Spring Break

This is how we spent our spring break. It was relaxing, fun, and productive!

After the three worst months of my life, everything seems to be getting back to normal. Things I have let slide are getting done. I have been crafting and sewing and decorating! I even made pillows to match my new bedding today...after getting my butt kicked at a 5am workout class! WoooHooo!

Oink! Oink!

As I sit here with my brain in a complete fog, I figured it would be a good time to update my blog. Unfortunately, nothing exciting is going on in my life and I really don't have much to blog about. You see, when you're recovering from the most massively horrible illness you have ever had (a.k.a. H1N1 or the swine flu) life seems to just pass you by.

I called Aaron last Thursday and told him I wanted to go to Cafe Rio for dinner (sadly for me, he agreed). An hour later, I called him on the phone and told him I was too sick to go. It hit me that fast and I honestly thought I would go insane from the skull crushing headache and painful body ache. Friday it was so bad, I begged to go to the hospital or doctor. My dad drove out here to get the little munchkins (who were having the time of their lives destroying the house and eating everything in sight) and Aaron got off work to take me to the doctor.

My doctor took one look at me and said you have the flu, he walked out of the room and back with a swab. I thought he was going to swab my throat, but oh no, he shoved that thing so far into my nose it made my eyes cross! He said he was going to go culture it, came back to tell me it would take about 10 minutes. He walked out the door and within seconds walked back in and told me I had the H1N1 flu. He said he has never seen results that fast...lucky me! NOT! He said that he could give me a prescription for Tamiflu or...his office was doing research on a study drug and I could make money. So I took the money option. I get to have my blood drawn twice a day and those stinking swabs shoved up my nose. Oh the joy! But...the money will be a nice chunk of change towards a new camera.

In other news, I never did clarify that Aaron did not get hit by a car...I just thought he did. We aren't that lucky. If he did, I don't think we would have the medical bills we now have.

Also, I decided against posting the talk I gave at my grandma's funeral. While it had some fun stories about my grandma, it was just too raw and personal. The funeral was beautiful, her casket was white and she had the most stunning flowers I have ever seen. I still can't believe she is gone.

My Sweet Grandma

It is difficult to write this post, as I know nothing I write will ever come close to expressing the great loss I feel and the deep love I have for my grandma. My sweet grandma passed away on Tuesday. We believe she had a stroke.

I have been working with my mom and sister the past couple of days making funeral arrangments. While mortified, I will be speaking at her funeral. I just got finished writing my talk...I have so many wonderful memories of my grandma. It is hard to fit everything into a short talk. After her funeral on Wednesday, I will post the talk.

My grandma was a sweet, sincere, and loving person. She was so incredibly beautiful inside and out! Her obituary may be viewed at SL Tribune or Goff Mortuary and then clicking on LuRee Eklund.

My family was so blessed to have her in our lives, but we know she is with Grandpa now and is so very happy!

Neglect

As I was trying to fall asleep last night, my mind kept writing and re-writing this blog post for me. It's been so long since I have even looked at my own blog that I couldn't figure out how to login! I have really good excuses...where do I start?

Back in November, Aaron, my mom, and I took the kids on a 10 day vacation to sunny California. We had an amazing time. I took beautiful pictures of my munchkins playing on the beach for the first time. I had great intentions of sharing the details when we got home. Well, when we got home, we discovered someone had gotten a hold of our debit card information and wiped out our account! Yikes!!!

After getting that fun little situation taken care of, Thanksgiving happened, FiFi's birthday happened, and then I happened to get the flu. While recovering from the flu, I won tickets to a Kurt Bestor concert. The day of the concert it snowed...bad. But apparently only like a mile or two around our house. Aaron went out to shovel the snow so Haileigh and I could go to the concert.

While getting ready, I heard the garage door open and took off running when I heard Aaron hysterically screaming my name. (Panic! Pure PANIC! I thought Hunter had been hit by a car.) No, it was my sweet husband...after slipping, falling, and then lying in the street for 20 minutes, he had crawled on his hands and knees from the street, up the drive way, through the garage, and up the stairs into our house...with a BROKEN LEG! Yes, a badly broken leg. One that cause his foot to no longer be attached to his leg. His foot was flopping...dangling...

After rushing him to the ER, they got him prepared for the 'worst case scenario' (take it from me...you don't want to be prepared for that), admitted him, and performed a 2 hour long surgery on his leg.

An 8 inch titanium plate and 10 screws later and his foot is now secured to his leg. That was 5 weeks and 2 days ago. And I have barely maintained my sanity! Barely...seriously. Five kids is a lot of work *wink*!

See...told ya I had a really good excuse for neglecting my blog!

On another sad note, my camera bit the dust. No more pretty pictures for a while...sorry!

What do you think?

So what do you think of the new blog look? I'm loving it and it was super easy...just buy a Blog in a Box from www.sweetshoppedesigns.com!

I look my munchkins out for a little photo shoot on Friday with a friend. I think the pictures turned out pretty darn amazing. But my heavens, it was such a lot of work trying to keep four kids under control while attempting to take pictures.

Did I mention I finally got a new zoom lens? Yeah, well I did and I LOVE it!

Tiny Toe

It got to be too tempting, so I finally did it! I stole candy from my daughter's treat bag. Shhhh...don't tell anyone! I promise not to do it again. Okay, so that's a lie. I probably will! Mmmmm...

On Monday, sweet little Ellie got her stitches removed from her big (little) toe. She was so sweet. She smiled at everyone that looked in her direction and didn't make a sound. The nurse took the first four stitches out and then got the doctor because the fifth had become embedded in her skin.

The pediatrician entered the room with the cutest sixth grade boy I have ever seen. I believe he was there for a career day. Apparently, Miss Ellie thought he was pretty darn cute, too. She could not take her eyes off of him. She would glance at the doctor, then the nurse, and then quickly back to the little boy. The cutest bashful smile would then cross her face. Sweet little flirty girl!

The pediatrician ended up having to untie the stitch. Her toe still looks horrible. He told me that she wouldn't be able to be a foot model, but all other career options are open.

She wore shoes today for the first time since the incident. We're making progress!

Ouch!

Seems like I only blog when someone gets hurt and someone definitely got hurt today! The little tiniest someone got hurt...bad.

While I made peanut butter and honey sandwiches for five little munchkins, I decided to call the doctor's office to make an appointment for the kids to get flu shots. While on the phone with the doctor's scheduling department, Ellie tried to climb up to the table. While she was climbing up to the table, the chair fell over on top of her. While I tried not to pass out from the blood, I hung up on the doctor's office. It was a rough day.

The chair landed right on top of her left big toe. The toe nail was completely ripped off, hanging on by a mere thread of skin. Under the toe nail, the skin split all the way to the bone. But the tip of the toe is what made me really sick, the pressure from the chair landing on her foot, caused the end of her toe to blow out! Yes, blow out! And it is NASTY!

I called the doctor's office back and talked to them about the situation (after apologizing for hanging up on them, of course). They said that it sounded like we needed to head to the ER...so that's what we did. I loaded up my munchkins and headed to the hospital. The trip was a blur...I couldn't stop crying...I was feeling like a horrible mommy. I kept thinking that my poor baby was just trying to get up to the table because she was hungry. Because of the incident, she didn't get any lunch. Luckily she fell asleep on the drive...and I continued to cry.

When we arrived, my mom was waiting for us in the parking lot. Ellie took one look at her and smiled. She then took out her binky and stuck her tongue out at my mom! It was hilarious. What a little angel I have been blessed with. I started crying again.

We got all checked in. Ellie smiled at the triage nurse and cooperated like a champ. They took us back to the room. The doctor came in and took a look at the little bugger. He didn't want to stitch the skin under the toe nail. He said it would probably be best to re-embed the toe nail and attach it with stitches. I felt the blood swishing in my head, handed Ellie off to my mom, and sat down before I passed out.

We waited a little while for them to prepare the sterile tray for suturing and then my mom handed Hunter $5 and told him to take me to the cafeteria to get a drink. She didn't want us to be there when they injected the numbing medicine. We got back too soon. So we decided to take a seat on the floor outside the room. We heard Ellie cry...then say 'Ouch!' The doctor then opened the door and told us he would wait a few minutes for the medicine to start working before he attempted the stitches. He was amazed at how well she handled the injection. So was I!

While the doctor did the procedure and verbalized each step (much to my chagrin), Miss Ellie fell fast asleep. She didn't flinch or move at all. A tech was holding her down, but I don't think he knew what to do because she wasn't fighting him. The doctor then bandaged her foot.

He told us that it was likely that her toe was broken because of the trauma. So he ordered x-rays. They wheeled my sleeping beauty down the hall on this huge bed to the radiology lab. After that grand attempt not to wake her up, her eyes flew open as soon as we entered the radiology room. She started crying, but they were able to get the x-rays done with no problem. The doctor confirmed that her toe is broken...

While waiting for the discharge papers, Ellie kept saying, "Daddy! Home! Hurt!" and continued saying that until we got home. My poor little angel is in a lot of pain! I am still crying! I am listing the table and chairs for sale tomorrow...hated them before today...really hate them today. The chairs fall over all the time. Wish I would have gotten rid of them before today!

 

Doesn't she look like a little angel?

 

Blowing kisses/saying thank you to her brother and sister for giving her treats.

 

Is that the best pouty face or what? Grandma told her not to touch her owie and she responded with this.

Right after getting two numbing shots in her big toe! In her words, ouch!

Um, OUCH!

Stitching...

Entertaining herself...

Entertaining himself...