Getting Through

The last few weeks have been tough. It seemed that it wasn't just croup that affected them. It was all viruses rolled into one. Croup, flu, stomach bug, cold, etc. Kendra, after 2 1/2 weeks finally began to do well while Megan still has green snot. Megan was so congested that I had to suction her nose constantly. She couldn't eat or breathe without this being done. I hated doing this in the middle of the night. Well, last week I suctioned one to many times and she got a bloody nose! Scared me half to death. So it was just saline solution from then on out.

This was Kendra. She laid on the couch for three days and didn't want to eat or drink anything. This is very unlike Kendra. I know she's REALLY sick when all she wants to do is lay on the couch.


Here's Kendra when she felt better! She wanted to put makeup on. I really missed her.

Neither child has slept well since. Kendra woke up crying one night and Mark went in there to take care of her. She cried so loud and hard that she woke Megan up. So I went in with Megan. Now, when Kendra cries she makes herself vomit. I am always the one who cleans the mess. Well, I didn't think she actually threw up this time so when I was done with Megan I checked on Kendra and went back to bed. The next morning Mark called me from work...

"Kendra threw up last night."

"Oh she did? Did you get it in the bucket?"

"Yeah (pause) I didn't clean it though."

Gross. The bucket had dried up chodes in it. So Gross!!

Yesterday the weinermobile came to Smiths just a few miles from our house. Kendra wanted to see the giant hot dog car so we went. Then she cried when we got up to it because her shoe fell off. Then she wouldn't go inside although she had begged me to be able to on the car ride there.

I took a picture with our phone, but don't know how to download it. This picture is from the last time it came when Kendra was 3-4 months old.

Kendra did get a weinee whistle and sticker which made the trip worthwhile for her.

It Could Be Worse

There is an old children's book titled, "It Could Be Worse." It is about a man who is very unhappy when he comes home after a hard days work to a small, noisy home. He finally says that he can't take it anymore and goes to see the wise man. The wise man tells him to put more and more animals into his home until it is so chaotic he really can't take it anymore. Then the wise man tells him to put all the animals back outside where they belong. The next night when he comes home he sits in his rocking chair grateful for the peace.

This is so my life. A week ago as Mark and I went to bed I complained that I couldn't go on like this. I have been so tired with Megan. She still wakes up every two hours...sometimes she'll give me a 3 or 4 hour stretch, but mostly it's 45 minutes to 2 hours. I'm exhausted and last week I just felt I was at the end of my rope. And then that night Kendra woke up coughing and puked. (This is a common occurrence with Kendra, thus the bucket is permanently in her room). The coughing continued all night and for the next 3 days she laid on the couch not wanting to eat anything and fighting me on keeping her hydrated. Finally on Thursday she wanted to eat something. On Tuesday Megan got sick. By Friday I took both girls to the doctor. Kendra is finally on the tail end, although she still has coughing attacks day and night, tons of snot, and still sounds congested. Megan had a double ear infection. That would be why she woke up crying every 20 minutes on Thursday night! So, now I realize, like the book, that it can be worse. And I look forward to sleeping a full 2 hours before being awaken. I thought the kiddos would be better by today and am disappointed that I probably have another week.

Megan has an extremely sensitive gut. When we gave her the antibiotic for her ear infections the pharmacist told us to give it to her with food if it caused stomach upset. Well, with Megan that means give it to her with food. It didn't help as an hour later she continued to throw up until finally she puked bile. She then lay lifeless on my shoulder. So now we have another antibiotic that causes "diarrhea" and yes, Megan has that now. She is so full of snot that she throws up sometimes. But it could be worse. It definitely could be worse.

It's Official

Okay, it's official. I'm tired of sick kids. This has been the worst year for illnesses for us. Kendra has croup (my diagnosis, she sounds like a little barking seal). We are hoping that Megan won't get it.

Megan has slept a four hour stretch the last two or three nights. The first night we still awoke after two hours because Kendra woke up crying saying her feet hurt. And last night didn't matter either because Kendra is sick. I hope Megan finally is learning to sleep. I'm still crossing my fingers for a six hour stretch.

Last week Kendra rode her trike (it has a bucket on the back) to the dirt patch in our backyard. She filled it with dirt, and then brought it back to our sliding glass door where she made piles. She then told me that the piles of dirt were for the ants. She made homes for them to live in.

Megan now does like an army crawl and enjoys getting into anything she can. She especially loves our shoes...so gross!

The Dance

Our stake holds a Valentine's Day dance for adults each year. Mark and I went for the first time last Saturday. It was the first time we actually danced together.

These are our friends that we met up with at the dance. The friends in the middle moved out of our ward (but are still in our stake) about a year ago and the ones on the left are moving at the end of this month.

Megan is getting really close to crawling. Any day now. But for the meantime she just rolls all over the place. On Saturday I was upstairs cleaning while Mark was on the computer doing his Sunday agendas. Megan rolled under his chair and began to play with my jacket. Kendra wanted to play with sister and so here is the cute picture. Kendra kept putting her feet in front of the camera the little stinker!

When I make dinner I usually let Kendra watch one of her cartoons. (It's just so much easier this way!) Megan was on the floor and Kendra once again joined her. Megan seemed interested in the show for a few moments...and then rolled on.

Wedding

Mark and I arrived at my home in Oregon on the 14th. We had to get our marriage license on the 15th so we could be married on the 16th. Mark was sick when we got married. He was fine on the night of the 14th but on the night just before we were married, he woke the whole house up! In the middle of the night he hawked up a storm in the bathroom. My sister told me I should ask him if he was all right since he was going to be my husband. After I checked on him my dad came and asked him if he was okay. How embarrassing! But if that wasn't enough...

When we arrived at the temple Mark had forgotten some clothing, and seeing how his family was late, and he didn't have his wallet inside the temple, he had to ask his very soon to be father-in-law to pay for some rental clothes for him!

All of our family at the temple.

I fed Mark LOTS of cake!

This is my favorite picture! Mark is supposed to grab my garter. You can't see in the picture but my dad is standing just behind Mark. He was VERY nervous sticking his hands up my dress with his father-in-law standing right behind him!!

Engagement Pics

Here are some of our engagement photos. We were both students at BYU and thus money was tight. My sister took these for us...and she actually did a good job!

Hay bails in the background. Reminds of the movie the RM. Classic farm photo.

We just had to have one on our tractor with the barn behind.

This one was taken in Provo on the court house lawn.

Oh look at us! Aren't we the cutest thing!?!?

Separation

At the end of winter semester 2001 Mark and I parted ways. He went to California to sell pest control and I went to Minnesota to be a girl scout leader.

I'm guessing this picture is near the temple.

He and his friends went to Legoland. He also spent time at the beach - but he won't let me post any of those pictures!

Mark got bit by a dog while he was knocking on some doors! It would have been so funny watching Mark race down the street with a dog close behind!

Me, Fizz, and Sunshine at Lake Superior. (The leaders have camp names...mine was Phoenix) We took about 13 girls on an out of camp trip to an island on Lake Superior. It was way fun. We even went swimming in the lake...it was SO COLD!!

Me and the leaders in Aspen Grove. It was so incredibly hot in Minnesota. I remember it being like 118 degrees in July. It didn't matter if I showered or not because I was always dripping in sweat.

Bula, Roo, and I after we took our girls canoeing. It was windy and they got stuck in that little cove just above Bula's arm. We had to rescue them, and by the time we were done my arms were burning.

Funny thing about this summer with Mark in CA and I in MN is that I ended up breaking up with him in August! Lucky for me he gave me another chance.

Dating

This was our first real date. Oddly enough we are not on the date with eachother. Mark and I use to work at the MTC (in different buildings) early in the morning. I began giving him rides up there - (look, I lived down rape hill and there was no way I was going to walk through the dark trees to work). On one occasion while we drove the whole 3 minutes to the MTC Mark asked, "so, what are you looking for in a guy?" I told him I wanted someone who was 6'2". The next day I was pleased to see that he got the hint when he said, "I have this friend..." So we set eachother up on a date and doubled. Funny enough I wished Mark was my date because by this time we had become good friends and I had a good time with him. A month later we were officially dating.


This was the picture I sent home to my rents so that they could see who my boyfriend was.

I love picking on Mark!

Okay, I obviously liked him enough to dress up like this!

For our ward talent show Mark and some friends got together to do a number. Mark was in a Jazz band at BYU for a semester.

8 Years in the Making

Mark and I married 8 years ago this month. We met at BYU just after he returned from his mission. He was my FHE dad, and, having just been on a two year spiritual high, he wanted to make sure all of his "kids" could feel the spirit. The first FHE we had Mark read us a story for two hours! I kid you not!! I thought he was the most boring person!



Mark and his roommates were in the same district in the MTC and decided on their mission to be roomies on their return to the Y. They returned home between July and August 2000 and all were married (except for Mark) a year later!

Mark was a computer science major. He and his two buddies loved playing the nerdy part.

My roommates at the Y fall 2000.

We dressed up as Little Rascals for Halloween.

Spring 2001 Roommates.

Let It Snow

It snowed on Thursday and we actually had snow here for about two days. Most of it is melted now. Kendra absolutely loves playing in the snow. We had to shovel our driveway so the girls got bundled up, Megan watched in her stroller and Kendra threw snowballs. When I shovel our driveway I do one side and then the other. As I began the other side I looked over and saw a bunch of snow spots on the side I had just done. What?!? Then I saw Kendra happily standing in the snow and throwing snowballs on our driveway!

Megan is a little babbler now and talks all the time. It is so cute how she loves her sister. The other day while we were eating Kendra made a squishy face and blew air in and out of her nose quickly. Megan copied her. The face reminds us of when Kendra was a baby because she made the most hilarious faces.

I usually have Kendra pick up the floor before Mark comes home. On this particular day she got an idea while she cleaned. She decided to make a house around Megan and then one around herself. So this is what Mark saw when he came home.

Vaccines

I have decided that vaccines are poisonous and do more harm than good. Many people think I'm crazy, and I felt the same way when I first heard people say they wouldn't vaccinate. It took me years of research to come to this decision. The story is long and boring so here is a rough summary.

Kendra became terribly ill when she was injected with 6 different vaccines at 2 months. After that she only received two shots at a time which still made her sick.

Now, after countless books, articles, and websites (including the WHO, CDC, and AAP) I finally decided not to vaccinate. WHY? Read on:

In 1991 mercury (a preservative) was found by a researcher who worked for MERCK to cause neurological damage. It wasn't until 2002 when Congress mandated that all mercury be removed from vaccines...some still have mercury. They replaced mercury with aluminum. No testing has ever been done on injected aluminum and its safety. We know from studies that IV solutions containing aluminum cannot contain more than 15 micrograms for a preemie baby (or it causes developmental delays by 18 months) or 62.5 for an adult (it causes dementia and Alzheimer like symptoms). From these studies they found that when the body (liver and kidneys) can't flush out the excess toxin (aluminum in this case) that it sits on the brain. Babies receive anywhere from 625 - 1200 micrograms at once. If an adult can't flush out more than 62.5 micrograms how can a baby of 12 lbs flush out 12oo micrograms? Other studies were done that showed only 27% of infants at 3 months of age were able to create the antibodies necessary for the vaccine to "take."

Wow, there is so much I could write about this. If you want to vaccinate I suggest reading The Vaccine Book by Dr. Bob Sears. He has great advice in there. I would NEVER give the DTaP though - just give the Td.

Here is the first article that I read:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7395411/deadly_immunity/

Here are some other books if you want to learn more:

The Vaccine Guide

A Shot in the Dark (my personal favorite - it's about the DTP which they don't use anymore but he has a ton of early research cited)

Raising a Vaccine Free Child (she includes a ton of research - although the spelling drove me nuts - she's from Australia)

Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parents Guide:

How to Raise a Healthy Child Inspite of Your Doctor

January Update

Megan had her 6 month check-up at the beginning of the month. She is 16 lbs. 6 oz. and 27 1/2 inches long. She's holding strong to the 50th percentile for weight and 90th for height. I learned that her pediatrician is moving to Washington. She is such a wonderful doctor and I am sad to see her go. It is difficult to find a pediatrician who is okay with my stand on vaccines. I haven't decided who our next doctor will be. I would like to continue to see a pediatrician, but may settle for a nurse practitioner who I know won't pressure me to vaccinate my children.

We began sleep training Megan as soon as we arrived home from DC. It took Kendra about a week to sleep through the night when I did this. I thought for sure Megan would be easier since her temperament is so easy. No... I was wrong...very wrong! It's been what, three weeks? And she STILL cries almost every time she has to sleep. It's getting better...or at least that is what I tell myself. On a good night I will only get up 2-3 times to feed her (this has happened twice). On a bad night I'm up 10-12 times. I don't mind getting up to feed her, I just wish she was consistently sleeping 3 hour stretches.

Kendra is now a sunbeam in primary. For the past two years it has taken her 6 months before she would go to nursery without either me or Mark. I had prepared myself for the same experience. I was floored when she took the hand of her friend and walked to her bench. I later saw her and her friend holding hands skipping and giggling in the hallway. She loves primary! It's so cute to watch her and her little buddy.