I hate car crashes. I have only been in a few in my life but they are the worst.
When I was 14 I was in a pretty bad crash with my mother. We were driving along the freeway in AZ around the Gila Bend area. (For those who don't know, pretty much the middle of nowhere!) I was reading a book (I remember we were listening to The Phantom of the opera) suddenly I looked up and we were in the big dirt median crashing through sagebrush. My mom tried to correct and get us back on the road or whatever and next thing I know we are flying across the freeway toward a fence. I remember thinking "Oh my goodness, I'm about to die!" I remember nothing after that until I woke up and we were upside down in a wash (where water flows during AZ downpours, flash floods etc.) Amazingly we both walked away without serious injuries. We were truly blessed. I even had felt moved to get in the front of the truck rather than the bed of the truck which was covered and we had decked out with a mattress etc. (This was a few years ago lol) At any rate I had an amazing experience that saved my life. After the crash they found the mattress over 30 feet away from the truck.
The next accident was a little nothing where some guy pulled out in front of me and my brother when I was about 16. A fender bender, no biggee (A pain to deal with but no injuries)
Last week I was in the first crash of my adult life, and the first of my entire life that I was actually driving. I'm still not positive what happened. Nothing serious happened and no one was hurt. A fender bender really. I mean my poor car is in the shop for who knows how long but it could have been much worse. The worst part of the ordeal was the airbags going off. It is loud and whatever they use to deploy them gave me a nasty burn on my arm.
SO I've decided, no more accidents for me, thank you! I just don't like them and ask all drivers out there to please drive carefully. You know, use your blinkers, stop at red lights, don't speed, don't crash into me...just basic stuff. ;)
If you would be so kind, I would appreciate it immensely! Thanks!
Seriously though, I hope that is the last crash I will ever be a part of, they are really not fun. ;)
Drive safe all!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
New do's
I took the girls to get haircuts and decided to get a new look for summer too. Check it out, I really like it!
Simply Sweet Lilli!
I'm not nearly as adorable as my girls but I do like the haircut! ;)
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Random pictures
Lilli and one of her best buds...Jack the superhero
Lilli and Henry enjoying some R&R at snowbird. It is so beautiful there!
Lars and Henry walking the trail at Snowbird
Like I said...random but this is a picture of the BEST most amazing texas sheet cake ever made on this earth! (Yes I made it but did not make up the recipe.) SO amazing!
Last but not least, this adorable little heart-shaped strawberry from my garden. I have more garden pics on my Garden page- check it out! (you can find the page in the top right corner of my blog)
Lilli's birthday
This is what I came upon after a family birthday party for Lilli. Can you tell what it is?
Yup...half a chocolate cake (One of the best cakes ever!) But the next day was her birthday so I couldn't really be mad ;) Plus I'm sure she was just saving me from devouring the whole thing myself!
PARTY TIME!!
What a cutie! I can't believe it has been 4 years already!
All her friends were kind enough to offer their assistance in opening presents. ;) Kids are so great that way. It is just as much fun opening a present even if it isn't for you.
Playdough! One of the best gifts! She loved all her loot.
We had pin the tail on the donkey, a pinata, and one of the more popular items...BUBBLES! The kids all got their own bottle, many of them proceeded to dump them out on the sidewalk and say "Hey my bubbles are gone!" ;)
It was a great day with fun had by all...and this is how it ended-
Lilli was tired from a day full of fun and the cat...well I think he is tired from running from eight 4 year olds.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Random Ramblings
Lilli turned 4-
Yes it is true…my baby is 4. 4 years ago one of the cutest beings ever-created came into my life. (I have been blessed with 4 of these beings over the last 13 years) :)
She had a wonderful birthday party with her friends. Eight 3-4 year olds running around = tons o’ fun! Pictures to come.
Another school year has passed! Again, time flies. The kids don’t think so, they think the year went by really slow. I remember feeling that way. The kids have done great this year. When school resumes in August Lilli will join the school crowd as a pre-schooler. Fair warning for any that may see me on that day- I won’t be wearing makeup as I know I’ll just cry it off. ;) I am excited for her but it is the closing of a chapter of my life. For the first time I won’t have a kid at home to watch after while the rest of the kids are at school. Of course I have plenty to do to fill my time but the closing of a chapter, moving on to the next phase of life, it is still a little hard, a little bittersweet. The same goes for September when Oscar turns 13. To have a teenager in my home, it is exciting but also bittersweet. I know he is still young, but he will no longer be a child, he will be officially a young man, a teenager.
This week was our snowbird week. LOVE snowbird week. My mother-in-law has a timeshare there but for some strange reason no one else in the family wants to use it. Since I love it so much she kind of gives it to me as my birthday present every year. Sometimes Lars’ brother and family come up to swim a couple times but no one else ever wants to stay here. CRAZY I tell you!
I love love love it (as I may have already mentioned) I get to hang out with my kids, swim, read, look at the beautiful mountains, enjoy the cool air, and just generally relax and forget all the responsibilities I have waiting for me at home. What’s not to love?!
I’ll update the blog soon with more pictures and info about my garden, which is going great so far despite mother natures attempts to snow it out one day.
Yes it is true…my baby is 4. 4 years ago one of the cutest beings ever-created came into my life. (I have been blessed with 4 of these beings over the last 13 years) :)
She had a wonderful birthday party with her friends. Eight 3-4 year olds running around = tons o’ fun! Pictures to come.
Another school year has passed! Again, time flies. The kids don’t think so, they think the year went by really slow. I remember feeling that way. The kids have done great this year. When school resumes in August Lilli will join the school crowd as a pre-schooler. Fair warning for any that may see me on that day- I won’t be wearing makeup as I know I’ll just cry it off. ;) I am excited for her but it is the closing of a chapter of my life. For the first time I won’t have a kid at home to watch after while the rest of the kids are at school. Of course I have plenty to do to fill my time but the closing of a chapter, moving on to the next phase of life, it is still a little hard, a little bittersweet. The same goes for September when Oscar turns 13. To have a teenager in my home, it is exciting but also bittersweet. I know he is still young, but he will no longer be a child, he will be officially a young man, a teenager.
This week was our snowbird week. LOVE snowbird week. My mother-in-law has a timeshare there but for some strange reason no one else in the family wants to use it. Since I love it so much she kind of gives it to me as my birthday present every year. Sometimes Lars’ brother and family come up to swim a couple times but no one else ever wants to stay here. CRAZY I tell you!
I love love love it (as I may have already mentioned) I get to hang out with my kids, swim, read, look at the beautiful mountains, enjoy the cool air, and just generally relax and forget all the responsibilities I have waiting for me at home. What’s not to love?!
I’ll update the blog soon with more pictures and info about my garden, which is going great so far despite mother natures attempts to snow it out one day.
Friday, April 30, 2010
The sting
A few years ago Henry was stung by a wasp and had a very bad reaction. We now carry epi-pens everywhere we go in case it happens again.
Yesterday I was up in my room and Lilli and Henry were downstairs playing. Suddenly I hear Henry scream. Now, if you have never been to my house I must tell you that screaming is not unusual and is often just a part of the playing. I had Oscar run down and make sure no one was actually hurt. Then I hear Henry scream "No, I don't want to die..." and I knew something was actually wrong. Just as I was getting ready to run downstairs Oscar yells up that Henry was stung by a bee or something. I grabbed epi-pens out of my drawer and ran downstairs.
The first thing I had to do was calm Henry down so I could tell if he actually started to have a reaction since I didn't know what kind of insect had bit/stung him. He was hysterical, the poor guy. Lilli kept patting his head and saying "It's ok buddy, your going to be fine. Just take a big breath." In fact I'm surprised at how calm and helpful my almost 4 year old was given the fact that her brother, and even Oscar was freaking out a little, was extremely hysterical.
I finally got him calmed down and convinced that he wasn't going to die, that I knew how to take care of him. He seemed to be doing fine for the moment so I asked him where it had happened and went over to check it out. There was a hornet sitting on the windowsill, so I smashed it. One problem down.
But he had not been stung by a hornet before so I had no idea if he would have a reaction to it or what it would be like if he did. So we turned on a movie and I kept the epi-pens close by just in case. Thankfully we live just down the hill from the children's hospital.
After about 30 minutes he was still doing fine and the major danger of a bad reaction had passed. His foot was a little red around it and it hurt, which are both actually very good things. If you have a local reaction you are much less likely to have a systemic reaction.
I am so grateful though for modern medicine, that I had the comfort of knowing what to do, and that he would be fine, if he did have a reaction. I also realized that we needed to have another talk about his allergy and how it all worked. I think he is much more confident now that he can just come to us and tell us and that we will take care of him. My heart breaks for him and the fear that he felt. What an awful feeling. He knows that he is allergic to some types of insects so he knew there was danger there, but apparently it had been too long since we had talked about it. I took for granted that because I knew he would be fine, that he did too. I mean we talked about it after the first incident but not really a lot since then. Kids forget so much as time passes. Poor guy, but I am so grateful that he is fine, that we didn't need to go to the hospital and I hope that next time he won't be quite so scared. I'm not naive, I know there will be other times, and the $100 + I spend each year on epi-pens that we never use are so worth it knowing that if we ever need to use them that we have them.
In the meantime this is a good reminder to always keep that communication open with the kids and talk about big issues from time to time. Complacency is never okay- comfort is. :) Here's to hoping that I continue wasting my money on unused epi-pens. I'd rather spend thousands of dollars on that than have to use even one of them. For now I will hold my buddy a little closer and thank my father in heaven that he is around to continue to bring joy into our lives.
Yesterday I was up in my room and Lilli and Henry were downstairs playing. Suddenly I hear Henry scream. Now, if you have never been to my house I must tell you that screaming is not unusual and is often just a part of the playing. I had Oscar run down and make sure no one was actually hurt. Then I hear Henry scream "No, I don't want to die..." and I knew something was actually wrong. Just as I was getting ready to run downstairs Oscar yells up that Henry was stung by a bee or something. I grabbed epi-pens out of my drawer and ran downstairs.
The first thing I had to do was calm Henry down so I could tell if he actually started to have a reaction since I didn't know what kind of insect had bit/stung him. He was hysterical, the poor guy. Lilli kept patting his head and saying "It's ok buddy, your going to be fine. Just take a big breath." In fact I'm surprised at how calm and helpful my almost 4 year old was given the fact that her brother, and even Oscar was freaking out a little, was extremely hysterical.
I finally got him calmed down and convinced that he wasn't going to die, that I knew how to take care of him. He seemed to be doing fine for the moment so I asked him where it had happened and went over to check it out. There was a hornet sitting on the windowsill, so I smashed it. One problem down.
But he had not been stung by a hornet before so I had no idea if he would have a reaction to it or what it would be like if he did. So we turned on a movie and I kept the epi-pens close by just in case. Thankfully we live just down the hill from the children's hospital.
After about 30 minutes he was still doing fine and the major danger of a bad reaction had passed. His foot was a little red around it and it hurt, which are both actually very good things. If you have a local reaction you are much less likely to have a systemic reaction.
I am so grateful though for modern medicine, that I had the comfort of knowing what to do, and that he would be fine, if he did have a reaction. I also realized that we needed to have another talk about his allergy and how it all worked. I think he is much more confident now that he can just come to us and tell us and that we will take care of him. My heart breaks for him and the fear that he felt. What an awful feeling. He knows that he is allergic to some types of insects so he knew there was danger there, but apparently it had been too long since we had talked about it. I took for granted that because I knew he would be fine, that he did too. I mean we talked about it after the first incident but not really a lot since then. Kids forget so much as time passes. Poor guy, but I am so grateful that he is fine, that we didn't need to go to the hospital and I hope that next time he won't be quite so scared. I'm not naive, I know there will be other times, and the $100 + I spend each year on epi-pens that we never use are so worth it knowing that if we ever need to use them that we have them.
In the meantime this is a good reminder to always keep that communication open with the kids and talk about big issues from time to time. Complacency is never okay- comfort is. :) Here's to hoping that I continue wasting my money on unused epi-pens. I'd rather spend thousands of dollars on that than have to use even one of them. For now I will hold my buddy a little closer and thank my father in heaven that he is around to continue to bring joy into our lives.
Yes...I'm a slacker and my little girl is growing up
I've been so busy with various projects I've started that I just haven't been on the computer much.
I am trying to get my garden going but with our lovely (ummm do you detect a bit of sarcasm?) Utah weather I haven't had much success. I have put a lot of work into getting it ready but I haven't actually been able to plant anything. Here we are, the last day of April and there is actually snow on the ground!!!! WHY???
The best news in our home is that Lilli, my sweet little 3 year old, is finally toilet-trained!!! This is a happy day! Actually she has decided to grow up right before my eyes. For you to understand all that I'm going to lay out here I will have to go back a bit and give you some info.
When Lilli was born we felt like she is the last one, the baby, the caboose. That is a bittersweet conclusion to come to. We wanted to enjoy every second. We also had some hard things going on in our family/extended family that really made us want to hold tight to our children. That being said, we babied and spoiled Lilli. My theory was/is that if you give them the love and patience that they will learn and grow in their own time. I know it sounds strange and hippy like but I had been through this 3 other times. I had tried the crying it out thing, the anxious worrying over when they would sleep through the night etc. So with Lilli I decided not to. I would love her and enjoy the short time that she would be a baby. She ate when she was hungry, slept when she was tired, and as she got older slept with us when she would wake up at night. We rocked her to sleep every night when she was a baby, and laid with her until she fell asleep as she got bigger. They were wonderful quiet moments with our little one.
She was a shy baby/toddler, and I allowed her to be. I didn't make her go to anyone if she didn't want to. (As a side note I have to say...people have a hard time allowing kids, especially babies, be shy. They would want to force her to say hi, or let them hold her. But I didn't allow it. They could say hi to her all they wanted, pet her head etc., but if she was scared we would back off) I don't feel there is a right or wrong way, but this is what worked for me this time around. And I enjoyed it so much more. Not that I didn't enjoy my time with the other kids as babies and toddlers but I was so much more relaxed and focused on enjoying it this time that it was easier and less stressful. This is what worked for us this time.
So, I bring this up because I got a lot of flak about how I was doing things. "She is your 4th, you should know how to do this by now." "Just lay her down and let her fall asleep" "If you let her sleep in your bed you'll have a hard time ever getting her to sleep in her own bed." "She isn't potty-trained yet?!?" "Just make her go to class and she'll stop crying eventually." I'm sure much of these things worked or were true for some people, but it wasn't how I chose to do things.
So as she has grown I've found that yes, my way works too! She has come out of her shell so much on her own as she is ready. She talks to people, she goes to her class at church, she plays at friends houses. All of this from a girl that would barely let family say hi to her! I gave her love and support but never pushed her.
As far as sleeping goes, we have spent many happy, restless nights with our sweet girl snuggled between us. This past month though she has started sleeping in her bed more and more, again on her own. This past week she kicked me out of her bed and said "Mama, I'm a big girl. Give me a kiss and go to your own bed." I wanted to jump for joy and cry all at the same time. And every night since that one she has slept all night in her own bed.
This along with practically toilet-training herself is growing up overload for Lars and me. We actually miss the interrupted sleep that used to be when she slept with us. It is all bitter-sweet but it happens so quickly.
So, though we are far from done with this whole child-rearing thing, I'm happy with the way we chose to do things. I've learned something with each one of my kids, but I finally learned to relax with Lilli. I think I'm a better Mom to all the kids because of it. I hope all parents can find what works for them and that we can all quit thinking that our way is the "right" way. Each kid is different, each parent is different, and each stage of our lives are different. Do what is "right" for you and your family and enjoy the time you have with your kids...I know for me it is going far too fast.
I am trying to get my garden going but with our lovely (ummm do you detect a bit of sarcasm?) Utah weather I haven't had much success. I have put a lot of work into getting it ready but I haven't actually been able to plant anything. Here we are, the last day of April and there is actually snow on the ground!!!! WHY???
The best news in our home is that Lilli, my sweet little 3 year old, is finally toilet-trained!!! This is a happy day! Actually she has decided to grow up right before my eyes. For you to understand all that I'm going to lay out here I will have to go back a bit and give you some info.
When Lilli was born we felt like she is the last one, the baby, the caboose. That is a bittersweet conclusion to come to. We wanted to enjoy every second. We also had some hard things going on in our family/extended family that really made us want to hold tight to our children. That being said, we babied and spoiled Lilli. My theory was/is that if you give them the love and patience that they will learn and grow in their own time. I know it sounds strange and hippy like but I had been through this 3 other times. I had tried the crying it out thing, the anxious worrying over when they would sleep through the night etc. So with Lilli I decided not to. I would love her and enjoy the short time that she would be a baby. She ate when she was hungry, slept when she was tired, and as she got older slept with us when she would wake up at night. We rocked her to sleep every night when she was a baby, and laid with her until she fell asleep as she got bigger. They were wonderful quiet moments with our little one.
She was a shy baby/toddler, and I allowed her to be. I didn't make her go to anyone if she didn't want to. (As a side note I have to say...people have a hard time allowing kids, especially babies, be shy. They would want to force her to say hi, or let them hold her. But I didn't allow it. They could say hi to her all they wanted, pet her head etc., but if she was scared we would back off) I don't feel there is a right or wrong way, but this is what worked for me this time around. And I enjoyed it so much more. Not that I didn't enjoy my time with the other kids as babies and toddlers but I was so much more relaxed and focused on enjoying it this time that it was easier and less stressful. This is what worked for us this time.
So, I bring this up because I got a lot of flak about how I was doing things. "She is your 4th, you should know how to do this by now." "Just lay her down and let her fall asleep" "If you let her sleep in your bed you'll have a hard time ever getting her to sleep in her own bed." "She isn't potty-trained yet?!?" "Just make her go to class and she'll stop crying eventually." I'm sure much of these things worked or were true for some people, but it wasn't how I chose to do things.
So as she has grown I've found that yes, my way works too! She has come out of her shell so much on her own as she is ready. She talks to people, she goes to her class at church, she plays at friends houses. All of this from a girl that would barely let family say hi to her! I gave her love and support but never pushed her.
As far as sleeping goes, we have spent many happy, restless nights with our sweet girl snuggled between us. This past month though she has started sleeping in her bed more and more, again on her own. This past week she kicked me out of her bed and said "Mama, I'm a big girl. Give me a kiss and go to your own bed." I wanted to jump for joy and cry all at the same time. And every night since that one she has slept all night in her own bed.
This along with practically toilet-training herself is growing up overload for Lars and me. We actually miss the interrupted sleep that used to be when she slept with us. It is all bitter-sweet but it happens so quickly.
So, though we are far from done with this whole child-rearing thing, I'm happy with the way we chose to do things. I've learned something with each one of my kids, but I finally learned to relax with Lilli. I think I'm a better Mom to all the kids because of it. I hope all parents can find what works for them and that we can all quit thinking that our way is the "right" way. Each kid is different, each parent is different, and each stage of our lives are different. Do what is "right" for you and your family and enjoy the time you have with your kids...I know for me it is going far too fast.
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