Kami Dene!!!

Kami Dene... aka Precious or My Precious.... turned 4 today! Our sweet, beautiful, incredible baby girl! Where did the time go? How could it have been 4 years ago today that they put that sweet girl into our arms? A precious daughter that we knew about, dreamed about, for several years before we ever had her! I was so afraid of having another baby after the horrible delivery I had with Hyrum. But for years I had dreamed about a sweet baby girl with those beautiful almond shaped eyes. I felt like I had known her long before I ever conceived her. She was sitting on our bench, waiting patiently for her turn to be born into the madness we call a family. And her birth couldn't have been more perfect! I had found a doctor that I completely trusted and she told me that the delivery was going to be absolutely perfect. She wanted to deliver about 3 1/2 weeks early. I was worried. I had problems with other kids being born at 38 weeks. She promised me she would take great care of us. Out of the blue she moved the day up by a day. I was really worried but we went forward with faith that she would be fine. As she was opening me up she mentioned that she was glad we didn't wait another day. I was starting to rupture as she started the surgery. But she made quick work of getting our little princess out and everything went perfectly! I had been so worried about her having to spend time in NICU for aspiration as some of the babies had done, but my doctor promised she would get her lungs cleared out quickly and that the birth would be perfect. I got to hold her as they finished the surgery and took me to recovery where the nurse turned down the lights and I got to nurse Kami right away. Everything was so perfect and she didn't have to spend one second away from me the whole time we were in the hospital.


She came home to a house full of adoring siblings. Hayden started calling her 'my precious' from the first time he held her and still calls her that today. She has them all wrapped around her finger but none of them complain. I had often heard people tell me that we had 'enough' kids. I wonder how someone can ever think they have 'enough'.... with her we found more love, more laughter, more joy. Those are things you can never have enough of!!!


So happy birthday precious girl. You have been a gift since the moment we knew about you! It's hard to believe 4 years has flown by so quickly! We love you sweet girl!!!

Bummed about Nate's blood work!

Well... it's not completely bad, it's actually improving. But I am still bummed because it looks like Nate won't be getting his PICC line out tomorrow at the doctor appointment at Primary's. I had to take him in to his pediatrition to get some medicine for his horrible bum rash. This is the first time I have seen her since before Nate was sent to Primary's. That was an interesting visit and I felt so bad for her. She was so upset over what happened. The bad thing is that she had no idea I had called the Friday before he was flown out. She told me she always treats him when we feel he needs it and she didn't know the nurse just told me to take him to the hospital if I thought he needed to, that she was leaving. She wasn't very happy about it. She asked a couple of times if he had aspirated. I told her that they told me the pattern wasn't consistant with aspiration and that it was strep pneumonia. She was shocked that the other doctor that has been seeing him even took him on as a patient, that it isn't like that doctor at all and she couldn't apologize enough about what happened.

She also isn't happy about the amount of blood the home health nurse has been taking. I told her about our experience with that and she is going to make sure by next week they will have the proper vials that they need to take the tiniest amount of blood needed and that it might be why he is showing up slightly anemic... because the home health nurse is taking too much! Gee, that's nice to know! This whole experience has been frustrating beyond belief and I am a little bit bummed to know that we are going over there for them to tell us that he won't be getting it out anyway. It is absolutely better that he have it... I just wish there wasn't a need for it at all!!!

First day of school excitement!

The first day of school around our house rivals Christmas in the excitement department. Don't ask me why! Maybe the kids are thinking, "WHEW, finally getting away from mom again!" Or something! :) Yesterday was the typical day before the first day of school with the flurry of setting out the new clothes, filling the new backpacks, talking about seeing friends they haven't seen all summer, getting their blessings from their dad, and finally, trying to settle down to sleep! After a summer of not much structure, not getting to bed on time, and sleeping in later than normal, the first morning can always be interesting. We have early schedules around here. The older kids are up by 4:30am (well, they made it to 4am this morning) so they can be at seminary by 6am. The little kids usually catch the bus right after 7am and the middle school kids catch the bus at 8:40am. Of course on the first day of school I drive them if they want. I always have one or two that want to ride the bus. Too cool for mom to drive I guess!

I got up at 3am to get Nate a bottle and Kalli comes busting up the stairs telling me she was awake. Sure, I see that! But WHY are you awake??? This wasn't the first time she had been sent back to bed either! I got Thayne off to work right after 4am and wanted to get a few minutes sleep before the madness of the day began! Didn't work. Kids were up and dressed and eating breakfast by 5am. Sheesh kids! Why is the world so unfair? When you could actually sleep, you don't want to, and when you want to, you have children so you can't!!! But the excitement was bubbling over! This was a big year. Hyrum starts kindergarten. He is excited, but a little scared. He is mommy's boy, and leaving mommy for even 2 1/2 hours for something that is mandatory is a little scary. But exciting. I think he didn't want to appear excited, as to not hurt my feelings! (haha) Willie was starting middle school. Kassi is starting high school and Tallin is a senior this year. Big man on campus, oldest boy in charge at home! :) WOW! How is this possible. Didn't I just give birth to all of them???!!!

So... here we go again! Another year has started, and before I blink another year will have passed us by. I love watching my kids grow. I am not one of those moms that stand crying as my kids go off to school. It's tugs at my heart, but I don't cry. Because I love to watch my kids become really incredible human beings, and the only way they can become incredible is if they have experiences that help them grow... sometimes that MAKE them grow! I love to see them becoming all that I dreamed they would be, and more. But I wish sometimes that I can have those days back when I had all of my kids tucked safely in, all under the same roof. I guess it would be wrong to wish I lived on a deserted island where nothing changed, where everything stayed the same. Except, well... it is through the experiences of life that I have become the person that I am, and that have made my children who they are also. So while it may be fun to think of them all as my babies, (and they always will be my babies!) I know that growing up is a necessary, and even exciting part of life! Even the pain is for our good, though sometimes it's hard to understand how!

My little birdies have flown the coop again! It's bound to be another exciting year!!!

Willie going to middle school!!!

Wyatt ready to go!
Hayden getting his 'treat' (Lime Italian Creme Soda)

Kinzee excited about the new school year!!!

Hayden again... enjoying his soda!

Kalli waiting for her yummy soda!

Kailee and Nate before the kids left...

Kailee, Kassi and Tallin the first day of high school... senior year... yippee!!! And an extra kid in front! :) Hayden happy to be starting school!!

Kalli ready to go! And mommy's boy going to kindergarten! He's not excited about leaving his mommy, sweet boy!

My 4 kids ready to go!!!

If all else fails.... just watch people!

Last night was date night. As usual I look forward to date night every week. We usually go out with our best friends, Tracy and Buffy. They are like family to us, in fact Jace and their oldest son are usually mistaken for brothers because they look so much alike. We (Thayne and Tracy have been caught doing this more than once!) have been known to be rushing our kids out of church and look down when we get to our vehicles and realize we grabbed one of theirs/our kids by mistake! Like I said, they are like family! It had been a long day for Buffy and me, and we were really looking forward to getting out. The date started weird, and it got weirder as the night went on. Tracy ordered these onion petals before the meal. We got them and it was like eating a raw onion. We realize that they aren't cooked. But Buffy is starving so she keeps eating them. Desperation made her eat a raw onion. Dinner was a disaster. It seems they had all new cooks. Not good ones from the looks of what happened last night! We were going to go to a movie. But there wasn't one in town that looked decent enough to go to. Well... we don't watch R rated movies and 4 of the 5 at one theater were R and the other one we had seen. Same with the theater that plays 4 movies. So we are driving around town wondering what to do. Too tired to actually go walk through stores. Thought about pool but decided against it. Buffy is driving and pulls over in front of the post office. I told her it was perfect, I needed to mail a bill anyway! She tells Thayne to go mail it. He is laughing that there are drive through boxes and she wants him to WALK inside the post office. She told him yes, that is exactly what he should do. While we are waiting, an old Ford truck pulls up. Thayne comes out and climbs back in while a little old lady gets out of the truck. She is holding a coin in the air, looking at it while she is talking to somebody.... somebody that isn't even there! And it's not a friendly conversation. She if arguing!!! By now we are just glued to the show taking place before us! She apparently is losing the argument because she shakes her head at... well, at whomever she is talking to and turns back to the truck... hands somebody the coin and gets another one. Holding the new coin she now walks towards the newspapers she is going to buy, while holding up the coin and talking to the same unseen person. Shakes her head again and turns towards the truck, hands it back in, and tries again! This happened 3 times before she actually put the coins in and retrived her paper. Then she continues her conversation with her invisible friend and starts to climb in the truck. We were having one of those nights that everything is funny so we were laughing hysterically. I mentioned out loud that Iwonder who was driving! So Tracy pulls out and we drive by.... the driver was an old man..... with a HUGE, GOLD, MAGNIFYING GLASS IN HIS HAND!!! We laughed until we cried. He was chekcing something out very intently... but why in the world would he have a huge magnifying glass??? Maybe they were trying to find a coin of no value out of their collection so they could buy the paper.... but WHO was she talking to??? All we were missing for that show was the popcorn and hot tamalies!!! We drove around some more and then decided to go to Wingers for dessert! Of course the Olympics were on and of course Michael Phelps won his 7th gold medal that night. When suddenly, some woman in the bar section started singing the National Anthem. Think Roseanne Arnold type singing. And she sings the WHOLE song!!! I'm not sure how much she had to drink to have the guts to do it, but it was sure entertaining to the rest of us!!! Laughing is supposed to be healthy for you, make you feel younger.... wow! We felt like we were 16 last night!!! People watching is very entertaining when you live in small town USA with no good movies!! :P

It's official

This is a huge thing. Big, big, big! Nathaniel is officially, at almost exactly 8 months old, out of his 0 to 3 month size clothes! We have worked so hard for this. We finally took a natural route to deal with his failure to thrive issues and in one week he gained 7 ounces. Which he has not done since he was born! As of today he is a whopping 14lbs 10oz!!!!

To celebrate, Thayne, Nate and I went shopping to buy him some new clothes!!!! We did get a lot of use out of his newborn and 0 to 3 months, but I have to say I am SO HAPPY he is out of them now!!!!

Dogs again....

Katie showed up this morning at 5am for our walk and said the dogs were out. She had her bat, but wasn't even thinking of walking that way so we drove up with her camera in hand and sure enough, both dogs were sitting outside of the fence. One was just walking back into her yard. We got the picture of the one dog in front of her house but off the property. And then we sat there and watched as they walked around the yard and climbed under the fence. I wish it wasn't so dark so we could have gotten really good pictures and even took a video but her camera wasn't picking up that far. We talked to police dispatch and they told us we should file a complaint with the animal control people this morning. We are thinking we should go to her first and tell her we have pictures, we don't want to go this route, here is where they are getting in and out and be really decent about it. Then if she doesn't do anything we will follow through with this every single day until her court date. I really don't think she will care, but I am cynical of people these days. Which is really sad that I am like that. That's not how I normally am. Maybe she really will care and want to do something to ensure the safety of the kids that are scared out of their minds of those dogs.

So... one more documented report at 5:10am this morning of them being out of the fenced yard and off her property. Sheesh this is getting old! Yesterday morning the sheriff the helped us out the day before saw us walking with the bat and turned around to laugh at us! :) Better safe than sorry we figure!! Now, it's a good thing Buffy doesn't walk with us. She said she would have used their heads as batting practice.... oh yeah, bring it on baby! ;)

Thanks!

After dealing with not so nice dog owners, I am happy to say that my faith in the human race is restored! Today is Thursday. Thursday is trash day. Usually Thayne takes the garbage cans up in the morning before he leaves for work. Or he reminds the boys to get them up. We live at the bottom of a hill so taking the trash cans up to the top of the drive is a chore. This morning Thayne slept in and left without taking the cans up. I went for a walk and thought for a second on my way home that I should remember to get the garbage cans up. A second. That's all I thought about it and then promptly forgot it! So, it's quiet when I get home. I was playing on the internet, doing some video store stuff on it, and hear the garbage truck! I looked out the window and there it was, one house away! I started yelling for the kids to see if they could hurry and get at least 2 of the cans up or we would be hauling trash to the dump this week. Willie, Wyatt, Hayden and Kinzee jump out of bed and go running.... barefoot even! They grab the cans and start pulling them up the hill. I was so afraid they were going to drive off. But nope! They didn't just wait around while the kids drug them up the hill, they jumped out of the truck, ran part way down the hill to the kids and hauled the cans up. How do you say thank you to a bunch of garbage men? Would cookies be out of line? :) How do you think they would feel if the kids waited on the hill next week and gave them cookies and a thank you note? And some hand sanitizer??? I was just shocked. They were so sweet!!!

This is a shot looking down from the top of our hill!

HOLY FISH SMELL BATMAN!!!

Something smelled at my house! I mean something REALLY SMELLED BAD!!!! Thayne and I went out to eat with my sister and bil and then went to a presentation the company is putting on about working in Ghana (but that isn't what the post is about!!!). While we were eating my sister was telling me about having to throw out fish that was given to them. I told her the same guy had given us fish but I didn't even know where the kids had put them since I had dozed off with Nate after he called. My sister was telling me how bad the fish smell was.

Fast forward to... NOW. Thayne and I walked into the house and I told him the house smelled bad. He agreed but figured the kids had burned something in the oven. NO!!! That was NOT the smell... but I couldn't put my finger on it. So, Kinzee walks back here and says that it smells like fish! I then remember and ask where the fish went that Terry gave us. She looks down by the utility sink and says... "Um, mom... right here!" Yes, one of the darling children had put a bag full of fish by the back sink, AND LEFT IT!!! Everyone was gagging but tough Kinzee hauled it out to the trash! OH, I feel so bad for the garbage man tomorrow when he picks up the trash!!!! ;) Oh the joys. It's going to be fun getting this smell out! EEkk! Fish, just... ICK!

Dogs....

I will be the first to admit that I am not a fan of dogs. In fact I really don't like them. It may have to do with the fact that in 2nd grade I had a dog come after me and I have been terrified of big dogs since then. But I mostly just hate that we can't even go for a walk without a dog coming after us around here. People can hate kids, but when it comes to dogs we are all supposed to have all warm, fuzzy feelings towards them! I'm the opposite. I like kids. Dogs, not so much.

This morning I left my house at 5:04am to meet Katie and go walking. I barely walked up my drive and heard Katie yelling, telling the barking dogs to get away. You have to understand that she was quite far from my house but I could hear the dogs just barking and her yelling to go away. They were so loud they woke up the coyotes and they hawling at the moon behind me. I got almost to the end of my street and could see Katie and her daughter up the parkway a bit with both dogs facing her and barking like crazy. I finally called Jace (at 5:14am) on my cell phone which for some reason I actually grabbed today... I don't normally take my phone. He came down and picked us up and saw both dogs near the road. Then I called the police to report the dogs. These dogs have a huge fenced in yard. But they are often out of it. In fact last week Katie and her daughter watched the one dog kill a chicken in the neighbors yard and take it back inside the fence. So obviously these dogs get in and out. The biggest problem is that our kids are terrified of these dogs and they have to walk right by, and then stand across the street of this house everyday to catch the bus. This house also has several small dogs that are often out of the FENCED in yard and walking on the street or chasing us or the kids (and the one cop said he OFTEN sees these dogs in the road, he lives out here). We have had problems before and have tried to just let it be, but they had Katie trapped on one side and we are so sick of not being able to even go for a walk in the morning without worrying that we called the police. This is a big issue out here. Everyone thinks they can have a dog and they must think that because there are horses, and goats, and rabbits and chickens in some yards, that dogs can run free like they would on a ranch. You see walkers every morning with bats... Katie forgot hers today!!! Well, the cops show up, and need us to sign the ticket because by the time they got there both dogs were in the yard again. Katie was really upset. This is the second time in as many months that they have been attacked by dogs.

So the police officer wanted us to come down and sign the ticket. I didn't want to deal with this lady. Let's just say that the cops know her by her first name.... and it's never her fault in anything. After he told her what was going on she insisted that her dogs were in the fenced yard. (Yes... but they weren't earlier and had you actually been affected by the 20 minutes of insanely barking dogs or the crazy lady screaming at them you might have looked out the window and realized that the dogs were out!!!) She got the ticket and said she is fighting it! WHAT??? This isn't just about the fact that they went after Katie this morning. This is about every child on our street having to walk by those dogs every single morning to get to the bus stop!!! If somebody had told me that my dogs were out going after people, you better believe that would be taken care of immediately. She is going to fight it??? It took the cop 10 minutes of banging on the door to even wake them up. What is she going to fight??? When Jace and Tallin left for work 10 minutes later the one dog was at the road and the other was back in the yard. But Jace witnessed both dogs out and Tallin saw one of them so there are now 5 witnesses this morning that will have to go to court.... all because one person, who time after time has ignored the obvious. I am amazed that someone would put others at risk rather than admit they might actually be wrong! ARGH! I'll take kids over dogs any day!!!

Interesting call...

I just got off the phone with the pediatrition's nurse. They just got back in the office and she had been reading her notes from when they left and wanted to call and make sure everything with Nate was alright, and did anything happen. It was kind of funny in a weird sort of way. I asked her if she wanted the long version or the short version. She was blown away. Apparently some stuff happened before they left. Like the one and only pediatrition left in town wouldn't see him and was kind of rude about the whole issue of seeing another patient. Oh well... he's safe and sound and they are back and will be taking good care of him from ow on. I'll bet they don't blow me off ever again when I tell them I want him on an antibiotic!!!