I really hear something this time....

I am known for waking Aaron up in the middle of the night clutching his arm, leg or whatever I can find and saying "did you hear that?" A few times in Alpine he has made the rounds in the house to see if anything is amiss and it's always a false alarm. I have handed him the bat I keep under my bed a few times and he just looks at me like I am the biggest weirdo in the world. But the other night, I had every right to shake him awake and make him listen to the sound that was keeping me up. A stupid little mouse has crept its way into the wall of our home that is in our bedroom. There is this horrible scratching noise and it is unbelievably loud. How can something so small make so much noise? Aaron loves to lay there and joke about it, but I do not find it funny at all. I HATE MICE!!!! They make me want to scream and run just like on television. Aaron said last night that the mouse was scratching its epitaph into the wall because the exterminator was there the day before and put bait out. Like I needed one more thing to keep me awake at night...

the sick and weary

I really don't want to complain, but OH MY GOSH!!!!! I am so dumb founded as to why every week some new cruddy nasty bug thinks it's okay to come in this house. I literally have been to the Community Care a total of 8 times in the last 6 weeks. It is actually getting embarrassing. I go in hoping that it isn't the same doctor I have seen the last 4 times, but it is. He just looks at me and says why don't you get a job here too..you are here so much anyway.
Mostly it is so frustrating because I am a very CLEAN person. I wash my hands all the time and keep my house quite spotless. This week Marin got the flu and then gave me some horrible version of it where my head feels like it is going to explode. The only prayer I have is that my sweet Mesa doesn't get any of this. The doctor told me that he has been putting people that have the flu on an antibiotic. He says more and more patients are getting pneumonia as a complication from the flu. So comforting. I am not letting my kids go hardly anywhere to lessen the chance of sickness, as a consequence I am going absolutely batty. Better days to come.

Ready for church

I really don't think he would have minded going to church like this.

Happy New Years.....uggh!

So in a nutshell, I am not starting off this new year on the right foot. Last Friday I had an allergic reaction to an unknown enemy contained in a cocktail of heartburn medications. I have never had heartburn before and wasn't sure what to take. So I woke up in the morning with my tongue the size of an orange and my eyelids swollen. I was getting a little nervous, imagining the worst, that it would creep down into my throat and cut off my air way (not to be dramatic). I walked into the community care and the nurses came running with huge needles full of thick muscle aching steroids. I was ordered to stay for a while to make sure I wasn't going to get any worse. So I limped out of the office silently wishing that I could go home and sleep it off. I did, thanks to a fabulous husband who just let me lay in bed. In the meantime our sweet Mesa had been throwing up for about 4 days and I started to feel desperate to see her beautiful smile again. We bundled up and took the dreaded 8 minute drive to the Emergency Room. Mesa really looked terrible despite my efforts to keep her hydrated. I was so grateful that day for the ER doctor who attended to her. He felt she was in pain and he was right. He ordered for her to have some morphine. He showed me the xray and said knew how I was feeling because he had a son with cerebral palsy who died at the age of 5. Strangely that comforted me for a bit. She fell asleep long enough to get a picture of her abdomen and discovered she had a bowel blockage and it was causing her to throw up. They were sending her upstairs to admit her and resolve it. Things went fine and we left Wednesday morning, both of us crying from exhaustion and happiness to leave that place. Just when I think I am doing great on my own, I get a reminder that there is someone else in charge and that life experiences are essential. I look at my beautiful girl and wonder how long she is meant to be on this earth. When she isn't here, there is a noticeable emptiness. The only thing that would really make her smile is when I mentioned that daddy loved her and wanted her to come home. Sitting here I am quite relieved it's all behind us.

Birthday Bash

Mesa and Ashton's birthday has come and gone. We tried to keep it low key just because Christmas is around the corner. Ashton chose the cake this year and Mesa actually reached up on the table to grab a present. I think she was trying to open it but knocked it on the floor. Ashton had strep throat the day before his birthday and still wasn't feeling as chipper as normal. He was able to have his own little party with friends playing at the arcade, laser tag and games. It has been so fun to have them together in kindergarten, Ashton does such a good job with including and protecting his sister. Mesa is getting stronger every year and seems to be more interested in trying to communicate, I truly think she will get there but it will just take time. I look at these two kiddos and my heart just swells with happiness and gratitude!

camera...shmamera

We took a trip to SLC last Friday and of course, forgot the camera. We only stayed for one night but it was still eventful. We ate chocolates, swam in the hotel pool, drank hot chocolate, froze walking to eat Friday night and watched the depressing Boise State football game. Then I topped off the night with a solo excursion to Forever21 for 2 hours. I could have stayed longer but that would have just been pathetic. I ended up having to sleep on the couch because the kids REALLY wanted to sleep on the big bed! The sweetest part of the trip was on the way home in the truck. I looked in the back seat to see if Mesa was sleeping because she was being so quiet. She had a hold of Ashton's hand while he was fast asleep. I don't think he knew but for the time he was asleep she would reach out and hold onto his hand off and on. It was so sweet and I love watching her do things that seem so purposeful. During the trip, Ashton would turn on Mesa's favorite songs on Aaron's iPad when ever she would get agitated and a huge smile would appear on her face. Driving for 8 hours in two days with 4 kids crammed into a truck was definitely worth it after seeing Mesa do that!!

What are you doing?

For my adoring husband who sometimes thinks all I do when I am home in the day is nap. Why does it always seem to happen that I am napping when he decides to come home for 2 minutes to get something? Here is the proof that I do a little bit more than nap. Ten bags of leaves and more to go.....