A New Set Of Wheels for Lily

Back on June 7,  I was reading through my emails and facebook news feed when I came across a posting from our local grocery store that they were giving away 2 bikes, one for a boy and one for a girl at 5pm.  So,  I planned a quick trip to the store around 4:45 so we'd be there and we could enter the contest.

As we got out of the car Lily said, "Mom, I have a really excited feeling inside.  I think I might win."  I told her in a less-than-sure voice, "We'll have to see."

We got there just as they were collecting the last entries.  I looked around and got a little excited too, because you had to be present to win, and the crowd was not very big, maybe 20 people, 15 of those being kids.  Then the giveaway began.  They gave away a boys bike first.  He gave a great WAHOO and ran to greet his new bike.  Then they called a girls name.  She wasn't there.  So they reached into the box again, and called out Lily's name!  I began to cheer and Lily sorta got a deer-in-the-headlights look on her face.  The small crowd dispersed pretty quickly and the store employee took a picture of Lily next to her new bike.  Lily didn't say a word, just stood by her bike, smiled for the picture, then walked back to my side, trying to hide a little.  I tried to get her to say thank you, which she whispered to the employee, still looking timid and unsure about what to do next.  I think she must've been nervous that they were going to make her ride it around because she doesn't know how to ride a 2-wheeler yet, and she's still quite apprehensive about it.  Luckily, I showed enough excitement for the both of us and we walked away from the store with a new bike for Lily.

Once we got in the car, Lily was excited again and wanted to surprise her dad.  I had told Steve that I was going to the store with the girls, but I never mentioned there would be a bike giveaway.  When Lily told him, Steve thought it was pretty cool that she won and wanted to see her try it out, to which Lily responded, "Gulp.  Uh-uh."  (Yes, she really audibly says "gulp.")  We talked her into giving it a try and she trusted her dad enough that he wouldn't let go of the seat as she rode around.  So, with helmet on and pads on her elbows and knees, she tried it and sweated with anxiety the whole time.

Steve gave her a few riding lessons the few days following, but those are really tiring in the summer heat for both of them.  So, its been awhile since she's been on her bike, but I think it's mostly because we've had a pretty busy summer thus far and she's a little nervous about falling off.  I know when she gets the hang of it, she won't want to get off!  Maybe next year I'll be posting Lily riding a 2-wheeler by herself...

Catching up... Mother's Day 2012

Mother's day this year was wonderful!  The day before Mother's day, Steve offered to let me go out to eat with my mom, so my mom and I went to La Cabana Mexican restaurant.  They happened to be giving mothers 50% off their meals that day, so we definitely had smiles on our faces.  We had a lovely meal, and just as we were going up to the cash register to pay, in walks Steve and my girls, holding a pretty bouquet of flowers for me and a homemade candy bar poster for grandma.  I love that Steve took the girls to the store and bought the poster board and candybars, then helped the girls assemble the card for grandma.  It was so darn cute!  That was such a surprise and it really made my (and my mom's) day!  

Then the next morning I could hear little steps come into my room.  I peeked my eyes open a bit and there were my girls standing with smiles on their faces and holding a tray of my breakfast in bed.  It was so thoughtful and adorable!  They made it themselves- They got me a yogurt (and even remembered a spoon!), and washed 2 strawberries and wrapped them in a paper towel (how cute is that?) and brought me a box of oatmeal packets.  Lily explained, "We didn't know how to make the oatmeal, so we just brought you the whole box."  So cute!  And what a surprise that their little hands could prepare all that for me without me hearing them get up!  There little breakfast for me that morning brought a smile to my face and melted my heart.  I truly felt spoiled.

I wanted to share the few pictures I had from mothers day, but as I got going, I really wanted to share my feelings about how joyous it is to be a mother.  I started reminiscing and looking through pictures of my babies, and I just had to share them.  So, I made a scrapbook with some of them.  It makes me so happy to be a mother.  It is a true blessing and my children really are my joy!

Steve's Ancestor

We visited a museum yesterday and they had a book with a photo of Steve's ancestor. Cool!

Grandpa

I'm glad they could meet him before he passed away, but I wish my hubby and kids could've known my grandpa the way I did. He taught me how to make adobo. He taught me how to repair and fix a bike. He'd let me watch tv on his lap. He made our yard happy and our garage organized, and created needed storage under our deck in the desert heat of summer. And boy could he drive our V W van at record breaking speeds in reverse! He loved to joke around and he had energy enough to play with his grand kids after a hard day of work. Grandpa always smelled nice and had his hair combed. That scar under his eye was from his service in the marines. The window on the jeep swung around and hit him when the driver took a sharp turn. He kept a dictionary with him to look up words he needed defined and he'd mark the word and write the date next to it, that way he could see what he looked up before and when. I caught him reading his bible on his bed. He told me that he has a book of Mormon on a shelf at home with a picture of Moroni statue on the cover. Said maybe he'd pick it up someday. I love my grandpa! Here's some pics from my mom's collection.

Lily's Wild n Windy Party

Lily turned seven a few weeks ago.  She told me that seven doesn't feel different than six.  I remember thinking that when I was her age.  

She is loving, friendly, and kind to everyone.  She loves babies and the funny things they do.  Babies are drawn to her too.  She is so nurturing.  She loves animals and badly wants to have pets.  She asked for Zhu-zhu pets for her birthday because "they're kinda like pets," and she knows that we won't allow pets here for the time being.  She is quite smart and enjoys reading books.  She also loves to create cards and books and draw using colored pencils.  She is pretty good about eating foods she doesn't like, especially if it's particularly good for her body (super foods) or more importantly, if there's dessert to be had that night.  Her favorite food is pizza.  She can get her own breakfast in the morning and she will help her sister, too, which warms my heart.  Lily is growing up and she's a beautiful person.  

The Wild Party

She asked for a "Wild Kratts" Party.  For those who don't know the Wild Kratts, it's a PBS kids show with the Kratts brothers that teaches about creatures and their habitats.  Lily loves that show.  So, I planned a budget friendly "Wild Kratts" party for Lily.  We invited 10 or so people, and we hoped at least one person could make it because her birthday was the day after school let out for the summer and it also happened to be Memorial Day weekend, so we knew families would be heading out of town.  Luckily, friends showed up.  Yay!  We even had some reletives come up to celebrate with us- Aunty April, Devon, Aunty Mandy, Jaxon and Maxwell!!!

The party was at the park near our home and it was so WINDY that day!  None of the decorations would stay up, the tablecloth wouldn't stay put even with 10 hefty rocks around the edges.  We ended up moving a table behind the bathroom building for a bit of a wind break.  It was still windy, but a bit more manageable.

We made "Creature Power Suits" using permanent markers and T-shirts I picked up from the dollar store.  We also made creature masks.  Then we had some yummy pizza and Lily's cake made of fruit (It was really cute- thanks to Aunty April for assembling it).

After food, we opened presents and we still had a little time left over for a game- Catch the Leopard.  That was funny to watch.  I handed Steve a bag of stuffed animals and had him take off running, and the kids were supposed to count down from 5 and then take off after him.  If they tagged him, he would throw out an animal for them to keep.  Well, I guess they couldn't wait, so as soon as Steve started running, they did too.

This free picture collage generated with Smilebox

Then I handed out the zebra cakes and snack bags filled with animal crackers.  It was a wild and windy party!  We love you Lily!

Personalize a photo album

The Past Few Weeks~ Parties and Problems

I am still trying to get well, but I've been well enough to have attended a few birthday parties these past few weeks.  Since I wanted to attend the celebration for my nephews' birthdays, I scheduled my appointment with the cardiologist the Monday following it, that way I'd already be in the Wasatch Front.  I carpooled with my mom and brought my darling daughters along for the 3-day trip, which turned into a week long venture, but more on that later.

Let's begin with a Party!

My nephews' party was held at Northridge Park, the park I grew up near.  It was fun to go back there and see just how much all the trees have grown- there's actually shade there now.  There was lots of family there and lots of pizza and breadsticks and parm-bites and salad to feed the crew.  I'm assuming my brother must've gotten a good deal through his work at Dominos Pizza because there was a LOT of it there- and specialty pizzas too!  It was a lovely day for a picnic lunch and we all enjoyed being together.  

Getting ready for cake.  Mandy made the cute cakes.

Devon- the second baby with blue eyes born to my siblings.

Lily loves playing with the babies!

Lighting the Lightening McQueen cake!

Candles lit- let's sing :)

Blow!  You can't see Max's head behind my dad's, but it's there.

Max hasn't tried blowing out the candle yet.

Jaxon helping his brother blow out the candle.

Me and my dad- do you see the resemblance?

I wanted to capture April's ravenous ways.

Trent and Lindsey brought the fun bubbles to share.

I asked for a smile, but he wanted to just show me his new cars.

Grandma with her 2 blue-eyed grandkids.  Don't you love how excited she looks :)

More bubbles.

We're all having a good time sitting on Mom/Grandma's lap.

Watching Trent hit a softball into outer space was a lot of fun.

There's my wonderful sister.

And here's Lily with her ever-changing smile (when this photo was taken she had lost 6 teeth, but now we can add one more to that.)

So after the party, we stayed at my brother, Micah's house for a few days so I could be in town for my cardiologist appointment.

Problems With My Heart

I met with my cardiologist on Monday.  As an interesting side note, the appointment happened to be in the same building that I watched get built when I was in labor with my first-born.  I remember watching the sun set, then laboring all night without a wink of sleep, then watching the sun rise and all the construction workers show up across the street at the crack of dawn, totally unaware that they were being watched by me, a half-naked, exhausted, soon-to-be mom trying for 3 hours to push a baby out.  I remember glancing over at the workers out my window every now and then and feeling like they were progressing more than I was.  Then after my baby was born I remember thinking how the workers and the rest of the world was going on with their busy lives; they were so unaware of the miracle that had just taken place and the perfect angel that was just brought into the world.  That was 6, almost 7 years ago.

Now, back to the cardiologist.  My sister came with me and we walked into a waiting room filled with elderly patients, probably 40 people there.  I've never seen a busier doctor's office in my life.  I was told the wait would be about 35 minutes.  That was pretty accurate, although I think we waited a little longer than that.  Then they called me back and had me undress so they could do another ECG on me, then get dressed again.  Dr. Hwang came in and in his broken Korean-accented English told me that my ECG was normal but that my Holter monitor results from a few weeks prior was a big problem.  He explained I was having PVCs (Premature Ventricular Contraction) 5% of the time which could lead to a heart attack, and was likely the cause of my varied symptoms.  Woah.  Then he wanted me to get a heart MRI done as soon as my schedule would permit to check for scarring on my heart.  Scary.  Since I already had packed my car to go back home after the appointment, I had to rearrange my and my family's schedule.

Luckily, we figured it all out- mom would drive April's car back home to Roosevelt while I stayed with the girls at Micah's house and Lily would have to miss a week of school and I could get my MRI and follow-up appointment done that week.  By then April would be done with finals and could drive us back home, then drive her car back.  Confused yet?  Just know it all worked out.

So more partying at Micah's house until MRI time...

We gave Jaxon's new ice cream making machine a whirl. 

Waiting for the cream to freeze...

Went shopping with Micah and saw my first Rootbeer Keg, and it even has Jesus serving it to children.

Micah was thirsty.

Devon playing with the toys

Max looking so sweet and innocent

Pretty Miss Maizie playing

The Time Came- The Heart MRI

I had just had a brain MRI done a few weeks prior, so I kinda knew what to expect, except I knew this MRI machine was the traditional tube, unlike the open MRI I had done.  I was nervous for a few reasons:

1. My sister and mom told me stories about how the contrast made them physically ill
2. My dad had to stop in the middle of an MRI because of clausterphobia, then reschedule a time when he could take valium before going down the tight tube
3. I was told the MRI was 2 hours long (which it really wasn't, it was only 45 minutes)
4. My MRI experience a few weeks prior was uncomfortable, loud, and I had to keep telling myself to settle down and that things would be okay.

So, I was nervous again.  To my relief, I had no reaction to the contrast, I wasn't clausterphobic, I was only in the machine for 45 minutes, and I had a comfy pillow, the machine was not as loud, and I was at ease with the techs talking to me every few seconds.  The only rough part was that the heart is a moving target and in order to get pictures that were not blurry, I had to constantly be holding my breath for different intervals, anywhere from 7 seconds to 23 seconds.  I didn't think I'd do well holding my breath and I thought I'd probably feel like passing out, but I actually made it through fine and felt calm.

The next day was my follow-up with Dr. Hwang.  "The MRI is normal." He told me.  That was good news.  "But..." he continued, "that doesn't explain why your heart is doing this."  He proceeded to tell me that it may be because of my POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), for some unknown reason my blood pressure will drop and cause stress to my heart as it tries to compensate.  So, at least we know my heart isn't damaged.  He wants me to take flecainide at a low dose.  I've been debating following that advice, but tonight I felt like I should do it, so I did.  So far, I've still had symptoms and they're a little stronger than what  I think they've been the past few days.  I'm planning on talking with the nurse tomorrow about it.  

So, with that, we went back to pack the car, and headed back home with April as driver, me as passenger, and Devon and Amara in the back.  Lily came up a few hours later with my brother Joe and his family who were able to swing their schedules to come up to Roosevelt for my mom's birthday that weekend.

Another Party

My mom and my brother share a birthday, and since my sister was driving me home, she decided she'd stay and celebrate for my mom's birthday.  Joe's family completely shocked my mom when they walked through the door to surprise her for her birthday.  It was fun to have all company and their help here at my home, and of course it was fun to celebrate my mom's 53rd birthday for 3 days straight.  I hope my brother, Micah, had a very happy birthday too.  Here's a few pics of when everyone joined us here in "the Basin."

German Chocolate Cake

JJ looks a little sad because he got scolding for blowing out the candles

Maizie was going to get that ice cream no matter who was holding her.