Today's Doctor...

Really not much to tell about today's appointment. Dylan has a little bit of a cold, but checked out okay. He was all smiles until he got the shot. He's gained a pound since the beginning of the month, so is staying pretty steady at about the 25th percentile for weight for boys (the difference between average for boys and girls at this age is about a pound, so if he were a girl, he'd be right on the average). At least this time I remembered to make his next appointment while I was there instead of having to call later.

Doctors, Doctors and More Doctors

I'm thinking I'm going to get tired of doctors this week and next. Lyssa has been sick with a fever since Friday evening. She seemed to be getting better then got another fever last night and woke up during the night crying and said her ear hurt. I decided at that point that I should take her to the doctor today, even though every time I took her temperature or gave her medicine she would say, "I don't want to go to the doctor." She wasn't very happy about going today until I assured her she wouldn't be getting a shot. Here's a picture of her sitting on the table waiting for the doctor to come in. She saw the camera and gave me that cheesy smile.
Molly did a good job of entertaining Dylan during the appointment. She usually likes to stay out in the waiting room and play with the toys but decided to come back with me and brought along a very noisy book from the waiting room and showed it to Dylan. He stayed happy in his seat the whole time. Which was nice.
Anyway, the doctor came in and looked in Lyssa's ears and sure enough, she has an infection in both ears. He wrote out a prescription for her (which she says is yummy so I shouldn't have any problem getting her to take it) and commented that the last time her chart shows her taking antibiotics was in February of 2006. So she's gone almost 3 years without having to have antibiotics. Which is funny since she's just 3-1/2.

I realize that I started this post saying I'm going to be tired of doctors. That's because Dylan has three appointments coming up. He gets his next synagis shot on Friday then next week has his 6 month well baby check-up (on Wednesday) and his next echo (on Friday). Not to mention taking the dog to the vet yesterday. Ah, well.

Sing A Song

Yesterday afternoon as I was wandering the aisles at the grocery store, I noticed the music playing. Or should I say musak? Anyway, I noticed it was a song from R.E.M. I sang along as I wandered. Quietly though. I probably would have been a bit embarrassed if someone had noticed. And yet I'm telling you about it. Makes sense to me. When I got home I mentioned to Russ that I had heard R.E.M. playing at the store. He asked me which song. I paused. And thought. And thought. And said, "I can't remember. I was singing along with it, even."

A little side note here...anyone who knows me knows that I will often have songs stuck in my head or can come up with a song for almost anything, largely thanks to my mom who does the same thing. And yes, it seems that my kids are following suit and often make up their own songs. And apparently one can add a few string instruments and have translate the lyrics into Italian and call R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" classical music. Really.

I didn't think much more of the song. But in the middle of the night when I was awake, the song popped into my head and has since been stuck there. I knew Russ was sort of awake so I decided to tell him which song it was. Not that he really wanted to know at 3:00 in the morning. It was "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite," in case you were wondering. Not one you hear very often. So..what song is stuck in your head?

Just to make this post more interesting, here are a few pictures.

Toy machines

I'll admit it. I hate those 50 cent toy machines that you see in stores and some restaurants. Sure, at first glance they look like they are fun. But then you realize as you put in your fifth dollar that your chances of winning a toy are better at a carnival. And at that point, you decide you've spent enough that you aren't going to leave without a toy, even though you have already spent more than it is worth. And finally leave frustrated and empty handed. Sure, there are a few machines that you can actually win something on, but half the time those ones are out of order.

Then there are those times you are by one that you occasionally leave with something and you think to yourself that you aren't going to spend a lot and will let everyone have one chance. And you are not surprised when no one wins. So you think to yourself just to appease them, you will put in two more quarters and pretend to try to win one so you can say, "Gee, it looks like this machine doesn't want to work right today," and get everyone to leave happily. Unfortunately, when you see the big teddy bear and think that there is no way you will possibly win that one so pick that one to try for and are much amazed when the claw actually picks it up and drops it safely to the chute you open to get the prize, you know that they won't be happy to share the one thing. So when all but one are happy to share, you figure (because someone else hands you the dollar) that you will try again. And then you carefully aim and it picks up the toy the child so desperately wanted only to drop it once it started to move toward the chute and doesn't even come close the next time. After which, said child starts to cry. And continues to cry while you drive away and even stays in the car crying while you get the other kids out of the car and into the house. Yeah, I hate those toy machines....

New pictures

I got new pictures taken of Dylan today. Mostly because I put on an outfit that was given to us for him and thought it would be a cute outfit for a picture so went on a spur of the moment type of thing. Mostly because I thought the picture would look better before the outfit was really used and drooled on. Granted, he drooled quite nicely by the time he got his picture and even tried to eat his sleeve while we were there. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Cause to Reflect (warning...long...you really don't have to read it)

Some friends of ours recently had a baby with Downs Syndrome. No, they didn't know before he was born that he had Downs. The doctors expect him to be in the hospital for at least a couple of weeks before they can bring him home. Having recently gone through having to leave a baby in the hospital, I asked Russ what he thought would be the best thing to do to try to help their family. He immediately said watching the other kids. He found that to be the most helpful; to have someone watch the older children so that we could be at the hospital with Dylan together. I kind of chuckled at his response because I could easily see the differences between our first impulse answers. My answer was that I thought that having people bring us dinner was really helpful because with so much to worry about with a baby in the hospital, it was nice to not have to worry about dinner, too. I later thought more and decided it was nice when a neighbor stopped by and asked if she could take some laundry to wash for us to help us out. Thinking that laundry is easy enough to do, I really didn't let her do much laundry. I did let her take one load though. I probably should have let her take more. Anyway, I just thought it was funny that Russ thought of being able to visit Dylan together (which was nice, really. Honestly, there isn't a lot you can do while at the hospital with a newborn baby that for several days, at least, you can't even hold, so having someone else there with you is nice), where my thought was of the needs of everyone else. Which does make sense. I stay home and take care of the kids and most nights make dinner, so it should be something I would think of. (Okay, starting to ramble...)

I have also been thinking of how much I learned (or re-learned in some cases) by going through this. Especially after hearing the father of the baby say that he's looking forward to the challenges ahead. I learned that people are really quite nice. Even if we didn't take them up on everything, we had several people offer to help in one way or another. We had several people bring us dinner and gifts for the baby. We had several people show their caring and concern just by asking about Dylan. We had the love and support of family and friends (some who have gone through having a baby born with a serious heart defect) and of new friends through the Intermountain Healing Hearts support group. I felt much gratitude for the restoration of the gospel, especially for Priesthood blessings that helped me go from distress to peace and for the blessings of the temple. Because of the temple, I knew that no matter what happened, Dylan would be part of my family eternally.

Not long after Dylan came home, I listened to a talk given by Elder Jeffery R. Holland about how our troubles can help us. I remember his saying that our troubles would be so much harder to bear had the Savior not borne them for us. I know I felt the support of the Savior through this experience and understood a little better how Paul could exclaim (I suddenly can't remember where he says this in the New Testament. Ah, well) that he glories in tribulation. In his book Maybe, Maybe Not, Robert Fulghum wrote that he has a dummy in his head and that his dummy is smarter than he is. He went on to explain that there would be this little voice in his mind that would tell him that things he thought would be good to do really wouldn't be good to do. I may call it something other than my dummy, but I understood what he was talking about. You might be wondering why I am bringing this up now. Be patient, I'm getting there. It wasn't long after listening to the talk by Elder Holland that I was thinking about how I knew the Savior had supported me through my trials. I thought of the scripture in Isaiah that says, "Surely the Lord has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." I thought of how He had surely done that for me and knew my worries and pains. As I was thinking this, that little "dummy" as Robert Fulghum called it, spoke up and said to me, "You know, He carried Dylan's too." Those few words helped me to be even more grateful for the Atonement of the Savior.

Considering all of the things I have learned, I really don't know that I would change anything were I given the choice. Makes me want to echo our friend in saying that I look forward to the challenges ahead. Think of how much more I will learn (and hopefully grow) from them.

(There, Russ. Happy now? I wrote another post. ;) )

Dylan rolling over

I know I said I might not add any more videos, but I was able to film Dylan rolling over (for his second time) with my cell phone and thought I would add it. Just because. Granted, the cell phone really isn't good quality filming, but that's okay. Usually my kids don't like to roll over and don't do it until later. He always rolls the one direction. I just wish I had been filming when Evelyn tried to give him some soda. The expression he gave her after he totally shuddered was classic.

More random pictures

Been a few days since my last post. I figure it's been long enough that I can post a few pictures. Mostly because Jimmy keeps wanting me to post again. So kind of funny that he has managed to not get his picture taken. I think he's briefly in the video though.

Lys or Molly actually took this first picture of Emma playing with Dylan. He kept laughing and grabbing her hair. If you look close, you can see where he is getting ready to grab some.
Molly and Lys were trying to get Russ to give them horsey rides. Dylan somehow snuck his hands in the picture. Probably trying to grab the camera. He's getting quite grabby.
Jimmy gave Molly play makeup for Christmas. As you can tell.
This video is of Dylan in his jumper chair. He really likes his jumper chair. With as long as it takes to upload videos, I may not do another one.

Another doctor appointment

There really isn't a lot to report, but I took Dylan in to the doctor this morning to get his next synagis shot. Mom met me there to sit with the other kids in the waiting/playroom. They weighed Dylan (he now weighs 15 pounds, 5 ounces) and listened to his heart and lungs then gave him his shot. Had a little bit of a wait (as usual) to make sure he didn't have a reaction to it. In the meantime, I totally spaced making his next appointment, so I need to call and do that. Which is okay since Russ' work switched insurance and I hadn't gotten the new insurance cards before I had to go this morning so I was needing to call anyway. They were in the mail today though. Hopefully I won't need to take him in until he's due for his next shot. That would be really nice.

I had left the dog outside when I left this morning, so I was a little bit worried that she would get out while I was gone. When she wasn't staring out the windows of the garage and whining at me when I got home, I worried too. She was just wandering the back yard though. Didn't really act that anxious to get in.

January birthdays

Well, it's time again to wish people happy birthday for the month. I decided it really is more interesting with pictures, so I did some searching and found pictures of everyone for the month (so if I snagged your picture from somewhere, thanks). Anyway, Happy Birthday this month to: Bill
De Kady Dave
Ethan and Will
Matt

Hope you all have a good birthday this year!