What's With Wednesday?

A short recap:

Two weeks ago Wednesday, Dave took the day off to be with me and the girls while the girls had surgery.

A week ago Wednesday, Dave went in to work but was sent home because he was sick.

Last night, our water main broke in our front yard, so Dave is taking as much time as he needs off until it is fixed. Another Wednesday, another day of not working. He's really hoping to get back to work before noonish so he can have half a day's pay at least, and it looks like it very well could happen.

So yesterday after Rose went to bed, I noticed that we had virtually no water pressure. I checked the other sink, and yup, same thing. So I told Dave, who got some shoes and went to check with the neighbors to see if they had pressure.

He didn't have to go far. In the front yard was a geyser shooting up about 3-4 feet high. He immediately gets to work, trying to find the right tools to turn off the water. He had to borrow tools and a shovel because one of ours is missing and the other clearly got run over. Dang! So he starts digging and finally finds the darned pipe at almost 11 o'clock, with the help of our friend Chris. It has about a 5 inch crack in it. I wonder how long it had been cracked like that! Our water bill last month was for over 1000 units more than the previous month, but we watered the garden a lot. I'm wondering if the pipe's been cracked for some time and we didn't notice last month because of all the watering of the lawn we did.

Well, I'm trying to look at the bright side. At least it wasn't geysering all night, with Dave waking up this morning to a muddy mess in the front yard. It was probably only shooting up water like that for a half hour or so. At least it happened on a Tuesday night, not a Thursday night, where Dave would have to miss overtime work.

Just when we start getting comfortable, something like this always happens.

A Few of Rose's Favorite Things

I meant to blog this yesterday on Rose's actual birthday, but my allergies are very severe right now and yesterday was the worst day of allergies I've experienced so far this year. Anyway. This is a list of many of Rose's favorite things!

Favorite Song: "Popcorn Popping," "Book of Mormon Stories"
Favorite Color: Yellow
Favorite Toy: Dolls
Favorite Animal: Dog (in theory, not in actuality!)
Favorite Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Any "Little People" lift the flap book
Favorite Game: Duck, Duck, Goose
Favorite Thing to do with Dad: Cuddle after baths
Favorite Thing to do with Mom: Nursing... duh!
Favorite Thing to do with Lacy: Play dress-ups
Favorite Naughty Activity: Coloring on walls
Favorite Messy Activity: Playing in dirt/sand
Favorite Food: rice and noodles
Favorite Class: Nursery
Favorite Part of Spiritual Time: family hug and kisses
Favorite Sister: Lacy
Favorite Prissy Thing: Painting fingers and toes
Favorite Phrase: "Family Hug!" (it comes out as, "ga ga ga!!!!")
Favorite Person to talk to on the phone: Daddy

I guess I need to clean up the stuff Rose dumps out of drawers more often.

One of the girls dropped an apple on the floor, and when I picked up the apple I saw this:

Lacy's making me crazy!

I'm not exactly sure why (but I have some suspicions), but ever since the surgery, Lacy's been very difficult to get to go to bed. She used to go to bed like a dream, but now? Not so much. She stalls and won't stay in bed and makes noise and whines. I think it's because she's more rested, and I just have to get her to be getting up at about 7 each morning so she'll go to sleep at 8. That's 11 hours of sleep, and I think that's what she needs. She used to go to bed at 8 and get up at 9 or 9:30, sometimes 10, and complained of being tired a lot. I guess the apnea was really affecting the quality of sleep, and she needs a lot less now. Plus, she's been absolutely spoiled this last week and has been watching 5-6 hours of TV a day. Bad, I know, but she's recovering and isn't at 100% yet. I'm thinking of going for another TV free week next week, or at least 2-3 days, to wean her off the TV habit. She'll be fully recovered by then.

Rough Night

Dave's been sick, Lacy's been recovering from surgery, and Rose has been all around cranky lately, so that is a recipe for disaster. Rose kept waking up last night, and at 4 am she woke up and would. not. go. to. sleep. Since it was before she was allowed to nurse (that's a nightweaning thing we started-- she's allowed to nurse after 6 am). After disturbing Dave and myself to the point of no more sleep, I decided to put on a movie, Evan Almighty, with the hope that Rose would be pacified enough to fall asleep. It worked! Unfortunately, Dave had already left for work, so he didn't benefit from the extra sleep, but if she does it again tonight I'll try it again. With her snoozing in my arm, I finished watching the end of the movie. The credits appeared, and I heard a little voice say, "Mommy, the movie's over!" I had no idea that Lacy was watching, too! She apparently doesn't sleep as soundly as she did before the surgery. Maybe because now she can actually hear, and stuff. And because she doesn't require as many hours of sleep because she gets better quality sleep. We really need to focus on her routine as soon as she's well, because between her and Rose, I'm bound to be committed.

I told her...

I didn't care where she slept as long as she stayed in the bedroom. She really wanted to be out with us. This is how I found her a few minutes ago as I was preparing to come to bed.

Another one from today. Rose and Lacy only have one outdoor chair to share, so sometimes they fight over it. Today, they compromised.


We had a nice day today. I took Rose to church and Dave stayed home with Lacy, since she's still cranky and moody from the surgery. She's adjusting to needing less sleep (hence her being awake until 10:30 tonight for the upteeth time since the surgery). Lacy was very sad to have to miss Sunbeams, but she called her teacher before church, crying with tears running down her face while she told her she had to miss, asking her to prepare the handouts for her to take home. She was comforted only by the offer of ice cream from her dad. The teacher wrote her a really sweet note and sent home some activities relating to being thankful for hands.

Tonight after church we barbequed and hung out outside. After dinner we played with bubbles until the girls spilled all our bubble solution (Les, do you have a bubble recipe?) then the girls had popsicles. I admired my newly formed grass and watered my garden and lawn. It was a pleasant evening, but tomorrow's a work day and home blessing hour, so we're going to be busy yet again. Lacy's itchin' to leave the house, so I'm not sure how we'll fit that in.

Top 1000 Names for 2007

The top 1000 names for 2007 has been released by the SSA. I'm so excited! This is my baby naming bible. I always refer to it when naming a child to ensure that their name isn't too popular. Rose's name was ranked #347 in the year she was born, and is only getting less popular. In 2006, 945 babies were given the first name Rose. Lacy's name was ranked 897 in the year she was born, with just 270 children given the name Lacy that year. It has since dropped off the list completely. Lacey, however, is still on the list. Oh, well. At least she'll always have to spell her name for people. As long as Rose doesn't have to spell her name for people, we'll be doing fine.

Surgery Day

Yesterday was a stressful day for us, but it is over and done with and we are moving on! It all started at about 5:15 when Dave and I got up and started getting ready. It was nice for Dave to get to sleep in for once. We left the house at about 6 and arrived right before 6:30 at the surgery center. After checking in and agreeing to hand them over our first born if our insurance didn't cover the procedures, we waited to be called back. We went back just before 7. Both girls were weighed and measured-- Lacy was 41 inches tall and just over 31 pounds, and Rose was 35 inches tall and just under 26 pounds. They dosed up Rose with some medicine first to make her loopy. Then we changed the girls into matching hospital gowns. Lacy equated gown with marriage, so she got married and had babies about three times before she got the loopy medicine. She would lay down in a chair and say, "I'm having a birth." On one occasion, she noted that she was having her baby in a pool. Gotta indoctrinate 'em young, I say ;)

After talking to both doctors and both anesthesiologists, I felt fairly comfortable that the girls would be well taken care of. They took Rose back first, and promised to take good care of her. She clung to the nurse as they took her back. Poor baby. I was told that they gas them up and put them to sleep and then insert the IV, which is a policy I really appreciate. They put the IV in Rose's foot.

Lacy went back about a half hour after Rose. They took her back in a red wagon. Dave and I went out to the waiting area to scarf down some food and wait for our kids to be done. At about 9, the dentist came out saying he had saved Rose's front tooth and capped three more besides. Dave went back to be with her in recovery while I waited. While I was waiting, Lacy's doctor came out to tell me that the procedure was successful, and that her adenoids were "huge." She also didn't have much fluid behind her ears, but he put in the tubes anyway. I'm a little annoyed at that part, since I didn't really want her to have tubes in the first place, but I'm saying that it had to have been necessary for her comfort otherwise he wouldn't have done it (I hope no one tries to argue that point with me especially since the surgeon is my bishop and I feel strongly that he wouldn't just do something "just because"). When Rose was transferred to another stage of recovery, I was invited back to join her and Dave (only one parent allowed per patient in the first stage of recovery). I held her close and snuggled the baby up. She looked so good, yet puffy. She was on an IV drip, which was taken out after she drank some juice.

Lacy came out after a while, and boy was she loud about it. We were told that she may come out aggressive, and that certainly proved to be true for her. I honestly think it had something to do with the Vicodin that they gave her, because she only has temper tantrums like that after she takes the Vicodin (because she's fighting it so much). She was kicking and screaming and so unpleasant, but she was very vulnerable and needy so I didn't blame her for having that attitude one bit. Rose was sleepy, so she went to Dave and I held Lacy, who absolutely refused to drink any water or juice, and wouldn't eat a Popsicle. That was one thing she needed to do to be released. We got all the discharge instructions and got permission from the surgeon to leave anyway.

The kids slept a lot on the way home and throughout the day. So much so in fact that Lacy didn't go to sleep last night until 12:30! Part of the problem was that we let her sleep in our bed, as a special treat for her hard day. I forgot how crowded four in a bed is. I'm glad that she's in her own bed tonight!

Even though Dave took the day off work, we still made money by selling some scrap metal to the recycling yard. Almost $70, so not as much as he would have made working, but heck it's something at least. We also resorted to bribes and force to get Lacy to take her medicine. Nice. I hate doing that to her. I'm officially not making her take Vicodin anymore because she hates it so, and it makes her miserable. She's taking Tylenol instead. As long as she doesn't complain about the pain, we're fine, I guess. I'll just dose her up every four hours on Tylenol tomorrow and stop that on Saturday and just give as needed, when she complains of pain. She is speaking with a squeaky voice but is otherwise feeling pretty darned good, and acting relatively normal. She even had a tea party outside this afternoon with her cousin and sister. I blogged about our day on my family's blog, complete with pictures.

I really hope Rose doesn't need the same surgery. And I really hope this stops Lacy's apnea problems. It was truly scary listening to her gasping for breath after not breathing for several seconds at a time. I would have to move her to help her breathe more comfortably, and that was while I was awake. I slept through most of it. I've been told that it is scary after the fact, because you don't know if they're breathing or not!

Anyway, we took a bunch of pictures to remember our big day yesterday!

Drugged Rose, before her costume change
Rose "before" photo
Girls in their gowns, waiting to be called back
Loopy Lacy going back for surgery
Rose "after" picture
Lacy recovering on the couch... she took much longer than Rose to come off the anesthesia

We're done

Surgery went well and both girls are resting now at home. Lacy was very unhappy once she was coming off the anesthesia. Hopefully we can get her to continue drinking liquids so she can start feeling better! I'll update more in depth later.

Tomorrow's the big day

We go in tomorrow for the girls' procedures. Rose's is first at 6:30, and Lacy's is at 6:55. That's check in time, and I'm assuming it will take much, much longer than that. I'll update you tomorrow with how it went.

Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day! I got to sleep in until 8:30 when Rose woke up to pee (3 days dry in a row! And she's not even 2 yet, and this isn't the first time she's had multiple nights in a row where she's woken up dry!). Dave made me breakfast, which included some leftover breakfast potatoes (which were still yummy), eggs with peppers, onions and cheese, and bacon. Big, thick slices, from mostly organic pigs that I actually saw while they were alive. We ate right after Lacy woke up at 10:30. Yes, you heard that right. Girlfriend likes to sleep in. Lacy and I showered after breakfast, and when I got out it was already noon and time to get packing! We quickly got the girls dressed and ready and headed to church.

We had a nice program at church, which I didn't witness, because Rose was a total mess from being so tired with having no nap! So I took her to the Mother's lounge, but the chairs were occupied, so there was no chance I was going to get her to take a quick snooze. I barely made it back in to the chapel to lead the closing song! We received some delicious truffles from the men, and then we took the girls to their classes. We snuck out early, but Lacy had time enough to make me a nice card and give me a couple gifts from Primary.

This is a cute little jewelry box (lined with purple felt, of course) with a picture of her in her China dress.


Lacy and Rose both contributed on making this bag. I think it's hilarious that they got the date wrong!


And the card that Lacy dictated... very typical Lacy letter.

Here's the beautiful hanging basket I got on Thursday for an early Mother's Day gift.


After church, we went to my sister's house to enjoy salmon and conversation (if you could hear it over all the yelling from the nine children who were there). It was not only Mother's Day, but also Mark's birthday, my just younger brother, who was actually born on Mother's Day 28 years ago. Happy Birthday, Mark. We all had a nice time. I'm sure there will be photos posted on my family's blog later. We took a bunch and had a really fun time with it.

And a couple pictures from Saturday. We went to wooden boat days (or something like that) down in Olympia with my sister's family. The kids enjoyed making their own little wooden boats. More pictures have been posted on my sister's blog.


The finished product

It's on!

Rose's dental work has been pre-authorized now, and assuming everything else goes as planned, we will have two kids going in to the Surgery Center on Wednesday. Dave is planning to take that day off to spend time helping me take care of the kids. I guess I have to work really hard to make sure the house is spotless (for me) before that day so I can focus on helping my little kiddos get well. I've rearranged the girls' gymnastics schedule so they can attend Tuesday instead of Thursday, since I doubt at least Lacy will not be up for gymnastics yet.

Speaking of which, we had it again today. It was a lot of fun for Lacy anyway, and Rose did marginally better. We'll give it another 6 weeks or so before we throw in the towel! She just won't do most of the stuff in the obstacle course, and won't do balance beams. She likes the opening exercises, the trampolines, and today showed interest in the cube pit. Lacy loves her class, loves her teacher, and loves everything about gymnastics! Except, she doesn't follow directions well or pay attention to the teacher. She's a bit of a space cadet at times, but I've been accused of the same so I'm sure she gets it from me. Lucky kid.

We had a busy day today, running errands all morning after gymnastics and taking a break at home. We went to the bank to iron out some problems we'd had with the way they set up our accounts, tried for the fourth time to pick up the 11-drawer tool box we have a raincheck on, and went to the coop for a few groceries.

I've been making an effort to conserve gas. I deliberately don't drive anywhere for at least two days a week, and the effort is paying off! I just switched to the second gas tank today, and I filled up almost two weeks ago! Usually I'm halfway through the second tank already, and running on fumes by Monday morning. Go me!

Today Dave surprised me by coming home early! He actually got off around 3:15, but said he was on a break when he called asking some questions. Around 3:40 he called back updating me about our plans tonight and said, "Gotta get back to work!" I didn't realize that "work" was getting my mother's day present ready! He came home with a gift certificate for a haircut, a manicure/pedicure treatment, a card from him and another card from the girls, and an absolutely beautiful hanging potted flower. It's now hanging by our front door. Gorgeous! What a wonderful guy I married. Hopefully I can get him something awesome for Father's Day. Anyone have any ideas? He had the girls come out and "sign" the card, and Lacy delivered it to me. It was so sweet! He figured he wouldn't have time to do this any other time, so he'd better get it done now!

Tonight we went to Charlie's Safari. It's kind of like Chuck E. Cheese's, only 1,000,000 times better. It's locally owned and operated, and is just absolutely wonderful. It has a bunch of bounce house type things, a toddler play area, a huge play center that is like a good McDonald's PlayPlace on steroids, an indoor basketball court (like, 1/8 court), laser tag, arcade games, pizza, and mini golf. Rose liked the toddler area and the Helicopter bounce house and original bounce house, and Lacy liked both the bounce house slides. We will be going again sometime in the future. It's around $8 a kid over age 2 (and they charge for the under-2 set as well) but parents are free, at least for the bounce house/play areas. Mini golf and laser tag are additional. Anyway, tonight was a preview night for the vendors, and Dave's really good friend Tom installed the fire suppression system in the kitchen and invited us to come along. We're glad we did! We were out late and the kids got to bed way too late, but we had such a good time.

Afterward, we exchanged Dave's boots for a new pair. He got the kind of boots he really wanted, and he'll probably be happy with them. Work boots are sure expensive! I hate spending $100 for boots every couple of years! But, he has to have them, and he needs good boots since he's had some foot problems recently. Thank goodness for a good podiatrist!

Tomorrow is another busy day. I'm going to go to Costco to pick up a few things, but before that I hope to get a little cleaning done around the house. Then maybe we'll play at Leslie's house for a while, and go home later that evening. Dave is going fishing tomorrow night, so we won't see him until after bedtime. Saturday I'm hoping to go to my midwifery clinic's annual mother's day picnic. I don't know what I'll make for that yet.

I'd better get to bed! Three people are snoring in my room and it really ought to be four. Actually none of us should be snoring as it is disruptive of sleep. Hopefully Lacy won't snore anymore after next week. I can't believe she's having surgery. I'm totally having second thoughts on whether this is necessary surgery or not. At least my surgeon is my bishop, so I'm feeling a little better about it. I doubt he would recommend an unnecessary surgery to a member of his ward. Or, at least, I hope he wouldn't!

Say YES to your kids!

Sometimes, as a parent, our kids ask us things. Things we don't want to do, for whatever reason. Maybe we're not in the mood. Maybe we don't think it will be good for the child. Maybe it is dangerous. Whatever reason, we say no. A lot.

My sister wisely told me that for some of those things one of her sons asks her, she will say yes now instead of no, and his attitude has changed dramatically. I thought she made some really good points, and I decided to try to say yes more to my kids.

Tonight, Lacy has been restless. She has everything on her checklist checked off for bedtime, so she has no real reason to stall us, since everything is done. But she can't sleep. And it's disturbing Dave, who hasn't gotten much sleep this weekend, on account of helping a friend of ours pass an inspection this morning. He worked until 2 am last night, after working a 60 hour work week, and then continued working this morning around 10 until almost 5. She was making a lot of noise, thrashing around, and being disruptive for Dave. She kept asking for things. I kept saying no. Then I thought of what my sister had told me. And I changed my attitude a bit

"Mom... can you say a prayer for me to have good dreams?" (keep in mind, we've already had family prayer and she's said her own personal prayers).

"Okay." I say a prayer, naming specific things that Lacy would like to dream about.

"...and rainbows!" Lacy interjects. "And doggies!" So I add those requests to the current prayer in progress. I finish the prayer. "Thanks, mom. Now I'll have good dreams. Can you snuggle me for a minute?"

"Yes. But just for a minute. I have a few things I have to do." I crawl into her toddler-sized bed, and we snuggle for about five minutes. She tells me a few secrets. She talks about nice things, and asks me some questions. I don't tell her to be quiet, I just let her get it out.

"Okay, Lacy, just another minute and I have to get out."

"Why?"

"I have to pick up some things. We made a mess today, and I want to pick up a little to prepare our home for home blessing hour tomorrow." That's what we call the regular routine cleaning that happens once a week.

"Oh. Can I get in your bed tomorrow when Dad goes to work?" I agree, and we snuggle, I kiss her goodnight and get out of bed, and wait for her to fall asleep so I can get some tidying done. In the meantime, I write this blog. I left the room about ten minutes ago, and she is now breathing loudly. I expect in a couple more minutes she'll be snoring loudly. See what a few yeses can do?

Hold that thought...

What a surprise! More drama in the dental department! Rose's preauthorization for underoing general anesthesia was denied! The letter says, "The Medical Review Department has determined that medical/dental necessity is not supported by the clinical documentation provided. The Trust will need clinical documentation which supports the medical/dental necessity of facility fees for dental caries, including a comprehensive description of all dental procedures to be performed. Therefore, based on teh available information and Plan provisions, your request for pre-authorization of benefits is denied. This determination can be reconsidered upon the receipt of th above information." The letter talks about appeals processes and that we have the right to initiate a lawsuit if the appeal is denied. I'm not sure if submitting the information is an appeal, or just a continuation of the initial request. I've never dealt with this before. I'm really, really hoping they don't want x-rays, because we don't have 'em. She will be getting x-rays while under general anesthesia.

Hopefully this can all get straightened out quickly, because I don't want to delay her appointment. This has gone on for too many months now, and I'm done with it. I'm considering sending them this picture and asking them if that is enough:

But it doesn't show her two molars that need work. One needs extensive work, the other needs a minor repair. It's almost exactly the same as Lacy's teeth, but at a more advanced stage of decay. I'm considering major changes for my next baby:

*No juice or soda. Period.
*Brush teeth twice a day from the day the first tooth pops out of the gums
*Vitamin D supplementation from birth
*Fluoride supplementation from 6 months
*Nightweaning between 12-15 months
*Teaching to fall asleep without nursing from one or two months, so it can be a habit when teething begins
*Better diet during pregnancy, and no more tandem nursing (no more close together babies!)
*Better diet during nursing, especially calcium-rich foods and calcium supplements.
*Xylitol daily during pregnancy and while nursing, and added to child's diet after solid foods are started

So those are a few thoughts. I realize why Rose's teeth are so much worse than Lacy's now, and it's because I inadvertantly nightweaned Lacy around 14-15 months, her teeth appeared later than Rose's, and my diet was improved during pregnancy because I wasn't running after a toddler or nursing.

Going under the knife

Both girls will be receiving General Anesthesia on May 14th. Rose will be having her teeth fixed, and Lacy will be having her tonsils and adenoids removed, and tubes in her ears. They are both going to go in to the same surgery center, so it will be a fun day for us. Dave will likely take the day off work, but if he can't for some reason, my sister Leslie has offered to help us out with the post-op stuff. We'll be eating a lot of ice cream and juice that day, I gather.

Gymnastics

We had gymnastics again today. Lacy loved it. Rose had her first class and, well, she didn't really know what to do with herself. I think it is a bit advanced for her. We'll try it for a month or two, and if she doesn't start getting it, we'll dis enroll her for a while and just focus on Lacy for a while. Lacy has shown improvement even from just going twice. This may be her thing. I hear from some very reliable sources that it can get very expensive (in the thousands per month even) so I don't know if we can handle having her in gymnastics competitively. But for now, it's teaching her balance, coordination and helping her to become strong.

Afterward we visited Leslie and her brood, who were all home from school today due to well child visits. We hung out, nobody napped, and now everyone is falling apart. Dave is out fishing tonight, so we're going to eat in a few minutes and then we'll start the bedtime routine. Hopefully they'll be in bed tonight by about 7! That would be lovely. We'll see.

And a Lacyism... Lately she's been doing the whole "Close your eyes! Ok, now OPEN YOUR EYES!" thing, but she doesn't really get it. She'll say, "Mom, close your eyes. Open your eyes. (very excitedly) I'm going to gymnastics today!!!" Like closing my eyes and opening them again makes the statement so much more exciting!