Wow!

Congrats to my mother-in-law Nancy, who is graduating with her Masters in Education this weekend from Utah Valley University!! Brandon is going to be flying up to Utah to be there for the celebration. I opted to stay home because we're ... basically ... too cheap.

Well, then Brandon offered to take Rachel with him ... whoa! really? (Since she flies for free until June.) I had not even thought of this marvelous idea. Then she got pneumonia and I was pretty bummed that Rachel wouldn't get to go, but then the Dr. said today that she is 100% and that he doesn't have any concern with her going. So that settled it. I'll put them both on a plane Thursday night and they'll be back first thing Monday morning. WOW!!! Of course I'll be so sad to say goodbye and this will be the first time I'll be away from Rachel, BUT the reality is that I'll have a weekend to myself?! What would that be like??!! I have no idea where I'm even going to start. I have lots of projects in mind. Lucky, lucky me. Awesome, awesome husband.

Here's hoping my two best buddies have a great weekend in Utah together!!

And this is looking less and less like a "vacation" for Brandon, but I'm not worried at all and they'll have lots of family to give lots of love and attention to Rach.

"All Better!"

Rachel is back to her normal self - thank goodness. Thank you for all your prayers and sweet comments. She is finished with her medicine and also done with her breathing treatments (pictured below), which she liked to call "ooma ooma mask" aka elephant mask (she can say the word elephant, but prefers ooma ooma).

Thanks to Nana who helped us so much - she cleaned the house and gave me much needed breaks. I also think she helped Rachel bounce back quicker than she would have otherwise.

Nana helped us find a mommy bird's nest on our fence. I've been wanting to count her eggs, except that she's a good mommy and I haven't seen her away from the nest yet. Won't that be fun to have some baby birds?!

Such beautiful sunsets in the desert. Here are the girls:

Kisses:
When I say we're back to normal, I really mean it, we went swimming and boating this week. It's been 90+ for a few days, so it was nice to cool off. We went boating with the Crittenden's & Perkinson's out at Lake Saguaro - only 20 minutes from our house. It was so fun to just relax, hang out with friends, listen to music and eat treats! Thanks for the fun outing! Here's Rachel and Cooper:

We went to the doctor for a follow up visit, and his sarcastic comment was that she seemed very "lathargic" as she was climbing on everything, talking up a storm, singing, etc. Rachel kept saying, "all done" and "all better!". Also, she didn't cry once - usually she hates to be weighed and have her ears checked. But I think after staying in the hospital and getting used to nurses doing it every 4 hours, she doesn't think the Dr.'s office is that bad anymore. The other thing that I think really helped is that I got a bunch of books from the library about being in the hospital and going to the doctor, which REALLY helped her calm down about this whole ordeal. Here she is at the Doctor's office, with her lovely "cheese" face:

p.s. She loves her green croc shoes and wears them everywhere! I got her a new pair of white sandals for church and the summer, but she tells me they hurt. I don't blame her since it's hard to break in a new pair, but I'm running out of outfits that match with lime green. And we have a rule that she can't wear that green crocs to church - I know, we're way tough.

Home Sweet Home

Day 1 - Not a happy camper, but was content as long as someone was holding her. She was actually trying her best to smile in the picture with daddy - she was so happy to see him after work and just wanted to cuddle and watch movies.

Day 2 - Sometimes sleep is the best medicine. After a long nap, we got her all disconnected from her cords so that we could go on a little walk. She had to wear a mask outside the room - at least it had Mickey mouse on it.

All of her cords, poor thing! But at least she could get out of the room for a minute and pull around the wagon.

Day 3 - Can I go home yet?

... Please, I'm feeling much better!

No more oxygen! She was mostly disconnected from cords this morning, so she could play around the room, then we just had to wait for the Dr. - you know how that goes. We got discharged finally around 2p.

I can't complain about the care we received - everyone was great and the facility was brand new. We were at Cardon's Children Medical Center at Banner Desert Hospital in Mesa.

My hat is off to mom's who have to spend more than their fair share of time in the hospital with their children. It's just no fun.

Sick Baby

Rachel came down with a cough and fever last week, so I took her into the doctor on Friday and after a chest x-ray, it was determined that she had PNEUMONIA. Seriously?! We haven't been around any sick kids or done anything crazy, but the doctor let me know that kids just contract this yucky stuff sometimes and that there wasn't anything I could have done differently. He sent us home with medicine and also a breathing treatment machine that needed to be given every four hours.

So it wasn't the best weekend, and Sunday she took a turn for the worst. She couldn't keep any food or meds down and had excessive coughing all afternoon. It was miserable and Sunday night felt very long; plus, I didn't think the breathing treatments were helping at all. We took her in first thing this morning and after a check up (and new-found ear infection on top of it all), he sent us to be admitted to the HOSPITAL. So here were are.

The good news is that my mom left Utah this morning first thing and arrived in Phoenix this afternoon (without me asking, she just felt like we needed some help) - and I'm so glad she's here! Rachel is getting her medication through an IV and has had oxygen tubes in her nose all day to help her breathing, and we're continuing the breathing treatments every 4 hours. Hopefully her appetite will pick up more tomorrow as she starts to feel better. Scary stuff, and it feels so out of the blue. We will likely be here for at least two nights.

Since this all went down on day 2 of my spending fast (and this is clearly not free services), I'm still determined to do it, but don't know if this is the right time. So, I'm just not going to let it stress me out right now and just focus on getting Rachie back to healthy. And then we'll see where things stand (perhaps it will mean a May 1st start date - we'll just have to see).

Sorry no pictures yet.

Easter Weekend & a Spending Fast Coming Soon

Easter was very relaxing and laid back. I slacked off on my Easter bunny duties this year because I thought the almost-2 year old got enough treats at her Easter egg hunt, so we just left a trail of eggs from her room to a small gift (some plastic food items for her kitchen). I felt sort of obligated to make a nice Easter dinner, but when I asked Brandon if he wanted ham/potatoes, he said he'd prefer that we make bbq chicken pizza ... and that's what we did. :)

On Saturday night we camped out in our backyard to prepare for conference (very King Benjamin-ish of us, right?) and here's how it went:

7:30p - read stories in the tent with a flashlight

8:00p - put Rachel to bed in her crib inside (we still wanted our evening, so we told her we'd come get her later to sleep in the tent)

10:30p - transferred Rachel to the tent and we all fell asleep ... sort of ... eventually

3:00a - decided we'd all sleep better and sleep in longer if we slept in our own bed, so we transferred back to the house

It was a good adventure and I was glad we were close enough to home to make the transitions so easily (I'm thinking this will happen only once per year and not twice). It also reaffirmed the beauty of Rachel sleeping in her own bed and not sharing ours.

The bits and pieces I caught of Conference were refreshing and needed. I felt like us women got spoiled with some great talks and that there was quite a bit directed to us on parenting and raising and teaching our children. I'm looking forward to reading the talks soon and getting further insight/inspiration about what I need to do personally to improve and do a better job as a mother and wife.

Ok ... new topic ... After being completely inspired by my friend, Cami, who did a SPENDING FAST for a month, I've decided to follow in her footsteps and give it a try. DO YOU WANT TO DO IT WITH ME? My friend, Mandy, has already committed and I know LuAnn is thinking about it. We're starting April 15 and going until May 15. There are no official rules or anything - you can set your own goals. The basic idea is that you pay your bills (please pay your bills!), and you cut back on everything else that you don't really need. Cami successfully made it on a $50/week grocery budget (wow!), but make it what works for you. I'll probably be blogging about my own journey (aka self-inflicted hardship) and I hope to learn something valuable. And just so you know, I'm not intentionally stocking up the pantry or anything like that, but I did already buy myself a reward if I complete my goal - it's a large picture (staying in plastic wrap until May 15) that I got at Ikea for my play room. And I'll probably go out to a nice dinner with my man May 16th too. So, let me know if you want in and we'll help support each other get through the month!

p.s. This morning, before I got Rachel out of her crib, she was just talking to herself (love that!) and then she started singing a song, which I am so excited for her to start doing more. (Usually she just fills in a word or two when I pause in a song.) But her singing this morning was definitely the "Happy Birthday song" and she sang it to Cade ~ "Cader" (my 15 year-old brother) first, and then inserted every other family member's name she could think of, "Happy Birthday, Papa ... Happy Birthday, Grandma ...". I just sat outside her door and listened and loved every second.

Happy Easter 2010

Happy Easter to you from us!

- Easter Egg Hunt - CHECK!

- Visit Easter Bunny - CHECK! (kind of a fluke he was at the outdoor mall today - I didn't even know he visited malls - kind of strange, but Rachel loved him)

- Take Easter Pictures - CHECK! (although I couldn't get a good smile, just mostly funny faces)

We went with Lore, Mandy and all the kids up the road 5 minutes to the riverbank to take some Easter photos. It was a little stressful with nice outfits in a dirty environment, but a lot of fun too. They even let me take some pictures of their kids with my camera (I'm still learning!). And I think they turned out great! Hope you girls don't mind I'm posting pics of your darling kids and some of Rachel's closest friends.

The group (minus Rachel and I) - I love that mountain in the background!

Mandy's boys - Asher, Jett & Rex (love those outfits!)

Rex & Jett

Asher - can't get enough of that face!

Lore's little girl, Macie

Lore's boy, Dalan

Side story: Rachel loves her friends and cousins and talks about them constantly. I know that she's not the best sharer yet and that she doesn't always play nice with them, but she really cares about them and is always good to give them (and their moms) big hugs! Today, we went to the outdoor mall to meet Kasey, but more important to Rachel that she got to see Kasey's boys, Cooper and Cole. We were walking towards each other, but still pretty far away. Cooper and Rachel started sprinting towards each other and met in the middle with a giant hug (I thought they were going to knock each other over!). It wasn't prompted by us at all and I just thought it was SO sweet. I just love Rachel's friends and their moms!