Pox Patrol

I have seen the doctor six times in the last month and a half.  Our last visit was Monday night.  I had thought Mark would be home in time to take Megan but he had to work late so once again I dragged all three kids with me.  We waited almost an hour for the doctor and when she came in she asked, "how old is your baby?"  Followed by, "I'm really sorry but you were just exposed to chicken pox in the waiting room."  It turns out that the kids who sat down next to us had chicken pox.  Kendra is the only one who has been vaccinated for it, but even then she could still get a mild case, (I have read the vaccine is anywhere from 70 - 90 percent effective, but in reality it is as low as 40% effective).   Now, normally chicken pox wouldn't bother me, but for real?  I have a little baby!  How could you do this to me?!?!?!  Now I understand how that mom felt when her baby under a year old contracted measles from a kid in the waiting room.  I was so concerned with Pertussis and Measles (that's what is more prevalent here) that chicken pox never crossed my mind.  I mean really, when is the last time you have heard of a kid getting the chicken pox.  Oh well, one less shot my two younger ones will need to get.  And for those of you who live near me I will be checking my kids every day for fever and rash for the next 3 weeks and will keep them home if they have any signs.

In other news:

Kylee in her blessing dress:

Look, we have church at 9:00 am and I'm slow to get out the door, so I took a picture super fast thinking I would take another when we got home but she ended up pooping on her dress. :(

We hired J & S Masonry to build us a cinder block wall:

Here's our old fence:

We have needed a new fence for the past year. Every time the wind picked up the fence would fall over in some spot and the posts had been eaten by termites.

This is our new fence:

Look how purdy it is.  I actually really like it.  Now I won't have to watch the wood sway back and forth in the wind waiting for it to collapse.

This is the side between our house and our neighbor's home.  They had to dig down and build a foundation first.

The girls enjoying the new chalkboard.  Kendra wrote Kylee's name on there as "killy."

Thrush Flush

Yep, I'm still dealing with thrush.  It is such a pain.  The gentian violet is amazing, but it just kept coming back.  Why?  It went into my breasts and I cannot even begin to describe the agonizing pain that has caused!  So now I'm taking grapefruit seed extract capsules (I tried drinking the liquid but it was too nasty) to try to flush the yeast out.  After taking just one capsule the pain subsided considerably.  It now only feels like I'm nursing with a sunburn.  I'm hoping that in another week we can get rid of it.

Kendra is on spring break this week.  I'm glad the weather is nice and we can be outside.  After cleaning up a bit the girls ate popsicles.  I love our weather.

Food Allergies

When I read stories about kids that are unable to eat like "normal" people I always think about Megan.

Here are two stories:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/02/23/three-year-old-boy-who-cant-eat-anything-is-running-out-of-time-parents-say/

http://www.krdo.com/news/Mia-s-Story-Girl-Can-Only-Eat-5-Foods/-/417220/14817502/-/vqk905/-/index.html

I wonder how Megan would be if we never took her to Dr. Chernoff.  We knew Megan was allergic to two things, for sure - dairy and almonds.  ( I tried giving her almond milk and she broke out in a rash; the dairy caused the coughing and vomiting).  According to Dr. Chernoff she was allergic to everything but bananas and white rice.  So we treated her for tons of stuff...and she got better.  She drank milk with no coughing or vomiting.  Every time we'd treat her she could eat the food after 24 hours with no reaction.  It was amazing. 

But after reading stories like the above, I wonder if that would have been Megan had we not done anything. 

Saggy Baggy

Here is a picture of me when I came home from the hospital after having Megan.

Notice the belly.  Can you see it?  It's a little flab of chub.  Two days people, two days after having her and that is all it was! ( I just realized that I wore jeans home from the hospital! Oh the glory days!)

Now fast forward - 5 weeks after having Kylee - and that is what I STILL look like.  It has to be the most irritating thing for me right now.  Now most of you are probably rolling your eyes because I'm still thin.  But I'm use to, and love being super skinny.  I pride myself on it.  I love my body.  So after 5 weeks and still having the tummy bulge, well, it's rough.  God is trying to humble me in the most devastating way possible.  Everyone who knows both Mark and I will tell you that  Mark is the humble one and I'm the proud one.  Sigh, maybe I should lose the pride, but it's just so hard!

That's Life

The girls put on a puppet show for us.  I thought it was funny so here are the pics:

Kylee has thrush.  We tried the nyastatin but she still had it all over her mouth.  I'm now using gentian violet which stains everything!  I'm so tired of dealing with thrush!  It's such a pain.  I have seriously contemplated not breastfeeding because of all the problems I've had.  The GV really works though.  After 24 hours her mouth looked so much better.  There is just a stubborn white spot on her cheek so I'm going to try grapefruit seed extract and see if that can kick it.

Heaven Smiled Down

Megan was sick yesterday.  Now, when my kids are sick they lay on the couch with a towel over their pillow and a bucket next to them.  Megan somehow always manages to miss the towel and bucket and gets vomit on everything else.  It's amazing.  In fact if she is walking around holding her bucket she will put it down and puke on the floor.  It's just incredible...and annoying. 

So with her sick yesterday I just knew that she would puke at the most inopportune times - me busy with Kylee and not able to rush to her aid.  And so it was.   Oh well, carpet can be scrubbed, couches can be washed, and clothes can be laundered.  But heaven smiled down upon me and by some miracle Megan threw up, all by herself mind you, in the bucket...twice!  Miracles really do still happen!

I was actually worried about her because she couldn't even keep a piece of crushed ice down.  By 11:00 she was so dehydrated, but after a nap and many oils rubbed on her belly she began to do better.

And Then There Were Three

Kendra at 2 weeks:

Megan at 3 weeks:

 Kylee at 2 weeks:

She doesn't look like her sisters.  Want to know what she'll look like?  Yep, that's me at 2 years old.  Love how my mama dressed me.  The shoes don't match and the clothes were probably my brothers. 

 

Life is similar to what it was with two.  The only difference is Megan is having a difficult time adjusting and is wetting her pants.  I still spend loads of time with her; but we aren't on the go like we use to be.  This to shall pass right? 

11 Years

Today is our anniversary!  11 years and 3 kids later.  I drove the Rav4 the other day - kidless, and thought about when I bought it.  At the time Kendra was 1 1/2 years old.  She sat in the middle and I was done.  I loved my sporty mom car.  I would have never thought at that time that we'd have two more and I would drive a minivan.  How life has changed.

I loved Mark 11 years ago, but love him more now.  He's a good husband and a good daddy.  I am so grateful, as I was young and naive when I got married, that I married a good man.  It has made all the difference in my life these last years. 

This was when we lived in California; a year before Kendra was born.

 

 

 

This pic was taken when we were dating.  See - I look the same.  Okay, not exactly the same, I have bags under my eyes now.



More Pics

Pics

Here's baby Kylee in the hospital.  She has a washcloth under her head because she kept spitting up amniotic fluid.  The pediatrician there suggested putting a tube in her stomach and siphoning it out, but the lactation specialist told me to encourage gagging and throwing up and that it would stop at 24 hours.  24 hours later she was fine and super hungry.

Kendra loving her baby sister:

Look at all that blonde hair!  

This is Kylee in my belly cast...how in the world did she fit in me?!?!?!

When we are outside we let the chickens out of the coop.  Here's Megan tackling and choking our Rhode Island Red.  Good thing I got calm chickens.

I was shocked to see Kendra actually pick a chicken up.  She was so scared of them at first.

Not sure what Megan was doing.

So friendly.

Kylee

Kylee Ann was born on January 31st at 4:00 pm.  Mark and I went to the hospital to be induced at 8:30 that morning.  They had to monitor me until almost 10:00, then my doctor put the pill in my cervix.  Between 11 and 12 I had regular contractions but they stopped by noon.  I walked the halls for an hour, but nothing.  When my doctor came back in I told him I wanted to have contractions (let's get this thing going already!)  So he suggested he break my water.  At this time I was dilated to a 3, 60% effaced, and Kylee was at a -2 station.  I had a long way to go!  I didn't really want to have my water broken as I knew the contractions would be super intense, but I wanted to have Kylee so we proceeded.  This was at 1:30. 

By 2:45 I begged Mark to let me have an epidural.  I have decided that natural child births just aren't for me!  I had to wait a half hour for a bag of IV solution to drain into my body before I could get the epidural.  The pain was so intense that I clung to the bed rail for life.  It was like I was paralyzed in that position.  Finally the anesthesiologist came in.  The relief felt so good.  Kylee almost pushed herself out and was born at 4:00.

Even though her hands were clasped together (maybe she was praying on her way out?) and came out with her head (which tore me and made recovery longer) it was my easiest and best birth ever.  I'd do it again if I wasn't so old!  I'm too old!  My body takes longer to recover than it did in my twenties.

She weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long.  Largest kid I ever birthed.  There is a huge difference between a baby that is under 6 pounds and a 7 pounder.  I think that is why I'm enjoying Kylee so much. 

The girls love her.  As soon as we walked in the door it was, "she's so cute!"  "Can I hold her?"  They just dote on her and love to show her everything.  Megan puts things right in front of her face to make sure she can see them.  They love to rub her head and tickle her feet.  Their voices are so cute and soft when they talk to her. 

I love snuggling her and feel she just wants to be loved.  She's so precious and we're so happy she's finally here!

I'll add pictures later.

Two Miracles

Can I ask for two miracles?  Is that too much? 

Here's little Kendra.  She has the influenza virus.  Along with a 101 fever her right eye became swollen.  Poor thing.

So here are the two miracles I would like.

1.  No one else in our family gets the flu until March.  Look, I'm 40 weeks pregnant and will be induced on Thursday.  This flu has bad timing for me!

2.  No emergency c-section.  I had hoped to give birth naturally, but with an induction I know I'm more likely to get an epidural.  I also have never been this big or gone this long being pregnant, so I fear I might actually have a normal size baby.  I'm not sure my pelvis will allow it and I'd hate to go through labor just to have a c-section.  Not to mention the recovery for a c-section.

So that's it.  The two miracles I'm praying for.