Sick/Injured kids again

So I guess its tradition in my family that on the first day of school the moms go out to breakfast. Even though I don't have kids in school we went with them. It was great, and afterwords we went to walk the river parkway, like we do almost every day. Well, about five minutes into the walk Savannah had to go potty, so my mom and sisters took Lincoln and I took her. When we finished she got into my double jogging stroller and I started running to catch up. After a minute of running it started to feel really shaky, but I figured it was because it was so off balance with just Savannah in there. Well, like 15 seconds later we were suddenly on the ground. The stroller had tipped forward, so Savannah was in the stroller face down on the pavement with the stroller on top of her, and I fell on top of the stroller. After assessing the situation and taking care of Savannah we found that the front wheel had come off the stroller, causing it to flip. In the process the front axle was bent, the foam on the handle bar was ripped, Savannah's whole face was scrapped, her lip was all cut up and swollen, her gums were cut, and we both got a lot of bruises. She was screaming and I felt so bad that I started crying. We managed to make it back to the car with a wheel-less stroller, and I'm waiting to hear back from the stroller company about the incident. I really just want them to fix my stroller so I can start walking/jogging again, but I have to go through their liability department which is taking forever to reach someone. I took these pictures, but really they don't do it justice. She looked 100 times worse.


So, that was Monday.

Because this is us we are talking about, I guess that isn't enough trauma for one week. You may have heard me complain about what a pain Lincoln has been lately? I think we may have found our cause. Last night he was up crying from 1 am until 4:30 am. After a little Motrin I finally got him back to sleep and he slept a good three hours before waking up screaming again. As I was now fully alert, and it was light I noticed that he was pulling at his ear and there was clear, watery liquid coming out of it. Well, he was acting fine as long as he had some Motrin, and I had plans to go to Pilates with my mom, so I gave him another dose and we headed to the gym. He seemed fine when I dropped him off at the childcare, but when I picked him up an hour later he had green crusties all around his ear and green snot looking fluid running from his ear down his neck. Lovely! Seriously snot, puke, poop, then had nothing on this. So, we went home and called the doctor, then to the urgent care we went. The doctor there said that he has so much drainage coming out that the doctor couldn't even see into his ear. He was prescribed antibiotics, numbing ear drops, and I'm supposed to be alternating Motrin and Tylenol. By the time we got home from the doctor his morning dose of Motrin had worn off, and I found that he also has a fever. Oh, and did I mention all he's eaten today is 5 cheerios? So, I gave him the Motrin and the ear drops and put clean bedding on my bed and put him down for a nap. He laid in bed the rest of the day, and I had just given him more ear drops when my mom stopped by to check on him. She noticed that his ear drainage looked a little bloody and suggested that I call the doctor back. After discussing that I checked his pillow and noticed that it has several blood streaks on it. Great, now I'm guessing that the drops are causing his ear to bleed, since both blood incidences have occurred shortly after the drops. Now I get to call back tomorrow and see what they have to say about that.

Yep, its Wednesday, and we are having a Meritorious week... NOT

Farewell Summer

We've had a great summer. Since moving to Utah we hang out with my sisters and mom almost every day. Well, that all ends tomorrow, school starts for my sister, nieces, nephews, and ME! Yep, I'm finally going back to school. When Jesse finished his MOS school and we moved to North Carolina I was in my Senior year at Utah State. Well, since I was pregnant with Savannah the plan was to take a semester off to have Savannah and get settled in NC, then I was going to try to transfer to a school out there and finish. Well, 4 years later I'm going back. I have about 24 credits left, so hopefully I'll graduate next summer. I'm beyond nervous. I'm only taking 9 credits this semester, all online, to try to ease myself back into it.

In other news, Savannah starts preschool in 2 weeks. She will be going to my grandma's preschool 3 afternoons a week for free! Can't beat that. Also both the kids are going to start music lessons that I'm really excited about, and Savannah will be taking dance. I have to go to Lincoln's class with him, which is a bummer, but since he isn't quite 2 I guess that is to be expected.

So, to commemorate the end of summer, here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last few months.















Ok, sorry I got a bit carried away.

Toddler for sale

Lincoln has been very naughty the last few weeks. I think it is his way of reacting to Jesse leaving. Or it could be that he is cutting molars. Or maybe just general almost 2 year old behavior. (I can't believe I just admitted that my BABY is almost 2!) Anyhow he is naughty. Like to the point that I've cried more than once. He hits, kicks, bites, breaks things, runs off, and thinks its hilarious when he gets in trouble. Even my mom who has raised 8 children and has 14 grandkids is amazed at his naughtiness. Yes, he's just a barrel of fun!

Anyhow, the other day I made him some mac n cheese for dinner, then set him up with it at the table while I went to check on Savannah who was taking a very late nap. When I came back he had dumped the whole bowl on the table, chair and floor and was stomping on it. While I was cleaning that up he climbed onto the desk in my bedroom (he climbs up the drawers) and took everything out of my jewelry case and threw it all on the floor. Then he pushed the case off, breaking it. While I was trying to take his picture with his mess he was throwing things at me, then while I was trying to get him to help me clean it up he threw my sewing machine off the desk. And that was just 10 minutes of his typical behavior. So ya if anyone wants him come and get him!

Preschooler for Sale

Where did my sweet little girl go? Savannah will be 4 in 33 days and she is suddenly a back talking, smart mouthed, teenage-wannabe. Her favorite phrase right now is, "Well, I don't care." Here are 2 conversations I had with her today that are pretty representative of life with her.

1: On our way to the grocery store. I'd already explained our plans for the day 3 times. (S is Savannah, M is me)
S: Do you want to go bowling or golfing?
M: We aren't going bowling or golfing. We are going to the store then you are going to Nana's while I get my haircut.
S: Mom, those aren't activities. We have to do an activity. Do you want to go bowling or golfing?
M: We aren't doing an activity today, we have things that have to get done.
S: Well, I don't care. We HAVE to do an activity!
M: Well, we have to get things done, and we are going to the grocery store then you are going to Nana's.

2: On our way home from the store.
M: What do you want for lunch.
S: Macaroni and cheese.
M: I'm not making macaroni and cheese today, pick something else.
S: I only like macaroni and cheese.
M: We aren't having mac n cheese, how about subway or Chinese food?
S: I only like mac n cheese and nothing else!
M: Pick something else or I will pick for you.
S: Well, Cherilyn said I could have mac n cheese (BTW she hasn't even talked to Cherilyn in 2 days)
M: OK then, we are going to Subway.

UGG, there's that and every time I tell her to do something she has some excuse. She is too tired, or she can't, or she doesn't want to. If someone knows some secret to dealing with obstinate preschoolers please share!

For the Twilight Fans

I thought you guys might appreciate these pics. My mom watched my kids while I went to stand in line to buy the book at midnight with two of my sisters, and my littlest sister's friend who is in town from California. Well, the plan was to go to the Barnes and Noble release party, but it was way too crowded. The store was packed, and there were literally thousands on people in the parking lot. So we went to Walmart and stood in line there. Anyhow, we made it back to my mom's at about 1 am and stood around talking about how excited we all were until about 2:30. THis is how thrilled my kids were about the whole thing:

And here are the adults minus me. Notice that my brother-in-law, Jared is holding up the book that he is currently reading... a total girl book!

BTW, I was totally disapointed in Breaking Dawn. Am I the only one?

Day 5: Lower Calf Creek Falls

This hike went to the bottom of the falls where we went on Day 2. It was 3.2 miles each way, so long, but relatively easy compared to what we had done. The hike in wasn't too bad. The first group were in a hurry and made it through in an hour and twenty minutes. The second group had all the kids and my sister's wiener dog, Fester so we were a bit slower, and it took us about 2 and a half hours. There were cool markers along the way that told you about things to see, and we even saw some pictographs! The biggest problem was that Fester did not want to hike (poor dog also went on Egypt 3 and was scared out of his mind!) He got diareah and went all over my sister who was carrying him! The falls were gorgeous! Definitely worth the hike. There were 160 ft fall if I remember correctly and into a pool of cold water that we swam in. Lincoln was only interested in the mud and started a lively mud fight. The best was when my mom leaned over to tell him to stop throwing mud and he threw some right in her mouth. After swimming at the pool for an hour or so we started back out. It was pretty uneventful except that the last mile or so Savannah started whining, but I can't blame her. She is only 3 and 6.4 miles is a VERY long way to hike.

Day4: We are officially insane! (Peekaboo and Spooky)

*warning* this is long and picture heavy, but I promise that its worth reading

Today we were doing more slot canyons. My family did this same hike when they were here 5 years ago (BTW I missed that trip because I had strep throat) and assured everyone that this was an easy hike that even the littlest kids could do. Ya, apparently they are dillusional! The day couldn't have started out worse. Apparently there is a really cool hike that meets up with this one, but is even harder than the Egypt 3, so only the 5 strongest people went on that one. Leaving the rest of us with all the kids. We went to go load in the cars and realized that since the trailhead was down 26 miles of really bad dirt road and my sister didn't want to ruin her brand new minivan we had 17 people and 2 cars- my mom's highlander and my grandpa's truck. So we did what any normal family would do. We put the carseats in the 2 cars first, then filled the gaps with bodies and piled everyone else in the back of the truck. The truck stopped at the gas station to get ice, but apparently the highlander didn't know we were stopping and continued on. About 5 miles down the dirt road we got a flat tire. So, we got to stand out in the 100* heat in the middle of desert with 3 babies while they changed it.


Soon we were back on the road, and about another 15 miles
down the road we came upon the Highlander pulled to the side of the road. They told us that about 2 miles down the dirt road their gas light had come on. No one in that car had their wallets on them, and they didn't know were we were, so they just kept going. That means that they had to make it approximately 50 miles on a dirt road in the heat with the gas light on! Good luck to them!

So we continued on, and started the hike. It was miserably hot, and we knew that since we had so few adults and so many babies we were going to be tight on how much water we could carry. We started out anyway. The first part of the hike was extreamly steep. After about 20 minutes of 2 of the babies screaming non-stop those 2 and their mothers turned around. They decided that they would take both the cars and put gas in the highlander, and come back to get us. Sounded like a good idea at the time. So, we hiked down to the canyon and it was not what we had expected. It was hard! The first ridge was super high and we had 2 babies in packs and a newborn in my sister's arms. We decided that there was no way we could get the babies up there, so my dad and I were going to turn back. But then we realized that we would be sitting in the parking lot for possibly hours with 3 babies and no water or shade. That didn't sound like a very good idea, so on we went.

After scaling the first ridge we changed our minds. There was no way we were going to make it through the whole canyon like this, we were turning around. We sent my dad down first and decided that we would hand the kids and babies down to him. Only problem... my dad coudn't get down. It was too steep, and too dangerous to jump. We were stuck. If he couldn't make it there was no way the rest of us would. The only way to go was up, so up we went. We took the 2 older babies out of the packs to lift them through, and Linocln actually loved it! about half way through it started to sprinkle, and then we got really nervous, but luckily it only lasted a minute.


At the end of the first canyon we met up with the group that went on the hard hike. I can't even explain what a relief it was to find them! We had more help now! We had a short hike the the second canyon, then all we had to do was get through that and do the steep hike back to the car. Easy enough, right. Ya right, maybe in a perfect world. We got the the second canyon, and it was much different that the first. It was narrow. So narrow that the adults had a hard time fitting through even without any packs on. PLus there were a few really steep drops. But the worst part was that about 5 feet into the canyon it started pouring rain. I'm sure you've all heard how dangerous it is to be in slot canyons in the rain? Well, we were in a slot canyon in the pouring rain with a bunch of babies! We started freaking out! The strongest adults and teenagers took all the babies and kids and decided that they were just going to get through it as fast as they could. The rest of us adults were in the back with the packs. Let me tell you, this thing was so narrow that the packs barely fit through half the time. My brother's was ruined trying to shove it through.



Finally we made it through! We were all fine, and no one even got lost! Of course its easy to not get lost when there is only one way in and one way out. We sat on the rocks in the pouring rain and gathered our composure. Most of the kids were crying at this point.

A few minutes after we got out the rain stopped and we continued. The hike back up to the cars was steep and long, but we made it and our cars were even there waiting for us! Then we realized another problem. We now had the people from the adult hike with us, making 24 people and 2 cars! We managed to cram everyone it, doing some fancy work, like 3 people in the front seat of the highlander, 4 people in the tiny 3rd row, 7 people in the back of the truck, etc. We were stopping at Devil's Garden to play while 2 people went back to get the adult hike people's car, so we only had to make it 16 miles. Those 16 miles were torture! But we made it in just over an hour and this was what we saw there.





So ya, one of the scariest days of my life, but looking back on it now, it was a lot of fun and actually pretty humerous.

Day 3: Adults only hike AKA we got the hard part

OK, so maybe we didn't really get the hard part. A bunch of people wanted to do this hike called Egypt 3. They've done it before and decided that it was not suitable for anyone under 12. So, the family went hiking and left me, two of my sisters, two seven-year-olds, a five-year-old, a three-year-old, and 5 babies at home. About an hour after they left my sister said, "I think the hike sounds easier that this! We had fun though, once we got the kids under control. We decorated foam visors, played card games, ran around outside, had a nature scavenger hunt that ended when a huge storm came through, and every single kid took a nap. It was amazing! Here are a few pictures of what we did.






The adult only hike sounded a bit harder. It was really long, but I'm not exactly sure how long. It involved narrow slot canyons, bridging over 60 foot drops, hiking through water, etc. My brother, Clif, has a broken wrist and a huge 3rd degree burn on his other hand. He fell into a pool of water that was waste deep and had a dead bat floating in it! My dad got lost again, only this time he was already dehydrated and there wasn't really a trail to follow, so was much scarier. They sent my sister to drive up and down the road looking for him and if she didn't find him they were going to call search and rescue. Luckily he had found the road by then. Here are just a few pictures of what they did that day. Of course they all said that the pictures don't even show the really scary parts because they couldn't get cameras out then. This is also when Chalee taught us the all important lesson that is #3 on my list, but she says I can't tell that story.