Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

Last Thursday, we were getting ready to leave for St. George when Kyla came and told me that she had been bitten by a mosquito. Clearly, I could see one bite on her arm. I could also see one on her cheek. No big deal. We left on our trip, stopping in Cedar City on the way for a little Summer Games basketball. After our game, I noticed it was looking a little worse. She had obviously been scratching at it, and her face was starting to swell. I gave her a little Benadryl and took a picture, because I was sure it would be looking much better by the time we got to St. George.

Not so much. It got worse. By Friday morning, her eye was swollen shut. We were beginning to think we needed to take her to Instacare to get checked out. But luckily, I have a NP on speed dial (my BIL) and I kept sending him pictures asking for his advice. He thought she looked okay (considering) and to just keep giving her Benadryl and ice.

Jeff reminded me that while he was on his mission, he got stung by wasps on his temple and swelled up just like Kyla. A shot of epinephrine did nothing to help and the doctor on the mish determined that Jeff just reacts severely to insect bites/stings. I dug through his mission pictures and found one. Here he is, the homeless bum.


We were fairly convinced that Kyla has inherited some of the same reactions. I did laugh when I saw this picture Jeff took of her with the boxing gloves.

By Sunday, she finally looked better. The swelling was almost completely gone. And I was no longer embarrassed to take her out in public. What a weird thing.

In other news...

The Summer Games was a lot of fun. We actually had to win a game this year to get a bronze medal and we just had enough left on Saturday afternoon to do just that. Here is a pic of our team (I really wish Heather had felt good enough to play with us. As it was, she was our best cheerleader and baby watcher).

I love this pic of my family. It's seriously one of my favorite ever. From Damon showing the ball so perfectly, to Kyla's funny pose, to Allie showing cleavage, to McKay trying so hard to suck his thumb, to Carter drinking out of some random Arctic Circle cup he found on the bleachers...I love these crazies so much.

Health

Wow, what a couple of weeks it has been. Phew. Catch a breath. Let's back up to Memorial Day...

I was feeling like I was getting another UTI and by Memorial Day it had gotten pretty bad. Where I didn't want to go to the bathroom at all because it felt like a hot torch was being lit inside me. So, Tuesday morning I called my doctor's office and went in for a rapid UTI test. The kids were excited to get out of the house and get a dum dum. The test showed there was bacteria so I started on Macrobid for a week. It got a lot better, but never went away.

I started to feel like I was getting mastitis as well, but it went away quickly and didn't cause too much trouble. We had McKay's blessing and life went on.

But the UTI, which had never really gone away, started to get worse again. I tried to call my doctor's office at 2:30 on a Thursday and they were already closed for the weekend. I figured that was a sign that I needed to wait the weekend out and call on Monday. And THEN I got mastitis again. By Saturday, I was feeling miserable. Not only did I have red spots on both sides, they were both extremely painful and I started getting a fever, the chills and body aches. So I took some ibuprofen and tried to sleep it off. Luckily it was the weekend and Jeff took the older kids swimming. Sunday i was feeling a little better, but went home after sacrament meeting because I just wasn't right.

Monday morning I called my now-open-doctor's office and talked to the nurse about what was going on. She called in a prescription of Augmentin for me to take care of both the mastitis and the UTI. Before I picked up the meds, I noticed blood in my urine and that freaked me out a little. But I read that that is common with UTI's and tried not to worry about it. I wasn't in a ton of pain, but was really frustrated that I couldn't seem to get my body back to normal. I started the meds Monday night. Tuesday morning I went in to use the bathroom and had a terrible burning, while feeling like the urine was trapped and couldn't get out. Then something popped out and the pain was relieved. I looked down to find something in the toilet, which I fished out. It was the size of a raisin, and the only thing I thought it could possibly be was a kidney stone. So I googled some images and found that mine looked just like the pics I saw online. I called my doctor's office to make sure they agreed with me (which they did) and finally things started to make sense. Like that time when I was pregnant and ended up in Instacare with terrible back aches and was treated for a UTI (but no bacteria was ever found in my urine). It HAD to have been related to this monster kidney stone that really wasn't all that terrible to pass. And the UTI that wouldn't clear up also made sense, along with the blood in the urine. I'm hoping that's the end to that chapter of my life.

And while I'm grateful to have had antibiotics through all this (the nurse said the last thing I would want is an infection AND a kidney stone), Augmentin is nasty and I hope I never have to take it again. Not only did I have stomach cramps and diarrhea, I think it also affected little McKay, as he seemed more sad than usual when I was on it. PLUS, I got a yeast infection from the dang stuff (common, I guess) and am just now starting to feel better. SHEESH!

Why did I think this was a good idea?

Yesterday, I needed to pick up some books from the library, and I knew the kids needed a few new books to read as well, so I decided to take all of them for a quick trip. It was around 4:45 pm and Carter had just woken up from his nap, so I knew he wouldn't be too grouchy. McKay had recently eaten, and was acting fine, so I took the "now or never" approach and loaded everyone into the car.

At the library, I put Carter and McKay in the double stroller, strapping McKay in. He immediately started crying, but stopped once we started moving. Into the library we strolled, picking up the books I had on hold (couplet) and proceeded into the children's section, where the oldest three kids dispersed. This is where things began to get chaotic. Damon went searching for some Guardians of Gahoole books while Allie headed toward the fairy chapter books and Kyla went for the movies. McKay started crying again, and it wasn't just a little whimper. It was a full on tantrum (as much as a three-month old can throw a tantrum). I tried to push the stroller between the aisles, hoping the momentum would soothe McKay, but he just cried harder.

By now, Carter had escaped the stroller and was standing on a stool (his favorite) at the drinking fountain, shoeless, trying to soak himself. Kyla was now looking for some books of her own, and loading me down with every title she pulled off the shelves. I was trying to pick a few I thought she might actually like, asking Damon to keep his eye on Carter while I tried to speed up the book choosing process.

At this point, a woman in her late 40's (I would estimate) approached me. Pointing to the stroller, where McKay was screaming, she asked, "is that your baby?" When I told her that it was, she looked at me in disbelief and huffed. Her unspoken words communicated, "why can't you do something about him?" She then asked, condescendingly, "can I help you with something? It sounds like someone is killing your baby." I tried to explain that I was hurrying the kids along, trying to get out of there, and no, I most certainly didn't need any help from her. I grabbed Carter, called for Damon, Allie and Kyla to come NOW and we left. Damon pushed the stroller with the boys around in circles while I checked out the mountain of books we had accumulated, and I stewed. I mean, really, I was doing the best that I could.

I am sure the woman's version of the story would be somewhat different from mine. I can imagine her telling her friends about the lady with all the kids who came into the library, disrupting what should have been a quiet, peaceful environment (in the kid's section). "Her girls looked like they hadn't had their hair combed in days," she would say, "and the little boy wasn't even wearing shoes. And then she completely ignored her screaming baby, who must be neglected all the time at home to hear him cry. In my compassion, I sweetly asked if there was something I could do to help. But no. She shot me a snotty look, gathered her raggedy kids and left. It's probably best that people like that don't leave the house."

Well, by now I was in agreement with that assessment. I shouldn't have left the house. But we still had one stop to make. My raggedy children and their friends had gone through an obscene amount of milk, blowing bubbles with straws to make "milk shakes," and we were down to about 1/4 of a gallon of whole milk (Carter's milk). So, against my better judgment, we pulled into Smith's. McKay had calmed down by now and was looking around, pretending he was a happy baby. I put his car seat in the front of a shopping cart, and stuck Kyla and Carter in the back (I can't remember whether or not Carter had shoes on at this point. It's kind of a blur). We went in for milk and ended up getting some ketchup and corn on the cob as well, because who gets just one thing at the grocery store, even if it is dinner time and you have five kids with you?

As we were walking down the aisle to check out, Allie accidentally stepped right into a large cardboard display containing Green Lantern toys. Of course it fell over, spilling the packages of toys everywhere. Instantly, she started to cry. I know she was humiliated. An employee happened to be standing right there, and tried to assure her that it was no big deal and that it happens all the time. Through her tears, she and Damon helped clean up the toys and we sprinted the self-checkout before we did any more damage. McKay was getting antsy again, and Damon wanted to learn how to scan items himself. I may have let him do one or two (we were getting 5 gallons of milk. I sure wasn't planning on going back to the grocery store anytime soon), but mostly I hustled through the process, trying to get the heck out of there.

Jeff had called to see where we were just as everyone was cleaning up the Green Lantern display, and he said, "what were you thinking taking all five kids with you to the library and the grocery store?" Good question. It definitely wasn't a mistake I will make again any time soon.

10 Things I'm Not Into

Things I just can't seem to get into:

1. Interior Decorating. I have no talents in this area and even fewer opinions about what I want. Jeff told me he is a better decorator than me. Sad, but true.

2. Yard work. My MIL gave me a potted plant (beautiful flowers) for Mother's Day and now that it is, inevitably, dying because I don't remember to water it, it has become a nuisance more than anything else. I mean, what if the MIL pops by one day to check on it and sees what it has become? Quickly, someone get the hose and water the living daylights out of the beauty (it actually looks a little better since I assigned the kids to watch out for it).

But I don't care for real live plants that require maintenance. I prefer the ones that are surrounded by our sprinkler system that provide beauty for me with no work. Same goes for my garden. It's a plant-forget about-return in a few months to see what's grown kind of thing.

3. The Biggest Loser. Sorry friends who love the show. I have tried, and I just can't seem to get into it.

4. Washing mirrors. I must have missed out on the pre-mortal class about how to get your mirrors clean without streaks, because I just can't seem to get it right. Some of you know how to do it. I know, I've been to your homes. But, I swear, every time I go into a bathroom, there are handprints on every mirror. So it seems kind of pointless getting them perfect. (I do, however, wipe the handprints off).

5. Running. The very thought of "going for a run" makes me want to throw up in my mouth. I have always needed some type of ball to make running enjoyable.

6. Crafting. This includes sewing/needlepoint/creating things from flowers, etc. I do scrapbook, but my pages are more the "get 'er done" variety with little imagination. I am amazed with what people are capable of. And I try little projects here and there, so my sewing machine doesn't feel so neglected. But it's just better if I acknowledge that I was not blessed with the crafting gene.

7. Putting away laundry. I don't mind doing the laundry. I don't even mind folding it, when it comes out warm and smelling good (and it often takes me at least an hour to fold). But I dread putting it away. Why? It only takes a fraction of the time it took me to fold it, and it isn't as though it's very difficult, but I just don't like doing it.

8. Talking to people. Even when they are perfectly nice and I know them fairly well, I just simply don't like calling people on the phone or approaching them in person to talk (especially when I have to ask them for something). I really wish this wasn't so hard for me, because I genuinely like people. I just need them to approach me first.

9. Crying babies. And crying one-year-olds. And crying 6-year-olds. You get the picture.

10. Twitter. I love Facebook. I love connecting with people I don't have to talk to in person. But Twitter I just don't get. It seems like a colossal waste of time following the lives of celebrities (because that's the only benefit it has over Facebook--following famous people). Even when those celebrities include Jimmer Fredette (although I will follow his Tweets on draft day. So maybe I'm a hypocrite.)

McKay's blessing

We blessed McKay on Sunday at our house. And when I say "we," I mean Jeff blessed him and I ran around like a crazy woman trying to make sure everything was just right. Isn't that how it usually goes?

A few pics from the day as well as a few comments:

I let Carter hold McKay for the first time on Sunday. He thought that was the best thing in the world. And he promptly kissed him repeatedly. Carter loves kissing. McKay doesn't look so sure.


What the blessing looked like to all those who got to watch from heaven. And from the balcony where my sister took this shot.


The obligatory shot of baby and baby mama outside the front door. McKay wore the same outfit Carter wore last year and looked every bit as much as a circus ring leader as Carter did. Sorry there isn't a better pic. You had to be here, I guess (and plenty of you were--we had close to 50 people here).


Tara's girl, Jayda, is two months older than Carter and constantly picks on him. Mostly because she knows she can and Carter isn't going to use his weight advantage to level her, but instead runs crying to mommy like a little girl. They do like kissing, though.


Finally, here's our family on the big day. I just love this pic so much. From Kyla's bandaged foot (she had a sliver removed by Grandpa Dale and the band-aid was holding a slice of onion in place to draw out anything left behind. So of course she needed an ACE bandage wrapped around her whole foot to keep everything tight. Heaven forbid she do something like put on shoes and/or socks.) to Allie practically dropping McKay as she smiles heavenward, I love it all. i love this crazy bunch, especially that crazy man crossing his eyes as I try to plant one on him.


It really was a beautiful day (weather-wise and family-wise) and all the craziness was worth it several times over to share it with our loved ones.