The One With the Diva's Birthday

I cannot believe that this little princess is now three years old!

Looking back I can't really say the last three years have gone by fast, but it sure seems like that sometimes. This little girl is the most amazing little blessing that has ever come into our lives, she has taught us so much about faith in our Heavenly Father's plan for us, and how to hold on to and love the moments we do have with our children - they truly do not last forever, although I am grateful I will get to spend eternity with them.

 

Preslie is full of spunk.

Though she is but little, she is fierce.

I know everyone seems to be saying that about their daughters nowadays, but that statement is so fitting for this little girl. She is this little ball of independent fire all wrapped into a gorgeous, under three feet tall, package.

She is a fiery one.

She knows what she wants.

She knows when she wants it.

She is also one of the most loving little girls I have ever met, she is forgiving, and she is always concerned when others are sick.

 

Preslie's birthday was a little rough this year.

After Christmas, and Paxton's birthday party, a crazy trip to Portland, school, church, etc etc etc (does the list really ever end???) it seemed like an impossible task to pull of the typical HUGE birthday parties that I like to.

It didn't help either that Preslie's idea of what she wanted her birthday to be like changed daily hourly.

Strawberry Shortcake

Minnie Mouse

Hello Kitty

My Little Pony

Tea Party

 

I think she may have even asked for a princess pirate one in there somewhere. It was a little nuts. I kept thinking that as we got closer she would eventually decide on one, but she didn't. And if I tried to say "I think we should do [this] one" and it wasn't what she wanted at that moment, it started a sobbing fest.

 

It ended up being finals week for BOTH Eric and I as well (all this schooling will be worth it eventually, right???) so we really ended up doing it a lot more low key than I probably would have liked. I do plan on taking her and some family and friends out to a little cafe here that does tea parties, she is obsessed with teapots at the moment.

 

In the end we didn't do too much of any theme. We aren't HUGE cake eaters so we had strawberry shortcake with raspberry mouse. When we went to the store to get some supplies Preslie found these red velvet cupcakes and swore she had to have them. So we got them for cake instead, added some oreos to make them Minnie Mouse, and TA-DA done!

(for the record, we found these cupcakes at Walmart, they are peanut/tree nut free perfect for my nephew who has a bad allergy and they are delicious!!!)

 

 

Little Miss got spoiled rotten!

Getting Preslie to pose for pictures usually goes a little bit like these next three pictures . . . . she loses interest pretty fast. 

 

 From us this year Preslie got a tricycle to ride at grandma and grandpa's while we are at work, a pillow car just like Paxton's to ride while we are at home, the entire Strawberry Shortcake collection (insane), TONS of clothes, a sleeping bag (that she never wants to get out of), shoes, and underwear (That's right folks, we now are completely potty trained!).



 

I am so grateful to have this gorgeous little miracle girl eternally sealed to us. She is my favorite little princess!



The One With McDonalds

Eric has been working at University of Phoenix for a little over 18 months now. It's been awesome. I really don't think I could ever express how great this job has been for us. Discounted schooling. Regular paychecks. And MEDICAL BENEFITS! Man! With all the surgeries we've had in the past six months we could have easily been bankrupt if we had private insurance.

University of Phoenix is going through some "restructuring" right now. Although the company is extremely profitable (grossing over several billions of dollars last year) new restrictions are pushing them to layoff thousands of employees. About 9 months ago they laid off over a thousand employees and shut down 125 campuses over the country. And ever since they have been letting go of a few hundred people per month.

The Idaho campus will be fine. Of that we are pretty sure. And as long as the Idaho campus remains open I think Eric would have a job. He's relied on pretty heavy there, and involved in a bout a bajillion committees. That being said, uncertainty kind of sucks! And when people think there is a possibility there job is on the line, they can go kind of nuts!

When Eric got told from a friend (and former UofP employee) that Simplot was hiring, he applied. Eric interviewed . . . along with six other people, several of which actually worked at the plant already, but in the end Eric was offered the job. Like we really thought that wouldn't happen??? Our entire marriage shows that if Eric interviews for a job, he gets it . . . . at least it's never happened otherwise. What can I say, he's a charmer!

This last Monday, February 25th was his first day on the job. He worked Monday and Tuesday, and now he starts in the shift the guy whose job he took over was in: GRAVEYARDS!!!! YUCK! Good thing is they rotate the work schedules every quarter, so he only works graveyards until April instead of a solid three months, which is nice. Technically this job he took is temporary - basically his job is to shut down the plant in April of 2014 as they are combining three plants into one state of the art facility. Sounds a little nuts to take a job you know has an end date, right? Well he could move to the new plant, and he could get one of a thousand other jobs at Simplot, they are a HUGE company! Plus the pay increase was rather large, so I think we can make it work. They told him Simplot takes care of their own and if he's good (which we know he is) there will always be a spot for him.

When Eric told the kids he was no longer working at University of Phoenix they were pretty bummed. Parker asked Eric what his new job was like. Eric said he was now the plant manager for Simplot and Simplot makes things out of potatoes like french fries and they sell them to placed like McDonalds.

Now Parker's favorite thing to tell people is how his dad works at McDonald's. From collegiate suit-wearing graduate to khaki loving potato eater in one fail swoop. People will think we are nuts. But for the record  . . . . it's not McDonald's it is SIMPLOT! :)

The One With Helen Keller

Yes . . . . it's been a solid month with no postings. . . .  I know, it's bad.

I keep thinking "once we get past 'such and such date' things will finally slow down". Only it's like a mirage, and after such and such date occurs there are really ten more things that have to happen before life will slow down. I guess I'm finally starting to realize that the concept of life slowing down is really just a joke and I should put on my big girl underwear and get used to it. Time to master life.

Tuesday, January 29th we went in for Preslie's post-op after her second surgery for the tumor removal. Lots of good news - finally. Incision is healing great, and everything came back completely benign! Two thumbs up! This girl doesn't get many good doctor visits, but that's starting to look up too!

Wednesday Eric and I went and sat at a hearing doctor's office for like three hours. It was insanely long and mostly boring. Basically Eric has been deaf since approximately 3 minutes after I met him. I'm pretty sure Eric has "selective" hearing . . . . as in he can hear when he wants to hear, but anything I say something like "it'd be awesome if you'd clean the bathroom" somehow that gets missed. All kidding aside Eric is a great husband! But I have been trying to lower the loudness of my voice for the past six years (a loud voice seems to be genetic in my family), and Eric constantly saying "What???" is making it hard to keep to minimum decibels.

After an excruciatingly long doctor's visit that really left me wondering "why the heck am I here???" the doctor finally hit us with this one: Eric has a Vestibular Schwannoma . . . . also known as an Acoustic Neuroma. . . . also known as a small, slow growing tumor on the acoustic nerve that goes from the ear to the brain.

Another tumor? In this family? NO WAY!

I've reached the point where it doesn't even surprise me anymore. Instead of shock I move to - okay who do we call to get it removed? I don't even ask cost either, because who cares??? This is is hearing right?? Since it's so slow growing they are going to watch it for a bit. We head back to see Dr. Van for an MRI and his opinion of how to proceed. Southwest Idaho ENT must adore us and all the money we hand over to them.

Monday - post op. Tuesday - another tumor. We are on a roll.

Wednesday Eric had is yearly visit with his eye doctor. Last December (2011) Eric went in right before Paxton was born and got glasses. He's severely color blind but apparently a bit far-sighted as well so he got glasses. In the entire year he's had them I think I've seen him wear them three times. They look awesome so he should wear them more. But mostly he wears them for looking at a computer and driving.

This time the eye doc hugely dilated his eyes and kept him for a whopping two hours for an appointment that was only supposed to be about 30 minutes. Why you may ask? Well the answer is simple . . . . Eric has glaucoma.

Yes you know, that thing that only old people get where the pressure in the eye builds up so much that it makes them go blind???? Yes, that. My 29 year old husband in the past two months has gotten shingles which only old people get, glaucoma which only old people get, and a rare tumor in his head. The luck we have in the Marshall house will be legendary.

The way I see it, within about 15 years I will be married to Helen Keller - no sight, no hearing . . . we've already started learning how to sign into each others hands.

Kidding.
But only kind of.

Good news is that nowadays glaucoma is pretty easy to treat. They give you some eye drops that decrease ocular pressure, so that should be nice. Plus glaucoma is one of the most popular diseases that can receive a prescription for medical marijuana. So if all else fails in the career world we can always have a career as a dealer.

The One With the Removal

We spent the weekend at home. Lying low and taking care of a prety sick Paxton.

Sadly the "Fun Family Saturday" we had planned to do with the kids right before Preslie's surgery was a no go.

We hadn't said anything to the kids though so luckily they didn't know they missed out on anything.

Monday morning we got up way too early.

We had planned on having our amazing babysitter watch Parker and Pax while we were at the surgery, but with Pax being so sick, and not wanting to expose her we cancelled and my Mom watched the kids instead.

We dropped them off about 7:15 and drove to the doctor's office.

Preslie actually seemed kind of excited to go to "her surgery".

I think the fact that this one was planned made it easier for us to talk it up to her beforehand and made the whole process just a little less horrifying for her.

In the car ride on the way over this conversation happened:
Preslie: Is my angel going to be there?

Me (assuming she was talking about angels): Of course there will be angels there to protect you.

Preslie: No my AUNT Angel. Will my Aunt Angel be there?

This made my day, and I'm sure it made Angel's too.

She was pretty concerned that after that last surgery Preslie would hate her.

Turns out she has become Preslie's security blanket.

And Preslie was pretty disappointed Aunt Angel couldn't come. This time the surgery was happening in a surgery center instead of the hospital where Angel works.

Preslie: Dr. Van is my best friend!

That's what she told all the nurses and staff at the surgery center. It was pretty cute. She absolutely ADORES that doctor, which is awesome considering how scared she typically is of doctors anymore.

We sat outside in the waiting room for about 5 minutes, then they took us back to the pre-op room and got her all fixed up. They let her decorate her anesthesia mask which she thought was pretty fantastic. And then they took her away.

EARLY.

The surgery was scheduled for 8:45 and they came and grabbed her at 8:15.

It was probably best that I wasn't sitting there counting down the minutes. Instead right after we visited with the nurse, the anesthesiologist, and "Dr. Van", they came right out and took Preslie back.

I thought for sure she would have a melt down when the took her.

WRONG AGAIN!

She did awesome, and I was so proud. She went right to the nurse, and said "Dr. Van is my best friend. He's going to cut the bug out!" And the nurse fell in love with Miss Preslie . . . as most of them do.
The surgery ended up talking a little over an hour. They came out and got us right after Preslie came out since they heard how much she screamed and yelled waking up from anesthesia after her first surgery. Once again though Preslie was amazing. I was prepared for a screaming little girl again, but instead I got to hold her for about 20 minutes and then we slowly prodded her awake. She was a champ and just perfect.

Dr. Van came to talk to us. He told us the "tumor" they removed was about the size of a dime - much bigger than I had thought. We have a post-op appointment with him next Tuesday. We should know what pathology of the tumor looks like by then - though I am pretty sure it will be benign. Preslie had taken her little Lalaloopsy bear back to surgery with her, Dr. Van put a little steri-strip on the bear's chin just like where Preslie's was. He is a quiet man, but we just love him and love that he goes the extra mile to make Preslie feel comfortable and cared for.

We are hoping this is IT in the Marshall house for awhile, but we are so grateful to have our little girl happy, healthy, and to have this little family on the mend!

The Lalaloopsy set my Sister got me an awesome deal on. It is adorable. We gave it to Preslie in the waiting room and she LOVED it and has not stopped playing with it since. The little bear even went back to surgery with her and got a steri-stip in the exact same spot her stitches are in.

Preslie practicing using her mask.

Day after the surgery, it is bleeding a bit today, but looks so much better without her "button".



The One With the Dinner Gift

The other day at work Parker and Preslie were playing house.

I love when they play nicely together, it is my favorite.

Parker came racing into my office and says to me, "Preslie made me dinner, so I gave her a gift!"

 

He was so super excited and proud of himself.

Which was awesome.

I also thought how awesome it would be if every time I made dinner I got a gift. . . . . 

The One With the Bad Juju

Here in the Marshall house we have some bad juju.

Or so I am really starting to think.

I am pretty sure people are going to start thinking I either completely make up, or either extremely exaggerate, all of the ridiculous happenings at our house.

 

Remember how Preslie's emergency surgery totaled three surgeries in three months? INSANE! But not over.

Pax was sick with an ear infection that they started to treat on the Friday before Preslie's surgery, so it would have been the 14th of December. From Wednesday the 12th through the 15th we didn't really get any sleep. Paxton is not a happy camper when he is sick.

Most people aren't, of course.

But it makes it especially sad when this little munchkin is typically the life of the party.

 

Then the following week we didn't get awesome amounts of sleep.

Wednesday we saw the doctor for Preslie's neck and Friday we were in the hospital for surgery. She also had antibiotics and pain killers we had to give to her every 4 hours on the dot which meant setting an alarm clock to go off multiple times in a night to go downstairs get the prescription out of the fridge and try to wake her up to get her to swallow it. The next few days didn't consist of much sleep with that either.

And then it was Christmas.

And then it was Paxton's Party.

And then it was that insane trip to Portland that really did more to stress out our mental faculties than lessen them at all. Snow storms and seeing a million car accidents will do that to you.

 

Since we have been back from Portland it has been an endless parade of more doctor visits.

Post-op for Preslie's first surgery.

Paxton's oral therapist returned from maternity leave and wanted to see him.

Paxton's one year check up.

Etc Etc.

 

Friday January 11th Paxton went into see both his therapist and the pediatrician for his one year shots. When I have doctor appointments for the kids on days I work it requires me going in pretty early to try and get everything accomplished beforehand. So where I typically don't get into the office until 9-930, instead I am trying to get there at 8. Which with three kids can be a bit difficult. So that Friday was a bit hectic.

 

Then add in that Eric had developed a small rash on his chest. It looked like a bunch of infected hairs. He showed them first to me on Sunday, and then they just started getting bigger and hurting more. Eric has seen this all before. He tells me he has shingles.

He then tells me that there is nothing they can do for it and decides he won't go into the doctor.

By Friday though he had had enough and set up an appointment anyways.

 

Daddy took Preslie with him, and Parker came with Mommy and Pax to the other appointments.

Where the oral therapist told us she is still worried about Paxton's extremely low weight, and even more worried that he isn't talking at all yet. Pediatrician, in true form, isn't worried "just yet" but maybe next appointment.

And sure enough . . . . Eric has shingles.

The doc put him on some medication he said would help but needless to say he was pretty uncomfortable most of the weekend. It didn't help much that the Concealed Weapons Course we had already planned and paid for on Friday went from a quick 2 hour meeting to a 4 and 1/2 hour long course where we sat on cold hard cafeteria benches.

 

Beginning of this week comes and everyone gets sick with a cold. Nothing too terrible, just runny noses at first, but by Friday Paxton is full on freaking out, not wanting to sleep just miserable. When I realized that the brother of a boy we had come over and played with Parker had Croup I thought possibly Paxton might have it too. So Saturday morning we set up an after-hours appointment with the pediatrician.

 

Paxton didnt' sleep longer than a combined total of 2 hours Friday night to Saturday morning. Eric and I ended up watching most of the first season of The Walking Dead and I watched enough of Downton Abby to become thoroughly addicted. By six on Saturday morning I was fed up with even continuing to sit in bed. It's funny that it seems like nights are the worst. . .  no matter what, they are just terrible. Lack of sleep feels so much worse at night then it does during the day. I think it probably has something to do with the knowledge that right now you are SUPPOSED to be sleeping. Most normal people are sleeping at 4 o'clock in the morning. Eric and I tried to do a tag team effort, have Eric sleep while I was up with pax and then vice versa, but it didnt' work out at all. Paxton freaked out way to many times for either of us to be able to sleep.

 

I called the doctor at 9:30, just having gotten out of the shower, they asked me to be at their office downtown (30 minutes away) at 10:15, when I asked if there was anything later they said sure at 10:30. Bring on freak out mode. Try to get ready, cleaned up, Paxton cleaned up, and in the car with medicine in 30 minutes was a bit insane. And then of course we had an inversion so I couldn't see farther than a hundred or so feet in front of me and traffic, for whatever reason, was terrible.

 

But we got there.

Checked in.

And then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

 

There were two people in the lobby when we showed up.

I wasn't so concerned when they went in before us.

But when a little boy who came in 30 minutes after we did went in before us I was a little concerned.

I still think they forgot to check us in the entire way, but the front desk just said the doctor we were seeing was "behind".

 

At 11:15 (45 minutes after our appointment) we finally got to go back into an exam room.

I think I would have preferred to stay in the waiting room.

In the exam room it was just me and Pax.

Eric had to stay at home with Parker and Preslie.
So Pax and I were alone.

And I was frustrated that things were taking so long.

And our obviously very sick son was non-stop crying.

And I hadn't had any sleep in over 36 hours.

 

And that's when I started to get really down.

The night before we had gotten Preslie's surgery form for her second surgery in the mail.

I read through it, mostly just looking for how much money they wanted before the surgery, but then stopped on the part that said "Excision of tumor from submandibular region".

Tumor.

It's such a dirty word.

Nevermind that most often the tumors they remove are benign, it's still a terrible thought.

And here I was sitting alone in a small room with a screaming child for now an hour past when my appointment was supposed to be. No one there for support. Just Paxton crying. And very much alone.

 

I count myself as a pretty positive person.

I look on the bright side of almost every situation, and when I can't I use massive amounts of sarcasm to downplay it just a bit.

But I think the events of the past couple of months had just started to pile up.

It's like Eric and I are running and we keep saying thinks like "once we get to that tree we can stop running" only we get to that tree and we can't stop, so we say "once we get to that rock we can stop" only we can't stop once we get there either.

 

Once we get through Eric's surgery we will be good.

Once we get through Paxton's surgery we will be good.

Once we get through Paxton's ear infection we will be good.

Once we get through Preslie's emergency surgery we will be good.

Once we get to Portland on these icy roads we will be good.

Once we get hom from Portland on these icy road we will be good.

Once we get through this week full of doctor's appointments we will be good.

Once we get Paxton's weight up we will be good.

Once we get Paxton talking we will be good.

Once we get through Eric's shingles we will be good.

Once we get through Preslie's second surgery we will be good.

 

It's like we keep opening doors just to find another door behind it.

Too many analogies?

Probably.

And in reality, I should be better at recognizing that right now, this minute is GOOD. I can't always look ahead to the future with the idea that then it will be good, I have to enjoy getting there. But sometimes it is hard to remember that.

 

But that is what I was feeling in that room.

All by myself.

With no one to talk to.

 

And then at 11:45 - a full hour and fifteen minutes after the scheduled appointment, the doctor finally came in. She verified that Paxton indeed had another ear infection and said that with how closely the ear infections happened that we might think about putting tubes in his ears (Ya for more surgeries, right?). She then said that she thought it was a good chance he had croup, but that there wasn't anything she could do about it. She also said that she thought he must be sick with something viral.

I think she noticed that I was pretty upset and in talking with me it came out that Eric had shingles. When she found out that his shingles started about two weeks before she said we should check Pax. Sure enough on his bum cheeks right by his diaper are two little red bumps.

I'm not convinced at this point they are Chicken pox. He gets little bumps on his bum like infected hairs quite frequently. I'm sure diapers don't help.

 

But she said that Eric having shingles could easily pass chicken pox to our kids.

And the incubation period for chicken pox is two weeks. Which we are smack dab at two weeks.

Only Parker and Preslie have already had the chicken pox vaccine so they are safe.

Paxton . . . . well they don't give the vaccine until 15 months old.

So no vaccine yet.

Possibility that he has chicken pox: HIGH

 

The doc told us there was nothing she could do even if he does have chicken pox. She said to keep watching and see if he gets more bumps and then to let our normal pediatrician (her associate) know.

She also said that we needed to keep Paxton as far away from Preslie as possible given her surgery on Monday.

 

Once we get through this second ear infection we will be fine.

Once we get through the weekend we will be fine.

Once we get through Preslie's second surgery on Monday we will be fine.

 

I just hope there stops being doors behind doors soon.

 

In the meantime I have an amazing husband to lean on. He let me complain. And he helped out.

I also have an awesome family that looks to help.

And I even have a group of pretty spectacular friends that have all decided when they are coming over to help my insanity.

 

It's hard for me to accept help from others.

I like giving it just fine.

But somehow I feel weak when others give to me.

I should get over it, I know, but that's just me.

 

I am now back to my positive upbeat and "can-do" self. Don't worry. The poor picked on me attitude didn't stay for very long. Right now, at the very least I can be super grateful for the fact that we have such amazing health insurance.

The One With the Tooth Fairy

If you have seen all of Parker's cute pictures with his adorable smile and missing tooth and thought "WHAT?" Parker lost his first tooth on December 4th  . . . and I am just getting around to telling everyone about it. Yes things have been that nuts around this house.

I love his cute gap-toothed smile but it sure scares me that he is getting big enough to lose teeth!!! What will be next? Marriage???