Before the afters

You know those events you've been meaning to write about for months but for some reason never got around to it?  Well, this is one of them.

Fortunately there wasn't much that needed to be done to our home when we bought it. One biggie though was the basement shower. It had mold issues and needed to come out ASAP.  It was actually kind of a good thing because instead of the homeowner  replacing the shower before we closed on the home, we bartered with some furniture, of which we had very little. So it all worked out.  Back in December I hired a great demolition company to rip this out:

Yes, you are seeing correctly That is a urninal. We also have one in the kids' bathroom, too. Highly recommend them! :)

here is my hardworking crew:

(Notice Kyle wearing his Body Bugg?  That's what I got him for Christmas. Aren't I sweet?)

Okay...truth be told that demolition company would be my husband and his two friends. They are really good friends because they didn't get paid to smash my walls and rip tile out and haul it to the front yard.  That was just free fun.  Well, more like really dirty, hard icky work that took some time. Not nearly as long as it did to chip out the one-inch tile from 1983 ('73? '63? Shoot could have been '53!) in our Chicago bathroom, but still, tile is tile. It's awesome they still consider us friends after this project.

Once the demo was done, our friend Brad did the tile work and he did an amazing job! I actually prefer to use this new shower now. I feel like I am at some getaway spa when I use it.  You'll see why....when I post the picture (tomorrow maybe?)

Lucky Number Seven

In 7... years of marriage, we've enjoyed, endured, ...and grown from

6 cross-country moves (the driving I didn't mind...just the packing!)

5 summers selling pest control door-to-door (Orkin, anyone? No, now you want Pointe!)

4 years of co-owning a business (and hopefully many, many more...despite the economy)

3 nerve wracking trips to the ER (The score - Cade: 2, Savvy: 1)

2 child births (let's be honest...the births are the easy part) and

1 bun in the oven.....

Seven years ago today Kyle and I were sealed in the Washington, D.C. temple for time and all eternity. Sometimes I wonder how the Lord can entrust our eternities at such a young age. Who knows anything at 20? Who knows anything at 30? I didn't think I knew much. Really, I readily admitted to that. I felt young when I married Kyle but I was lucky he was patient for those 20 months we dated before getting married so I could get a little more life experience before tying the knot. Gratefully, I was taught at an early age how to listen to and recognize the Spirit and although I was just 3 months shy of turning 21, marrying Kyle has been the greatest blessing in my life. Our life has been nothing short of an adventure and as cliche' as it sounds, it really does keep getting better.

~

Tonight we took the kids to the Provo temple for a picnic and a family home evening on temple marriage. Such beautiful weather we had! I love my little munchkins!

My girlfriend Shelley posted these photos of our wedding day on facebook yesterday and I thought what perfect timing!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!!! :)

Stay tuned for a post about Shelley and what a fantastic friend she is! :)

Easter Eggs and Why I love Baskets

While Kyle was at the Priesthood Session, this is what we did!

Blank Slate:

Aren't their apron's cute? My neighbor in Chicago gave them to us. The kids love 'em.

Savannah may be singing or yawning...or both.

A bit grumpy because there aren't any more eggs to paint. And very hungry for dinner.

pssst! Notice that cake in the background on the cake stand? Good news! I'm back. As in the chocolate cake baker and eater and obsessor is BACK after a looooong hiatus of being plagued with a horrible case of an aversion to sweets. It's really good to be back. :) Even if Savannah doesn't think so.

After dinner I discover this surprise in the toy room:

But, I don't panic. I have baskets. And these little black boxes. The kids know what goes where and I set the timer for 15 minutes.

This is what we accomplished!

( side note: I am so happy we finally switched out our playroom furniture. This is all stuff the previous owner had in the playhouse. As in the playhouse OUTSIDE in the backyard. If this is what was outside, you can only imagine the set that was inside before she moved out. In any case, it was not a tough decision to move our stuff to the play house .)

I did help put the dishes on the hutch, but other than that I just coached and cheered them on. I know it's a waste of time to arrange the dishes like that because they never stay that way, but I just think it's adorable.

Ah..... I love my baskets!

A Foolish April 1st.

I can't help but laugh when I look at this face. And then sometimes I get a little misty-eyed and think how on earth did she grow up so fast?  She is a fiesty, determined little girl,and  hard-headed. Literally and figuratively.  She's rather clumsy, although the number of times she cries to the number of times she falls is about 1:7. Pretty good. She bonks her head, trips, and crashes into doors on a daily basis and it is a miracle she hasn't needed stitches.  I've just been waiting, mentally preparing for that moment when her excitement and energy puts her in the ER.

This past April Fool's morning, Cade and Savannah were happily gearing up for a morning of fun with their cousins. I personally was dragging. I had been up the night before tending to Cade and an ear ache. I woke up some time around 2am to his cries, so I got him some medicine, soothed him back to sleep, then put the pain medicine on my nightstand and crawled into bed. I am always amazed envious at how happy and well-rested my children are in the morning, even after being up at night.

I sluggishly went to my closet, dressed, and rounded the kids up for breakfast downstairs. While Savannah was hoisted on my hip going down the stairs, I noticed her face was covered in purple, sticky goo.  I immediately knew what it was and ran to my nightstand. The Tylenol I had given Cade was not there.  I darted to her room where I found a purple puddle on her carpet and the bottle of Tylenol completely empty. Did  I mention it was a brand new bottle, minus the 2 tsp Cade had gotten the night before? Not good. I panicked. I felt sick to my stomach for my carelessness. Had I really not screwed the top on tight?

Trying to remain calm, I asked Savannah if she drank the medicine. She stared at me blankly. It was hard to tell how much of the medicine had spilled on her carpet, and how much of it she had ingested. Finally she admitted to drinking it (as if the purple ring around her lips wasn't a giveaway) and I hurriedly looked up poison control on the internet.  I called and got through, but ended up being put on hold for 15 minutes. It felt like eternity. In the mean time I instructed Cade to get ready to leave, and dressed Savannah, explaining we were going to be going to the hospital. I phoned my sister and told her we couldn't watch her boys that morning and just started to cry. My sister was sweet and told me everything was going to be fine.  I knew she wasn't going to die over this, but words can't explain the horrible guilt I felt for allowing this to happen.  

Finally the poison control center took me off hold and after explaining the situation to them, I was instructed to go to the ER right away, because Savannah needed to be treated within an hour of ingesting the medicine. They told me they would give the hospital a heads up I was on my way.

When I arrived, I was a little unsettled by how calm and slow-moving everything was. They recognized me as the woman who had called poison control and I expected them to wheel out a gurney, strap Savannah to it, and immediately giver her some of that nasty black chalk stuff to get her to throw up. Instead they moseyed me on through the front entry-way, gave us a room and told us where the remote was.   A doctor would be in shortly, the receptionist explained. In the mean time, feel free to watch TV.  Okay, cool.  That made the kids happy, but I was anxious.

A nurse came, a rather cranky one actually, and had me explain what happened. After making notes on her chart she told me a doctor would be by shortly. About 10 minutes later the doctor came in, asked me what happened, and then explained to me all we could do was wait 4 hours and then they could draw Savannah's blood to check her toxicity levels.  I was really surprised. Wasn't she supposed to be treated like, NOW?

Apparently not. They did give us the option of going home and coming back if we'd rather hang out at home as opposed to the hospital. I didn't know what to do. Home was just 10 minutes away, and Cade hadn't even eaten breakfast yet. I thought of all the things I could get done while we waited this out, but I liked the security of being at the hospital in case something went wrong. Up to that point Savannah had still been her chipper self and showed no signs of discomfort or that she had just ingested enough poison to shut her liver down.  The cranky nurse came in and demanded my answer. Were we leaving or staying?  I had no idea. I stared at her blankly and then at Savannah, trying to find some sign to let me know what I should do. I finally said we'd stay. About 3 minutes later, Savannah became cranky and tired and then complained of a tummy ache. Then she threw up.  Lots and lots of purple goo. I was glad we stayed.  

The nurse came in and gave Savvy a pill to dissolve in her mouth and told me it was Zofran to help the nausea.  I laughed thinking how much the hospital was going to bill me for the same pill I had in my purse. "Oh, I have one of those, I could have given her one."  The nurse then looked at my bugling stomach and nodded. She asked if the Zofran helped me much.  "No, but I still keep it with me in case one day it does," I responded.  Then the nurse told me she couldn't live without the stuff. The girl was 14 weeks pregnant.  No wonder she was cranky. I gave her a break after that.

Aside from throwing up, Savannah had been having a great time watching show after show on TV in her room. I was beginning to worry she was going to think being at the hospital was fun and have fond memories of our stay. While it was hard to see her struggle and cry when it was time for her blood to be drawn, I was relieved some part of the hospital experience was unpleasant so she wouldn't associate hospitals with happiness and the absence of TV-watching time limits.

After waiting an hour for the results, good news came. We were so fortunate that her level of acetaminophen in her body was not toxic to her liver. It was high, but not toxic and they just sent us on our way. Just like that. No medicine or special instructions or anything other than to have the pediatrician check on Savannah the following day.

While checking out Savannah at the doctor's office the next day, Cade asked the doctor to look in his ears. I immediately sunk in my chair. Of course. Ear ache. Up all night. Tylenol.  My son had been suffering and I had totally forgotten!  The doctor asked me if Cade was on any medicine and I shook my head.  "Well, we better get this little guy a prescription.  His ear is pretty red and does not look good." 

Awesome, I was 0 for 2 in properly taking care of my children. 

 Aside from the enormous amount of guilt I felt, I also had an enormous amount of gratitude. We were so fortunate things turned out the way they did. Cade got some medicine for that poor ear, and Savannah didn't have any harmful or lasting side effects from her Tylenol binge. I can't help but look at my children differently after that fateful and foolish day...

My Latest Masterpiece

While this is only the beginning of much more cleaning up and clearing out, it is a good start.    I present to you my latest masterpiece:  Our Clothes. Ta Da!!!

More specifically, the children's clothes. The ones that are either too big or too small waiting for another little one to wear.  They initially started off in an ugly, poorly organized state. The bins were mismatching, not a crime by any means, but annoying to any onlooking perfectionist. Also, the labeling was inconsistent. After this move, I was ready to go through and streamline my method of storing clothing.  As luck would have it, I was able to participate in two clothing drives over the last 2 months-- one for the victimes of Haiti and one for Samoa.  If there's anything I need to get me motivated to not only sort through, but part with my worldly possessions, it is a humanitarian drive. If there are orphans involved, then the motivation is quadrupled.  My dining room soon became the catch-all for ALL the children's clothing bins as I wildly sorted through them, tossing donated clothes in one pile, and leaving the keepers to fend for themselves. Then not long after, the dining room needed to be used for something other than hosting children's clothing (imagine that!) so the clothes were thrown into random bins and went back to the garage.

As part of my big spring cleaning schedule, I was to bring back every single clothing bin, get rid of any un-matching bin(by no coincidence the Samoans needed plastic storage containers! That made it very easy for me to part with them), sort through them and re-label.  I was finally able to sort the clothes not just by gender and size, but season, too.  It was thrilling!    Many are not quite so fortunate as to have spent their fun money on moving supplies and have stacks upon stacks of empty bins for their organizing and labeling pleasure, but I am one of those rare lucky ones who was able to keep Target's bin supplier in business during the recession.  Remember-- this is how I packed up my kitchen during our last move:

I do not claim to be even remotely close to a professional packer after my 12 moves. I would be every packing company's nightmare if I was hired. I don't like to pack in boxes. I don't use packing paper.  Packing companies like you to put two or three things max in a box and then pile in packing paper.  I use bins and cram as much in it as possible, and miracle of miracles we have yet to mourn over any casualties in a move using this method. (I did wrap some breakables in towels -- I am resourceful with my method of padding).  Granted,  I didn't own anything too valuable so that probably feeds my carelessness (or efficiency....depending on how you'd like to look at it).

When  I proudly presented to Kyle the clothing bins in their completed state, he was a little confused because supposedly I had parted with about 50% of the boy stuff and 20% of the girl stuff, but it sure doesn't look like it. I can explain!!! The number of bins used for clothing increased, but the amount of clothes inside those bins has decreased dramatically, I swear. In reality, the contents of these clothing  bins would only need about 2/3 of the space I used to store them in. But, I like organization, and if I don't have to mix seasons and sizes and genders, that makes finding something a lot easier. :) If I owned smaller bins, that would work, but I don't, so these will do the trick just fine.

Here's to plastic!

Awkward Family Photos (kyle's turn to post)

Just wanted to post some of my favorite family photos from www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com Make sure and read the captions.