My babies are growing up!!

I registered my babies for kindergarten today!  I can't believe that Gavin and Cierra are almost in school.   It took me a while to fill out two different sets of paperwork to register them, but about a half an hour later, it was all done and turned in.  I just can't believe that they are going to kindergarten next year.

One Year

One year ago today we finished packing up the van and U-haul and left for our new home in Lehi.  That was definitely a rough day.  The battery on the van went dead that morning before we left, then the U-haul gave up on us on an off-ramp at Nephi.  You know the one with all the truck stops and millions of big trucks coming off the freeway?  Yeah, that one, right in the middle of the road we were stuck.  But, 12 hours after we left Hurricane, we made it to the new house.  Now it has been a year, and we are loving it here!  We really miss everyone in Southern Utah, a lot, but we have been able to build a life here and we really enjoy it.  Ashley is doing so well in school, Gavin and Cierra ask almost every day if it is their turn to go to kindergarten, and Bryan is doing great in his job.  We really couldn't ask for more.

Welcome M.J.!!!

I just found out that my cousin had her baby!!!  Welcome MJ!!!!!

How Do I Love Thee...

Since today is Valentine's day, I thought I would dedicate a post to my wonderful husband.  We've been married for 9 1/2 years today, and there are many reasons why I loved him then, but I want to talk about some of the reasons why I still love him all these years later.

Bryan is an awesome dad.  He isn't just a father, he's a dad.  He cares about them, loves them, plays with them (you should see him on the trampoline with all of them!), gives them hugs and kisses, teaches them, protects them, and so much more.  He is a great dad.

He is the Yin to my Yang.  I'm sure that he has had many times over the last decade where he asked himself "What did I get myself into????".  I have a habit of freaking out at every little thing, but he stays calm and tries to calm me down.  He is really patient with me.

Bryan goes to work every day so that his family is taken care of and I can stay home with our kids.  This means so much to us.  Plus, he is awesome at his job, and his boss knows it.

Every Saturday morning he takes care of the kids and lets me sleep in.  I can't tell you how great it is after taking care of the munchkins all week to get a break, and he gives me that break.

He really loves children and wants to help them.  This is one of the reasons we are doing foster/adopt.  He is passionate about helping kids who are hurt and need some stability while their parents get better.  To see him talk about it, you can see the conviction and love for these kids in his eyes.  It makes me love him even more.

The night before he went in for ankle surgery he brought me tulips and some candy for Valentine's day because he knew he wouldn't be up and around today.  It was just so sweet.

Bryan, these are just a few of the reasons why I am still in love with you after all this time.  It hasn't always been easy, but we have grown closer through those hard times and our love has grown stronger.  I'm so glad that you are the one I picked to spend eternity with.  I love you!

Doing Well

Bryan is doing well today, in fact, his foot is still numb.  We'll see how it is after the nerve block wears off.  But, I have to say, I am so impressed with his doctor.  Dr. Gibson just sent over someone from his staff to our house with a box of cupcakes (those really nummy ones from a bakery!) and a personally signed get well card.  I have never heard of a doctor doing that before! 

Update on Bryan

We are back home after Bryan's surgery, and it went really well.  He had 5-6 bone chips in his ankle that the surgeon removed (OWWWW!!), and he will have to wear a boot and use crutches for about a month.  Once he gets the stitches out, he will also need to do some aggressive physical therapy at home to get the full range of motion back in his ankle.  So, he is doing well so far, and we were even able to get him upstairs to take a nap!

Poor, Poor Bryan

Tomorrow at 9:00 am Bryan goes in for surgery on his ankle.  He broke a little piece of bone off of his ankle sometime last year.  We don't know exactly when it happened because Bryan has a habit of disregarding injuries unless something stops working.  This was evident in the appendix incident of 2002 where by the time he let me take him to the hospital he couldn't walk upright and his appendix almost burst!  Then there was the time in 2004 when he thought he had the flu, but no.  It was actually Crohn's Disease that had closed off his bowel.  Anyways, I digress.  So, this little piece of bone is floating around in his left ankle, and he is getting it removed tomorrow morning.  We should be back home about noon.  We would appreciate any prayers on his behalf that the surgery will go well and he will have a quick recovery without complications.  I'll update you all as soon as I can tomorrow!

Gavin's Reading!!!

Gavin has been able to read small words for a few months now, but today I brought out Ashley's First Grade reading chart and asked him to read the words in the first column (the easiest words).  He was able to read more than half of them!  I'm so excited!  I asked Cierra if she wanted to try, and she didn't want to.  Things have to be her idea, or she doesn't want to do it, and so far, doing more than a cursory try at reading isn't her idea.  But, I'll keep trying!  And Ashley is doing absolutely wonderfully at school.  I had a parent/teacher conference last week, and got an update on her reading.  Alpine School District uses their own scoring system for their reading, and I don't know how it compares to other scoring systems, but on their system when they come into first grade in the Fall they want them to be at a 3, and Ashley was at a 12.  For Winter (middle of the year) they want them to be at a 10 and Ashley was at a 20!  They only want them to be at a 16 when they LEAVE first grade!  In fact, her teacher said that they were only allowed to test the kids up to level 20 this time, so we really don't know how high Ashley would have gotten if she would have been allowed to test Ashley to her full potential.  I'm so proud of her!!

Forgot

I forgot to say that if you have Fifth Disease, once you get to the rash stage you aren't contagious anymore (Thanks Natalie!).  

Clarification

I've had a lot of people ask me what Fifth Disease is, so here is your medical lesson for today.  Fifth Disease is a mostly childhood disease that is caused by Human Parvovirus B19.  It is called Fifth Disease because it is the fifth in the list of five common childhood diseases observed by a French physician named Dukes around 1900.  The other four are Measles (First Disease), Scarlet Fever (Second Disease), Rubella (Third Disease), and a Fourth Disease that has no other name, and is now considered to have never existed.  Fifth starts with usually mild cold or flu like symptoms with a low grade fever and tiredness, and then those symptoms disappear and you develop a rash, usually starting on the cheeks, that resembles a lacy pattern.  The rash then spreads down the whole body, but disappears within 2-7 days and usually doesn't bother the child.  What the virus actually does is temporarily stops the body from making red blood cells, so you get anemic and develop the flu symptoms as your body is trying to figure out what is going on and fix it.  Then, you get the rash as your body starts to make red blood cells again and they reprofuse.  If an adult gets it, they don't usually get the rash, but they do get joint pain and swelling.  If a pregnant woman gets Fifth, so can the baby which can cause complications if the baby becomes anemic.

So, there you have it.  Now you know what our family had in great detail!

Not the Flu

You know that "flu" that I had a little over a week ago that I said was so horrible?  Well, it wasn't the flu.  A couple of days after the flu symptoms went away I started getting a rash.  Then the next day the twins both got a rash, and my rash was all over my body and every one of my joints hurt.  I took the twins to the pediatrician, and after they sent a nurse out to the car to make sure it wasn't chicken pox, we saw a nurse practitioner who diagnosed us all with Fifth Disease!  Apparently I never had it when I was a child.  We figured out that the rash Ashley had in January was Fifth, and that is where the rest of us got it.  The kids weren't bothered by it at all, in fact Ashley never even had a low grade fever!  But it is very different for adults, apparently.  Joint aches are common for adults that get Fifth (the stairs were killer!!!!), and although adults don't usually get the rash, mine was all over.  So, that is what was up with my "flu", and now we are all over it, and Bryan didn't get it (YAY!!).  And now I know what a "lacy rash" looks like.

Update...

So I was finally able to get a hold of the little boy's Case Worker, and the situation is not going to be for us.  This poor little guy has some pretty serious brain damage.  Half of his brain is non-functioning grey matter.  We know that there is a family out there for him, though, and I hope he finds them soon and they love and care for him his whole life.