Can You Hear Me Now?

Today was Meg's surgery to insert ear tubes. We are hoping they will let her ears drain better and prevent a few of those nasty ear infections she is so prone to getting. I was scared to go in by myself and wait for her, but things went smoothly. She was unhappy with me to not get her milk when I woke her up early, but other than that, she was a trooper.

We answered lots of questions for lots of people. Mostly the same questions over and over, but I guess they must have been important. I stressed over and over that her skin was extremely sensitive and asked them to use as little adhesive tape as possible. She would end up with welts. She sat and watched PBS for a while before they were ready for her. They gave her a little Versed, to take the edge off before she went to sleep and she got a little goofy. I carried her to the OR, where they took her out of my arms and promised to deliver her safely back to me.

The actual procedure took less than 15 minutes. She was back to me in 23 minutes. I went into recovery with her and when she woke up she was so sad. Confused, not feeling good and just not happy. It took some time before she settled down. She got a little oxygen and that helped get the goofy gas out of her system and she started to feel better. She already had marks on her eyes, marks where the EKG had been and where the blood pressure cuff had been on her leg. We transferred back to the other room to hang out for a while and make sure she would tolerate some food and drink. She drank two small bottles of apple juice and ate some saltine crackers. Less than 45 minutes later, they let us go home. Her doctor did say he suctioned out a lot of fluid from her ears and he was amazed she spoke as well as she did in light of all of the issues she's had with them. Now that she can hear better, how much will she talk? Will we be able to handle it? She slept until about 2, when it was time to go and get Bug from the bus and then she decided to hang out on the couch for a while. By 4:30, she was back to her old self, running around, doing the happy dance, and pouring all of the money out of brother's piggy bank. Your typical 2 year old. What a good kid.

I am glad things went so well and I know the credit goes in no small part to the friends and family who sent prayers on our behalf. It's scary to do things like this when your husband is home to support you, but when he's gone it's doubly hard. I am grateful for a happy, healthy and crazy daughter who is the one of the lights of my life.

2 Years Ago Today

I don't think I ever posted Meg's birth story. Today is a great day to do that.

Two years ago today, my beautiful Meg was born late at night to a Dad who was nervous about leaving for sea and a Mom who was tired of being on bed rest.

It was the day before Justin was supposed to leave for sea. His first run as a new chief and there was a lot going on. I had been off of bedrest for about 3 days, after having been there for almost 8 weeks. I was 36 weeks pregnant. Mom was visiting, so Justin and I went to get some patrol things completed. We walked around the NEX and ran other errands for a couple of hours and I was tired when we got home. I washed baby clothes, loaded the dishwasher and counted contractions. I always had contractions, so I didn't think anything of them. About 2 in the afternoon I went to lay down for a nap and by 4, woke up having serious contractions. I walked around the house for a while, and then put my feet up wondering if they would go away with some rest. It wasn't to be.

Everyone was having dinner, except me, I couldn't eat and my back was killing me, when I decided I should go and get checked out. Contractions every 4 minutes and back pain that was to distracting to talk through were pushing me towards pain killers, however I could get them. We left for the hospital at 5:30, arrived at 6:00 and by 7 mom had arrived and they were administering and epidural. That was amazing. I didn't get one with Adam and the difference was night and day. I stopped yelling, stopped crying and decided to settle down and have a baby. There was some talk of trying to send me to Madigan because I was less than 37 weeks and had gestational diabetes. There just wasn't time. I was moving too fast.

We knew the boat was leaving the next morning and so Justin had made some calls to let people know where he was. At some point the Engineer for the boat came into my hospital room to talk to him. Nice of him to visit, but a call would have been fine. Especially since I didn't know the man at all and the first time he meets me in is labor. Not cool.

They asked if I thought I could wait until a pediatric specialist could be there before I started pushing and I was feeling no pain, so didn't think it was a problem. At 10:45 I was done waiting. The nurses were called and I pushed once before she freaked out, asked my not to push, breathe or move and called the team in. Within about 10 minutes I was ready to go and at 11:15 I had a beautiful baby girl, healthy and happy. She was 6 lbs and 1/2 an ounce and 19 inches long. Her APGAR's were great and she cried right away. No complications at all.

Justin stayed with me that night and she really did want some daddy time.She stayed up all night talking to dad. She grunted and groaned and cooed. He held her all night. I had to ask for her to feed her. He left for sea at about 7 the next morning and came home again when she was almost 3 months old. She was thrilled to see him then too and they have always had a special bond.

It took years of prayer, faith and fertility treatments to get Meg here. She is such a blessing in our lives, we wouldn't be the same without her. Happy Birthday Baby.

Tips for Having a Very Happy 2nd Birthday Party

Here are some tips for having a very happy 2nd birthday party. In case you might need to know some day.

*Choose a day when Dad is home, even for a couple of hours. Even if it's not actually your birthday, at our house we celebrate whenever we can.

*Pick out the perfect chocolate cake with mom and the store, and then spend the rest of the day while you are waiting trying to get the plastic cover off of it so you can dig in.

*Blow out the candles. Make sure Dad and Brother get in on the action.

*Cake should be eaten with a fork, so make sure you put some on the end of your fork.

*Lick the yummy frosting off of your fingers. It must have gotten there while you were putting the piece of cake on your fork.

*Know that while your brother is 8 and you are turning 2, and he knows and helped pick out your gifts, he will not be able to restrain himself from opening your presents, even if you think you can do it just fine on your own.

*Be sure to take the time to savor each gift before opening the next one. Each one is so fun!

*Have fun!!! How often do you turn 2 anyway?

Why Procrastination really is a bad thing

I am a procrastinator. There has never been any doubt about that. I work better under pressure when I feel like it's okay to let everything else go and just focus completely on the task at hand. I have always kind of been that way. Maybe that explains why college didn't go so well for me. I have never been a pace-yourself kind of girl.

So last night Justin came home unexpectedly. We both thought he would be at work Thursday and Friday and come home Saturday for some well deserved family time. We knew he was leaving soon and had planned that way. Goes to show, once again, never plan anything when the Navy is involved. He came home last night, announced he would be home for about 4 hours and then was leaving, and not coming home until summer time. Plans changed and duty calls.

I had not yet finished the cards, letters, and patrol stuff I usually send with him. I hadn't even loaded that blasted MP3 player. I guess he's going to get a lot of stuff on the first mail drop, because I didn't have time to get it done. Serves me right for procrastinating. Too bad he has to suffer for it too. Sorry babe. Next time I will do better.

Our Temple Day

We had such a great day visiting the temple. The kids were well cared for thanks to our wonderful Young Women and their amazing leaders. I was grateful for mom to come up and go with me. I learned so much and was happy to have so many friends and family in attendance. Here are some pictures of our day.

I love to see the Temple

I love to see the temple, and I get to go inside tomorrow. I am so excited to be taking this step. Maybe I should have done it some time ago, but there is a time and place for everything and this is right for me. I know my family will be blessed because of temple attendance. See you there!

17 and Counting

We have been married 17 years today. Sometimes that seems like a really long time and sometimes I wonder how it slipped past me so fast. In honor of our anniversary, here's a list of 17 things I love about my husband, the best husband in the world for me.

1. He's cute. He has dimples when he smiles and I love his freckles.

2. He's his own person. He's not easily swayed by anyone, likes to figure things out for himself and then sticks to what he believes.

3. He's a great dad. He dearly loves his kids and shows me what true love really is.

4. He's funny. He makes me laugh more than anyone I know.

5. He's creative. He can think of ways around just about anything.

6. He's handy. If he doesn't know how to fix something, he looks it up and always does a great job.

7. He's a dreamer. He likes to think of new and different ways to do things, for things to look, for life to be. He has vision I have never had.

8. He's picky about what he eats. I think it's so funny when he discovers a new food he likes that he had previously decided he hated for no good reason, like trying it.

9. He's a financial master. He doesn't believe in debt, so we don't have any. He's great at planning for our future and because of him, the kids might even be able to go to college some day.

10. He's good at his job. When the 4 am phone calls come, he doesn't yell. He just takes care of things. He pulls people together for a common purpose and that makes him a good leader.

11. He's an adventurer. We often leave the house with no place in mind and have a great adventure, like getting locked in the forest. We have been amazing places exploring together.

12. He's patient. I am not. It's a good balance.

13. He has the best laugh. I love listening to it, it warms my heart.

14. He's quiet. I know some people don't list that as a good thing, but I do. He doesn't speak before he thinks and what he says, he means. If he makes a statement, there's a reason behind it.

15. He loves to make faces when I take pictures. He encourages me to develop my talent, but not on him.

16. He still thinks I am sexy. I love that he still turns his head when I walk by and tells me he thinks I am gorgeous, even when I don't feel it.

17. His family is his everything. He would rather be with a couple of crazy kids and their crazy mom than anywhere else on earth. That is one of my all time favorite things about him.

Happy Anniversary. Here's to another 17, or 70.

Counting Down again

We are counting days again until Justin leaves. Very soon. We are getting little things done. Gathering cards, writing letters (the mail man doesn't seem to find subs very well so everything has to be sent in advance). I am in charge of loading the MP3 player. I am not sure why, we have different tastes in music and he gets what I put on there. Maybe I can use that to my benefit somewhow... Get him to like something out of his box that I do like. The kids are getting ready too. Meg is throwing more and more tantrums, although I don't know if it's the change in circumstance or her rapidly approaching 2nd birthday. I know I get cranky around my birthdays. Adam is finishing up his pinewood derby car with dad's help so that it's done before the big race, after dad leaves. The house is in shambles because I am trying to finish up projects for him to take with him and when he's home we want to spend time together, not clean up. We are having discussions about cars, the yard plans, spring coming and all of the things that would be nice to do when he gets home. He's still got a list of things to do before he goes, but he's working on it. Somehow knowing he's leaving doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye. The life of a Navy family...

Sleep is for wimps

I love a good nap. It's in my top 5 favorite things ever. I love sleeping in too. In fact, I am kind of a sleep snob. I like my room just so, my pillows fluffed just right and just enough blankets to keep me warm but not so many as to suffocate me. I have never been a stay up all night girl, my sleep is important to me.

This week there has been little sleep at my house, at least for me and a very short unnamed person anyway. She's been sick, first with fever and then with a horrible barking cough. She's been waking herself up with her cough and then, of course, waking me up too. Then she will try to go back to sleep on me and when that doesn't work, very close next to me so that she can cough in my face. She whimpers and moans and fusses and doesn't really fall back into a deep sleep. I give her half an hour and then take her back to her bed, which last night, lasted on average 10 minutes before she was back starting the cycle all over again. Dad kicked us out of the bedroom last night. After standing duty the night before and not getting home until almost midnight the night before that, he needed some sleep.

3 days without good sleep is my limit. That's usually when I cave and take the kid to the doctor, even though I know it's just a virus. I did it today too. Meg does have another ear infection this time around and so we got an ENT consult to check out her ears really good. 4 infections in 11 months is too many. Especially when 3 of them have been the same ear. When we got home, I gave her some Motrin and she fell asleep. No wonder, she was up all night. I tried for a nap too, but science fair kept creeping in my head and the world just wouldn't go away. So, now I am tired, blurry eyed and a bit on the cranky side. If sleep is for wimps, I am the biggest one out there.

Here's to a good night's sleep tonight.

In 7 minutes

In 7 minutes, I can....
get dressed
make oatmeal for Meg
switch the laundry
make a brief phone call
check e-mail
get kids to the car
start a bath
find a recipe for dinner
plant 2 flowers in the yard
say my prayers
re-pack the diaper bag
change my mind at least 4 times

I am sure there are more things that take a mere 7 minutes to accomplish. The problem I have now is that the bus schedule has changed by 7 minutes. It doesn't seem like that much, but it's 7 minutes earlier. Even getting up 10-15 minutes earlier in the morning does not seem to compensate for thost 7 minutes. We have missed the school bus 6 times in the last 10 school days. We just can't seem to get ourselves out of the house those 7 minutes earlier. It's driving me crazy. Today, I am hunting for 7 minutes. If you find them, let me know.