Baby M's Surgery

The last Friday in May we took Baby M in to get is umbilical hernia fixed. The hernia was getting big enough that they would do surgery, but it was still optional. We decided to go ahead and get it while he had insurance. We didn't think the hernia had much chance of getting smaller with how active he is.

The surgery was really no big deal. We were at the hospital for just a matter of hours. Even so, Craig and I were a little emotional.



Baby M enjoyed his little remote. He talked on it like a phone, and tried to press the "call nurse" button a couple of times.



They gave him some medicine to make him happy/relaxed. He was pretty kookie on it. He kept stroking Craig's face, and giving him hugs.



After the medicine kicked in they took him back. I was afraid I might cry.



I was glad to hear that he wouldn't be poked until he was completely out. I don't think I could have handled watching, and listening to, my baby getting an IV that day.



Waiting was kind of nerve wracking. Poor Craig looked so nervous. Luckily the surgery took less then an hour and we were soon told that all went well.

Baby M coming out of the anesthesia was far worse then Baby M going into surgery. He cried, screamed, wiggled and yelled. He was not happy and would not give into sleep. They had put a tube down his throat during surgery, to help him breath. It made his voice sound raspy and I think his throat felt funny. That's probably what bothered him the most.




Craig took him from me within a few minutes, of him being out of surgery, and didn't give him back. He held him the whole time we were waiting to check out, clear until we got to the car. I think he was worried about his little boy.




Within a couple hours Baby M was pretty much acting normal.

Our favorite part of the surgery was Baby M and his "Gi-goo's". "Gi-Goo" is sort of Baby M's catch phrase and he said it up until the very end. He even said it once when he was coming out of the anesthesia.

Day of:



5 Days Later:



A week later

Our Sick Week. . .or Two

Red, swollen eyes; coughing till you cry; fever, aches and pains; runny noses and even some vomiting. This was all included in our sick week.

We had a fun month trying to figure out if the kids were sick or not. The family doctor thought Baby M might have Fifths Disease. I don't know if this was the over all cause of our problems. In fact, I don't know if he actually had it or not. His cheeks would be red for a week, and then they looked fine. Then they would be red the next week.

*Fifths Disease tends to give children red cheeks, giving them the appearance of a cheek that has been slapped. This brings about its other name, Slap Cheek.



This month has also been filled with fun ailments such as rashes, diarrhea and slight fevers. Are these all factors to the illness we fought this week? I do not know.

It started with Baby M and a cough. I wasn't sure if it was a cough to worry about, so I just gave him medicine here and there and waited to see what happened.

Then one morning Big H woke up crying. He would cry every time he coughed. I brought him upstairs to lay down with me.

Then the next day Little H woke up crying. Same symptoms as Big H the day before.

Then the next two days found the twins both with red, swollen eyes. Baby M's eyes never swelled, or got red, they just produced little eye boogers.



The week went on and the boys all seemed to be getting better when, suddenly, Big H came down with a high fever. He just laid on the couch and didn't move. I was really worried about him. My Dad gave him a blessing, and he seemed to get a little better. The next night, however, found him waking up from nap time feeling all sorts of awful. He was so tired, but no matter how I held him, or what position he was in, he would moan and cry. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I called my mom and asked if she would help me take him to an insta-care-- Craig was at work. On the way my mom had to stop and get gas, and Big H just moaned and cried in the back seat. He'd arch his back and cry, "Mommy, Mommy!"

It broke my heart.

Finally we arrived at the insta-care. Craig was able to meet us there. The nurse was so sweet. She could tell he just didn't feel good, and she brought him some medicine. He was diagnosed with what was thought to be, probably, the flu.

Craig stayed home with the boys the next day while I worked. They seemed to be feeling better when I got home.

The next day I was home with the boys. Big H woke up crying, "I want medicine!"

I quickly dealt out doses to him. After which he began to say, "I want my Henrum!"

Little H was still asleep.

When Little H woke up, he came upstairs and laid down, in a big heap, on the kitchen floor. Big H brought him a blanket and patted his head. I then handed him his medicine. Big H took it from me and gave it to Little H. It was really sweet.

We have since recovered. Though whenever Big H gets a little tickle in his throat he says, "I want medicine"

"I think you just need a drink Honey."

P.S. The vomiting incident occurred because Big H tends to over stuff his mouth with food. Combine this action with a cough and. . .well. . .you get the picture.

In other fun, sick, news. Our little Baby M always keeps us guessing. From, "Is this another rash?" to "Should I be concerned about these red, pimple-like, things?"

One issue, he has had for a while, is a herniated belly button. It's usually no concern, and kids just grow out of it, but lately it has been poking out further. So we will be taking him to the Doctor again. Hopefully its still nothing serious.




On another note, a completely different note, here are some stories I want to write down before I forget.

Sometimes the twins won't go to sleep till one in the morning. When we open their door to tell them to go to sleep they quickly lay down and try not to move. Little H has even started fake snoring.

The boys invented a new game on the downstairs couch. They climb up on the arm and jump off. They call it, "To the rescue!" And they shout that as they jump off.

Little H has a pair of superman pajamas-- and Big H has some Batman ones. I brought them upstairs and he was so excited, and, I swear, he said something along the lines of, "With this I can fly."
He was so disappointed when I put them on and he couldn't fly.
"Hey I not flying."
I swear to you, that is what he said. It was kind of hard to get a "for sure" though.

The other day Baby M got out a bib because he saw me cooking lunch. When I didn't put him in his chair he got another bib. I gave it to Little H and said, "Take this to Big H."
He then said, "Henrum, its breakfast time!"
And wondered down stairs to find him.

We were at the mall setting up our new phones. Craig had the twins and I had Baby M. We were in the food court and I was waiting for him to finish his ice cream. A lady walked by and asked, "How old is he?"
"18 months."
"He's a beautiful baby."
She then waved and said, "Hi!"
Baby M caught right on. He waved his cute little wave and even blew kisses. He smiled and flirted with that woman, making sure she knew he was indeed cute.

While we were out the other day we needed gas, so I pulled into a gas station. Big H said, "Hey what are you doing?"
"I'm getting gas."
"No gas. Get drinks."

And now for a story about Craig.

Craig had a good interview with Standard Optical on Saturday. We are hoping and praying that we hear good news come Thursday. Its sounds like everything went really well and we really could use this job. So, wish him luck!

Abscess Anyone?

I guess my little boy felt sorry for his mom. She was down and out, longing to purchase some cute Halloween decorations so the house could look marvelously decked out. He decided he should do something about it, and made a Halloween decoration out of himself.

Honestly, the pictures don't show how incredibly creepy this thing was in person.





At first I thought it was a hernia or a boil. My mom said boil, and tried to lance it-- that didn't go well since he screamed in pain if you just touched it. Craig came home and said hernia, and took him to the Insta-Care. The Insta-Care doctor said it was an abscess, and sent Craig to the ER-- where they were supposed to do a sonogram to see how deep it was, and possibly lance it.

Instead they gave him an antibiotic shot, and sent them home with a prescription. Thank you ER doctors for charging us more to do what the Insta-Care could've done, for not following through with what we came there for in the first place and for making the wait just as long as if you had followed through. Hopefully Baby M is still covered by Medicaid.


They said they couldn't lance it because where the infection is actually coming to the surface was too small. It's probably a good thing because they would have put him under.

Of course I would have liked to put him under when it finally came time for the abscess to drain. He pulls hair, he squirms, he kicks and he cries. I finally got it to start draining, despite Baby M's best efforts-- that baby is seriously strong.

It was a rough few days. At least when Baby M is sick he just gets really cuddly and sleeps a lot. He also didn't want to be put down, which made things hard. Even with the "sick time" cuddling I was happy to see that sweet smile again.



So once, or twice a day, we check for a head, drain what we can and stick a crying Baby M in a hot bath with some Epsom Salt. Fun times!



Next time you want to help mom, with Halloween decorating, just ask Dad to take you to the dollar store. OK Sweetie?

You With Those Sad Eyes

The twins were sick recently-- I'm sure the baby was too, but it just wasn't as obvious with him. We spent a night up with them changing sheets and cleaning up throw up. I thought they were all better the next day, but then Little H woke up with swollen swollen eyes. The swelling had gone down a little by the time I took this photo. He seriously had the saddest eyes I had ever seen.

Do you see this happy guy? Yes its true this is my grumpy, colicky baby.



You could hardly recognize him these days. Well at least I hardly recognize him. Most other people hardly got a hint of his fussiness. We still have to deal with the acid reflux. And now we have a constipation issue, but we're getting it under control. At first I thought it was something he was eating. But then I decided, after several diet changes, it was probably just another lovely trait of the digestive system he was born with. So we've added prune juice to his diet. We also give him a go-gurt for dinner. He has been getting happier and happier so I think it's working. I'm hoping it works because our other option is to change to a low iron formula, as the doctor suggested. I really don't want to change his formula so lets hope he stays happy.

May 11, 2010: The Ickies, The Sickies and The Boo Boo's

On Monday, when I returned to work, I learned that 2 other teachers had spent the weekend with the same stomach flu that I had

On Tuesday, Craig woke up in the early morning hours with a Stomach Ache. I knew it was probably best to call into work and stay home. This ended up being very much for the best because I soon discovered that both the boys had thrown up during the night- and boy did it smell awful. I got them all cleaned up and then ran to the store for the usual stomach flu run: Pepto, Sprite and Gatorade.

The pack n' play was out of commission for the day so the boys had to share a bed. Poor little sick boys :(



Later that day my Mom reported that my brother and sis-in-law had both come down with something- along with my Dad who came home from work early.

On Wednesday, my nephew's friend's birthday was canceled because he was sick. My mom had come down with something the night before and called into work sick.

Then, on Thursday, to top it all off Little H fell and hit his head on the side walk. Ouch!



Fun week for all of us huh?

January 24-30, 2010: Just to Catch You Up!

Last week was a fun week for us.

Craig and I gave talks in church on Sunday. We had to talk on Faith and Testimony. Craig did a wonderful job. I, however, never refer to my public speaking moments as anything close to wonderful.

The boys finally got over their colds, which was such a relief for everyone.

The boys also discovered Ruby's dog dishes. Big H plays in the water and Little H eats the food. Big H has been known to sneak a few bites himself :P

We learned that Little H can crawl up at least one step, and he's starting to pull himself up to the standing position.

On Saturday Craig and I took my parents to the "Sherlock Holmes" movie with some gift cards we had from Christmas. We all really enjoyed the film. Thank you to my Aunt Salonna for watching the boys so we could enjoy a get away to the movies!

We also learned that the boys like fruit loops. . .a lot!

September 12 and 21, 2009: The Boys Are such good Helpers

A couple Saturdays ago, after receiving my Grandma's Pumpkin party invite, I sat down and started working on our Halloween costumes. Apparently the party will be on the 26th of September which left me with very little time to put things together. Well Little H got fussy so I put him on my lap, and he decided he wanted to help. He was pulling and playing with the tulle. Putting it in his mouth on occasion. It was adorable! He wasn't as into it when we decided to pull out the camera, but we got a couple cute pics.



He loved the tulle so much I gave a scratch piece I had in my drawer. He played with it for a bit and then he threw up on it.

The next day his daddy wrapped it around his head for some cute pics!



The poor little boy had just gotten back from the doctor. The instacare doc said he seemed happy and healthy, but that he might be starting to get a respiratory virus that's been going around. He sounded so horrible that weekend. He was so congested, and he wouldn't drink anything. I'm still yet to find out what the deal is with that boys congestion.


The boys have also been helping me walk my nephew to kindergarten. I took these pics on Monday, but they help me everyday.




Such cute boys!

July 27 through 30, 2009: That's Just The Way It Is

I don't know how many times I've requested for things to just slow down, but they never do. I guess I'll have to get used to it.

Here's a summary of our week of parties, new toys and house shopping.

Big H continues to have teething woes. Giving him a damp cloth to chew on is the best solution I've come up with so far.



Big H just loves his Daddy! He's so happy when Daddy comes home.



You should have seen him at church on Sunday. It was the sweetest thing! Craig was teaching and Big H was trying so hard to get his attention. He'd talk a little and then he'd fling his arms about. Big H, not Craig. It was adorable!

Tuesday was one of our nephew's birthdays. He turned 5. He was so excited for his party!



Happy Birthday Big P!



Little H playing with a balloon.



Big H loved watching the boys play with those balloons. He was laughing his head off



I normally love any excuse to eat that delicious Costco cake, but I had to sit out this time. I had spent all night- or morning technically- battling the 24 flu. I honestly would rather go through labor, and have a c-section again, than deal with the 24 hour flu, or food poisoning I guess. I'm never quite sure what to call it. I just know it is my worst enemy.

Wednesday was totally up in the air. I was feeling better, and my mom had the day off, so we decided to get lunch and then, hopefully, end up in the pool. Well we ended up: babysitting for my SIL, eating lunch, running to stores looking for teething items, picking up my car and running to more stores looking for teething items. We never made it to the pool, but I got some fun new stuff for the boys, and some things for me.



The boys got this fancy new toy. I would have liked to get them one that has stuff they can kick too, but these things get expensive fast.



They must like it because I can't get them to look at me.



Now they're bored, so they'll look at me. I even get a smile!




We bought a booster seat to see how it would work out. This is Big H's way of telling me he needs a little more practice.



The boys got some new outfits because they were on sale for a very good price.



And finally, after searching and searching, I found a decently priced bed set, that matches my curtains.

Today the boys and I played with our new toys, and Craig and I found out that our housing search must indeed go on. *Sigh* The worst part was the guy we had to go through to get approved was not too kind with the rejection. I kind of chewed him out. I don't know if he'll keep the piece of my mind I tried to give him, but he'll at least have something to talk about at dinner ;)

You don't needlessly stress out a mom with twins. Just a fair warning ;)