Frustrating!

Yesterday was another trip to meet with another doctor. Most of Morgan's blood tests were normal, nothing too alarming there. The ultra sound shows there is no hernia. So... what is the bulge in her tummy?

When I called the original pediatrics office they saw no reference to the belly bulge in her file. Really??? They sent us to have the first x-ray. UGH! She needed to discuss it with the doctor and call me back with a recommendation for a surgeon. Still waiting for the call back.

Our plan now is to meet with a surgeon who will hopefully have a better idea of what we are dealing with here. Hopefully we can get some answers soon!

The Stalker

Tuesday was un-seasonably warm with just a hint of an icy breeze. Scott had the day off and decided we would all go to the park to play. As soon as Morgan came home from school, we jumped in the pickup and headed into town.

Lots of people had the same idea. The park was swarming with happy children, big and small, enjoying a quick peak at spring. Morgan found a friend from school and ran off to play with her, leaving Zane to play with Mom. Zane was soon bored with the swings and wanted a "real" friend to play with.

Zane spotted a boy about his size on the other side of the playground. He announced he was going to play with his friend. Zane hurried over and began following the boy around on the climbing toy. While sliding down the pole he lost the boy briefly but then spotted him over on the slide. He quickly ran to play with him there. Then the boy ran for his mom. Zane followed and then stared as the boy hid behind his mom. Scott and I watch in hysterics as Zane attempted to "play" with his new friend, even though his new friend didn't know he had been befriended.

As we were leaving the park, Zane expressed his frustration that his friend kept hiding from him. I suggested that maybe next time he should tell his friend his name and ask if he would like to play. Zane thought that was a good idea and asked if we could come to the park tomorrow so he could try again.

I can only imagine the fear the other boy must have felt when he realized he had a stalker.

{Valentine's Day}

I saw a super cute cupcake idea and used it to make Valentine cards this year.

Morgan wanted pink for the girls and blue for the boys.

Zane was excited to make some for his friends too.
(Sorry girls, he insisted on making them blue.)

And it wouldn't be Valentine's Day without
flowers and chocolates.
Scott surprised us at lunch time today.
(He was looking for daisies.)

Makes me HOPE for spring!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Emotion Commotion

We've had a lot of EMOTIONS going on lately. Maybe it's stress. Maybe it's just too cold to go outside and we're tired of being cooped up inside. I found some cute faces online that express different emotions and we talked about our feelings. Yep. I felt like a total psychiatrist. We talked about good feelings and bad feelings and how bad feelings don't mean we are bad. Then we talked about what we can do when we are feeling angry, stressed, frustrated, nervous, etc.

My children are SO different and have different issues. When Zane gets angry he wants to destroy things so we talked about how to calm down and make better choices. Morgan has trouble with being nervous and letting her fear consume her. So we talked about how to stay calm and worked on some problem-solving skills.

I posted the pictures on my pantry door. Now, the kids can walk to the door and point to the picture that describes how they are feeling. Then we talked about what can be done to help them feel better. They also point out the good feelings. Like, I made brownies and they both walked to the door to point out they felt very happy about that.

Next, we made HAPPY books. We talked about some things that make them feel happy. I helped them write and draw pictures to create little books.

Just having a book that said "By Zane" made this little man happy.
He had pictures of strawberries, bananas, pre-school friends, toys, and Mom.

Morgan loved making her book too and included pictures of favorite clothes, ice cream, swimming, and playing with Ashton.

It's still new and exciting but so far seems to have made a difference in our home. Making the books helped them to focus on the good in their lives. I love when they come and tell me something else they wish they had included in their books. We may have to make more pages soon.

Look for happiness and you will find it.

January 2011

Cleaning off my camera, I came across some pictures of life in January...

The first big storm of the year. This one had us stuck at home for 2 days until the neighbor borrowed a backhoe to dig us out.

And another storm a couple weeks ago left the trees beautifully frosted.

A super easy craft using a fun computer font.
(I spent more time thinking about how to do this than it actually took to do it.)

Struggle of Life

"We live in a day when the adversary stresses on every hand the philosophy of instant gratification. We seem to demand instant everything, including instant solutions to our problems. …

It was meant to be that life would be a challenge. To suffer some anxiety, some depression, some disappointment, even some failure is normal.

Teach our members that if they have a good, miserable day once in a while, or several in a row, to stand steady and face them. Things will straighten out.

There is great purpose in our struggle in life."

~President Boyd K. Packer, April 1978~

After a difficult week, I needed a little extra encouragement. I came across this quote and love it! I'm posting it on my blog so I can come back and read it often. It's a good reminder that life was not meant to be easy. It is often through our struggles that we learn the most. Nothing easy is ever worth it.

Life is a journey. Sometimes the hairpin curves require us to hold on with all our might and wait for the road to straighten. And the road will straighten. We will be able to catch our breath and enjoy the views. Each difficulty we overcome on this journey makes us that much stronger to face the next, if we let it.

Advice to self: Hold on and enjoy the journey. With all the ups and downs and winding roads there is beauty to be seen. And it will be worth it!

Little Trials

We took Morgan to the doctor on Monday. The doctor was pretty sure the fever is from this NASTY influenza bug that is going around. (I let Scott tell me "I told you so" since I argued that the flu shot was not necessary last Fall.) However, since Morgan's hernia is not going away the doctor sent us over to radiology for some pictures of her tummy.

The good news: the KPU showed no signs of inflammation or blockage. (Even her appendix looked good which was a HUGE relief after recent events in our family that now make me wonder if every tummy ache is appendicitis. But that's another story.)

The bad news: her hernia is still there and her tummy hurts ALL THE TIME. We have an appointment in Denver on Monday to further investigate this issue and will most likely be doing surgery in the near future.

Wednesday Morgan was feeling like maybe she could try school. It really helped that we had a 2 hour late start due to the arctic, sub-zero temperatures. At 9:30 I went out to start my car and nothing. It was deader than dead. Morgan was okay, after 4 days of no school what's one more. Zane on the other hand went into MELT DOWN mode. He would not be consoled and the thought of walking the 3 or so miles to the Call's house entered my mind. Then I remembered how my nose had instantly froze shut when I went to start my car and I quickly came to my senses.

Fortunately, a wonderful friend showed up in the nick of time and took both children safely to school. They had a special visitor at preschool and Zane would have never forgiven me if he had missed it.

{Photo courtesy of Jenni Call, Apple Green Photography. Thanks Jenni!}

(I had to share this picture for Grandma and Grandpa since we raised rabbits when I was a kid. We always wanted one for a pet that we could let wander around the house. I think the little pellets they leave behind made us change our minds.)

It ended up being an okay day. Zane was happy. Morgan survived. Scott worked late. And I enjoyed a LONG story time with the kids before bed.

Now, we are just hoping the car can be fixed before Monday. And hoping we can find some answers AND solutions to the tummy issue.
It's the little trials in life that make us appreciate all the blessings!