Lunch with Olivia

Today, Clay decided to eat his lunch near his baby sister. Nature called, so Clay returned to this:

Oops.

Sleepy Baby

I took this picture of Olivia a couple weeks ago. Poor thing, she certainly doesn't look very comfortable and I know she wasn't asleep for very long. But, long enough for me to grab my camera!

Don't you wish you could fall asleep anywhere?

Repeats & Memories

What a week!

KAYCEE

Can you tell what these images are?

Well, the picture on the right is Kaycee's throat. The picture on the left, is Kaycee's throat too - only with a penny in it.

Last night, Kaycee had been tucked in, but snuck out to get a drink. Next thing we know, Clay comes to me and says he can hear Kaycee crying, she's not in her bed. We find Kaycee crying and through her sobs, she confesses she's swallowed a penny. This is a new one! She's obviously breathing, but I have no clue what to do next. My first instinct was to make her throw up because she was complaining it was still in her throat. So, I call over to our peds office and get a call back from an on-call nurse about 25 mins later. Kaycee had been calm for a while laying at the end of our bed, but still complained that her throat hurt. Because of those complaints, the nurse suggests we go to the ER. We thought perhaps her throat was just scratched and figured she's be okay. Boy am I glad we decided to take her in. After Ryan and Kaycee waited a while to be seen, x-ray showed that that penny was indeed, stuck in her esophagus! Next, Kaycee is taken up to the OR, put under, and an endoscopy is performed (a tool sent down her throat with a camera to retrieve the penny). It was a fairly quick procedure and it was killing me NOT to be with her at the hospital. I hated the fact that she had to be put under, that makes me so nervous - but she did really well and was home about 30 mins after it all.

I was so happy Ryan was there with her and could give her a blessing. She was so nervous to go to the hospital in the first place, her little chin started to quiver and she tried so hard to be brave and not cry. Huge alligator tears fell from her eyes. I told her it was okay to be nervous and to cry, but that the doctors were going to help her.

As soon as I found out she was going to have the endoscopy done, I thought of her tonsillectomy when she was just 2 years old. Again, Ryan stayed the night with her as I had a nursing Lucy.


Last night, Kacyee surprised the drs with how little her throat is. They were really surprised that the penny didn't go right down. Apparently the hospital hadn't seen any children this year yet who had swallowed money, but last night, Kaycee had followed a little 11 mos old that had done the same thing.

Here she is this morning, resting up. It was killing me not to be with her last night, but we are so grateful she's okay. (And, we got to keep the penny!)

CLAYTON

Well, Mr. Clay, on Sunday evening was playing down in Gma and Gpa's basement. He was running on the couch, fell and landed on the back on his hand with his wrist up, rolling his arm over his wrist. We were hesitant to take him to the hospital (I know, what's our deal?!), but felt like we probably should. Sure enough, his wrist was broken, a common buckle fracture. They put him in a splint and a sling and told us to see our ped on Thursday to get it casted. Again, my thoughts turned to when he had broken his other arm (his left) when he was 3.5 years old. He was dutifully helping Gpa clean his car when he slipped on the wet garage floor.

Then..(look at all their cheeks!)

...to his splint

...to his green cast

looks cool, dude (just like your hair!)

RYLEE

In happier, non-ER-related news, we attended Rylee's award ceremony yesterday where she recieved her 5th Outstanding Citizenship award! Not too shabby for her 3 year school career! Nice job Ms. Ryles.

Rylee receiving her award and a sqeeze from her 2nd grade teacher

So, for those of you still reading this incredible long post, I didn't want to forget this:

Finding a Smile

(Just one, this time) It was last Friday, Rylee was eating a fun dip she had gotten as a valentine. Kaycee and Rylee were both near me when Rylee dropped some powder. Immediately, Kaycee drops to the floor and starts licking. Uh.. (me) "Kaycee, get up, that's gross." She gets a couple more licks in and stands up and looks at me. Kaycee: "Where did she drop it?"

Oh, I LOVE MY KIDS!

Finding a Smile

1. Ryan and I, along with Olivia, were finding some date night treats at the grocery store. Olivia was close to being out of diapers and we didn't want to have to go to another store so, for the first time EVER, I decided to buy diapers at the grocery store. I found a box of diapers on sale for $19.99. Not too bad. So we went to check out. I watched as the teller rang up the diapers. The sale didn't come up. "These had a sale sign for $19.99." He leaves to go check. Sure enough, he comes back and says "yep, you're right, those are on sale." Apparently, at this grocery store, if things don't ring up correctly, you get them for FREE! Yes, FREE! A whole box of diapers that I didn't have to pay for! AWESOME! (ps. this grocery store, may or may not, sound like schmalbertsons).

2. The kids were asked to get their jammies on. I find Kaycee singing her heart out on her bed facing the wall (I love it when they sing). I love the way she belts songs out - whether she knows all the words or not, or even makes up her own. Several times at Sunday dinner over at Gma & Gpa H's, we'll hear KC's lovely music coming from the bathroom. It must have some amazing accoustics!

3. Clayton, Kaycee & Lucy bouncing on Gpa's lap while he sings:
"I went to the store
to get a pound of butter,
but when I got home,
it fell down in the gutter"
and they fall through his lap. They love that!

4. Lucy came into my room and found me beside some "potty treat" wrappers. With great, big eyes and a smile to match "you went potty, mommy? Good job! Good job, mommy - you went potty."

5.This one really shows my maturity! While feeding Olivia, I was watching part of the news last night. There's an e.coli outbreak here in Denver and so the news station was listing the symptoms. I couldn't get past #1. While it was read "stomach cramps," all I could see written was "stomach craps." I giggled and giggled.

6. Last night, I was telling Lucy she had a boogie on her nose. "This one?" She shoves her finger up one nostril. "no, the other." "Oh, this one?" her finger up the other side. "No, Lucy, it's on the outside." "Oh. " Now it's ON top of her nose. "It's right there now." Showing her on my nose. She finds it and tries to flick it on me!! What the? "Who taught you that??" Lucky for me it was still stuck on her nose. We'll just leave it there.

Finding a Smile

New Friday posts: Finding a Smile. My attempt to make note of things that have made me smile during the week (and I think might make you smile, too). Not to be confused with "They Make Me Laugh," although some of these could be there too.

Because my brain isn't back to fully functioning yet, here's what I can remember. The things that made me smile:


1. Racing to pick up Kaycee from pre-school after getting Clay from kindergarten (their release times are 5 mins apart, but I have a 10 min trip). I'm almost there, yet there seems to be something slowing EVERYONE down. I glance ahead to the front car and notice a very slow lane change. Great. Because I'm such an awesome driver, I maneuver myself to the front so I can continue on my way. Whoa. Hold up. What is that? A little pug running down the busy street, like a drunk driver swerving through both southbound lanes. (Have you ever noticed with pugs, it looks like they're always smiling?) So here he is just doing his own thing, happy as a clam, while a significant street is getting more and more backed up. I slow down and make sure I can see this little dog as I now, slowly try and pass him. Oh to run free in the streets!

2. This is a constant battle at our house: getting the kids to clean up after themselves, especially their room - the one room 4 kids choose to stay in (no one wants to move to the bedroom downstairs). So as you can imagine, envy sets in when one child has picked up all their belongings and is out. KC comes in my room: her tattling voice

KC: "Mom, Rylee still has stuff out."

Me: "Rylee said she was finished."

KC: "Whull, I can see her book."

She pauses and looks up to the ceiling. "And...her thing-a-ma-jig." oh yeah?


3. Clay in his room getting scolded for punching one of his sisters.

Ryan (with fists in the air) " you wanna go to blows with ME? And-"

Clay interrupts "Is that a gun store? Can I go with you?"

I ruined the opportunity to discipline. I laughed for a good 5 minutes.

4. So, in the the last "They Make Me Laugh," when I mentioned that Clay spotted Twist, The kids pulled it out last night to play. Apparently, when at Goodwill making sure it had all it's parts, I overlooked the main playing component....the board. I bought a board game that has no board. Lovely. Sometimes you just have to let go and laugh at yourself.

5. Speaking of laughing at one's self, I was changing Olivia's diaper at the end of our bed, when Rylee came into the room. She went to flop on our bed, but didn't entirely make it. She had under estimated the distance to the bed and I believe her shoulders hit the bed just right bouncing her right off the bed, landing on the floor. It was so funny to hear her laugh so hard at herself. (and she's okay.)

6. KC was standing by the dishwasher when I scraped my hand along the top. "Are you okay, Mom? That sure hurts." Aww.