The One With the 5 Years

5 years!

Yup, that's right people, Eric and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on September 22nd. It was awesome!!!

Actually, that's not true, our actual anniversary was a Thursday, which is Eric's late day at work. So the actual anniversary went a little more like this:

I stayed at home with the kids until 8:30 when Eric got home, put them to bed, got in bed myself and sat up and played sudoku and watched something on TV while Eric did homework . . . ..  LAME HUH?

Yeah kind of. Totally sad that at 5 years we are already boring adults that have to put life before fun anniversary tasks. 

But Eric is pretty awesome. He called me from work one day and said, "Hey we're going out of town on Friday, pack a bag." Mr. Eric knows that I am not a surprise person, how sweet!!! That's not entirely true, I like surprises. But if it involves me needing an overnight bag which I wouldn't have if it was a surprise . . . . that equals me not being so happy a camper. 

He told me he booked a room at the Hunt Lodge in McCall and that we were headed out of town for the weekend, SANS KIDS!!!! YES!

Well, being without kids is easier said than done. My parents are awesome, and live close, and Eric worked out with them beforehand that the would watch the kiddos while we were gone. But when me, as a mother, being used to having those little nuggets around me 24/7, even at work, even in the bathroom, isn't around them COLD TURKEY it gets a little crazy in my head. Especially when you factor in that we have our little Preslie who has had the most ridiculous year and has pretty much made me vow to never let her out of  my sight or I am almost absolutely sure something crazy will happen and she will die. Didn't help much that when Eric came and picked me up at work, and I told her bye, she turned around to Papa and Grandma waved and said bye and then made a beeline for the door like she was supposed to be coming with us. Didn't help when she started crying either when we said she had to stay. Or when she sat at the door yelling mommy as I drove off. . . . . so sad! So yes, I am not opposed to admitting that I missed both of my kids lots, and still found myself talking about them while Eric and I tried to have a romantic weekend away. (Romantic? HAH! Sure, try to have romance at 7 months pregnant.)

Eric picked me up from work about 4 o'clock on Friday and we headed off - amidst screaming wails from our little diva. McCall is about a two hour drive, and we talked the ENTIRE TIME! I love that! I love that everyone talks about when you get married, you eventually run out of things to talk about. Well, 5 years isn't anywhere close to 25 or 50, but I feel like Eric and I can talk like no other. We talk about everything, and I mean legitimately TALK about it. Get opinions, and laugh, and smile, and flirt, and joke around. He's pretty cute if you ask me. 

Anyways, so finally we rolled up into McCall, checked in at our hotel, which came complete with a KING BED! Heck yes! We have had a queen since we got married, we've been talking about upgrading, but every time I think of having to get a new bed frame, new mattress/box spring, PLUS all new bedding, the cost starts to sound outrageous and I start thinking of all the other things we coudl do with that money, like pay Preslie's hospital bills, or build a deck, or charter a plane to the Netherlands. Up to this point, it has been put on the bottom of a rather long list, but I will sure miss that king bed now! 

Then we went to dinner at Lardo's. LOVE IT! Love their prime rib dip sandwiches, and their french fries that look like chips, it is delicious! Then we drove around McCall and looked at all the places I remembered from when I was growing up and would go up to visit my grandparents. We drove and talked some more, geez, you'd think we would run out of things to say. Then we went back to the hotel and sprawled out on that king bed and watched TV it was awesome. 

WE went to Pancake house for breakfast the next day and walked around McCall - there isn't much to see on ground - and just relaxed a bit. It was nice to get away for a bit and be without the kiddos. Thank you to my amazing hubby for getting me away for a little bit! :)

The One With The Poo In the Tupperware

So Preslie has had the runs for almost a month. Really it's sad, her but has gotten so raw that it literally bleeds every time I have to wipe her. The only reason why I even know it has been so long is because I KNOW for a fact that she had the runs when she went to her first day of primary on August 21st. Well then on the 25th we went to the doctor's office for just the normal shots and well check and were told that there was a virus running around little kids and she had probably gotten it, we shouldn't be too worried. 

I think from now on I'm just going to look at the doctor and say, "Okay, what the worst case scenario? K, let's treat for that." Cause it seems like no matter what it is, with Preslie it is always worse case scenario. 

So last Friday I called and talked to the nurse who said, "Really, it's been 3 weeks?" Yup it sure has, three weeks of going through a case of diapers a week, more wipes than should be humanly possible, the worst smells ever, diaper cream, screaming shaking little girl . . . . really it has been sad. So she says well don't feed her juice (okay we'll stop that), get this calmoseptine cream for her bum (got it and it works WONDERS) and if the diarrhea hasn't stopped by Monday give us a call. I always love that, it's been going on for three weeks and you think it will just magically stop in three more days? Really? REALLY! ha ha

So the weekend goes through and we give her nothing but Crystal Light instead of juice, and she won't drink milk anymore so we didn't need to switch to soy or anything, and give her a ton of rice which amazingly she actually loves! You know the BRAT diet - bananas, rice, apples, and toast. Well I didn't think she'd eat any of those, but apparently rice she will. Sunday I changed a dirty diaper 5 times - just during the three hours of church! Not to mention the ones at home.

Monday comes and, what's that? no dirty diaper? All day? NO WAY! I guess those crazy doctors were right. Well, med school will get you those smarts.

Then Tuesday rolls around and straight out of bed she has a dirty diaper, but it was a slightly more "formed" (sorry for the gross out) than what it had been, not full on or anything, but a little bit so I let it go. But then at work it just started getting yucky again, so I called the doctor, who of course is out on Tuesdays (hence why they said call Monday - HELLO!). Wednesday, first thing, the doctor calls and says, hmm do you want to do a stool sample? I think that's probably best now, okay let's do it. She says she'll call it in to St. Luke's Meridian, and I can just take it there.

But wait doctor? What the heck? How am I supposed to do this? It's not like I can really monitor an 18 month old and stick a cup under her when she poos. And I know you have to have particular containers, do I just use mine? She says get a sterile container and "spoon" some of the diaper into the container, then seal it up and deliver it to the hospital. So now the waiting game is on. When Preslie got up a little bit later she was dirty, but the diaper was extremely wet from the entire night of sleeping that there really was no saving it. So here's my fingers crossed for another dirty diaper . . . . .  wait really? I'm HOPING for that?

Well about 30 minutes later there was another one. In the process of trying to clean her up, with her bum bleeding of course, I'm sitting there trying to figure out where to put the dirty wipes. In the diaper? uh, no, cause I have to start spooning things out of that, on the wipe box? No, that seems gross. I end up settling on a hand towel that was sitting on the floor. I get her all cleaned up and send her on her way and arm myself with the spoon. I had purposely chosen a cheap, stupid spoon. Not one from our nice set of utensils, but one from a cheap set we got right after we were married so that we at least didnt' have to shovel things into our mouths. 

So here I am, dish-washer wilted some form of metal scraggle spoon in hand picking up a diaper with diarrhea in it and debating the best ways to spoon it out and into this tupperware. I decide there is no lady like way to do it and just dive in, scrapping and scrapping and then taking the spoon over the the tupperware, where of course, everything on the spoon is stuck and doesn't want to come off. Uhh . . . . . tap tap tap. I'm not swiping that off the spoon like you do with brownie mix. 

Well finally I get a bit in the bottom of this tupperware, and am seriously hoping it will be enough of a "sample" for them to test, because there isn't anything left in the diaper for me to get out. Seriously this is runny, it soaks up into the diaper - that's what I pay for these new aged diaper things for! And now I am under a 2 hour time limit, get myself ready, get the kids ready, and drive 45 minutes to the hospital before this sample "expires". By the grace of god I make it. 

The tech at the counter seemed super excited to be taking my brown paper sack filled with remnants of my daughter's intestines. He says, "you know we have containers here that you can use." Uh no I didn't know that, but thanks for telling me that AFTER the fact Junior. Then he says, "I'm assuming you don't want this tupperware back though?" "You would be correct. I also threw away the spoon that got it out, the rag that held the wipes, and the piece of carpet where her butt was sitting."

He tells me that the results will take 72 hours. So I go home where the kids go down for a nap and I do some minimal house cleaning before we leave for Activity Days at 4. At 5:30, three hours after the sample drop off, I get home from Activity Days and find that I have a message on my phone from guess who, the doctor's office! Well, there really is no bigger way to tell that they found SOMETHING than when they tell you the results will be 72 hours and they're calling you 3 hours later. 

Answering machine: "Wa wa wa, blah blah blah, Preslie has c-diff, advanced, treat now, wa wa wa call us immediately." Oh GOODIE!

So I call them, but of course they are closed, get transferred to the downtown office but they have to verify dosing with the doctor. What pharmacy do you want, well we're headed to WalMart send it there, oh but only a few pharmacies can make this (what is this a bomb? Geez!) so it takes the doctor's office two hours to track down what pharmacy in the area will do it - WALGREEN'S!. We go to pick it up, and the guy says, well it is going to take another two hours to finish being made. Seriously, what kind of ingredients and chemical reactions are going into this stuff? 

Finally we get the drugs, which by some miracle cost less than $20 (probably the first prescription she's ever gotten that was less than fifty bucks) and have started the process. Here's the good news:

 

*She has to have it 4 times a day, every six hours. But no you can't give it to her when she wakes up, lunch time, snack time and before bed. No it has to be at precise six hour intervals, so we get to wake her up in the middle of the night. 

*C-Diff is EXTREMELY contagious! But only fecal to oral - meaning don't eat her poop. Uh oh mom, you k now that incident the other night when you were bite tickling Preslie's leg after she apparently had an "episode" and you tasted not so great things? Ya, if you start running out the end, go see a doctor.

*C-diff is resistant to all alcohol-based cleaning products. So instead of just being able to lysol the entire house down to kill the bacteria so the rest of us don't get it, we get to wash the entire house down with soap and water. 

*C-diff is usually only found in adults in long term care facilities - kind of like the leukemia is found in old people - so apparently our daughter is an old soul. They think this was brought on by all the medication she was on, it killed all the good bacteria in her intestines and allowed bad bacteria to take over. 

*My OB/GYN said I shouldn't even be changing her diapers, Eric should be doing it. Uh my husband works all day, should I just let her sit in it till he gets home? No but wear rubber gloves. Oh. Good. 

The One Where Parker Gets Old

So yesterday, I looked at Parker as he was three days old and rolling off our couch.

Today, I looked at him and he is old.

It makes my heart hurt that he is getting to be so old . . . it means I am getting old. It seems crazy to think that when this baby in my tummy is 4 Parker will be almost nine! That makes me depressed.

He is getting so old and grown up, and such a huge helper!



The One That's All About Preslie

Oh Preslie, Preslie, Preslie.

How I love thee.

I love that whenever you are hiding from me, I can always find you here.

Seriously, one of these days I may forget to look for you there, so keep it up and we'll have a great game of Hide and seek.

I love that no matter how much I brush your hair out of your face, or even slick it back with gel, that it always ends up looking like this

Or like this without your binky

I love that when we send you to the corner you immediately run over and pretend to cry

But really you are laughing at us and your face looks like this

I love that you are getting into the swing of sleeping in a big girl bed, even if that means that when I go in to check on you at one in the mornign that you are asleep on the floor in the middle of your room. I love that you always want to give my 5 and hugs and kisses. I love that in the morning when i hear that you are awake and go to get you, that I find you in your big brother's room smacking him until he wakes up to play with you.

PLEASE DON'T GROW UP!!!!



The One With All of Preslie's Swim Suits

I have always been the type who thinks one swim suit is enough. I usually only have one swim suit. Well until I got married and stopped growing and now I have two different ones. We only ever buy Parker one swimming suit for the summer, it seems pointless to spend money on more than one when we are hardly ever in a situation where they need it. Which is really pretty sad, that in the entire summer Parker used to only get in a swim suit two or three times. I guess that's why he was so painfully white.

Well, this summer has been different. Every Tuesday night we have a dinner at my Grandma Carpender's house, and my grandpa always fills up this make shift wade pool that the kids love. And Preslie has turned into such a little water baby, and it has been SO hot, that we got a little pool from WalMart for the kids to pla in out back as well as a sprinkler, and so on any given week they are probably spending at least 2 days out there. It has shown us that indeed our kids can get tan, which is quite a revelation to us!

Well the other day I was looking through pictures and noticed this, and then I was putting clothes away in Preslie's room and noticed it again. This girl has a ridiculous amount of swim suits! Like 4 that fit her currently, and I have one for next year already. I guess she needs to be a swimmer or something.

This pineapple one from Crazy 8 is the first one I bought her.

 Then this one from Carter's that I LOVE! I love how it fits, I love the colors and the design, and I love love LOVE the diaperless liner!!!

 I think this one is probably my favorite swim suit of hers  . . .. . you know, keeping it cheap.

 Grammy Kellie and Papa Marshall got her this swim suit, it is cute, and easy to get on and off, which is nice. I'm missing a picture of the last suit my mom got her, I'll have to see if I can snap another one before the summer is over.



The One Where Preslie Eats Peaches

My parents have a few fruit trees on their property, and while the apple tree has really yet to provide anything really amazing, the peach tree is almost always overly abundant. The branches have literally hit the floor as the weight from all the fruit drags them down, it looks like a weeping peach tree. So my parents always let anyone and everyone come and pick them, and this year, although Eric only likes fresh peaches, we grabbed some and I made some jam and canned it. I'm thinking maybe eventually it will be good on pancakes or in some sort of peach tart or something. I'm sure Eric will never eat it, he's weird, and doesn't like fruity desserts . . . . which I LOVE! So this makes me sad because either I don't end up making cobbler and get sad, or I end up makign the cobbler and eating the entire thing by myself and this also, obviously, makes me sad.

Well, while we were picking peachs with my mom and Grandma Lewis we turned around and Preslie was just eating a peach. Just standing there, holding a peach that hadn't been washed, that she'd probably picked up off the ground, fuzzy skin still on and all, taking bites and chomping them up. It was hilarious and ridiculously cute. I wish that we had our camera to take a picture of it. She probably ate four of them while we were up there talking and picking. I doubt if the ones she was eating were even very ripe, but she still chowed away, eating all the way down to the pit.

When we got home and the next couple of days were peeling and cutting them all up for jam, she kept comign up to us at the kitchen sink and saying "SOME!!!" yelling and stretching her hand out. So we set her up at the table and gave her one. I just love how she decided to eat it.



The One With Parker's Smashed Face

So our weeks are pretty crazy now.

We have family night on Monday with just us, although usually there is something that we HAVE to get done. Then Tuesdays are always family dinner, Wednesdays Eric has mutual, Thursday is Eric's late night at work, and then Friday we TRY (key word being try) to go on a date, or do something fun.

Well this week Eric's Wednesday mutual activity was right after work, so he didn't get to come home before, which means I had the kids from when he left at 7:30 till he got home at 8:30, umm, no fun. Well, my kiddos are pretty awesome, so it's not terrible, but you know how sometimes you just need that adult conversation?!?! Yes that happens. And Parker, he tries to have adult conversations, I mean the kid talks all the time, it's pretty crazy, but it's just not the same when the person your talking to says things like "shish one" (which one) etc, etc. 

Then Thursday was his late night, so once again, no daddy til after 8.

Well I was doing pretty good Thursday, got home, played a little, ate some ramen noodles (seriously I LOVE that my kids LOVE these, cheap and easy on the nights daddy is gone in this house) played some more. I was just getting into cleaning the house up while the kids were playing on the stairs, it's like a jungle gym for them, when all of a sudden Parker starts freaking out and runs to me with blood dripping out of his mouth - like really, he could have been a monster on a horror movie or something with how much was coming out.

We go upstairs I start getting him cleaned up and look at his teeth, AWESOME that BOTH front teeth are wiggling like little worms. GREAT! All I can think about is my brother Bryson who got his tooth almost knocked out when he was younger and the tooth died, and then he just had this brown tooth in his mouth - apparently it's not a GREAT idea to just pull them because it might interfere with the development of his permanent teeth. So SAD!!!!

I loved my little Parker man's smile! And now he might have two brown teeth. Hello awesomeness for having a father in law that is a dentist! I called him, he said if the teeth did go brown he would take care of them so the weren't brown. I love that we don't have to pay for dental work! It is amazing! 

So today, checking his mouth this is what I see: He's got quite the gum bruise, which is weird, cause I didn't even think your gums could bruise. And he has this line in his gums above his front two teeth. I can't tell if it looks like his teeth are already turning brown because I'm so afraid that is what is going to happen, or if it's because they are actually turning brown. 

In other news, Preslie has the most depressing diaper rash. She has had runny diapers since August 18th (yes I know this sounds like forever) but apparently there is just a virus running amok so we have just been dealing with it . . . but man that acidic diaper stuff is tearing off her cute bum! I feel so sad for her. Doctor said if it's not better by Monday to bring her in. Our little med case daughter, it's a dang good thing she's so freaking cute or else I would have an issue paying all her medical bills. 

She also has started going to the corner . . . of her own free will. The other day Parker got in trouble and Eric said "Go to the corner" and Preslie dropped everything and ran to the wall and put her face against it. It's pretty cute, and we think it's hilarious, so we have to show all our family and friends. So even if she looks at someone the wrong way we tell her go to the corner, and then everyone laughs, cause it's funny . . . . . hopefully she won't be traumatized for life. We have some pretty cute pictures of it, I'll have to get home and put them up. 

Her hair has grown RIDICULOUSLY long. I hope it thickens up soon, then there will be SO many more things to do with it. I also hope she learns to sit still while I do her hair, that would be nice. 

Other pictures I need to put up? Our backyard. We have done some serious work out there the past couple of weekends. Pulled up some grass to create a border along the fence, and planted some flowers and stuff. Right now it doesn't look amazing cause all the plants are little and haven't grown to their full potential yet, but I can imagine what it is going to look like when everything grows in, it will look great!!

And tonight is date night! YES!