Up to my eyeballs~

We are a week and one day post op. I wanted to jot somethings down so I do not forget how miserable it's been. I don't want to look back 20 years from now when my grand kids are getting their tonsils out and I am telling their parents that is was "not that bad". I'm not complaining either. Just remembering out loud.

Where did my Graden go? You know? My sweet 3 year old? The toe head? The knock knock joke teller? The hold my hand at night and go over his list of people who love him? Where is my Robot boy? It took us a week of pure HELL to figure out that that sweet boys does NOT like Codeine. Instead that funny little boy was turned into the spawn of the you know who. He is volatile, angry, combative, mean, emotional, terrorizing, and not my boy. I finally broke down and told my big sister about it. Call the doctor she said. Duh. I guess kids react different to pain meds. Some like it, some don't. I did not want to wake up the other morning. I was so scared of him. We switched his meds and is about 75% back to normal. I thought Jason and I were going to lose our minds. I think we did, a bit.

As for the overall moral of our house? Well, let's just say it stinks. Literally. I was ill prepared for the breath of my kids. It smells like an obese cat has died under our house. Or like our house is a giant porta potty. NOTHING HELPS. Salt water rinse, sun flower seeds, brushing.....you gag when you enter a room they are in. It reminds me of a patient we had at Cherry Lane Dental. He had is wisdom teeth taken out and at his 2 week post op came in with a HUGE Mnt. Dew. When we had him lie back it only took a second to realize that he had NOT BRUSHED for the 2 weeks. I had never seen the Doctor that mad before. It was horrific. The plaque, the smell. Ugh. Painful memory. At least this is not voluntary on my kids part. I only pray it is gone before school starts on Monday. I don't want them to be the "stinky breath kid". You know who I am talking about.

I have almost lost my mind a thousand times. This was much harder that I expected. I am so glad we are almost done. I would not have changed doing all 3 at once. But I would have better mentally prepared myself better for not leaving the house in over a week. Or that they were going to cry on an hourly basis.

As I said my prayers one night, asking Heavenly Father to please give me the strength to take of my kids....I stopped mid sentence. I then changed my prayer to thanking him for this opportunity to take care of HIS children. It made all the difference.

Ps. Burke needs a haircut. #8. Big surprise :)

Thus far~

This is not exactly what you want to see lurching above your children's heads in the family room. Thank goodness we are renting! I guess our master shower is in need of some TLC. It's not very big, so I hope this fix won't be too bad!

This is basically what my day looks like. Minus Graden in the chair. He has bounced back the quickest of the 3. I guess that when they say the younger, the better? They ain't kiddin'! We have literally tried to force Graden down since Friday. (the day AFTER surgery) He is sometimes grumpy, but for the most part, healing really quick. He will eat ANYTHING we let him. And some things he sneaks. Like Ritz crackers. You heard me. Down the hatch they went. No problemo.

The girls have been more trying. They are in a lot of pain, won't agree to take their meds and won't get off the couch. This has been cause for some tears. Almost on both sides. They are sore and shaky from not eating. I have tried to constantly have a liquid in front of them. This is the first day I have really refilled sippy cups multiple times. :) I made ramen noodles (very cooled) and MADE them come eat them at the table. They were not happy about it, but I think that is why their heads hurt. It's no vacation being stuck on the couch for days on end. I was also able to get all 3 to bathe at some point on Saturday. I thought a clean body and a fresh pair of undies would help. The jury is still out!

Natalie has had her thumb in her mouth NON STOP since Thursday. At one point Jason put a sock on her hand because her thumb was totally white. It was gross. I was pretty sure she was going to suck her thumb nail off. Ewwwzers!

On a bright note, they got a get well card in the mail from G'ma & G'pa Blue in Oregon. It wished them a speedy recovery and gave each of them $4 to go to the $1 store when they get better! They all were so happy. They counted them dollar bills several times in ensure they each received the same amount. Taylor informed me of a snow globe she saw there when we were getting the spray bottles. Oh boy, I can't wait......


Thank You G'ma & G'pa Blue! We love you so much!


The toothless wonder. She wanted to show you. Again.


1,2,3,4 Check.

1,2,3,4 Check.

1,2,3,4 Check.

Poor Bruiser. I mean Burke. I'm sure he is wondering what in the heck is wrong with his sisters. He just mosy's over to them. They give him drinks from the squirt bottles. He likes that!

Did you know that I LOVE to color. I do. The kids got new crayons and coloring books for the big day. In my mind I was almost drooling. Sharp crayons in this house are a luxury. I colored a picture for each of the girls. They are impressed with my skills.

Tonsils and Tooth Fairies!

I am not neglecting my kids right now by blogging. They are resting, and I am eating pizza that my friend Jacki brought over and I don't want to eat in front of them. That would just be evil. I do however want to document this day. Some pretty funny things happened and I want to remember them.


This is them, bright eyed and bushy tailed (oblivious to the next few hours) at 7 am. I did not sugar coat the events either. I told them very bluntly that the Dr was going to put them to sleep, get a really sharp tiny knife and cut out pieces of the back of their mouth. (and yet knowing this, they still look like this driving there).... Go figure.

Oh so happily waiting in the pre-op room.

At some point we realized that Graden was not going down without a fight. So they gave him a "happy drink". I gotta get my hands on that stuff. Watching Graden was like watching a stampeding crazed circus elephant get shot by a tranquilizer gun. Pretty soon that elephant starts swaying, maybe even cracking a smile, and then...BOOM. Down for the count. We laughed so hard at him. It was just too funny. I will post videos too. (Yes, I am that mom). He kept trying to "catch bugs". We never saw these "bugs". But he sure did. He also became gassy like no other. It was AWFUL. It's like the relaxer went straight to his butt cheeks. P E E E E E U U U U !


My girls are generally sweet to each other, but especially today.

They got bubbles went they took Graden back.

Check you later tonsils. And teeth????? See those 2 very cattywhompus teeth in Taylor's mouth? Well, we hinted to the Dr that IF by CHANCE they FELL out, we would be SUPER happy. Low and behold the hospital had the tooth fairy on speed dial and while Taylor was out, BOINK! They were out! Once she woke up I showed her the cup and asked if she knew what they were. She said.....

"Are those my tonsils?"

I wish kid!

The ladies

Lovin' daddy.

These are of after. My kids did AWESOME! The girls were picture perfect. Sad, and a little teary, but GREAT~

Graden on the other hand was a bit harder. Because he had the "happy drink" it took him 3 times as long to perk up. We was a hot mess. And slobbery. Sorry Dad!

Taylor woke up the best out of all 3. Good job bug!

On the drive home I was just SO proud of all of them. The staff loved them, they were just so good. I told Natalie that they were the BEST KIDS EVER. She then replied...

"Like just today, or all the days?"

Well.......

Taylor and her squirt bottle. It's working miracles btw. Popsicles are too cold, so water and juice is all they want for now. And Sprite.

A smile from Nat.

Up to this point Graden WOULD NOT swallow. Jason just told me that he is eating an Otter Pop. A small victory.

Pumped up.....kinda...

Tomorrow is the big tonsil day.  I am as prepped as I can be.  The only hitch thus far?  The prescriptions were not called in yet.  I wanted to have them on hand.  A little irritating.  Oh well.  I'm sure there will be more in the morning.  I read a friends blog who just had her daughter's tonsils out and she gave me the best tip.....a spray bottle with apple juice in it.  I went straight to the $1 store and got three spray bottles.  She said that it kept her hydrated, and the spray soothed her throat!  Great idea huh?  You should use it too! 

On a side note, I got my her did.  You know???? M Y  H A I R  D O N E?  My cousin September really out did herself this time. 

                                                               VOILA!!!

I freaking love it! It is EXACTLY what I wanted!  Jason just wanted it back to really blonde.  I wanted an actual hair style.  Done.  Done.  :)  I think this will really help with my moral over the next few days.  It's funny how a little thing like bleach and sheers can do that! 

I will keep you posted on my peeps.  Keep em in your prayers! 

Lalalala!

Sing Sing Sing

I like to Sing

I like to Sing a Song

Sing Sing Sing

I wish I had ear plugs. 

Tonsils~Shmonsils

We had another appointment to check the big kids' tonsil situation. They are scheduled for surgery next Thursday. They are all at a stage 3 plus. It only goes to 4. 4 is when the tonsils actually touch. I thought I would include pictures of what I am talking about. The first is of "normal" tonsils.




This is more what my kids' tonsils look like. Big difference huh?

I am not looking forward to having all 3 of my big kids having such a procedure done, but it needs to be. I don't want to put it off and have them worry about it when they are older. Like me and my braces, that I don't have :(


Say a little prayer for them next Thursday. And a BIG one for me. :)

nInE mOnThS

(My sister in law has my camera so no 9 month old pics) Boo.. Sorry!

Here is the run down on B~Man:

New things....

Crawling

Climbing up all 13 stairs

Not being able to get back down

Jumping in his crib

Laughing super hard

Pulling himself up to things

And lowering himself back down

It amazes me how fast he took off. All in one week. Crawling, climbing, pulling himself up......Geez! You have got to see some of the things I have rigged so he cannot go up the big stairs.

I took him in for his 9 month well check. He has not gained a pound since May. So we are going to go back to formula only and no baby food. He needs the calories! So we weighs 16 lbs and is in the 3%. Hahhahaha! I guess when I call him Pip Squeak it is medically correct!

Grammy calls him "Mini Love".

I love you Mini Love!

When?

When did it happen? I swear it was just yesterday that I was watching the girls at the play land in McDonald's wishing they were tall enough to reach the first landing themselves so I did not have to help them each time. Now today when we were back to school shopping, buying size 13.5 shoes it almost killed me.

Why is it that when you are "in" it, you cannot see it? But once it's past, it's clear. I am having trouble with the thought of them being gone at school all day. They are too young I tell myself. Too little, fragile. Jason said that we made it, survived going to 1st grade, all day, eating lunch, being a "big kid". I know they will too. They are sweet girls. Smart, kind, friendly. I know that the burden is on me.

I guess it's a good thing I am less than a block away. So I can pop in, just in case ;)

Gr8

Jason and I got married in the Boise Idaho Temple 8 years ago yesterday!
We had a very fun day. Our friends watched all 4 kids and gave us tickets to go to a movie! ( iheartthebrownes)
We picked Inception. Whoa. That is all I have to say. Afterwards we went grocery shopping without the kids...........talk about luxury! We talked about the movie the entire time. When I saw it was 2.5 hours long I thought I would die, but I checked my watch once, and 2 hours had already gone by. It was really so so so good.

Jason and I have been through so much in the last year. It was almost a year ago exactly that all hell broke loose at our old job. It's also when we were told that Burke may have down syndrome. But we held strong, stood together and weathered the storms and now look. Jason has a full time job at Centennial next year (starting in September), Burke is as healthy as can be, and instead of crumbling apart, we grew together like stone. We left a ward we loved, and found one that loved us just as much, we moved into a great house, we have neighbors that are awesome, we are happy.

I am so glad that we made the choice to get married in the temple. The blessings just keep happening.

You are stuck with me for eternity Jason. So you better not forget your wallet so I am the one driving, or it's gonna be a llloooonnnggggggg eternity!