School Shopping

My mom is here helping me out after surgery. One of the things I asked her to do to help me is to take the kids clothes shopping for school. So we went through their clothes to see what they needed. Olivia just needed a few things. But Garrett has out grown almost all of his clothes. So Mom took Garrett in the morning to go shopping. He was elated. He loves trying on clothes, he loves getting new clothes. He got about 5 outfits, new shoes and socks, and a lunch box. He told my mom that this was the best day his special day. He really felt special when Mom treated him to IHOP. In the afternoon she took Olivia shopping for a few outfits and shoes. She thought it was great fun too. She told mom, "I love going shopping with you, Grandma." So now we have the things we need for school. Thanks to my mom for taking them shopping when I don't think I could have walked around that much. Plus it gave Olivia and Garrett some one on one time with Grandma.

Something Crazy

Indulge me for a moment.

As you may know, I have a YouTube video of me making a dry ice bubble while wearing a Halloween costume. It's been just sitting there getting about 1,000 views per day. Well somebody posted a little link to my video on a website called reddit.com. In the last 24 hours, it's gotten over 30,000 new views... and some interesting side affects. For example,

Click http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/94h6f/dry_ice_bubble/?sort=new to read a series of comments discussing the scientific value of the bubble.

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1AL9asj5b4 for an alternate ending with a big bang. (By the way someone else did this and not me)

Click http://www.youtubedoubler.com/?video1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D3LfJLvuZqmQ&video2=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DVr4xTRdRH9Q to see a mash-up someone made of my screaming dry ice video and a guy playing drums.

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Pioneer Day/Jeremy's Birthday

Jeremy for his birthday said he wanted fireworks. So lucky him it is a holiday on his birthday here in Utah so he went and got a bunch of fireworks. We went up to the school parking lot with Jeremy's brother and his family, and our neighbors and set off a few fireworks. It was a lot of fun. We also for his birthday had homemade ice cream and my friend made a cake for me for him for his birthday. When we got home we set off some of the illegal ones Jeremy's parents got him.

Two cute pictures

Dr. appointment and Physical Therapy

Doctor's Appointment
I went to the Doctor's yesterday as a follow up appointment following surgery. They did X-rays to see if the screws were lined up properly. It was kind of weird seeing the screws in my x-rays. It was very painful to have those x-rays taken. Dr.Bryan said it was healing nicely and said I could now take showers but still no swimming or soaking in the tub yet. He wants to give it at least another weak or so to let the stitches heal. It was still swollen quite a bit but he said that it was good and not as swollen as others he had seen. I am still supposed to take it easy and take care of it.

Physical Therapy
I went to Physical Therapy this morning. The physical therapist's office in behind Smiths so it is only about 5 minutes from my house. He gave me a few stretches that I need to do at home each day, plus he was worked with me on how to walk and bear a little bit more weight on that leg while still using the crutches. The goal is to be off crutches completely in 3 weeks. Which would be great to be off of them before school starts. We also did some heat treatment and some ice treatment with a tens unit (sends small amount of electrical current to my knee),
plus some bending the knee exercises and straightening the knee exercises. He said that I did really well for my first day. He said that it will start feeling better and better. I hope he is right. I didn't cry today but there were times it was uncomfortable and painful but it did feel nice to some movement again.

The therapist did a lot of rubbing on my knee today. He told me to do this same type of rubbing of the knee at home.
Things seems to progressing well.

Kodiak Polar Care Cold Therapy

This machine take ice water that is in a cooler and circulates the water around my knee. It feels so good. It is supposed to help with the swelling. Jeremy has been getting ice from his school. I went on a short walk today on my crutches (about two houses down and back) and came back and was glad to put this on. I think that it helps with pain too. I am so glad that the hospital sent it home with me. The nice thing is that our insurance paid for it so we don't have to return it. I like not having to deal with bags of ice and the the leaking.

Update

Today is the 3rd day after surgery. I am still hooked to an ice pack, the pain is very real, and I still need help going to the bathroom and I am not allowed to shower for 7 days. However, my sister came yesterday and helped me wash my hair in the sink. Marianne brought me books to read and gave me frozen dinners, my mother n law has kept the kids busy, people from the ward are bringing dinner tonight and tomorrow tonight and my husband has helped me with what ever I need including bringing me food, medicine, and helping me go to and from the bathroom. He has even been sleeping on the couch so he can be near me while I sleep on the chair. My children are so sweet they want to help too and I am mentioned in their prayers to feel better soon. I couldn't be doing this without the help of so many people. I still have a long recovery but I know with the love and support that I am receiving that I will make it and this surgery will be worth it. It will be worth it to be able to walk without worrying about my knee giving out. It will be worth it to be able to do things with my kids. It will be worth it one day even if today and tomorrow and the next day and the next.... is still painful.

Surgery

It looks like the surgery was a success! I'm sitting here with Robin. She's resting and sore. We got here are 11am. They took her back at 12:35. The Dr. came out at 4:30 and I got to see Robin at 5:30. Not sure when they'll let her leave.

UPDATE: We got home around 7:00. Robin's resting.

Knee Surgery Today

Today is the day. Surgery is scheduled for 11:30. Jennifer is going to watch the kids. I am really nervous.

Yard Sale Find

We found this at a yard sale for $60. We did drive around for 2 hours before finding it. It's a few years old and is missing a door, but buying it new would have been around $560. That's a pretty good deal! The kids love it already! The amazing part was fitting all the pieces in the van in one trip with three kids safely wearing seat belts!

Thirsty?

So it all started when I was downstairs watching a movie with the kids...

Olivia keeps a cup downstairs so that she can get a drink from the downstairs sink instead of going all the way upstairs. Devin thinks cups of water are super fun so he got Olivia to get him a drink.
Devin also likes to share. He took a drink then gave it to Olivia. She took a drink and then gave the cup back. A minute later, Devin brought me the cup to and I drank it all gone.
A minute later, he brought me the cup back and gave me another drink. After drinking this one I had a thought: He's too short to turn the sink on... where's he getting this water???
Yep. From the toilet. BLAH!

More Words

Devin has recently starting saying a few more things that we understand. He jabbers non-stop and he is so cute saying these things. It is nice to be able to understand him a little bit more.

Chips- for any salty snack
Ju - juice
Jack - For any dog that he hears or sees
wats tat -What's that?
ousid-Outside
want tat- I want want that
ah, ah - For food that you have that he wants
Lei -Olivia
Garre- Garrett
Granpa-Grandpa
Woof-for a dog's bark
ba-Ball

and of course he still says
Mama and Dada

He is growing up so fast. He is so smart. And he is so opinionated when he wants something like food or wants to go outside. He keeps us on our toes. When he wants to go outside he will go and stand by the door, grab the doorknob, stomp his feet and start yelling "ousid, ouside, ouside" He is hard to ignore.

We are back in Utah

We came back to Utah on July 7th. It was a really long day. We really enjoyed our visit with my family in WV. We will miss the cousins and all the fun activities that my parents have at their house. We are blessed that we get to go and spend time with them each summer.
Here is glimpse of where we were. Isn't it beautiful.

Sparklers

It wouldn't be the fourth of July with out Sparklers. Okay, so we did them on the 5th. But hey it was still very festive.

Riding Ponies

My parent's neighbor has horses and she invited us to come down so the kids could ride the pony and look at the baby animals that she has. They loved it. Even Devin sat on the pony's back.

Fourth of July

It is tradition that every year my parents do a big cookout on the 4th of July.
This year there were about 50 people there. It was a lot of fun catching up with all the relatives. I love the 4th of July because it seems to bring our family together. Everyone comes wearing red, white and blue.

Milk Shakes and Homemade Ice Cream

My dad got an ice cream machine for Father's day. He makes the best chocolate shakes and ice cream. He won Devin over immediately by letting him help. When I say help I mean Devin gets to sit and eat big spoonfuls of ice cream.

Boating

My dad took us out on the lake. This is Plum Orchard Lake. This is something we look forward to.

So we had a bad day

On Monday, it was a typical day. The kids played with the cousins. Then Grandma and Grandpa decided to take the older kids camping. Jennifer, Emily and I and of course Devin, went out to eat for a sisters night out. We were having a good time. After dinner we back to Emily's house and broke out the ice cream sandwiches and decided to watch a movie. We all got settled in, and Devin was laying in my lap. I thought he was shivering a little so I put a blanket over him. About five mintues into the movie, Devin started shaking badly. He was having a seizure. It was the scariest thing I have seen. I was so scared. I was so glad that my two sisters were there. Emily took charge and called 911 and got shoes and purses for everyone. Jennifer's life saving skills as a life guard kicked in and I was just plain freaked out and was crying a lot. Devin is the first to get to ride in an ambulance. Of course I rode with him. We went to the hospital and after being there for five hours and several tests later they determined he had a seizure caused by a fever. By the time we left we was doing much better. He got an antibiotic and we we have been giving him tylenol and motrin. The next day he was back to his happy normal self. We have been watching him and giving him tylenol still. We took him back for a follow up and he is still good. We don't what caused the fever but we hope that we don't have another episode.

I am so grateful that he is ok. I am grateful for my dad who came and gave him a blessing, I am grateful for answered prayers.