Change of direction... and LISTEN!!

First change:

I had been planning a vacation to see my brother & his family (mostly his wife - we are best of friends) for over a year. Then my friend decided to get married that weekend. So we postponed the trip - just long enough that we missed the balloon festival that we had planned to see while we were in Albuquerque.

Second change:

My trip plans were to go from Albuquerque (brother's house) to Portland, to Spokane so we could drive down to Mike's dad's house in Pendleton. The second day we were in Portland while we were at the Children's museum (wonderful place, be sure to go there if you're ever in Portland with small children) Josh developed a fever - and started tossing his cookies. I wouldn't have worried too much about that, but he also wouldn't eat. This is a sure sign in Josh that he is very sick.

So we took the 45 minute train ride back to the hotel. I had to wait for Mike to finish working and come back so I could get Josh some ibuprofen from the store.

I gave it to him, and waited. His fever came down only marginally. It was really really high. It was so high that I was pretty sure I could cook an egg on him. He was bright red - literally. I knew that it's usually a bacterial infection that causes such high fevers that ibuprofen can only barely dent. And we were more than 500 miles from home. I would have to take a plane to get him home... and if it was an ear infection it would be torture for him. Then I thought maybe it was just food poisoning, and maybe it would be out of his system by tomorrow afternoon. I got the strongest impression from the Holy Ghost that I needed to get him back to Salt Lake ASAP.

So I asked Mike what flights we could take the next day - without any stops. There were 2 choices: 6:45am, and 5:55 at night. I thought maybe it would be ok to let Josh rest in the hotel as long as possible and just take that evening flight. That way Mike could still take the kids swimming this night and they wouldn't be overly tired. So while Mike took the other kids swimming I stayed with the sleeping Josh and Charlie. I had thought I'd read or watch TV while my boys swam, but I felt compelled to start packing - just in case.

When Mike came back we talked about our options - splitting up the family to still have him see his dad - taking morning/evening flight - which kids I would take/leave to go with him. I felt so very unsettled, and I wasn't sure why. By the time we finished talking and decided that I would wait and see, it was quite late.

After Mike had gone to sleep I got the impression that it would NOT be ok to wait - I needed to take that morning flight. I was concerned that I wouldn't wake in time to get everyone packed in time - that I wouldn't wake in time. I went to sleep and then woke at 4am and felt Josh's forehead. His fever was still sky high and from when I gave him the medicine it should have been down at least a good bit. Then I felt like I was being catapulted out of Portland. I had to get up NOW and GO! - and I needed to take Mike with me. I was done questioning, so I finished packing quickly and woke everyone to go to the airport. Mike went along with it but grumbled a bit when I seemed to have everything in hand. Michael was causing problems because he was just so very tired (he kept laying down in random but bad places.) Indeed I wondered why I had had to bring them along. Then Josh tossed his cookies once more in the airport, and I had to rush him off to the bathroom. If Mike hadn't been there I wouldn't have been able to whisk Josh off so quickly. The boys all slept on the plane - no surprise there after getting them up at 5:15 - Michael had been shocked that other people were actually awake too!

Third change:

When we got home Thursday morning I decided rather than take him to the doc right away I'd let him rest and then wait and see if he would be ok. By 3:30 though I felt I needed to call the doc, despite feeling stupid doing so. Josh's only complaint was that his ears kinda hurt.
So we went. And the doc checked his ears. No, not them. So he checked his throat - because pain from the throat can radiate up there. No - didn't look bad. Did a strep test anyway. Negative. So we went home figuring that this was just a virus. I was perplexed as to why I had felt that impression to go if it were nothing. Perhaps just to confirm that I was doing all I could?

Fourth change:

Josh finally said he was feeling better Saturday afternoon. He ate soup and said he wanted to ride his bike. I told him no, of course. I wasn't about to let him do to much right away and relapse. I did need to go to the store - we were out of bread and milk. So I took him there. I got a pizza and we did a movie night. Josh even ate 2 slices, and it looked like his fever was all but gone. I thought, "Well since we're home and Josh seems to be doing better, I guess we'll go to church tomorrow."

I then got the impression that we should NOT go to church tomorrow. I thought that was a little weird. Why would the Holy Ghost tell me NOT to go to church? I brushed it off thinking I was probably just being a little lazy because I didn't want to drag 3 small kids to church, but after these trying few days perhaps I was entitled to a bit of laziness... just a bit.

Fast forward to Sunday morning - I woke to a phone call from Josh's doctor. He informed that Josh did in fact have strep and needed antibiotics right away. I was surprised because I had thought Josh was getting better, but I concurred. He told me I should watch for the symptoms in the other kids too. Then I felt I should tell him about Nathaniel's fever last night - I felt silly because I wasn't 100% sure it was even a fever - could've been just him running around & hot. The doc said he'd call in prescriptions for both.

Just now I held Nathaniel because he was being cranky.

He has a fever.

All I can say is, despite my doubts and reservations, I'm glad I listened.

Now I'm off to get some prescriptions - and some redbox movies. I hope I can keep them down long enough to actually get them better.

Wish me luck.

Here come the Rohde's... destroyer of worlds...

Here come the Rohde’s… destroyer of worlds…

Ok, so maybe not the WHOLE world... yet. But we're working on it, one house at a time!

We have a standing invitation to "camp out" whenever we like at a friend's house. He is a guy who's been like a second father to Mike. He has a big house, a big yard, and a fire pit in the back. There is also a stream nearby. It has all the things we look for in a campout spot, with bonuses like actual cooking facilities and beds for the babies... AND showers in the morning!

So we finally took him up on the offer this weekend. Then the weather forecast was for rain overnight. So we set up camp indoors.

That night Charlie and I stayed up late (as usual). I got thirsty and went out to the second fridge in the garage. I remembered that they usually have ice cream sandwiches in the freezer. I opened it and, sure enough, they were there, but it looked like they’d been there for a long time. A really, really long time. So… no. I grabbed a drink and went back to the kitchen with Charlie. About an hour after that, the power went off. No problem. I saw the emergency lanterns in the pantry and grabbed one of those. We played a bit longer, then finally got off to bed around 1am.

Next morning I wake to sounds in the kitchen and smells of pancakes. Our friend had cooked us breakfast! It was so sweet of him. I came up and got breakfast along with everyone else. It was wonderful, and when we’d all had enough our friend finally sat to eat and I began cleaning.

Since we were all distracted our oldest thought he’d sneak out to the garage for yet another soda. Mike caught him, and came back in aghast. He announced in any angry, upset tone that the freezer had been left open, and everything had thawed so “I hope you wanted to have meat tonight”. He said he was so sorry, because he was sure one of the kids must’ve done it. He then went out to get to work cleaning up the mess. M2 came with him, and then came back in to ask for a bucket. Then Mike came in to get a rag.

I thought back to last night and said to Mike that I felt it was probably me. I had been out to the garage after everyone else. It was most likely me that had done the damage. And it might've been ok, but the power had been out for HOURS last night.

Mike cleaned it up while I apologized. I was mentally tallying the damage costs I had caused. How much money would it take to replace all the meat and other stuff they’d had in that freezer? $50? $100? More?

I started to apologize to our friend, but he cut me off saying it was probably something that just fell keeping the freezer from shutting properly. He claimed some of that food was too old and needed to be thrown out anyway… plus he was getting his freezer cleaned out for free.

We stayed for lunch then packed up to go. Just before we left he asked us to come again. I wondered how he could say that with a straight face…

THEN THAT NIGHT...

From that adventure we went to another friend's house. We'd had them over a few times, and it was exciting to get to see their house. They'd made us a really nice dinner. N kept hitting, following, and otherwise annoying their son who is 7 and autistic. N was basically just driving him right to the edge. I had to keep grabbing N and apologizing to her son.

J tried to kill the fish and flood their house by banging on the fishtank. We foiled him in that.

Then, right as it was time to leave, I went where the adults were discussing expanding the driveway to tell them, and their son came out saying “He hit me!” I told him I’d be right there. I hurried in only to find that something had been spilled on the couch and NEW carpet . Root beer. Aw, Crap. I went back out to ask our friend for something to clean the couch and carpet with.

She came in gave me the stuff, and I was able to get it out of the carpet… but I’m not sure if I got it all out of the couch.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t get invited back there either.

And after reading this I'm sure we won't be getting any invites anywhere. Ever.

Conversations with a 2-year-old

It's sad to think I won't be able to have many more conversations like these with Thaniel.

Because he's turning three soon.

So the latest one went like this:
Thaniel: (points at the laundry room) Ma-mah, es mess-ee.
Me: It's messy, huh?
Thaniel: 'es. Cee ih uhp!
Me: You want me to clean it up? (in an sad tone) Do I haaave to??
Thaniel: 'es.

So I guess I'd better get to work.
Right after I finish blogging.

Kids say (and do) the darndest things

The other day Nathaniel came up to my room to ask me something. I had no idea what he was asking for because 2-year-old language is not always decipherable. In fact, I consider it a minor victory if I am able to guess what he's saying. While he was busy trying to get his inept mother to get it right, he heard his brothers laughing downstairs. His eyes lit up and he turned away from me saying, "Jus a min-et, mama!" He then ran out of the room, and when he reached the stairs he yelled back, "jus a min-et, mama!" again. I busted up laughing.

Charlie thinks he's SOOO funny. He loves laughing to see if he can get us to laugh with him.
Works every time. (We're such suckers!)

Josh has developed a funny habit (or exasperating habit - depending on my current headache level). Every time - EVERY TIME - I ask him to do something he begins his pout and stomps his foot declaring, "Why do I have to do EVERYTHING????"
I have no idea where he got this from. (ha!)

Michael has started a new routine. He gets ready for bed abnormally early. The reason? He really, really wants to play ravenshield with his dad. I can't say I'm too fond of the idea of him playing a shooter game, but I'm just wimp enough to love that I don't have to ask a dozen times to get him ready, so I let him. Besides, it's good daddy-son bonding time right? It's not like they kill each other.

Just today...

Just today Joshua spontaneously read One Fish, Two Fish... and volunteered to read to me! I feel he has had a major breakthrough and is now finally recognizing word endings as a whole, and being able to interchange the beginning letter to exponentially expand his reading vocabulary. Say that three times fast! (That! That! That!)

Just today Charlie laughed spontaneously at me. I don't know what I did, but I hope I can repeat it... his laugh is so cute!

Just today the six of us went to see the new disney movie about the frogs :) It's not slime.
It was cute. I just love family day at the dollar theatre in Sugarhouse. That's when I always take the boys up to see any good kid-flicks that are out. Next stop Planet 51 (as requested by the Josh)

Just today Mike informed me that he had been informed of the exsistence of Ilene. I know about Ilene. She is, according to Josh, my future daughter-in-law. I think it must be serious... I've been informed of 3 kisses so far.

Just today Michael accepted the assignment to stay in the car with 2 sleeping babies while I went inside a tile showroom (I could see the car & kids the whole time). No DS. No DVD player. Just him listening to his brothers snore. What a good helper & good brother! He got his reward - his favorite candy bar - but he didn't know he'd get it when he said he'd stay.

Phew! What a busy day!

New year... new me?

Soooo much has happened this last year.

• We lost Mike's grandpa... so sad. But we spent a week in Oregon with his family - it was great to spend time laughing and remembering and learning more about Grandpa Rohde with them.
• I became pregnant (technically before last year). Yea!
• I became sick. Boo!
• Grandma Newren decided she'd had enough of this popsicle stand and went to be with Grandpa. yea? boo? I miss her lots.
• Dad survived prostate cancer surgery. Way to go dad!
• Mom survived gall bladder surgery. Now we can no longer say that mom has the gall...
• Charlie arrived on 9-9-09.... I dare you to forget that! Okay, but I won't. I was SO glad it wasn't 2 days later...
• We had Thanksgiving at my house, and used all my fanciest stuff... tablecloths, napkins, glass plates, and real silverware... my Fancy Nancy was so proud!
• Christmas went off without a hitch. The boys accepted that Christmas was not unlimited (I did too, reluctantly) and they enjoyed it as much or more than last year.

Now it's a new year. And I'd like my old body back. So I'm working on it... little by little.

Does a rice krispie treat negate a workout?