Joe's Crab Shack

I have not had very uplifting posts lately. I am sorry. Yesterday we had a terrible day. After the radiologist we spent 9 hours in the ER. Don't worry we are OK. Greg just had a bit of a heart problem, nothing serious, really! So today we decided to spend time as a family. We started off the day going to yet another doctor so we could find out that Payton needs to drink more water and she will magically get all better (what ever, she drinks enough, not the problem, onto another doctor). So then we went to Target. Madi needs clothes for the warm weather and since she is a size 5 now, it means new clothes. I always love an excuse to go shopping. We then took a long nap. Later, while we were in the car, Madi says "mom quick hurry and roll down the window." I asked her why and she said, "because the guy next to us has his window down and I want to say hi!" I told her no just to wave. Who knew who that man was.

It is overcast today, but warm, so we went to Joe's Crab Shack. It was so fun. Greg and I sat and talked while the girls were in the sand playing and sliding down the slides. Here is a clip from our family outing. As we were leaving the kids on the playground are yelling "Bye Madi Bye." Madi says "Bye everyone." Madi is so friendly. She makes friends everywhere we go!



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In Preschool, Madi is having "Nevada Reading Week." She was so excited to come home and tell me about Ronald McDonald reading to her class. She asked me if we could go straight home and read books because it is reading week. I told her of course. We did not do it straightway, but we will now. I love that my girls love books. Payton sleeps with a book every night. Madi loves them, but does not sleep with them. I am with Madi, who wants a book jabbing into your side when you sleep. Madi and I read them, then put them away.

Doctors and more doctors

Madi got 6 teeth filled today which puts us at 1 more visit. After the dentist walked out I let out a huge sigh. The nurse happened to hear and asked me if I was OK. Yes of course, just a lot of stress. I have missed work about once a week since Christmas. Lots and lots of doctors appointments. Madi's teeth and her pink eye. Payton's pediatric doctor, urologist and Kidney doctor. Every doctor then wants a follow up appointment. I feel bad about missing so much work and having to see my girls go through so much pain. Well, nothing is too serious. The urologist said Payton does not know how to control her bladder. You know the gotta go commercials?! Payton is now on the Detrol medicine. It is kind of cool because it comes in a patch you put on your body. We are on our way to get an x-ray of her tummy. They think that her uterus is surrounded by poop and that could be causing the blood, but the protein is still a mystery that the kidney specialist has to figure out. So as I finish this post, I sigh again as we are off to the radiologist.

Girls!

This weekend has been good, but hard! Payton has not been peeing and there has been traces of blood when she does. The allergy season is upon us. The outside is covered in pollen and I have had a huge sinus/ migraine headache. I did not know I could have both, but I do. The good part about this weekend was a girls "Twilight" party. We had a small group of women come over and we sat up until really late eating and watching the movie. The late night made me very tired and dizzy today, not to mention the headaches. But the good part of the day was the 3 hour nap that the girls and I got. The girls are currently wrestling, hence the picture. It makes me smile because I know they love each other so much. They get along very well! (by the way, Payton may be small, but she is mighty. She is creaming her sister and Madi is screaming "Get off," while she/ Madi is laughing hysterically) Sorry for the random thoughts!

Payton

Here is a little update about Payton. She is now deathly scared of the doctor. Which I am disappointed because I don't want her to be afraid. She has had her blood drawn, an ultra sound done and seen a kidney doctor all in the last 2 weeks. Here is what we know at the present time. Her blood work came back normal which means her kidneys are functioning. The kidneys look fine. They are the correct size and shape; with nothing inside (Masses, lumps, stones, etc.). The blood and protein appeared in her urine twice this month, but not this morning. When we were at the kidney doctor her urine was clean. The doctor thinks that she could have, and is now being tested for reflux. This is were she does not pee all of the urine in her bladder. It comes down out of the bladder, but then does not all come out, so the last of it goes back up into the bladder which results in it collecting the blood and protein. She has to pee on a strip two times a day for two weeks. I am then suppose to read the colors, on the strip, to decide if there is blood and protein and record at what times of the day there is blood and protein and when there is not. He is also checking her for calcium in her urine. Not quite sure why?! I know he explained but it did not stick. The girls were being kind of rowdy by that point. The first thing Payton asked the doctor was if he had poky things in his office. He looked puzzled. I explained she meant needles. He said no and she calmed down until he listened to her blood pressure. You would have thought she was dying. She was screaming "get it off, get it off!" It was just a blood pressure cuff! She is just fed up with all doctor items. Hopefully things will go smoothly, so we can find out what is wrong and move on with our lives. Hopefully Payton can gradually learn that doctors are not bad people. I will update in about two weeks what we find out.

Thankful Heart

It has been one of those Sundays were life is good. I feel so full of thanks for all that I have. The girls got up on time (of course so did I) so we were able to go to choir practice and get there on time. We are singing Easter/ Atonement songs and the message was so strong. I felt good just belting out my soprano part. Of course it probably did not sound as good to others sitting around me. But who cares, the spirit was strong. Then Payton went to her class, with a little bit of encouragement. I was finally set apart for my calling a couple weeks ago. I know that it helped me today. I did not come home exhausted and I was better equipped to handle ten 8-11 year olds.

I am thankful for my girls and the joy they bring me. They said they are thankful for their new Webkinz. (Madi's is a seahorse and Payton's a brown dog)
I am also thankful for my wonderful husband. He does so much for our family. He is so good to the girls. I cannot imagine life without him. (Notice the mustache. Some nonsense about military commodery. Oh my, that's all I have to say.)

The girls asked if they could sing a song for grandma. Of course they couldn't agree on a song so I chose I am a Child of God. Payton was not happy about it, but went along with it. We hope grandma and all others can enjoy.

Spring is Coming

Here is why I love Spring time in Vegas! Perfect 65-70 degree weather. Perfect enough to fly this cute ladybug kite Madi got for her birthday!

Payton

So it has been one of those days. You know the kind. The ones were you are gone all day (7 AM to 7 PM). Not to mention getting woken up at the crack of dawn to find a little girl who has turned on some of the lights upstairs and she is sitting on the floor surrounded by pee. Okay we all have similar days. Payton has been battling "bladder infections" for the past month. She is in pain and is having a hard time controlling her potty. The doctor called yesterday and asked us to come in today. So I left work a few minutes early and brought her to the doctor. The good news is Payton does not have a bladder infection! The bad news is that there is something wrong with her and they don't know what it is. They do know that there is blood and protein in her urine. This is not good considering your body needs the blood and protein. My very strong willed daughter easily gave into us getting urine samples twice in the last month. She had more blood and protein in her urine the second time, then the first. So the doctor is sending us to a Kidney Specialist and Payton had to get her blood drawn this after noon. My little Ms. cried, but did a great job as they took 4 or 5 vials of blood (concentrating on holding her arm, not quite sure the exact number). It drained slowly because she jerked and it slowed the blood flow. She totally deserved ice cream after that. She will not bend her arm where they took the blood. She keeps it straight out from her body. Oh well, maybe tomorrow she will forget and bend her arm. :) The doctor said it could be as bad as Kidney Disease or as little as nothing. We will see; hopefully sooner rather then later. I know it is something. Payton would not just loose control of her bladder for no reason. So we will see. Hopefully it will be something minor.

Happy Birthday Madison

On Friday night we told Madi that she needed to go to sleep because her party was in the morning. When she woke up she was disappointed that it did not start right away, but we kept her busy until the time. As we sat at the breakfast table, as a family :), we were having a conversation about parties. Payton was talking about how her birthday is near Christmas (her time line is just a few months off). Then Madi said that my party was next. I told her that I probably would not be having a party. She asked why. I told her it would only happen if she threw me a party. She said, "mom I can't throw a party." I asked why not, thinking she might say she was to little and had no money. But yet again she made me laugh out loud when she said, "because if I throw a party it will fall and break and you will be sad." I told her that she was very correct. So here are a few pictures of the party that was thrown at our house, but thankfully did not break.
Madison decided on a Star Wars theme. I was shown a wonderful website with Star Wars party ideas. They had this light saber cake on the website, so we made the cupcakes with strawberry cake (Madi's favorite).
Madi dressed up as Princess Leia.
We started off the party by eating pizza.
Then we played "pin the belt on Darth Vader."
Greg helped guide the kids with blindfolds. We also played Star Wars bingo and had an asteroid hunt.
We ended the day by hitting the Darth Vader pinata.
The pinata would not break. Greg ended up hitting it a few times to get the candy to come out. The kids had never had a pinata before. You could tell. They just sat there and stared at the candy and toys falling. We had to encourage them to run after the candy and even then they just grabbed a few things. It was funny.

Overall I think the party went well. Here we are singing to Madi.


I cannot believe that she is 5 years old. Time goes by so fast! I love this age. I loved Madi as a baby, but life is so much more fun. Even with her attitude and opinions, I love the communication aspect of children. I hope that doesn't sound weird, but I love that I can ask Madi how her day went and she can recall what she did and tell me how she feels. I love you Madison. I hope you have a great year!