Ten Years and Tonsils

Andy brought me breakfast...in Ben's room :) on Thurs. morning in celebration of our 10th wedding anniversary. 

Placed on the tray were two sprigs of beautiful hydrangea.

I thought it was sweet since I know he knows I like them a lot, but he also reminded me I wore them in my hair on our wedding day.  He has such a good memory and can be quite sentimental about things like that :)

This is kind of a lame post about an anniversary because there will be no pictures of the two of us.  For some reason I didn't think to get one that day and so my next thought was to post some of our wedding pictures, but alas, ten years ago, it wasn't as common to have a digital copy of everything...so in other words, I need to get busy on scanning our pics.

Anyway, he also handed me a gift...

I immediately recognized it.

While we were dating, we coincidentally gave each other for Christmas, an empty gold box based on this talk from a First Presidency Christmas Devotional.
After we were married I ended up putting some trinkets from our dating days in the box and storing it away.  Andy hunted for it in the storage room and gave it to me again.
This is what I found in the box...

These were some of the hydrangeas that I wore in my hair on our wedding day.

Around Christmas time in the year that we were dating, Andy sneakily slipped a hand crafted fortune into a packaged cookie from a restaurant and gave it to me.  Looking at the numbers on the bottom, I recognize our birthdays but the last two numbers I'm not sure what they represent...(I truly have an awful memory).  It's kind of a funny coincidence though because they ended up being the birthday of one of our kiddos.  The red and green thing in the bag is mistletoe that I believe hung from his rear view mirror for a while  ;)

Some dried roses from different occasions.

Now this bee has a story.  I'll see if I can tell it briefly.  It was Valentine's Day, 2002.  I had absolutely no idea what to give Andy.  He and I had institute classes across the hall from each other at the same time that day.  I had to have something to give him when we saw each other after class.  I was desperate because I did something that I'd never done before and never did again...as far as I can remember :)...I skipped class!  Shocking I know.  I went shopping during that hour and arrived back at campus empty handed.  I just didn't know what to do.  I hurried to the vicinity of my classroom, needing to be there when Andy came out of his class.  As I approached a minute or two before class ended, I saw Andy standing out in the hall holding a big bouquet of flowers.  I can't remember all the particulars, but poor Andy had arranged with my teacher to make a clever presentation of my Valentine's Day gift during class...but I wasn't there.  It was kind of a "Gift of the Magi" moment.  I felt so bad.  Anyway, this little bee was sitting amongst the flowers in the bouquet.  (I love bees).

So these were some of the memories I found in the gold box.  It was sweet of Andy to remember.

Well, the rest of the day was pretty regular.  I ended up squeezing in a trip to the doctor and he added a new med to what I'm already on.  We'll see if that does anything.
When I came home from my appointment, Andy and the kids surprised me with an Olive Garden dinner for two with candlelight.  Abby and Josh drew up some menus.  They were pretty cute :)

(10 years ago)

We ate dinner amongst fighting, tears, and interruptions but it was still nice...any dinner is nice that you don't have to cook :)
I love my hubby!  He's an amazing man and I know I don't fully recognize how blessed I am to have him.
Happy 10th hon!

Now, to totally switch gears...

Remember these?

Well, they're gone!

Matt was a really big boy on Friday and somewhat willingly had his tonsils removed.

BEFORE

 He had been pretty worried about it and, over the last several days, repeatedly told me he wasn't going to have them out.  Well, Andy gave him a blessing the night before and we talked a lot about how Heavenly Father would help him.  I guess those things helped enough to get this smile out of him before surgery.  They had him in and out super fast.  I only waited about 30 minutes before the doctor came in and told me that he had done well.  He said, and I quote, "Big, huge tonsils.  Nasty.  Awful!  They needed to come out - no question!"  While he was in recovery I listened to the little boy in the next room screaming.  I got worried that Matt would come back in tears.  However, when they wheeled him in he was silently curled up in the big bed on his side.  I asked him how he was doing and he just stared straight ahead.  I was glad he wasn't crying but it was a bit disconcerting to have no response at all.  He came around eventually.

AFTER

  He was okay drinking and walking around so they sent us home in good time.

Didn't feel like giving me a smile there.

Matt wanted to take our Staples "Easy Button" with us and push it after he was done.  We barely remembered when we got in the car to go home.

He was a bit sick a couple of times that afternoon but he was in pretty good spirits.  He fell asleep on the couch that evening for a while and when he woke up the anesthesia had worn off so he was in quite a bit of pain.  He got himself worked up into quite a tizzy and wouldn't take the medicine.  When we finally got him to calm down and take his medicine he ended up being fine and has continued to do well.  My favorite part about all of this is his cute, high, little voice that he's using when he talks.

 He's enjoyed having the endless popsicles, drinks and various other frozen treats that he picked out at the store with Andy a couple nights before. 

He was a trooper and I am proud of him!

Ketogenic Diet Organization

So, with so much to keep track of with this diet, I've been able to exercise my inclination to organize.

There have been four areas that I have put some work into...let me show you.

I decided to get a tray to place on my counter top to house all of the "stuff"...scale, cups, supplements, syringes, mortar and pestle, spatulas and meds.  This has been helpful in keeping everything together and easily accessible.

It stresses me out to try and keep track of things in my head.  I have to write everything out.  So, I came up with this paper to record all of the "stuff" throughout the day...ketone test results, (D.1, D2., etc...D is for diaper), how much liquid he gets (it's important to make sure he doesn't get too little fluids or too many), supplement checklist (these are in so many different forms...can't give them all together...and some have to be spread throughout the day so I mark them off as he gets them...notice I left off Vitamin D and had to write it in :(  I was so disappointed when I realized this.  A place to write down what he eats for each meal, and a section for keeping track of his seizure activity.  I had this copied, cut and pasted into several, little notepads and attached a magnet on the back and stuck it to the fridge.  I think I'm most proud of this little invention :)

 I put together a binder to hold everything.  I stick the filled out checklists in the front pocket along with blank index cards on which to write down recipes that can then be stuck in the pockets next door.

I can then take them out and stick 'em on the sticky tack I have on the cupboard door above my food prep area.  This way I don't have to have the whole binder taking up space in the food area and I don't have to keep going back and forth between the binder and the food.

 Next in the binder are fun, colorful pockets in which to keep odd and loose papers.

 Here are my extra notepads.

And then I put my master list of all the recipes and other important papers that I reference frequently.

The next is not such a pleasant organization idea but a must for diet doers.

You have to test urine.  That's how you know how many ketones he has.

So, to make it go as smoothly as possible, I placed everything in a pencil box...fat syringe, cotton balls, disposable gloves, ketone test strips, little cups, and a bamboo skewer to get the cotton balls out of the syringe after they have been compressed.

Again, this keeps everything together and, at least in my mind, keeps things a little more sanitary.

The box goes on top of the wipes in the diaper caddy.

I hope this "stuff" can be useful to someone else that has a child on the diet.  If anyone is interested, I could probably figure out how to post a copy of the checklist to be printed off (first I'll fix the Vitamin D business).  Just let me know :)

Depression Stinks!

Forgive me while I scribble a not -so -upbeat post.

Skip it if you like.

I'm still struggling to get a hold of my emotions on this new med.  I've been thrown a particularly hard time the last several days...probably a combination of stress (A.K.A. Ketogenic Diet) and missing a dose.

Along with being sharp with my kids, I've ignored phone calls, turned down opportunities to serve and missed/canceled previously scheduled appointments....all because I know I'll be humiliated when I inevitably break down in tears.  The last two public gatherings I've attended I've embarrassed myself.  

There was a family get together for one of my cousins who was passing through town.  I hadn't seen her in years and I was excited to be able to talk with her and catch up.  Most of the conversation ended up focused around my family and all that's going on.  It drives me crazy when the tears just come and I can't do anything about it.  People think that something is terribly wrong and it's hard to explain that no, really, everything is okay, I'm just emotionally unstable and will cry at the drop of a hat.

It's such a snowball effect...cry, get embarrassed, cry some more because you're embarrassed and frustrated with yourself.

Yesterday, Andy and I attended a husband/wife area inservice for S&I (Seminaries and Institutes).

He was one of three teacher presenters that addressed us at the look out sight above Bear Lake.  These three had all visited Jerusalem and since the New Testament is the course of study for this coming school year, they had them talk about their experiences there.  (Apparently there is an amazing resemblance between the Sea of Galilee and Bear Lake.)

(He did a great job by the way!)

Anyway, at lunch, a sister at our table, just to start some pleasant conversation, asked how our family was doing.  I tried to deflect the question lightly but it came back around to us.  I started tearing up and Andy gallantly stepped in and started talking for me.  I tried to get it under control but just couldn't.  I had to excuse myself with tears streaming down my face, and walk across the whole room of tables filled with people to get to the exit.  

How embarrassing!  Luckily, these are all friends and very kind people so they showed genuine concern and were very understanding.  As a matter of fact, after I returned to the table, the sister that first asked the question told of a similar thing that had happened to her years ago.  I was fine for another couple of hours until I had a small interaction that really was not that big of a deal, but it threw me again for the rest of the meeting.

Last night, when Ben woke up around 2:30, I went in and tucked him back in and lay down on the floor.  For the next hour, our conversation was thus:

Ben:  Maimee!

Me:  What?

Ben:  Neigh! (referring to the horse on the cover of his book)

Me:  Neigh.

Ben:  Maimee!

Me:  What?

Ben:  Neigh!

Me:  Neigh.

Over and over and over.  Sometimes he's a little broken record...a cute, little, broken record :)

He would not go back to sleep.  Depression and lack of sleep is not a good combo.  I became quite frustrated and finally left the room which caused him to start crying.  I went out on the couch and cried too, feeling extremely guilty.  After several minutes, I knelt down and sincerely asked the Lord to help Ben fall back asleep...for both our sakes.  Within 5 minutes he went silent.  I thought Andy had gone in to calm him.  I waited a while and went in our room.  There was Andy in bed...Ben had fallen asleep on his own...he never does that so quickly.  A miracle!

This afternoon, when Andy came home from work, he asked me what had happened during the night.  I explained and when I got to the part about thinking he had gone in to help Ben, he inserted that no, he hadn't done that, but he had offered a prayer for Ben to be able to fall back asleep...yes indeed, a miracle.

I know you don't need to hear about all of this.  It's important for me to get my feelings down though.

I need to see my doctor again, probably tweak my meds...I just don't  know when I can work that in :)

One thing that made me happy tonight was a comment on my blog from someone that I don't know personally but know of.

Jen Giddens, creator of the bag pattern that I reference in this post, contacted me and told me she liked my fabric combos.  She asked permission to use some of my pictures on her blog!  How flattering, and what a nice little bright spot with which to end my day.

I promise my next post will be much more positive :)

Popcorn/Chicken Potpourri

Josh's foot is healing nicely and is finally cast.

Home Health came in Park City to change Josh's bandages.  She turned out being one of my mom's old friend's sister.  Catch all that?

The Monday after we got back in town we had another appointment.  Josh finally felt it time to look at his foot.  He was okay with how it looked.  Since he felt like he could look at it I felt like it was time to post it on my blog.

It looks so much better than it did.  I hope this isn't TMI.

Josh's worst nightmare of the day came to pass.  Dr. C. said it was time to take the stitches out.  They hadn't even touched him yet and he began to sort of freak out.  I went to his side and tried to distract him by having him tell me all about the game he was playing.  Every now and then he would say "ouch!" but overall he did great!

They're out!

 

 

Josh was excited to try out a glow in the dark cast.  He'll still be in the cast when school starts...but not for too long.

I took this picture for one reason but am posting it for another.  I've always known Ben lines his toys up but this picture shows just how much he does it...animals, beads, trains...he does it with just about every toy he plays with.

Here's the popcorn part of the title.  I was so thrilled to see that Ben could eat one of his favorite treats on the diet.  I had kept popcorn from him for 2 1/2 months thinking he wouldn't be able to have it.  I was sad to realize I did that unnecessarily but excited to find out I could give it to him again.  Here Andy is feeding him popcorn with a fork so as to not lose any of the butter on his fingers.

 This next part is silly and frivolous but I was pretty excited about it.  I ran to Staples the other day for a couple of things and got sucked in. All the back to school things are out in full force.  I just can't resist all the nice, new pencils, binders, folders, notebooks, crayons etc. etc...

On the same trip into town I also stopped by JoAnn Fabrics and found a fun little display.  Have you heard of Smash Books?  They're pretty nifty looking but I've never been able to justify buying all the stuff and indulging in them.  Well, JoAnn's had a Smash Book display and all the stuff was 40% off.  I grabbed a bunch...not for a book but to use in other crafts and things.

Smash Book stuff

The Martha Stewart organization/labeling stuff was dangerous.  My goodness I got carried away.  All the different kinds of labels were my favorite.

One of my favorites...cute colored, shaped sticky tabs.

A shot of most of my loot.

I told you it was silly :)

When Josh had this second surgery, Grandma Bryan brought four little white boards for the kids to play with.  They were such a hit...they used up the ink in their markers.  I never let Ben use his though because I was afraid of where the marker would be used :)

While on this excursion mentioned above, I found the perfect solution.

Crayola, washable dry erase markers AND...dry erase crayons!

How fun is that?

I waited for one of the kids to tell me they were bored before I broke them out.  It didn't take long.

They had a bunch of fun using them.

This is the chicken part of the title.

Weighed an measured to the tenth of a gram, I was relieved to be done preparing one of Ben's meals yesterday.  I grabbed the stuff to put back into the refrigerator and accidentally knocked the precious, perfectly weighed chicken and mayo to the ground.  I wanted to cry but took a picture instead.  At least the bowl didn't break.  Back to square one:)

As Andy was about to take Ben into the bathroom to brush his teeth he realized what he was doing with his toys.  (He wasn't lining them up for once :)  He was putting the people on the backs of the cows and horses as if they were riding them.  He's never done that before.  It was pretty cute.

Notice the tongue.  He often sticks it out from the corner of his mouth while he plays.  Notice also Michael Phelps (and his mom :)  in the background receiving his 21st medal.  We've been loving the olympics at our house and have them on kind of constantly...I'm embarrassed to admit our t.v. has been on that much lately.

 This last thing is kind of silly too but it's a rather ironic story.

Each of the boys owns a little wooden train that spells out their name that I painted for them.

Ben's has been missing the "N" for months now.  It's been driving me crazy!  I'm the kind of person that counts all the pieces in a bag of toys as I put them away to make sure they're all there.

Ben was playing with his train in his high chair a while ago and when I went to put it away, the "N" was nowhere to be found.  I figured it would turn up somewhere soon...but it didn't.

I've been thinking of actually buying another "N" and painting it to have a whole name again.

This morning I looked up at his shelf where the train sat and was irked again at the sight of the engine, "B", "E",...caboose.  "Where could that be!?!" I asked myself.

(I know I'm making this a ridiculously long story about something that's not really that important...forgive me...I just have to write it down...)

Anyway, this afternoon as I was putting the high chair away after Ben sat in it for approximately four hours because he was so stubborn and refused to eat his breakfast, I tipped it forward and just guess what fell out! (along with a few goldfish crackers).  I've checked that high chair multiple times! I was floored and thrilled at the same time.  I eagerly took it to Ben's room to place it in it's rightful spot.  I stood back, reveled in the feeling of completion and then went on with my day.

Well, as luck would have it, Ben requested to play with said train later that day.  He hasn't asked for it for as long as the "N" has been missing.  I thought as I was taking it down from the shelf that we would probably loose another one of the pieces by the end of the day.

He played with it, among his many other toys, on the floor of the living room throughout the evening.

When it was time to clean up, the caboose was gone.  I searched everywhere but didn't come up with anything.  I regretfully placed the remains back on the shelf and am resigned to the fact that it might be months before we find that little, red caboose.

I'm newly amazed each time I look at Ben's baby pictures at how tiny he was.