Oh....

Oh MRI wherefore art thou MRI?
I long to lie still inside thy metal tubing.
Oh MRI, oh MRI wherefore art thou?

I am patiently waiting for the doctor
To schedule our appointment.
Oh MRI, oh MRI wherefore art thou?

What will you see inside my innards?
Will everything be o o okay?
Oh MRI, oh MRI wherefore art thou?


Seriously - I am not looking forward to this appointment with the MRI. I am extremely claustrophobic. One set of pictures will be taken then a dye put in and then another round of pictures. Then the pictures will be compared to the ones I had done 4 years ago. Just because I am lucky like that. :)
I am needing/wanting to know what is going on in my lower spine though. I am a person who likes to "do." Sitting and doing nothing drives me batty. I like to be able to bend and have my body move the way I want it to. But alas - I am not able to at this time.
Overall - I guess the sitting part wouldn't be so bad if I can still use my hands for whatever I want to keep busy with. Now...if the doctor's office would just return my phone call.

update...

Nephi's dr. called today. The cultures came back. He does not have a staph infection. He has a strep infection on his skin. Lucky him! So far the antibiotics seem to be helping. There weren't any new spots this a.m. and the ones he has appear smaller and are crusting/scabbing over.

Life in the moment...

Okay. For the past 1 1/2 weeks Nephi has been complaining of his stomach hurting. It's always in the same spot. His bellybutton. It doesn't hurt worse if he's eating dairy, spicy or wheat products. Well I took him to the dr. on Monday. They didn't find anything wrong. He even left them urine and blood samples.

Fast forward to Tuesday. I finished cutting Nephi's hair and was helping him get the water started for his shower. He was getting ready to get in when I noticed spots. Lots of them on his left buttocks. They almost looked like bug bites. I am thinking - bugs in his underwear? Now that's a new one. So I checked his spots before he went to bed Tuesday night. A few more were there.

Wednesday I got a phone call from the dr. office to tell me his white blood count from the samples left were normal. I check Nephi's spots again before school. A few more - this time on the right buttocks and a couple starting on his leg. They don't itch. He doesn't have a fever. Or a sore throat. Or any ear pain. Nothing. Just these spots that resemble chicken pox. So he goes to school.

Wednesday night there are more spots between his legs. One on his left buttocks has ruptured. It's looking pretty pussy. Still no itching.

Thursday morning The spots appear to stay the same. However - I don't like the look of them so called the dr. office and took him in after school. Yes - he went to school. Does this make me a bad mother? No fever, no itching, no coughing, kids aren't touching where his underwear is, no exposed rash anywhere. I asked the dr. about it and she thought as long as he wasn't scratching school should be fine. I felt a little better.

At the dr. appt Thursday afternoon she was looking at this now lovely rash which is looking very itchy to me at least. She is pretty sure it's impetigo - a staph infection on the skin. She took a culture from the big one that ruptured on his left buttocks. I am expecting a phone call tomorrow to let us know for sure what it is. The lab takes a couple days I guess.

Friday. Nephi is home today. He said the spots on his knee are starting to itch. He is on antibiotics to get rid of the infection. He also has a prescription strength topical cream that goes on his sores 2 x a day. There are even more spots this morning. Even with 3 doses of antibiotics in him. Makes me wonder if it's something other than impetigo.

A good thing is Nephi's stomach doesn't hurt anymore. I am wondering if there is a correlation between the sore stomach and the rash. When one went away the other appeared.

On a side note - the transmission in the van is making funny noises. It started yesterday after I took dinner to a family in our ward. At least I got that part done. I have to go help at a funeral this afternoon and take some food in to the church so I am hoping the car will survive a trip to town and back home again.

Life in the moment... Is crazy at times.

Happy 9th Birthday Michael!

The day you joined our family was quite the eventful one! Here I am holding you for the first time. I can barely hold you though because 1. You were heavy. and 2. I had lost a lot of blood and was very weak. We were happy you joined our family though. Life has never been dull since your arrival.

When you were a toddler you could be found IN the cupboards. Any cupboard that you could fit in. It didn't matter what was supposed to be in it. You found a way.

You could also be found emptying the cupboards. You did this lovely number while I was getting a quick shower. You are shoveling it in as quickly as you can. I guess the living room floor was an acceptable place to put your food on since the bowls would have been too high for you.

Now you are a young man of 9. You have opinions on how things should be done. You have a good work ethic for the most part. You do struggle with things that do not come easily to you. Before long you will be old enough to do lots of things the bigger boys can do. We are so happy you are part of our family.

The arrival of spring begins with these...

These are the new daffodils I planted that came up. The middles are really frilly and this picture turned out a LOT darker than I wanted. Bummer. My tulips had a really hard time this year. The ones that have come up got pummeled by hail. Lots of hail and high winds and pouring rain.

But on the bright side....
Yesterday was Fuscia Saturday at Fred Meyers. The plants were on sale. A really good sale! We took in our empty flower pots. Picked out our flowers and paid for them and then the store potted our plants for free! They use the really good potting soil too - which if I had to buy would be really expensive for all the pots we took in. We now have 7 hanging baskets of strawberries. I am really excited about these. And the basil pot. And the oregano pot. And all the other flower pots with....
just flowers! Russell and I had a fun date picking out fun colors and plants. This will just have to be a tradition!

10 April 2010 Pinewood Derby!

Let the races begin!
Michael's car is the black one in the front.

Russ, Donovan, Chris and Nephi watching the big screen as car numbers are called up.

This would be Michael's very first pinewood derby! He was pretty excited about it....

He was excited when it was his car's turn to race. His is the one on the far left...

He was excited to see it go down the track. At first. Then was very disappointed it didn't do well at all. It was a good experience for him though. It will give him something to look forward to next year when he designs a different car.

2010 Christmas presents in the works...

I am feeling a lot like an elf from the North Pole. I started back in January working on a Christmas idea for all the nieces and nephews. I think I have 26 or so total. I would have to go check my paper. Anyway - I asked one of my sisters what she thought her children would prefer. She said scripture or Sunday bags. So....

I made this reversible scripture bag for my soon to be 8 year old niece. This is one side.

This is the other. I had fun with the colors. She likes pinks and purples so I think this will suit her nicely.

I made her little brother a cosmic Sunday bag. There are actually little planets all over the darker material. I think he will like it as he likes reds and yellows and greens and blues.

When August rolls around with back to school sales I will stock up of a few extra things for his "special" bag.

Resetting goals...

You know how January comes along and everyone is in a frenzy to set New Year's goals - most likely without the intention of EVER doing them? Well I did that. I made a goal back in January to be more consistent in my exercising. I am not fat or overweight. I did well for a while. Then life got in the way. Then I wanted to go walking. The sun was sunny and the rains were gone. But alas....I am just a girl and walking by myself along country roads is not my idea of a good time. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I keep looking over my shoulder to see if a car is trailing me. One did stop one time while Russell was running and I was...ahem...trying to. Russell was long gone by then so I had to run. This brings me to my dilemma.

I want to be able to walk. I need to be able to walk. I have noticed little body changes here and there and need to be able to exercise. The Wii isn't my idea of exercise. Walking in place doing steps isn't taking me anywhere. I would like to get a treadmill or stationary bike. I could really go places on either of those.

My goals revisited....somehow find a treadmill or stationary bike so I can exercise indoors while the rains come down outdoors. It does that A LOT where I am.