What To Do With These Kids?

We have had somewhat of a busy week. Tuesday Josh had a check up appointment with his Neurologist and everything with him is looking great. The new medication they put Josh on in March does make him quite moody, but it has kept his seizures at bay in conjunction with his other medication Topamax. The neurologist talked to me about maybe switching medications since the Keppra makes him moody, but I don't even want to mess with that at all. If it's not broke don't fix it!! If anything the moodiness will prepare me for the teenage years! While he was there he also got his flu shot which he was not happy about, but I am glad that's done with!! He was somewhat relieved he got the shot in his arm because he hates getting the shot in his bum cheek.

I got a call a few days ago from Noah's pediatrician saying that Noah would benefit from the Synagis shot--which is the vaccine for RSV. It is the same thing Daniel got for his first two years during the cold and flu season since he was a preemie and on oxygen, too. It is a shot that is given every 28 days for about 6 months to help prevent RSV or at least lesson the severity of it if they get it. Because of it's expense it is only given to preemies or those who are high risk for severe complications from RSV. Noah unfortunately falls into this category because he was preemie, on oxygen for a few months, had a pneumothorax (hole in the lung) and we have children going to school who seem to bring home any and every communicable disease known to man. I would be totally on board with the Synagis shot except for it costs $1700 every 28 days. Luckily our insurance covers all but 30%, but still our portion at $500 every 28 days is quite a bit. We are still deciding the pros and cons about the whole deal. Total it would run about $3000 for the whole season, but a hospital stay for us would only cost $500 per admission. What a gamble...and what to do? Kids are so expensive!! All I can say is Merry Christmas Noah! I wonder if they would let me gift wrap the syringe ;). Good thing I love this boy!!

As always Sarah has been very busy getting into mischief. Yesterday after I got her dressed she decided to go upstairs and into my bathroom. I caught her a few minutes later drenched in water. She had crawled up into my sink and stopped it up. Then she turned on the water--maybe she wanted a bath?? Then she started applying my makeup while taking her "bath". That was not a fun mess to clean up. This morning she had already showered at 7:30 am because she came into my room all wet and sticky. I didn't even want to find out what she had gotten into so I just threw her into the shower. Afterward she found a green marker and went to town on her legs and tummy. Oh what to do with this girl!!I got a permission form from Matthew's school last week to sign. They were having the local technical school come over and practice haircuts on the school kids. As always I am up for a free haircut so Matthew came home Wednesday with his literal and figurative cool new do: So everyone would look the same I ended up cutting Daniel's, Josh's and Aaron's hair as well. I am so excited not to have to comb the boys' hair for the next two months--YAY!!

It is fall break this week--which means no school on Thursday and Friday. I had all these fun activities in mind to do with the kids, but I have gotten sick with a cold. Most the time a cold is no big deal you just keep going, but this one has thrown me for a loop. I have been feeling pretty rough. Aaron, being the sweet guy he is, stayed home Wednesday to help me out. He had to go to work on Thursday, but came home with some flowers, candy and a book to try and make me feel better. Hopefully it will pass soon so I can start feeling human again!!

Beginning of Fall--The Season of Brown

Soccer is now over--and I am secretly glad for that. Maybe Daniel was too because he came home after a game saying he had a headache on his legs :). A soccer game every day of the week was getting old, but it was fun to watch them play when they got the chance. Anyway, yesterday was Fast Sunday. Matthew and Daniel decided to bear their testimonies. I was surprised about how not afraid they were when getting up to the pulpit. They did great. This was the first time Daniel did this and he started out like this, "I know my testimony...." instead of I'd like to bear my testimony. We almost didn't make it through Sacrament meeting because it seemed all of our kids woke up on the wrong side of the bed and were all having a bad case of the whines. Luckily, by the trial of our faith and with much patience we endured until the end--of sacrament meeting that is :).

Saturday Daniel and Matthew both had to get their blood drawn. Aaron was the brave soul who took them to get it done. This was the second time for Matthew because his first blood draw a few weeks ago came back abnormal. The doctor wanted another draw to get a second look at things. Matthew was not too happy about it, but went along because we promised an ice cream cone afterward. Daniel got the promise of french fries instead of the ice cream cone since he can't eat ice cream. Daniel got his blood drawn to check for allergies and we are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that he has outgrown something this time. We should get the results back sometime this week.

For Daniel's birthday one of his friends couldn't make it to his party so they gave him his present a few days later. He opened it to find a whoopee cushion among some other things. He knew exactly what it was. As soon as he got it out of the bag he excitedly said, "Oh, It's Farts!" I will never get the fascination boys have with bodily functions, but it must be instinctive because all of them have it. The next few days that's all everyone got to listen to was all the boys playing with the whoopee cushion until it finally did one explosion too many and got a huge hole in it. I can tell you I wasn't as upset about it as Daniel.

I can tell you we will be switching around beds sooner than later. The other day I told Sarah it was time to go to bed. She went upstairs and was able to climb into her crib unassisted without even falling. Hmmm maybe she needs to get moved to a big girl bed?! That means since she can get into her crib she will be trying to get out of her crib next and that is a pretty scary thought. I have been dreading the day just because there is no containment for them in the bed like there is in the crib. We have tried putting her in a bed before and she just sneaks out and gets into mischief because she knows how to open the door to her room and escape. Usually she will head to Josh's room and find his little treasure box. It is a little box where he keeps all of his cherished possessions along with some candy. She empties the treasure chest and scatter his treasures all around while eating all his candy. As you can imagine this does not make Josh very happy at all. I will have to warn Josh he will need to hide his treasure box a little better because Sarah will be on the loose. She is quite the climber! While we were looking at the toys at the store today Sarah snuck away and crawled up on to a bike without any assistance. At least she didn't break her leg like Daniel did once when he tried the same thing, but only pulled the bike over on top of himself.

As for Noah his antibiotic is not agreeing with him. It has upset his tummy the few days he has been on it. We are on blowout #3 just today--poor guy--and we are only a little more than half way through the antibiotic. Only a less than a week left and we are surely counting down!!

Princess with Pee Hands, Safety First and First Flu Shot Ever

I found Sarah the cutest costume. I was going to make her costume this year, but as time went on I guess my motivation to do that disappeared. I ended up getting one two days ago. I tried it on her yesterday morning to see how it would fit. She loved it so I let her wear it for a few minutes. That was a huge mistake! As soon as my attention was turned elsewhere she went up and got in my bathroom. I heard her up there so I hurried up there to get her before she got into my makeup. When I got up there I was just in time. She was sitting in my sink reaching for the makeup. I grabbed her and lifted her out and that's when I noticed her sleeve was dripping wet. She loves playing in the faucet, but I looked and the sink was strangely dry. Quickly thinking the only other place in the bathroom with water she could reach.....yup, the toilet. Eeewwww! I walked over to the toilet to find water splashed all over the place. It wasn't until I looked inside the bowl I was even more horrified to find it had been used and not flushed. Daniel, who is notorious for not flushing toilets, had used my bathroom because Matthew was using theirs and he really had to go right then and couldn't wait for Matthew to finish. So Sarah's new costume got truly broken in. I had to wash it hoping it wouldn't fall apart. It seems to have survived the washing, but she won't be wearing it again until Halloween for sure!!

Last night our city had it's safety fair. We went for fun. We got to see them light two different mock apartments on fire. One apartment had overhead sprinklers in it and the other didn't. There is legislation trying to go through to require all newly constructed homes to put in overhead sprinklers like businesses need to. The demonstration of the overhead sprinklers vs. no overhead sprinklers showed how beneficial the sprinklers were in preventing the fire's spread and destruction.

They also had a mock fire they let the kids practice putting out with a fire extinguisher. Here's Josh's turn:

Daniel's:

Matthew's:

They also had the ambulance out where you could see it up close and go inside it. We had to stop because our city only has two ambulances so we had a 50/50 chance of it actually being the original one that came to our house right after Sarah was accidentally born at home. Sarah got to look around at the inside of her first "car" ride and sit on the gurney that we both rode to the hospital on. She and the boys got to look around inside the ambulance under happier circumstances.

Today Daniel had an allergist appointment. He is doing great. We do have to take him and get his blood drawn to see how allergic he is to everything still. His asthma is well controlled right now which is wonderful. The doctor decided the benefits of a flu shot outweighed the cons even though Daniel is still allergic to eggs. She decided to try out the flu shot on Daniel under close observation. To do that they had to do a skin prick test on his back with a diluted flu serum to see what kind of reaction he would have. Once that looked ok, then they tried a small injection under his skin at his wrist with the diluted serum to see what kind of reaction he would have. He did have a huge hive develop on his wrist, but the doctor decided to chance it and see what would happen if she gave him half the flu dose in his thigh. He did wonderfully and did not have any type of reaction. They came in 30 minutes later and gave him the second half of the shot in his other thigh. Daniel was extremely unhappy about that and I can't say that I blame him. I HATE shots. After two and a half hours of testing and observation at the doctor's office Daniel got his very first flu shot and tolerated it great. Unfortunately, we have to go back in a month to get the second booster for the flu shot. Daniel doesn't know about that yet, but I think it's better that way. He still has to get his blood drawn first and I think that will be traumatic enough! Here's Daniel getting the skin prick test on his back with the diluted flu serum:

The marks show where they scratched it into his skin so they can monitor the areas.For Halloween my Mom gave us a singing skull with a motion sensor. The kids have LOVED playing with it. Once they get it to turn on they like to dance to the music--especially Sarah. Here's a video of her and Daniel jamming out to the music:

Noah's 6 Months Old!!

It does not seem like it has been 6 months since all the craziness surrounding Noah's birth, but it has been. He is now 6 months old and is a very laid back, and a very smiley and happy baby--something I needed for baby #5!! I took him to his well child appointment yesterday and he is doing well considering his pretty rough start. He is 14 pounds 11 ounces (3rd percentile), 25.5 inches long (10th percentile), and 43 cm head circumference (30th percentile). He is somewhat delayed in everything, but that's to be expected with his prematurity. He looked perfect until they looked in his ear and found he had an ear infection--poor guy! Noah has been a little more fussy the last few days, but not too much. I just thought he might be teething, but he really had an ear infection. He got started on an antibiotic yesterday and that's NOT easy to give to him. He absolutely refuses a bottle or nipple in any form (except mine) so I just have to stick the syringe in his mouth and give little squirts until he gets the whole thing in. I have to do it in little squirts because anything more than that he spits out. It will be a long 10 days!! Anyway, he is an avid fist sucker that eventually turns to his pointer finger. Hey, at least it's not his thumb!! Even though he's only been with us 6 months it seems like he has been with us forever because he just belongs--if that makes any sense. His brothers and sister absolutely love him. They love to give him kisses and hugs all the time. If we ever try to go anywhere Sarah tries to pull him out of the exersaucer because she is afraid we will leave him. In other things Sarah got some new girly Halloween pajamas. I tried to get her to smile so I could take a picture of her wearing them and she wouldn't. That's when Daniel stepped in to "help" her smile. She wasn't too happy about that.Yesterday morning the kids got themselves dressed. As you can see by Matthew's no pants, Daniel's long sleeve polo shirt with shorts, and Josh's floody black church pants with the blue and green polo shirt the boys still need some assistance in the dressing department. For Daniel's birthday he got a Pillow Pet. He loves that thing. The advertisers have made an impression on Daniel. He has the commercial from TV memorized for it and has sung it so many times that Sarah (who does not talk very much) is starting to sing it. Here's Daniel singing the commercial:

Corn Maze and Cabin

Every year we try and do a corn maze with our family. We decided to go this Friday since I had some good coupons. Grandma T came with us--Grandpa T couldn't come because he had to work. Anyway after the corn maze we were going to head up to the cabin for the weekend. As I was packing everything up it got awfully quiet. I went looking for Sarah and found her in my bathroom sitting in the sink putting on my makeup. What the picture doesn't show is how she stopped up the sink and then turn on the faucet. Nice. She is fast and quiet when it comes to getting into mischief!! Anyway when we got to the corn maze they have a lot of other activities to do as well. They had a mini cow train ride the kids wanted to go on.

Sarah had to ride with an adult, but the adult had to get in the car first before Sarah could sit on Aaron's lap. However, when she saw Aaron crawl into the car she thought she wasn't going on the ride and started screaming. She suddenly stopped when Aaron grabbed her and put her in his lap, however you can still see her red face and tear streaked cheeks.
They also had some air trampolines the kids loved jumping on. They had one for big kids and one for little kids. Josh and Matthew went on the big one. Daniel went back and forth between the kid one and the big one. I took Sarah on the little one. I thought she would love it--I was wrong. She just clinged to my leg until I got her off the trampoline.

They also had a big slide area where you could crawl up a rope net to get to go down a variety of slides. The boys took off and Sarah saw they were going without her. She threw off her shoes and headed after them. The boys took care of her and went down the slides with her.

They also helped her climb up the rope net ladder.

We then headed over the actual corn maze. Sarah was in the back pack on Aaron's back and I had Noah in the front pack. We let the boys have turns being our fearless leaders, but finally we had to take over before we got hopelessly lost. The boys posed for this picture of them in the rule breaker stocks.

They also had pig races there. Josh was picked out of the crowd to assist with them. He was so excited. His pig lost the race, but he was still happy to participate.

They also had a hay ride we went on around Thanksgiving Point. We all crawled on. Josh being the friendly person he was sat next to another boy about his age. He started off their conversation like this, "So, did you see me on TV?" Surprisingly enough the little had not seen Josh on TV for the minute he was on. Josh is letting his stardom go to his head!!

They had a big pile of hay you could climb on. The boys got to the top and Sarah could not be left out so she ran over and started climbing up and got to the top with almost no help. She has really honed her climbing skills at home. They have finally paid off for her.

They had roping areas where you could sit on a mock horse with a saddle and try to lasso the cow horns. Daniel tried sitting on the saddle, but gave up and walked over to the horns and just threw the lasso around them--it's a lot easier that way.

They also had tether ball courts set up. We had fun playing with them.

They have the big rocking chair you can sit on. We have sat on it every year and this year was no different.

They also had a princess dress up area. Sarah was excited to see the princess and stood next to her.

They had a horse and carriage set up. The boys were Princess Sarah's drivers.

Sarah got to dress up and see herself in the mirror.

Josh didn't want Sarah to have all the fun so he dressed up as her Page.

After the corn maze we headed up to the cabin. We had lots of four wheeler rides, roasted marshmallows, blew bubbles and listened to Conference all weekend. We had lots of fun.

Daniel's 5 Years Old

Wow, Daniel turned 5 years old yesterday. I can't believe how fast these last five years have gone!! To celebrate we had a friend birthday party for him at the park. There were 15 kids around to celebrate--yes it was pretty crazy. We played pin the tail on the donkey, red rover, duck duck goose, and had some potato sack races. We then decorated cone cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Daniel. He loved it. Here's some pictures from his party: We decorated the pavilion with streamers and balloons:Here's everyone waiting their turn at pin the tail on the donkey:Here's everyone decorating their cupcake cones:Here's Daniel blowing out his pretend candle--we accidentally left the lighter and matches at home.Daniel wanted a Halloween cake so I tried my best:Of course I had lots of help in decorating the cake. Sarah and Daniel were watching me decorate it. I turned my back for a minute and when I turned back around Sarah had decided to take a taste of the frosting by sticking her whole face on the top of the freshly frosted cake. Then when I was finished and started cleaning up, she grabbed the frosting container and a spoon and started shoveling it in to her mouth and in to Daniel's before I took it away. That little girl is trouble!!Earlier that day he got to go to pre school where he got to be the special boy for the day and share a special snack. He ended up bringing little packs of oreos because believe it or not they don't contain any eggs, nuts, or milk/dairy. Looking at the ingredients they don't even seem to have anything natural in them for him to be allergic too. Anyway, at school he got to wear a birthday badge and birthday crown and he loved that, too. Here's his birthday interview:

Favorite color: Orange

Favorite Food: Chicken Nuggets, meatballs

Favorite TV show: Tom and Jerry

Favorite Book: Any

Favorite Activities: Play Wii, ride scooter, watch TV, playing with friends

Favorite Drink: Orange Juice and Soy milk

Favorite Candy: Suckers, skittles, starbursts

What he wants to be when he grows up: A golfer (where he got this I have no idea!)

Favorite Game: Lego Batman on the Wii

Favorite Toy: Bouncy Ball

He had a rough start as a preemie with a two week stay in the NICU and at home oxygen with apnea monitor for about 6 weeks. He went on to have a broken femur, broken collar bone, multiple trips to the emergency room for anaphylaxis and asthma, and a week long hospital stay in the hospital for RSV-- he still remains a happy, energetic, and very charismatic child who brings a lot of comic relief in our family. We love him and are very thankful he is part of our family!! Happy 5th birthday, dude!!