FOUR kids?

Warning this post contains a BIG complaint. If you aren't in the mood for hearing me complain about the general public please don't read on.

Some of you have more kids than I do, some of you have less. But I guess I didn't consider 4 children a lot of kids. Obviously I'm wrong. It seems like everytime I turn around this week someone is making a comment about how many children I have. First it was the nurse at the doctors office when I called about my wrist. "You know what is causing you all the problems with your wrist is hauling all those kids around." Then it was the lady today at the swim meet that made a comment about me having too many kids when after the swim meet was over Phillip was having a meltdown and Maija needed attention. She said something to the extent of "Can't that lady control her kids, I know 4 is a lot." What the heck?!?!?!?!?
I LOVE my kids and if we couldn't provide for them we wouldn't have them! I usually find it humerous that people stare in wonder when we go somewhere, however at Wal-Mart last week some young teenager stared until she was well past us. Which was just plain annoying.
We have gone through a whole lot to get the kids we have, and I don't think I should have to answer to every Tom, Dick and Harriet about why I have 4 kids. (Of course just when they make a comment about 4 I usually like to insert the fact that Stuart wants 12 kids...which we won't be having if he likes me because with 12 kids I'm sure I'd be wearing a straight jacket).
I understand that some people want a smaller family. I am one of two children and Stuart is one of ten. The only difference I see is that he deals with large groups a whole lot better than I do. But some people...like us want more than one or two.
Oh, and in case you want my opinion...it is my blog after all....it is INCREDIBLY rude to ask a person when they are going to "pop out another one".

Okay, I'll get off my little soap box and let you all go about your reproductive perogatives. (I'm laughing right now, I really crack myself up sometimes.)

The good, bad, ugly and the sick

Well, there really isn't any ugly in this post but I thought it sounded good so I put it up there anyway.

Yesterday Phillip had an appointment in Salt Lake City at Shriners Hospital for his intoeing (see I already learned a new term for being pigeon toed). We left at 6:15 as we had to turn around and get my mom's cell phone. The roads were pretty bad and come to find out we managed to pass all of the road closed signs right before they closed them...I'm not sure if that's luck or stupidity on our part.

So, what should have taken us 4 1/2 hours took us 6 1/2 hours. We made it 10 minutes before his appointment. The doctor looked at Phillip walk and moved his legs and hips and then told me that his intoeing is caused by his femur being twisted which means that it will take longer for it to correct itself (possibly until the age of 10) and if it doesn't there is a fairly simple surgery to correct the problem. Then she told me we wouldn't have to come back unless it got worse. I was thinking "Wow, we drove that long to be told that we don't have to come back..." Then she decided that because there are some genetic hip problems on the Mobley side that she would have an x-ray done just to be sure it didn't stem from the hip. So, off we go to X-ray. Phillip did AWESOME! He didn't even say a word to the tech, but he didn't move either. After the x-ray we went back to the room to wait and the doctor comes down and says "What kind of hip problems are there exactly?" So I described what I recalled the problem being and asked if there was a problem. She replied "Not that one." My heart sank into my stomach. That meant there was a problem. She sent us back to do 2 more x-rays. This time he had to lay on a table with his legs straight and then in the "frog" position where you put the soles of your feet together.
As it turns out there is a problem that has to be monitored most likely for the next few years. He has what is called Perthes Disease. To make a long explanation short, it's where the blood supply somehow isn't what it should be to the ball portion of the hip (the part that is connected to the femur) and it causes deterioration of the bone. It is a very rare disease and even more rare that it's found in a 2 year-old. The good news is that the earlier a child has is the more likely they are to recover better. The bad news, when (hopefully it does regenterate) the bone regenerates and fixes itself it could come back bigger than it's supposed to be or smaller than it's supposed to be which would then require a surgery to change the shape of the socket. The other bad news is that if it doesn't fix itself he'll have to have surgery. It is more common in males than females, and can be genetic.
This is NOT his x-ray, however it shows what the difference is. As you can see on the left hand side of the x-ray the "ball" at the top of the femure is more oval shaped. The "ball" at the top of the right hand side is more flat, which is where the problem is and you can see that it has deteriorated.
I'm glad that we went to Shriners and they diagnosed this problem. I'm also VERY grateful after seeing many other children who are being treated there that my children a relatively healthy and whole. Phillip may have this disease, but in the long run he will most likely be okay.
It's a little scary to have gone in for one thing and come out diagnosed with something that is more serious. I was prepared for special shoes and possibly surgery. However after being told that they just don't know how his treatment is going to proceed because they don't know what the ball is going to do, I'm not sure what to prepare for.

Now I'll get to the "sick" part of my title. We've all been ill. It started almost 2 weeks ago with Phillip (gotta love a 2 year old with a fever and a nasty cough!). Then it hit KatieJo and Samuel. Now, it's poor little Maija. She hasn't been herself the past few days, and last night was particularly bad. So, after being stranded in Coalville, UT due to I-80 being closed on Thursday night we drove home and took her to the Urgent Care where she received a shot of antibiotics and a breathing treatment and we were sent home with more antibiotics and breathing treatments. It was a little scary because several times before we took her in her hands were blue and around her lips were turning blue. I'm SOOOOO grateful for modern medicine!

Oh, did I mention Stuart's got it too? I think we're having a home bound weekend!!!

Strollers

I am in the market for a double stroller. My only problem seems to be that the strollers I have found online seem to be cheap....that is until I ran into the Bumbleride Indie Twin. I think it may be love (mind you that's at first sight as I have yet to test drive the stroller). I've done quite a bit of research and so far this looks like one of the best on the market. As I was looking online for the stroller I came across the this blog:

They are giving away a Bumbleride. All you have to do is go to the blog and tell what your favorite bumbleride is and why. (This may require a little research on your part as you have to know which one you like. You may have to go to the Bumbleride website.)

I am seriously considering getting one of these even though "they don't put your kids in the seats and buckle them up" (That was one of the questions Stuart had when I told him the price...the other comment is not quite appropriate.)

They are a little expensive...okay a lot expensive. However, Phillip LOVES strollers and I need something that will handle the sidewalks or lack there of here. The city does not maintain sidewalks in our area and so most are HORRIBLE!. I also need something for the grocery store since we as a family like to go and this is better than 2 grocery carts! It is also one of the lightest and most compact of the double strollers, mind you it's still big because it is a double stroller after all.

Anyway, hope everyone is having a WONDERFUL week!

Our littlest man

On Thursday my mom and I are taking Phillip to Salt Lake to be seen at Shriner's Hospital for his pigeon toes. I'm a little worried about what his treatment will be. There are a lot of options as far as I can tell off the internet; casts, braces, special shoes, surgery. I think the last one bothers me the most. I don't want to see him go through any more pain than necessary.

He's been sick this last week and has been miserable and I just keep imagining what he's going to be like if he has to have casts or surgery. Our niece Ellen had to have a spica cast a couple years ago due to a hip condition. She also had to have surgery. I hate to say it, but Phillip doesn't have the patience that Ellen has. If he gets stuck doing something he gets upset. I know he needs to be treated, but I don't think any mother ever wants to be put into the situation where their child could have to go through pain.

Stuart and I were talking about that this morning and somehow my eyes "started leaking". I'd say crying, but it wasn't full on crying so I won't classify it that way. Somedays I wish I had the emotions of a man because Stuart is very matter of fact about the whole thing. He knows Phillip could have to go through a lot, but at the same time it may be an easy treatment.

I'm praying for the easy treatment! Special shoes may not go with our plan to give him the sandals we bought for his easter present, but that I can get over!!

Please keep us in your prayers this week. We appreciate it!

I LOVE books!

I am an avid reader. When I was younger I had a book drawer and rather than ground me when I didn't do my chores or got in trouble my mom would take away my book drawer. However because I have small children I tend to pick books that are VERY quick reads because I will stay up well in to the night to read a book. I do love a good Romance though, and if that romance takes place in Scotland, Ireland or England in Medieval times all the better in my opinion. I'm not sure if I have any books that I LOVE from this genre though.

I also love books based in the Civil War Era such as the Faith of our Fathers series by Nancy Campbell Allen. I also enjoy reading the The Kingdom and the Crown series by Gerald Lund. I LOVE how those books give a different perspective than the one I already have of the events that happened. Since I seem to be listing off books to read I'll give another suggestion if you haven't read them is the books by Orson Scott Card; Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah. I wasn't sure about these 3 books to begin with, however I found that these women may have been A LOT different from the women I was taught about growing up.

My all time favorite is Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. I have ALWAYS loved this book and can read it over and over again. I love how I can get lost in the characters and live vicariously through Anne.

It's kind of funny that I list all these books (or series) that I like to read, because I have a very hard time picking out books for myself to read. I don't have issues picking out books for my children to read; however for myself I usually depend upon the recommendation of others (especially my sister-in-law Aimee and my mother-in-law...they pick out the GREATEST books!). For this reason I LOVE going to book club because I am somewhat forced to read books I may never have picked up (such as the Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King).

And since the weather seems to be warming up, what a perfect opportunity to head outside while the kids play and read a good book! Happy Reading!

AWESOME FHE

Tonight for FHE we finally had the right mix of assignments to do a lesson I've been waiting to try. Stuart had lesson, I had activity and Maija had treat. So, we started the evening out by having the kids watch us make our very favorite brownies. The kid were salavating pretty good by the time they came out of the oven. However, in the meantime we started FHE and started talking about Charity, Sacrifice and Service. Right as the brownies were done we got to the part of our lesson where we told the kids that our plan was to give our brownies to another family. Neither KatieJo or Samuel were thrilled (Phillip didn't take a nap today, so NOTHING thrilled him tonight). So, we loaded up in the car and took the brownies over to a family that has been remodeling their house and have just moved back in during the last week and a half. They were THRILLED to be on the receiving end of the brownies. We don't know them very well, and so I think they may have been shocked to receive them from us. As we got back in the van we started talking about how good it felt to give them our brownies. KatieJo really got the point of the lesson, but Samuel was still a little bummed that he didn't get the treat. The last part of the lesson was about the blessings we can recieve from serving and sacrificing. As we were discussing that last part what do you know...the van was pulling into the McDonalds parking lot. Our "blessing" was to have ice cream at McDonalds tonight. They were all excited to be at McDonalds and not only get ice cream, but get to play as well.

Even though I knew that we were going to give the brownies away, I still felt AWESOME handing them over. They are our FAVORITE, but I'm so glad we decided to do this tonight. I think I needed the reminder as well what it feels like to give of something I'd rather keep to myself. We also had the opportunity to talk with the kids about Christ and Easter. They are finally beginning to understand what he did for us! Yesterday in Church (and before & after) Samuel kept telling us that he was thinking about Christ and asked if he could watch a conference DVD. Now, I was shocked off my rocker. This is my child that I worry about the most, and to have him tell us that made me feel like maybe what we are teaching him is somehow slowly trickling into his head!

Homework

While I was at the Relief Society Birthday dinner last night Stuart was the man in charge at home. So, he was on homework duty. KatieJo had the following question and answer.

Travis has 10 nickles, 3 dimes, and 5 pennies in his piggy bank. If he reaches in and pulls out a coin, what coin is he most likely to pull out?

KatieJo's answer: "The one on top"

She was correct...technically, but thankfully Stuart didn't allow her to go to school with that answer on her homework.

Disabled blessings

This last week I had finally had enough, I was crocheting last Saturday and I realized my right hand was numb. I've been having pain and weakness in my right wrist since right before Phillip was born. At the time they attributed it to being pregnant. Then when he was about 10 months old I asked the doctor about it again and was told it hurt from overuse and to use a brace. So I got a brace. But, 2 years is a little much and I can't do a lot of things that I enjoy because of the pain. So, I gave in and went to see the doctor on Tuesday. He x-rayed it and decided that it most likely is sever tendinitis or carpel tunnel. Then I was told I needed a cortisone shot. He told me if I wanted I could go home and get up the courage to come back for the shots. Now, I'm not a big fan of needles. However, being the frugal person that I am I declined his invitation and chose to have the shots right then. As it turns out, the shots were quite painful. He kept apologizing to me, which I find a little funny because truth be told there are a few things (okay a lot of things) more painful than getting those shots. The up side to the shot was that it had a local anesthetic in it and so the pain I walked in with was gone by the time I left. However, I am stuck in a very limiting brace for at least 2 weeks. I'm not supposed to use my wrist at all, which the brace assures I obey. Unfortunately for my family that means I can't do a whole lot, and changing diapers is a pain in my posterior! But, Stuart can cook us dinner for the next little while since HS boys swimming is over and USA has a 2 week break.

But, this also means the Easter dresses I was planning on starting for my girls are put on hold...along with a whole plethora of other projects that require my dominant hand. But, on the plus side....I CAN go through things to donate and organize things that I've been meaning to get to with 1 hand. I can also play connect 4 which Samuel has challenged me to a game of! I suppose if I look close enough this could be a blessing in disguise.

I had the pleasure this weekend to attend Time Out for Women in Denver. I LOVE Michael McLean! And I've discovered that I really enjoy Mary Ellen Edmunds. What a great time I had with some great friends! And, I got to connect with some old friends I hadn't seen in a while...yea for me!

Wordful Wednesday-Books

I LOVE to read! My children love to read. When my oldest son was 3 he decided that he needed to know how to read and asked me to teach him. To my surprise it was incredibly easy (and it prompted his older sister to decide it couldn't possibly be that hard since her younger brother was doing it). I used a book called Teach your Child to read in 100 easy lessons. My sister-in-laws swear by the book so I thought I'd give it a try. Turns out it was great! It didn't take all 100 lessons, I'm not sure we even got half way through the book. But it gave us the foundation that we expanded upon with other books.

One of my favorite books to read with them (before they started reading to me) was (is with my younger children) Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss. I'm not normally a big fan of Dr. Seuss, but I absolutely LOVE this book. I love that we go through the whole book and make all of the noises. I love that my older children will make the noises right along with our two-year-old. It has to be one of the best books for children! I also really enjoy Dr. Seuss's ABC book. My husband majored in music and taught music for a few years before moving on to be a Spanish teacher; and he used this book for warmups in his classes. When we read this book it is always sung in our home. That may sound funny, but it's great to hear everybody singing a book!

Meet & Greet

I was journaling last night, which in and of itself was amazing. I keep 5 journals, sounds crazy right? Until you find out that only 1 of them is my personal journal. The other 4 belong to my children. There are so many things that they do that I won't remember more or less them actually remembering them. So, I maintain their journals a whole lot better than I do my own. However this wasn't the point of this story. So as I was journaling I realized that I hadn't posted in a while and my friend Holly who was here visiting last weekend told me she expected there to be a post about her. So here we are. I'm going to call this a MEET AND GREET post because most of you probably don't know Holly, and I am of the opinion that you should (that could be because I LOVE Holly like a sister!).

Holly lives in Curlew, WA in the middle of no where. The last time I heard she had I think 15 horses (don't quote me on that), 7 dogs, 4 goats, 3 sheep, 13 geese, 3 or 4 rabbits, a billion cats that roam around (ok not really, I think there are 4?), 2 Llamas, and fishtank full of fish...I may have missed a few animals so forgive me. She loves to go horseback riding and shows her dogs at dog shows. She also runs the dog class for her kids 4-H club.

Holly has 3 great kids, Echo who is in 4th grade, Tyler who is in 2nd grade and Nolan who is in Kindergarten. Her husband AJ in my most favorite State Trooper ever, who pulled me over last year in my opinion just so he could say he did (and to be the ornery person that I am I leaned my head out the window and informed him that I had only been going 5 over the speed limit before he could even get to my car.).

Phillip (before we moved) thought Holly was his 2nd mom; Holly still things that she is Phillip's 2nd mom. Holly and I are both grateful that while she was visiting Phillip STILL thinks that Holly is "his Holly".

I am very grateful to Holly for being my friend. I had a hard time living in Washington and Holly (and Cathy) were the light in my life while we lived there. I am SOOOOO very glad that she managed to make it to Denver 4 days before she had to be at her 4-H conference and that we got to go down and get her and bring her back to WY for a few days. My kids thought it was great that she came as well, but they wish she would have brought her kids as well.

We are going to visit them for a while this summer, and we are all SO VERY excited!

This picture isn't of Maija and Holly, however; Holly made the fuzzy hat that is on Maija's head and I think it's a cute picture.

Oh, as an after thought....Phillip has been accepted to be treated at the Shriner's Hospital in Salt Lake for his intoeing (he's pigeon toed). His appointment is on March 26th, and we are VERY grateful that he gets to be treated there. They are supposed to be the best and we're so glad he has the opportunity to go there.