Something Magical (Ultrasound)

Last week I could hardly wait until Thursday! It was ultrasound day! I had so long awaited that day to tell me some good news!

I'd heard other hyperemesis moms say that knowing the gender of their baby helped them to fight their daily battles with feeling sick--having a better image of their baby they were fighting for. My nausea had been picking up a notch again and I was looking forward to knowing too.

From the time just after we had Nathan, I hoped so dearly we would have a girl. The hopes of having a girl got me through some incredibly hard moments in the last few months. I wanted to have at least one of each. So I was convinced this baby was a girl. We were set on a girl's name, and really struggled with boys names. We shrugged it off thinking it wouldn't matter anyhow. I was excited to have my proof that day!

The tech started the ultrasound and started at the head and worked her way down, checking the brain, spine, heart, stomach, etc.

Then she went to check the gender. She paused the screen and said, "Do you know what you're looking at?"

Yes, I had seen it a few times before. It was a boy! Definitely. I choked out a, "Yeah."

We sat there in silence for a bit (Garrison was silent because he's 100% left brained and had NO idea what the blobs were on the screen at 90% of the time), while the shock sunk in!

The whole drive home I was still in shock. I wouldn't say that I was disappointed. I was being given a healthy baby, I wouldn't trade him now even if I got backsies! The first reactions from close family were, "You'll have to try again for a girl!" (Now those were the words that nearly had me in tears.)

I had to laugh. If there was anyone in the family with gender disappointment, it was Gabe! All his friends have a baby sister right now, and he REALLY wanted one too! He's accepting it now. He tells me he likes his baby, which is a brother. He's also convinced his name needs to be Thomas. Mom and Dad aren't really sold, but it'll at least be thrown into the consideration pool, right?

Anyhow, looking at these pictures the rest of the day and hanging them on the fridge did something magical.

I fell madly in love!

Easter

Happy late Easter!

We had a nice Easter. We didn't do very much in the way of eggs, chicks, bunnies, etc. all week. And with 9 am church, we didn't really feel like trying to do anything first thing in Sunday morning .We managed to put together a quick egg hunt on Saturday night.

The kids caught on super fast. It seems like in years past we've had to show them HOW to gather the eggs and open the eggs when everything is done. They really enjoyed it!

We didn't eat too much sugar until after Easter was done and we finally opened our spoils. I'm still in the mindset if I eat it quickly, I won't have to stare at it for weeks, right??

We had very simple baskets for the kids. The boys all got matching Easter ties. Other than that they got a coloring book and a couple $2-3 dollar toys. Something about the simplicity makes me happy. I love to spoil them, but it's become an art to do so gracefully, ha!

We had hardly any talk of the Easter Bunny here. The boys watched us purchase their Easter gifts. I believe Santa is fun for the sake of Saint Nick's legacy, but I don't get the Easter Bunny to be honest. They were just excited to spend time together as a family outside over the weekend.

Throughout the week I explained the reason we celebrate Easter to the kids. To me, it's definitely *the* most important reason for a holiday. On Sunday Gabe was very excited to tell us about the stone in front of the tomb. Something about the stone was fascinating to him!

I'm glad to have celebrated this long-awaited holiday this year! I love that the Savior broke the bands of death that we all could have so much more to look forward to after this life. I have seen his hand in our lives so much in these last few years, and I have NO idea what I would do without him! What a wonderful occasion to remember all that Christ has done for us!

Incentive

In our house we have "Good Job!" charts. The boys earn stickers each time they remember to mind their manners or make good choices.

The boys got to choose a small toy from a nearby store for FHE a few weeks ago. Nate chose a little magnetic fishing set. He earned his incentive first and had a little too much fun playing with it that afternoon...

 You think I have enough duct tape on a toy that's only been out of the package for ten minutes??

General Conference

We have loved watching general conference this weekend! I love how spiritually full I feel afterwards! And also inspired enough to know exactly where I need to improve in my life.

A few thoughts that have stuck with me:

-One talk (forgive me, I forget which one it was on Saturday morning) referred to a story of a women in her trailer home during a tornado. She had not known it, but her entire home was lifted up and moved on top of a neighbor's house during the storm. The analogy stuck with me that we often don't feel ourselves drifting in directions until we've gone further than we guessed. Good or bad.

-Elder Holland hit a nail on the head that's been itching at me. Often our religion has been called out as "not Christlike" when discussing controversial topics. We very much can still be Christlike and defend our beliefs. It won't always be the popular route, but it is worth it.

-I especially loved Sister Steven's statement about the gospel not being weight, but wings. I've seen members leave because they feel too constricted in the church. But if we experiment with the words of the prophets, we find liberation from consequences of bad choices. We become free.

-Elder Nelson spoke on the simple principle of truth. "Truth is truth." No matter how few or how many are right or wrong, truth is not swayed by popular vote.

-Elder Scott reminded us to keep sharing the gospel simple. The gospel is simple. Our basic testimony of Jesus Christ is the center, and all other aspects are just appendages.

The truth is it's hard to pick just a few. If the transcripts were up I'd remember how each statement touched me in some way. It was amazing to hear so many great messages!

Adenovirus

For all this time I spent looking forward to spring, we're still waiting for it to stop feeling like winter inside!

Four nights ago I checked on the boys one last time before I went to bed, as we always do. Nate felt slightly warm to the touch. I decided I'd wait and see how he felt in the morning. The next morning he was not himself. One hundred two degrees would do it. Que the medicine cabinet. 

By afternoon he fell asleep in my arms with me. He woke me up when his body started trembling. He was burning up. When I took his temperature this time it was 103.5 (and going to be rising from the shivering).

After a quick does of meds, I took him over to KidsCare to rule out any infections he could start antibiotics for sooner than later, but everything looked good. Verdict: viral. 

So Nate stayed on acetometaphin/ibproufin rotations every 4-6 around the clock for the next couple days. He was a consistent 102-103 without medicine in his system. 

He was starting into his third day down toward 100-101, so I thought he was going to slowly improve. Day four was back at 103, so he went in again, as directed if his high fever persisted after three days. I didn't expect any real change in verdict. But this time the doc admitted he probably had a nasty strain off adenovirus going around, lasting 5-7 days. Which was lovely to hear, since on our way out the door Gabes's only slightly elevated temps finally jumped up into a 102 fever too. He'll be a few days behind in the cycle along with Garrison too.

It'll be weeks like this that we understand why we have our Disney/Pixar movie collection. 

CHRIS BOTTI

My title gets all caps because IT WAS THAT EXCITING!!

I surprised my dad for his birthday way back in August with Chris Botti concert tickets! As a little girl he took me on daddy-daughter dates to live jazz artist performances at the book store. I loved every minute of it! He got me hooked on several jazz artists over the years--Chris Botti, Brian Culbertson, Mindi Abair, Paul Brown, Dave Koz... ehhhh you get the drift.

We went downtown to Abravanel Hall. I'd actually never been to Abravanel before--let alone a concert before! I was thrilled, but not surprised, to see a nice looking group for the audience, even some kids, but mostly older adults.

Dad and I really enjoyed the concert! It was LOUUUD (Dad said we might have been right by a speaker). And if you know anything about trumpet players, they love to show off their skills by playing MAD high notes almost only dogs can hear. (The headache the day after was unreal, but worth it.) He played his own songs, and ones from Stevie Wonder and Sting, and ended with "Let's Stay Together."

I don't know why I'm always so surprised when these famous people are down to earth, so funny, and very engaging. You know it was good when it's all you can think about for days after though!