Wenderful and the Pie Man

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Bubbles

We have a washer now!!! Yeah! A blessing I won't be taking for granted.

Oh, and who needs a tulip festival when we have this going on in our own front yard?:

Friday, April 15, 2011

A Girl of Many Expressions

Maren has been very expressive lately, especially with the 'looks' she gives.

Here's the "you'd better get out of my stuff or I'll bite your head off" look. Very common around these parts.

This is the "dissappointed" or "someone else has something I want" look.

"Maybe if I put out some fake tears I'll get that something I want."

A look of determination/frustration.

Oh, there's my happy girl! Don't worry, folks, we see a lot of this face too:

Thanks for all the love and concern shown to our little girl. Her wounds are healing nicely (no bandages on the pinky now!).

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Two is a dangerous age. I've always feared for the safety of my children, but especially between the ages of 18 months and 3...they are so curious and have no idea of what will really hurt them. Because things like this can happen:

Monday started out as any other day (well, besides Everett puking on the floor - that was a bonus). I put Everett down for a nap and I headed to the basement to do some walking on the treadmill. The girls came down too, which is also normal. Maren started setting up her chairs around the treadmill and I stopped, put them at a safe distance and told Maren that she needed to stay away from the treadmill...it is dangerous. She ran off to another part of the basement and not 5 minutes later I heard her whiny cry behind me - her little hand was stuck under the roller. I quickly turned off the machine and pulled her out, but the damage was done. Three of her cute, chubby fingers were burned badly. I will save you the picture I took with my phone once things were under control, I'll just say that I knew it was bad enough that it required medical attention. We went to her pediatrician who gave her the bandage above and referred us to the burn clinic.

Yesterday morning we drove to Salt Lake where they opened her wrapping, poked and cleaned her up a little, and then re-wrapped her. They were worried about her ring finger, because it was burned the deepest, perhaps even down to tendon and joint (gross, huh?). They gave her a splint on that finger to prevent any further damage, and they will check her out in another week to see how things are healing on their own. They are also concerned that as scar tissue forms, she may loose some mobility in that one finger. For now, we are doing some physical therapy at home with her, and change her wrapping once a day.

So, how is Maren? Well, she's a trooper. Our pediatrician was so impressed at how calm she was - no tears or anything - as he looked and touched. The story was not the same at the burn clinic. She cried and cried as they unwrapped and then touched - although they were very very gentle. However, once bandages were back on, our happy girl was back once again. She's been her normal, happy two-year-old self as long as no one is touching her owie. Her wrappings are annoying - eating is a challenge for her because the bandages get in the way.

And how is mom and dad? Well, we feel bad of course for our little Missy. Mom is a bit of a wuss when it comes to injuries - she nearly threw up at the pediatrician's office, and almost passed out at the clinic and had to leave the room. Being 12 weeks pregnant and already feeling sick certainly doesn't help either. Dad, thankfully, is much more heavy-stomached and is willing to take her to her appointments and change her wrappings. Thank heavens for dads!

Oh, and all of this reminds me a little of this:

That's me when I was two - my finger had been nearly cut off when it was caught in a door. And maybe I shouldn't mention the fact that that same year, I nearly drowned to my death in our farm's manure pit. Thanks forever be to my five-year-old brother who fished me out. See what I mean? Being two is dangerous.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Crazy

Life has been a little crazy around our house, and here are the reasons why:

1. We are still trying to sell our house. It has been 8 months now, and I can't tell you how much I want to be done with this whole thing. I'm tired. We show our house at least once a week, and sometimes up to four times a week. That displaces our little family for at least three hours for each go. It stinks big time. A few weeks ago, I really just wanted to take our house off the market and stay. We've been happy here for almost 5 years, and I was sure we could continue to be happy here. So, we took it to the Lord, and both Nick and I feel very strongly that that is not His plan for us. We are to stay the course. Our house stays on the market. I have no idea what is before us. We haven't been looking at houses and have no desire to. We have no idea where we will be moving, and surprisingly, that doesn't bother us in the least. I must say that even though I know this is the course our loving Heavenly Father would have us take, it is still stressful for me. I'm very ready to settle my family again. I must also say that I have been very blessed. On those days that I have shown the house, I have had the energy to clean, and my stomach has been somewhat settled. That being said...

2. This baby in utero is kicking my trash. I have good days and bad, but I seem to have bad days a lot. I am grateful that I don't throw up during pregnancy, but it sure feels like I'm only one step away most of the time. I barely have the energy to take care of my family, and I spend a lot of time just laying around because I can't seem to force my body to do much else. I'm nearly through the first trimester, so hopefully there will be some relief coming soon. However, at this point, I would rather feel good and sick just to know that those pregnancy hormones are raging strong. We are grateful (and surprised) to be welcoming a new baby into our home. We are very aware that this is also Heavenly Father's plan for us right now, and it is nothing but a blessing.

3. Our washer is dead. Sad, sad day. I had no idea how much I relied on the fact that I could just go throw something in the washer. Definitely a blessing I had taken for granted. It was bad timing - we've been wanting to replace our washer for a long time now, but really wanted to wait until we had moved. Well, not an option now. We did go out and buy a new washer (and dryer! Wow! A matching set!) but it was on a killer deal, which is great, but also means that they had none in stock and needed to be ordered. Long story short, we won't be getting our new washer for several weeks. Oh my. Yep, I said WEEKS. Once again, there is a bright side: Nick's parents live close by and are happy to share their laundry room with us, which we are grateful for, but not near as convenient. Of course, my dear daughter can sense my plight... she's decided that peeing on the floor or in her bed is acceptable these days, which of course, means more laundry. She potty trained so easily, I guess I didn't get out of pee on the floor after all.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Grandma's

Last week my sister was in town, so we spent a day hangin' out with her and her son, William, at my mom's house. It was a very nice Spring day, and all the kids enjoyed playing outside. I took some photos of William (have you checked them out on my photo blog?) and just enjoyed being "home".