so.  just got back from my much anticipated hair appointment.
i usually head into the aveda salon about 2 times a year.
yes.  i make my haircuts last.
but this time i was literally fighting back tears as i drove home.
i walk in and marryn, first thing, says, "i don't like it.  why didn't they just trim it?"
and she's the one who told me earlier she likes my hair shorter.
but then all the commotion of me being gone for an hour took over...you know, anxious poopy baby, kid covered in hives...
later, reganne comes up and asks if i like my hair.
i say, "not really."
she says, "i don't really either, but i still love you though" and gives me a hug.

thanks sweetheart.
i needed that.

sisters & friends

picture taken last May.

right before Marryn's eyes swelled up from rolling around in the grass.

i love these girls.

i hope they are always the best of friends.

8 candles

happy birthday landen.

we miss you.

cheerios

the perfect food for a one year old.

a one year old with only 2 little teeth.

my fours

My friend Danelle over at OUTNUMBERED challenged me to this.  I thought it was very creative.  So here you have it, my fours.


FOUR PLACES I GO 
1) School - Everyday.  Except Saturday and Sunday.  I pick up Marryn every afternoon (I'm so lucky as Joe takes her...while I'm still in bed, sleeping;) and twice a week I take Reganne to and from her little preschool.   
2) Sonic - I hate to admit it, but I usually head there about 2-3 times a week.  During Happy Hour.  I get a Route 44 Diet Dr Pepper with lime.  The kids, if they're lucky;), get a small slush.  But I'm trying ease up though, especially after Reganne drew me a Happy Mother's Day picture at church, of me and her driving to Sonic.
3) Church - And speaking of Church, I am usually there twice a week.  On Sundays (obviously) and Wednesday nights for our Youth's Mutual.  
4) Super Target/Costco - I had to put both of these in here.  I visit both stores once a week.  It helps that they are just minutes from our house (well, actually, so are all my places). 

FOUR SMELLS I LOVE 
1) A baby - Nothing, NOTHING beats the smell of a baby.  Nothing.
2) Old Spice deodorant - Yes, this is Joe's deodorant.  I love it.  More than him I think.
3) Rain - Ah, rain...
4) Evergreen - As in pine trees, mistletoe, etc.  The smell of Christmas. 

FOUR FAVORITE TV SHOWS
These aren't really in any order.  It just depends on my mood and what I feel like watching.
1) Friends - Yep, still going strong on that one.
2) HGTV shows - Especially Sarah Richardson's ones.
3) White Collar - It's a good mystery/solve it show, without all the gross stuff.
4) Community, The Office and Parks and Recreation - I know, that's technically three shows, but they're all on together, so I'm bundling those ones;).

FOUR FAVORITE MOVIES 
I have lots of favorites, these are just what comes to mind right now.
1) Knotting Hill - A long time favorite...ah, the memories...
2) The Holiday - Maybe I just have a thing for *English* movies;).
3) The Incredibles - Probably my favorite Disney/Pixar movie still.
4) Despicable Me - One of the funniest and most random movies ever.  At least I think so.

FOUR RECOMMENDATIONS 
1) Pray more.
2) Play more.
3) Worry less.
4) Eat more fruits and vegetables.

how I shower

a movie.

a pack'n play.

and a 4 year old waiting to shower and get dressed herself.

and thank you for all the comments (both here and on facebook) from my last post.

kellen is doing great.

and we are doing better.

a febrile seizure

My kids have been sick.

Nothing too bad, but it's just been a constant round of snot and coughing and even a complete strip down of Reganne's bed when she threw up.

But like I said, nothing too bad.  Or too serious.

Until the other night.

Kellen was running a slight fever Sunday night.  We gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed.  Didn't think much of it, other than Marryn had a fever the night before.  The next day he woke up fine.  Wasn't warm, but we could tell he wasn't feeling his best.  Nothing too bad though.  I even set him up in the cart when I went grocery shopping.  He was good.  Enjoyed it.  Then later that afternoon he started to warm up again.  I gave him some Tylenol.  Joe came home awhile later and he was still pretty hot, about 102 degrees.  So he stripped him down.  I had him later and he was still roasting, so we put a cool rag on his head.  And then as I was holding him, his plug suddenly fell out of his mouth.  Then his eyes glazed over.

"Kellen?  Kellen!"  I jumped up.  "Joey, something's wrong with Kellen!  Something's wrong with Kellen!!"

He took him as he yelled, "Call 911."  Of course I grabbed his iPhone, which would have taken me 5 minutes to get through passwords and apps and whatnot to even figure out how to even make a call, but then I noticed my phone sitting on the counter.  I grabbed it and started to dial.  I looked over at Joey, who was holding Kellen on his shoulder, as if he was burping him.  He was very still.

"Is he breathing?"  He put his hand on back to check.

He wasn't.  He handed him back to me and we could see that he was completely, head to toe, purple.

It was an all too familiar sight.

I took him and rushed into the living room where I layed him on the ground and just kept thinking "I'm going to bury another baby.  I'm going to bury another baby."   Joe's on the phone now, telling the dispatcher what's going on and I'm trying to do mouth to mouth.  But I can't get his chin to lift up.  I can't get his head to move back.  I'm giving him breaths (all the while I'm completely freaking out) but can't tell if they're going in or not.  I just can't get his head to move.  I look back over him and his purple little legs are drawn into his chest and won't go down.  And his stomach is complete sucked in.  But I keep with it, doing the best I could.  Then slowly his little body relaxes.  His color starts to come back.

And he starts to breathe again.

Soon his eyes open back up and he starts to cry a little.  I pick him up, but the dispatcher says to keep him laying down with his chin up.  So I do.  And he just looks at us, slightly out of it, as his cries get more and more consistent and stronger.  I just want to hold him, but I don't know what just happened and I don't want to hurt him, so I leave him there and talk to him.  I try to comfort us both.

Soon the firemen arrive.  They do some quick checks, but seeing that he's breathing fine on his own, they tell me I can hold him.  They ask tons of questions and shaking, I do my best to answer.  The ambulance arrives and offers to take him to the hospital.  They load his car seat in the ambulance and I go with him.  Joe follows later.  (Sometime after he started breathing again, I managed to get through Joey's phone and call Jean, his mom, to come over.  In addition we had a great neighbor who came over to offer help with the other kids and other neighbors who called as well.) 
  
In the ambulance, they don't find anything wrong other than a high temperature.  I relay the story again and the parametric thinks it was a seizure.  Again at the hospital I relay the story.

A Febrile Seizure.

Although extremely scary, they are completely benign.  The worry is not so much the seizure, but why do they have a temperature.

So at the hospital, they check him out.  His oxygen levels are excellent (98-99).  His heart rate is a little high, but nothing too worry about about (and it went down as the night went on).  His lungs are clear.  They did a quick test for the flu-negative.  Stiffness in the neck?  None.  (To rule out meningitis.)  Other than his high temp and a slightly stuffy nose, he was fine.  He mostly just wanted to snuggle with us, but occasionally would sit up and coo and play with his plug.  They gave him ibuprofen soon after we got there (around 8pm) and just kept monitoring his temp.  By 11 pm he was still running a temp around 102-103.  They gave him Tylenol and finally it started to go down a little.  We were on our way home now with instructions to keep him cool.  No clothes, no blankets, cool baths, cool room (open windows, turn on fans).  Just keep him cool.

Now, during all the commotion, Marryn was right there.  She was sitting on the couch when he seized up.  And although Joey sent her and the other kids upstairs, she knew something terrible was going on.  My freaking out didn't help either.  She was screaming, so much that the 911 dispatcher could hear her and Joey had to tell him that was another child crying.  She was complaining of an earache earlier, and while we were gone, kept complaining about it (despite having had medicine) and couldn't sleep.  I may not always know what's going on with my kids, but I knew that it wasn't as much her ear as it was Kellen that was keeping her up.  So when we got home, around 1 am, she was still awake, so I took Kellen into her room so she could see him.  That he was fine and home.  She went right to sleep after that.  And even the next day, she didn't have a trace of an earache and just wanted to be near Kellen and hold him.  It was really sweet.

So anyhow, we put Christian in our bed while I slept in his bed next to Kellen.  We closed off the vent to keep the room cool.  I froze.  He woke up twice.  The first I laid him down with me to nurse, and he was noticeably cooler.  He slept with me for awhile before waking up again, which we gave him more ibuprofen.  He then slept the rest the night.  Woke up happy and much cooler.  The day went on and as the afternoon hit, so did his fever.  We kept with the *treatments* of keeping him cool and didn't have anymore problems.   Woke up again without a fever, but was noticeably irritable.  And I myself wasn't feeling so great either.  I wasn't running a fever, but was constantly going from freezing to sweating, and my whole body just ached.  Even at night I couldn't sleep well.  But today I'm feeling a bit better.  And Kellen seems to be happier as well.   He even got into his favorite plant this morning.  Nothing like a little dirt to say I'm feeling better;).

Now back to his seizure.  

Is a Febrile Seizure dangerous?  No.  It is completely benign.  Yes, he stopped breathing, but only for about a minute or so.  There is no damage to him from this.  What caused this seizure?  An *overreaction* of his brain to his temperature rising too quickly.  Could he have one again?  Yes.  Now that he's had one, there is about a 30% chance he could have another, but only up until the age of 5 or so.  But he's not prone to seizures in general because of this.  Can we prevent them?  Possibly, by being proactive when he does start to warm up, but many times it may happen before we even realize he has started to develop a fever.  What should we do if it does happen?  Lay him down and wait for it to be over.  Am I comfortable with watching this happen again?  No.  Not at all.

This was a terrible experience.  But I am so very grateful that it was not something worse.  I have heard of these seizures before, but honestly knew very little about them.  Never thought it'd be something that I'd have to deal with.  So I hope our little story might help educate other parents.  But honestly when your child, for no apparent reason, stops breathing and turns purple, it's hard to stop and think, "Hmmm, maybe it's just a benign febrile seizure..."
 

xoxoxo

glass jars - michaels 
beads - hobby lobby
large letters - joanns (spray painted white)
doilies - target (idea from Lorajeans Magazine-she has TONS of great crafty ideas)

chopped

Reganne's hair is identical to mine.  

Really.  

All my life I've been told that it'll curl up more if I were to cut it, take off some of the weight.  

Nope.  

By keeping it shorter, the curls loosen.  If I want the ringlets, I need to give it some length.  

And now that we've cut Reganne's, we see the same thing.  

I love to see *parts* of me in my kids (they are very few).  

She also has my incredibly chapped lips.  

All. The. Time.  

And Marryn's hair.  

I cut those side sweep bangs myself after her actual haircut.
Not too bad if I say so myself.  

I love her hair.  

I love blow dying it.

I'm so glad she didn't get my hair.

10 months

This little guy.

10 months old now.

A terrible sleeper.  Terrible.

Finally got 2 little teeth to peep through.

Crawls on all fours.

Pulls himself up to stand.

Climbed some steps.

 Loved and picked on like crazy.

{courtesy Reganne}

{And doesn't Christian look so proud of his *artwork*.}

LOVES his baths.
Eats.  Finally.

And some stats.

6 months:

16 lbs (25%)

27.5 (75%)

9 months:

16 lbs, 6 oz (5%)

27.5 (50%)

Yes, our little stick boy.  But like I said, he's starting to eat.  Alot.  I'm not huge on solid foods at 4 months.  I don't feel they really need it.  I hear often that 6 months is a better age.  And that's when we started him.  But he was just not interested.  Seriously.  A couple bites and he was done.  And it didn't matter what.  So we just followed his cue.  And right around 9 months, he decided he was ready ready.  Although still not a big fan of the cereals or green veggies.  Loves his little puffs though.  And still loves nursing.

christmas recap

{The picture was blurry and they were sent out about 3 days after Christmas...}

 {The best part of this year's Christmas, a beautiful real tree...}

{Four coordinating stocking; two new, two old...} 

{Look what Santa brought...}

 {Yes, all in last year's Christmas jammies...}

{So excited about her bike, didn't mind that she didn't get the Belle dress she asked for too...}

what we learn in english class

One night Dad was reading the girls a Hello Kitty story about school...

"What do we do in English class?"

Reganne, "Speak Spanish!"

"No...what do we do Marryn?"

 "Uh, I don't remember."

"Well, we read and write.  So Reganne, what do we do in English class?"

"Uno, dos, tres!" 

enjoy

Good bye 2010.
And good riddance.

2010 was not a good year for me.

So here's to 2011.
A new year.
A new start.

And my word for 2011: enjoy.

When I look back over this past year not alot of joy comes to mind.  Yes, good things did happen, like our sweet little Kellen joining our family, but overall the year was well, not great.

My word for 2010 seems to have been survive.

And I'm not just talking about the toys that  litter our home.  Or the 2 year old who constantly gets yogurt and cottage cheese and sour cream and cookies and cereal all over.  Or the 1st grader who now throws jumping up and down tantrums.  Or the preschooler who flips out over anything.  Or even that sweet little baby who still wakes up every night between 4 and 6 am.  Or the running kids to and from school and the weekly YW activities and the never-ending piles of laundry and dirty dishes and the endless unfinished projects I've started.  Or the look of disappointment on the hubs face when yet again, there is no dinner or even an idea of what to even have for dinner.  Yes, these contribute to my survival mode, but they are not the cause.  I am the cause.  As I thought what my *theme* for this new year should be, the word simplify came to mind.  It's a great word.  And definitely something I need to work on.  But I realized that despite all my efforts, I have a lot going on.  And not much I can really cut out.  So last night, as I layed awake in bed thinking through this past year, it came to me.  My life is busy, it's hard, and not always what I want it to be.  And I can't change that.  What can I change?  I can change me.  I can change my state of mind.

So here's to 2011 and here's to enjoying it.  

Here's to enjoying my callings as a Young Women leader and a Visiting Teacher.  Or whatever they may be.
Here's to enjoying my hobbies in whatever little time I have to spare.
Here's to enjoying my what my home as to offer.
Here's to enjoying my kids.  In all aspects.
Here's to enjoying my time with my husband.
Here's to enjoying my life as it is.

I know it's not going to be easy.  But I have to try.

lamp redo feature

My lamp redo has been featured.  

Yeah!

Visit Remodelaholic, one of my favorite do-it-yourself blogs to see my post.

And to see about a million other great posts. :)

soccer

 We signed the girls up for soccer this past Fall.

They loved it.

Joe, being the sports fanatic he is, researched different leagues and found what he thought was the best one.

They would play with girls their age close in location (no traveling across town for practice or games).

They would play 4 on 4, no goalie.

They would play with their coaches on the field as refs and to help guild them. 

They didn't keep score.

{4 on 4 with the Coaches (but only our coach pictured), Reganne has the ball.}

Marryn did really well.  She never scored a goal, but honestly, only a few girls on her team even did.  (I know they said they didn't keep score, but secretly, we all did-her team was not very good;).)  She was on an under 6 team and none of her teammates had played before either (we think they might have divided teams that way as well).  She was a great hustler.  Always running after the ball.  She did have a few chances to score, but didn't quite make it in the goal.  She plans to "play soccer next year in 2nd grade, and then will do dance in 3rd grade."  ha ha.  She's too funny.  Here's a typical little *play by play* , fighting for the ball, breaking away and then missing the goal for whatever reason.  (Her coach is in the gray.)

{These last 2 would have been great pictures if they weren't out of focus...

Love her look on this last one, like that girl was going to smack it right in her face;).}

Reganne was on an under 4 team.  I believe there was only 2 of those teams, so they played against alot of under 5 teams.  She did great, especially as the season went on.  In her last game she scored 6 goals!  Or *scores* as she calls them.  Still.  We'd tell her to get the ball and kick it in the goal and she would.  She even stole the ball from her own teammates to do so;).  Of course when you're playing with a bunch of 3 and 4 years olds, there is not a whole lot of defense happening.  Here she is with her first goal (that's her coach in the blue shirt guiding her along).  She was ecstatic, only I didn't get a great picture of her afterwards, I was too excited too!  

We're contemplating playing in the Spring since they both loved it.  But we've been warned the weather is not the greatest...  

Plus I was relieved when it was over.  My schedule is full enough;).

And next year we might be adding another one.  He'll be old enough.

We had a hard enough time keeping him off the fields as it was.

{All pictures from second games on Sept 18th.}

coat closet take two. and three.

One of my biggest gripes with our home is our coat closet.  It is a very crucial area for us and all we get is a dinky closet.

My dreams are filled with large mudrooms...

So last year I thought about what I could do to maximize space in our tiny closet.  

First and foremost, we took off the door.  Didn't help it's cause when within an hour or two of arriving in our home (before the movers even showed up) a nice little hole was punched into it from the door to the garage opening and hitting it.  Nice design there.  {To see our home's layout, scroll to the bottom of this post, although it's backwards, but you'll get the point of our awkward garage entry way.}   I never filled in the hinge holes though, just painted them...can't decide if it's worth it or not....  Then I took down the standard white wire hanging shelf (that was too high for the kids to reach so their coats were constantly lining the floor), and I created 2 hanging hook racks for one side and searched high and low for the perfect shelf for the other side.  Well, when the closet is only a little wider than the door frame itself, it was very difficult.  So I made do with our old shoe rack and a couple baskets (one for hats, gloves and other *extras* and the other for the kids shoes).  This design worked out alright.  The girls could hang up and get their own coats and backpacks, but it still seemed like it could be better...especially when the kids dumped the basket to find their shoes...

 {These were all taken in August, back before all the winter coats were pulled out.}

So again I contemplated what could be done.

And then I took the plunge.  When to Home Depot and had some boards cut to size.  Two 6 inchers for hanging racks, two 12 inchers for shoe shelves and four smaller 1x2s for the brackets or ledges that the shelves would rest on.  Now, I'm fairly bright.  I know that a 2x4 is not actually 2 inches by 4 inches.  But for some reason, I didn't think that that would apply to the 1x12.  So when I got home with my boards all cut and ready to go, I realized that my brackets were about an inch longer than the shelves they were going to support...  So I had to pullout my little handsaw and sawed off an inch on all those myself.  Lesson learned.  Next I pulled out some leftover primer and primed.  Then I just used some of our glossy white trim touch up paint and did 2 coats.  I also painted just the shelves with some Min-Wax protective stuff I picked up at Wal-mart on clearance.  These would see more action, so I wanted to be sure they held up.  For awhile at least.  For the hanging rod rack, I pulled off the hooks from my other racks and attached them (plus an extra for each one) to my new ones to give 5 hooks for each one.  Everything was ready to be hung.  Almost.  I wanted to paint the actual closet first.  Since it sits directly across from my light/aqua blue with a chartreuse-like green accented bathroom/laundry room, I wanted to coordinate it somehow.  So I was thinking a deep eggplant like purple...  I know the *rules*, don't paint small rooms dark, they'll just look smaller...well, this wasn't exactly a room...and I wanted a dark color to help hid scuffs...and the white of all the wood would stand out more...plus, it's just a closet...  So I took the risk and picked up a gallon of Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint plus primer.  Now I've mentioned before, I usually head to Sherwin Williams for my paint, but I couldn't pass this up.  Why?  This is why. :)

It didn't even say what the color was, just a sample of it on top, but it was what I was looking for.  (I constantly check the oops paints now;).)  And after painting, I loved it.  The paint itself was really nice to work with, was thick, and still low VOC, which is why I buy Sherwin Williams Harmony paint (no VOCs).  

So with the closet painted, everything was ready to go in.

   

 {I love looking at my little color scheme I've got now.}

Then I needed another basket for hats and whatnot...  I kept looking for a natural tall round one.  Finally found an oval one.  Didn't fit (but that was okay, because I found another use for it;).  Then I remembered buying this bag thing (half off) at World Market.  I loved it, but at the time didn't really know what to use if for (too small for our recycling).  Well, turned out it was the perfect color and size.  Plus it had some of that green accent on it.  Nice.  

Joe makes fun of me because my favorite room in the house is the smallest *room*.

Honestly, it's my favorite spot because it is the only room in the house that is completely finished.

And so far it's working out great.  Well, as great as a coat closet can serve as a mudroom for a family of 6;).  

And just a little extra tidbit for you...I'm the only one in the family who doesn't have a pair of Converse shoes...I didn't realize this until I lined up everyone's shoes (and Joe has 2 pairs, he just happened to be wearing them at the time).