Oh boy, are we in trouble!!!

Abe figured out he could maneuver his way up the stairs today! He is rather proud of this accomplishment. And knowing from past experience, I think I am going to have a hard time keeping him away from this new found talent!!! When he finds something new or that I don't want him to do (climbing the stairs falls into both of those categories), he goes back to it many times! With the number of times we encouraged him to climb up the stairs to get this small clip, the stairs will be his favorite place to be.

Post Updated

Well, I finally figured out how to edit my video clips!!!! I have posted the video of Abe attempting to crawl for anyone who is interested. You can find it under Abe is Crawling!

Ouch! That's gotta hurt!

Brayden was running around outside at the beginning of this month and caught his toenail. He ripped it most of the way up. And well, let's just say he was not very excited about it. Although he did handle the situation and the pain much better than I thought he would. He is not one to tolerate pain very well. He absolutely falls apart when he steps on a toy, and this was much worse than that.

It took his nail almost 2 weeks to finally fall off. Brayd thought that it was so cool! We still have the nail because he doesn't want it thrown away yet. The things we keep for our children.

*note* To really get the full effect of these pictures click on them to blow them up. But I do have to warn you, you will definitely feel his pain when you do.

Happy Hunting

The Easter Bunny visited our house this afternoon. Brayden and Carly asked all morning when He was going to come. Unfortunately, they missed seeing Him. And they were heart broken until they noticed the eggs. They had so much fun finding what He left. They are really starting to understand what an Easter Egg Hunt is and get into the hunt. I love watching their excitement.

Sorry for the not so great camera work. ;)

Dying Easter Eggs

This is the first time we dyed eggs with the kids. They had sooooo much fun!

Crying baby update

Yeah!!! Abe only cried for about 25 minutes last night. We are definately on the right track!

Stuck in a great tightness.

Well, Abe for the most part is rather enjoying his new found freedom of moving. He is becoming much faster, and he loves to explore. There are a few places, namely the bathroom, the dog's food dish, and the dog's kennel (while inhabited by the dog), of which we general discourage him to go. Abe has caught on to this fact and tries to go there as much a possible. It's like he can sense when the bathroom door is open. And he laughs at us when we try to call him away from these places and then speeds up trying to get there before we can get to him. He is becoming a huge tease. The other day, he discovered behind the couch. There is just enough space for him to get through. And amid the obstacle of toys that Brayden and Carly have stashed back there, he made his way through. That is until he couldn't. He ran into a pile of toys and could not go anymore. Needless to say, he was not so happy. He was stuck. He couldn't go forward, and he couldn't figure out how to turn around and go back. Soon he was very vocal about his situation, and was not so happy at mom, who was taking way too many pictures :) and not rescuing him from his predicament.

Lions, Tigers and . . . . . Crying Baby?

Yes, crying baby! Yesterday Scott and I resolved to "encourage" Abe to sleep through the night. He has not been doing so well with this task since he started cutting teeth, and has progressively gotten worse. Last night we left him in his crib (which we had to put in the hall because Brayden is not so fond of all the noise) and let him cry himself back to sleep. He cried and complained for an hour early this morning, but he did go back to sleep and slept for several more hours. Hopefully he will do better tonight. I am shooting for only 15 minutes of crying. Cross your fingers! :)

WOW!!! How time can fly!

It is absolutely amazing to me how fast time can fly. It has been over a week since I last posted, which is a long time when I am wanting post daily (or close to it). My mom has also reminded me of the fact that I have not posted lately. I really do have the best intentions. However, I get an idea in my head about something I want to post. I go surfing, trying to figure out how to do it and it takes me all night. I am up til 1:00 or 2:00 and never get it figured out. By that time, I am so tired I can't think straight, so I go to bed without posting anything. And of course, it starts all over again the next night.

Anyway, last week left me with some good news. I went to an opthamologist because my sarcoidosis can effect my eyes. Everything looked really good so I won't have to get them checked for another year. I also had to have a breathing test to measure my lung capacity. It was a rather interesting processes. I was put in a small chamber and had to breathe through a tube. There were three separate tests that I had to preform, and each one had to be done three times each. I was surprised how much just doing different breathing test could take so much out of you. My resting heart rate is usually in the mid 60's to 70, but during these tests it was in the mid to high 90's. Thankfully, the tests all came out normal to better than normal except for one small part which measured the amount of air that is always in my lungs. That was low. But the technician said that this is expected because of the enlarged lymph nodes. My next adventure in this saga is to see a rheumatologist. I will keep you all updated on how that goes.

Also last week, to my dismay, we took Brayden to register for kindergarten. He was so excited and he can't wait for Fall to come. Also to my dismay, Carly is now talking about when she will go to kindergarten. Which by the way is the next year. Why do they have to grow up so fast??? Time really does fly.

Daylight Savings

Well, Daylight Savings got the best of us this year!!! I remembered that it was coming up until yesterday afternoon. However, life happened. Carly has been sick the last day or so and I got so absorbed in helping her that I totally spaced it. It didn't help matters that Scott and I watched a movie last night instead of the news, which is our normal practice. Okay, to make things short, we forgot!!!! We forgot all about setting our clocks forward. Then this morning, I was again involved with my poor sick girl. I thought we were doing good to remember Scott's ward council meeting this morning (he is the Sunday School president) because it usually isn't until the end of the month. I was feeling rather comfortable with myself until Scott walked in the door 15 minutes later. I gave him a puzzled look, and all he could say was "Daylight Savings" in a rather forlorn tone. Yes, you guested it. He was very late for his meeting. He walked in just as they were about to end the meeting. And too make matters just a little worse, we had Ward Conference today. So, all of the Stake leaders were there as well. Poor Scott, I bet he won't forget next time. :)

Life's unfortunate events

For the past month, I have been trying to endure some health challenges. I feel like my body is falling apart. It all started while I was at my mom & dad's. On Friday, Feb. 1st I had what I thought were bruises on both shins. The only catch was that I couldn't remember hitting myself hard enough to get these bruises. By the end of the day, they had grown larger, looked like a small ball was under my skin, turned bright red, and were very hot to the touch. They were also slightly painful to the touch, and it hurt to walk. In the morning, I had a hard time getting out of bed because my legs were so tender. As the day worn on, I started to feel worse. It was almost like I had the flu; I was achy & tired, and I would get chilled very easily and not be able to warm up. Sunday, the pain was worse. I could hardly get around. My legs were in constant pain. Just resting, they burned, and if anything touched them it hurt. I was also developing more nodules on both legs. My lungs were also having a hard time. If I did very much, I would feel pain and tightness in my chest. And for no reason, I would get sharp stabbing pains in my lungs. Monday morning the pain was even worse. It took everything I had to just move. Not only were my legs in incredible pain, but my joints were also feeling the effects. I took some Tylenol so that I was able to make it back to Boise. Thankfully, my Aunt Elyse came with me. I don't know if I could have made it without her help. That night my ankles and feet were extremely swollen. I went to the Dr. and he diagnosed me with what is called Erythema Nodosum. Here is a site that has a lot of good information if you are interested in learning a little bit more http://www.geocities.com/erythema_nodosum/ .

Here is what my legs looked like in the 13th of February.

EN is caused by an underlying condition, and so I had some blood tests done, and a chest X-ray. My blood work came back normal, but I had swollen lymph nodes in my lungs. My dr. sent me for a CT and referred me to a pulmonologist. After having a bronchoscopy (a small fiberoptic tube is put down into my lung to take a biopsy and fluid sample), I have been diagnosed with Sarcoidosis . Here is another link for those interested http://groups.msn.com/SarcoidBuddies/. Basically my immune system is overreacting. It is producing immune cells that are collecting in the lymph nodes in my lungs. I am also suspicious that it is affecting my eyes as well, but I will not know until next week when I see an opthamologist. Hopefully, this will work itself through in about 3 yrs, but only time will tell.

So, needless to say, February has been a difficult month. I have been tired, and in extreme pain at times. Most of my days are spent trying to keep off my feet. There are many times when I start getting shooting pains up my legs if I stand for any length of time, and my feet and ankles get very swollen and more painful if I do very much. It has been a struggle doing this with my three little ones. However, I have been incredibly blessed My ward has really been here for me. There have been meals brought in for the past few weeks, and the kids have been picked up several times a week to give both them and I a break. The time to rest has been much appreciated, and Brayden & Carly welcome the opportunity to get out and play. (Unfortunately they have been doing a lot of TV watching.) I am so thankful for the wonderful ladies who have been willing to do so much for me. I don't know how I would have done it without them. Heavenly Father has truly blessed me through this time.

Carly's Mishap

While the kids and I were at my mom and dad's in January, Carly had a very unfortunate thing happen to her. We were brushing her teeth, and she was standing on the closed garbage can. (This was the source of all her problems, of which I did warn her about.) It slipped out from under her and she hit her mouth on the bathroom counter. After calming her down and slowing the bleeding, we realized that she had pushed one of her front teeth up into her gums. It went up so far that you almost couldn't see the tooth.

This is what it looked liked right after she did it. We had to keep a cold rag on it for about 2 hours before the bleeding finally stopped.

And this is what it looks like now. The dentist says that it should work it's way back down into place. We don't know if it did any damage to her permanent tooth, and won't until it actually comes in. She goes back to the dentist in May just to make sure that it is still healing properly.

Abe is crawling!!!

I took this video Sunday, February 24. This was Abe's first attempt at crawling. It was so fun to watch him try.

This is what he started doing yesterday. He can go all the way across the living room. Abe is definately loving his new found mode of travel.

*Note* I am having difficulty editing the first video so it's not so long (i was up until 2:30 last night trying to get it right), I will get it up as soon as I can.

*NOTE* Wow!!! It took me long enough to figure my video editing out. But boy was I excited when I did! (3/24/08)

What cute kids!!!!

I have the cutest kids EVER!!! And of course I am not biased!!!

Just take a look for yourself.

Brayden is 5, Carly is 3 1/2, and Abe is 8 months. Boy they sure grow up fast. It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant with Brayden and now I have 3 kids!!!! Wow, where did that time go.

They love spending time together and making up games to play. I am always amazed at what their little minds come up with. They say and do the funniest things. It's incredible how much joy these sweet spirits can bring into your life. And at the same time the frustration they can cause. I am constantly reminding myself that they are just kids, and more often than not it is me that needs the attitude adjustment. I'm the one that needs to let go a little bit, loosen up and let them experience the joy of being a kid. Even if that means a bit more work, or clean up on my part.

Abe loves his brother and sister. He always lights up when he sees them. Brayd and Car love to make him laugh and in return, Abe loves to laugh at them. Brayden is always trying to find new ways to get a reaction, and Carly loves to be the little mother. Whenever Abe is sad, she starts singing to him. More often then not, it takes the tears away.

So, not only do I have the cutest kids, but I also have some of the best kids EVER!!!

Starting a new journey!

Well, I have bitten the bullet and decided to start my own blog. I have had a lot of fun looking at several blog sites from my family and thought I would jump on the band wagon. I can't promise that I will be good at this, but I think it will be fun giving it a try. We are all so busy with our own lives. What a great way to stay connected and see what is going on with those we love and care for. And maybe this will get me into a habit of journaling. Something that I really want to start doing. So, this will be a place where I can share all the fun things that my kids do, how fast they are growing, great family times, the rough times that we all have to experience and the many lessons that my Heavenly Father allows me to learn through them. Because all of these experiences are for my good and for my understanding. And isn't that what life is all about?