Texas 4th of July

 What do you do when fireworks have been completely outlawed... I'll give you a hint.  it involves soda and mentos...  and I think they are called soda pop bombs, but I'm probably just making that up... pretty sure I am, but they should be called soda pop bombs.

 We weren't sure how explosive it would be so we kept everyone at a safe distance... clearly that was not completely necessary but at least none of us walked away sticky... well, not totally true because after we finished the kids decided to run trough the puddles.

Grant and Dallin were happy to sit and watch. but Katelyn wanted to try her hand at making the soda explode.

She had a hard time getting the Mentos to all go in the soda so it didn't go very high, but she sure had fun doing it. 

Everyone had a great time.  who needs fireworks?   so over rated.

We've been busy around here.

Summer time is always full of activities and fun and this summer is no different except that we have started learning how to do chores.

with some inspiration from a friend I created a routine chart, and we follow it pretty strictly around here... well at least in the morning, we haven't had too much luck following our afternoon routine.  here is an example of a typical day. 

 First we wake up... I figured that would be a great way to start the day. 

 we get dressed, naturally. sometimes this part involves a bit of a tantrum

 we put our jammies in the laundry, or in a drawer.. depending on how strong they smell... Grant has yet to put his back in his drawer...

Next it's breakfast, 

This is not how katelyn usually looks for breakfast

and of course cleaning up our dishes always follows.

 Then we brush our teeth.

 The electric toothbrushes makes this part fun, most  days

Then we move on to getting our bag ready for the day,  some days we go to the library, sometimes swimming or play group,  they have to get everything in the van and ready to go so that we can leave the house at a moments notice... because most days I lose track of time and we are rushing to get out the door. 

Then we do chores.  if it's a chore they have never done I spend that time training them while doing it. 

 They love washing windows, making their bed, dusting, emptying the dishwasher and taking out the trash. 

their least favorite thing is picking up their toys, and hanging up their clothes. 

They also do things like water the garden, wash the doors, mop the floor, disinfect the bathroom, and clean door knobs. 

 Taking out the trash.

 Emptying the dishwasher.  

and of course somewhere in there I brush Katelyn's hair, that's not something she can do on her own and I'm usually busy encouraging and training so sometimes that doesn't happen for a while. but it always happens

 after chores Grant and Dallin practice writing their letters.

and Katelyn practices the piano,  when they are finished with all of that they can have free time.

somehow we are able to finish all of that and get to our 9am swim lessons on time.  The kids get a prize each Saturday if they have done well on their charts,  they get a check for each thing accomplished and two checks if they do it without being reminded.  and without complaining.  so far it's working pretty well, we have our bad days but we have more good days.
Hooray for summer time!

Impromptu Picnic

Dallin really really wanted a picnic today... there is only one problem, it's over 100 degrees outside.  and I am 7 months pregnant. Thankfully he was happy to have it in the backyard. 

we spread out a little blue blanket, grabbed a basket, made bean and cheese burritos and grabbed some fruit and veggies out of the fridge then headed out.  

 The picnic lasted about 10 minutes before everyone got too hot and headed to the air conditioning, but it was a great 10 minutes. 

Grant had already eaten spaghetti-os inside but he was happy to sit with Dallin and eat strawberries and carrots.

Katelyn had also eaten spaghetti-os but she was happy to pose for a few pictures. 

 Dallin was so happy to have everyone hang out with him at his impromptu picnic.

oh my how you've grown...

 Remember Fuzzy?  our cute little bunny,  well she's not so little anymore, 

I know it's not the most flattering picture.  That complete look of terror is not an uncommon sight around here. although she is getting bigger she still tolerates all the extra "love" but she's not the only one growing around here.

okay I know I'm pushing my belly out as far as it will go... but still for 25 weeks, I'm feeling HUGE. 

I love feeling the babies move,  in fact now I worry when I don't feel them, I figure with two in there someone has to be doing summersaults, but just when I'm starting to panic a bit, sure enough someone elbows me and I know all is well.
on a completely unrelated note, I can't seem to get my hair to be curly any more,  all of a sudden it's decided to be straight-ish,  so now I'm back to the blow drying, and straightening routine I had before chemo...  I will never complain about having hair, no matter the shape or length, but I kind of miss my curls.

The good the great and the ugly

it's not too often that someone has an oncology appointment just a hour before an OBGYN appointment, But I guess I'm not the typical patient,  I'm happy to report that I continue to be cancer free I'm nearly 3 years out and there are no signs of lumps, bumps or bruises (unless you count the great huge bump consuming my belly.)

we also had some great news today at my OBGYN appointment, our little twin girl is looking better, Her anemia is back to normal levels,  she still has a lot of fluid surrounding her organs but that should clear up as her body gets the oxygen it needs.

Our twin boy is still struggling and his anemia is actually worse.  I am meeting with the doctors on Thursday and if he isn't improving we will prepare to do a blood transfusion on Friday.


There isn't much research to prove that the benefits of doing transumbilical transfusions outweigh the risk of the procedure so the doctors want to wait to see if the babies recover on their own. The improvement in the girl is encouraging and we suspect that since she was looking worse last week that maybe she was just a bit further progressed in the viral illness and that the boy will soon follow. There is a 5% risk of death with transfusions which doubles with twins so it's all kind of risky business but we are taking it all pretty well, as usual. We thank everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

we hope that Thursday's report has all good news.

 Cameron doesn't know how to do things half way,  if he is going to do something it's going to be done well, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise when Cameron announced that if we wanted a bunny cage built into the play set it would need a paint job first.

Dallin is always first to volunteer when it comes to working alongside daddy, 

Grant also thought it would be fun to help scrap off the old paint.  Who wouldn't like that job?

 Because of school Katelyn missed out on the scraping part but was happy to help with the painting part.   Cameron picked out the paint when he was out by himself and when I saw the color I thought it would be way too bright but once the whole set was painted I thought it looked great.

While Everyone else was busy painting Grant decided to paint a few things himself.  the side walk, and our brick mailbox were numbered among the causalities.

Not to mention himself and of course the bunny.

 Once the play set was repainted it was time to finish putting together the bunny hutch,  Cameron designed and built it himself.  It took a lot more work that we had anticipated and in the end we decided that next time we will just buy a bunny hutch... but for now we will enjoy his handy work.

it was complete with 2 entrances, in case we needed to reach the bunny from either side.  I added the brick paint job, I thought it would make it look nice. and now the bunny can move out of the plastic storage bin and into his new fancy house.

Little bunny fofo

We love the library, so many books to read and you don't even have to find a place to store them or even pack them up when you move... it's great.  back in February I found this cool gardening book I thought looked interesting,  not realizing how much Cameron would love it.  one thing the book talked about was how rabbit pellets are a great way to fertilize a yard and next thing I know we are meeting a girl at a gas station who is selling her bunnies on craigslist.  

 Each of the kids have fallen in love with "Fuzzy" (we tried to convince the kids to rename her but that didn't go over well, so Fuzzy it is)

 Katelyn has recently decided that Fuzzy is her personal baby and she carries and coddles her to no end, Fuzzy seems to tolerate all the "love" very well.

 Dallin and Grant love to take turns creating advnetures for the bunny,  she take many trips down the slide and has been zoomed through the house in the back of a dump truck,  not to mention she been carried around in our compost bin,  she doesn't seems to mind too much.

some not bad news

my ultra sound today showed that there was the slightest improvement in each baby's flow of blood meaning that their red blood cell count is a tiny bit higher.. a good sign,  but we also saw that there is slightly more fluid surrounding their organs, our baby girl especially has a lot of fluid.... not a good sign.  I have another appointment on Thursday to see if the anemia is improving,  if things aren't looking better we will do a blood transfusion on Monday,  if it does we will likely have another ultra sound to monitor progress.

so not  necessarily good news, but also not bad news,  overall I feel better about this whole situation.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, please keep them coming.

helpless

This past Wednesday they did the "big" ultra sound,  That morning I got a call from my OBGYN letting me know that the blood work from my last appointment had come back positive for fifths disease and to be sure and let the doctor who would be doing the ultra sound know so that he could look to see how it had effected the babies,  everything should be fine, worse case scenario the babies would need a blood transfusion, but that rarely happens.

So an hour later I casually mention to the ultra sound tech that my doctor wanted me to mention that I tested positive for fifths disease.  so she quietly took picture after picture, measuring one thing after another,  an hour later everyone cleared out of the room and we waited for the doctor who also happened to be the department head.

He starts explaining about how the fifth's disease has attacked both babies bone marrow and they are highly anemic and struggling to make enough red blood cells. they have enlarged hearts and extra fluid surrounding their organs, their condition is very serious but' it's possible that it will correct itself but if it doesn't it would be fatal.  The only thing that can be done is a blood transfusion, they would attempt to give the babies blood by sticking a needle into a vein in each of their umbilical cords.  risky on so many levels.

As he's talking more doctors file in, my OBGYN and the other department head. as they come in I become more nervous because I'm starting to understand the seriousness of this situation. and I keep thinking "this isn't right, he's suppose to tell us "congratulations, you're having a boy and a girl and they appear to be healthy and strong." and yet he goes on about blood clots and heart failure, not to mention the lack of red blood cells causing problems with brain development."

After more measurements are taken and options are discussed we decide to wait a few day to see if the babies recover on their own and then proceed with a blood transfusion if we need to at that point.  and there is nothing I can do, nothing that I would eat or do would help the babies in anyway with this problem.  We find out tomorrow how they are doing and until then I feel completely helpless.

Mother's day

This mother's day was mostly uneventful, in a crazy busy sort of way.   Katelyn started the day with "wake up Mommy!  it's mother's day!"  she then insisted that I open the present she made for me at school.  Pink soap, shaped like a rose and smelling like gummy bears.   It was pretty cute, what was more cute was how excited she was to give it to me.  she get's so excited for surprises and special days.

Cameron made us waffles,  and the kids where torn between that and "special cereal" (any surgery cereal) because they are only allowed to have that on Sunday and holidays.  it's tough having to choose between two great things so they all chose both, and they actually ate both, which doesn't usually happen... ever.

the rest of the day was busy, calling our wonderful mothers, preparing lessons, and getting things ready for the mother's day luncheon which would take place during Relief Society and then of course cleaning up after said luncheon.

Dallin, quite envious of my pink rose soap asked, "so when is kids day?"  I told him every day was kids day,  He didn't buy that, but was pleased to find out that there was an actual Father's Day.  Now he has something to look forward to.

the Spring Break that wasn't... a break I mean.

ah spring break, a great time to enjoy the warming weather. we spent the first two days chilling at home, running errands and pretty much doing nothing, then on Wednesday we had planned to go to the zoo or something fun but found out that Cameron didn't have a lunch meeting that day so decided to stay home and then go eat lunch with him, as we were pulling out of our driveway he called to tell us that they had called a last minute meeting and that he couldn't eat lunch with us,  we were crushed so of course we went home and sulked.  Dallin was still sulking long after the allotted sulking time and sulked through dinner, teeth brushing, book reading and bed time. then at 10pm he woke up crying, Cameron went to check it out and found the poor boy completely covered in throw up.  he continued to throw up every hour for the rest of the night and all the next day, The day after that was a tiny bit better but he still wasn't keeping anything down and was losing a lot of weight, I could feel all his bones every time I held him.  he threw up for about 48 hours and then his stomach seemed to calm and he slept through the third night with minor interruptions of a mother trying to get him to sip more fluids. it was a rough couple of days and he is still very weak.  but he is doing so much better and thankfully except for Katelyn getting an ear infection everyone else has been healthy and happy. Hopefully now that Spring Break is over we can all rest and relax.

Something New

Nearly 3 years ago I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer (see summer 2008 archives) after chemo, surgery and radiation there was  a 30% chance that I wouldn't be able to bare anymore children, we considered embryo preservation before I started cancer treatments but after much thought and prayer, Cameron and I both felt that it wouldn't be necessary.

Nearly a year ago my oncologist  gave us the go ahead to start trying, the first month when I didn't get pregnant, it was disappointing, but hey, it had only been a month, by the third month my heart ached and I stopped trying to care so much because as the months passed I was sure the threat of infertility was a reality.  One of my greatest desires was to have more children.  of course I was happy and blessed with 3 beautiful healthy children. but I couldn't help feeling a little sorrow as Grant passed even the tiniest of milestones, feeling in my heart that it would be the last time I would witness that as a mother. I wasn't bitter or even a bit resentful but my heart was filled with sorrow.

one day in January as I was going about my day I suddenly realized that I had miscalculated when I suppose to start my period and that I was actually a few days late. a  little spark of hope ignited but I wanted to wait until the next morning to find out for sure.  The next morning I took the test and I could see the tiniest hint of a second line, I yelled for Cameron to come and give me a second opinion and as time passed the line grew darker.  I left the stick out in the bathroom where I could see it, I just couldn't believe that it was real and I worried that one time I would pass by and realize that I couldn't have possibly seen what I thought I saw.

I had my first doctors appointment a few weeks ago, the nurse did a routine ultra sound, I glanced up at the screen and immediately saw two embryos with two placentas and asked, "Are there two in there?" The nurse looked at me and said "I can't say for sure but we are getting a doctor in here to confirm wither it's twins or not" While we waited for the doctor to come in, I asked if I could page my husband who was working at the hospital, she said I could but she didn't want me to tell him the news until he got in the room.  so I paged Cameron and when he called me I told him I was in one of the obgyn patient rooms and that he should come as soon as he could.  I didn't realize at the time that my call gave Cameron approximately 8 minutes to think of the worse possible case scenarios of what could be wrong. and with his medical training and background the possibilities were endless.  Cameron came in after the doctor had left, looked at the screen and said, "oh good, it's just twins" we are of course so excited and feel twice as blessed.

The doctor explained that it's likely when I stopped ovulating because of Chemo that my hormones were still sending signals to my body to ovulate so when I finally did ovulate I produced 2 eggs rather then one.  I'm due September 25th. We are all so excited.

Grantism

This morning out of nowhere Grant says, "when I get big I will be a Mommy just like you," Katelyn pipes in, "No you will be a daddy just like Daddy" to which Grant replied, "No, because Daddy's don't get treats" so I had to ask "are Mommies the only ones who get treats?" then Grant said "no, mommies don't get treats either, just kids, so I just want to be a kid"
That does seem to be the way things work at our house.

snickers

Grandma Louise got a "kitten" for Christmas, it's more like a teenager then a kitten but it's still very cute and playful,  the kids love her,  in fact they couldn't leave her alone, the first thing they would ask upon waking in the morning is, "Where is Snickers?" Snickers was actually pretty tolerant of the kids and their "love" she didn't scratch or bite but she did spend a lot of time hiding under the couch when she heard them coming.

Roller Skates

 Katelyn got roller skates for Christmas this year,  she loves them most of the time and can now skate without falling sometimes.  her favorite is to skate in the house on the carpet, and she has gotten pretty good at that.  the sidewalk still gives her a few bumps and bruises but she is diligent and gets herself back up.