once-every-maybe-never-again experience. We thought the aquarium was what made the trip most worthwhile. We all had a great time and Mark and I were surprised how interested the boys were in just seeing the animals. It's amazing to watch these kids grow up.

Dallin and Dad

Adam and Mom and some sleeping kangaroos. Shhhhh....

Look at that face.

Dallin loved feeding the giraffes. Check out that tongue!

Aquarium Touch Tank

This one is called a pencil something or other.

Adam says, "Touch it? No thanks."

This eel reminded me of the ones on Little Mermaid. Creepy looking, isn't it? So sad my knowledge of ocean life comes from Disney movies.

Other events for Monday and Tuesday:

A trip to Chick-fil-A: That's what makes it a real vacation.

On Tuesday Dallin was quite excited that Mark got to be there for Joy School at our house. Tiffany, one of the other moms took this picture of the kids a couple of weeks ago:

After Joy School on Tuesday we went to Chuck E Cheese. You know, because we were still on vacation. And that wraps it up. We really had a great time though you may laugh at us because we are not spending the money or getting the experience of what most people would call a vacation. Happy summer!

Boys will be boys

This evening I was inside the house and Mark was gone for a meeting. The boys had been playing outside, throwing dirt clods at the wall in the backyard. After a while it was quite quiet which every parent knows is a warning sign for trouble. I went outside to see my two little guys on the side of the house standing inside the wheelbarrow, pants down, peeing into the rocks. They didn't know I was there and I was first going to wait until they were both finished and then march them both to their bedrooms for time outs. I'm kind of a strict mom about certain things. Probably not strict enough about others, but anyway...

Then the thoughts came:

First, they are boys, and didn't I want them to be friends and bond together?

And, at least they are behind the fence and not in the front yard like they were the last time they did that.

So, I let it be and went back inside without them even noticing me.

Sometimes you've just got to let things go, right?

Making Room for the Babies

We had an ugly, misshapen olive tree on one side of our house. It was so ugly that the pictures taken of this house when it was listed for sale conveniently cut out the garage and the tree that should be on the left. Hmmm?

In honor of our year anniversary in the house or actually, more like--Happy Mother's Day to ME! --I got my beautiful baby citrus trees in exchange. With the help of a water pick to soften the soil, a chainsaw, a shovel, the neighbor and his F350, a sturdy chain, various other tools (owned or borrowed) Mark's long hours of hard work and nice neighborly or brotherly help, the beast was removed. I should have taken a before picture. But here we are with the branches cut off and the chain that leads to the truck:

Before the stump and roots were yanked up the boys and I sat outside on the lawn watching Mark and the neighbor as they sawed the top of the tree off. We were enjoying the best strawberries Dallin's ever had in his whole life ("They're so SMOOTH and SWEET!"). And when the tree was down to a stump Dallin was excited: "Now, when I get old I can sit on the stump!" This thought inspired, of course, by this book:But then the thought was dashed when the stump was coldly ripped out of the earth. No, just kidding, Dallin thought that part was cool too. After the stump was out we were left, well, stumped (come on). What were we going to do about the tentacled monster sitting in our front yard? Mark figured he'd have to saw it apart piece by tedious piece in order to fit it into a trash barrel (or even behind our back fence). Fortunately, a neighbor was generous enough to offer his services: the lift on the back of his work truck to dump it into the trailer he will take to the dump. Aaaah. I love good neighbors. Thanks Jim and Greg--and Jim's brother, don't forget him.

Next step--we picked out some baby citrus trees and Mark and his brother Ryan planted them on the side of the house. Later we had another helper, my sister's husband Daryl, who helped with the wells around the trees. Very much a fulfillment of my childhood dreams to have citrus trees in my yard. I am looking forward to my boys watching the trees grow and eventually enjoying their fruit. We had a lot of hands in this project and we feel so grateful for great family and neighbors.

We even bought the boys their own shovels so they could help plant the trees. They did help-- at least long enough to snap a couple of pictures.

And here are the fraternal twins: Tangie and Tangela.There turned out to not be room for little Ruby with her sisters. She's in the backyard. But she has some nice neighbors right over that wall there to keep her company.

Next up, making room for the real baby. Only nine weeks left!

Yikes!

Blue Eyes + Brown Eyes

Marily has blue eyes. Mark has brown. Adam's are a little confused.

Click on the pictures to see them closer up.

These pictures can't quite do them justice, but can you see all the colors in these beauties? Dallin's eyes were like this for a little while as they transitioned from blue-ish gray to brown when he was a baby. Adam's have stayed this way for a couple of years. If this is permanent then we may have our work cut out for us keeping the girls at bay.

And by the way, he is doing really well. He seems to be mostly over the croup and coughs very seldom. Seems in spite of the scary episode Thursday morning he has had it pretty mild.

E.R.

Why am I writing this post instead of going back to sleep? Maybe I just need to get it off my chest so I can settle down.

I came to consciousness at about 3:30 this morning to the sound of Adam crying. After a second of lying in my bed in a haze I remembered other sounds I mostly heard in my sleep that had preceeded the crying: hard coughing and a wheezing, gasping for breath. I ran into Adam's room expecting that he had thrown up. I frantically patted his chest and surrounding pillow and saw nor felt any signs of vomitting. Then he just kept gasping, struggling to breathe. It was perhaps the most terrifying moment of my life. Mark had jumped out of bed shortly after I picked Adam up and agreed that we needed to take him to the E.R. We have friends whose baby girl has been suffering from breathing problems recently so we were more than aware of the severity of a child not being able to breathe. Mark started to get his shoes on but I insisted that I take Adam so I threw my contacts in (I should really get a pair of glasses), clothes and flip-flops on while Mark found my purse, phone, and put Adam into the car. By the time we were on the road I probably had been awake for a good five minutes, but Adam's breathing was getting better all the time. He said something in the car on the way (in an airy, raspy voice) that sounded really close to "Jesus is in my house." I asked him to say it again and it sounded the same so I asked him, "Jesus is in your house?" And he responded, "Yeah, Jesus is in my house." How could one simple phrase both terrify me and comfort me at the same time? I am still not sure if I heard him correctly or if he was just agreeing and then repeating what I had said like that was what he was saying all the time. I turned the dome light on so I could see him well as I drove to the hospital and of course I said multiple prayers the whole drive there--fortunately just a couple of miles. I considered more than once running a red light. Especially when I got right next to the hospital. There aren't many cars on the road at 3:30 am and I thought that if a police officer saw me run the light he would also see me turn into the hospital. But Adam's breathing had calmed down considerably so I waited the long 45 seconds for the light to turn green and went into the ER.

It was a pretty simple diagnosis: Adam has croup. The worst attacks of croup happen at night and it was enough to completely freak us out. Apparently fresh, cool air helps the airway to relax so taking him outside even just to get in the car was enough to help him a bit. I didn't hardly notice a cough at all, when Adam awoke Mark suggested that maybe he was having an asthma attack, though he's never had any asthma problems before. After three hours in the ER including a steroid for his airway and a 45 minute breathing treatment we left. We drove home with the morning sun. Before Mark left for work I ran to Wal-Mart for a humidifier and after breakfast and the 20-minute disinfectant routine for the humidifier I put a reluctant Adam back to bed.

Adam's older brother is now going to enjoy some movies while Mom goes back to bed too. We are blessed and whether he meant to say it or not Jesus is in our house.

And next time I'm running that red light.