quarters & ice cream

I was at Walmart today with the kiddos when a little old man came walking up to us and started digging in his pockets. He told the kids that he was going to give them some money so they could buy an ice cream cone. Then he asked them if they like ice cream to which they responded with vigorous head shaking. He started to hand them 4 quarters then handed them each one more and told me that it was to account for inflation. Addison politely said "thank you" while Urban excitedly yelled "money!". Then the man looked up and saw Delilah in the cart, apparently he had not noticed her before. He started to hand her 5 quarters as well then turned to me and said "I'm going to give this straight to her so she doesn't feel left out, but then you'll need to take it away from her because she may put it in her mouth and choke". How cute is he? Delilah just looked confused...she could barely hold on to five quarters without dropping them out of her little hand. I kept trying to thank him and tell him how kind he is but he just went on his merry way.

What a sweet old guy. He reminded me of my dear Grandpa Martin. He always wanted to take us grandkids out for ice cream cones and gave us whatever change he had in his pockets.

Once we left Walmart I took the kids to Mcdonald's for a kid's cone. They're pretty excited that they get 4 more since they only cost 25 cents each. Who knows, we may splurge and get a big one next time. =)

Every day this month!

It's March 1st and I've got the fever! No, not Bieber fever but Spring fever. I know we've still got our fair share of cold weather & snow to endure but I long for the days of sunshine & warmth. Today was a pretty day. Very bright & sunny and not too cold outside. It filled me with hope that winter will not stay forever.

Well, winter is not the only unwelcome guest around these parts. My home has turned into a disorganized, chaotic mess! It's been this way for quite some time. I just don't even know where to start. I can't figure this house out...I don't know what to do with it. I don't know why it's so difficult but it is and I can't stand it any more. Seriously, this house is going to drive me to the looney bin. I think I'm already well on my way.

A home should feel clean, peaceful, welcoming, comfortable, happy & harmonious. I don't feel like our home is any of those things because it's in such disarray.

So my goal for the month is to accomplish one task or project every single day. Something that will help to organize, de-clutter, maximize function or beautify my home. This can be as simple as purging old baby things, going through a junk drawer or clearing out the junk room. Yes, I have an entire room devoted to junk. It started out as a craft room but has since turned into a crap room. Everything I don't use any more or don't know what to do with gets thrown in there. Some things may just take an hour and some may take a couple of days but no matter what, something will get done every day. It just has to. I want to enjoy my home again.

Just because it's funny...

I PITY DA FOOL WHO MESSES WITH ME!

I laugh hysterically every time I look at this picture. I think I'm just easily amused, but it CRACKS ME UP! I figured I'd post it for anyone else who would like to chuckle at Delilah's stink face.

Summertime

"Summer, summer, summertime (ooh summertime)

time to sit back and unwind" thank you Mr. Will Smith

I do love summertime, especially here in Utah. The weather is so nice and it stays light pretty late so you lose all track of time just surrounding yourself with family and doing what you love. We had a great summer this year. Even though we stayed close to home we packed a lot into it.

Our nephews Brady & Garett came from Phoenix to spend about 3 or so weeks with us in July. It was so fun having them around. We took them to Lagoon which was also the first time our family had gone.

I felt so bad, I lathered all the kids up with sunscreen and accidentally got it in Lilah's eyes. That's why they're all red & puffy. They were so sensitive for the rest of the day. oops!
Addison & Urban got to go on all the kiddie rides and absolutely loved it. I wasn't sure how Urban would do, I thought he might get scared, but he did great. He just kept asking to go again.

I liked the rides with 2 steering wheels. Urban put the smack down on Addison a couple of times if she got to be in front or if she had a steering wheel. He's such a stinker. Oh he makes me so mad sometimes.

Lilah & I just took a little snooze in the shade while everyone else played at the water park for a little while. Nice & relaxing.

Brady (left) was a perfect roller coaster companion for Jared. They both love the high-flyin', loopty-loo rides. They even talked Garett into going on a few with them. They both had little teeny-bopper girls following them around the park. Brady & Garett I mean, not Jared...that would just be weird. =)

Jared took the boys back to Lagoon a couple of days later because we had bounce-back passes. I can't really remember what else we did while they were here. I know there were trips to music stores (they're both really into music & playing the guitar), carnival, mall, movies, games (board & video), lake and that's all I can think of at the moment.

I miss all my nieces & nephews so much. I'm so glad these 2 were able to visit. They're welcome back any time along with all of the rest of them.

Pioneer Day

We spent the day at the lake on Pioneer Day. We had so much fun, the kids loved it.
Lilah just chilled in the shade most of the day while the rest of us took turns keeping her company.

Here's Brady making a sand castle.

Jared & Garett taking a break from dunking each other.

Addison would not get out of the water and she just kept going further & further out.

I love Urban in just his swim trunks. He's so cute.

This picture makes me laugh. I was trying to get the scenery in the background and happened to catch this dad throwing his kid in the water. It kind of looks like he's floating through air.

Later that night we went home to once again have our own little firework show.

Eating snacks while watching the show. This is SO Urban. If there's food around he's pretty much oblivious to anything else going on.

I got Brady to do a little sparkler dance for me.

Garett wasn't going for it.

4th of July

I love the 4th of July. It's a low stress, relaxing holiday full of perfect weather, yummy food, fun fireworks, a beautiful reason to celebrate, and marvelous family & friends.

We spent most of the day at my sister's house. We played soccer, cooled off in the kiddie pools & had a BBQ. Once it started getting dark (which is pretty late in our neck of the woods) we lit off some fireworks. Of course sparklers are always a favorite among the kids. They kind of make me nervous though. The thought of my kids holding a stick of fire, especially around Addison's long hair, scares me a bit. They all did great though and had tons of fun. =)

Hmm, I'm kind of liking the blonde. Maybe I'll go back.

Only Heather could look this cute acting like a complete spaz!

I guess I was wrong, Addison looks pretty darn cute too! We told her she had to dance like Aunt Heather if she wanted to do any more fireworks. She was a little embarrassed. When we were looking back at these pictures she insisted that they must have been doing a rain dance to put out the fires. It does kind of look like it.

This must have been the next night. I don't really remember but I think we had a few left over sparklers & fireworks so we finished them off. Urban looks ready for bed already. I miss his longer hair...so cute.

Don't ask why she's wearing a backpack...I have no idea.

This is our little neighbor boy, Tristan. He was supposed to be in his room sleeping but we were too distracting so he sat and watched us through his window. Such a cutie.

By the way, sorry about the pictures. I don't have an editing program on this computer so I can't fix anything. They're all in the raw and I am a terrible photographer.

Spica Cast

I went a little crazy with pictures on this post but she is just so darn cute. Anyone I talk to on a regular basis probably got so sick of hearing me talk about this stinkin' cast but this was a really huge part of our lives for a couple of months. Delilah's hips were displaced, it's just something she was born with. This meant that the head of her femur did not sit right in the hip socket. The socket was too shallow to hold the bone properly and the bone was not in the correct position.

We tried a harness for 6 weeks starting when she was six weeks old then a brace for about a month when she was 6 months old. Neither one of them worked so the next step was the spica cast. This is a procedure where they put her under and inject a dye into her so they're able to see the placement of her hips. Once they're in the right position the doctor sets them with a cast. She had to wear the cast for 8 weeks. It was put on June 30th and removed August 30th.

It was kind of a bummer that it was on during the summer because we weren't able to take her swimming at all. Oh well, we managed.
Here are pictures of Ms Daisy the day before the procedure. She was always so happy and smiley. That was one of my greatest worries...that I would lose my happy girl and get a fuss bucket in return. She had also just started crawling, so I was concerned that she'd be pretty mad that she was immobilized.

Here she is getting her last bath for 8 weeks. Oh how I was not looking forward to having a smelly baby. What did I tell ya though? Always smiling!

These are pictures we took in the pre-op room. Lilah was so cute. She kept kicking her legs all over the place as if she knew it was the last time she'd be able to for a long time. The nurse kept calling her a boy, even after we said her name was Delilah. I must admit, she did look a bit boyish in those blue hospital jammies.

The hardest thing I have ever had to do in my entire life is hand my baby over to the anesthesiologist as they took her through doors that I could not enter. I've never felt so helpless. I'm getting teary again just thinking about it. Even though I knew this was a fairly non-invasive procedure and she'd be fine, it was still so so hard. The second hardest thing was watching my baby come out of the anesthesia. Talk about heart wrenching! She'd wake up for a few seconds just screaming, then she'd fall back into sleep, then she'd wince in her sleep and this just continued for a little while. HELPLESS. I once again started to cry and the nurse looked at me and asked if she was my first baby. I was a bit confused as to why she'd ask that. I told her that she was my third but the first one I've ever been in the hospital with (well, other than the time Addison stuck a Polly Pocket shoe up her nose). She just kind of smiled at me and went back to work. For a split second I thought that maybe I was over reacting. Nah, even if this was my tenth baby I'd be just as emotional. I have to say though, when she came out of it for good she just started giggling. That was the sweetest thing ever.

Here's our little bear checking out her new threads. The edges around the cast were very rough & sharp so the nurses wrapped mole skin around them as to not irritate her skin. They said normally when they do that the kids are screaming the whole time. Delilah just laid there and watched them do it. They all kept commenting on how good she was. That's my girl!

The first few days were a challenge, I'm not going to lie. I think I cried more during those 2 months than she did. Figuring out how to sleep, change diapers, sit her up, hold her, feed her, get her in a car seat, stroller, etc. It was awful, but we did just fine. After about the first week everything just became "normal". I didn't even think twice about doing all of those things. The funny thing is, I got so used to it all that when it came time for the cast to come off it took me a little while to get back in the habit of doing things the "right" way.

I would have to say that the most crushing part was holding her. I don't mean the physical act of holding her (although that was difficult) but just the feel of holding her. I so desperately wanted to hold her close and cuddle and feel her soft, squishy body up against me but all I could feel was that hard, scratchy cast. Babies are in this stage for such a short time & I just felt like I was being jipped some precious moments. Looking back though I realize I was not jipped at all. We are extremely blessed. Just look at this sweet girl, she's perfect. Our moments together were perfect too. Perhaps a bit unconventional, but perfect none the less.

This may have made the whole cast experience worth it. Is this not the cutest bum shot ever! hee hee, I love it.

Well what do you know? Still as happy as can be. She's all smiles in her bean bag chair. We found that this was the easiest way to sit her up. My sweet grandma & aunt Debbie sent her the cutest little lady bug bean bag chair.

It is absolutely amazing to me how adaptable children are. Within about 2 weeks she could get wherever she wanted to go. She was fast too! She would just use her little arms to slither all over the place. She was able to flip from her her stomach to her back but not the other way around. That big old bar got in her way.

These pictures are in the morning before the cast came off. She did so great with it on. I was really worried about the smell but luckily it never got too bad. She did not have a blow out the entire 8 weeks. A couple of days before it was to be taken off she did throw up and it got all down inside of her cast. I was just so grateful that we were almost done.

She loved having one hand down her cast. Not sure why.

These are marks the cast left just from rubbing on her for so long.

This is a rug burn she got because her skin was so sensitive from not having been exposed to anything for 8 weeks. It actually looks a lot better here, this picture was a couple of days later. I felt so bad, I never even thought about keeping her in long pants until her skin toughened up again. Poor thing.

She did really well once the cast was taken off. She was sore & fussy for a couple of days but not too bad. She did develop quite an attitude though. The entire time she was in the cast she never once threw a temper tantrum. She went a bit hog wild once she was out though. I'm not talking about crying or fussing but full on yelling & screaming in anger. I think she just realized that there was not much she could do in the cast so there was no point in fighting it. But once it was off & she knew there was nothing holding her back she would get so mad if she wasn't able to do something. Luckily that has calmed down in the last couple months.

At her 6 week check up the doctor said she looked great. Her hips still weren't quite where he'd like to see them but that should improve as she starts putting more weight on the joints by walking and such. We have a 6 month check up in April just to make sure. She still mostly slithered around after having the cast taken off but has since started crawling and walking around furniture. We're still waiting for her to walk on her own, it won't be too far off.

Sorry, I know I was a bit long winded but I just want to make sure I don't forget any of this stuff because I have a terrible memory.