Emily Update

In case anyone was wondering, I thought I would post an update about what we have found out about Emily's medical concerns. She has a condition called Bilateral Reflux, which means that her bladder doesn't keep urine from going back up into her kidneys like it's supposed to. The problem with this is if she gets urinary tract infections it can damage her kidneys. She has grade 3 on a scale of 1 to 5, which means there is a 50% chance the problem will go away. She has to be on antibiotics for the next year and then we have to get her tested every year to see if it has gotten any better or worse. This was pretty good news for us because we were worried she would need to be going to the doctor all the time and that she might have to have surgery, which is still a possibility but only if they can't manage to keep her from getting urinary tract infections. It was nice to kind of get to the end of all the testing and feel like we are finally getting a grasp on what the problem is and what it means for her. It has been a stressful couple of weeks with all the trips to Primary Children's and the stress of worrying about her. I'm looking forward to things hopefully settling down now.

Time Saving Tips

My friend Katherine did a blog a while ago about how she cooks all her hamburger at once and then freezes it in one pound bags to cut down on prep time for meals. I did this last time I bought hamburger and that few minutes it saved me on dinner prep the other night was so nice that I was thinking of sharing this idea and a few other things that I do to make dinner time go more smoothly and wanted to see if any of you had some ideas to share about things that you do. One of the things that I do is when I buy fresh chicken I cut off all the fat (I'm kind of weird about meat fat ;) ) and then cut some of the chicken into chunks, some into strips and leave some as whole breasts and then I freeze it in individual bags with enough for me to cook a meal for my family. This way if I have a recipe that calls for chicken chunks, I all ready have some ready in my freezer and can through it right in the recipe or thaw it and cook it up really quick. Another thing that I do is I buy 2 or 3 loaves of French Bread at a time and cut it into slices and put it in large freezer bags. Then when I want to have garlic bread with a meal I pull out the number of slices I want and butter and season them then cook them in the oven for about ten minutes at 350 degrees. If you have any tricks that you use I'd love to hear about them.

Tagged

Well I've been tagged, so here it is:

A- Attached or single: attached
B- Best Friend: my husband, my sisters, and my friend Emily
C- Cake or Pie: yes
D- Day of Choice: Saturday, I get to sleep in and Jeff is home to help out with the kids.
E- Essential Item(s): my sewing machine, a good book
F- Favorite Color: green
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Gummy bears
H- Hometown: American Fork, Utah
I- Indulgence(s): anything with dark chocolate
J- January or July: I don’t really like either, give me fall or spring
K- Kids: 2 year old boy and 1 month old girl
M- Marriage Date: October 17, 2003
N- Number of Siblings: 4 sisters and 1 brother
O- Oranges or Apples: apples
P- Phobias or Fears: public speaking, spiders, heights
Q- Quote(s): I don’t really do quotes
R- Reason To Smile: cuddling with my kids, the smell of autumn, Christmas trees, spending time with my family
S- Season: Fall
T- Tag: Shannan, Erin, Meghan, Shelly
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I was on the ballroom dance team in college
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: definitely a meat eater
W- Worst Habit: cussing like a sailor ;)
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: ultrasounds
Y- Your Favorite Food: mashed potatoes, yum!
Z: Zodiac: Pisces

Tuckered Out

We have had kind of a stressful week with Emily. She had to get an ultrasound on Wednesday and then our pediatrician decided to put her on antibiotics because it looks like she might have a problem with her kidneys and we don't want her to get a urinary tract infection. The pharmacist told me the wrong amount to give her but we didn't realize it until her second night of taking her medicine. We ended up calling poison control because we were worried about what the overdose might do to her little body. Luckily she is fine. Today we had to take her in to get a VCUG, which basically means they stuck a catheter in her, drained her bladder and then filled it full of water and took a bunch of x-rays to see if urine is going back up her bladder into her kidneys. Needless to say, the poor little thing was just exhausted afterwards and fell fast asleep once I fed her after we got home. Hopefully next week will be better.

All By Myself

I was feeding Emily in her room the other afternoon when Max came in dressed like this. I had changed his diaper after his nap and he was being a stinker and making it very difficult to put his pants back on (as he frequently does) so I had left him pantless for the time being. I guess he had been playing with the clothes in his dresser and decided that he was going to put on his pajamas. As you can see he did pretty good with the bottoms and not so good with the tops, but I was pretty impressed all the same since he hasn't really ever put on clothes by himself before.

A Day In The Life....

Alarm goes off. Get out of bed and take a shower. Wake up Emily and feed and change her. Wake up Max and get him dressed. Finish doing my hair and getting ready. Get me and Max breakfast. Feed Emily again. Change Emily's diaper, put on shoes, grab Max's shoes and jacket, bag of quiet toys, diaper bag, coupon for car inspection and purse. Load Emily in her car seat, put shoes and jacket on Max (with Emily screaming in her car seat), grab car seat, Max and all our various bags and head out the door. Load Emily in the car, chase down Max in the front yard and load him in the car. Get to the muffler shop for the car inspection. Unload the stroller, both kids and all our stuff. Get inside and the guy asks for the registration. Realize I left it at home. Go back out to the car and load up the kids, stroller, and all our stuff. Drive back to our house, grab the registration, and drive back to the muffler shop. Unload stroller, kids, and bags, again. Fifteen minutes of chasing Max around the waiting room and the car is still in the parking lot. Load Max back up in the stroller and go for a walk. Get back from our walk and watch them finish up the car inspection. Pay for inspection, load up the kids, stroller and our stuff. Get back home just in time to feed Emily before lunch. Fix lunch and clean the kitchen. Lay Max down for his nap after two extremely messy diapers (one for each child) and chasing him around the house to get him upstairs to his room. Feed Emily and lay her down for a nap. Breathe a sigh of relief.

Sweet Baby Girl

Emily is such a sweet baby! When they put her in my arms for the first time I remember thinking how beautiful and precious she was. I immediately fell in love. It wasn't that way with Max. He had a very strong personality, and a loud piercing cry. He spent most of the first few months screaming. Jeff and I loved him, but we didn't really enjoy him very much until he was about three months old! This time around is so different, for which we are very grateful. Emily has a sweetness about her that everyone notices. I am so excited to watch her learn and grow and feel very blessed to be her mother!

Mom's little helper

Max loves "helping" me in the kitchen. He especially loves stirring. He loves it so much that he gets upset when it's time to move on! He's not really much help right now, but I'm trying to be patient with him and help foster his love of "helping" around the house.