On Being Thankful

I've been thinking about this for a while and wanted to share a few experiences we have had lately. Two weeks ago we were having a grand old time with Ryan's family for a few days. I had made an appointment for Ryan to get his teeth cleaned at the dentist and the only time available was during this family reunion. Neither of us had had our teeth cleaned in about four years (gross, I know). After working at the dental school and seeing firsthand the questionable ethics of many of the students, a bad dental experience in Los Angeles, and then no money for dental insurance since we've been in Texas, the teeth cleanings have been on the back burner.

Anyway, I was in Utah and figured my dad could hook me up with a good ethical dentist who would charge reasonable rates or perhaps give a discount by trading some work with my dad. I got my teeth cleaned, hooray it was awesome! Now it was Ryan's turn since he had finally gotten into town. It was annoying that he had to leave the family reunion for a few hours but we figured that it wasn't too bad.

Ryan got his teeth cleaned in the morning and they wanted to fill a teensy tiny cavity. They didn't have time right then, but scheduled it for about an hour later. He ran some errands and then headed back to the office for round two. As Ryan was turning into the parking lot at the dentist's office the steering suddenly gave out on the car. The engine and everything was running fine, but he couldn't steer at all. The car had been in an accident two weeks earlier, but was supposedly repaired. Ryan called me, I called my dad who was at the cabin, and he called the garage where the car had been fixed.


It was decided that Ryan would go finish his dental appointment. After he was through, he needed to call AAA and they would tow him back to the garage in Bountiful. Then, our neighbor would pick him up and take him to the car rental place where he needed to show his ID in order to be placed on the insurance for the rental car. Finally, she would drive him back to our house in Centerville where he would pick up the rental car that was there and the drive back to his family reunion in Pleasant Grove.

Meanwhile, I started to get really annoyed. Why did this have to happen? Ryan was losing a whole day of hanging out with us and it was such an annoying trip for him to get the car back, etc. I was pretty negative. Then I started thinking about the positive. The steering went out in the car. That could have been so dangerous if he had been on the freeway or just on a regular street. Thankfully, he had just barely turned into the parking lot when it had happened. This was also the first time he had driven the car without the girls and me with him. Think how much more nightmarish if we had been in the car and been in a bad accident. 

Finally, my parents had given Ryan a AAA membership for his last birthday. How nice that he had it so calling a tow truck was so easy. The mechanic shop had just had the car in so it was very easy to connect with them again when he dropped the car off there. And, since the car had so recently been repaired, my parents had left to the cabin without being able to return the rental car so it was sitting at our house ready to be used when we needed it.

This car problem could have been really bad. Instead, a mildly annoying thing was dealt with as smoothly as possible. It's been a good lesson to me to really think more about being grateful to Heavenly Father for our lives and the little things in them.

Yesterday we were just finishing dinner and Ryan and I were talking at the table. I was holding June and Willa had gotten up and was riding around the kitchen on her little trike with a doll saying, "Green light, go." It was just so pleasant. I felt so blessed for our little family. We're going through a bit of vacation depression as we struggle to get back in the swing of everything, but little moments like last night are so peaceful and special to me. Even unemployment has it's upside. I would never wish it on anyone, but it is so great to have Ryan home with me to help. It's going to be hard when he starts working again.

There's no real moral here except that I needed to acknowledge the blessings that we have been receiving lately. There are so many more, but these were notable ones recently.

We're back from our long and lovely vacation! I mainly had my mom take pictures with her Iphone and then I forgot to have her send them to me. Here are a few cute ones that I managed to take with my dinosaur camera.

At the last minute, we decided to take Willa with us down the river this year. You might remember two years ago when I took her at 10 months at it proved to be a big mistake. This year she was helping us load up the kayaks and got so excited about the "boats with sticks" (paddles) that we decided to bring her along. She thought she was very, very cool with her own little paddle, life jacket, and sunglasses. She actually did very well and only got nervous for a few of the rapids. She told me, "Mommy, I no like the crazy water."

On our very last day of our second trip to the cabin, Ryan finally got her on a waverunner (another "boat" to her). She was fearful at first and then loved it. Note how green the water is, the levels were getting lower each day leading to a huge accumulation of algae that loved to collect on our swimsuits, yum.

Finally, here is a picture of June-bear on one of our last Utah days. She had just rolled over for the second time and is in the middle of crying :(. Of course, I had to get a picture before I picked her up and administered comfort. She's got the back-to-tummy down now, but still can't figure out how to get from tummy to back.

Rolling Over

We are flying back to Texas tomorrow so I will probably start blogging more once we get back. I wanted to write a quick post because June finally rolled over for the first time today! She has been very close for a while. For the past week she could roll over but was getting stuck on her arm. Today, she mastered the skill and found herself in quite a state of shock on her tummy.
The first time she was playing on the floor and suddenly started crying. My mom went to look at her and found her crying on her tummy. The second time was very similar with lots of crying. The third time, not so much crying! I think it scared her a little because she didn't know what was happening. She usually isn't so vocal about hating tummy time. Cute little June-bug, she was just scared of the unknown - kind of like her parents :).

June turned five months on August 5th so she's a late roller just like Willa. I think it's because they both have such sweet and easy personalities as babies. "Why roll over when there are plenty of toys right here to keep me busy?" I can't believe she is so old, I feel like she shouldn't be anywhere near rolling over yet. It's hard to believe that the six month birthday mark is looming. She is still the sweetest, prettiest baby that you will ever meet and she has more than enough smiles to go around to everyone.

We have had a lot of fun here with my family and LOVED being able to spend a few days with the entire Daniels family. We love our families so much and are happiest when we can spend time with them. Willa keeps asking for her cousins so I'm expecting some vacation depression for all of us when we return. The knowledge that Bridgett is on the other side of this plane ride back to Houston is probably going to be our saving grace.

The Cabin pt. 1

We left Houston almost two weeks ago, I can't believe it. We spent an entire week up at the cabin in Island Park. We're home in C-ville for this week, then on Sunday we'll go back to the cabin for a few days, and then spend a few days with all of Ryan's family in Pleasant Grove.

Utah has been really nice! The one surprising thing for me is that Willa has been homesick. She couldn't wait to come to Grandma's house, but once she got here she started missing her house, her dad, and of course Bridgett. She's got a cautious little personality and lots of change makes her a little nervous. She asks a few times a day if she can go on the airplane home, it's a little sad.

The cabin was an especially fearful place at first. In reality, it is a child's paradise, but it was just so new and different that she was scared. It took the arrival of some cousins and a few days of being there before she felt really comfortable.

By the end of the trip she could tolerate the boat (the fear was mostly just in her head, when she wasn't paying attention she was actually having a fun time on it) and she actually liked the four-wheelers. At first, she wanted nothing to do with them, but when Beckham and Brody got there who each have their own four-wheelers (they are 8 and 3 years old), she started to get a little more interested. She loved playing in the dirt, water, and rocks, running on the grass, and jumping on the tramp. She never would try the wave-runners, so we will save those for our next trip.

The funniest moment of all was when Curtis, my dad, Beckham, and Brody were getting ready to get in their four-seater OHV to drive to the fish pond. I had just gotten home from running and she frantically grabbed my hand and was pulling me towards them. I told her I wanted to have breakfast and she said no, so I hurried to grab a drink of water and the whole time she is freaking out and pulling me towards them. She thought that they were going to leave her behind and she really wanted to go! It was hilarious to realize what was going on in her little head and it also made me happy that she was finally feeling comfortable and having fun. I was going to post some pictures, but the computer is acting funny. Rest assured, we all look the same.

What a weekend

I'm still recovering from our stressful, sick child weekend. Willa had a UTI. It was horrible. And if you don't want to read too many details, I suggest you stop here. I noticed symptoms several days earlier, but they could all be explained away by a persistent diaper rash that she has had. Both last Sunday and Thursday she has had a screaming fit while going to the bathroom and several times when I change her diaper the urine smell is just so strong and a little off. However, both of these things could occur with a yeasty diaper rash, which is really common in this humid climate. Since I often rush to the doctor when nothing is really the matter, I decided to wait a few days - if it was just the rash it would clear up, if it was a UTI she would get sicker. Well, sicker she did get.

Saturday morning she woke up with a raging fever. I mean RAGING. I got home from running and she was sitting on the couch with Ryan. She was so hot and shaky and could hardly form her words. She did manage to say, "Mommy, I no feel no good. Mommy I feel bad." It was pretty sad. I gave her a big dose of ibuprofen and called the nurse.

She wanted us to come right in and made an appointment within an hour. Here's the tricky part. Willa is not potty trained yet. She has gotten to the point where she is excellent at holding, but can't quite relax the right muscles to go on command when she's not wearing a diaper. They had to tape a little bag to her to try to catch the urine. Of course she screamed through it all. Then, she wouldn't go. I don't know if it was the feel of the bag or that she had just gotten so sick that it hurt too bad, but she would not urinate. We waited at the doctor's office for over an hour and finally they decided to use a catheter.

Oy, so the catheter was very sad but very quick. That nurse was good! They got the sample but they told me that they didn't empty her bladder completely and that it was still full. I thought she'd be able to go once her diaper was back on and the bag was gone, but no. Anyway, basically 7-8 hours later and still a bone-dry diaper, we called the nurse who thought we should probably take her to the ER. The nurse checked with the doctor and the doctor said we could wait a few more hours.

Willa was so hot, crying, and just miserable. We didn't know if it was the fever, the infection, or the need to go to the bathroom that was bothering her. Some more ibuprofen finally got the fever down and we tried to get lots of water in her with little games. We dyed the water colors, put it in her little tea cups, and fed it to her with a spoon. We just had to push the liquid because otherwise she wouldn't take anything. Finally, with enough distraction and ibuprofen, Ryan talked her into going swimming (we really wanted her to do something fun that would relax her and get her mind off it). She sat at the edge of the pool for about 30 minutes and then suddenly ran full-tilt into the water and played hard for quite a while. We think the water was distracting enough that she was able to relax and finally empty her bladder. Sorry other swimmers and thank you chlorine! She went to sleep that night and I checked her several times. In the morning she had a nice wet diaper again, so I felt like we were out of the danger zone.

Yesterday she was still pretty hot and cranky, but today it is less and she is doing much better. I hope I never have to go through that again, but with two girls I'm pretty sure it's inevitable. Next time, as soon as I see even one slight symptom I am going to take her in. If we would have treated it at the beginning of the week, we wouldn't have had all the drama with her not being able to go potty or the fever. We could have just started antibiotics and been done: wham, bam thank you m'am. It was harrowing for me and I feel like I'm still coming off the stress of it all.

We're leaving for Utah in two days and I'm sooo glad this didn't all go down when we are flying out.

I'm not going to subject anyone to pictures of a sick child, but here are some fun days pre-sickness. Playing at Jayden's house:

Eating the special treat of an ice cream cone:

 And of course, the cutest baby in the world!

Children's Museum

I've talked about our awesome children's museum before, but I'll do it again because it is just so much fun. It's supposedly the best children's museum in the country (but I'm not quite sure how they collect data on that, so I'll allow for some dissent from readers). We let our pass expire in December unfortunately, but we were able to fit a trip in while my mom was here. She agreed, it was the best children's museum she's seen. She must be an expert because she did have seven children.

First at the museum, the kids get a debit card and money. They have to put the money in the ATM and add it to their debit account.

Then they work at various places to earn more money for their account. Willa loved the Veterinary Clinic and put the animals in their kennels.

She helped out at the restaurant and served me food. It was a little confusing for her since she hasn't hardly been out to eat in her life. I was at a ritzy friend's house for a group playdate. One of the other moms was complaining how her toddler "does this new thing where she won't eat her food until the waiter comes to clear the table, and then she doesn't want him to take her plate." I had to bite my tongue and I was secretly laughing inside. I can count on one hand the times when Willa has been out to eat with us. We just don't really have the budget to go out much, so if we do it's usually for a date while the children are at home. I can't imagine going out enough so that your child has a new "thing" she does when the waiter comes.

She spent her money at the grocery store. All the items can be scanned at the cash register and then you pay using your debit card.

Finally, she painted, drove a big truck, and then put gas in a small truck in the toddler area.

Houston may have a lot of things I dislike, but this Children's Museum isn't one of them. It's the bees knees, if bees had knees. I'm sad I let my pass expire (we got a zoo pass instead this time). If we end up staying here, I will definitely be renewing. Though, in the summer time this place is crazy crowded. We got there before it opened and stood in a line to get in. We had just enough time to play before it got overrun with kids.

June is Four Months

Little June celebrated her four month birthday on Friday. Activities included eating, napping, and enduring a visit to the community pool with the rest of family and the Thalmans, and finally - sleeping 9.5 hours that night!!! She followed it up by sleeping 9 hours last night, too!

That brings me to our biggest four month theme - must to my chagrin and shock, little June is not consistently sleeping through the night yet. I'm hoping the last two nights is a promise of things to come, but I'm not planning on anything. She'll go in spurts, but I'm hoping that now that she is napping better, the night sleep will come. At this age, Willa had already consistently been sleeping through the night for two months. Sheesh!

Sleep training and crying it out is going well. She either doesn't wake up, or only fusses for a few minutes if she wakes up in the morning. However, she still puts up a mighty good fight during the afternoon naptime. The past few days I've just been getting her up in the afternoon after she has been fussing for a while. This makes it so she often gets one long good morning nap, and then three + shorter naps in the afternoon. Yesterday, I probably should have made her cry an afternoon nap out, but sometimes you're just tired of hearing your baby cry. Basically, I'm still figuring out her schedule and what she can do. Maybe it's just going to be her thing that she wakes up halfway through and fusses a little before going back to sleep. We've all been fighting colds this week, so I want to make sure she is healthy again before I make her really scream it out in the afternoon. She can mostly go in her bed awake and put herself to sleep, but I definitely rock her and get her good and drowsy first before I lay her down. I think she could learn to do it without the rocking if only she didn't pull the dang pacifier out of her mouth so much.

June is so smiley! She has a smile for most anyone and anything that looks at her. This is particularly good in public situations where she needs to show everyone how cute she is. Sometimes I can even get her to laugh, which is oh so cute. She is getting very curious about things and loves to watch Willa run around. She especially loves Bridgett because then she gets almost smothered with attention. Bridgett helped me give June a bath the other day. I was turning the bath faucet on and by the time I turned back around, Bridgett had ripped open the snaps on June's sleepers.

June is pretty easy going and loves to suck on all four fingers together. It isn't quite soothing enough to get her to sleep, but it definitely gets drool everywhere and soaks her clothes. She isn't rolling over yet, but I think it will be soon. She is starting to like the Bumbo a little, but just for short periods of time.

I didn't get any great photos, but she is definitely a growing baby! So so cute, I still love to kiss and snuggle her all the time. Willa wanted to be part of the picture - look how brown she is! We apply sunscreen and this is how she is!